The Disappearance of Man and Vehicle

At first, Owen did not care about the contents of the Magic Book when he took it. Doctors were a high-income group in the United States, so he had enough money to indulge his little hobbies, such as collecting old antiques.

Moreover, Owen had a cooperative relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D., which gave him even more sources for antiques.

So when Owen took the Magic Book, he immediately judged from the pages that it carried the aura of history.

Coulson had ostensibly brought Owen in because they needed a medical expert, so Owen had reason to believe that Fury wanted him to examine some ancient medical methods. But regardless of how advanced ancient medicine had been, what was there to see? Even in modern times, rapid technological development had rendered some medical concepts ineffective treatments.

Owen felt that the most likely possibility was merely some medical ideas limited by the technology of their era, unless some rich man had used this antique book, worthy of being displayed in a museum, to record the most advanced medical knowledge of the present day.

Thus, Owen was more interested in the Magic Book itself than in its contents.

Fury saw that Owen's attention was entirely on the material of the Magic Book and had no choice but to cough lightly, reminding Owen to turn his eyes to the text.

As for Fury interrupting his appreciation of an antique, Owen decided that, for the sake of Director Alexander Pierce's interest in this mission, he would take a look for him.

Once Owen seriously examined the contents, he began muttering things like, "Impossible," and, "This isn't right."

In Li Feng's eyes, Owen now looked like a psychiatric patient who needed to use his hand to keep track of the words he was reading.

Fury could tell that Owen kept saying it was impossible and wrong, but the incredulous expression on his face told Fury that the USB Drive Li Feng had given them needed to be thoroughly restored.

Only after night had completely fallen did Owen, who had loosened his tie and buried himself in the book, wipe at the nonexistent sweat on his forehead and look up to ask Fury for a bottle of water.

After Owen drank an entire bottle, Fury impatiently asked, "Mr. Owen, do you think you can replicate the experiment to resurrect corpses?"

Looking at the Magic Book, Owen sighed. "Judging from the contents, the experiment to resurrect corpses has already been completed. And I saw a record of using electric eels to resurrect corpses, which means this experiment was conducted quite a few years ago. Once I digest this knowledge, not only will I be able to replicate the experiment, I can also improve it in many ways and make the resurrected corpses stronger."

"Stronger?" Fury narrowed his eyes and asked curiously, "Their abilities can increase after resurrection?"

Owen nodded, raised his arm, and motioned for Fury to look at his bicep. "Human muscles are controlled by the brain. Even after professional training, when the brain's nerves stimulate the muscles and unleash their latent energy for greater speed and strength, they can only reach thirty to forty percent. But resurrected corpses are not controlled by a brain. With training, they can exert one hundred percent of their muscular strength."

Fury instinctively looked at Li Feng. He wanted to ask him how many such resurrected superhumans there were, where they were distributed, and whether they would affect society.

Li Feng saw Fury's concerns and smiled. "You always overthink things. Let me make it clear: no one has been resurrected so far, so put your mind at ease. And do you remember the side effect of this experiment that I mentioned?"

Fury and Owen both sneered.

Fury's thought was that since Li Feng knew about the side effects of resurrecting corpses, what was the point of claiming that no one had been resurrected?

Owen, meanwhile, knew Li Feng was lying from the contents of the Magic Book. The book had clearly told him that a doctor named Frankenstein had already resurrected a corpse using scattered internal organs.

At least one. As Owen considered how to report this to Pierce, he frowned over the side effect Li Feng had mentioned. At the very least, he had not found any record of side effects in the book. Perhaps I should conduct a secret experiment?

Fury looked Li Feng up and down and said, "From the sound of it, you don't seem to want to spread Resurrection Technology? This is resurrection. Do you know how crazy people would become if they learned you had this technology? As long as you helped them resurrect their family members, money and status would be within easy reach."

Of course Li Feng knew how valuable Resurrection Technology was. To say nothing else, if he resurrected all the American presidents lying in their graves and made them his backers, he could piss anywhere in the White House without anyone daring to stop him. They might even applaud him for pissing far.

As for those presidents having no souls or memories, did Fury think Li Feng would tell anyone that? Besides, who would believe there were no souls? This was a world where science reigned supreme. Souls did not exist in the first place.

And everyone died eventually. Once they kicked the bucket, they would still need Li Feng's technology to resurrect them. Wouldn't all the presidents climb out of their graves to take a family portrait as a memento? They would not dare offend Li Feng.

Now that Fury had confirmed that the experiment to resurrect corpses was feasible, Li Feng did not want outsiders to know too much about him. With a complicated expression, he raised his right hand and lightly snapped his fingers.

The moment Li Feng's expression changed, Fury swiftly drew his gun and aimed it at him. Only after seeing that Li Feng had merely snapped his fingers did Fury hesitate before preparing to return the gun to its holster. Without the slightest trace of apology on his face, he said, "Sorry. I don't know your exact identity. I only know that you can deal with a Kree Elite squad, which makes me a little nervous."

