Chapter 17: vibranium
At 8 PM, Ling's Pharmacy officially closed. Ling Xiao didn't dare to stay open any later; after all, this was Los Angeles, one of the most chaotic cities in America. If the Pharmacy stayed open late into the night, there was no telling when a high drug addict might come to rob it.
Although this was Chinatown, those high drug addicts wouldn't care. While Ling Xiao himself wasn't afraid, if anything were to happen to Gan Jing, he would surely regret it immensely.
After pulling down the rolling shutter, the protective Formation in the store had already quietly activated. Without Ling Xiao's permission, no one could break in unless they used a cannon to bombard it. This ensured Gan Jing's safety as much as possible when Ling Xiao was away.
Returning to the second floor, Gan Jing had already prepared dinner and was waiting for him: a serving of Fish-Flavored Shredded Pork, a serving of Spicy Chicken, plus two bowls of millet porridge and two bowls of rice. To be able to eat such a dinner in America was quite a luxury for ordinary people like them.
While eating, Gan Jing casually asked, "Ling Xiao, did you really promise to make medicinal cuisine for Beckett once a week?"
"Of course. Such medicinal cuisine isn't free. It's perfectly normal for the price to be doubled. Although Beckett doesn't have much money, her father owns a farm of hundreds of thousands of acres in the countryside and is quite wealthy, more than enough to support Beckett."
Ling Xiao looked up at Gan Jing, seeing that the worry on her face hadn't eased. Knowing what she was thinking, he put down his chopsticks, reached out, and held Gan Jing's soft hand, saying softly, "I know you don't want to see Kate, but think about it this way: if a police officer often sits in the store, it will save a lot of trouble. If I'm not here for something, and she's looking after things, I can feel more at ease. And if you really don't want to see her, you can have someone deliver the medicinal cuisine to the police station, so she won't be an eyesore in front of you."
"Mm!" Gan Jing bit her lower lip, nodding repeatedly, a glimmer of moisture in her eyes.
After dinner, leaving Gan Jing to clean up alone, Ling Xiao went straight to the third floor. After meticulously tending to the plants and flowers inside, Ling Xiao once again sat cross-legged before the Three Pure Ones statues, respectfully bowing three times to the three statues. Only then did Ling Xiao sit up straight and retrieve the silver-white box from the side.
Although this box was relatively easy to obtain, Ling Xiao dared not be careless in the slightest. The box itself came from Stark Industries, one of Marvel's main arms depots. It might contain a self-destruct device, otherwise, why would there be a password on the box?
Besides that, Ling Xiao was more worried that this box had passed through Kingpin's hands. Although he didn't know if Kingpin had personally touched the box, the fact that Bullseye and Elektra personally escorted it gave him some clues.
What's more, this box was destined for the Japanese. Ling Xiao suspected it very likely contained some kind of chemical or viral agent. Opening such a thing without preparation could be fatal. So, from last night until now, after a day, Ling Xiao had finally made full preparations.
Following the boundary of the third floor, Ling Xiao slowly sprinkled some powder in his hand, then activated the independent Formation system of the entire third floor, separating it from the first and second floors to form an independent Formation space.
After completing all this, Ling Xiao made a hand seal, and the god and demon list rose into the air according to his will. After absorbing countless Lunar Essences, the god and demon list directly cast a moon-white light onto his hands.
Using this moon-white light, Ling Xiao continuously made hand seals, and the True Qi in his body also churned like boiling water. In just a moment, beads of sweat had already appeared on Ling Xiao's forehead, and wisps of white mist were constantly rising from above his head.
A moment later, Ling Xiao finally completed this Spell before his True Qi was exhausted. A moon-white light formed a vortex in the center of the silver-white box. The vortex spun faster and faster, swallowing countless Lunar Essences into it. Gradually, a black void appeared before Ling Xiao, and something seemed to be faintly visible in the center of the void.
Drawing objects from a distance was the name of this Spell. A high-tier Yellow-rank Spell was still a bit strenuous for him. If it weren't for the power of the Lunar Moonlight and his impending Breakthrough, not only would the Spell be difficult to succeed, but the backlash from forcibly casting a failed Spell would be enough to make him suffer.
This silver-white box in his hand was like a hot potato. It went without saying that Shizhi Xuan would not let it go. Although his true identity was only known to Qin Ming, there was no guarantee that Nisshin-kai wouldn't target Qin Ming alone. Even for Qin Ming's sake, this matter had to be handled properly.
As the light became clearer, a fist-sized black-yellow Ore appeared in the center of the silver-white box. Ling Xiao gently lifted it from the center of the silver-white box, and the black-yellow Ore appeared in his hand.
With a soft clang, the silver-white box bearing the Stark Industries logo lightly hit the ground.
What exactly was this thing? Ling Xiao held the black-yellow Ore, frowning deeply. It was just this one Ore that led to the transaction between Kingpin and Shizhi Xuan of Nisshin-kai. It shouldn't be Shizhi Xuan; his rank wasn't high enough. Kingpin's transaction partner should be The Hand behind Nisshin-kai. Moreover, this item was stolen from Stark Industries.
Ling Xiao recalled that there seemed to be only this one item in the silver-white box, with no other objects. There were no bombs or heavy nitric acid, which he originally expected. He didn't know if they hadn't anticipated the item being lost, or if this Ore was simply difficult to destroy.
Ling Xiao held the Ore in his hand, accumulated True Qi, and then squeezed it hard. As expected, the Ore was unmoved. Ling Xiao's hand even stung from the recoil, as if all the force had acted upon his hand rather than the Ore.
Just as Ling Xiao was still exploring what this thing was, the god and demon list, having re-absorbed enough Lunar Essences, suddenly emitted a moon-white light that shone upon the black-yellow Ore. The next moment, a force that Ling Xiao couldn't resist came, and the black-yellow Ore actually floated up from Ling Xiao's hand and flew into the god and demon list.
The black-yellow Ore slowly merged into the god and demon list right before Ling Xiao's eyes, without even causing a ripple.
Ling Xiao looked at this scene in surprise. It was the first time he had seen such a scene appear before him. He had placed rare Ores from this world before the god and demon list before, but it had never been so eager as this time.
Eager, yes, eager. The various Ores Ling Xiao had presented to it before, it always seemed somewhat reluctant. This time... When the god and demon list returned to the altar, Ling Xiao frowned, bowed slightly to the god and demon list, and asked in a low, deep voice, "god and demon list, what exactly was that Ore?"
Unexpectedly, two words slowly appeared on the god and demon list—vibranium—while Ling Xiao's face showed a familiar expression, as if he was not at all surprised by this scene.
Indeed, this scene had appeared before Ling Xiao more than once or twice. The god and demon list was a spiritual treasure and could naturally communicate with Ling Xiao. However, for some unknown reason, the spirituality of the god and demon list had suffered great damage and often fell into slumber. It sometimes responded to Ling Xiao's questions and sometimes didn't, and its answers could only appear on the god and demon list in the form of text.
Not only that, the text on the god and demon list was neither English nor the simplified Chinese characters currently used in the country, nor even the traditional Chinese characters that were no longer in use. It was completely different from the characters used in ancient China, almost a type of pictographic character that had disappeared and was very difficult to decipher.
Of course, this did not include Ling Xiao. As the master of the god and demon list, the meaning of the text on it would directly appear in his mind.