Darkness wrapped around every inch of Lin Xiu's senses like velvet soaked in water, chilly and heavy. His vision was swallowed by endless blackness, while his skin felt only dampness and cold.
The chill at the back of his neck was still crawling up his spine, three times more biting than a leak from a laboratory liquid nitrogen tank. Like icy needles, it stabbed painfully into his nape, and he could almost hear the faint hiss of the cold spreading.
He could hear the soft hum of his Nano Armor activating—the thermal signature masking module in Tactical Form was buzzing, sharp and urgent, as if desperately announcing something in the darkness. The Oracle System's scanning rays pierced the dark, projecting a pale green grid onto his retina. The faint green lattice stood out with startling clarity, like a mysterious guide within the darkness.
"You carry power in your veins that does not belong to mortals... an ancient legacy sealed by Odin."
The voice carried an ancient rhythm, like rusty gears grinding across his eardrums—rough and grating. Every syllable seemed to carry the stench of decay as it drilled into his nostrils.
Lin Xiu's pupils contracted slightly. His fingertips unconsciously pressed against the core of his breastplate—the Nanite Swarm there was vibrating at an abnormal frequency, as though answering some summons. He could feel the armor trembling faintly beneath his fingers, the vibration carrying a trace of warmth.
He remembered the fragment of an Asgardian document Dr. Novak had shown him three days ago. It said in Old Norse that "Balder" was the name of the god of light, and Odin's seal... The Balder Armor here was mysterious Asgardian equipment, said to possess immense power.
"Doctor!" he said in a low voice, catching a glimpse of the old man's shadow swaying beside him. It wavered in the darkness, as though it might be swallowed by it at any moment.
Dr. Novak's breathing suddenly grew heavy. A bean-sized point of red light flickered on in the dark—it was the miniature laser pointer the old man had hidden in his collar.
The light was weak, yet it sliced through the inky curtain like a blade. The red glow flickered in the dark with a faint sizzle, painfully clear in the silent darkroom.
Lin Xiu saw it clearly.
A figure stood before the Mind Stone projector. A black robe hung all the way to the floor. Its material was impossible to identify, yet it gleamed with an eerie light that did not belong to this age. The faint glow exuded an icy aura, raising goosebumps across Lin Xiu's skin.
The figure held a crystal in his right hand. Unlike the Tesseract's blue light, this crystal was dark gold, its surface crawling with twisted runes. Each rune pulsed faintly like a living vein, and with every pulse came a soft thump, like the beating of a heart.
"Time Observer No. 0." The voice rang out again. This time, Lin Xiu identified its source—it came from the black-robed figure's throat.
The figure did not turn around, yet seemed able to see straight through the metal walls of the ventilation ducts and into Lin Xiu's eyes. "Quantum fluctuations dragged me from the observation dimension to this place. And you, Lin Xiu, are not an accidental traveler."
Dr. Novak suddenly moved.
The old man's hunched body sprang forward as if released from a spring, lunging for the Mind Stone recorder.
His fingertips were still thirty centimeters from the device when an invisible wall slammed into his chest. With a muffled bang, the doctor was thrown against the wall. The laser pointer rolled across the floor, its red beam tracing a trembling line. The impact made Lin Xiu's ears ache, while the pointer rattled as it rolled.
"This isn't an ordinary energy device..." The doctor clutched his aching chest, his voice trembling with lingering shock. "It's reading consciousness!
"My memories... Images flashed through my mind just now. It was the Quantum Collider in your laboratory!"
Lin Xiu's temples throbbed violently. He could feel the blood vessels there pulsing again and again, accompanied by a faint swelling pain.
The Oracle System's warning exploded in his ears: "Abnormal psychic energy fluctuations detected. Target has locked onto the host's brainwave frequency. Immediate disconnection of the external energy source is recommended." He understood at once—the black-robed figure was using the Mind Stone to scan his memories.
S.H.I.E.L.D. on the eve of the Battle of New York could not possibly possess this kind of technology, unless...
