Shield's Superpower?

The heater in the repair shop hummed, mixing the smell of motor oil with the sweet aroma of baking cookies. Lin Mo crouched on the floor, brushing Shield's fur, his fingers passing through the puppy's thick brown coat and feeling the solid muscles beneath. Half a year ago, this stray had been little more than skin and bones. Now, he was built like a little leopard, and the heart-shaped patch of white fur on his chest gleamed in the sunlight, looking remarkably like S.H.I.E.L.D.'s emblem.

"Woof!" Shield suddenly perked up his ears, his tail snapping like a steel whip as his eyes fixed on the cookie tin atop the counter. Martha had brought those oatmeal cookies over that morning. Lin Mo had deliberately placed them on the three-foot-high counter to keep this little glutton from reaching them.

Lin Mo had just been about to hold him back when the puppy shot out like a cannonball. He pushed off the toolbox with his front paws, his body tracing an arc through the air before landing steadily on the counter! He snatched up a cookie, then landed on the floor and smugly wagged his tail, making satisfied little "urr urr" sounds.

"You really are something." Lin Mo laughed despite himself as he pried the cookie from Shield's mouth. "Mrs. Martha baked these especially. They aren't your snacks."

Shield's ears drooped in grievance. He rubbed his wet nose against Lin Mo's palm and let out a spoiled little purr from his throat. Lin Mo could never resist that move, so he broke off half a cookie and stuffed it into his mouth. As he watched the puppy run into a corner and wolf it down, though, a question nagged at him. Could an ordinary dog jump that high? Even a large dog couldn't just leap onto a three-foot-high counter.

"Mo! I'm here to pick up my magic box!" Ted's booming voice came from the doorway, carrying the scent of fresh pizza. He held a food container in one hand, but when he saw Shield crouching on the counter and licking his paws, he nearly dropped it. "Holy crap! Has this dog become a spirit or something? How did he get up there?"

"He jumped up himself." Lin Mo wiped his hands and took the pizza Ted offered him. "He'd been eyeing Martha's cookies for days."

Ted walked up to the counter, compared its height, then looked at Shield's size. Suddenly, he slapped his thigh. "I know! Your dog must've been bitten by something! Like that spider Peter talked about—genetic mutation!" He squatted down and poked Shield's head. "Can you shoot webs? Or crawl on walls? Show me something!"

Shield grew impatient from the poking and bared his teeth. With the remaining half-cookie in his mouth, he jumped back to the floor, nimble as a cat. Ted's eyes went wide. "See? See? Can an ordinary dog jump like that? Even my cousin's pit bull isn't as agile as him!"

Lin Mo said nothing, merely chewing on a slice of pizza. He really had felt that Shield was a little unusual. Besides his jumping ability, the dog's recovery speed was absurdly strong. Last week, when Lin Mo helped deliver medicine to Gretchen's grandmother, Shield had tagged along and gotten grazed by a bicycle running a red light. A patch of skin had been scraped off his hind leg, and he had bled quite a bit. Lin Mo had been heartbroken. When he disinfected the wound with iodine, the puppy had trembled in pain. Yet when Lin Mo checked the next morning, the wound had already scabbed over. By the third day, it had healed completely without leaving even a scar.

"Maybe he's just well-fed." That was what Lin Mo said, but inwardly, his heart skipped a beat. He thought of his own Physical Enhancement—his strength, speed, and recovery all far exceeded those of ordinary people. Shield spent every day with him, ate the premium dog food Lin Mo bought, and occasionally got some beef jerky too. Could it be...

"Being well-fed lets him jump three feet high?" Ted clearly didn't believe it. He took a slice of pizza from the container and tossed it to Shield. "I think he's benefiting from you. Did you secretly give him some kind of enhancer? Like in sci-fi movies?"

"You've watched too many sci-fi films." Lin Mo rolled his eyes, though his mind couldn't help wandering. His ability came from the wristband and was essentially genetic-level enhancement. Could that enhancement be transmitted somehow? Through... contact with bodily fluids? He recalled accidentally getting his finger scratched by Shield's teeth while tending to his wound. He hadn't thought much of it then, but now it gave him a chill.

That afternoon, while repairing cars, Lin Mo deliberately observed Shield's behavior. The puppy napped beside a tire, but his ears remained alert. When a sparrow landed on the garage roof, he sprang up in a blur and barked wildly at the sky, reacting at least twice as fast as an ordinary dog. The door of an old Ford got stuck, and Lin Mo was about to use a crowbar when Shield clamped his teeth around the handle and gave a fierce backward tug. With a click, he actually pulled the door open!

