Black Widow!
Black Widow wore a white and pale blue mock-layered dress that day, with white gauze extending past her knees beneath its slanted hem.
Her full, straight thighs showed faintly through it.
Compared with what she had worn when they met at the bar, this outfit was much more innocent and playful.
But in a casino where beautiful women in tank tops and hot pants were everywhere,
this outfit somehow proved all the more alluring.
Just how alluring? One look at Tony Stark beside him said it all.
The moment he saw Black Widow appear, he couldn't take his eyes off her.
"Hello. Although I'm certain you know exactly who I am, I'd still like to introduce myself. I'm Tony Stark."
"Of course. Who in this country doesn't know Tony Stark? Natasha. Natasha Romanoff."
Black Widow hadn't concealed her real name. Whether she thought it unnecessary or her information was so highly classified that she wasn't afraid of anyone looking her up, he didn't know.
After nodding politely to Tony, Black Widow turned to Qin Xiao.
"I'm sorry I left early at the bar last time. Let me make it up to you today. I'll keep you company while you gamble."
"Sure!"
Without any hesitation, Qin Xiao offered his arm for Black Widow to take.
Clatter!
The roulette wheel began to spin.
The little metal ball circled the wheel several times before finally slowing to a stop on number two.
Tony watched that rare beauty head straight to Qin Xiao's side.
He had been about to make a few sour remarks, but then he saw that the roulette ball had actually landed on two.
He couldn't help letting out a cry.
"YES!"
Tony didn't care about this little bit of money, but American roulette had thirty-eight numbers in all. Winning on a straight-up bet really was a thrill.
Seeing that the beauty was clearly there for Qin Xiao,
Tony could only turn to Happy and ask flatly,
"How many chips did I give him just now? A hundred and eighty thousand, right? This round won 6.3 million. Damn it, Qin, you should really thank this beautiful lady. Some of this money belongs to her."
"I put up the stake, so we split it fifty-fifty. Give this lady some of your own share. Happy, take half the chips here and come with me."
This beauty had come for Qin Xiao. No matter how much Tony liked her, he wasn't going to pester her.
He chose to find somewhere else to enjoy himself instead, though before leaving, he leaned over to Qin Xiao's ear and whispered,
"Tell me the name of that bar you frequent later. I'll look you up when I get back from Afghanistan."
"Tony! Be careful!"
In the end, Qin Xiao couldn't resist giving Tony a warning.
But from the look of it, Tony hadn't taken it to heart at all.
After seeing Tony off, Qin Xiao turned to Black Widow beside him.
"Don't tell me tonight was a chance encounter. I won't believe it, Miss Romanoff!"
"All right, I admit I came specifically to find you. But whatever we need to discuss can wait. For now, keep me company and have some fun. Some of these chips belong to me. Stark just said so."
Black Widow was now acting like a little girl bouncing with excitement.
She pulled Qin Xiao around the casino, casually placing bets whenever they came across a table.
Still, doing the math, the Black Widow from the movies was only twenty-four now, just two years older than Qin Xiao's age in this world.
Strictly speaking, she really could be considered a big kid.
He didn't know whether Black Widow truly brought good fortune or the two of them were simply lucky together.
They went from table to table, casually placing bets like that.
Somehow, they brought their chips up to four million dollars.
When it came time to cash out, however, Black Widow said money was of no use to her and didn't take a cent.
Qin Xiao didn't mind either and deposited all of it directly into his own account.
Before heading out, he happened to see Tony getting into his car with a female reporter at the hotel entrance.
Tony even winked at Qin Xiao before leaving.
"You two seem to get along well. As far as I know, being friends with Tony Stark isn't easy."
As the two walked by the hotel entrance, Black Widow spoke first.
"Really? Maybe we just hit it off. But I feel like getting an elite agent to lean against me like a sweet little girlfriend seems even harder."
"How did you figure it out?"
Black Widow didn't seem surprised. She merely tilted her head and asked with a smile.
