The meeting room door opened, Lin Xiao stepped out first. When he reached the elevator, Lin Xiao stopped and turned to look at Carol behind him.
" Ms. Danvers."
"Just call me Carol." Carol had her hands in her jacket pockets, her blonde hair cascading over her shoulders, and she seemed to be in a good mood.
" Carol," Lin Xiao nodded, his face full of curiosity, "I have a question for you."
"Explain."
"Can your clone eat?"
Carol paused. She tilted her head and looked at Lin Xiao, her expression becoming somewhat subtle.
"Yes. Although the clone doesn't need to eat to maintain its energy, its sense of taste is intact."
"That's great!" Lin Xiao's eyes lit up, and he punched his right fist into his left palm. "Since you're in New York, as your partner, I should at least show you some hospitality. Come on, I'll take you out for a nice meal."
Before Carol could answer, she heard hurried footsteps behind her.
Fury appeared out of nowhere, his face looking as if he had just swallowed a live fly.
" Lin Xiao, I'll be hosting a welcome dinner for Ms. Danvers in the bureau's banquet hall tonight. You don't need to worry about it."
"Director, you're being too polite." Lin Xiao turned around, a standard, impeccable professional smile on his face. " Ms. Danvers is my task partner, and partners need to cultivate rapport. Having a meal together is the best way to break the ice. You taught me this; it's from page thirty-seven of the Newcomer Training Manual, 'Five Methods for Building Good Colleague Relationships.'"
That's teaching you how to get along with your colleagues, not teaching you how to be yourself.
" Carol is my colleague now," and besides, your welcome dinner was nothing more than a buffet and cocktails, a bunch of people in suits holding glasses and forcing smiles. Carol flew all the way back from outer space, and this is what you treat her to? It's beneath you.
Fury's one eye widened in surprise. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but Lin Xiao had already turned to Carol.
" Carol, do you like spicy food?"
Carol glanced at Fury, then at Lin Xiao, and a slow smile crept onto her lips.
"Like."
"Then it's settled." Lin Xiao pressed the elevator button and waved to Fury. "Chief, please enjoy the welcome dinner yourself. I'll send you the bill later."
" Lin Xiao!" Fury's voice rose a half octave, "Don't take her to eat any weird or strange things!"
The elevator doors closed.
When Lin Xiao led Carol out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Building, it wasn't completely dark yet. The setting sun had dyed the entire street orange-red. Carol looked up at the sky, squinting her eyes, as if comparing the difference between a sunset on Earth and one in another galaxy.
Where do you want to take me?
" Chinatown." Lin Xiao hailed a taxi. "Let me tell you, those Michelin restaurants in New York are just rip-offs for tourists. The really good food is hidden in those hole-in-the-wall eateries on the street. Today I'll take you to the most authentic Dragon Country."
What kind of snack?
"Stinky tofu."
Carol paused again. She had lived for so many years and eaten all sorts of strange foods in various star systems, but she had never eaten anything called "stinky tofu."
"... Smelly?"
"Smells awful, tastes amazing." Lin Xiao opened the car door and gestured for it to proceed. "The essence of Dragon Country cuisine lies in these four words. Trust me, I guarantee you'll want a second bite after the first."
Carol stared at him for several seconds, then chuckled and got into the taxi. She didn't know why she had agreed; perhaps it was just because no one had dared to speak to her so casually in a long time.
The shop in Chinatown was hidden at the very end of a narrow alley, its storefront pitifully small, its signboard yellowed from cooking fumes.
Carol stood in the doorway, smelling the odor wafting from the kitchen. Her expression shifted from curiosity to confusion, and then to a subtle, indescribable feeling. The smell was indeed pungent, but it wasn't entirely foul; it contained a more complex aroma.
"This is stinky tofu?"
"It's not fried yet, it'll smell even better after it's fried." Lin Xiao pulled Carol to sit down at a rickety folding table and called out to the kitchen, "Boss! Four orders of stinky tofu! Two orders of tripe! Two bowls of hot and sour noodles! Extra cilantro!"
