Helping S.H.I.E.L.D. "Move Bricks"

The desert's hot wind carried grit that crackled against the hastily erected canvas awnings. Lin Mo crouched before the hiring station in Pepper Town, staring at the crumpled job notice in his hand—S.H.I.E.L.D.'s logistics department was hiring temporary workers to move equipment, paying one hundred and fifty dollars a day and providing two meals.

"Are you crazy?" Ted lowered his voice beside him, nearly crushing the ice-cold soda in his hand. "That's S.H.I.E.L.D.! If they recognize you as that 'Wall-Crawler' from Queens, they'll dissect you for sure!"

Lin Mo said nothing, simply staring at the address on the notice—it was inside the blockade's logistics area, less than a kilometer from the rocky site where the hammer was. This was his only chance to get close to it. If he missed it, who knew how long he would have to wait? "Don't worry." He folded the notice and slipped it into his pocket. "They're hiring movers, not agents. Who's going to notice some guy carrying boxes?"

"But your strength..." Ted did not finish before Lin Mo silenced him with a look.

After returning from the hammer's vicinity last night, Lin Mo had not slept at all. The energy resonance prompt on his wristband had kept flashing, [Synchronization Rate: 30%], like a thorn lodged in his heart. He knew that sneaking around and observing from afar would never reveal the connection between the wristband and the hammer. He needed a legitimate reason to cross that blockade.

At the registration desk, a middle-aged man in uniform was checking a list with his head lowered. His badge read, "Logistics Supervisor Wesley." He looked up and gave Lin Mo an appraising once-over. "Done physical labor before?"

"I moved servers in New York." Lin Mo tried to make his voice sound simple and honest, deliberately hunching his shoulders—the physical enhancement had made his muscles more defined than before, so he had to hide it a little.

Wesley raised an eyebrow and pointed at a waist-high metal crate nearby. "Move that to Warehouse Three. If you can do it, sign the contract."

The crate clearly was not light. Its surface bore the words "Precision Instruments—Handle With Care." Two burly men beside it were struggling to lift it, their faces red with strain. Lin Mo walked over and, under their astonished gazes, grabbed the handle with one hand and gave it a gentle lift—the crate came up like an empty cardboard box.

"Holy shit..." one of the burly men blurted out.

Wesley's eyes lit up as well, and he quickly wrote something on the registration form. "Name?"

"Lin Mo."

"Age?"

"Twenty-four."

"Where did you work before?"

"Queens, Carlos Repair Shop." Lin Mo gave a real address, which made him less likely to arouse suspicion.

Wesley nodded and handed him a temporary access pass. "Wear this. You can only move around the logistics area. Don't wander off, or we'll send you straight to the police station."

Lin Mo took the pass. His photo was printed on the plastic card, alongside small lettering that read, "Temporary Mover, No. 734." He turned and winked at Ted. "See you tonight."

Ted was still stunned. He watched Lin Mo follow Wesley through the blockade, not even noticing that soda was dripping all over the ground from his hand.

The logistics area was busier than Lin Mo had imagined. Dozens of white tents stood in orderly rows, cables snaked across the ground, and technicians in blue work uniforms hurried past while muttering, "The energy readings fluctuated again," and "The reactor cooling system needs maintenance." Lin Mo followed an old worker named Dave to the equipment storage area. Crates were piled like small mountains there, most marked with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo, some even sealed with red labels reading "Top Secret."

"New here?" Dave was a bald old man with a thick Texas accent. "First time at a place like this?"

"Yeah, I used to move servers in New York." Lin Mo accepted the gloves Dave handed him. They were thick rubber, meant to protect against cuts.

"Then you're lucky." Dave pointed toward the white tents in the distance. "I hear they've got alien stuff in there, things we'll never see in our whole lives." He lowered his voice. "But it's dangerous too. Last week, some kid got curious and tried to peek inside a crate. Two guys in black suits hauled him away, and he never came back."

Lin Mo's heart stirred. Pretending to adjust his gloves, he asked, "What's inside those crates?"

"Who knows?" Dave shrugged and hoisted a small box. "Could be weapons, could be parts. We get paid to work, not to ask questions."

Lin Mo did not press further. He bent down and lifted three stacked crates of parts. Together, they weighed at least two hundred kilograms, yet to him they felt as light as foam. He deliberately walked steadily, neither too fast nor too slow, only a little quicker than an ordinary worker—enough to finish his workload without attracting too much attention.

