After leaving Stark Tower, Lin Xiao didn't rush home. Instead, he went to Chinatown first. Mei had mentioned wanting to eat the roast duck from that famous old shop a couple of days ago, so he asked the owner to reserve one in advance. It was wrapped in oil paper and still warm in his hand. He then went into the shop next door and bought Betty some brown sugar glutinous rice cakes. After doing all this, he slowly walked home.
When he got home, the two women were snuggled on the sofa watching a variety show. Mei and Betty looked delighted to see him return. Mei got up, took the roast duck, and went to the kitchen to cut it. Betty moved aside to make room for him. Lin Xiao plopped down and handed her a glutinous rice cake. Betty unwrapped it, took a bite, and her eyes crinkled into a smile.
"How's it going at Kamar-Taj?" May asked from the kitchen, the knife making a crisp cut as it sliced through the duck skin.
"You have no idea how high the altitude is there; you can't even boil a potato properly," Lin Xiao said lazily, leaning back on the sofa and watching a group of people rolling around in the mud on a variety show. "And the Ancient One gave me a book to read slowly."
What book?
"The Śūraṅgama Sūtra." Lin Xiao said these three words as if he were announcing the name of a dish.
Betty turned her head to look at him, still chewing on a glutinous rice cake, a hint of surprise in her eyes. "Honey, you can read Buddhist scriptures?"
"I don't understand it," Lin Xiao said matter-of-factly, "But it was given to me by my godmother, so I can't just throw it away."
Mei brought out the sliced roast duck, placed it on the coffee table, and casually patted him on the back of the head. "When did you get another godmother?"
" The Ancient One." Lin Xiao reached for a piece of duck skin and popped it into his mouth. "I recognized her in my dream, and later in person. She didn't refuse."
May and Betty exchanged a glance. May's eyes seemed to say, "Do you believe that?" while Betty's seemed to say, "He's capable of anything." Neither of them pressed for answers, and they each picked up their chopsticks to eat. The meal was eaten peacefully, and the three of them chatted casually, without mentioning anything about the Arctic, Captain America, Helicarrier.
During the night, Mei and Betty were both exhausted and fell asleep one after the other. Mei's legs were still draped over him, and Betty had half her face buried in his chest, breathing very softly. Lin Xiao, however, couldn't fall asleep at all.
He stared at the ceiling with his eyes open.
One thing kept running through my mind: the blueprints for the Helicarrier.
Tony spoke with a smug look on his face today, describing its capabilities: cruising at an altitude of 20,000 meters, mobile troop deployment, and Arc Reactor propulsion. But the first thing Lin Xiao thought of when he saw the blueprints was something else: once this thing takes flight, S.H.I.E.L.D.. will have another trump card that they can use against anyone at any time.
Players like Thaddeus Ross, Fury, and Pierce —whoever holds this card can bid higher on the table.
None of the people sitting at this table are from Dragon Country.
He rolled over, and Betty groaned. He quickly and gently placed his arm over her so she could rest her head on it.
He used to be able to ignore these things.
He comes from another Earth, a world where countries, institutions, and power structures are largely irrelevant. All he needs to do is complete missions, earn rewards, and take care of the women around him; if the sky falls, the taller ones will hold it up. Hulk, Captain America, the Avengers —they'll all appear when they're supposed to, and the plot will unfold as usual. Why should a transmigrator like him get involved?
But today is different.
On that blueprint, the welding parameters marked next to the rotor base, the layout of the engine compartment, and the bearing specifications for the thrust steering structure—every number told him the same thing: America was building something that could fly to any corner of the earth. It could fly to Moscow, it could fly to Paris, and of course, it could fly to Dragon Country. Fury was only thinking about aliens now, but what about Fury else? Pierce? Hydra?
Lin Xiao sat up, placed a pillow under Betty's head, and tiptoed out of bed. Mei turned over and mumbled, "Where are you going?" Her voice was muffled, as if it were coming from a dream.
I'm going to get a drink of water.
Lin Xiao walked barefoot on the carpet into the living room, poured himself a glass of cold water, took a couple of gulps, and stood in front of the French windows.
The Manhattan skyline stretched out beneath his feet, a dense tapestry of lights stretching from one end to the other. Looking at those lights, only one thought occupied his mind: Back in Dragon Country, the S.P.E.A.R. probably didn't know that a 20,000-ton aerial fortress would soon be in the sky, or that someone had already pointed their guns at the sky above them.
