Prelude to the Fight for Supplies

The surveillance indicator lights in the corridor glowed steadily against the dim walls like congealed drops of blood. Lin Xiao, Su Ying, and Wolf's footsteps echoed through the empty underground space as they headed toward the barracks, every step pressing down on some invisible weight.

When they returned to the barracks, Venomous Scorpion's bunk was already empty.

Grey Falcon sat by his bed, wiping the old Makarov pistol with an oilcloth. Hearing the door open, he looked up, his one eye exceptionally sharp in the shadows.

"You're back," he said, his voice devoid of emotion.

Lin Xiao nodded and walked over to sit on his bunk. The iron bedframe gave a faint creak, painfully loud in the silent barracks. He took off his tactical vest, his fingers brushing against the dust and sweat stains on the fabric. The rough texture kept him alert.

Su Ying sat on the opposite bunk and began checking her equipment. With practiced motions, she removed the magazines one by one, inspected the springs, and wiped down the casings. The clink of metal was crisp and rhythmic. Wolf, meanwhile, curled up on the top bunk with his knees hugged to his chest, staring at the ceiling.

"Tomorrow night, eight o'clock." Grey Falcon suddenly spoke, breaking the silence. "Captain Fletcher is holding a meeting."

Lin Xiao looked up.

"About that shipment of supplies?" he asked.

Grey Falcon nodded. He aimed the barrel at the light and narrowed his one eye to inspect the rifling. The barrel reflected a frigid gleam, casting a long, thin shadow over the wall.

"The base is about to change." His voice was low, as though he were talking to himself. "Some say that shipment is what remains of a former Soviet Union bioweapons program. Others say it's alien metal. Whatever it is, whoever gets it will gain the upper hand in the coming power reshuffle."

Lin Xiao said nothing. Memories churned within him—former Soviet Union facilities, biotechnology, rare metals. Those keywords pieced together a hazy image in his mind. He remembered scattered records he had seen in S.H.I.E.L.D. archives in his previous life: during the Cold War, the Soviet Union had conducted a series of biological enhancement experiments codenamed "Red Snow." They had later been forced to halt after the Chernobyl incident, and all documents and samples had been sealed away in some underground facility in Eastern Europe.

If this shipment really was connected to the Red Snow Project...

"What does Captain Fletcher need us to do?" Su Ying asked. All the magazines in her hands had been checked and arranged neatly across the bedsheet.

Grey Falcon set down his pistol, pulled a tin box out from beneath the bed, and opened it. Inside were several cheap cigarettes. He took one out and lit it, drawing deeply as smoke slowly rose beneath the dim light.

"Make sure the supplies get safely into the warehouse," he said. "Then... find a way to keep the radicals from getting their hands on them."

Smoke spread through the air, mingling with the smell of engine oil and mildew to create a suffocating atmosphere. Wolf coughed twice from the top bunk.

"Blood Axe will come in person," Grey Falcon continued, his one eye fixed on Lin Xiao. "He has at least twenty men under him, all capable fighters from the radical faction. On our side... Captain Fletcher can mobilize no more than fifteen."

"The gap isn't that big," Su Ying said.

"The gap is huge." Grey Falcon shook his head. "Blood Axe's men are all battle-hardened. On our side..." He looked at Wolf, then at Lin Xiao. "We have newcomers."

Silence filled the room. There was only the faint crackle of burning tobacco as Grey Falcon smoked, along with the unceasing hum from the ventilation ducts.

Lin Xiao rose and walked to the window. Outside was the corridor, and farther beyond lay darker sections deep within the base. He could feel that a storm was brewing in this underground world, and they stood on the edge of its eye.

"We need a plan," he said calmly.

Grey Falcon looked up, a strange gleam flashing through his one eye.

Four o'clock the next afternoon, the armory.

The air was thick with the mingled smell of gun oil, leather, and rusted metal. Lin Xiao stood before a row of weapon racks, his fingers passing over cold gun barrels. The grip of an AK-74U assault rifle still carried the sweat of its previous user, and the sticky sensation made him frown.

