Red Skull Schmidt

Han Lin quickly took out the controller Howard had given him from the armory.

Though he had no idea how powerful Howard's bombs were, Han Lin walked over to the window and said to himself, "Steve, ready to fight?"

The moment he spoke, he pressed the controller in his hand.

"Boom! Boom! Boom..." Explosions tore through the entire building as the high-explosive bombs triggered a chain reaction in the limitless energy supply.

Watching the floors collapse over a wide area beneath the towering blasts, smoke and dust filling the surroundings, Han Lin leaned out to look at the devastated weapons factory. He did not dare linger, smashing through the window and jumping into the open space beside the building.

The instant he landed, several searchlights shone on him, making it impossible for Han Lin to open his eyes.

A cold voice, like glass grinding together, sounded from every loudspeaker in the base. "Han Lin, neither an American nor a super-soldier test subject—how did you obtain such powerful strength?"

Han Lin listened to the footsteps around him and the rapid turning of tank treads.

Han Lin gave a bitter smile. He suddenly missed Steve's shield. The thought did not last long before the cold voice sent a chill through him.

Han Lin cautiously spoke up. "Johann Schmidt, Hydra's supreme commander, Red Skull?"

"It is me. It seems you know me. Did Dr. Erskine mention me to you?" Schmidt asked.

Han Lin nodded and sneered. "He did. A pathetic fool whose mind was consumed by power."

Schmidt's voice grew even colder. "What do you know? This is the power of a god. With it, I founded Hydra, and it is still growing. What qualifications does Hitler, that speechmaker obsessed only with war, have? Once a man's strength reaches the point where he fears no one in the world, someone can replace him at any time."

Han Lin raised an eyebrow. "So you only want to replace him and become the god of the world? But you do not even have the courage to stand before me. So the god you speak of is nothing more than a cowardly sewer rat. Right now, I am being threatened by weapons you made. So tell me, will anyone use those same things to threaten you someday?"

Having been struck where it hurt, Schmidt furiously smashed the things around him. "I will not let that happen! Today's trap was meant to make you disappear from this world. Next time, I will take your super soldier and fulfill the rest of my dream. Open fire..."

Before his words could finish, and before the soldiers could react, a blue-painted shield came whistling through the air.

At the same time, someone shot out the searchlights. Han Lin instantly leaped into the air, stepping on the heads of the front-row soldiers as he reached for the shield.

Han Lin grabbed the shield, strapped it onto his left arm, and the recovered soldiers opened fire. Han Lin curled himself behind the round shield as best he could, throwing high-explosive grenades into the densest clusters of enemies while charging through the barrage toward the enemy's energy artillery vehicles.

Once Han Lin rushed into the enemy formation, their high-powered weapons no longer dared fire recklessly. If they missed Han Lin, they would hit their own men. Losses were one thing, but death was the only reason they stopped. Han Lin looked at the energy artillery vehicles and energy tanks around him as they ceased firing, waiting for the figure rushing toward him from afar.

The moment the base exploded, Steve led Carter and Howard out of their hiding place.

As Steve rapidly approached the base, he saw Han Lin's predicament. After telling Carter and Howard to watch their safety, he accelerated to save Han Lin. Though he did not know how powerful those blue energy guns were, the threat faintly emanating from their muzzles made Steve feel that giving Han Lin his shield was the best choice.

After racing behind enemy lines, Steve threw his shield at once, smashing one unfortunate Hydra soldier's head into a ninety-degree angle. He seized the energy gun and used the chaos to cover Han Lin. Any front-row soldiers who dared fire were blasted to ash by Steve.

Carrying the energy gun as he ran toward Han Lin, Steve moved so quickly that the surrounding German Army soldiers had not even reacted before he was already standing beside Han Lin.

"How about it? I saved you this time, didn't I?" Steve said happily.

Han Lin rolled his eyes. "If not for Carter and Howard, the two of us would have been standing where I was just now, and you would definitely have been the one I used as a shield. You should thank that beautiful lady. You need to be more proactive around beautiful women."

