The smoke and dust from the collapsed Stark Tower were like monsters roaming the city, drifting along the surrounding streets and even reaching the river.
Perhaps due to Luo Di's luck, as soon as he looked up, he saw a rotating Mind Stone flying from a distance and landing right in front of him.
It was the Mind Stone Loki had taken...
"Damn it... No way?" Luo Di's mouth was wide enough to fit an apple.
Chapter 16: Sorcerer Supreme
"Gentlemen, there's another piece of news..."
"An F25 fighter jet carrying a nuclear bomb is approaching New York, estimated to arrive in six minutes...."
Before Luo Di could recover from the good fortune of the Mind Stone falling from the sky, he heard Jarvis's voice through his earpiece.
His worst fear had come true!
This news reached not only Luo Di but also Steve and Thor.
"Bastards! There are still nearly a million citizens here!!"
On a street almost reduced to ruins, Captain, covered in dust, climbed to his feet, his face as grim as Homelander's.
"Are they crazy? Not even that little mustache would drop a nuclear bomb on his own country!"
No wonder Captain was furious. Although he had never witnessed a nuclear bomb explosion, he had learned about it in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s modern crash course.
He even understood more than ordinary people, knowing the terror of nuclear bombs.
"Asgard would never use such a devastating weapon on its own people! Never!" Thor, the God of Thunder, was uncharacteristically serious.
Midgardians' methods of warfare were considered cruel even among the Nine Realms.
One nuclear bomb could kill more people than the entire population of Asgard.
Luo Di quickly looked up and saw that the blue-lit portal had not completely closed.
The activation device was suspended in the air, enveloped in an energy shield, but the power had been cut off. It was clear the portal was slowly closing, but at a very slow pace.
This gave Luo Di an idea.
He yanked Stark, who was sitting on his butt, to his feet, carrying him like a small chicken, leaving a Mark on the ground's rubble. Steve and Thor, seeing this, exchanged an imperceptible glance, both feeling a pang of pain.
Where did this ruthless character come from?
"Stark... Is he alright?" Steve was the first to speak.
"He won't die." Luo Di's words sounded a bit cold as he was trying to figure out how to dismantle the suit.
"Steve Rogers, thank you for your assistance." Captain stepped forward and extended his hand.
Luo Di merely glanced down, showing no intention of shaking hands, and said in a slightly cold tone, "Sentinel, we're all just fulfilling our duties. I have a plan..."
"What plan?"
Steve tilted his head, lowered his hand, and didn't dwell on it, instead asking about Luo Di's idea.
"Jarvis, can you control Stark's suit?" Luo Di didn't immediately reveal his plan but asked Jarvis.
"Yes, sir."
Indeed, Luo Di nodded. It was similar to the movie; in the movie, Stark ran out of power, causing a blackout, but he had at least charged some energy at the reactor just now.
"It's simple, Jarvis, you release Stark, control the suit to send the nuclear bomb into the wormhole, then this one with the hammer will send me up there, and I'll close the portal, how about it?"
Luo Di's method was very simple, similar to the one in the movie. In the movie, Stark might have been momentarily foolish and didn't think of letting Jarvis directly control the suit.
Or perhaps it was because he was worried about not being able to control it precisely that he went in himself.
Now, he just needed to drag Stark out.
Soon, Jarvis calculated the success rate: "Yes, sir, after calculation, the plan's success rate is above 76.45%!"
"Wait a minute... Can you ensure the portal is closed?"
Steve looked at Luo Di hesitantly.
"With this, yes!"
Luo Di displayed the Mind Stone in his hand. The main reason he volunteered to close the portal was the Tesseract.
At this time, none of them knew about the existence of the Infinity Stones; the only one they might need to worry about was the Ancient One.
Luo Di hadn't seen any sign of the Ancient One along the way, but it was clearly stated in the movie.
During the first Avengers movie, the Ancient One also appeared in New York, fighting the Chitauri army alone on top of a building, but did not join the Avengers.
This meant that the Ancient One might already be watching him.
Thinking of this, a shadow flashed across Luo Di's eyes, but he had to try!
"Alright, but I'm not 'the one with the hammer', I'm Thor! From the divine realm of Asgard." Thor glared at Luo Di in annoyance.
"Okay, Mr. Thor, the one with the hammer." Luo Di nodded, a hint of a smile in his voice.
Thor paused, then chuckled: "Hahaha, I like you, fella..."
"I'd rather fight you." Luo Di said softly.
Beside them, Jarvis had already controlled the suit to open, revealing Stark, whose lower abdomen had been pierced.
"Stark... Is he actually that badly injured?" Steve didn't join in Luo Di and Thor's banter, as he was a veteran who would lie down on barbed wire to let his comrades pass during battle.