"Hey, you really can help." Lin Mo raised an eyebrow and tossed him a piece of beef jerky as a reward. Shield caught it in his mouth, wagged his tail, and rubbed against Lin Mo's pant leg, his eyes sparkling as if asking for praise.

Peter came by after school to deliver his math homework. Lin Mo had promised to help him check his mistakes and ask him about biological enhancement while he was at it. The boy was immediately drawn to Shield when he entered, squatting down to play with the puppy for quite a while before suddenly looking up. "Brother Lin Mo, your dog's muscle density seems higher than a normal dog's." He pointed at Shield's hind leg. "Look at these muscle lines. They're very compact, like a trained police dog."

"You can tell?" Lin Mo was a little surprised.

"Yeah. We just studied animal anatomy in biology class." Peter pulled out a textbook from his backpack and flipped to a diagram of canine muscle distribution. "An ordinary pet dog's gastrocnemius muscles aren't this developed. His... structure is more like a wolf's. Strong explosive power, suited for jumping." The boy pushed up his glasses thoughtfully. "Unless he's received special training, it's hard for him to develop like this."

Lin Mo's heart sank. Special training? He had never trained Shield. At most, he took him for a couple laps around the community park. Could it really be related to his own ability? He remembered the blue light flashing around his wrist when the wristband activated Physical Enhancement, as well as that stone from New Mexico carrying Asgard's energy. Could that energy have affected the living creatures around him?

"Oh, right." Peter suddenly remembered something. "Last time, when I was culturing bacteria in the lab, I noticed that bacteria near your tools multiplied faster and had greater vitality. I thought it was just an illusion at the time, but now, seeing Shield..."

Lin Mo's breathing halted. Bacteria multiplying faster? Shield's powerful recovery? Could there be a connection? The essence of his Physical Enhancement was heightened cellular activity. Could that enhancing effect radiate to the living creatures around him, like an invisible energy field?

After closing the shop that night, Lin Mo took Shield to the community park. He threw out a tennis ball and called, "Fetch it!" The puppy shot off like an arrow, so fast he became a blur. He weaved easily between the park benches, nearly crashing into people several times, but dodged them all with astonishing agility. A man walking a pit bull stared in amazement and tugged his own dog. "Look at him! Then look at you—so fat you can't even run!"

Lin Mo caught the tennis ball Shield brought back and stroked his head. His fingertips could feel that the puppy's skin was slightly warmer than that of an ordinary dog. He suddenly recalled that after his Physical Enhancement, his own body temperature had also become a little higher. The doctor had said it was caused by accelerated metabolism.

"Could it really be contagious?" Lin Mo muttered. If that were true, it was far too dangerous. He couldn't exactly wear a hazmat suit every day when interacting with people. He quickly activated the wristband, hoping to find some relevant prompt, but the screen displayed only the cold words: "Physical Enhancement Synchronization Rate: 51%." There was nothing else.

Back in the basement, Lin Mo dug out a pet health manual he had bought before and checked Shield's various readings against it. Temperature: 39 degrees Celsius, 0.5 degrees above normal. Heart rate: 120 beats per minute, slightly fast. Sharp teeth, hard claws—he really didn't seem like an ordinary pet dog. Lin Mo took out a thermometer and carefully placed it between Shield's hind legs. The puppy was obedient beyond belief, only his tail still swaying gently.

"39.2 degrees." Lin Mo recorded the number, growing even more alarmed. He remembered Martha's old cat, Snowball, who had recently begun visiting his repair shop all the time. He used to be lazy, but now he could actually jump onto the top of the refrigerator to steal dried fish. Could Snowball have been affected too?

Early the next morning, Lin Mo deliberately went to Martha's house to see Snowball. The old lady was brushing the cat's fur. When she saw him arrive, she smiled and said, "Look at this lazy thing. He actually jumped onto the refrigerator yesterday and stole all the salmon I had just bought." Snowball lay on the sofa licking his paws. Upon seeing Lin Mo, he actually wagged his tail like Shield did—he had never paid attention to people before.

Lin Mo's heart sank to rock bottom. Snowball had changed too. That meant it wasn't a coincidence. He really did possess some kind of "field" that could affect living creatures. He hurried back to the repair shop, locked himself in the garage, and watched Shield roll around on the floor. Suddenly, he felt afraid. If this influence kept growing stronger, would it turn everyone around him into "enhanced humans"?

