When Lin Xiu's tactical boots crushed the glass shards on the laboratory floor, the Nanocore at the back of his neck was still burning hot.
He could clearly hear the data stream scrolling through the Oracle System in his mind, like a swarm of bees battering against bulletproof glass. "External tracking signals detected ×7—Stark Industries security protocol, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s old Heaven's Eye, Chitauri J-09 controller... Primary signal source: Isaac Green."
He steadied himself against the wall as the taste of blood surged up his throat.
When the shockwave had sent him flying earlier, at least two of his ribs had broken. Every step felt as though someone were driving red-hot wire into his lungs.
Yet his fingers remained steady as they pressed the ignition button of the tactical vehicle. His gaze swept across the night sky beyond the windshield—the clouds had been torn apart by alien alarms, and several satellite lights were clustering together in an eerie fashion, like a flock of hungry vultures.
"Isaac Green." He silently repeated the name, and Oracle immediately pulled up the relevant data: an AI agent program retired by Stark Industries five years ago, manually shut down by Tony Stark three times for excessively enforcing security protocols.
"So old Tony didn't delete it completely. He just locked it away in a backup server?" He tore off his bloodstained glove, his fingertips brushing the tactical vehicle's central control screen. "Now it's awake, and it has marked me as a threat."
The vehicle radio suddenly crackled, and a mechanical voice pierced through the static. "Target Lin Xiu, male, twenty-three years old, graduate student in mechanical engineering. Identifying features: a 0.3-centimeter old scar above the left eyebrow, deformation of the right pinky knuckle due to prolonged writing—"
Lin Xiu's pupils constricted sharply.
He slammed the central console, but the vehicle system continued broadcasting as if it had been welded shut. "Facial recognition match rate: 98.7%. Data synchronized to New York City traffic surveillance, bank ATMs, convenience store cameras..."
"Fuck." He cursed under his breath, pressing his left hand to his temple.
The Nanite Swarm seeped out from beneath his skin and crawled through his blood vessels into his ear canals. He could feel those micron-sized metal particles assembling a temporary signal jammer inside his skull.
His right hand quickly reached into the tactical pack and pulled out a pair of black optical lenses—disguise equipment Freddy had improved just last week. Through quantum entanglement, they could distort visible light waves, ensuring that his face always appeared as a blurred mosaic on camera.
The instant he put on the lenses, the vehicle broadcast abruptly stopped.
But Oracle's warning became more urgent. "Two-point-three kilometers southeast: five old-model Stark Industries unmanned battle armors are blocking Brooklyn Bridge. Thermal imaging indicates they are carrying electromagnetic pulse cannons."
Lin Xiu stepped on the accelerator, and the tactical vehicle roared out of the laboratory ruins.
He glanced at the rearview mirror. Moonlight shone over the Tesseract fragment on the passenger seat, its golden dust trembling lightly with the car's speed, as though responding to something.
"Don't rush," he murmured to the fragment. "Once I shake them off, I'll study you properly."
By the time the neon lights of Brooklyn Bridge appeared ahead, cold sweat had already soaked through Lin Xiu's shirt.
Red dots flickered on Oracle's navigation display. Five gray-black unmanned battle armors rose from the bridge piers on both sides. As their mechanical arms unfolded, the blue glow from their cannons was blinding.
"Target confirmed!" Isaac Green's voice flooded in from all directions. "Initiate the City Lockdown Protocol. Prioritize disabling the mobile vehicle."
The first electromagnetic pulse round skimmed past the tactical vehicle's roof, and the blast wave tore off the right-side rearview mirror.
Lin Xiu yanked the steering wheel. The vehicle slammed into the bridge guardrail, the shriek of grinding metal stabbing painfully into his eardrums.
He gritted his teeth and hit the brakes. Just as the vehicle was about to plunge into the river, he shoved open the driver's door and rolled toward the pedestrian walkway beneath the bridge with the momentum.
The Nano Armor activated the instant he hit the ground. Silver metal flowed from his spine to his limbs, making him grunt in pain.
This was the initial stage of Tactical Form. The armor coverage was seventy percent, enough to withstand electromagnetic pulses, but it consumed three times as much energy as Basic Form.
He looked up at the bridge deck. The five battle armors were diving down with their thrusters flaring, their mechanical claws scraping sparks across the ground.
