Steve Rogers, a walking recruitment ad and the spiritual totem of the entire United States, had jumped straight off the cliff.
His figure was like a blue cannonball fired through the wind and snow, carrying an unstoppable resolve as he shot toward Hydra's mobile-fortress-grade mech at the foot of the mountain.
Chu Hang stood at the cliff's edge, his heart churning like a stormy sea.
Maniac!
This was absolutely a one-hundred-percent pure maniac!
Any carbon-based life-form with functioning brain circuitry, upon seeing a monster that utterly outclassed them in size, firepower, and defense, would have immediately run for its life.
But Steve did the opposite. Not only did he not run, he was practically face-checking the bushes, volunteering to be the tank.
He was treating his own life as the final card in an all-in gamble, slamming it onto the table without hesitation and betting that the two of them watching from above could find that impossibly slim chance to turn things around before he got flattened into meat paste.
This Marvel world is ridiculous. What real American has this kind of willpower? Chu Hang thought speechlessly.
"Damn it..." A low growl rolled from Logan's throat beside Chu Hang, carrying amazement, irritation, and a trace of beastly savagery that had been thoroughly ignited. His eyes, usually half-lidded and faintly mocking, were now locked tightly onto Steve's back. His clenched fists cracked loudly at the knuckles. "That son of a bitch, America's sweetheart, always does things that make my blood pressure spike."
Chu Hang glanced at Logan, the corner of his mouth curling into a wild grin. Oh, old wolf, that was not your blood pressure rising. Your adrenaline was spiking. Your blood was boiling.
"Quit talking, bro!" Chu Hang took a deep breath and forced himself into a state of perfect focus. His Super-Soldier Serum-enhanced brain began running at full speed, frantically calculating distance, wind speed, trajectory, and the lead time for every movement of that iron monstrosity's joints. "The Captain has put his life in our hands as a pledge of trust. If we screw this up, the three of us will be getting packed up nice and neat in this frozen wasteland today!"
As he spoke, Steve had already landed. Like an impossibly agile blue flea, he darted frantically around the giant creature's feet.
Every time the monster's colossal alloy foot came down, it was like a miniature earthquake. The waves of snow and shattered rocks it kicked up could bury a tank alive.
Yet Steve always managed to dodge by a hair's breadth, his shield ringing clang, clang, clang as it blocked the sweeping mechanical tentacles. The sound was more teeth-grating than nails on a chalkboard.
Chu Hang was even more speechless at the sight. "This is ridiculous. That protagonist aura..."
Steve had succeeded. He had turned himself into the perfect taunting target, drawing all of the monster's aggro firmly onto its front.
That iron monstrosity clearly had no advanced AI chip installed. Its intelligence was worrying. Its two scarlet electronic eyes were locked on Steve, completely unaware that its back had been left utterly exposed to the view of the two opportunists on the cliff.
Now! There was only one chance!
"Logan!" Chu Hang roared at the top of his lungs.
"Do it!" The old wolf's response was only one word—brief, direct, and brimming with the excitement of a feast about to begin.
Chu Hang grabbed Logan by the back of his collar. It felt like grabbing half an iron door; the old man's muscles were harder than Chu Hang's skin.
"Hold on tight, old man!" Chu Hang could not resist throwing out one last jab before launch. "If my hand slips and I drop you halfway down, don't expect me to go collect your body!"
"Shut up, kid! You're the heaviest damn accessory I've ever seen!" Logan cursed fiercely, but his body had already tensed like a drawn bow. His knees bent slightly as he prepared to be launched like a cannonball.
Chu Hang drove his legs down with explosive force. The terrifying burst of power granted by the Super-Soldier Serum was pushed to its absolute limit in that instant! The rock beneath his feet cracked apart, and he shot into the sky like a shell leaving a cannon barrel, still carrying a hundred-kilogram-plus humanoid accessory equipped with three Bone Claws.
"Whoosh—"
The gale shrieked past Chu Hang's ears, and the sensation of weightlessness made his stomach churn violently. He stared fixedly at the enormous moving target below, frantically adjusting their aerial trajectory according to the lead required for its turn.
"Right there!" Chu Hang roared at Logan in midair, pointing toward a heavily armored section at the monster's back.
That was the only spot he had pinpointed with his enhanced hearing that sounded like it might contain an energy core!
Logan forcibly twisted his head around in midair and looked in the direction Chu Hang indicated. His gaze instantly became sharper than the Bone Claws in his hands.
Shing!
Three Bone Claws gleaming with a chilling light shot fiercely from between his knuckles!
Closer! Even closer!