Su Ying stood beside him, inspecting a tactical vest. She pressed her fingers over every inch of Kevlar fiber, searching for possible damage. Wolf stood in the communications section, staring intently at the old radio transceivers.

"Once you've collected your gear, assemble in the warehouse district at six." Fletcher's voice came from behind them.

Lin Xiao turned around. Fletcher stood in the armory doorway with two trusted subordinates behind him. He wore full combat gear today, and his usual mildness had been replaced by taut seriousness.

"Captain." Lin Xiao nodded in greeting.

Fletcher walked up to him, his gaze sweeping over the weapon racks before settling back on Lin Xiao's face.

"Grey Falcon told me about your performance," he said. "You handled the Venomous Scorpion matter well."

"Thank you, Captain."

"But tonight is different." Fletcher lowered his voice. "Tonight isn't some minor scuffle. Blood Axe will lead them himself, and his objective is clear—take that shipment, or at least destroy it so we can't have it either."

Lin Xiao could smell the faint tobacco scent on Fletcher, along with an air of... anxiety.

"What exactly are the supplies?" he asked.

Fletcher was silent for several seconds.

"We don't know completely either," he finally said. "The manifest lists 'biological samples,' 'experimental data,' 'rare metals,' and several 'unidentified items.' But according to our intelligence analysts, it may contain... dangerous things."

"How dangerous?"

"Dangerous enough to paralyze a city," Fletcher said, a heavy note in his voice. "That's why we have to get it. We can't let the radicals possess that kind of power."

Lin Xiao's heart jolted. Paralyze a city—that description reminded him of something. A precursor to the Extremis Virus? Or some even older biological weapon?

"I understand," he said.

Fletcher patted him on the shoulder with considerable force.

"Do a good job," he said. "After tonight, the structure of this base will change completely. I hope... we'll be standing on the right side once the dust settles."

After saying that, he turned and left, his footsteps echoing through the empty armory.

Lin Xiao remained where he was, his fingers unconsciously tightening around the rifle's grip. The chill of the metal came through his gloves and kept him alert. He could feel that tonight's mission was far more than simple "guard duty."

Six o'clock in the evening, warehouse district.

This was a massive space at the deepest point of the base. Its ceiling stood twenty meters high, with old industrial lights hanging overhead, emitting a buzzing current and a dim yellow glow. The air was full of dust, engine oil, and the sharp smell of some chemical. Wooden crates and metal containers were stacked across the floor, covered in thick tarps layered with dust.

Lin Xiao, Su Ying, and Wolf stood at their guard position on the left side of the warehouse entrance. Behind them were twelve other members of Fletcher's faction, spread around the entrance in a loose defensive line.

Wolf held a modified radio monitoring device—something he had "borrowed" from the communications room. Its casing was rusted, but the circuit board inside had been resoldered. It now emitted a faint electrical hiss.

"Can you hear anything?" Lin Xiao asked quietly.

Wolf wore headphones as he focused on adjusting the frequency dial. A few seconds later, he nodded.

"Three channels are active," he said, his voice trembling slightly from nerves. "One is ours, one is the base's central control, and the other... uses different encryption. It should be the radicals."

"Can you crack it?"

"I need time," Wolf said. "But I can monitor the signal strength. They're... very close to us."

Lin Xiao looked toward the shadows on the right side of the warehouse entrance. Several abandoned containers were piled there, and the darkness was too deep to see what lay within. Yet he could feel someone watching from there.

Su Ying stood beside him with her hands hanging naturally at her sides, but Lin Xiao knew her fingers were only three centimeters from the dagger at her waist. Her breathing was steady, her gaze sharp, like a cheetah ready to pounce at any moment.

Time passed second by second.

The warehouse lights flickered erratically, and the electrical hum rose and fell. Dust drifted slowly through the beams of light like some kind of tiny floating lifeform. Lin Xiao could hear his own heartbeat, steady and powerful, startlingly clear within the silent space.

At seven thirty, the roar of machinery came from deep inside the warehouse.

A heavy transport truck slowly drove into the warehouse, its wheels grinding against the concrete floor with a heavy scraping sound. Camouflage tarps covered the vehicle, concealing several reinforced metal containers. Blurred Russian markings and hazardous-material symbols were printed on their surfaces.