The owner, a Fujian man in his sixties, poked half his head out from the kitchen. Seeing Lin Xiao, he grinned and said, " Xiao Lin! Long time no see! Is this your girlfriend?"
"Colleague." Lin Xiao said without changing his expression, but secretly gave his boss a thumbs up.
"Colleague?" The boss's gaze swept back and forth between the two, revealing an "I understand" smile. "Alright, alright, colleague. I'll give you extra spice today."
Carol didn't speak, but simply looked around. Faded menus were pasted on the mottled walls, the electric fan overhead creaked, and two elderly Chinese men at the next table were chatting loudly in a dialect she couldn't understand. This place was completely different from the cold, impersonal conference rooms of S.H.I.E.L.D..; it was filled with a noisy, vibrant, and undisguised human warmth.
When the stinky tofu was served, the aroma reached its peak. The dark tofu cubes were fried in the oil until they were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, sprinkled with bright red chili powder and chopped green cilantro, while the oil was still sizzling.
Carol stared at the plate for about five seconds.
Are you sure this is edible?
Are you sure this isn't a biological weapon?
Lin Xiao picked up a piece with his chopsticks, blew on it, and put it directly into his mouth. He chewed it a couple of times, closed his eyes, and let out an extremely satisfied sigh. "This is the taste. You should try it."
Carol hesitated for a moment, then picked up her chopsticks and took a piece. She brought it to her nose, smelled it, frowned, then closed her eyes and took a bite.
Crispy, spicy, and fresh. After the crispy fried outer layer crumbled between her teeth, the tofu inside was so tender it almost melted on her tongue. The spiciness of the chili powder and the freshness of the cilantro blended together, enveloping the fermented flavor and creating an extremely complex and addictive taste that she had never experienced before.
She opened her eyes and looked at Lin Xiao.
"How was it?" Lin Xiao asked, a smug smile playing on his lips.
"The taste is not bad... then, I'll have another one."
When the tripe was served, Lin Xiao personally demonstrated the "seven dips and eight lifts" cooking method for her. He used chopsticks to flip the tripe up and down in the boiling red oil pot, once, twice, three times, exactly fifteen times, before taking it out and dipping it in a garlic and sesame oil sauce.
"See that? This is called 'seven dips and eight lifts'—too little and it won't be crispy enough, too much and it'll be overcooked. This is the essence of Dragon Country's thousands of years of hot pot culture."
Carol nodded and tried Lin Xiao's method.
When she put the tripe in her mouth and chewed it, it was crunchy. She chewed it again, and it was still crunchy. The spicy and numbing flavor of the chili oil and the rich aroma of the minced garlic exploded at the same time. She gasped for breath from the spiciness, but her chopsticks were already back in the pot.
"Wait, wait, the hot and sour noodles haven't arrived yet."
Carol took a sip of her ice-cold beer, wiped the red grease from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, her blonde hair draped loosely over her shoulders, and her cheeks were slightly flushed from the spiciness. Her blue eyes were watery from the steam, making her look nothing like a cosmic superhero, but just an ordinary person sniffling from the spiciness yet reluctant to put down her chopsticks.
Looking at her, Lin Xiao's lips slowly curled up. This was probably the most down-to-earth Captain Marvel he had ever seen.
After dinner, Lin Xiao suggested taking her for a foot massage.
"Foot soak? What's that?"
"Traditional Dragon Country health and wellness culture," Lin Xiao said seriously, "After soaking your feet, have a technician massage your acupoints to unblock your meridians and improve blood circulation. Someone like you who's constantly traveling in outer space needs this most."
"I don't need a clone--"
"Even clones have legs. Let's go."
The foot bath shop was on the same street. The owner was a chubby Dragon Country auntie who couldn't stop smiling when she saw Lin Xiao walk in.
" Xiao Lin! Long time no see! Did you bring a new friend today?"
"They're just colleagues, please don't overthink it. Please find us a private room."
