“This is my superpower.”
“Do I look like an idiot to you?”
Harry gave Xia Luo a skeptical look. “We should work together, or maybe you light up the ammo depot while I go to the cave.”
“Don’t friends trust each other, even a little?”
“Someone once told me that you should always be cautious with new friends.”
“Which idiot said that?”
“My friend, Xia Luo.”
Xia Luo: “…”
“Fine. Go over there and hide. You see that rock behind the wooden shed? Go crouch there. You won’t get caught in the crossfire.”
Harry: “…”
“Alright, but I seriously suspect you’re the one who kidnapped Tony.” He muttered as he stealthily moved to the spot Xia Luo had pointed out.
Once Harry was in position, a spark ignited from Xia Luo’s nanometal fingertips, lighting the ammo depot instantly.
“Boom!!”
“Pew pew pew!”
In an instant, explosions echoed, bullets flew in every direction, and chaos erupted among the Ten Rings members.
“It’s that red-and-blue guy!”
“We’re under attack!”
Behind the boulder, Harry peeked out, eyes wide in shock.
Xia Luo danced gracefully around the edges of the explosions, bullets whizzing by, barely missing him. Occasionally, he paused for a split second, and beneath his feet, a series of bullet holes appeared. It was as if he anticipated every detail of the ensuing chaos, his movements flowing like a dance. Blood splattered, and the groaning of unlucky victims filled the air, becoming the background to his elegant performance.
On his toes, gliding gracefully…
Hands gently poised…
“Elegant, so elegant,” Harry whispered in awe, unable to stop himself from clapping.
“Slap!”
Suddenly, Xia Luo appeared at his side, patting his shoulder. “What are you doing? Come on, let’s go!”
Without waiting for a response, Xia Luo darted into the cave.
“Wait for me!” Harry snapped out of his daze and hurried to catch up.
The moment they entered the cave, they ran straight into a group of heavily armed Ten Rings soldiers.
“Who are you?”
“Friends,” Xia Luo said calmly, before launching a barrage of webs that ensnared the soldiers. With a powerful pull, he flung them outside.
“There’s a fork in the path, which way?” Harry asked.
“Left.”
Xia Luo sped through the left tunnel, taking down the armed enemies with ease. In less than three minutes, they reached the end of the tunnel, where a large iron door stood.
“Let me handle this,” said Harry, eager to blow the door open with explosives.
“No, this is how it’s done.”
Xia Luo stopped Harry, then took three steps to the left. “Yep, this way, I definitely won’t hit anything by accident.” He nodded in satisfaction.
With that, he gave the door a powerful kick.
“Boom!!”
The iron door collapsed with a deafening crash, dust filling the air. Just as Xia Luo was about to bask in the glory of his success, a cold glint suddenly flashed in the dim light.
“Something’s wrong.”
The warning from his spider-sense sent a jolt through Xia Luo. Without hesitation, he grabbed Harry and hurled him aside.
“Zzzzt—”
A metal claw narrowly missed Xia Luo’s waist, scraping against his nanometal suit. The force of the strike sent tremors through the stone walls, causing bits of rubble to rain down.
Barely dodging the ambush, Xia Luo turned to see a cold, expressionless man in black slowly withdrawing his right arm from the stone wall.
“Crack, crack.”
The man clenched his fist, reducing the crushed stones in his palm to dust, showcasing his terrifying strength.
“Watch out! It’s a metal arm!” Harry, who had landed ungracefully, called out in warning.
“Huh?”
Xia Luo finally noticed the metallic gleam under the man’s torn sleeve.
“Winter Soldier?” Xia Luo immediately thought of Steve’s old friend.
But upon closer inspection, the man’s steel arm seemed more brutal, with sharp claws at the tips of his fingers, unlike Bucky’s left arm.
Hydra’s cyborg?
Or…
Xia Luo suddenly recalled that rainy night when Norman was killed.
Before he could think further, the man charged again. Xia Luo, reacting instinctively, fired webs behind him.
“Thwip!”
“Bang!!”
The figure behind Xia Luo slammed into the man with a heavy thud.
“Clang!!”
The sound of metal clashing reverberated as the two figures tangled and rolled towards Harry.
“Kill!”
Without hesitation, the two attackers lunged at Harry.
“Shit!”
Seeing how fierce the two were, Harry’s face paled. Cursing Spider-Man under his breath, he hopped onto his glider and shot out of the cave.
Without his pumpkin bombs, he didn’t stand a chance against these two cyborgs.
Meanwhile, from deeper in the cave, a voice barked out.
“Fools, finish off that guy first!”
Hearing the order, the two cyborgs hesitated briefly, then turned and charged at Xia Luo.
“Boom!”
The wind howled in the cave as two steel fists flew towards Xia Luo, their combined force enough to smash through walls, their intent to crush Spider-Man clear.
“Bang!”
But in the next second, Xia Luo caught both steel fists with his hands, stopping them cold. The scene was unexpected, to say the least.
“What?”
The two cyborgs, usually cold and emotionless, were now visibly stunned. They stared at Xia Luo in shock, unable to understand how he had blocked their combined attack so effortlessly.
Xia Luo was equally surprised. These guys weren’t as strong as they looked.
Testing his theory, Xia Luo’s arm muscles swelled, and slowly but surely, he began twisting the steel fists aside.
“Crack, crack, crack.”
The grinding of gears filled the air as the steel fists struggled to resist, but under the immense pressure, they could only emit strained metallic sounds before sparks started to fly.
“Bang!!”
With a surge of power, Xia Luo twisted the fists into a tangled mess of metal.
The two cyborgs struggled, but Xia Luo webbed them up, then violently tore off one of their metallic arms for inspection.
No doubt about it—it was the same steel claw that had killed Norman.
Xia Luo narrowed his eyes, realizing something was off.
The mysterious figure who had killed Norman was strong enough to break through the Green Goblin’s armor with ease. These two cyborgs, on the other hand, were just grunts.
But why were they here?
What did they have to do with Tony?
As these thoughts raced through his mind, Xia Luo suddenly tilted his head.
“Bang!”
A bullet whizzed past his ear as Xia Luo grabbed the gun’s barrel.
“Crack, crack.”
The gun twisted in his hands like putty. Then he turned to face a familiar figure.
“Dr. Yinsen?”
Staring at the terrified Dr. Yinsen, Xia Luo frowned.
This version of Yinsen was far from the wise and compassionate mentor he remembered.
“Spider-Man… you’re still alive…”
Though fear filled Yinsen’s face, his eyes betrayed a viciousness as he threw down his gun and ran towards a crude operating table.
“You can’t save that arms dealer! Hahaha!!”
Yinsen laughed maniacally as he reached for the lever, but before he could pull it, a web shot out, wrapping tightly around his neck and holding him in place.
“Damn you, Spider-Man! Let me go!!”
Yinsen struggled violently, but Xia Luo noticed the red skull tattoo on the back of his neck, shaped like an octopus.
It was Hydra, after all.
Xia Luo couldn’t help but grumble to himself. The Marvel multiverse’s differences made it much harder for a traveler like him to navigate.
So many characters had turned evil, reducing his knowledge advantage significantly.
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