As he passed a blue tent, Lin Mo's wristband suddenly vibrated. A prompt flashed across the screen: [Tesseract Energy Residue Detected]. From the corner of his eye, he saw that the tent flap had not been drawn shut. Inside, he could vaguely make out several silver metal tubes, made of material similar to the S.H.I.E.L.D. parts he had repaired before.

"New guy, hurry up!" Wesley called from behind him, holding a folder. "Take these sensors to the monitoring station. Agent Phil Coulson is waiting for them."

Lin Mo's heart tightened, and he hurriedly answered, "Coming." Phil Coulson was here too? He steadied himself, hoisted the crate of sensors, and followed Wesley toward the monitoring station. Along the way, he passed plenty of agents in black suits. They all watched him expressionlessly, as if evaluating this suddenly appeared strongman.

The monitoring station was a half-underground bunker, with two armed guards standing at the entrance. They only let them through after seeing Wesley. It was much cooler inside than outside. Screens covered the walls, displaying energy distribution maps around the hammer. Green ripples pulsed like a heartbeat. More than a dozen technicians crowded around a long table, while Phil Coulson stood at its head, pointing at a screen as he spoke to a bespectacled woman.

"Agent Coulson, the sensors are here." Wesley gave an imperfect salute.

Phil Coulson turned around. When his gaze fell upon Lin Mo, he paused briefly, surprise flashing in his eyes before he returned to calm, as though he were merely looking at an ordinary temp worker. "Put them down." His voice was flat and gave nothing away.

Lin Mo set the crate down and deliberately brushed his fingers against its edge—there was a small mark he had made, a code he had left behind while repairing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hard drives last time. Only he and Carlos could understand it. Phil Coulson's eyes swept over the mark, and the corner of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

"Good work." Phil Coulson suddenly took a bottle of water from a cooler beside him and handed it over, droplets still clinging to the bottle.

Lin Mo froze for a moment. When he accepted the water, his fingertips accidentally brushed Phil Coulson's hand, and both quickly pulled back. "Just doing my job, sir." He deliberately used the honorific, but his eyes remained fixed on the energy map—the hammer's energy core was golden, surrounded by a blue halo, astonishingly similar to the wristband's fluctuation frequency.

"Seen enough?" Phil Coulson's voice carried a hint of amusement.

Lin Mo's face instantly turned red, and he hurriedly lowered his head. "Sorry, sir. I didn't mean to."

"It's fine." Phil Coulson turned to the technicians and said, "Continue monitoring," before addressing Lin Mo again. "Come with me."

The two stepped out of the monitoring station and stood in the shadow of a canvas awning. The desert sun was blazing, making their shadows short. "Business bad at that Queens repair shop?" Phil Coulson suddenly asked, idly turning a metal lighter bearing the S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia in his hand.

"Not bad." Lin Mo unscrewed the cap and took a gulp of ice water. The cold liquid helped him calm down. "I wanted to look around and make some extra money."

"What is there to see in Pepper Town?" Phil Coulson's eyes settled on the distant rocky area. "Aside from sand and a hammer nobody can take away."

Here it came. Lin Mo's heart pounded wildly as he decided to take a risk and probe him. "That hammer... did it really come from space? People in town say it can summon lightning and move on its own."

Phil Coulson smiled, exactly as he had at the repair shop last time—gentle, yet with an edge hidden beneath. "When you're a little older, maybe you'll tell me." He slipped the lighter into his pocket. "Work hard. Wesley says you're capable. You do the work of three men by yourself."

Lin Mo did not respond. He knew Phil Coulson had seen through his act but had not exposed him. That alone was a statement. Perhaps S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to see what this "temporary worker," who could resonate with the hammer, actually intended to do.

That afternoon, while moving reactor parts, Lin Mo deliberately slowed down. These parts were heavier than the ones from the morning, and their surfaces were cold, as if they had just been taken from a freezer. Dave and the other workers were sweating heavily, while Lin Mo did not even flush or pant. Only a trace of sweat beaded on his forehead, fitting his image as a strongman who could still get tired.

"What did you eat growing up, kid?" Dave handed him a towel. "When I was your age, I couldn't straighten my back after moving half a crate."

"My family ran a martial arts school. I trained my strength from childhood." Lin Mo made up a lie, though inwardly he was calculating—the direct distance from here to the rocky area holding the hammer was only eight hundred meters. With Burst Sprint, he could get there in a little over ten seconds. But he did not dare. There were at least ten surveillance cameras around, as well as hidden sensors. The moment he activated his ability, he would be discovered.