The transport truck stopped in the center of the warehouse, and its engine shut off.

Two technicians in protective suits jumped from the cab. They swiftly put up a cordon around the vehicle, then began operating the hydraulic mechanism at the rear. The container doors slowly opened, revealing neatly arranged metal cases inside.

Lin Xiao narrowed his eyes. Those metal cases had a distinctive design—silver-gray shells, thick seals along the edges, and no markings on their surfaces. But on the sides of several cases was a faint red snowflake emblem.

The Red Snow Project.

It stirred his memories. He had seen that symbol in classified S.H.I.E.L.D. files in his previous life. It was the emblem of the Soviet Union's Red Snow Project, a bioweapons program aimed at creating super soldiers. It had later been terminated when the test subjects went out of control. All related data and samples should have been destroyed...

Unless someone had secretly hidden part of them.

"Watch the right side," Su Ying suddenly said in a low voice.

Lin Xiao turned.

Figures began emerging from the shadows.

The first person to step out was Blood Axe.

He was larger than Lin Xiao had imagined, over six feet three inches tall, his shoulders broad as a wall. He wore a black tactical vest, and the exposed muscles of his arms bulged beneath countless scars. Most striking of all was his face—a vicious knife scar slashed diagonally from his forehead to his chin, leaving his expression permanently twisted with brutality.

More than twenty radical soldiers filed out behind him. They were well-equipped and moved in unison, clearly hardened veterans who had undergone strict training. Blood Axe walked to the center of the warehouse and stopped ten meters from the transport truck. He crossed his arms, his gaze sweeping over Fletcher's people before finally landing on Fletcher himself.

Fletcher emerged from the warehouse entrance with Grey Falcon and three other trusted subordinates behind him.

The two men stared at each other from twenty meters apart.

The air suddenly grew heavy. The warehouse lights seemed dimmer, and shadows writhed across the walls like living things. Dust floated in the space between the two men, forming a blurred barrier.

"Fletcher." Blood Axe spoke in a hoarse voice like sandpaper scraping metal. "Take your people and get the hell out."

"You're the one who should leave, Blood Axe." Fletcher's voice was calm, but Lin Xiao could hear the tension beneath it. "I'm responsible for receiving this shipment. Those are orders from above."

"From above?" Blood Axe sneered. "Which superior? Your conservative masters who are about to lose power?"

Fletcher did not respond. He simply stood there with his hands at his sides, but Lin Xiao noticed Fletcher's right index finger slightly curl. It was the posture of someone ready to draw a gun at any moment.

Both sides began to move.

Fletcher's fifteen men pressed forward half a step, forming a tighter formation. The more than twenty radicals moved forward as well, closing the distance to fifteen meters.

Wolf's fingers moved rapidly over the monitoring device, fine beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. The electrical hiss in his headphones suddenly quickened, mixed with indistinct voices.

"They're changing frequencies..." Wolf whispered. "Preparing to move..."

Lin Xiao tightened his grip on the rifle, his finger resting against the trigger guard. He could smell the increasingly strong scent of gunpowder in the air—not actual gunpowder, but the volatile tension ready to explode at any moment. It was like the low pressure before a storm, crushing the breath from his lungs.

Su Ying leaned forward slightly, shifting her center of gravity onto the balls of her feet. It was her stance for a sprint.

Blood Axe's gaze swept across the scene before settling on Lin Xiao. A cruel smile flickered in his eyes, like a cat's amusement before it toyed with a mouse.

"Newcomer," he said. His voice was not loud, but it carried clearly through the silent warehouse. "I hear you're quite capable."

Lin Xiao did not answer. He merely watched Blood Axe with calm eyes.

"I'll let you know," Blood Axe continued, unconsciously rubbing the handle of the axe at his waist, "that in Hydra, being too capable... gets you killed fast."

The handle was made from some kind of dark-red wood, polished smooth. Yet under the lights, black stains could be seen deeply soaked into the grain—it was dried blood.

Fletcher took a step forward.