"Alright, alright, colleague." The plump aunt's smile was exactly the same as the Fujian boss's. "There are empty seats upstairs, please come in."
Once upstairs, Carol was seated on a large leather recliner with a steaming wooden tub in front of her. The aunt had filled the tub with water, along with mugwort and ginger slices. She took off her shoes and socks, just like Lin Xiao, and put her feet into the tub.
A wave of heat spread from the soles of her feet to her calves, and then from her legs to her whole body, leaving her feeling completely limp and weak.
Then two middle-aged women who knew how to give massages came in.
The massage therapists for Carol were middle-aged women with astonishingly strong hands; their fingers, like iron clamps, precisely pinched the acupoints on Carol's shoulders and neck. Carol stiffened for a moment.
"Relax, relax," Lin Xiao said, his eyes closed on the recliner next to him, acting like a regular customer. "It'll feel a little sore at first, but it'll be fine in a bit."
Carol gritted her teeth and remained silent. She had withstood the Kree's photon cannons, taken Thanos's punches, and traveled tens of thousands of light-years in the vacuum of space without ever flinching. But now, with an older woman pressing down on her shoulder, she actually felt a little tempted to run away.
After a while, the soreness gradually subsided, replaced by an indescribable feeling of comfort. Her shoulders went from stiff to relaxed, and the taut muscle at the back of her neck finally loosened.
Carol closed her eyes and let out a very faint, almost inaudible sigh.
Just then, Lin Xiao opened his eyes, glanced at the old woman massaging Carol's feet, and a wicked smile appeared on his lips.
"Auntie, please rest for a while. This is my friend; let me give her a massage myself."
The older woman paused for a moment, then glanced back and forth between Lin Xiao and Carol with an all-knowing look, a knowing smile appearing on her face.
"Alright, alright, come on over. Young people should spend more time getting to know each other." She draped the towel over the back of the chair, chuckled, and walked out, closing the door behind her.
Carol opened her eyes and looked at Lin Xiao warily.
What are you going to do?
"I'll give you a massage." Lin Xiao walked over to her recliner, squatted down, and lifted her left foot out of the hot water, placing it on his knee. His expression was as serious as if he were performing a precise task. "The old lady's massage was too rough, not refined enough. My technique, even Tony said it was good. It's authentic imperial massage from the Dragon Country, passed down for hundreds of years. By chance, I learned it."
"Passed down for hundreds of years?" Carol narrowed her eyes, her tone clearly skeptical.
"Almost." Lin Xiao remained expressionless and began pressing acupoints on the soles of her feet with his fingers. "Anyway, it'll take a long time. Feel the pressure; is it more comfortable than before?"
Lin Xiao pressed his fingers from the soles of her feet toward her toes, while his other hand held Carol's delicate shoulder.
A mix of tingling and pleasurable sensations washed over her, and Carol bit her lower lip, trying hard not to make a sound.
"How was it? Wasn't it better than the old lady's massage?" Lin Xiao looked up and grinned at her.
Carol stared at Lin Xiao's face and finally couldn't hold back anymore.
"If you're going to take advantage of someone, just do it; don't try to make it sound so high-sounding."
Lin Xiao's smile froze for a moment, then returned to normal. He showed no guilt at being exposed, and instead continued pressing the button with righteous indignation.
"You don't understand. Massage is an art that requires focus. I'm feeling the pathways of the meridians in your feet to assess your physical condition."
"I have a Binary Form energy shield, so I don't need any maintenance."
"Then just consider it experiencing the traditional culture of the Dragon Country. Feeling the culture, can that be called taking advantage of someone?" Lin Xiao put her left foot back in the tub and switched to her right foot to continue massaging. "Think about it, next time you go back to space and have a meeting with people, and they ask you, 'Carol, how was your trip back to Earth?' Just say you learned how to do foot massage, and you also tried stinky tofu, tripe, and hot and sour noodles. They'll definitely think you have exceptional taste."
