Since seeing Coulson, Lin Xiao has never been to S.H.I.E.L.D.. again, and S.H.I.E.L.D.. has no intention of recalling him. The two sides have kept their relationship in tacit agreement, and Lin Xiao has been able to enjoy a rare period of leisure.
Lin Xiao had been having a very leisurely time these past few days. He spent his days exchanging feelings with Mei, having long phone conversations with Betty, and occasionally going out with Peter to carry out justice. Japan couldn't have been more content. One day, Lin Xiao went to the rooftop, set up a giant parasol, lay down on a deck chair, opened the system panel, and began to organize the things he had accumulated during this period.
A beam of blue light spread out before his eyes, causing Lin Xiao to freeze and stare intently.
"Four-Star Quest - The Pyro Disaster (Completed). Quest Rating: A. Rewards being distributed..."
After a flash of purple light indicating the free allocation points had been credited, Lin Xiao found two items in his palm.
The first item was a skill book. The cover was made of dark blue leather, which felt cool and smooth to the touch. In the center was a rune that he couldn't understand, and around the rune was a pale golden halo that was slowly rotating.
"Advanced Skill Book (One-time Advancement Item), Quality B. Can upgrade a skill from D to B rank by one level. Note: Only applicable to skills that can be upgraded."
Lin Xiao raised an eyebrow. A B-grade skill book that can upgrade a B-grade skill to A. What a great item! He currently only has three skills, and two of them can be upgraded— Lightning Summoning Spell is B, Flight Technique is B. He uses Lightning Summoning Spell a lot now and has developed it quite well. He wonders what it will become after advancement. He'll upgrade it first.
The second item fell from the ball of light, landing on the recliner and spinning a few times before stopping. Lin Xiao looked closely and saw that it was a ring.
The ring is a bronze ring with a surface covered with fine cracks. There is a noticeable chip on one side of the ring, as if a piece had been chipped off by something. The ring face is engraved with dense runes, but most of the runes have been worn away and are no longer visible. Only a few scattered strokes are still discernible, gleaming with a very faint and intermittent golden light in the sunlight.
"Ding-- Damaged Sling Ring (Rank D), from Kamar-Taj. Originally a basic artifact used by a disciple of the Sorcerer Supreme to cast portals. Current condition: Severely damaged, runes incomplete, teleportation function completely disabled. Note: Repair requires specialized artifact crafting knowledge or Kamar-Taj arcane knowledge."
Lin Xiao stared at the ring for a long time, his lips twitching uncontrollably. Was he serious about this reward? A D-grade damaged item that couldn't be repaired or used. Lin Xiao might as well leave it for now and put the ring on the table next to the recliner.
Deciding to get down to business first, he placed the skill book in his palm and, following Doupao's instructions, clicked the Lightning Summoning Spell option on the screen. The skill book vanished in a burst of deep blue light, and something seemed to have been unlocked in his mind—knowledge about the perception, manipulation, and shaping of lightning flooded in like a tide, then rearranged and recombined deep within his consciousness, forming a completely new and more complete system.
The light faded.
A new skill panel unfolds before your eyes.
"Ding--Congratulations, host, you have acquired the skill: Five Thunder Spell (Rank A). This is an advanced technique from the Lightning Thunder Fist of Shi Jian, the senior disciple of the Maoshan Sect in 'Zombie Supreme.' Effect: It summons five extremely Yang thunderbolts to strike the opponent, dealing lightning attribute damage equal to 0.5 times the sum of the base attributes. Additional effect ' Supreme Yang True Lightning '--The lightning carries the attribute of Evil-Breaking, doubling the damage against targets of Yin, darkness, and negative energy. Additional effect ' Lightning Surround '--When casting the spell, the caster is surrounded by five-colored lightning, creating an extremely stunning visual effect. Each cast consumes 20 points of mental energy. Note: Do not use this on the Daoist priest surnamed Lin."
Lin Xiao stared at the skill panel, almost drooling.
He recalled the scene in "The Supreme Vampire" where Senior Brother Shi Jian used the Lightning Thunder Fist to strike down evil spirits—when the lightning exploded, the entire screen was flashing, Shi Jian stood there, surrounded by electric snakes, his robes fluttering, exuding an aura of power.
Now he owns the advanced version of this move, which means I can use it too.
Lost in thought, Lin Xiao abruptly sat up in his recliner, flexed his fingers, and flicked out a thin arc of purple electricity from his fingertips. Unlike the arc from the previous Lightning Summoning Spell, this arc was darker, brighter, and pulsed faster. He tried to change the shape of the arc with his mind, transforming it from a slender electric snake into a small ball of lightning, and then from the ball of lightning into a miniature version of "Five Thunderbolts"—five different colored lightning bolts exploded simultaneously in his palm: red, yellow, cyan, white, and purple, intertwined, crackling for about three seconds before dissipating. "Damn, that's so cool! Imagine throwing this at someone like that later—the scene is too beautiful to bear."
Lin Xiao took a deep breath and withdrew the lightning. Just then, his phone rang. Lin Xiao answered the phone and saw that it was Tony.
Lin Xiao answered the phone, but before he could speak, the other person spoke first. Their voice carried an barely suppressed smugness, as if they had just done something extraordinary and had been holding back for a long time, finally finding someone to brag to.
"Nailed it."
Lin Xiao raised an eyebrow and lifted his leg even higher.
"What's settled? Your new armor? Or did you sell tens of thousands more jetpacks?"
"Not that one," Tony said with a laugh. "Our team's legal representative took care of it; Rhodey signed."
