Red Carp Green Carp and Donkey

After a long while, the antique computer in Li Feng's eyes finally finished loading. Talos, standing beside it, also let out a sigh of relief. He had truly been afraid that this piece of junk would take so long to load that his legs went numb. Isn't this wasting my time? Do they know how badly I miss my family right now?

Beside him, Carol listened blankly to the voice recording from the computer. Images kept surging through her mind—back when she had been part of Project Pegasus, flying a fighter jet while being pursued by an alien craft.

Once Carol understood the source of her extraordinary powers, and realized that either the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree had been deceiving her for the past six years or the black box recording had been forged, she ran from the room in panic and confusion, her mind filled with questions of who she was and where she was.

Worried that her friend would not be able to handle the blow, Maria ran after her, intending to comfort the confused Carol. Talos followed as well, unwilling to miss his chance to reunite with his family.

Only Li Feng and Fury remained in the room.

After taking a sip of water, Fury touched his pistol and asked, "You said your name was Austin?"

Li Feng spread his hands. "Should I praise you for having such a good memory? It's been so long, yet you still remember my name."

The hell do you mean, so long? It hasn't even been half an hour. With your attitude, I want to lock you up until you die of old age.

Fury touched his pistol again, preparing to draw it and scare Li Feng. Li Feng found this somewhat helpless. He could not be sure whether this future Feiqiu would actually shoot him.

Although I always have a magic shield ready and don't fear your lousy gun, it'd be best not to reveal my abilities if I can avoid it. Can't you just let me peacefully watch Captain Marvel fight aliens? If nothing else, can't you treat me like some insignificant onlooker here for the show?

Scratching between his brows, Li Feng looked at the pistol aimed at him and shrugged helplessly. "Fine, my name is Austin. What can I do for you, sir?"

Fury did not care whether Li Feng was implying that he was senile. He only cared whether the man would speak under the threat of a gun. As long as he controlled the rhythm of the conversation, a veteran agent like him could always find clues in the smallest details.

"Just Austin? What's your full name?"

Knowing only the name "Austin" and seeing a stubbly face, Fury was confident that he could still dig up some information on him, but that would take a great deal of time to investigate.

There were nowhere near as many street cameras now as there would be in the future. If Fury had to investigate slowly, the intelligence he uncovered would probably be outdated by the time he got it.

Li Feng sat in the chair with his back against it, legs crossed and looking utterly carefree. He tilted his head and thought for a moment before saying, "Want to know more? Easy. Just repeat a passage after me and make sure your pronunciation is clear. Then even if you ask me whether I still wet the bed, I'll tell you."

Fury frowned. He was not afraid of merely repeating something. He was skilled in many languages, and even understood Chinese.

After considering it, Fury nodded and agreed to Li Feng's request. He planned to first hear what Li Feng wanted him to repeat before deciding anything else. He refused to believe that merely repeating some words could be difficult.

Fury made a gesture for him to continue, then listened in utter bewilderment as Li Feng said, "Red Carp Green Carp's family has a little green donkey named Li Lü Lü. Green Carp's family has a little red donkey named Lü Li Li. Red Carp says his Li Lü Lü is greener than Green Carp's Lü Li Li. Green Carp says his Lü Li Li is redder than Red Carp's Li Lü Lü. Who knows whether Green Carp's donkey is redder than Red Carp's, or Red Carp's donkey is greener than Green Carp's?"

After speaking, Li Feng held out his right hand toward Fury and raised one finger. "As long as you say all that once, quickly and clearly, ask me anything you want."

Fury was dumbfounded. He could tell it was a Chinese tongue twister, but what the hell was he, a foreigner, supposed to do with a tongue twister? Even if someone pulled out his tongue and straightened it with an iron on the spot, he still could not say the whole thing.

With an unfriendly look in his eyes, Fury raised the muzzle slightly and aimed it at Li Feng's forehead.

Li Feng calmly ignored the pistol in front of him. You think that thing in your hand is an energy weapon that can pierce my magic shield? Save it. You're not Captain Marvel, that overpowered cheat. She has overwhelming energy that directly suppresses my Mana. What do you have? This toy gun?

Still, Li Feng knew he had pushed Fury a little too far. What if this agent assigned someone to follow him every day? Wouldn't that be annoying?

Curling his lip, Li Feng said disdainfully, "You can't even handle something that simple. Want me to switch to a tongue twister that even a three-year-old can say so you can try again?"

Three years old? Then come up with one a four-year-old can say.

Fury lowered his pistol, his mouth twitching as he listened to the Chinese tongue twister Li Feng rattled off.

"Red Carp Green Carp and donkey."

Damn it, this is what three-year-olds in your family can say?

Seeing Fury's deeply resentful little stare, Li Feng felt wonderful, even better than drinking an ice-cold cola in an air-conditioned room during summer. Damn it, I've finally avenged those two years of suffering through English study. And I got revenge on the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. too. Feels great.

