This Guy Had Some Skills

Crackling sounds!

A bright light flashed, Elder White Ape trembled all over, his skeleton vaguely visible waving its arms and legs.

The thunder came and went quickly. In the blink of an eye, the Elder White Ape with his afro, his entire body pitch black, exhaled a puff of black smoke and collapsed to the ground. Occasionally, his limbs twitched, and it was unclear whether he was dead or alive.

The leopard shadow that the lightning had conjured was gone in a flash, but the surrounding tribal soldiers saw it clearly and were all stunned and speechless.

Russell thought to himself, "Heaven is on my side!" His grasp of lightning was very rudimentary. Apart from the cat form of the Thunder Beast, he could only imitate other objects without truly mastering them. Even when he transformed into a cobra, it looked like a shoehorn.

But Wakanda's greatest totem is the Black Panther. What else could it be but divine intervention?

As for the enlarged cat, it's a bit chubby and looks more like a tiger...

It's no big deal. Tigers and leopards are both felines. Besides, the Black Panther at his feet is quite plump, which makes perfect sense.

The show's been put on long enough; it's time to wrap things up!

Russell cleared his throat, tilted his head back, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Black..."

"Black Panther God! It's Black Panther God Bast!!!"

Russell felt a lump in his throat, unable to swallow or let go, and almost choked. He thought to himself, "Which bastard's acting is even more exaggerated than mine?" He turned around and saw Azzuri lying prostrate at Black Panther's feet.

"The Black Panther God Bast has appeared and saved Wakanda from peril once again!" Azzuri, dragging his broken leg, collapsed to the ground and wept bitterly. He stretched out his hands and held them in the air, perfectly embodying the excitement and helplessness of a fanatic seeing a god, wanting to touch but not daring to profane.

Russell: "..."

This guy's got something!

Azzuri was held back by his position as king. Russell thought that if he were an actor, he would have been the first black actor to win an Oscar.

"Black Panther God!"

"It really is the Black Panther God. I just saw it. A miracle has descended upon Wakanda. God has guided us once again."

"I saw it too..."

Azzuri's acting was incredibly compelling. Combined with the psychological foreshadowing laid by Russell and Black Panther's... arrogant and aloof demeanor, this guy's face was full of pride and coldness, instantly causing the soldiers of the Golden Tribe to bow down in worship.

Although not all the people from the other tribes worshipped the Black Panther God, they also prostrated themselves on the ground when the god descended. Like a contagious disease, the dazed onlookers in the distance, when they came to their senses, found themselves kneeling on the ground.

"Black Panther God! Black Panther God! Black Panther God— "

The believers kowtowed, shouting their faith in deep voices. They were not intimidated by the Black Panther who was surrounded by a group of people bowing to him. They stepped on Azzuri's head, raised their upper bodies, and accepted the worship in a grand manner.

This made the believers even more frenzied!

The rest was easy. Guided by the 'Black Panther God,' the four tribes stormed into the capital. With the god descending, no one dared to utter a word of dissent. Even the followers of the White Ape Cult cowered in fear, awaiting their fate as if they had lost their parents.

In no time, the story of the Black Panther God appearing and performing miracles spread like wildfire in Wakanda. As the story progressed, it became exaggerated and embellished in various ways.

For example, the White Ape God who started the war was instantly killed by the Black Panther God, who slapped him to death on the battlefield; lightning descended from the sky, leveling vast tracts of land, and the rebel army surrendered...

Furthermore, the Black Panther God foresaw Elder White Ape's evil plot and descended specifically to guide Azzuri; Azzuri's previous ordeal was a test from the gods; Azzuri gained the Black Panther God's approval and was appointed as the king.

The source of the rumors is unknown, but in any case, the internal strife that threatened to overthrow Wakanda was easily resolved!

"No wonder totalitarian countries like to use the divine right of kings. In Wakanda, where information is backward and communication is basically done by shouting, this trick is simply unsolvable."

On the way to the Heart-shaped herb, Russell looked constipated. He had orchestrated the miracle, but he hadn't expected it to be so powerful. He thought it would at most intimidate the White Ape Tribe's soldiers, allowing Azzuri to take the lead and make the suppression of the rebellion go more smoothly.

"Boss, this is normal. Faith is the most terrible poison, and there is no cure!" Natasha said.

"That's right, if God were to descend one day, the president would be nothing more than a figurehead," Bucky added.

Isn't the president always just a figurehead?

Besides pressing the nuclear launch button, what else can it do?

Intern?

Russell muttered a silent complaint, then suddenly raised an eyebrow. "What about Norse Mythology? What if gods like Loki and Thor were to descend upon Earth someday... well, America isn't their territory, so very few people believe in it, and even fewer will in the future."

Bucky and the others exchanged glances. Back when they were working on the Tesseract, Russell had mentioned Norse Mythology and explained that the gods actually existed, but Russell was unwilling to elaborate, and they hadn't dared to delve into it further.

The group continued onward, with Azzuri, who had lost a leg, being carried at the front. In the middle was Black Panther, who was being carried around in a large sedan chair, standing there pretentiously and occasionally sniffing the air, as if surveying his territory.