Lin Xiao paused for a moment before speaking:
"Great job, son! You're really fast. Tell me how you succeeded, it's only been a few days."
"How did he sign it?" Lin Xiao asked, his tone clearly filled with curiosity.
A burst of extremely cheerful laughter came from the other end of the phone. After laughing, Tony cleared his throat and began to speak.
" Rhodey arrived yesterday. He thought I was there to have drinks and catch up, so he specially changed into casual clothes and brought a bottle of his treasured bourbon."
Did you get him drunk?
"It wasn't forced. He drank it himself." Tony's tone carried an extremely obvious slyness, the same tone Lin Xiao used when he tricked him. "I just talked to him about serious business while we were drinking. I said that the security situation in New York has been getting worse lately, the police station's reporting hall is overflowing, and criminals are being hung from lampposts by a bunch of kids reciting the Eight Honors and Eight Disgraces. Rhodey said that's great, it saves taxpayers' money."
"Then what?"
"Then I asked him what he thought the problems were. He said there were too many problems. The mess on the military alone was enough to give him a headache. Supervillains were getting more and more outrageous, and ordinary police officers simply couldn't handle them. The military couldn't operate freely within the country either. The whole system was a complete mess."
Lin Xiao listened, the corners of his mouth curving into a deeper smile, waiting for Tony to continue.
"I just went along with what he said." Tony's pace quickened, clearly he was getting to the most exciting part, "I said so now we need a new team, not bound by those rules and regulations, able to flexibly handle all kinds of emergencies. He said who would build such a team? Without the support of the military, it simply couldn't stand on its own. I said, what if someone is willing to step forward? If someone is willing to contribute money and effort, all that's missing is a guarantee from the military."
"Then he took the bait," Lin Xiao said.
"He didn't bite right away," Tony admitted. "He hesitated for a while, saying the risk was too great, and if anything went wrong, the guarantor would bear full responsibility. I asked him, 'Didn't you say back in the army that protecting the country was your responsibility?' He said those were two separate things. I said, 'In my view, they are one thing—you were willing to go to war for the country back then, and now that the country needs you to sign a document, you're afraid?'"
Lin Xiao couldn't help but laugh out loud. Tony's skills in using moral blackmail have improved rapidly.
"He signed it?"
"He signed it. After finishing most of a bottle of bourbon, he said, 'Brother, I trust you this time,' picked up a pen, and signed it. After signing, he patted me on the shoulder and said that the thing he would never regret in his life was making me his friend. Then he went straight to sleep."
"You placed a rubbing paper under his signature."
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone. Tony said in an extremely innocent tone, "How did you know? Did you do that?"
Lin Xiao coughed a few times and hurriedly denied it.
On the other end of the phone, Tony was silent for a moment, then let out a short laugh, "This morning, Rhodey sobered up, and I showed him that document—his signature was clearly imprinted on the bottom sheet of paper, next to which was written 'Honorary Corporate Figure of the Superhero Team.' His face turned green on the spot."
What did he say?
"He said, ' Tony, I know you have character flaws, but I didn't expect you to be so insidious this time. Hahahaha—' Tony laughed so hard on the other end of the phone that he could barely speak. Then he started asking me where I learned this trick from. I told him I learned it from you. He said he'd settle the score with you another day. I told him please don't settle the score with him. He... well, he just looked like he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I said the document was valid. He looked at the rubbing for a long time, and finally sighed and said, 'Fine, it's just a name on it anyway. I'll settle the score with you first if something goes wrong.'"
Lin Xiao took the phone away from his ear, a relieved expression on his face, and said:
" Tony."
"Um?"
I'm proud of you.
"Roll."
Lin Xiao hung up the phone, his smug smile finally coming to his head. The superhero team was a success, and he was truly done eating beef from now on. Just as Lin Xiao was feeling triumphant, a commotion came from downstairs. It was the sound of a door opening, followed by the voices of Peter and Ned, chattering away as if they were discussing something incredibly exciting.
" Uncle Lin! We're back!" Peter's voice came from downstairs.
" Aunt May! What are we having for dinner tonight!" Ned's voice followed closely behind, even louder than Peter's, showing no regard for anyone else.
Lin Xiao leaned against the railing in the corridor, looked down at the two little ones, and shook his head with a smile.
"Could you two please keep your voices down? The downstairs neighbors are going to complain."
"You have no neighbors, Uncle Lin." Ned looked up, his expression chillingly serious. "This entire building is your property. Uncle Lin, if you ask me, you represent the ultimate form of capitalism. This kind of behavior is unacceptable."
Lin Xiao couldn't help but laugh out loud. This kid's speaking skills are getting better and better.
"Alright, alright, stop joking around." Lin Xiao walked up the stairs. "You guys go upstairs and do your homework first. I'll call you when dinner's ready. Aunt May made braised pork ribs tonight."
Peter and Ned cheered simultaneously and ran up to the top floor. Peter went to change his clothes first, while Ned planned to admire the sunset. Just then, Ned's gaze was suddenly drawn to something.
He looked down at a ring on the table next to the recliner.
It looks old, with cracks all over the surface, and there's a noticeable chip on one side of the ring. The ring face is engraved with dense runes, but most of them are no longer visible, with only a few still faintly glowing.
Ned picked it up curiously and examined it from all angles. He wanted to ask Lin Xiao what it was, but just then Peter called him: the school lab had just received a new reagent kit and needed to be photographed for documentation; he needed to come over quickly and help take some pictures with his phone.
Ned stuffed the ring into his pocket and ran toward Peter's room, unaware that the ring in his pocket flashed white light.