Following Howard into an underground warehouse, Han Lin saw a large number of energy weapons and an extra-long vintage car. Curious, he looked over Schmidt's ride.
After circling it once, Han Lin saw Dr. Zola, who looked like a big-headed doll and wore glasses, tied securely to a tire by Howard. He was holding a piece of metal and sawing at the rope.
Han Lin gave Howard a strange look and asked, "Buddy, do you have some special fetish? Did you specifically study bondage techniques? You're a lot like certain perverts from island nations."
Howard was completely baffled. He stared at Han Lin with a face full of question marks.
Without waiting for him to speak, Han Lin said directly to Dr. Zola, "Arnim Zola, an exiled geneticist and the first human genetic engineer in history. After being recruited by Hydra, you devoted yourself to developing the Cosmic Cube. Those energy weapons outside were your work, weren't they?"
The big-headed Zola looked at Han Lin gloomily. "I know you, Han Lin. Schmidt put you and Steve Rogers on his kill list. I never expected you to be this powerful. Haven't you seen what happened to Dr. Erskine?"
Han Lin cut the ropes, pulled the little man up from the ground, and held him before his eyes. "That powerful Red Skull Schmidt you imagine abandoned you and the entire base and ran away. He didn't even dare meet me, yet you say I should fear him. Did Schmidt's brutality scare you stupid?"
Dr. Zola said somewhat self-deceptively, "Hydra is the guidance of the gods. Schmidt will send all of you to hell."
Han Lin was almost amused by his anger. Turning to Howard, he said, "Take him to Steve. We need someone to keep an eye on Dr. Zola. He's important to Schmidt, and having him in our hands will make Schmidt's plans harder to carry out. Have Steve lock him up with Dr. Betthold Stenberg. We can hand them over to Colonel Phillips when we return."
Han Lin looked at the stretched vintage car. If his arsenal had not lacked the space, he would have been very interested in taking the big thing with him.
Shaking his head in disappointment, Han Lin turned to the neatly arranged energy weapons. He was only interested in the two energy cannons at the back that had not been mounted on armored vehicles. The rest were of little use—slow firing rate, slow charging. To Han Lin now, the two M1911s were far more lethal than these powerful but slow-firing energy guns.
He put one of the energy cannons into his arsenal, then picked up an energy cube that glowed with a brilliant blue light.
"Ding. Spatial energy source detected. Absorption can restart the Blacklight System. Absorb?" Just as Han Lin was about to study the energy cube, the sound froze him in place. Looking at the energy cube in his hand, Han Lin chose to absorb it.
"Absorption complete. Trace amount of spatial energy absorbed. Blacklight System activation: 0.01%."
Hearing the system's voice, Han Lin looked speechlessly at the fewer than one hundred energy cubes before him.
"So I need to absorb ten thousand energy cubes to activate the system. Even if I absorb all of these, it won't increase it by even one percent."
Han Lin shook his head in disappointment and looked at Agent Carter, who had come down the passage. "Have someone transport these out. Let the soldiers keep the ones they're carrying. Take the rest back and ask Colonel Phillips about them. Find a large box to store those energy cubes together. Howard's main research subject from now on will be these.
"Oh, right. Can I drive this car back? I think I really like it." By the end, Han Lin asked somewhat hesitantly.
Carter stared at Han Lin with her beautiful wide eyes and pointed at the extra-long car. "You want it? What do you need such a huge car for? You couldn't even drive it around in New York!"
Han Lin looked at Carter, his face reddening. "Don't you think it'd look especially cool to drive it out?"
"If you want it, just drive it back. We should be heading to New York this time anyway. When the time comes, you can have Colonel Phillips apply for a transport route and take it back to New York," Agent Carter said, rolling her pretty eyes.
"That's great..." Han Lin was as excited as a child. "Clean up the battlefield. We're fighting our way back. There are so many people here, so we need to prepare for enemy attacks on the way back."
After two days of fighting, Han Lin led more than four hundred Allied soldiers and over three hundred German Army prisoners back to Colonel Phillips's camp. Seeing Han Lin at the front driving that extra-long car and leading the vast procession behind him, Colonel Phillips, who had returned to the base, stood there in a daze.
"Did you go sightseeing behind enemy lines? Why did you bring back such a huge thing?" As he spoke, he kicked the front of the car.
Han Lin smiled and saluted Colonel Phillips. "Captain Han Lin, the behind-enemy-lines rescue mission has been completed. During the operation, we found new rescue targets and rescued two researchers, Arnim Zola and Betthold Stenberg. We freed 463 imprisoned Allied soldiers, captured 327 enemy soldiers, destroyed an important Hydra Research Base, and found a map showing the distribution of Hydra Research Bases within the enemy base."
With Steve, Carter, and Howard, he entered the office. Colonel Phillips looked delightedly at the two doctors Steve had brought over and said:
"Tomorrow, you'll return to New York with me. The people above want to see you. This time, you may be promoted to field-grade officers. You completed this mission far better than I expected, so the people above need Steve to make more public appearances."
Han Lin asked, somewhat confused, "You mean Steve and me together? They only built up Steve's image. Why add me this time?"
Colonel Phillips said with some confusion as well, "The higher-ups didn't notify me of the specifics. I only know they told me to bring you back! I originally tried to put them off by saying you were on a mission, but now that the mission has been successfully completed, I believe they'll know about it soon. So I figured I'd bring you back directly.
"Besides, the doctors have made some progress, so they want us to go back and take a look."
When Han Lin heard that the doctors had made research progress, he was delighted as well. Their research could only concern Han Lin's blood or the Super Soldier Serum. Progress in either would be of tremendous help to him.
He quickly nodded, then went down with Steve and the other two to rest.
Early the next morning, Colonel Phillips arranged for a large transport plane and hauled Han Lin's extra-long car, an energy tank, an energy cannon, and several energy weapons back. Howard piloted the plane.
Steve had looked puzzled when he heard the colonel mention the doctors yesterday, so Han Lin could only have Carter explain that Dr. Erskine was alive. She clearly explained the entire sequence of events, and Steve went from surprise to shock at Han Lin's abilities.
Thinking back to their first meeting, he asked, "Did you know from the beginning that I would become Captain America?"
"Yes. I also knew that if I hadn't interfered, Congressman Brand would have taken you away to perform like a monkey and sell war bonds. After all, you were an unknown hero at the time," Han Lin said teasingly.
Han Lin calmly revealed the plan in his heart. "Then you definitely knew I wouldn't expose Dr. Erskine. Why didn't you tell me he wasn't dead?"
"I needed the enemy to believe Dr. Erskine was dead. And you, his greatest creation, would show them the power of his revenge. If I had told you, with your personality, I think you would have suffered more losses on the battlefield.
"That's why I didn't tell you. Only then could Steve Rogers become that great Captain America. You're a good man who radiates kindness from the bottom of your heart. A good man needs a bad man like me to watch his back."
After receiving Han Lin's explanation, Steve became even more emotional. Dr. Erskine, who had given him a second life, was alive. The exhaustion from Steve's pent-up battles suddenly swept over him, and he fell asleep leaning against Agent Carter.
The plane arrived in New York at noon. Phillips took all the equipment to the American military base.
Han Lin and the others were picked up by Howard's private car, but Han Lin drove his own car onto the road. It took him a grueling two hours to slowly reach Howard's secret base, drawing countless stares along the way.
Han Lin cursed angrily, "Motherfxxk, I'm never driving this thing out again..." Then he turned and gave Dr. Erskine a hug.
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