Space-Time Travel

Chen Mo went from the rolling cabin to solid ground in an instant. Unable to adjust at first, he staggered and fell to the ground.

Having just escaped death in a plane crash, Chen Mo quickly scrambled to his feet. After confirming that he was safe, he calmed himself and looked around at his surroundings.

The narrow streets, the old buildings built of red brick—everything carried the weathered historical feel of an old American neighborhood from a movie. The atmosphere of another era rushed over him.

Having only just gained the ability to travel through time and space, Chen Mo had received no information about this world. He would have to explore everything himself.

As Chen Mo stood at the mouth of an alley, looking around, two Black street thugs passing by spotted him. They exchanged glances, both wearing smug smiles at the sight of easy prey.

Chen Mo was neatly dressed and clearly not one of those ragged poor people. He was Asian, alone, and looked completely unfamiliar with the place. To the two men, he was a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

The two stepped forward and surrounded Chen Mo. One of them pulled out a knife and threatened, "Kid! Behave yourself, or you'll be sorry!"

The other grabbed Chen Mo by the arm and shoved him toward the alley behind them.

He had only just arrived in this world and was already being robbed. Chen Mo was rather speechless. Glancing at the pedestrians around him, all pretending not to see anything, he turned and walked into the alley of his own accord.

"Smart kid!"

The two thugs did not think much of it and followed Chen Mo in. In their eyes, Asians were probably all this weak and easy to bully.

Chen Mo stopped at the corner, looked ahead and behind him, then nodded. It was a dead end. No one outside could see what happened here.

Ten minutes later, Chen Mo walked out of the alley with several dozen extra dollars in his storage space.

Chen Mo discovered that his strength had increased again. He had been a little too heavy-handed earlier, and the two thugs were still unconscious in the alley. But he had basically figured out the situation.

This was Brooklyn, New York, United States. It was now December 1941, during World War II. The European battlefield was in full swing, and just days earlier, Japan had attacked the US Army at Pearl Harbor. The United States had officially entered the war as a result.

Chen Mo could not help marveling at the strange twists of fate. He had originally been headed for Los Angeles, but before he could get there in reality, he had arrived in New York in another world instead—only more than seventy years earlier.

Having figured out his current circumstances, Chen Mo found a hotel and checked in with the money he had taken from the two thugs.

Over the next few days, Chen Mo spent his time between libraries and bars, learning about this world. His highly developed brain gave him exceptional intelligence, along with formidable abilities to think and process information. He learned anything very quickly, and in just a few days, his English sounded no different from that of the locals.

That morning, Chen Mo left the hotel and, as usual, bought several newspapers from the newsstand at the entrance.

At this time, recruitment posters covered every street and alley. The newspapers were filled with news of the war. Patriotic fervor among the public had reached unprecedented heights, and large numbers of young people enlisted, heading for the Pacific and European battlefields.

This seemed to be a world exactly like Earth during World War II.

Chen Mo now faced a problem. He could not remain in this world forever; sooner or later, he had to return. But according to the information about time-space travel in his mind, no matter how long he stayed in other worlds, only an instant would pass in Earth's original time-space.

In other words, after returning, Chen Mo would still appear in the rolling cabin and still face mortal danger. Although his physical condition had improved this time and was now close to the limits of humanity, it was still not enough to guarantee his survival in the crash.

Chen Mo had to find a way to improve his strength as quickly as possible. Based on his experiences over this period, tempering himself between life and death should be the fastest way to grow stronger at present. With no better option, he could only find a way to join the military and head to the battlefield. Or perhaps the gangs would make decent opponents as well.

As Chen Mo read the newspaper and considered whether to become a cop or a criminal next, his gaze suddenly sharpened. A familiar name appeared before him. One section of the newspaper prominently read: "America's largest arms manufacturer, 'Stark Industries,' signed a new weapons procurement contract with the military yesterday."

Chen Mo was certain that no large American arms company called Stark had existed during World War II in his reality.

After looking into it further, Chen Mo learned that Stark Industries had been founded by the American genius scientist Howard Stark.

After this enhancement, Chen Mo's memory had nearly reached the point of photographic recall. As long as he focused, he could clearly remember anything he had seen once.

Chen Mo could also clearly recall most of the plots of movies he had watched before. Combining the current date with the photograph of Howard Stark he found in the newspaper, Chen Mo could basically conclude that he was now in the world of the movie "Captain America."

And it was before the story began. Red Skull Johann Schmidt had yet to obtain the Cosmic Cube, and Captain America was still a frail, patriotic young man with no way to serve his country.

The power levels in this world were not particularly high. Even Captain America, the strongest, merely had a more powerful body and was not much stronger than Chen Mo now. There were no overwhelmingly powerful, impossible-to-match enemies.

But this world also had some good things.

When it came to improving his abilities, Chen Mo had many more options. After carefully reviewing the movie's plot in his mind, Chen Mo came up with a bold and crazy idea.

Once the idea emerged, it became impossible to suppress. The risks were great, but correspondingly, the rewards after success would also be enormous. As long as he prepared well and took every step carefully, the chances of success were still high. Fortune favored the bold. Chen Mo decided to take a gamble.

To realize this idea, Chen Mo had many things to do, yet he did not have much time left. He had to act immediately.

But before that, Chen Mo needed to scrape together some travel money.

That night, the headquarters and hideouts of several gang factions throughout Brooklyn were robbed. In some cases, even entire safes vanished. Their losses ranged from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars. At the time, the average annual income in the United States was still under a thousand dollars. A US Army pilot earned only 150 dollars a month, while ordinary soldiers made just 50. The gangs' losses were truly devastating.

While groups of gang thugs searched everywhere like madmen for the thief who had stolen their vast sums, their newly minted serial thief was "opening treasure chests" in the cargo hold of a freighter bound for Europe.