Scallop Warrior Takes Shape

Sitting on a wooden chair with a broken backrest, Cheng Tian cleaned the blood and gore off his shield by putting it into his inventory, a satisfied expression on his face.

However, this weapon inspection behavior, which seemed a bit obsessive-compulsive, didn't have much practical significance, as his suit was covered in bloodstains that were starting to stick and harden, and his face and hands were also somewhat dirty.

Besides Cheng Tian himself, in the tavern, which was so messy that there was almost no place to step, there was no one else standing, or rather, no one else alive.

Relying on his high Strength Attribute of 24, and the defensive performance boost from equipping two shields simultaneously, Cheng Tian had once again blocked the minions of a bar almost without taking damage, nearly annihilating them. The reason it was "nearly" was because the bartender who took money for the map had already escaped through a secret passage in the storeroom.

Cheng Tian's recklessness also depended on the terrain and his condition. For underground passages where the path ahead was completely unknown, he wouldn't risk charging in.

Don't let his current blood-stained appearance, so dirty it needed scrubbing, fool you; it was all other people's blood.

Amongst defensive equipment of the same type, the Giant's Head was a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none example, with very low defensive performance. But under the buff of the Captain America template, its defensive performance returned to a normal level.

At the same time, Cheng Tian also equipped Captain America's Shield in his main hand.

[Captain America's Shield: Shield, Template Armament. Equipment Requirement: Captain America Template/Strength 15. Defense: 25, Shield Bash Damage: 1-1. Durability: -/-.

An accidental product forged from original Edman Metal, it is indestructible, possesses extremely strong kinetic energy absorption, and has the characteristic of resisting external forces such as extreme temperature radiation.

The shield can 100% cancel the damage from all frontal ranged attacks whose scale does not exceed the shield's surface area, and will reflect the canceled attack.

The shield can absorb physical and energy impacts from the outside to the greatest extent, while maintaining its own properties unchanged.]

Because Captain America's Shield was a template armament that could stack enchantments with equipment of the same type, its shield bash damage was greatly nerfed, just like the whip from the previous template. At the same time, its attributes could not completely restore the original setting, after all, the source material was just an NES game with limited capabilities.

But unlike the attack, the shield's defensive performance was not weakened at all, fully embodying the characteristics from the original game.

The source material for Captain America's Shield and the Captain America template Cheng Tian loaded were both from the NES version of Captain's Orders. However, this translated title was actually the fault of domestic publishers back then, similar to how "Operation Wolf" was for "Chi Color Fortress," and "Green Beret" was for "Green Army." All were mistranslations, yet they were imprinted on a generation's hearts and became unchangeable.

Therefore, the true translated title for Captain's Orders should be Captain America and the Avengers.

What's more interesting is that the NES version was the only port among the same-titled adaptations across multiple platforms where the gameplay was significantly altered.

In its arcade original, there were up to four playable characters: Captain America, Hawkeye, Iron Man, and Vision, and the game type leaned more towards the beat 'em up genre.

However, on the NES, the game type directly became similar to Shin Demon Resurrection, an action-platformer with elements of exploration and puzzle-solving, and a large map with selectable stages.

At the same time, to save cartridge space, this version directly halved the number of playable characters, leaving only Captain America and Hawkeye. It even created an "original" plot for Iron Man and Vision, who were cut, directly killing them off in the story.

However, the greatly altered NES version also gave both Captain America and Hawkeye stronger character performances compared to the original version. This enhancement in character performance was reflected in the template Cheng Tian had loaded.

In the game, as long as the shield was kept facing the enemy, all ranged attacks that hit the shield could be reflected.

As Cheng Tian blocked the door to prevent the gang members from escaping, he was subjected to gunfire from half of the enemies. Clearly, these people had a high gun ownership rate.

But Cheng Tian, this Scallop Warrior, not only had Captain America's Shield but also a Giant Shield. With both shields blocking head-on, it was almost like a wall. Soon, the gang members discovered that their barrage of gunfire not only failed to break through Cheng Tian's shield defense but also caused their own side to suffer dozens of stray bullet injuries due to Captain America's Shield's highly random counter-attack mechanism, causing them to bleed and wail in pain.

But when they stopped focusing fire, it was Cheng Tian's turn to act.

The Captain America's Shield and the Giant's Head alternated, bouncing through the crowd.

While the former's Shield Bash damage was weaker, its impact potential was ample. Coupled with Cheng Tian's 24 Strength, it was enough to throw not just the Captain America's Shield with its excellent Kinetic Arc, but even a Pen could pierce a normal person's palm at mid-range.

The Giant's Head's throwing speed and accuracy were far inferior to the Captain America's Shield, but throwing it was like throwing a Bust Sketch. You tell me, would you dodge or not?~

It's worth mentioning that under the Captain America template's enhancement, the shield exhibited unusual usage in Cheng Tian's hands.

Normally, a shield is just a shield. Its primary function and positioning is as armor. So when you choose to throw it, it's equivalent to temporarily relinquishing ownership. The shield's bonuses disappear the moment it's thrown, and there's no such thing as Soul Binding. Theoretically, if another player picked it up, it would belong to them.

But even though Cheng Tian had already thrown the shield, the corresponding bonuses remained on him. He could also clearly feel that he still maintained some kind of connection with the shield.

Next, as long as he performed the Arm Shake motion within a certain distance with Spring Fist's power, both the Captain America's Shield and the Giant's Head would automatically return to the Equipment Slot on the corresponding arm.

This was clearly the effect of the "Shield Master" skill's description: "Your connection with the shield will become closer and more coordinated."

Relying on this miraculous Man-Shield Unity and the special shield in his hand, Cheng Tian could even perform some very peculiar and strange maneuvers...

This passive wipeout of the bar minions still yielded some rewards. Nearly twenty minions contributed three Black Iron Treasure Chests, with a significantly higher Drop Rate than zombies.

The first treasure chest contained a Windproof Lighter and a pack of three Cigars that could slightly accelerate MP Recovery. The second and third treasure chests yielded a "Moth Gang Fighter File" and a "Moth Gang Gunner File," respectively.

The moment these two Paper Items were obtained, Cheng Tian's Bounty Mission progress advanced by half!