Upgraded Gear

Damn it, what kind of situation was this?

Chu Hang stood in the snow, looking at the bodies of the Hydra soldiers on the ground. His heart felt like a bottle of mixed flavors had been overturned—he felt everything at once.

He was definitely afraid. He was alone now, and who knew how many more Hydra soldiers were lying in ambush around him? That burst of gunfire had surely alerted more people.

But after the fear came an even stronger emotion, slowly rising from the depths of his heart.

Excitement.

A twisted excitement mixed with tension and greed.

Where was this? Hydra's nest!

What did Hydra have? Black technology far beyond this era!

What weapons had Red Skull's soldiers used in the movies? Those blue energy guns that could turn a person into a pile of ash with one shot, far superior to the chattering submachine gun in his hands.

Although these men looked like ordinary patrol soldiers and still used conventional weapons, this was Hydra! Their equipment had to be better than that of ordinary German soldiers outside, right?

As the saying went, the bold ate their fill while the timid starved. Since he had already ended up here, there was no point in hesitating. Whether he lived or died, he had to grab some capital first.

Once that thought surfaced, he could no longer suppress it.

Chu Hang's eyes began to shine. He stopped hesitating, immediately crouched down, and began his first great corpse-looting operation since crossing over.

He headed first for the squad leader he had taken out with an elbow strike. Higher rank meant more good stuff on him. That was common sense.

He quickly searched the captain's body. First came the weapons: a well-maintained MP40 submachine gun and three full magazines. Chu Hang shamelessly stuffed all the magazines into his clothes. Then he removed two German stick grenades from the man's belt. They were powerful, could be thrown far, and were excellent for breaking through defenses.

Then came the food. From the man's jacket pocket, he pulled out a dark object wrapped in wax paper. Opening it, he found a high-energy compressed biscuit. It smelled of meat and nuts, far better than the dry military biscuits in his own backpack. There was also a small tin box containing several pieces of chocolate.

"Good stuff, all of it." Chu Hang shoved a small piece of chocolate into his mouth, feeling that rich, sweet energy spread through his body as he mumbled indistinctly. Sweets could quickly restore strength and ease tension. This was life-saving stuff.

Just as he was about to turn the body over to see whether there was anything on the back, his hand touched something hard and rectangular in an inner pocket.

His heart stirred. He pulled it out and found a small notebook wrapped in leather.

He opened it and, using the reflection from the surrounding snow, saw what was inside.

It was a hand-drawn map!

Though crudely drawn, the map clearly marked the key locations. At a glance, he spotted a place marked with a large red X. Beside it was the German word "Fabrik." He recognized that word. It meant "factory."

Several routes marked with dashed lines surrounded the factory, with times and numbers written beside them. This was clearly the patrol routes and timetable for the area!

He had struck it rich!

Chu Hang's heart nearly leaped out of his throat in excitement.

This was worth more than a hundred submachine guns! With this map, he was no longer blind in this dangerous forest. He could avoid enemy patrol routes and find the safest paths. More importantly, he now knew which direction the Hydra Factory was in!

He carefully folded up the map and tucked it into his innermost pocket. This was his lucky charm.

Suppressing the wild joy in his heart, he continued searching the captain. Soon, he found another strange object in a small pocket.

It was a palm-sized black metal box with a red button and several short antennas. It looked like a radio, but its design was smaller and more sophisticated than any World War II communication device he had ever seen.

"This should be Hydra's internal communicator." Chu Hang weighed the box in his hand. He did not know the frequency, nor could he understand German, but the device itself represented Hydra's technological level. After thinking it over, he pocketed it as well. It might come in handy someday.

After searching the captain, he quickly turned to the other three bodies. These ordinary soldiers did not have as much good stuff on them. Aside from ammunition and a little food, he found nothing special. Still, following the principle that even a mosquito was meat, Chu Hang stripped them of every last magazine and grenade.

By the time he finished searching the last soldier and stood up, he looked completely transformed.

He discarded his M1A1, whose ammunition had run out, and replaced it with a nearly new MP40. His body was covered in bulging magazines, and six stick grenades hung from his belt. His backpack was stuffed with chocolate and high-energy biscuits, while his chest held a map showing the way and a futuristic communicator.

This was a real upgrade from a bird gun to a cannon.

He felt his sense of security rise several levels in an instant. Sure enough, a man's greatest sense of security came from sufficient firepower and supplies.

Just as he was about to leave this troublesome place, his gaze accidentally swept over the soldier whose throat he had slit first with his military knife.

The soldier's backpack had burst open when he fell, scattering its contents across the ground.

Chu Hang had not paid it any attention at first, but his eyes were drawn to a faint blue glow in the snow.

What was that?

Curious, he walked over, brushed aside the snow with his foot, and saw the glowing object.

It was a translucent blue cube no bigger than a fist. It looked like a crystal, but streams of light seemed to flow slowly within it, giving off a faint yet pure energy fluctuation. It lay quietly in the snow, its blue glow appearing especially mysterious in the darkness.

Chu Hang crouched down, stretched out his hand, hesitated for a moment, and then picked it up.

The cube felt cool in his hand, but not piercingly cold. Instead, it had a warm, smooth texture. He could clearly feel a faint but extremely pure energy radiating from the tiny cube.

Was this... an energy block?

Chu Hang instantly thought of the energy weapons Hydra had used in the movies. Hadn't the Cosmic Cube been the energy source for those weapons? This tiny blue cube, whether in color or the feel of its energy, had a faint resemblance to the Cosmic Cube.

He immediately understood. This thing was very likely a standardized energy source created by Hydra after extracting power from the Cosmic Cube! The "battery" for those energy weapons!

Chu Hang's breathing immediately became rapid.

He carefully tucked the energy block into his clothes as well, feeling as though his heart was about to overload.

First the map, then this energy block. God, are you afraid I won't die fast enough, so you sent me all these treasures just to make me drag Hydra down with me?

As he was immersed in overwhelming delight, a faint sound suddenly drifted over from afar on the wind.

"Woof! Woof woof!"

Dogs barking! And more than one!

Chu Hang's expression changed instantly.

He knew that the gunfire had definitely brought in a larger search party, and they had brought military dogs too!

In this snowy terrain, a human nose might fail, but a dog's nose would not lie. The smell of blood on the ground was the clearest trail marker for them.

He had to leave immediately!

He no longer felt the slightest attachment to the place. After giving the bodies one last look, he silently said in his heart, Thanks for the gear, brother, then turned and plunged headfirst into deeper darkness.

He did not choose the shortest route to the factory marked on the map. Instead, based on the patrol routes, he chose the opposite path, one that looked the most remote.

Heading for the factory now would be no different from walking into a trap. He had to find somewhere to hide, wait out this danger, and make further plans after dawn.

The wind and snow seemed to grow stronger again. Before long, they covered his footprints in the snow, along with the four bodies.

The entire forest returned to deathly silence, as though the brief, bloody battle had never happened.

Only a black shadow, carrying brand-new equipment and a burning heart, moved swiftly and resolutely through the dark, snow-covered forest.