Chu Hang could even see the thick weld lines and savage rivets on the monster's armor. He could smell the disgusting stench coming off it, a mixture of engine oil, scorched metal, and ozone.
Steve below seemed to understand as well. He suddenly thrust his shield forward and slammed it into one of the monster's legs with all his strength.
The move did little damage, but the humiliation was immense, successfully making the giant creature's massive body stiffen for a split second.
That instant!
"Get in there!"
Chu Hang let out a roar that barely sounded human. He twisted at the waist, his arm muscles bulging, and used every ounce of strength he had accumulated since arriving in this world to drive Logan viciously toward the target point!
Calling it a push was not quite right. Chu Hang was betting everything, hurling Logan at that absurdly thick armor like a living humanoid armor-piercing spike in a nearly suicidal display of brutality!
Clang—!
A sharp metallic screech, piercing enough to rupture eardrums, exploded through the air!
Logan's Bone Claws collided violently with the monster's armor, throwing up a shower of sparks more dazzling than fireworks. The claws that could tear through a bank vault's steel plating only left three glaring white marks on the armor's surface. They had failed to penetrate completely!
"Fuck!" Logan's curse mixed with the screech of metal, filled with unwillingness.
Chu Hang's heart sank. Had he miscalculated? This turtle shell was even tougher than he had imagined?
No! It was not over yet! His part was not finished!
Chu Hang's body followed immediately after. Carried by tremendous momentum, he slammed hard into Logan's back. His feet landed precisely on Logan's lower back, using him as a perfect fulcrum and force-transmission rod.
"I told you..." Chu Hang's eyes were bloodshot from the strain, and his voice seemed to squeeze out from between his teeth one word at a time. "Get! In! There!"
He poured every bit of power the Super-Soldier Serum had drawn out of his body into it. He poured in all the resentment of a modern office drone toward 996 work schedules, cutthroat competition, and this fucked-up world; his fear of death and his desperate desire to live; all of his energy, all into his right foot!
Then he kicked with everything he had!
The kick landed perfectly on the back of Logan's right fist, which had already penetrated halfway into the armor!
Crack!
This time, it was no longer an ear-piercing scrape, but a crisp shattering sound, like tempered glass breaking apart!
Under the combined strength of two Super-Soldier-level fighters, that indestructible armor was finally punched through in the most savage, unreasonable way possible!
Logan's entire right arm, Bone Claws and all, was kicked straight into the monster's body by Chu Hang!
Roar—!
A painful howl unlike anything a living creature could make erupted from deep in the monster's throat, filled with electrical static and system-collapse alarms. The terrifying shockwave instantly threw Chu Hang and Logan off its back.
They tumbled through the air like two rag dolls before crashing hard into the snow dozens of meters away, gouging out two steaming craters.
Chu Hang felt as though every bone in his body had fallen apart. A metallic sweetness rose in his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of blood that tasted of rust. But his eyes remained fixed on the colossal creature.
It had gone mad.
The monster they had stabbed in the kidney had completely descended into madness. Its enormous body writhed wildly, countless mechanical tentacles flailing in every direction and smashing everything around it to pieces. The massive turbine engine in its chest began flickering out of control, firing dark-red energy beams aimlessly across the battlefield. They carved deep trenches through the ice and melted mountain rock into searing lava.
"Run!" Steve shouted. He had already rushed to their side amid the chaos and yanked Chu Hang out of the snow pit.
Logan on the other side staggered to his feet as well. His right arm, which Chu Hang had used as a "nail," hung limply at his side, clearly broken. Yet under the effects of his Healing Factor, it was visibly writhing and resetting itself.
The three of them ran for their lives in the direction away from the monster without looking back.
Behind them was a scene straight out of the apocalypse.
A series of muffled explosions erupted from within the monster's body, and thick black smoke and electrical sparks sprayed from the gaps in its armor.
Amid a deafening explosion, its mountain-like body collapsed with a thunderous crash, kicking up towering waves of snow.
At last, the world fell silent.
Chu Hang dropped onto the snow on his butt and gasped for breath like a broken bellows, feeling as if he were about to cough up his lungs.
Steve knelt on one knee with his shield supporting him, his chest rising and falling violently. Logan simply lay flat on his back with his limbs spread wide, a flattened cigar somehow clenched between his teeth. He stared at the gray sky without saying a word.
They had won.
In a battle that had seemed impossible to win, the three of them, armed with cheats, had really dismantled that invincible giant through plans that were each crazier than the last and a willingness to risk their lives.
So this was what it felt like to be one of those superheroes Americans entertained themselves with...
It was... pretty damn great.
[Add to bookshelf, follow for updates, and extra chapters for reminders!]
Before you continue