Seeing Stark's pale face and his short-sleeved shirt stained with blood on his abdomen, he quickly tried to tear off some clothing to give him a simple bandage.
"This playboy is yours. Don't let him die, he still owes me two hundred million U.S. dollars."
Luo Di intentionally kept Steve busy.
"No problem."
Steve was surprised by the large sum of two hundred million U.S. dollars, but he nodded immediately.
Beside him, Thor swung his hammer, wanting to put his arm around Luo Di's shoulder.
"No... No need, I'll just grab your arm."
Luo Di couldn't stand that and quickly waved his hand, indicating that he wasn't into that and didn't want to touch Thor's large chest muscles.
"Then hold on tight, Mr. Sentinel!" A few black lines appeared on Thor's forehead.
Without warning, he swung his hammer away.
Luo Di only had time to grab his foot before he suddenly leaped up like he was on a drop tower ride!
"Oh, fuck!"
...
Only when one truly flies can one feel that sense of the World beneath one's feet.
Luo Di looked around at the once bustling city; now, tall buildings were toppled, hundreds of plumes of smoke rose, and dark clouds rolled in the sky.
In the air, Chitauri were still trying to attack the two. Thor saw Luo Di leap, pierce the outer energy shield with the Mind Stone, and stand on the floating platform.
"Good luck!"
Then Thor leaped down, and a Leviathan warship passing below was pierced by a powerful electric current!
"Boom—!"
Luo Di felt envious, wondering when he would be able to easily take down a Leviathan warship. It shouldn't take too long!
In the distant sky,
He could see the outline of a smoking Helicarrier and the Mark VII suit, controlled by Jarvis, flying towards the open sea.
But the next second, time around them seemed to freeze.
Black smoke and dark clouds hung motionless in the air, then the ground began to flip like in Inception, like a Swiss roll, rolling towards them from Queens, opposite Manhattan, a truly spectacular sight!
What was coming would always come.
Luo Di subconsciously sighed, sensed a disturbance behind him, and sharply turned around.
Before him, a figure wearing an orange monk's robe, a hood, and holding a golden compass...
A fat man?
Slowly emerged from the crackling circular portal, his originally serious expression turning into a somewhat stiff smile upon seeing Luo Di.
"Hello, hello... I am Wong!"
"I heard you're Asian? Korean or..."
Chapter 17: I, Sentinel! Saving New York
"Chinese."
Luo Di wasn't surprised that his identity was exposed, nor was he surprised that the Ancient One would come looking for him, but the only surprise was... Why was it Wong who came?
Shouldn't he be the librarian in Kamar-Taj?
Speaking of librarians... it really was a promising profession.
Luo Di's thoughts drifted slightly, but then he realized, what was Wong doing here?
To stop him?
"I originally thought..."
Before Luo Di could hesitate to speak.
"You originally thought the Sorcerer Supreme would come, right?" Hearing the clear and standard Chinese, Wong's smile became friendlier, and he was holding a cup of milk tea... or perhaps butter tea.
"The Sorcerer Supreme asked me to tell you that what you're thinking isn't that simple. If you insist..."
Luo Di's brows furrowed at the words. Here it comes!
It really came... To prevent him from taking the Infinity Stones.
...Then just go ahead and insist, but the future is hard to grasp, you know."
Wong indeed had the potential to be the Sorcerer Supreme; at least his riddle-speaking ability was truly inherited from the Ancient One.
"...Oh?"
Luo Di's eyelids twitched violently. He actually still had many doubts.
For example, the Ancient One didn't seem to care that he was about to take the Tesseract, nor did she seem to have discovered his otherworldly soul and plan to eliminate him.
Instead, she sent Wong to say such an ambiguous statement.
"So you're not going to stop me?"
"Be my guest." Wong shrugged and chuckled.
"I have to try." Luo Di probed.
And Wong waved his hand generously:
"Of course, that's your right."
—
The wind howled in the high sky.
Luo Di was a bit confused now. He had expected to see the Ancient One, but the person who came was Wong.
And he looked completely unconcerned, indicating that if Luo Di wanted the Tesseract, he should take it quickly.
This was a bit different from the Marvel Crossing novels he had read before...
Shouldn't the Ancient One have intervened to eliminate this anomaly who had stumbled into the Marvel Universe, or perhaps manipulate him in various ways?
A conspiracy!
This must be a conspiracy...
Luo Di looked at the Tesseract rotating in the device before him and fell into thought.
But Wong didn't care about that. He stepped forward, grabbed Luo Di's hand and shook it, then looked up at Luo Di, who was wearing the Black God Suit, and exclaimed in admiration:
"This suit is so cool..."