pertwk Page 42
Page 42
“Hey, don’t be so pessimistic, guys!” Howard walked up to the map and flicked the blueprint with his finger. “In my dictionary, Howard Stark, there’s no fortress that can’t be blown up!”
He paused, staring at the blueprints. "However, that redhead Schmidt is indeed quite something. The design of this aircraft... is very advanced."
“But even the most advanced designs need energy!” He picked up a photograph.
In the photo, a blue cube is glowing.
Chu Hang's heart skipped a beat. This was exactly what he had been waiting for.
“This thing has boundless energy, but it’s extremely unstable.” Howard waved the photo. “To prevent you from being roasted to a crisp, I’ve prepared some little gifts.”
An assistant carried in several metal crates, which were then opened. Inside were rows of strangely shaped weapons.
"The energy jamming gun can short-circuit their weapons. The high-energy absorbing grenade can create a small-scale energy vacuum. And this combat suit has an anti-energy coating that can save lives."
After Howard finished his explanation, he shrugged: "Of course, these things might only buy you a few seconds. We're dealing with something from mythology."
Steve Rogers kept staring at the map. It only had a scrawled red circle on it, covering an area of several tens of square kilometers.
“The area is too large,” he said in a deep voice. “We don’t have time to search; we must find the most direct route.”
He turned his head and looked at Chu Hang.
"Chu, come and see."
Everyone looked at him.
Chu Hang cursed inwardly, "It's my turn again, this 'Oriental charlatan'."
He knew he couldn't hide now, because it was related to whether he could touch the Cosmic Cube.
Only one thought occupied his mind: the Tesseract, the core of the Space Stone, has not yet been copied.
Chu Hang cleared his throat and slowly walked over. He picked up a magnifying glass and pretended to look at the map, muttering to himself in Chinese.
"Soldiers who, deception also……"
Howard, standing to the side, curled his lip; he only believed in science.
Five minutes later, Chu Hang's magnifying glass stopped at an inconspicuous spot in the northwest corner of the map.
The crowd gathered around to look. It was a canyon, marked in German as "Todesschlucht"—the Valley of Death.
The terrain is steep, and at the end is a glacier waterfall marked "extremely dangerous".
“Impossible.” Colonel Phillips frowned. “This is a dead end; ground troops cannot get through.”
“Moreover,” Howard immediately chimed in, “according to thermal scans, the energy response here is the weakest. A base couldn’t possibly be built in a place like this.”
Chu Hang scratched his head, looking completely innocent. "I don't know. It's just a feeling that something's wrong here. Isn't the most dangerous place the safest place?"
The members of the Roaring Commando believed it. They trusted Chu Hang's intuition more than intelligence.
Steve glanced at Chu Hang, then turned to Colonel Phillips and said, "Colonel, I trust him. Let's go in from here."
The colonel and Carter exchanged a glance and nodded.
“Alright.” He glanced at his watch. “The transport plane will be waiting for you at the designated location at five o’clock tomorrow morning. Good luck.”
That evening, in an officers' pub in London, the Howling Commandos occupied the largest table, which was piled high with drinks.
This was probably their last peaceful meal.
No one mentioned tomorrow's tasks, and no one said take care. They boasted loudly, told dirty jokes, and drank one glass of alcohol after another.
Chu Hang sat in the corner, wiping a modified M1911 pistol. A small energy absorption device had been added to the gun, which he had specifically asked Howard to add.
Valkyrie's fall. Bomb the base, intercept the planes.
"Hey, Eastern kid, what are you thinking about?" Logan sat down opposite him with a glass of whiskey.
"Think about tomorrow's mission." Chu Hang put away his pistol.
“You seem excited,” Logan said. “Aren’t you afraid of dying?”
"I'm afraid. If I die, there won't be any more wine to drink." Chu Hang smiled and raised his glass. "But being afraid is useless. I'd rather think about how to get more benefits."
"For example, we found a few bottles of 1928 German dark beer in the Red Skull base." Chu Hang clinked glasses with him.
Logan didn't say anything and finished his drink. He knew Chu Hang was lying, but he couldn't be bothered to ask.
Not far away, Steve was standing and talking to Peggy Carter.
"The dance you owe me, I'll dance it when I get back," Steve said softly.
“Okay, I’ll wait for you.” Peggy’s eyes were steady. “Don’t be late, soldier.”
Chu Hang sighed inwardly. This wait lasted seventy years.
On the other side, Howard Stark broke free of the crowd and walked over with a wine glass in his hand.
