Recently, there hasn't been much going on at the S.H.I.E.L.D..
This was also the most relaxed period Nick Fury had experienced since taking over as director.
Nick was drinking coffee and listening to music in his office when suddenly a very mechanical electronic voice echoed in his mind.
"Congratulations to player Nick Fury! You have become a player and are about to log into the instance space!"
"Countdown: 10, 9, 8, 7... 3, 2, 1..."
Nick Fury had no time to react before he felt a tremendous pulling force, followed by a slight dizziness, and found himself in an unfamiliar environment.
At the same time, a flood of information rushed into Nick Fury's mind.
" Rogue Encampment dungeon..."
" Leveling Up by Killing Monsters..."
"Gain 5 free attribute points with each level up..."
"Killing monsters can yield equipment, items, potions..."
"You can choose a profession after reaching level 10..."
Everything obtained from the dungeon can be taken out of the real world...
"Upon first logging into the instance space, you must level up at least 1 level before you can leave..."
"Players can freely log out of or log in to the instance space via the Player Mark..."
"Through my thoughts, I can open the player panel, view player attributes and status, change equipment, allocate stat points..."
"You can purchase basic equipment from the NPC Charsi..."
"You can purchase basic potions from the NPC Akara..."
"You can Hire mercenaries through the NPC Kashya..."
"..."
As Nick Fury finished receiving the memories from his mind, the light flashed continuously.
Natasha, Barton, Coulson, Pepper, Happy, Tony Stark, Helen Cho, an elderly Peggy Carter, and an ice cube appeared before him.
They were all a little confused; like Nick, they had all received information about the dungeon at that moment.
Natasha, Barton, Coulson, and Nick, as top agents, huddled together with remarkable coordination and cautiously surveyed their surroundings.
Pepper, Happy, and Tony also gathered together.
Tony frowned and tapped his watch a few times, but there was no signal.
Helen Cho looked completely bewildered and at a loss.
Peggy Carter, however, stared at the ice block in front of her with a mixture of excitement and shock.
" Rogers, Rogers, oh my god!"
Upon hearing Carter's voice, everyone turned to look at the ice block, followed by shock.
" Carter, are you sure this is Rogers?" Nick walked over and asked, frowning.
"Yes, it's him!" Peggy Carter was thrilled; she was absolutely certain she wouldn't mistake the face hidden in the ice.
"No, Carter, we first need to confirm where we are, whether this is the real world."
Natasha picked up a handful of dirt from the ground, rubbed it a few times, and said, "It can't be Illusion. Illusion could never be this realistic!"
"It doesn't feel good. The gloomy sky is quite oppressive." Coulson checked his equipment and found that all his weapons were missing except for his suit.
Barton was equally uncomfortable, not only because the environment was oppressive, but also because his bow and arrows, which he always carried with him, were gone.
"What do we do now?" Coulson asked.
"Go and look around. You should have received some information about the dungeon as well, right? Since there are NPCs here, go ask them."
Nick, his gaze fixed on Steve trapped in the ice, spoke to the others without turning his head.
Natasha and the other two nodded and quickly went their separate ways.
There are only a few NPCs in the Rogue Encampment, but these NPCs are clearly just sluggish NPC programs. No matter what the three of them ask, their answers are mechanical, monotonous, and repetitive.
Meanwhile, Tony, Happy, Pepper, and Helen Cho had already left the main gate of Rogue Encampment.
" Tony, are we really leaving the camp? Isn't it dangerous?" Pepper asked worriedly.
"Since this isn't a dream or a virtual world, what we need to do is verify the information in our minds. Staying in the camp doing nothing is foolish."
Tony said, carefully looking around.
" Mr. Stark, is it really possible to Leveling Up by Killing Monsters, just like in other games?" Helen Cho asked cautiously.
As a brilliant PhD in biology, Helen Cho and Tony had met before, which was the main reason why Helen Cho chose to follow Tony.
"I'm really looking forward to it all being real," Tony said, his eyes burning with excitement.
"You can imagine, leveling up increases our strength, after level 10 we can choose a class and gain skills, and we can also get equipment, potions, and gems..."
"If all of this could be applied to the real world, what would that mean for us?"
"Although, this forced Player Mark really bothers me."
Tony glanced at the black cesium brand on his wrist and said with a smirk.
"It feels like some kind of Demon God's prank, maybe some Bored devil created this game!" Happy said confidently.
Just then, a sharp squeaking sound rang out.
The four looked in the direction of the sound and were instantly terrified.
It was a huge rat, a rat the size of a wild boar.
The rat was covered in dark red cesium spikes, and as Tony and his team spotted it, it had clearly also spotted its prey.
"Chirp chirp!"