The wristband suddenly began to vibrate violently. A glaring red prompt appeared on the screen: [Warning! Frost Giant Energy Signature Detected! Distance: 10 Kilometers!]

Lin Mo's hand jerked, and he nearly dropped the crate of parts. Frost Giants? Why were they here? Were they after the hammer?

He instinctively looked toward the monitoring station. A piercing alarm suddenly blared from that direction, and red warning lights flashed madly atop the tents. Technicians rushed out in panic, shouting into their radios, "Unknown targets approaching from the northwest! Strong energy signatures!"

"All personnel return to your positions!" Wesley's voice rang out through the broadcast, more tense than ever before. "Agent units, prepare to intercept! I repeat, agent units, prepare to intercept!"

Lin Mo's heart sank. Something was about to happen. He looked toward the distant sky. The once-clear afternoon had suddenly darkened, and windblown sand twisted into a vortex, like a gray dragon coiling along the horizon.

"What is that?" Dave pointed to the sky, his voice trembling.

Lin Mo said nothing. His Dynamic Vision caught several blurry black shadows diving from the clouds at speeds like cannon shells. Frost Giant aircraft!

"Get under cover!" Lin Mo grabbed Dave and ran toward the nearest tent. His physical enhancement automatically activated at that moment. Even while dragging a grown man, he ran at incredible speed, easily avoiding a metal rack sent flying by an aircraft's shockwave.

Amid the chaos, he saw Phil Coulson standing at the entrance to the monitoring station, radio in hand, gesturing toward the sky. Hawkeye stood beside him, bow already drawn with an arrow nocked. Blue light flickered from the arrowhead—it was a specially made energy arrow.

"Hold the monitoring station!" Phil Coulson's voice came through the broadcast. "Do not let them get near the hammer!"

Lin Mo hid behind a tent and watched agents fire their guns. Energy beams streaked across the sky. The Frost Giant aircraft were agile, evading most of the attacks while occasionally firing ice spikes that crashed into the ground and burst into white mist. Anything they touched froze instantly.

I need to find a way to get closer to the hammer. Lin Mo clenched his teeth. The Frost Giants' appearance confirmed his suspicions—Asgard's troubles had spread to Earth. If he did not uncover the connection between the wristband and the hammer now, he might never get another chance.

Taking advantage of the confusion, he activated his Phasing Ability, and his body instantly became semi-transparent. Everyone nearby was dodging attacks. No one noticed the mover who had suddenly "vanished." Lin Mo moved swiftly close to the ground, Dynamic Vision helping him avoid every explosion and falling rock as he weaved through the chaos like an eel.

The closer he got to the rocky area, the more violently the wristband shook. The prompt [Energy Resonance Strength: 80%] nearly seemed ready to burst through the screen. Around the hammer, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were battling landed Frost Giants. Blue energy beams and white ice spikes intertwined above the rocks, producing harsh, piercing sounds.

A Frost Giant raised an ice axe and swung it at the rock where the hammer rested, apparently trying to destroy it. Lin Mo's heart leaped. Without thinking, he rushed forward and activated Burst Sprint, his speed instantly increasing eightfold.

Just as the ice axe was about to strike the rock, Lin Mo arrived. He did not attack the Frost Giant. Instead, he used all his strength to grab the axe's handle—his physical enhancement reached its limit at that instant, his muscles swelling as veins throbbed beneath his skin.

The Frost Giant froze, clearly not expecting a mortal to block his attack. With an angry roar, he increased his strength. Bone-piercing cold condensed over the ice axe. Lin Mo's gloves froze instantly, and his fingers went numb.

"Get out of my way!" the Frost Giant roared, forcing the ice axe downward.

Lin Mo's knees trembled, and his arms were nearly frozen stiff, but he gritted his teeth. He could feel the resonance between the wristband and the hammer reaching its peak. Golden energy flowed up his arm and into his body, counteracting the Frost Giant's cold.

"Now!" A familiar voice sounded behind him.

Lin Mo instinctively dodged aside. Thor had somehow broken free of his restraints, holding a scavenged iron sword as he slashed at the Frost Giant's legs. The Asgardian was clearly stronger than the Frost Giant. Though the sword was ordinary, the blow sent his opponent staggering backward.