“Hey, ‘Intuition Kid’!” he said, sitting down. “Where did you get that ‘the illusion becomes reality’ thing you talked about during the day from, from some Eastern sorcery book?”
"The Art of War" by Sun Tzu.
“Never heard of it.” Howard curled his lip. “However, I’m more interested in you as a person. You seem to know a lot of strange things. The ‘transistor’ you mentioned last time, I went back and looked into it, it was very enlightening! What else do you know?”
"I know a little bit." Chu Hang smiled, then changed the subject, "By the way, Howard, have you made any new discoveries about that little blue cube? Is it really that magical?"
"Amazing? My God, it's practically the Holy Grail of physics!" Howard lowered his voice and leaned closer. "Its energy density, spatial structure... it completely surpasses our time! I even suspect it comes from another universe!"
"How do we guide its energy?" Chu Hang asked. "It sounds very unstable; it might explode if we're not careful, right?"
“Good question! That’s exactly what I’m researching!” Howard perked up and began to talk at length about the technical details of energy properties, safe activation, and storage.
Chu Hang remembered every word Howard said. Piecing together the scattered information, a plan gradually took shape.
A plan to steal the Rubik's Cube's energy amidst a hail of bullets.
They drank until midnight.
The group walked out of the tavern arm in arm and returned to the base. There were no farewells, only a glance at each other and a deep nod before heading back to their rooms.
Chu Hang returned to his room, stood by the window, and looked at the London nightscape.
My palms were slightly sweaty with excitement.
Tomorrow will be the most important day of his life since he came into this world. It will also be the most dangerous day.
Success is achieved in one leap.
Failed, reload and try again.
"Red Skull, Captain America, Wolverine, the Tesseract..."
He murmured the names and grinned.
"Everyone is here, and the stage is set up."
"Let's begin then."
Chapter 52 Death Canyon
It was 4:30 a.m., outside London. It was so cold it could freeze you to the bone.
Chu Hang wrapped his military overcoat tighter, cursing Colonel Phillips a thousand times in his mind. It's this time again; these old fogies have no idea what sleep is.
At the end of the runway, a C-47 transport plane emitted a deep roar. The dim lights illuminated the Howling Commandos, who stood there like stones.
The atmosphere was oppressive. There were no farewells, only the cold wind.
Chu Hang pursed his lips and glanced at his temporary teammates.
At the very front stood Steve Rogers, the future Captain America. He was carefully inspecting the shield's latches, his face sharply defined, his eyes focused solely on the mission.
What a stubborn idealist. Chu Hang thought to himself.
Not far away, a grumpy man sat on an ammunition box, sharpening one of his bone claws with his other.
The harsh, grinding sound was enough to make your teeth ache.
Chu Hang's gaze lingered on his hand for a second longer; thankfully, it was the self-healing factor that had been copied.
It was this ability that allowed him to survive in this godforsaken place.
As for the others, explosives expert Dugan and British gentleman Falsworth, he saw them as mere background figures providing firepower.
He put his hands in his pockets and touched the M1911 pistol at his waist.
Below the gun barrel hung a palm-sized silver metal box, engraved with lines drawn by Howard Stark, with a blue crystal in the center.
"Portable energy condenser," is the name Stark gave it.
“A piece of trash.” That was Stark’s final assessment of it.
According to him, the only use of this thing is to absorb energy for a fraction of a second when it comes into contact with a high-energy reaction, and then it becomes unusable.
Waste? Chu Hang sneered inwardly. Howard's mind was fifty years ahead of its time, but unfortunately, he still didn't understand the essence of certain powers.
He knew better than anyone that this "useless person" was his trump card in this operation.
He could feel the Cosmic Cube energy within his body, like an unstable flame. Ever since he impulsively touched that thing last time, his body had become a ticking time bomb.
Howard, this "useless" guy, was the fuse he prepared.
It is also a detonator.
"Time's up! Boarding!"
Colonel Phillips's roar broke the silence.
The members of the Roaring Commando turned and entered the dark cabin of the C-47.
Chu Hang followed at the back of the group. A large hand patted him heavily on the shoulder.
“Boy.” Colonel Phillips stared at him, his single eye filled with complex emotions, and his voice was low. “Bring them all back alive.”
Chu Hang was taken aback. He knew that this team included the colonel's sons and nephews, as well as elites he had handpicked. This entrustment carried great weight.
He nodded, said nothing, and turned to walk into the cabin.
The cabin door closed slowly.
The red emergency lights came on, and everyone's face looked as if it were covered in blood. The plane taxied, accelerated, and then suddenly took off, disappearing into the night.
Two hours later, the plane reached the airspace above the Alps.