The spiky rat shrieked, and its spiky body suddenly exploded. Immediately afterward, a spiky spike shot out like a javelin, heading straight for Happy was walking at the front.
"Get out of the way!" Tony reacted first, kicking Happy to the ground and allowing Happy to successfully dodge the spike attack.
Then, a shield and a wooden stick appeared in Tony's left and right hands, respectively.
"Whoa!" Tony had been studying the game panel and discovered that there were two pieces of starting equipment in his game inventory.
Shattering Round Shield Lv1: Defense 1, Block 1.
Ordinary wooden stick lv1: Attack 3.
After Tony placed the two pieces of equipment into his equipment slot via the game panel, the two pieces of equipment automatically appeared in his hand.
While the other three stared in disbelief, Tony charged at the spiked rat and smacked it on the head with his stick.
-6
A red number appeared, and the spiked rat's health bar instantly decreased by a third.
"Haha, just as expected, a low-level monster!" Tony laughed, and with three more blows, the spiked rat's health bar was emptied, turning it into a corpse.
"Ding! You have gained 5 experience points!"
Not only that, after the spiky rat died, it also dropped 2 gold coins and 1 small health potion.
Tony picked up the gold coins and the health potion, his eyes instantly brightening.
" Tony, how did you do that?" Pepper and the other two's eyes lit up, especially at the moment Tony instantly "conjured" weapons and a shield.
"Sound the game panel in your head, then equip the weapons and shields from your inventory."
The group quickly grasped the trick, and watching the wooden sticks constantly disappear and reappear in their hands, they were having a great time.
"It seems leveling up isn't too difficult. Reaching level 2 only requires 50 experience points, which can be achieved by killing ten spiked rats," Tony said, looking at his personal attributes on the game panel.
Everyone nodded, seemingly infected by Tony's spirit, and officially began their monster-hunting journey.
In the real world, Ling Yi, hiding in a secret cubicle, also received a system notification.
"Ding! Congratulations, host, you have gained 5 experience points!"
"Ding! System Shop Open, Products Updated!"
A slight smile crept onto Ling Yi's lips. These "working class" workers had already done their job, which was great.
Just then, Ling Yi vaguely heard some noises, which immediately made him tense.
Brock's dying words made Ling Yi realize that the two of them had been drawn into a vortex of conspiracy.
From the moment they accepted this job, they became pawns in someone else's game, scapegoats for someone else.
Keep in mind, that's over twenty kilograms of counterfeit goods, worth tens of millions of US dollars. It's quite normal for someone to double-cross them.
It's even quite possible that this was a tactic employed by some of the "shippers." Brock and he were both at the very bottom of Hell's Kitchen, used as pawns and scapegoats—it's all too normal for them.
As Brock said, their fate was sealed the moment they embarked on this path.
About an hour later, things gradually quieted down outside, which made Ling Yi breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed that those people had left.
In the dark dungeon, Tony Stark and his group have gradually entered monster-hunting mode.
Meanwhile, at the Rogue Encampment, the ice block encasing Steve had melted, and Nick and his companions were overjoyed to discover that Steve was still alive.
"Are you Peggy?" Steve opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was an older version of Peggy Carter.
This was somewhat difficult for Steve to accept.
"Can you tell me what happened?" Steve asked, struggling to his feet as he gradually regained his strength.
" Steve, you've been gone for 70 years." Peggy's eyes were filled with tears. For 70 years, they had missed each other.
Steve remained silent for a long while before slowly saying, "I... I still missed that ball."
"Yes, you missed out, Steve. I've waited too long, everyone's waited too long. We thought we'd lost you."
At this moment, Nick, who had been standing to the side, spoke up, " Captain, welcome back. Although it might be a bit of a mood killer to say this now, I still have to remind you that we have more important things to do."
"Then let's go upgrade!" Steve had also received information about the dungeon, and he naturally knew how to leave the dungeon world.
Upgraded to level 2.
Steve stretched his body, feeling his strength slowly returning, and said firmly.
Nick couldn't help but laugh. The Captain is the Captain; he can always be trusted in crucial moments.
Just then, Barton ran back from outside the Rogue Encampment, shield in his left hand and a wooden club in his right, clearly already knowing how to open the game panel and how to equip gear.
"You should take a look at this." Barton instantly sheathed his shield and club, and with a flick of his wrist, a vial of bright red cesium appeared in his hand.
Everyone looked over, and instantly the information about the blood vial appeared in their minds.
"After leaving this instance, hand it over to the research department to verify its effects." Nick frowned; with his skeptical nature, he still couldn't believe it was real.
"No, let's verify it now." Steve took the small vial from Barton's hand and shoved it directly into Peggy's hand.
"Now that it's confirmed this isn't a dream, not a false world, it must have been created by some mysterious being—perhaps a god, perhaps a creator, perhaps a demon..."