In truth, everyone in Natasha's temporary family had a rather unfortunate life.
Natasha never knew her parents. Shortly after gaining her first memories, she was thrown into the Red Room, where she was trained to kill and struggled to survive among a group of children. Even after narrowly surviving, the life that awaited her after graduation was even more brutal.
Yelena was rumored to have been the most talented child assassin in the Red Room. Heaven only knows what she endured.
Aleksey, the man hailed as a super-soldier, had dreamed of becoming his country's ultimate hero, a figure like Captain America.
Yet after finally completing a deep-cover mission in America, he was thrown into prison instead of getting to don his uniform as the hero he'd always wanted to be. For over a decade, he languished there, idly bragging with convicts.
Melina, the 'mother' of this family, was a Red Room widow from her youth. But unlike the others, she was fortunate enough to possess a scientist's mind.
That's why she went with Aleksey to the North Institute in Ohio, USA, as a spy, stealing their research data and destroying all the backups.
This data was the formula for the mind-control neurotoxin. After the American mission ended, she was sent to a pig farm on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg to raise pigs.
In reality, she continued to conduct further experiments to refine the neurotoxin on the pigs. The ultra-concentrated neurotoxin Dreykov used to ambush Qin Xiao recently was partly her work.
In truth, the Red Room, or rather Dreykov, had destroyed all four of their lives.
The three years they spent in America might have been the only time they experienced genuine happiness and love.
Of course, Qin Xiao only learned all this after watching the family share a meal and drinks, and then pour out their hearts.
Compared to Natasha and Yelena, who wanted to destroy the Red Room and kill Dreykov, Aleksey remained trapped in the glory of the past, while Melina lacked the courage to resist at all.
Even Qin Xiao's constant vigilance hadn't prevented her from almost notifying the Red Room just moments ago.
"We can't kill Dreykov. You have no idea how many tricks he has up his sleeve. He has a pheromone that can invade your nervous system, colorless and odorless. Once inside, it automatically identifies Dreykov's scent. Anyone infected by it becomes incapable of attacking him."
"What about holding our breath?" Natasha asked.
"That won't work unless you sever your olfactory nerves!" Melina pointed to her nose.
"So, can this pheromone be killed or destroyed by extreme heat? You know what I mean?" Qin Xiao suddenly interjected.
Melina glanced at him in surprise. "It's possible, but it would require temperatures of at least 800 degrees Celsius. If you're already infected, 80 degrees would be enough to roast you alive. So, the only way is... Oh my God!"
Before Melina could finish, Qin Xiao stood up, and blazing flames erupted from his body.
"1500 degrees Celsius. You can take a whiff if you want to know how well I'm used to it. My pheromones are definitely seasoned."
Qin Xiao snapped his fingers, and the flames on his body instantly vanished, leaving only a small flame on his fingertip.
Habitually, he slowly withdrew a cigar from his crotch and lit it with the flame on his finger.
He took a drag with a flourish, looking utterly pretentious.
At the other end of the dining table, Aleksey's eyes widened in astonishment.
He glanced fearfully at the cigar Qin Xiao had given him earlier, then at Qin Xiao's crotch.
He quickly crushed the cigar and gulped down a shot of vodka to rinse his mouth.
"Pah! Pah! Pah!"
Before the four family members, united in purpose and having resolved their differences, could formally set out to hunt monsters together, a moment of warmth was inevitable.
The two daughters and their mother recounted everything that had happened to them, particularly the details of Qin Xiao's experiences.
Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. were relatively easy to accept.
But Thor, Asgard, and the Ancient One, the Supreme Sorcerer...
Of course, these were only brief introductions. They didn't mention that Qin Xiao was now a living embodiment of an Asgardian god.
However, these revelations were enough to leave Melina and Aleksey somewhat bewildered.
Compared to the Red Room, this felt like a dimensional shift in power.
Meanwhile, Melina's account helped alleviate some of Natasha's guilt and fill the void in her heart.
First, Natasha had always believed her parents had abandoned her. In reality, the Red Room had used a programmed selection process to identify promising girls. Natasha was one of them. Her parents received financial compensation and were sworn to secrecy.
However, Natasha's mother never let go of the matter. She vowed to find her daughter and repeatedly exposed a mysterious department that had taken her. Later, Dreykov personally murdered Natasha's parents.
Second, Antonia, Dreykov's youngest daughter, whom Natasha believed she had killed. Not only did Dreykov survive the explosion, but Antonia did too. However, she was disfigured and severely injured. Dreykov ultimately implanted a chip in Antonia's neck.
He had injected his own daughter with neurotoxins and spent years training her in the art of killing.
*Monster. A heartless, inhuman monster.*
Antonia was only thirteen or fourteen years old at most, and what's more, she was Dreykov's biological daughter.
From their time together in the Middle East killing terrorists with Tony to now, this was the first time Qin Xiao had felt such an urgent desire to kill someone.
Only one problem remained: the Red Room's base.
According to Melina, Dreykov had installed several massive jet engines to keep the base floating tens of thousands of meters in the sky, preventing detection and evading surveillance.
A sky base, and given Dreykov's cautious nature, he would never keep it in one place for more than a week.
This made pinpointing the base's location extremely difficult. Melina had originally suggested leaking information to the Red Room, then feigning capture when they arrived. Once inside the base, she planned to launch a surprise attack.
Setting aside whether Dreykov would dare bring them to the base with Qin Xiao present, this "luring the snake from its hole" tactic was identical to their previous strategy. Dreykov would never fall for it again.
"How do you usually contact Dreykov? Phone, or some other method?" Qin Xiao turned to Melina.
"Email!" Melina replied, offering a relatively outdated method of communication, which was quite fitting for Dreykov's cautious and suspicious nature.
"The internet?" Qin Xiao's eyes lit up.
"Qin, tracking their emails won't be that simple. Even S.H.I.E.L.D. might not be able to do it!" Natasha, guessing Qin Xiao's intentions, immediately dismissed the idea.
Qin Xiao smiled nonchalantly. "We won't track them. We'll just package someone up and send them in an email!"
"Package someone up in an email?" Yelena asked, puzzled. "Does Asgard have a God of the Internet, or something like that, besides Thor and the God of Fire?"
"Asgard definitely doesn't, but Tony Stark certainly does!"
-----------------------
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