The Wakanda firmly believe in its divine status; this thing is such a charlatan!

As the journey ascended, the mountain road became steeper, and ahead, clouds and mist shrouded the mountains like a cotton blanket, stretching endlessly to the horizon. Influenced by the air currents in the valley, the clouds surged and churned, creating distinct and spectacular layers.

The mountain peaks rise and fall, shrouded in mist like a fairyland. Due to the recent torrential rains, the location of the Heart-shaped herb has been given a strong sense of fantasy.

The Heart-shaped herb is a treasure of Wakanda and the guardian of the nation. The first Black Panther, Bashenga, found the Heart-shaped herb under the guidance of the Black Panther God, gained extraordinary power, and led the Golden Tribe to conquer the other four tribes, thus giving rise to Wakanda.

According to the lore, the formation of the Heart-shaped herb is inextricably linked to the Vibranium veins, and like the giant rhinoceros, it is a mutated creature.

This natural plant, comparable to Super Soldier Serum but with extremely few side effects, deserves to be photographed extensively. Russell has decided that the mountaintop lighting is too bright, so to avoid affecting the shooting results, he will bring some back to take photos later.

Halfway through their journey, the group encountered soldiers on guard ahead. These were members of the Golden Tribe. Upon seeing Azzuri, they hurriedly knelt and rose to greet him.

Russell and the others followed them up the mountain, leaped over the cliffside walkway, and arrived at the cave where the Heart-shaped herb were cultivated.

The lighting was unexpectedly dim, Russell frowned. How could he take pictures in such dim light? He would have to take some back and take pictures later.

Torches lit on the cave walls provided light, and a neatly carved stone path led straight to the top of the cave. In the pools on either side of the path stood two lifelike Black Panther statues, and behind the statues was Heart-shaped herb garden.

It's clearly a man-made herb garden, consisting of two square plots, not particularly large. This is the sacred ground of Wakanda, where each king, the Inheritors to the name of the Black Panther, consumes the Heart-shaped herb to become the new protector of the nation.

"Nanali!"

"My king!"

Azzuri saw the Queen loosening the soil in the herb garden, immediately jumped out of his sedan chair, and limped over to her. The two embraced tightly, and Azzuri briefly recounted his recent experiences, of course, in an embellished version.

Nanali believed it, even though some of the faces in Azzuri's introduction of Russell and his group looked very familiar to Nanali.

Seeing Azzuri's injured leg, Nanali took a Heart-shaped herb fruit, crushed it into a sticky juice, and gave it to him to drink. A miraculous scene unfolded; while an ordinary person would take a hundred days to recover from a broken bone, Azzuri's constitution would require at least half a month, he recovered completely the moment he took the herb.

The group's eyes lit up. Russell had only mentioned that the Heart-shaped herb could strengthen the body, with effects comparable to the Super Soldier Serum, but he hadn't mentioned that it also had the ability to heal injuries.

Russell stroked his chin, seemingly having forgotten about it, and squatted down to examine the Heart-shaped herb before him. Its heart-shaped name came from the shape of its leaves; the fruit was purple, about the size of a ping-pong ball, with a bizarre shape and patterns, resembling a miniature Devil Fruit.

"Heart-Shaped Herb are extremely rare and have very demanding requirements for their growing environment. This cave is the only one in all of Wakanda that meets these requirements," Azzuri as he approached Russell.

Seeing that Russell ignored him, Azzuri continued, "We have also tried to transplant the herbs to other places for cultivation, but the results were not ideal and they could not bear fruit."

"The reason it can't bear fruit is because the cultivation method is wrong, but let's leave that aside for now and talk about serious matters." Russell's expression turned serious, and he began to spout nonsense in a very serious manner, or rather, a whole book of... cough cough.

"The lighting here is too poor, it's not suitable for taking pictures. I need to take some out and find a place with better lighting."

Azzuri was speechless. He knew Russell wouldn't just take pictures. He swallowed hard and said, "I know you want to take the Heart-shaped herb. Let me make this clear: the Heart-shaped herb can indeed grant people great power, but it is only effective for the royal members of the five major tribes. It is highly poisonous to others."

Has anyone who is not a member of the royal family tried it?

Azzuri paused for a moment, then slowly said, "No, as far as I know, no."

"That's just a rumor!" Russell chuckled. What's the difference between the royal families of the five tribes and ordinary people? There are so many tribes in Wakanda. Even if Vibranium caused the genetic mutation, it shouldn't be just them who mutated.

Azzuri solemnly said, "Even if it's a rumor, it's a warning to the world. It's better to believe it's true than to gamble with your life."

"What a joke, with so many men under my command, is it necessary for me to take such a risk..." Russell stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence, hearing the soft sound of herbs being stirred.

He turned his head and gasped. In his line of sight, someone was standing in the corner, secretly picking a Heart-shaped herb.

"Yelena! What are you doing?"

Yelena was examining the fruit when she was startled by Russell's shout. In her panic, she hid the evidence and stuffed the fruit into her mouth.

Glug!

"Boss, I'm here, what's wrong?"

Russell: "..."

Everyone: "..."