"Blood Axe, take your people and leave," he said, his voice carrying a final warning. "This is the last time."

"Leave?" Blood Axe laughed, the sound hoarse and unpleasant. "Why should I leave? This shipment... should have been ours from the beginning."

The radical soldiers behind him raised their weapons in unison. The clack of guns being chambered echoed through the warehouse like a string of death's countdowns.

Fletcher's people raised their guns as well.

The two sides faced off from fifteen meters apart, barrels aimed at one another. The air froze. The dust stopped drifting, the lights stopped flickering, and even the hum of the ventilation ducts seemed to vanish. Only breathing remained—heavy, rapid, suppressed breathing.

Wolf's fingers trembled. A clear command came through the monitoring device: "...wait for the signal... prepare to storm them..."

Lin Xiao took a deep breath. He could feel sweat sliding from his temple and into his collar. The icy sensation kept him absolutely clear-headed. His gaze swept over every corner of the warehouse—the stacked wooden crates, abandoned containers, ventilation ducts overhead, oil stains on the floor...

Then he saw it.

Deep in the warehouse, behind the transport truck, the seal on one metal case... was slowly bulging.

As though something inside were expanding.

"Wolf," Lin Xiao said softly, his voice extremely low. "Monitor the warehouse's internal channel."

Wolf froze for a moment, then quickly adjusted the frequency. Seconds later, his face changed.

"There's... interference..." he said. "Like... like a gas leak..."

Lin Xiao's heart clenched.

He remembered a report he had read in his previous life—one on the storage methods for Soviet Union Red Snow Project samples. To prevent the samples from becoming inactive, those biological containers were filled with high-pressure inert gas mixed with trace amounts of neural suppressants, preventing the samples from "waking" during transport.

If the seal was damaged...

"Everyone, fall back!" he suddenly shouted.

His voice exploded through the warehouse.

Fletcher and Blood Axe both turned toward him. The soldiers' gun barrels wavered slightly, but no one lowered their weapons.

"What did you say?" Blood Axe narrowed his eyes.

Lin Xiao had no time to explain. He pointed behind the transport truck. "That case! The seal is damaged!"

Everyone's attention shifted to the metal case.

The seal was indeed bulging, and it was swelling faster and faster. Fine cracks began to appear across the case's surface, and a pale green... mist seeped through them.

Time seemed to stretch.

Lin Xiao could see the startled uncertainty flash across Fletcher's face, the instant confusion in Blood Axe's eyes, and Su Ying already turning toward the case, her body drawn taut like a bow.

Then—

Boom!

A muffled explosion sounded from inside the case. It did not sound like explosives, but more like the violent burst of high-pressure gas released all at once. The lid was blasted away and slammed into the ceiling, producing a piercing shriek of twisting metal.

Pale green gas surged out, rapidly spreading as if it were alive.

The first technician to come into contact with the gas let out a shrill scream. Smoke began rising from his protective suit, and the fabric dissolved within seconds, exposing skin that rapidly ulcerated beneath it. He collapsed to the ground, clawing at his face as his nails dug into flesh. Blood mixed with green slime and spilled from between his fingers.

Panic spread like a plague.

"Poison gas!"

"Retreat! Retreat now!"

"Don't breathe!"

The warehouse instantly descended into chaos. Fletcher's people began falling back, and the radical soldiers scattered in every direction. But the green gas spread too quickly, already engulfing a large area in the center of the warehouse.

Blood Axe stood where he was, staring at the continuously expanding cloud of green mist. The scar on his face looked even more vicious beneath his twisted expression. Instead of retreating, he took a step forward.

"Useless trash!" he roared. "You're scared stiff over a little poison gas?!"

He raised the axe in his hand—a specially made tactical axe, its blade reflecting a cold gleam under the lights.

"Take the cases!" he ordered. "Put on your gas masks! Move!"

Several radicals did have gas masks. They swiftly put them on and charged toward the transport truck. But the green gas had already covered a five-meter radius around it. The instant they rushed in, the lenses of their gas masks began to blur—the gas was corrosive.

Fletcher was issuing commands as well. "Set up an isolation line! Don't let the gas spread beyond the warehouse!"

