Sunlight streamed into the room through the gaps in the curtains, falling on a pile of clothes scattered on the carpet. Lin Xiao's oversized suit and trousers, Carol's casual wear, and jeans were all carelessly piled together. Further up, Carol's underwear was hanging on the lampshade. Wrinkled clothes were still on the bed, and a sock had somehow ended up on the fan wheel last night.
On the bed, their breathing was even. Carol curled up on her side next to Lin Xiao, her blonde hair spread across the bed, her face buried in the crook of Lin Xiao's shoulder, one leg draped over his chest, rising and falling slightly with his breathing. The blanket only covered her waist, revealing her smooth back and a beautiful curve.
Lin Xiao's eyelashes fluttered.
He opened his eyes, stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, and felt the warm, soft, and real person in his arms. His brain began to reboot at an extremely slow pace, replaying the events of last night.
After coming down from the Stark Tower rooftop, the two remained silent the entire way. Lin Xiao drove Carol back to her apartment, and just as he was about to leave, Carol suddenly shoved him against the wall. She glared at him with her large, watery blue eyes, pressed him against the wall, and said, "You ambushed me earlier, making me suffer. Now I'm going to get my revenge." Lin Xiao tried to argue, but his body was suddenly pulled down, and Carol Carol Lin Xiao a kiss, then tore at his clothes.
At that moment, Lin Xiao only had one thought in his mind—she was an energy being, could she...? After a long while, when the two truly merged, Lin Xiao exclaimed, "Not only can I! It seems even more... comfortable than with a real person!"
And then that was it. A whole night of hard work, it was all blood and tears.
Thinking of this, Lin Xiao's lips slowly curled up. He looked down at Carol, who was still fast asleep in his arms. Her eyelashes were long, and when her eyes were closed, she looked less sharp and more gentle.
Lin Xiao reached out and tucked a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear. He placed a kiss on Carol's forehead, which startled Carol awake. She opened her blue eyes, met his gaze, and offered him a kiss in return. After a long while, their lips parted, and Lin Xiao stroked Carol's hair before speaking.
"Baby"
"Um?"
"You're an energy being, right?"
"Right."
"Doesn't the energy body feel tired?"
Carol was silent for a moment, then sat up and leaned against Lin Xiao's chest, the smile on her lips looking dangerous no matter how you looked at it.
"Just tell me, what exactly do you want to ask me? There's no need to beat around the bush."
Lin Xiao lowered his voice, "I was just wondering, last night, for your body, was it a kind of drain?"
Carol looked at him, the playfulness in her eyes slowly fading and replaced by extreme tenderness.
"There is some consumption, but the impact is minor. Now you know? Why are you still thinking so much? You big fool."
Lin Xiao didn't speak. He spun the sentence in his mind several times, and the corners of his mouth curved upwards higher and higher.
Carol rolled out of bed, stepped barefoot onto the carpet, and bent down to pick up her clothes. She was quite uninhibited, which made Lin Xiao's heart race. He spoke in an extremely irritating tone.
"Do you need my help? I'm really good at scrubbing backs, I've even won awards for it."
"No need, I know what you're thinking." Carol didn't turn around and went into the bathroom.
Half an hour later, Carol came out of the bathroom. Lin Xiao looked up at her and was completely dumbfounded.
She wore a black cropped tank top that showed off her midriff. The tank top was nice, but it revealed a lot of skin, almost showing her chest. She wore low-rise camouflage pants with the waistband tucked into her hips, revealing a pair of long, white legs. Combined with her nonchalant expression, she looked exactly like a fashionable hottie who had stepped off a fashion magazine cover.
Lin Xiao opened and closed his mouth, then quickly jumped out of bed, grabbed his coat from the chair, and put it on Carol.
Carol glanced down at the jacket she was wearing and raised an eyebrow.
What are you doing?
"It's very windy and dusty in Afghanistan," Lin Xiao said, handing over a pair of long jeans. "The UV radiation is strong, and the temperature difference between day and night is large. You need to wear more layers; you'll easily catch a cold in this outfit. Here, put on these jeans too; you can't show any skin."
"I am in Binary Form-- "
"Even in Binary Form, you need sunscreen and warmth." Lin Xiao supervised Carol as she dressed, then stepped back to look at her before nodding in satisfaction.