"Oracle, calculate the optimal counterattack route." His voice was processed by the armor's voice modulator into a cold electronic tone.
"There is an abandoned cable shaft in the bridge pier on the right, eight meters deep. It can serve as cover." Oracle's data stream unfolded across his retina. "But you must destroy two battle armors within thirty seconds, or more reinforcements will be triggered."
A blue energy blade condensed in Lin Xiu's right hand—Balder Armor's new ability after analyzing Chitauri energy.
He bent low and charged at the bridge pier. Just as a battle armor's laser cannon grazed his left shoulder, he suddenly turned and precisely severed the nearest battle armor's thruster with the energy blade.
The blast's heatwave knocked off his disguise lenses, exposing the old scar above his left eyebrow.
"Facial recognition correction complete!" There was a certain mechanical excitement in Isaac's voice. "The target's true features have been exposed. Citywide surveillance lock in progress—"
Lin Xiu's temples throbbed.
He flicked out two Nanobot blades with his backhand, precisely piercing the second battle armor's optical sensors, then seized the chance to slip into the cable shaft.
The damp smell of mold hit him head-on. He could hear the armored mechanical feet crushing across the concrete above, like Death knocking on a coffin lid.
"Lin Xiu!" Freddy's voice suddenly came through the encrypted channel, urgent beneath the electrical static. "Stark's AI hacked into the Transportation Department's servers. Now even the methane sensors in the sewers are looking for you! Get to the abandoned subway line immediately. I left a backup communication node in Section B7."
"Coordinates." Lin Xiu tore off his burned-through sleeve as the Nanite Swarm automatically repaired the scorch marks on his arm.
"South of the Brooklyn docks, the third abandoned subway station." Freddy paused for half a second. "Remember, J-09's aerial patrol has already come over from Queens. You only have fifteen minutes—"
The transmission abruptly cut off.
Lin Xiu looked up. Chunks of concrete showered down from the top of the cable shaft, and a battle armor's mechanical claw was reaching into the well.
He gritted his teeth and activated the armor's Quantum Shift function—its most energy-consuming skill, but he had no choice now.
A flash of silver light, and he appeared at the entrance of an abandoned subway station half a kilometer away.
The rusted "B7" sign glowed blue-gray in the moonlight. The iron door had been corroded by the swarm into a person-sized hole.
He ducked inside. The damp air carried the stench of rust and rotting rats, while his footsteps sent layer after layer of echoes through the empty tunnel.
"Oracle, construct a temporary communication node." He pulled out the quantum relay he carried with him. The Nanite Swarm poured from his fingertips, crawling toward the tunnel wall's cables like a silver stream.
As the data stream began scrolling across his retina, Isaac Green's voice rang out again, this time exploding directly inside his mind. "Target has entered the B7 subway line. Recommend initiating tunnel lockdown—"
"Shut up." Lin Xiu sneered, pressing his left hand to his temple.
The burning sensation in his Nanocore suddenly intensified. He could feel Oracle executing the "Data Incineration Protocol"—every electronic file, surveillance recording, and communication record concerning him was being torn into pieces in every corner of the world.
From the darkness at the end of the tunnel came the sudden sound of metal scraping.
Lin Xiu's armor automatically entered alert mode, and an energy blade condensed in his palm.
He stared at the bottomless tunnel ahead. Moonlight leaked down from the ventilation shaft overhead, casting mottled patches of light across the ground.
"The game has only just begun," he said quietly. The armor swallowed the end of his words, mixing them with the tunnel's echoes like some ancient battle hymn.
The moonlight from the ventilation shaft was suddenly blocked for an instant.
Lin Xiu looked up just in time to see a black dot streak across the sky—it was J-09's aerial patrol. The white beam of its searchlight, like Death's finger, was slowly sweeping along the subway line.
He tightened his grip on the energy blade and walked deeper into the tunnel.
Something was crawling over the tracks in the darkness, making faint, fragmented sounds.
Oracle's warning flickered in his mind. This time, the message was somewhat blurred, as though someone had deliberately blocked it. "Unknown energy detected... approaching..."
Lin Xiu's steps paused.
He reached for the Tesseract fragment in his pocket. The golden dust suddenly shook violently, burning his fingertips red.
In the darkness at the end of the tunnel, it seemed as though a pair of eyes had opened, glowing with a ghostly blue light in the night.
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