Li Chuan's Counterattack

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Li Chuan formed hand seals and spat out a massive fireball, which slammed violently into the mountain of weapons piled up in front of the cave.

A thunderous explosion erupted, triggering a chain reaction among the explosives. Flames soared into the sky, and within moments, the entire valley had completely collapsed.

His actions were not just to attract the attention of the military search and rescue team looking for Tony, but primarily to erase any traces of his activities.

"Mission to kill Laza and destroy his base completed. Mission rewards have been issued to the Mission Space."

As the explosions subsided, a pleasant notification chime sounded in Li Chuan's ears.

Standing beside him, Tony and Yinsen had their eyes wide open in shock.

"Have I been away from the sun for too long? My eyes must be playing tricks on me—I saw him spit a giant fireball out of his mouth!"

"Actually... I saw it too!"

They had just witnessed the impossible; they had watched Li Chuan spit a massive fireball straight from his mouth.

If Li Chuan's previous abilities had been within a range that, while surprising, was still somewhat understandable, this feat of breathing fire had completely shattered their perception of reality.

Tony had reasoned that changing one's appearance could be achieved through advanced holographic technology.

That was why, aside from his initial surprise, he hadn't been that shocked later on; he even suspected that Li Chuan might be carrying a piece of high-tech holographic equipment.

As for taking out an entire base of terrorists single-handedly, while terrifying, it was not entirely inconceivable—it could simply be attributed to exceptional combat skills.

But spitting a fireball the size of a person out of one's mouth? That was truly beyond scientific explanation.

Was Li Chuan a robot with a flamethrower installed in his mouth, using gasoline from his stomach as fuel?

Well, that clearly wasn't the right answer.

"The search and rescue team should be here soon. I hope you two can keep this a secret for me, because I don't want to be entangled with S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra. They are very troublesome!"

Li Chuan looked at Tony and Yinsen, who were staring at him with their mouths agape, his expression one of helplessness.

"Of course, we won't tell anyone about you. But I know about Hydra—weren't they wiped out during World War II? And what is S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Tony nodded, then asked with a puzzled look.

Every American knew about the organization known as Hydra, as they were the primary villains in every Captain America cartoon, movie, and play.

They were even documented in textbooks.

As a child, he had often heard his father, Howard, talk about Captain America; the two had been close friends and had fought side by side.

But everyone knew that the organization had been destroyed by Captain America during World War II, a victory that had cost Captain America his life.

As for S.H.I.E.L.D., he had never heard of it.

"You actually don't know about S.H.I.E.L.D.? It's the organization your father founded."

Li Chuan deliberately put on a look of surprise.

Tony was clearly even more surprised than he was:

"My father?"

"Alright, then I'll keep it brief. S.H.I.E.L.D. stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, and it was co-founded by your father, Peggy Carter, and Chester Phillips."

It has since grown into a global organization aimed at maintaining the safety of the entire planet. Its primary focus is dealing with terrorist organizations that threaten global security, individuals with superpowers or special abilities, and potential extraterrestrial threats.

Someone like me, possessing special abilities, would likely be captured and imprisoned the moment I was discovered. Even if I didn't do anything wrong, I would be under lifelong surveillance with no freedom to speak of."

Li Chuan gave a rough overview of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s situation.

Tony frowned:

"They are truly overbearing. Without violating the law, no one should have the right to control another person's freedom like that."

Having just been kidnapped and imprisoned for nearly a month, Tony was currently most repulsed by such behavior.

"Actually, if it were just that, it wouldn't be so bad. But from what I understand, the current S.H.I.E.L.D. is no longer that pure, because their internal ranks have been infiltrated by Hydra agents.

I know for a fact that several high-level agents are actually Hydra members. The ridiculous part is that their director, a guy named Nick Fury, has no idea.

So, for someone like me, once discovered, my fate would likely be to be secretly transferred by Hydra agents and dissected for human experimentation!"

Li Chuan shrugged.

Hearing Li Chuan's words, Tony's expression turned serious.

"Don't worry, Chuan. No matter who asks, Yinsen and I will not reveal your information."

"Haha, no need to be so serious. Just knowing is enough. If they really come after me, I'm not someone to be trifled with."

Li Chuan's face flashed with a hint of coldness, and Tony and Yinsen nodded subconsciously.

In truth, he had said all of this specifically for Tony to hear.

He hadn't retaliated when Garrett and the other Hydra members caused him trouble earlier because he didn't want to burn bridges with Hydra just yet, but that didn't mean he was going to let it slide.

He had considered finding Nick Fury to expose Hydra's identity, but why would Nick Fury believe a stranger over his old superiors and the subordinates he had personally trained?

Secondly, even if he could make Nick Fury suspicious, it would put a target on his own back. It was a lose-lose situation.

Later, he thought he might be able to do it anonymously—leaking the information to Nick Fury without revealing his identity, perhaps by using the Transformation Technique to sneak into S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and leaving a note or something similar.

However, it was equally difficult to convince Nick Fury that if things went poorly and Hydra discovered the truth first, they might strike at the few remaining genuine agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., effectively ending the organization prematurely.

The key for Li Chuan was that S.H.I.E.L.D. was not actually any better than Hydra; letting them fight amongst themselves was exactly what he wanted to see.

Therefore, he decided to leak this information to Tony first, then wait for Tony to pass it on to Nick Fury later. This way, he would not expose himself, and it would still force Nick Fury to be on high alert.

He would let S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra fight it out while he used the opportunity to slowly develop his own strength.

At the same time, he could win Tony over, ensuring he would not stand entirely on the side of S.H.I.E.L.D.

In fact, in the original movies, Tony had always been wary of S.H.I.E.L.D., never fully trusting them and feeling repulsed by many of their methods.

"The people coming to pick you up are here; I'm leaving!"

Watching the faint black dots appearing in the distant sky, Li Chuan knew the search and rescue team had discovered the anomaly and was rushing over to investigate.