Lin Xiu lightly pressed his fingertips to his temple. The Oracle System's streams of data, like blue threads, churned rapidly across his retinas with a faint hiss, dancing before his eyes like blue ribbons.
The energy spectrum left behind before the Mind Stone fragment disintegrated had just been imported when the system immediately emitted a piercing buzz, like a sharp blade slicing through the silence.
The pale blue string of code flickered violently on the holographic screen, like a flame swept up by a gale, making faint popping sounds.
"Hidden code?" he repeated softly, his Adam's apple bobbing with a quiet swallow.
The Nanocore at his spine grew faintly warm, the heat passing through his clothes to his skin with a gentle warmth.
This was a sign that the Intermediate Fragment's energy was reviving. The Nanocore was linked to the Intermediate Fragment's energy—when the energy fluctuated, the Nanocore sensed it and changed temperature.
When he had confronted Loki in the ruins three days ago, he had nearly drained this fragment of its power. Yet now, its remaining energy seemed drawn by an invisible force, gathering toward his brain along his neural pathways. He could feel a warm current moving through his body.
The laboratory's incandescent lights buzzed overhead. Their dim yellow glow made everything feel hazy and oppressive.
He bent down and picked up the Vibranium USB drive scattered on the floor. Its metal edges still retained the warmth from when it had fallen, warm to the touch.
His hand had been unsteady while importing the data just now, and the drive had struck the console and bounced away with a clang.
He had dug it up from the ruins of an ancient battlefield in Norway. Asgardian Runes were carved across its surface, glimmering faintly under the lights with a mysterious beauty.
He had originally assumed they were merely decorative, but now they resonated with the Oracle System's prompt, producing a faint hum.
"Maybe it's encrypted data from Stark's research into the Mind Stone back then." He spoke his guess into the air, his voice echoing clearly through the empty laboratory.
Three months ago, just after he had crossed into the Marvel Universe, he had discovered the Balder Armor in an underground laboratory beneath an abandoned factory in Brooklyn. By coincidence, old Stark Industries files contained a few scattered references to the Quantum Container Project.
Now, this hidden string of code was like the end of a thread, tugging him deeper.
At three in the morning, New York had yet to awaken from its slumber. The streets were silent, broken only by the occasional sound of wind.
Stark Tower's glass curtain wall gleamed cold white beneath the moonlight, icy and dazzling.
Lin Xiu stood on a fire escape across the street. His Nano Armor clung to his skin, contracting into a bodysuit form, and he could feel it pressed tightly against him.
He raised his left hand, and the dark-gold patterns around his wrist glowed faintly with a soft hiss.
This was a biometric code simulated using the Mind Stone's energy frequency. When he had fought Loki three days earlier, the Oracle System had happened to decode the Mind Stone's fluctuation pattern.
"JARVIS, unauthorized biological signal detected." By the time the mechanical voice came from the speakers atop the tower, Lin Xiu was already standing before the core database door.
His breathing was steady and powerful. He pressed his knuckles against the access sensor, and the dark-gold patterns briefly overlapped with the sensor's red light. A beep sounded, while his heart hammered in his chest, startlingly clear in the silent surroundings.
The terminal's blue light reflected off his tense jawline, soft yet bright.
Lin Xiu typed rapidly on the keyboard, the clattering keys echoing through the room.
When the folder labeled "Mindwave Project" opened on the holographic screen, the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood up, accompanied by a faint prickling sensation.
This was his third attempt to download Stark's Mind Stone research materials. The first two had both been blocked by an inexplicable firewall at the final stage.
The progress bar now reached 98%. He stared at the time in the lower-right corner of the screen: 23:59:59—the midnight chime seemed to be ringing beside his ears already, crisp and loud in his imagination.
"Ding."
The progress bar suddenly froze.
The holographic screen's blue light abruptly went out, and darkness swallowed everything in an instant. He could not see his hand before his face.
At the same time, an icy presence rushed toward him, chilling him to the bone.
In the darkness, a ghostly green light seeped from the terminal's interface. It resembled a phantom eye and gave off an eerie aura.
Lin Xiu quickly leaned back, his back striking the cold metal wall. The chill seeped through his clothing.
His pupils narrowed to slits in the darkness, and everything around him blurred.
Phantom Loki's outline emerged from the luminous mist. The spikes on his horned helmet gleamed coldly in the dark, and his voice was like silk soaked in venom, cold yet soft. "Did you think you were the first person to come into contact with it? Tony Stark knew of your arrival long ago."
Lin Xiu's Adam's apple moved slightly.
He remembered the illusion Loki had created with the Mind Stone in the ruins three days ago—the scenes of Blue Star Laboratory exploding, flames roaring and turning everything red; the sound of his mentor shouting, "Run!" from within the sea of fire, heart-wrenching and still echoing in his ears.