"Was it hard to guess? You went behind a bar in the middle of the night to take on three burly men alone. You were either an assassin or an agent, and you didn't kill them."
Although he knew Black Widow was an internationally renowned agent, seeing her like this still gave Qin Xiao the urge to ruffle her hair.
"All right, you got it. I am an agent. Now that you know my identity, it's my turn to ask you a question."
As they strolled casually along the street, Black Widow asked just as casually.
"Go ahead!"
Qin Xiao pursed his lips, indicating that he didn't mind.
"How did you get the Super-Soldier Serum? Was it through Isaiah?"
Black Widow had no intention of hiding anything either and went straight to the point.
This time, it was Qin Xiao's turn to be incredulous.
Was S.H.I.E.L.D. really this efficient? Just because he had taken action once, they had followed the trail and uncovered so much?
But since Black Widow had been so straightforward, Qin Xiao didn't hide anything either.
He told Black Widow everything that had happened, exactly as it was.
"In the end, I just got lucky. Did you approach me because of the Super-Soldier Serum?"
Qin Xiao grew a little wary. Although, to him, his relationship with Isaiah was merely something the system had created,
in Isaiah's heart, he truly regarded Qin Xiao as his child.
He didn't want Isaiah dragged back to a laboratory for human experimentation because of him.
"No. We're not particularly interested in the serum. That stuff is too unstable. And none of our people will bother Isaiah. On the contrary, we'll quietly deal with people around him who harbor ill intentions."
"You're my target!"
Without realizing it, they had walked into a park. Black Widow let go of Qin Xiao and sat on a bench as she spoke.
"Oh?"
Qin Xiao took a seat beside her.
"Me? So that bullet last time found its way into your heart?"
"Bring that up again, and I'll turn your head into a sandwich."
Black Widow spoke in a huff.
"All right! All right! I'll never mention stuffing that bullet down the front of your dress again. Now explain what you mean by me being your target, Agent Romanoff."
Qin Xiao raised his hands in mock surrender.
"Allow me to introduce myself formally. Natasha Romanoff, senior agent of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. We're responsible for monitoring all threatening events and individuals in the world."
"Qin Xiao. You think I'm a threat to this world?"
Qin Xiao introduced himself again as well.
"You have strength, speed, and reflexes beyond human limits. With just a little training, you could become the world's most formidable assassin. If you tried to assassinate certain important figures, or even a country's president, I doubt anyone could stop you."
"Do you think we'd turn a blind eye to you?"
"So what do you intend to do? Lock me up?"
Qin Xiao looked at Black Widow as he spoke.
"Of course not. I'm only here to observe you and produce a threat assessment report. If you show no signs of being antisocial or hostile toward humanity, we won't arrest you."
Black Widow didn't reveal Nick Fury's Avengers Initiative on her own initiative either.
Instead, she took a roundabout approach.
"Well, I'm a real lecher. Beautiful women make my head spin, especially beauties like you. Does that count as being a threat?"
Black Widow was clever. Since she had already more or less exposed herself in front of Qin Xiao anyway,
she simply laid her identity out in the open.
As if she had just made a new friend, she chatted casually with Qin Xiao.
Naturally, she would analyze every word Qin Xiao said, along with every expression and movement.
She would ultimately hand it all over to Nick Fury.
The two sat chatting in the park until late at night before going their separate ways.
The next day, before dinner, Qin Xiao received a call from Happy.
Tony Stark had gone missing after being attacked by terrorists in Afghanistan.
The plot had finally truly begun. Qin Xiao had asked the system why he still couldn't return after completing two missions.
The system's answer was that he had to wait until Tony Stark transformed into Iron Man, then defeat Iron Monger alongside him before he could return to the real world.
Although, to Qin Xiao, he was merely a transmigrator in both the real world and the Marvel Universe,
the real world still felt a little more grounding. Besides, he had merged with his predecessor's memories, and there were still plenty of things waiting for him to handle in the real world.
The prerequisite was earning points so he could exchange them for a large amount of money when he returned.