Carol looked down at her new look, glanced at his face which was full of "I'm doing this for your own good," rolled her eyes, and finally gave in.
Lin Xiao's lips curled up again. He zipped Carol's jacket up all the way and patted her on the shoulder.
"Let's go, get ready for Afghanistan."
An hour later, the two boarded the plane, but strangely enough, they only occupied one seat. It wasn't that they only bought one seat, but rather that as soon as they boarded, Carol sat on Lin Xiao's lap.
It had been like this since the moment they boarded the plane. Carol sat astride his lap, facing him, her arms wrapped around his neck, her blond hair falling down and brushing against Lin Xiao's cheek.
When the flight attendant pushed the beverage cart over, her professional smile froze for a fraction of a second. She saw an incredibly beautiful young woman sitting face-to-face with a large man, neither of them going to their seats. And the large man, in turn, wasn't behaving himself either, reaching his hands inside the woman's coat with considerable movement.
"Sir, Madam, the plane is about to take off. Please fasten your seatbelts. Madam, please return to your seat."
Lin Xiao peeked half his face out from over Carol's shoulder and gave the flight attendant a standard good citizen smile.
"Okay, okay, right away."
The flight attendant nodded in satisfaction and continued walking. Ten minutes later, when she returned pushing the beverage cart, the two were still in the same position. The blonde beauty was leaning against the big man, and the two were talking quietly. When they got to the part where they were happy, the blonde beauty would lean down and peck the big man on the lips.
"Sir/Madam, we have entered the level flight phase, but for safety reasons—"
"Okay, okay, right away."
Another hour passed. When the flight attendant passed by for the third time, the two were kissing. It was no longer a light peck, but a deep, passionate kiss. The blonde woman's arms were around the big man's neck, and his arms were around her waist. The two were completely absorbed in their own world, oblivious to the stares of the other passengers.
"Sir, Madam!" The flight attendant's voice was visibly tired. "Your lunch... never mind, I'll leave it here."
She placed the two sandwiches on the empty seat next to her, pushed the beverage cart, and went to report the problem to the captain.
Soon the cockpit door opened, and the captain emerged with a cup of coffee. He glanced at the couple still cuddling in their seats, frowned, and asked the flight attendant, "How long has it been?"
"It's been almost an hour."
"It's been like this since takeoff, and now... they've even kissed." The flight attendant's voice carried a resigned calm. "The plane was like this during takeoff. I explained the flight procedures three times, specifically right next to them, but nobody listened. I've advised them three times. Captain, why don't you try it yourself?"
The captain put down his coffee cup, straightened his uniform and tie, walked to Lin Xiao's seat, bent down, and said in a polite but authoritative tone, "Sir, I am the captain of this flight. For flight safety and the comfort of other passengers, please return to your respective seats separately from this lady."
Lin Xiao peeked out from under Carol's shoulder. He freed one hand, pulled an ID from his pocket, flipped it open, and flashed it in front of the captain. The captain's eyes narrowed; it was a S.H.I.E.L.D.. ID, one he'd seen before—a Level 6 agent? But this was ultimately affecting the other passengers.
Lin Xiao looked at the captain, who was still standing there, his expression serious.
"We are on a secret mission; you don't need to pay any attention to us."
"... Yes, sir, sorry to bother you."
The captain turned and walked away, his pace at least three times faster than when he arrived. As he passed the flight attendant, he whispered, "Ignore them." The flight attendant opened her mouth, then closed it again. She watched the captain climb into the cockpit, close the door, and let out a very soft sigh.
A long time passed.
Carol buried her face in Lin Xiao's neck, her voice so low that only he could hear it.
Lin Xiao.
"Um?"
"Thank you."
Lin Xiao's fingers paused on her back. He didn't ask her what she wanted to thank him for; he knew what she wanted to say: thank him for being there for her, for her antics, for his willingness to be with her in these final moments, letting her experience the capriciousness of an ordinary girl.
Lin Xiao didn't say anything, but pulled her collar up a little and kissed Carol's earlobe.
A few hours later, the plane landed, the gangway was lowered, and a gust of dry, hot air carrying sand rushed into the cabin. Lin Xiao stood at the top of the gangway, looking at the familiar yellowish-brown land in front of him. Memories flooded in like a tide: fighting Mystique, completing missions, rescuing Tony... it all seemed like yesterday.
