A Five-Stack Climbs from Diamond to King!
After delivering his pre-battle remarks, Director Zhou cleared his throat and prepared to assign tasks to this hastily assembled team.
First, he stared at Mondo was squatting in the corner picking at his nails.
"Little Chubby, your mission this time is to get all four of us there."
"If things go wrong... not only will you lose your job, but you'll also have to pay me back the deposit I left with the receptionist, with interest calculated daily. 12% annualized, isn't that reasonable?"
Mondo scared his muscles tightened. "(;´д`)ゞ Mr. Zhou! Mondo will fight with his life! As long as Illyana and everyone else can be rescued, Mondo is willing to wash dishes for you for the rest of his life!"
"Washing dishes? Dream on! Your ability to wash dishes is a waste of national assets!"
"You need to leverage your strengths and create a professional persona that provides a strong competitive advantage!"
Beside her, Li Qianhuan rolled her eyes, popped the bubble gum in her mouth, and left it stuck to her lips.
"Uncle, can you save your weird talk for after we defeat the boss? That freak Sugar Man has a bunch of Mutants working for him, and there are only five of us!"
What happened to the five people?
Sing Sing stood up and said proudly:
"Back in the day, Lord Guan passed five passes and slew six generals, and he didn't even have a servant to pour water for him! These mere five men, in my Director Zhou, are the elite of the elite, the special forces of the special!"
As the saying goes, with good team leadership, even a Diamond player can reach the King rank!
He waved to the crowd, signaling them to gather around.
"Hey bro..."
Director Zhou looked at Colossus: "Your injuries haven't fully healed yet, so you'll be responsible for being the meat shield and covering the rear later."
"Our core combat forces should be saved for the most critical moments. Avoid using them if possible. Your skin is so cracked it looks like a QR code; if someone scans it, they'll probably be redirected to an ICU appointment page."
Colossus scratched his metal head and nodded seriously. "Yes, sir."
"Little Li's missile..."
Li Qianhuan snapped again, "(╬◣д◢) Don't call me Little Li Missile! Your whole family is Little Li Missile!"
"Alright, alright, Little Fireworks. Detonate all the ones that can explode, and use the ones that can't to create chaos and draw their attention to you."
"That's more like it. I'm best at overwhelming firepower."
Li Qianhuan rubbed a pinkish-blue dot of light between her fingertips, which bounced twice in her palm.
"Silver Fox is in charge of finishing off enemies and gathering intelligence; if he sees any valuable documents along the way, he'll take them."
Silver Fox sheathed his twin swords at his back without saying a word, which was taken as tacit agreement.
As for me...
Sing Sing Chow slightly raised his chin. "Responsible for overall coordination and capturing key targets!"
"To put it bluntly, the boss doesn't do anything; we're the ones who have to work our butts off," Li Qianhuan muttered.
"That's called strategic planning! When Zhuge Liang was waving his fan, did you ever see him personally go into battle and kill people?"
Silver Fox interrupted this pointless argument:
"The Core Zone is surrounded by three layers of electromagnetic shielding; even a mouse crawling inside would trigger a high-voltage shock. The main entrance on the surface is inaccessible; the only way in is to find a hidden corner underground."
"Mondo, can you sense the foundation structure of that area?"
Mondo nodded. "Mondo has been there before; Mondo knows how to get in."
"All set, ready to depart!"
Before setting off, Sing Sing, having confirmed that the alien assassin Scatter was still unconscious, felt uneasy.
He walked to Scatter's side, put two fingers together, and a wisp of white light emerged from the fingertips.
Whoosh!
After stabbing the Scatter several times, Sing Sing finally stood up, satisfied.
"What are you doing? Getting a massage?" Little Fireworks asked, puzzled.
"You're so ignorant! This is called pressure point manipulation!"
Li Qianhuan posed a probing question, "But uncle, he's an alien. Do aliens have the same acupoints as Earthlings?"
The air suddenly became quiet.
Silence is the Seattle basement tonight.
Speechless after being retorted, Zhou looked down at Scatter purplish-gray skin and tried to salvage his composure:
"So what if they're aliens? As long as they're carbon-based life forms, they have to follow the laws of bioelectromagnetic node distribution! I'm targeting scientific meridian blockage! Do you understand?"
"Tch, so stubborn."
Sing Sing quickly changed the subject, waving his hand and pointing at Mondo: "Let's go!"
Mondo nodded and was the first to plunge his body into the rock wall.
The hard rock melted away where his palm touched, revealing a Black Sky.
The four people stepped inside.
After confirming that no one was around, Scatter opened his eyes and wriggled on the ground in resentment, but he couldn't break free of his restraints and could only lie on the ground groaning.
The underground air, assimilated by Mondo, was damp and stuffy.
Sing Sing walked in the middle of the group, his senses spreading out in all directions from the soles of his feet, searching for any unusual energy fluctuations.
Li Qianhuan followed behind him, holding an energy ball in her left hand, the light barely illuminating the ground beneath her feet.
"Uncle, is that 749 Bureau you're talking about really as good as you make it out to be?"
When did I ever play that?
"Mondo told me about the seven types of insurance, three types of funds, paid annual leave, etc., it sounded like a pyramid scheme."
"You don't know anything! Pyramid schemes trick you into paying money, we give you money! It's the complete opposite!"
Sing Sing held Li Qianhuan's views in utter contempt. "This is called the superiority of socialism. I'll send you two books to read later, and I guarantee they'll give you a completely new understanding of China's unique employment system."
"Not rare."
"Free."
"... We'll see."
After a while, the group noticed a change in their surroundings. Mondo's face appeared on the soil beside them, and a muddy hand reached out, making a shushing gesture.
After advancing for a few minutes, a dense layer of cold-rolled alloy steel appeared before everyone's eyes.
Colossus's fists clenched so tightly they cracked, and anger flashed across his metallic face. "Illyana is deep inside..."
"Stay calm, don't get emotional! Follow my instructions!"
Sing Sing pressed down on Colossus's shoulder and said seriously, "Impulsiveness won't save your sister."
Colossus closed his eyes, took two deep breaths, and nodded.
Mondo struggled to dissolve the steel plate; perhaps because the steel wall was too thick, the assimilation process was noticeably slower this time.
About ten seconds later, the steel plate finally slowly crumbled, forming a gap.
Sing Sing Chow was the first to peek out, and luckily there was a container-like object in front of him.
After confirming that no one was around, everyone hid behind the wall.
Before me stood a steel fortress.
Above, there are intelligent linear high-bay lights, whose dazzling white light leaves no shadows in the entire space.
Dozens of guards dressed in hazmat suits and carrying electromagnetic rifles patrolled back and forth along a fixed route.
Just as the group was quietly planning their respective routes, the ceiling of the entire underground facility lit up with a red light.
"Warning! Molecular mutation has occurred on the outermost layer! Unauthorized substance intrusion detected! Core defense mechanism activated!"
The red light illuminated everyone's face.
The metal floor beneath their feet clicked twice, and the foothold the five people were standing on vanished.
"Ahhh!" Li Qianhuan screamed, clutching her head.
"Help! Mondo's going to die!" Mondo cried out, waving his arms and legs in despair.
"Idiot..." Silver Fox gritted her teeth.
"Illyana!" Colossus roared.
"Holy crap! I haven't bought accident insurance yet!!"
Amidst Director Zhou's screams, the five men lined up and plunged into the abyss.
--
Sigh, the data is dismal...