When Ted came looking for him, he saw Lin Mo staring blankly at the dog and gave him a pat. "What are you thinking about? Why are you so pale?"

"Ted." Lin Mo looked up, his expression serious. "Have you noticed any changes in your body lately? Like getting stronger, or running faster?"

Ted froze for a moment and scratched his head. "Does getting stronger count? Yesterday, I actually lifted my magic box over my head! It used to take two people to carry it." He proudly swung his arm around. "I thought I'd just gotten stronger from working out. What's wrong?"

Cold sweat instantly seeped down Lin Mo's back. Ted had changed too.

He sank into a chair, looking at the tennis ball Shield had brought over, and suddenly felt as though this ability were a ticking bomb. He only wanted a quiet, stable life. He didn't want to become some kind of "human-shaped radiation source." The wristband on his wrist vibrated softly, as if mocking his naivety. Power was never free. Every bit of strength came with a corresponding price.

"Mo, what's wrong with you?" Ted could tell something was off. "Are you sick? You look awful."

"I'm fine." Lin Mo forced a smile. "Maybe I'm just tired." He looked at Ted, then at Shield, and made a decision. He had to figure out the range and intensity of this "field," or sooner or later something serious would happen.

Over the next few days, Lin Mo carried out a crude experiment. He had Ted lift boxes from different distances and recorded how much weight he could handle. He observed whether Shield's jumping height dropped when he moved farther away. He even borrowed a microscope from the community hospital to examine bacterial activity at different distances.

The results relieved him. The influence had a very limited range, about three meters, and the farther away someone was, the weaker the effect became. At three meters, Ted could lift about the same as before. Once Shield was more than five meters away, his jumping height dropped noticeably. At two meters, the bacteria returned to normal activity.

"Looks like it isn't that bad." Lin Mo stroked his chin, feeling a little more at ease. This influence was more like a "close-range buff" than indiscriminate contagion. As long as he kept his distance, it wouldn't have much effect on others.

He told Peter about the discovery, and the boy's eyes lit up. "This is like a Biological Energy Field! I read that some animals can affect their surroundings through magnetic fields. Maybe you've evolved a similar ability too!" He pulled out a notebook and began writing rapidly. "If we can measure this field's frequency, maybe we can invent an amplifier, or... a shielding device!"

"A shielding device?" Lin Mo became interested. "It can block this influence?"

"In theory, yes." Peter nodded. "Interfering with it using electromagnetic waves at a specific frequency should be able to cancel it out. I can try making one using spare parts from your repair shop..."

Lin Mo smiled and ruffled his hair. "Sure. Just tell me what you need." He looked at Peter's excited profile, then at Shield napping beside them, and suddenly felt that this "little trouble" wasn't so frightening after all. At least now, he knew its limits and had found a way to deal with it.

That evening, Martha came to pick up her repaired bicycle. Seeing Shield help Lin Mo carry wrenches, she widened her eyes in surprise. "This dog is getting more sensible by the day. He's more obedient than that rascal Ted." She took out a dog collar from her bag, embroidered with the name "Shield." "Put this on him, so he doesn't run off and get hit by a car."

Lin Mo took the collar and put it on Shield. It fit perfectly. The puppy shook his head, seeming to like the new accessory. Then he grabbed Martha's pant leg and tugged her toward the door, apparently wanting to walk her home.

"See? See how smart he is?" Martha smiled from ear to ear. "I think this dog could become a guide dog or a police dog someday. He has a brighter future than your repair shop."

Lin Mo watched Shield wag his tail as he said goodbye to Martha, and warmth suddenly filled his heart. Maybe abilities brought more than just trouble. They also brought these unexpected moments of warmth. Shield had become stronger, Ted had gained more strength, and Snowball had become livelier. Perhaps none of that was a bad thing.

As long as he controlled it properly and kept his distance, this "buff" might become a power that protected the people around him. Lin Mo touched the wristband on his wrist. The synchronization rate on the screen was still 51%, but he felt his understanding of his ability had deepened another layer.

As night deepened, Shield fell asleep at Lin Mo's feet, breathing in steady little snores. Lin Mo opened the notes Peter had left behind. They contained complex circuit diagrams, with the words "Biological Energy Field Shielding Device v1.0" written beside them. He smiled, picked up a pen, and drew a tiny dog paw print nearby. Perhaps the wonder of this world lay in these sudden "superpowers," and in those willing to face them together.

As for whether Shield truly had a superpower, it no longer seemed so important. What mattered was that he was part of this home, a companion by Lin Mo's side. That was enough.