Thinking back to how miserably he had stayed in Chinatown studying English, Li Feng felt dizzy and weak in the limbs. Hmph. You made me study English! Now you can study a foreign language too, and the hardest one at that—Chinese.

Thinking of the vast depth of Chinese, just take the word "I." Men could call themselves "your lordship," women could say "this old lady," emperors used "we," empresses used "this bereaved one," young scholars used "this humble student," monks used "this poor monk," Taoists used "this humble Daoist," rough folk used "us," literati used "this humble one," officials used "this official," commoners used "this unworthy one," elders used "this old man," inferiors speaking upward used "this one," and those speaking downward used "this seat."

Then look at your crude English. You only have one "I" to describe yourselves.

Grinning, Li Feng reached out and pushed aside the pistol Fury had angrily pressed against his forehead, signaling for Fury to be careful with it and not let it accidentally go off and waste bullets. "Want to know all my secrets? Go learn Chinese slowly, then!"

Li Feng stood and looked out the window, saying mysteriously, "Believe me, we'll meet again someday. Now isn't the time for you to know who I am."

Fury was somewhat displeased, but there was nothing he could do about Li Feng. Aliens could turn into his colleagues or superiors, and he had no idea whom he could trust at the moment. He could only wait until this was over and investigate the man's identity himself.

As for imprisoning Li Feng, Fury only thought about it. First, Li Feng had committed no crime, so he had no right to detain him. Second, from Carol and Talos's reactions, Fury could tell that Li Feng was not as helpless as his Little Belly appearance suggested.

Outside the window, Carol, who had just recovered part of her memories, could not figure out who she was—Carol Danvers, a pilot from Earth, or Vers, a Kree warrior. Her mood was easy to imagine, so naturally she resented Talos for still forcing her, with her mind in a complete mess, to help him.

Fortunately, Maria said with absolute certainty, "Your name is Carol Danvers. You're the person recorded in that black box. You would risk your life to do what was right. You're my best friend."

In the end, with Maria's heartwarming words and warm embrace, Carol understood what she needed to do.

At dusk, the group, having regained their composure, gathered in the living room again to discuss the energy core and the location of Lawson Laboratory.

Carol said, "Those numbers aren't coordinates. They're energy vectors."

Maria said, "They teach that in high school physics."

To be honest, Li Feng, who had been treating himself like part of the background as he quietly leaned against the wall and ate bread, found it funny that the Skrulls' chief scientist looked completely lost and said he did not understand. At the same time, he sadly thought:

Damn it, I don't understand either. As a transmigrator who didn't receive even the tiniest fragment of this body's original memories, forget American high school physics—I don't even know what year or month this body was born. Should I feel guilty toward all those other transmigrators who possessed bodies too? After all, I've embarrassed you all.

The living room meeting ended when the Skrulls' chief scientist stated that he could use a hammer and screwdriver to modify the plane Carol had stolen from the joint NASA-Air Force facility into a spaceship.

Li Feng followed behind the chief scientist with a curious look. He wanted to see how the man was so amazing that he could turn an airplane into a spaceship. Forget installing some gravity device on the plane—how was he going to provide oxygen for the pilots in space?

As for whether anyone would suffer from motion sickness or altitude sickness after flying into space, Li Feng was not worried. Look at who was going to Outer Space this time. Carol and Talos had both worked in space for years, so there was no need to mention them. They had long since adapted to the space environment.

Maria was a retired Air Force pilot, so flight altitude was not a problem for her physical condition.

Finally, there was Fury. Who knew what training he had received? In any case, he showed no concern about going into space without a spacesuit.

Li Feng was also on the list of people heading to Lawson Laboratory. The reason was that Feiqiu said Austin already knew too much, so knowing a little more would not matter. Fury had only one goal: not letting little Austin leave his sight. Forget sleeping—even when Li Feng went to the bathroom, Fury intended to watch him, lest he take the opportunity to run away.

Li Feng rubbed his forehead. He had not gotten airsick in his previous life, so in this life he probably, maybe, perhaps would not get airsick either. Still, this would be his first time riding in a plane that could leave Earth. He wondered what it would be like and hoped it would be a trip worth praising.

In the backyard, Li Feng stared blankly as the chief scientist used a grinder to polish parts and modify the plane.

After a long while, Li Feng still could not make sense of it. He yawned and turned to leave. Damn it, being uneducated is rough. I didn't understand any of it. Anyway, his modifications aren't magical at all. Right, not magical. I'm a Mage. So what if I can't understand it? Am I proud?

Fury had wanted to keep watching how the Skrulls' chief scientist would modify the plane with his bare hands, but Li Feng was already looking sleepy and preparing to return to his room. What could he do? He could only reluctantly follow behind Li Feng to sleep, looking back every few steps.

What was the relationship between Skrulls and chameleons on Earth? Both were green all over. The only difference was that chameleons changed color, while Skrulls changed shape.

Fury stroked his chin and thought, When I get the chance, I should collect some Skrull genes and chameleon genes to compare them. Maybe after hundreds of millions of years of evolution, chameleons will turn into Skrulls.