Seizing the opening, Lin Mo looked toward the hammer again. Wrapped in golden energy, it trembled faintly. The patterns on its handle seemed to come alive, as if calling to him. Lin Mo's heart beat like a drum as he reached out, his fingertips only centimeters from the handle—

"Watch out!" Phil Coulson suddenly shouted.

Lin Mo spun around and saw a Frost Giant hurling an ice spike at him. He tried to dodge, only to realize that the energy resonance had locked his body in place. He could not move.

Just as the ice spike was about to hit him, a blue energy arrow struck it with perfect accuracy, blasting it into fragments in midair. Hawkeye!

"Run already!" Clint Barton shouted from afar, a second arrow already nocked.

Only then did Lin Mo snap out of it. He activated his Phasing Ability, turned, and ran. He did not dare linger any longer. That instant of resonance had left him dizzy, as if he had downed three bottles of whiskey.

By the time he returned to the logistics area, the battle was nearly over. Two Frost Giant aircraft had been shot down, and the rest were beginning to retreat. The sky had cleared again, leaving behind only a few trails of black smoke. Agents were clearing the battlefield, while Wesley held a roll call sheet and counted heads, his face pale.

"Where did you go?" Dave grabbed Lin Mo as soon as he saw him. "We looked everywhere for you. I thought the aliens had taken you!"

"I hid behind some crates." Lin Mo's heart had not yet calmed down. The wristband on his wrist was scorching hot as the prompts [Energy Resonance Strength: 90%... Synchronization Interrupted... Host Stamina Depleted] flashed repeatedly.

Phil Coulson walked over. Dust clung to his trench coat, but there was a smile on his lips. "Looks like you got lucky. You weren't hurt."

"Thanks to you, sir." Lin Mo lowered his head, afraid to meet his eyes—he knew his actions had definitely been recorded by the surveillance cameras.

"Today's pay." Phil Coulson handed him an envelope, noticeably thicker than usual. "Wesley said you did well, so he added a bonus." He paused and lowered his voice. "The Frost Giants are only the beginning. There will be more trouble. Don't go back to that Queens repair shop for now."

Lin Mo's hand trembled sharply, and he nearly dropped the envelope. Was this... a warning? Or protection?

"Pack your things." Phil Coulson turned and left without looking back. "A vehicle has been arranged to take you back to town."

Lin Mo stood there gripping the envelope, watching agents carry injured comrades into ambulances, watching technicians reseal the rocky area, watching Thor get "invited" onto a helicopter by two agents—his face no longer held its previous anger, only a contemplative calm.

Ted was waiting for him at the hiring station. When he saw Lin Mo emerge, he hurried over. "Are you okay? I heard there was a fight. You scared me to death!"

"I'm fine." Lin Mo stuffed the envelope into his hands. "My pay. More than we expected."

"Really?" Ted opened the envelope, and his eyes instantly lit up. "This much? It's enough for us to spend two days in Las Vegas!"

Lin Mo smiled but said nothing. He looked toward the distant rocky area. The hammer was still embedded there, like a silent giant. The prompt on his wristband had returned to normal, leaving only the words [Energy Resonance Synchronization Rate: 90%] standing out sharply on the pale blue screen.

He knew Phil Coulson's meaning was clear—S.H.I.E.L.D. had already classified him as a "person of special interest," and he could not return to Queens for the time being. But he did not regret it. That brief moment of resonance had confirmed one thing: there had to be some deep connection between the wristband and the hammer, perhaps even related to why he had crossed into this world.

As he got into the vehicle back to town, Lin Mo gave S.H.I.E.L.D.'s blockade one last look. Under the sunlight, the white tents and bustling figures resembled a giant hive, hiding countless secrets. And he, a nobody who had once only wanted to guard his repair shop, had been drawn into the heart of those secrets.

"Where are we going next?" Ted asked excitedly, clearly still basking in the joy of having "made a fortune."

Lin Mo watched the sand dunes streak past outside the window and suddenly smiled. "Las Vegas."

Ted's eyes widened like saucers. "Really?"

"Really." Lin Mo leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. He needed time to recover his strength, and he needed time to think—the Frost Giants' appearance meant that Asgard's war had already spread to Earth. Thor's awakening was only a matter of time. Before that, he had to uncover the wristband's secret and figure out who he truly was.

Outside the window, the desert glowed golden beneath the setting sun, like an endless sea. Lin Mo touched the wristband on his wrist. It had returned to calm, as if gathering strength and waiting for the next resonance to arrive.