Li Feng, who had already completed his spell, rolled his eyes. "This is not the time to ask about my identity. Can't you sense such obvious goodwill from me? Nervous, my ass. I think you should see a doctor and check whether you even have a nervous system."

After saying that, Li Feng turned to Owen, who had been affected by the temptation spell, and bluntly asked, "Mr. Owen, are you with Hydra?"

Fury froze. Just as he was about to raise his gun and question Li Feng about Hydra, he heard Owen say, "Yes."

Damn it. Fury instinctively aimed his gun at Owen. Only then did he notice that Owen, who had not moved at all, had a vacant and dull look in his eyes. What is this?

"You snapped your fingers to hypnotize him?"

Fury found it unbelievable. No setup, no tools—just a snap of the fingers, and he hypnotized a grown man? So Austin is a superpowered individual, and his ability is hypnosis. Was that how he killed one of the Kree Elite Warriors aboard the Cruiser?

Upon hearing Owen's answer, Li Feng let out a long breath. "Yeah, hypnosis. Earlier, I was wondering how I should deal with Owen if he were an ordinary person so that news of resurrecting corpses would not leak out. Now things are much easier. Since Mr. Owen is with Hydra, I assume you'll make him keep his mouth shut."

Fury glared at Li Feng. He had previously considered that Li Feng might be an alien with all kinds of advanced technological equipment, or someone incredibly strong who could easily knock down seven or eight burly men. He had also considered that Li Feng might be a superpowered individual capable of breathing fire or something similar, but he had never imagined Li Feng's ability was hypnosis.

Hypnosis. That was far more troublesome than breathing fire. Not only could one be controlled by Austin if one was not careful, it was also damn hard to determine who he had controlled.

Even worse, Austin's ability clearly had nothing to do with resurrecting corpses.

This antique-looking book could be explained by saying the resurrection of corpses had happened more than two hundred years ago, but the USB Drive was definitely a modern product. Therefore, Austin could only have obtained the means to resurrect corpses from somewhere else.

While constantly raising Li Feng's threat level, Fury also sorted through the many questions in his mind, such as Austin's true identity and who he worked for.

Having already decided to subdue Li Feng and take him back to S.H.I.E.L.D. for a thorough interrogation, Fury was even considering who should monitor Li Feng in the future if an assessment determined that his powers would not go out of control and he was allowed to return to society. After all, the ability to hypnotize someone with a snap of the fingers was far too troublesome. Who knew whether Li Feng would simply hypnotize the monitors?

Watching Fury handcuff Owen without changing expression, Li Feng curled his lips disdainfully. He could guess what Fury was planning. After all, this guy was ruthless enough to stare without blinking while watching him bathe.

Fury opened the car door, intending to have Coulson take the still-hypnotized Owen back to S.H.I.E.L.D. But he had not expected Li Feng to suddenly kick him out of the RV. Before Fury could draw his gun, Li Feng said, "I'm going to sleep. I hate having people watch me while I sleep, so please get lost. We can talk tomorrow. And keep that little thing in your pocket safe. Don't let me see streets full of amnesiacs someday."

After being kicked out, Fury could only think that Li Feng was planning to escape, just as he had mysteriously disappeared aboard the Cruiser.

He drew his pistol, his single eye fixed firmly on Li Feng's hand to prevent him from suddenly snapping his fingers and hypnotizing him. "For the sake of you saving me earlier, and because we have gotten along reasonably well, as long as you come back to S.H.I.E.L.D. with me and register your abilities, I guarantee you won't be harmed."

"Heh." Li Feng sneered, casually shut the car door, and said, "No matter how big the world is, sleep comes first. Whatever it is, we'll talk tomorrow."

With that, Li Feng opened the roof hatch. Ignoring Fury, who was still knocking on the door, he carried two bottles of beer, peanuts, and White Cut Chicken that Coulson had bought and climbed onto the roof, leisurely taking a bite of peanuts and then a bite of chicken.

Coulson glanced at Li Feng, who sat cross-legged on the roof, and quietly asked Fury, "Sir, what do we do now? Mr. Austin obviously means no harm, and we cannot casually use lethal weapons."

Fury irritably shouted at Li Feng, "You're eating food I bought while giving me attitude, and you're making me watch without letting me drink. Where's your conscience?"

Li Feng did not even glance at Fury. After saying all that, he's just afraid I'll run and wants to squat on the roof to keep a close watch on me. As if I'd humor him.

Although Fury believed climbing onto an RV was nothing for someone as agile as him, he ultimately decided not to risk Li Feng hypnotizing him for no reason. Instead, he had May drive the car in front of the RV, blocking it so Li Feng could not leave. He would wait for reinforcements to arrive and then forcibly take Li Feng away.

Li Feng was no fool. He would not stay where he was and wait to be captured. So when Fury and Coulson moved a short distance away from the RV, he quietly opened a Portal.

Before the disbelieving eyes of Fury and the other two, an orange-yellow ring of light suddenly appeared beneath the RV and swallowed it in an instant.

Watching Li Feng suddenly disappear, Fury slammed his hand against his car door and cursed, "Damn it."