"You're looking for the secret of the Balder Armor." Lin Xiu's voice was as calm as a precision instrument. The Nanite Swarm streamed down his arm, condensing in his palm into a data cable as thin as a hair. It gave off a faint hiss as it formed.
"But I'm sorry. I don't like being treated as a test subject."
The data cable shot into the control console's port with a hiss.
The Nanite Swarm flooded the circuitry like a tide. Through his neural interface, Lin Xiu felt the sting of electrical current—this was the Oracle System forcibly taking over the control terminal. The pain was like countless tiny needles pricking his nerves, making him frown.
An alarm suddenly blared. Its piercing shriek echoed through the darkroom, making everyone's eardrums ache. Red warning lights burst through the darkness, illuminating half of the black-robed figure's turned face. The red lights flashed again and again, carrying an air of danger.
It was a featureless face.
Or rather, every feature was constantly changing. At times it had Fury's hooked nose, at times Tony's curly hair. Finally, it settled into Odin's long beard, only to blur into nothing again the moment Lin Xiu blinked.
Lin Xiu could not help wondering who this black-robed figure truly was. How could he possess such an uncanny ability to change? Could it be connected to Asgard's mysterious power?
"You are not the only one who was chosen." There was urgency in the black-robed figure's voice now. "The entanglement level between the Tesseract and the Balder Core has reached 79%. If it breaks past the critical threshold during the Battle of New York..."
Bzzz—
A shower of sparks burst from the console as the energy input lines were completely melted through by the Nanite Swarm.
The Mind Stone's ghostly blue glow abruptly dimmed, and the projector's hum cut off at once. The sudden silence made the darkroom terrifyingly quiet.
On Lin Xiu's retina, the Oracle System's scanning grid suddenly warped into garbled code. When it cleared again, the black-robed figure was gone.
"The gears of fate have begun to turn, Quantum Sentinel... Here, 'Quantum Sentinel' might refer to someone with special quantum abilities, playing an important role in this mysterious incident."
The final whisper echoed through the empty control room, its trailing notes torn apart by the wind howling through the ventilation ducts like a ghost's wail.
Lin Xiu removed his nano mask. Cold sweat slid down the back of his neck and into his collar, making him shiver.
He stared at the Mind Stone, which had fallen silent once more. The Nanocore in his chest was still faintly hot—the tremor from before had been almost identical to the resonance before the Quantum Collider activated.
"The entanglement level he mentioned..." Dr. Novak pushed himself upright against the wall, his lenses fogged over. "I saw something about it in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s archives before. The Tesseract's quantum state is abnormally stable, unless there is..."
"Another quantum system operating at the same frequency." Lin Xiu finished for him, unconsciously rubbing the armor on his chest with his fingertips.
The Oracle System suddenly chimed, and a line of tiny text appeared on his retina: "Unknown residual energy detected. Locating..."
He looked up at the ceiling.
Within the shadows of the ventilation ducts, a trace of dark golden light was slowly fading, like a drop of gold paint dissolving into ink. It gave off a faint glow and a subtle warmth as it gradually vanished from sight.
Lin Xiu and Dr. Novak left the darkroom. The corridor outside was dimly lit and oppressive, but their minds were entirely focused on tracking the black-robed figure.
"Doctor," Lin Xiu said as he reactivated the tracking module of his Nano Armor, tension creeping into his voice without him even realizing it, "help me connect to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s satellite array.
"I need to..."
"Track the energy trail that guy left behind." The doctor adjusted his glasses, and his clouded eyes suddenly brightened. "I should have realized it long ago. There was no way the Quantum Lock Odin set on the Bifrost didn't have a flaw..."
The control console's screen suddenly flickered.
The Oracle System's locator cursor paused for half a second over the coordinates of an abandoned factory in Brooklyn, then was swallowed by static.
Lin Xiu stared at the static and heard the Nanocore humming in his chest. This vibration frequency was exactly the same as the Quantum Storm from three days earlier, when he had traveled through time.
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