Lin Xiao took a deep breath and opened his arms.
"I, Hu Hansan, am back!"
A gust of wind whipped up sand and blasted it straight into his open mouth. The sand completely blocked the rest of Lin Xiao's sentence, causing him to bend over and spit several times.
Carol stood behind him, pushed up his sunglasses, covered his mouth with his hand, and his shoulders twitched suspiciously several times.
Lin Xiao spat out a mouthful of yellow sand, turned to look at Carol, and his lips twitched.
"This godforsaken place doesn't welcome me."
"I think it's quite welcoming to you." Carol stepped down the gangway, her boots hitting the concrete of the tarmac. "That gust of wind just now was probably Afghanistan's welcoming gift to you."
You're still laughing.
"I wasn't laughing." Carol said this, unable to suppress the smile playing on her lips.
You smiled. I saw your shoulders shaking.
"That's the plane bumping."
"The plane has stopped."
"Inertia."
Looking at her face, which was all seriousness and nonsense, Lin Xiao suddenly felt that the sand he had just swallowed wasn't entirely for nothing.
It took them about two hours to find the group of Skrulls. They were hiding in an abandoned textile factory on the outskirts of Kandahar. There were three of them, disguised as locals, but their shapeshifting was becoming unstable. One of them turned half of his face back to green while he was sleeping, scaring his roommate so much that he moved out overnight. They learned through Spark Communications that their compatriots had been rescued in Russia and Brazil, and finally, they had hope of evacuation. When they saw Carol and Lin Xiao, the Skrulls were so excited that they couldn't speak.
The handover went smoothly. The US embassy had received Fury's coordination notice and dispatched an armed escort. The ambassador himself was a tall, thin, bald man. When he saw Lin Xiao's S.H.I.E.L.D.. credentials, he was extremely excited. He had known about the existence of these Skrulls for a long time, but had never dared to make it public, fearing it would cause a diplomatic incident. Now that S.H.I.E.L.D.. had taken the initiative to take over, he wished he could personally help them carry their luggage.
It was already evening when the Skrulls were settled. Lin Xiao and Carol walked out of the embassy gate side by side, the setting sun turning the whole street orange-red. There weren't many people on the street, only a few vendors with headscarves pushing carts by occasionally passing by, their wheels creaking on the bumpy road.
Carol suddenly stopped, turned around and looked at Lin Xiao, her expression becoming more serious.
" Lin Xiao, didn't you say that someone bullied you? Do you want to go find him? I can help you."
Lin Xiao lowered his head, looked at the sand at his feet, and after a few seconds of silence, slowly spoke:
"We're here to find the Skrulls, not to fight him." He put his hands in his pockets. "Besides... Carol, I'm only after his ten bracelets. As for revenge, that's a lie. I've never met him before, so there's no real grudge. But it's true I took down his branch base. If he knew I was back, I should be the one being hunted down."
Carol frowned, wanting to say something, but Lin Xiao didn't give her the chance.
"I know you want to help me. But I don't want you to waste even a single ounce of your energy on my sake, not even a second, that would allow you to stay a little longer."
Carol looked into his earnest eyes and remained silent for a long while. She took a step forward, raised her hand, pressed it against his lips as he was about to open them, stood on tiptoe, and kissed him.
The kiss was short, so short that it ended before Lin Xiao could even close his eyes. Carol took a step back, her blue eyes shining brightly in the setting sun.
I want to do something for you, even just one thing, please don't refuse me.
Looking into her resolute eyes and her earnest face, Lin Xiao finally nodded.
He took out a pair of sunglasses from his System Space — Super Sunglasses, a powerful item he had never used before. He then opened his briefcase, and the Homelander nanosuit gradually took shape.
"You're planning to wear this?"
"Yes, it's time for the world to know about their heroic Homelander."
The last rays of the setting sun sank below the horizon, and his glasses reflected the last orange-red sunset glow in the distance, like two burning stars. He stretched his shoulders, put on his battle armor, and the five-clawed golden dragon swam behind him, each scale shimmering with a faint light.
Carol leaned against the pillar beside him, looking at him. The curve of her lips was still nonchalant, but there was something extremely soft in her eyes that Lin Xiao hadn't noticed.