Hearing that, Steve wondered if he had chosen the wrong weapon. Then he remembered that Han Lin had picked his weapon for him, and he looked at Han Lin speechlessly.

Han Lin quickly returned the shield to Steve and had him guard his side. Then Han Lin activated Warhammer Form and slammed both fists viciously into the ground. A vast field of spikes rose from the earth, startling both the surrounding German Army soldiers and Steve. The German Army soldiers were hurled into the air by the shockwave, while Han Lin used his body to shield Steve from the blast radius.

Punch after punch cleared a huge empty area around them. Han Lin flipped onto an artillery vehicle and violently tore the energy cannon off its mounting. Looking at the futuristic energy cannon in his hands, Han Lin thought that he could have Howard build a larger one someday. Carrying it around with him would be nice—he could take it out to scare anyone he disliked.

As he prepared to fire, the system's voice sounded.

Skill unlocked: Launcher, Level 1. Ammo capacity +25%, damage +20%. Little Soldier, Big General: Damage when attacking with enemy weapons or vehicles +10%.

At the same time, thunderous battle cries erupted from the Allies' prisoner camp. All the Allied prisoners charged out without fear of death, grabbing anything that could be used as a weapon.

The Allies' fearless charge threw the enemy formation into chaos.

Seeing the battlefield descend into a melee, with the German Army across from them beginning to lose morale and only scattered Hydra elites still firing, Han Lin did not care about any of that. He directly fired the cannon. The powerful recoil lifted the muzzle, and the blast punched a huge hole through the base of a sentry tower.

Seeing the weapon's power after picking it up, Han Lin let out a strange cry. "Whoa. Good thing I never thought about taking that hit head-on."

Once the charge bar finished charging, Han Lin fired a second shot into the crowd.

Blue light streaked through the air, carving out a two-meter-wide path before striking the base wall and blasting a huge hole through it.

Han Lin searched the crowd for his target but did not find Schmidt. He could only continue clearing out the soldiers around him.

Meanwhile, seeing events slip out of control, Schmidt quickly activated the self-destruct device on the control panel. He removed the Cosmic Cube from the energy transmitter and placed it inside a specialized protective container.

Hearing the sound of an aircraft overhead, Han Lin looked up at the uniquely designed triangular disc aircraft. He raised the energy cannon in his hand and fired a shot that appeared to be aimed at it. Blue light shot into the sky.

Inside the aircraft, Schmidt watched the blue light flash past not far from him. Fear rose in his heart as he cursed, pushed the thrust to maximum, and rapidly vanished into the sky.

Han Lin watched the energy cannon in his hands slowly recharge. It seemed he needed to learn how to use large-scale military weapons.

Unable to keep Schmidt behind, Han Lin vented all his frustration on the German Army. The two customized, large-caliber M1911 pistols Howard had made seemed to have bullets that tracked enemies in Han Lin's hands, rapidly harvesting enemy lives.

The customized dual pistols had an effective range of around 150 meters, but with Han Lin's skills enhancing them, he never missed within 200 meters. The shattered German Army soldiers soon raised white flags in surrender. Han Lin was not bloodthirsty; since they had surrendered, there was no need to keep fighting.

Han Lin watched Steve and Agent Carter work together to direct the prisoners in clearing the battlefield, while he searched the battlefield for Howard.

"Have either of you seen Howard?" Han Lin asked Carter and Steve.

Both shook their heads. Han Lin jumped down from the armored vehicle and headed into the base. After running for a while, he found Stark sighing at the ruined base.

"Hey, man, how did you get over here? I thought you'd been killed!" Han Lin said, pretending to wipe tears from the corners of his eyes.

"I came in through a secret passage. There's a basement over there with a large stockpile of energy weapons. I caught someone there—a target of Colonel Phillips, I think. It seems to be Dr. Zola." Howard gave the factory a disappointed look before turning to Han Lin.