He placed the water glass on the windowsill, picked up his phone, and went to Tao Yuhan's encrypted email address.
" Doupao."
"Ding--Here."
Did you scan that drawing today?
"Ding--Complete scan completed, including overall structural drawings, power profile, and rotor base parameters. Do you want to generate a copy?"
"Generate a copy and send it to Tao Yuhan's encrypted email address."
The system paused for a moment.
"Ding--Host, are you sure?"
"Stop talking nonsense and send it. At worst... I'll take Shan Shan as my concubine and have Collective Man work for me for free. Stop dawdling and send it now."
"Ding-- Generating a copy... Anonymity processing complete, untraceable. Sent."
Lin Xiao put his phone away, picked up the water glass from the windowsill again, and finished the rest of his water. He stood by the window for a while, gazing at the Manhattan night view, then put the glass back on the coffee table and turned to walk towards the bedroom. When he opened the door, Mei was sitting on the edge of the bed rubbing her eyes, her hair disheveled and draped over her shoulders.
"What's wrong with you?" She looked at him, her voice still sleepy, but much more awake than before.
Lin Xiao walked over, sat on the edge of the bed, and reached out to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "It's nothing, it's just that Tony has a project that I'm not too happy with."
What project?
"A large flying ship."
Mei tilted her head, not understanding, but she didn't ask any further. She simply moved aside to make room for him, then pulled his hand over and held it in her own.
"You don't have to say if you don't want to, but you looked so tired standing by the window just now, it made me a little sorry for you."
Lin Xiao looked at her and suddenly smiled. He bent down and kissed her forehead.
"I'm fine. There are just some things I need to think through."
Have you thought it through?
I've thought it through.
Mei looked at him for two seconds, nodded, and didn't ask any more questions. She let go of his hand, lay back down, pulled the blanket up to cover her shoulders, and closed her eyes. Lin Xiao lay back down next to her, while Betty turned over and reached her hand from under the blanket to rest on his waist.
He closed his eyes. The thoughts in his mind hadn't completely dissipated, but at least one of them had already settled.
H City, 4:00 AM.
Tao Yuhan sat on a folding chair in the intensive care unit, facing Heartfire's bed. The instruments beeped regularly, and the waveforms on the electrocardiogram monitor were smooth and stable. He held his phone in his hand, having only casually checked his emails when an anonymous message popped up.
There was no sender, no subject, and the body contained only one sentence. "See attachment. Helicarrier."
He frowned and opened the attachment, which was a complete design drawing. From the overall structural plan to the power section, from the rotor base to the thrust steering structure, every key parameter was clearly marked. When he turned to the second page, his finger stopped. When he turned to the third page, he stood up from his chair. When he turned to the fourth page, his fingers trembled and his breathing became rapid. Later, he looked at the attachment back and forth seven or eight times, and then frantically started dialing the phone.
The phone rang six times before being answered. It was Director Zheng's sleepy voice on the other end. "What is it, Yu Han?"
Tao Yuhan's gaze was still fixed on his phone screen. He took a deep breath, his voice terribly dry. "Director, I think we need to meet and discuss something face-to-face."
After hanging up the phone, Tao Yuhan flipped through the drawings again. He noticed a tiny annotation next to the welding parameters of the rotor base, like a new handwritten note on the original drawing, indicating the addition of a fire control system.
He stared at the annotation for two seconds. Then he sat back in the folding chair, put his phone on his lap, and looked out the window.
The skyline of H City was faintly visible in the morning mist, not as dense or bright as New York, but it was his city. It was the place he and his brothers were to protect. He glanced down at his phone screen; the anonymous text message notification was still there, unsigned.
"Who exactly are you?" he asked in a low voice.
No one answered. But the answer no longer mattered. What mattered was that the blueprint was real, the Helicarrier was real, and the threat was real. And now he had something he could take back and study.
He stood up, walked to the window, and drew back the curtains. A sliver of grayish-white light appeared on the horizon. He stood there for a while, watching the light change from grayish-white to pale gold, slowly illuminating the entire city.
Heartfire breathed evenly in the hospital bed. His finger twitched slightly, the machine beeped briefly, then returned to normal. Tao Yuhan glanced back at him, put his phone in his pocket, and walked out the door. The corridor was empty, only the fluorescent lights were on. He stood in the middle of the corridor, took out the encrypted disk, and held it in his hand. The disk wasn't big, not much bigger than his thumb, but when he held it, it felt heavy in his hand, as if he were holding the weight of an entire city.