Now, the phantom's voice overlapped with that memory. His left hand unconsciously moved to the Vibranium dagger at his waist, but his fingertips touched only the hard, smooth patterns of the Nano Armor.
"Sever the neural link." He issued the command into the air, but the Oracle System's prompt turned his blood cold. "Mental entity intrusion detected in auxiliary computing module." When the holographic screen lit up again, the figure displayed was no longer Loki, but a virtual image of Tony Stark—wearing his trademark red sunglasses and a cynical smile.
Through his long-term research on Stark and the Stark voice database stored in the Oracle System, Lin Xiu performed a detailed audio spectrum analysis. He discovered subtle differences between the frequency and waveform of the recording's ending tones and Stark's normal voice, revealing an almost imperceptible distortion hidden within. Only then did he realize it was a trap.
Lin Xiu's fingers hovered above the keyboard.
A sudden surge of heat from the Nanocore shot up his spine to the back of his neck, scorching his skin. After the Intermediate Fragment's energy revived, a protective mechanism formed during data acquisition, causing large amounts of energy to gather in the Nanocore and raise its temperature. This was a sign that the Anti-Mental Force Field had activated.
"Data Incineration Protocol, activate." He gritted his teeth and gave the command. The armor's dark-gold patterns instantly turned a blazing orange-red, dazzling and searing.
The terminal emitted a shrill alarm, deafening in the confined room.
Phantom Stark's image began to twist, exposing Loki's sharp laughter beneath it.
Taking the opportunity, Lin Xiu switched his consciousness to offline mode. The world before his eyes suddenly blurred, as though he were looking through frosted glass.
He closed his eyes briefly and entered a random password from memory—the reverse of Blue Star Laboratory's street number, known only to him.
"Download complete."
The moment the system notification sounded, cold sweat beaded on Lin Xiu's forehead and slid down his cheeks with a trace of chill.
He quickly pulled out the USB drive, but the instant his fingers touched the interface, every light in the tower abruptly turned blood-red, like a roaring blaze.
JARVIS's mechanical voice exploded overhead. "Core data leak detected. Activating emergency defense mechanisms."
Twelve security drones burst from the ceiling vents at once. Their metal wings spun at high speed, producing a droning buzz painful to the ears.
Lin Xiu spun and ran. As he moved, his armor automatically unfolded into Tactical Assault Form. A Dark-Gold Battle Blade sprang from his arm guard with a clang.
The first drone's laser beam grazed his left shoulder. The smell of scorching flesh filled his nostrils, pungent and unpleasant.
He could hear his own heavy panting, fast and ragged.
"This way!"
A woman's voice came from around the corner.
Lin Xiu stopped sharply and saw Lina Holt standing before the emergency exit. The hem of her lab coat was lifted by the airflow, fluttering loudly.
She held up an access card glowing blue, its light soft and bright.
Remembering how Lina had used exploit code to help him out of trouble three days ago, gratitude welled up inside him.
Her fingers were trembling, but her eyes were astonishingly bright. "Be more careful next time, Ghost."
Laser beams from the drones burst into sparks beside them, bright and scorching.
Lin Xiu grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the emergency stairwell. The door slammed shut behind them with a heavy bang.
At that instant, he heard Phantom Loki's laughter mingling with the alarm. "You cannot escape fate."
By the time they returned to the laboratory, dawn was breaking.
The laboratory was somewhat disordered. Papers lay scattered across the floor, and the instruments were still slightly unsteady, as if traces of the earlier tense events remained.
Lin Xiu inserted the USB drive into the terminal. The words on the holographic screen stopped his breath: "Nanocore Prototype Design Document: As an energy container for the Mind Stone, it must withstand energy impacts at the level of the Infinity Stones..."
"How could this..." His fingers lightly traced the blueprint on the screen. Those familiar nanostructural patterns matched the Balder Armor's core module exactly.
Sunlight streamed through the blinds outside, casting mottled patches of light and shadow across his face.
The Oracle System suddenly emitted a sharp, urgent buzz.
Lin Xiu looked up. Golden data streams churned across his retinas at a speed he had never seen before. The original blue interface began to glimmer with fine golden light, brilliant and dazzling.
He instinctively touched the back of his neck. The Nanocore there was scorching hot, the heat radiating through his skin, as if something were breaking free from deep within its cocoon.
"System notification: Unknown upgrade conditions detected as fulfilled..."
Before the words could finish, every light in the laboratory suddenly went out.
In the darkness, Lin Xiu saw pale golden light rise from his palm. Within it, stars seemed to revolve, mysterious and beautiful.
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