But his orders seemed pale and powerless amid the panic. Soldiers fled and shoved one another. Some fell and were trampled by those behind them. Screams, roars, and the clatter of dropped weapons blended into one.

Lin Xiao stood still, his mind racing.

Green gas—corrosive, neurotoxic, fast-spreading. This was not lethally toxic. If it were, that technician should already be dead instead of writhing on the floor in agony. This was... some kind of potent tear gas and corrosive agent mixture, meant to create chaos.

Then the truly important thing inside the cases...

His gaze passed through the green mist and into the transport truck. The other metal cases remained intact. On the side of one of them, the red snowflake emblem flickered in and out beneath the dim yellow lights.

"Su Ying," he said quietly.

Su Ying turned to him, her eyes sharp.

"That isn't poison gas," Lin Xiao said. "It's a distraction."

Su Ying narrowed her eyes and looked at the technician struggling on the ground. It was true. Though the ulcerated skin looked horrifying, the man was still moving and screaming. If it had been lethal nerve gas, he should have stopped breathing by now.

"What do you want to do?" she asked.

Lin Xiao looked toward the side of the warehouse. There was a narrow maintenance passage there, its entrance partially concealed by several abandoned wooden crates. The passage led directly to the depths of the warehouse, bypassing the chaos in the center.

"The real danger—or the thing that's truly valuable—is still in those cases," he said. "Want to gamble?"

Su Ying stared at him for two seconds, then the corner of her mouth curved into the faintest smile.

"Lead the way."

Lin Xiao turned and patted Wolf on the shoulder. Wolf was still staring at the monitoring device, his face pale.

"Stay close," Lin Xiao said. "We need your ears."

Rather than retreat with the crowd, the three moved against the flow of people toward the side of the warehouse. Amid the chaos, no one noticed them. Everyone's attention was fixed on the green mist at the center and the screams.

They arrived at the entrance to the maintenance passage. Lin Xiao pushed aside a half-covered wooden crate. Rough splinters on its surface pierced his gloves. With a hard shove, he moved the crate away, revealing the pitch-black passage entrance behind it.

The passage was narrow, barely wide enough for one person. There were no lights inside, only a faint current of air drifting from deeper within, carrying the smell of rust and dust.

Lin Xiao crawled in first. The passage was utterly dark, and he could only move forward by touch. The walls were rough concrete, slick with moisture and covered in moss. Beneath his feet was a waterlogged iron grating that gave off hollow echoes with every step.

Su Ying followed behind him, with Wolf bringing up the rear.

After walking about twenty meters, the passage began to slope upward. A faint glow appeared ahead—the emergency lights on the other side inside the warehouse.

Lin Xiao quickened his pace.

When he crawled out through the exit at the other end, he found himself standing on a maintenance platform deep inside the warehouse. The platform stood three meters above the ground, with the transport vehicles and metal crates directly below.

From this angle, he could clearly see the chaos at the center of the warehouse.

The green gas had already spread across half the warehouse. Fletcher's men and Blood Axe's men were both retreating in panic, yet the two sides remained locked in a standoff—Fletcher's people were trying to establish a containment line, while Blood Axe's men wanted to use the confusion to approach the transport vehicles. Sporadic gunfire rang out, but no one dared charge into the gas.

Beside the transport vehicle, the damaged metal crate was still spewing green gas. But Lin Xiao noticed that the crate's internal structure... was strange.

It was not an ordinary storage crate. Its interior contained complex compartments. Only the outer gas storage chamber had been damaged; inside it was a smaller metal container, still completely sealed.

A clear emblem was printed on the container's surface—a letter A pierced by three bolts of lightning.

A.I.M.

Advanced Idea Mechanics.

Lin Xiao's heart jolted. In the memories of his previous life, A.I.M. had indeed dabbled in biological enhancement technology in its early days. Their Extremis Virus project had been built on the foundation of the Soviet Union's "Red Snow" program. If this shipment contained A.I.M.'s early experimental data...

"Down there," Su Ying said quietly.

Lin Xiao followed her gaze.

Beneath the transport vehicle, something was moving in the shadows.