Looking at his face, which was spouting nonsense with such self-righteousness, Carol suddenly realized that she couldn't actually get angry. Although this big guy's hands weren't exactly tame, he didn't show any lewd expression from beginning to end. He was just enjoying the thrill of "flirting with the rules," and seeing if she would get angry.
Could you possibly find another person in the entire universe who would dare to play with her like this? The Kree fear her, the Skrulls her, and even Nick Fury has to be respectful when speaking to her. Only this Lin Xiao, who has known her for less than half a day, is bringing her to a foot bath and personally doing it, his hands even rubbing against her thighs.
Carol closed her eyes, and the corners of her mouth curled up very slightly.
"... Does it taste sour here?"
"It's sour. You can be gentler."
"If you go too lightly, it won't be effective. Just bear with it, it'll be over soon."
What followed were an extremely long few minutes. Finally, Lin Xiao put her right foot back into the bucket, stood up, and clapped his hands.
"Alright. That concludes today's treatment. How are you feeling?"
Carol wiggled her toes and found that her feet were indeed much lighter than before. She leaned back in her chair, looking at Lin Xiao with an indescribable look in her eyes.
"... good."
"Not bad is good. I'm a very modest person." Lin Xiao sat back in his recliner and put his feet back into the tub. "By the way, I have something important to ask you."
"You have something important to do?" Carol raised one eyebrow.
"Occasionally." Lin Xiao turned to look at her, his expression unusually serious. " Carol, what exactly did you come to Earth for?"
Carol was silent for a moment. That cold and aloof aura returned to her.
" The Skrulls still exist on Earth. I've come here to take them away."
" Skrulls?" Lin Xiao muttered the words to himself, then nodded. "You know, the green ones, the ones that look like **."
Lin Xiao suddenly stopped.
He opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, his expression shifting from confusion to anger, then from anger to disbelief.
"What's going on?" He looked down at his hands, then up at the ceiling, as if confronting some unseen force. "Why is there a mosaic? Why is there a beeping sound when I say something? This isn't a live broadcast!"
Carol frowned.
Lin Xiao stood up from the recliner, gesturing towards the air as he spoke, and continued his speech.
"I'll say it anyway! That green Skrulls!"
"Beep--!"
"Like a chicken!"
"Beep--!"
"That thing with the Nick Fury head! A relative of Director Fury! Enough already?!" Lin Xiao roared, panting heavily, veins bulging on his forehead.
Carol's expression shifted from confusion to amusement at the spectacle. She leaned back in her chaise lounge, arms crossed, the corners of her mouth curving into a wider smile than ever before.
"... Have you finished speaking?"
"It's not over yet!" Lin Xiao turned and waved his fist at the window. "You just wait, author Gou! The first thing I'll do when I break through the fourth wall is drag you out from behind your keyboard and let you taste authentic United Kingdom culinary horrors!"
Carol tilted her head, watching the big guy rage at thin air. She didn't know what the fourth wall meant, but she guessed that he might be able to see things that others couldn't, and that he was quite angry.
Lin Xiao took a deep breath, sat down again, picked up the now-cold teacup on the table, and took a swig. Then he slammed the teacup back onto the table with a thud.
Carol looked at his angry, bristling face, chuckled, stood up, pulled his feet out of the bucket, dried them with a towel, put on his shoes and socks, and regained his composed demeanor.
"Right."
Where are you taking them?
"Let's find a new home." Carol walked to the window, opened it, gazed at the Manhattan skyline in the distance, remained silent for a while, then turned around and extended her right hand to Lin Xiao.
"So, can you take me out to eat something else tomorrow, my partner?"
Lin Xiao looked at her hand and raised an eyebrow. He knew she didn't want to talk about the Skrulls. But that was alright, there was plenty of time.
Lin Xiao reached out and took her hand, a smile playing on his lips.
"Let's go eat hot pot tomorrow. There's a place with even better tripe than this one. Want to go?"
The smile on Carol's lips remained.
"Go."