Thud! Thud! Thud!
Every time the heavy combat boots slammed against the floor, it was like siege rams beating war drums.
The entire narrow underground passage groaned under the unbearable strain of three humanoid self-propelled weapons charging through it.
Dust rained down from the walls, shaken loose without pause. The already dim blast-proof lights overhead flickered madly in the violent tremors, occasionally letting out a shrill electrical crackle before plunging completely into darkness.
The alternating light and darkness resembled a malfunctioning film projector, stretching, twisting, and slicing the shadows of the three men across the cold steel walls into frenzied, blurred specters charging out of hell.
A complicated odor filled the air.
There was the metallic tang of steel, the sting of ozone, and a faint trace of blood.
Chu Hang could not feel fatigue. Not even a little.
The explosive power brought by the Super-Soldier Serum roared and surged through every muscle fiber in his body like floodwaters bursting through a dam.
His heart pounded like a war drum struck by a giant. Every powerful beat pumped scorching blood through his limbs, bringing waves of tingling pleasure as his strength surged.
Meanwhile, Logan's Healing Factor was like an inexhaustible nuclear furnace, incinerating the tearing agony caused by every overloaded movement the instant it appeared and converting it into purer, more violent power!
Destruction and rebirth, all at once!
The agonizing yet exhilarating sensation at the limit almost made him throw back his head and howl!
He looked at the blue figure running at the front, and only one word came to mind: madman.
Steve Rogers, I nearly thought you had walked out of some absurd anti-Japanese TV drama.
Chu Hang could feel that his knockoff serum was already powerful enough, yet compared to the genuine article ahead of him, it always seemed to be missing something essential.
Most likely, it was Marvel's protagonist buff for Steve.
Running almost shoulder to shoulder with Steve was Logan.
He looked just like a saber-toothed tiger that had leaped out of a prehistoric jungle, every inch of him radiating ferocity.
Three pale Bone Claws had already sprung out, dragging blindingly cold gleams through the darkness. A bloodthirsty growl rumbled in his throat, and every breath he exhaled came out as scorching white vapor.
His senses were sharper than Chu Hang's and Steve's. The increasingly thick scent of blood had completely ignited the Beast instinct buried deep in his bones.
In the blink of an eye, they were less than ten meters from the door!
Steve let out a furious roar, his voice like thunder exploding from flat ground and sending rolling echoes through the enclosed passage!
He made no flashy movements. His legs drove down hard, his body sank slightly, and he poured all his strength into his right shoulder!
Then he slammed into the door!
"BANG—!!!"
A terrifying crash exploded!
A visible ring-shaped shockwave burst outward from the point of impact, sweeping every bit of dust and debris from the passage!
The center of the specially reinforced door caved inward as though it had been struck by a hydraulic press!
The next second, countless black cracks spread wildly from the impact point like living vines!
The entire locking system, along with the concrete structure deeply embedded in the surrounding wall, disintegrated amid an eruption of shattered stone and sparks!
The heavy iron door spun through the air like scrap metal kicked away by a giant, flying backward into the space beyond and crashing down with a dull boom.
The door was open.
But the sight beyond it froze the three figures, who had been charging forward with unstoppable momentum, in their tracks.
Chu Hang's scalp exploded with numbness.
A chill shot up from the soles of his feet, raced along his spine, and stabbed straight into the top of his head!
What the fuck... did we stab straight into an alien nest?!
What lay before them was not a prison cell at all.
It was a living black ocean made of pure despair and steel! The Mechanical Spiders they had seen outside were everywhere here, flooding the place!
The floor, the walls, the ceiling... everything within sight was covered in a dense, writhing, nauseating black carpet!
"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."
"Crunch... crunch..."
The scraping of countless metal limbs against the floor and the sound of steel being gnawed apart mixed with a revolting stench of ozone and blood, rushing at them so hard it was almost suffocating!
The moment the door was smashed open, the black ocean seemed to pause for a second.
Then countless scarlet compound eyes turned toward them in unison, locking tightly onto the three men at the doorway.
"Help!"
"Get away! Don't come any closer!"
The wails of survivors rose from the depths of hell.
Inside rows of iron cages, the captured soldiers used their last scraps of strength to beat against the bars. Their faces were twisted by fear and despair. Their uniforms were in tatters, their bodies bore injuries of varying severity, and their hollow eyes made them look like lambs awaiting slaughter.
Right before Chu Hang and the others, one spider had already bitten through the iron bars of a cell with mandibles sharp as scalpels. Its glowing red compound eyes locked onto a young soldier curled up in the corner, trembling violently with fear.
It lunged!
The young soldier only managed half a scream.
Then it stopped abruptly.
A splash of glaring crimson spattered across the cold iron bars.
Then more spiders caught the scent of blood and swarmed in like vultures smelling carrion... The soldier's body was quickly swallowed by the black tide, leaving only several muffled sounds of bones breaking.
Steve's eyes turned red in an instant.
Not metaphorically. They were truly blood-red, the result of capillaries in his eyes rupturing under extreme rage.
"NO!!!"
He was the first to plunge into the black spider tide that represented death!
"Awooo—!"
Logan was only half a beat slower. He overtook Steve afterward, turning into a black whirlwind of death. Every sweep of his Bone Claws sent metal limbs and blue-violet sparks flying through the air!
This was bad.
Something dropped in Chu Hang's heart.
Looking at those two reckless idiots who had charged headfirst into the monster horde, the towering fury inside him seemed to have been doused by a basin of ice water.
He was not Steve. He did not have that I Am Legend resolve to burn himself away for his beliefs.
Nor was he Logan. He did not possess the carefree detachment of someone who had lived for more than a century and looked down on life and death, fighting simply because it felt good.
At his core, he was still just a transmigrator who wanted to live peacefully.
And deep down, he was not even American. If it were not for surviving in Marvel, who the hell would want to risk their life for the United States?
Fuck!
Chu Hang cursed inwardly.
This was not a fight. This was a tower defense game on hell difficulty! The two main DPS and the tank had both turned into auto-attacking AI, while he was the only player still thinking clearly!
At this rate, they were just throwing their lives away!
Someone had to be the damned commander!
"Captain! Block the door! Don't let the ones outside get in!" Chu Hang roared with all his strength, his voice hoarse as if it had been scraped raw by sandpaper, yet exploding like thunder. "Logan! Clear the left side! Leave the right to me!"
That shout finally pulled a sliver of reason back from Steve's fury.
He spun around abruptly and slammed the Vibranium Shield onto the ground with a boom, jamming the door he had broken open and forcibly holding back the second wave of spiders trying to pour in from outside like a tide!
Logan did not answer, but he roared and turned toward the cell block on the left without hesitation, beginning an even more efficient slaughter!
The tactic worked!
Chu Hang drew a deep breath. What entered his lungs did not feel like air, but searing flame. His gaze locked firmly onto the right!
There, spiders covered the iron door of a cell. Inside, a young soldier clutched his head and had already been scared senseless.
There was no time!
Chu Hang left an afterimage where he stood. The next instant, he appeared like a ghost in front of that cell!
He could not be bothered with the spiders. Both hands shot out like lightning and clamped onto the pitted, gnawed-up bars of the cell door!
His feet braced hard against the wall beside the door. Every muscle in his body bulged like coiling dragons, and his combat suit creaked under the unbearable strain!
"OPEN—FOR—ME!!!"
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