Red Skull

"Madam, shall we leave now?" Having successfully persuaded Audrey's mother, Zhang Xuan was eager to take the mother and daughter away as soon as possible. After all, the Netherlands was currently under ** rule, and danger could strike at any moment.

"Mr. Alex, you can call me Ella." Audrey's mother looked somewhat surprised. "Is it that urgent?"

Zhang Xuan gazed at Audrey's mother, Mrs. Ella, with concern, stepped closer, and lowered his voice. "Mrs. Ella, I overheard a piece of news—Hitler is planning to implement a racial cleansing policy. Staying here is very dangerous."

Ella's face changed color. She thought once more of her brutally killed relatives and nodded involuntarily. "Let's go. We'll leave now!"

"Mom, do we really have to leave here?" Audrey Hepburn was still an eleven-year-old child. Hearing that she had to leave her familiar home, her small face was filled with sorrow. She felt reluctant.

Zhang Xuan looked at the melancholy in Audrey's brown eyes, and an inexplicable tenderness welled up in his heart. He spoke, "Of course, Audrey. You are an angel descended to the mortal world—you don't belong here!"

In his excitement, Zhang Xuan didn't notice that he had blurted out the name Audrey. At this time, Audrey's name was actually Edda. Fortunately, the unsettled mother and daughter didn't catch it either.

Moments later, Ella led Audrey, dressed in simple clothes, out of the house. In her right hand, she carried a large bundle, so heavy that the exposed skin on her arm had turned slightly blue.

Seeing the cloth bundle nearly half as tall as Mrs. Ella, Zhang Xuan gave a wry smile. "Mrs. Ella, you don't need to bring so much!"

Mrs. Ella paused, looked down at the bundle in her hands, and hesitated. These were the only belongings they had left.

"Mrs. Ella, with money, you can buy anything." Zhang Xuan pointed at the pocket on her dress, where the ten thousand dollars he had just given her was tucked away. "Besides, carrying so much stuff will make it hard for us to travel!"

"I think it's best to bring nothing. Travel light." Seeing Mrs. Ella still hesitating, Zhang Xuan reached out, took the bundle from her hands, set it aside, and led the mother and daughter back the way they came.

Ella looked reluctantly at the bundle Zhang Xuan had discarded, but in the end, she said nothing. Holding Audrey's hand, she followed closely behind Zhang Xuan.

They had only taken a few steps when Zhang Xuan suddenly reached out to stop the mother and daughter behind him. His eyes narrowed. In the distance, a line of sidecar motorcycles appeared on the road, with three or four German soldiers in ** uniforms vaguely visible on each. Their posture suggested they meant trouble.

An inexplicable unease surged through Zhang Xuan. He pulled the mother and daughter into the forest beside the road, using the dense trees to conceal their tracks.

"What's wrong?" Ella had also seen the ** in the distance, but she wasn't concerned. In fact, not only she but even Audrey showed no worry, only looking at Zhang Xuan with confusion.

Zhang Xuan shook his head, his expression grave. "Something feels off. We need to be careful." With that, he looked up to check their direction and led the mother and daughter through the forest.

In truth, Zhang Xuan's instincts were spot on. These sudden ** soldiers were after him. His reckless use of Teleportation had finally caught the attention of a special ** department.

"Report, sir! No sign of the target!" A young sergeant jogged up to an armored vehicle, snapped to attention, and shouted, "Suspect believed to have escaped!"

With a clang, the armored vehicle's door swung open from inside. A man with a red skull-like head stepped out. The eyes set in his sunken skull sockets gleamed with a chilling madness.

If Zhang Xuan had seen this man, he would have immediately recognized him as the Red Skull from the movie "Captain America"!

"Then what are you waiting for? Chase him! Find him!" The Red Skull's face, devoid of any muscle, showed no expression. His flared nostrils heaved with heavy breaths—clearly, he was furious.

The young sergeant didn't dare look the Red Skull in the eye. He acknowledged the order and quickly turned to run off. Moments later, dozens of ** soldiers dispersed and set off in pursuit.

"What the hell is going on?" Zhang Xuan was frustrated. He had been dodging ** soldiers with Audrey and her mother, planning to catch a train out of Arnhem. But now, it seemed the entire city was crawling with **.

He still didn't know that he had caught the Red Skull's attention, and that the Red Skull himself had come in person.

By now, Ella and Audrey had also realized something was wrong. Arnhem usually didn't have many **, but now, as far as the eye could see, the city was packed with them—even the most secluded spots weren't spared.

"What do we do now?" Watching the ** soldiers constantly searching the streets, Ella's face was full of worry.

Zhang Xuan frowned deeply. He had a gut feeling that the sudden influx of ** in Arnhem was related to him. That made it much harder to get Audrey and her mother out.

"Is there anywhere we can send a telegram?" After a moment's thought, Zhang Xuan decided he needed to contact Howard.

"The newspaper office. The Arnhem Newspaper Office has a telegraph machine. I saw it once." Audrey raised her hand and spoke softly. She was still a bit afraid of Zhang Xuan and didn't dare get too close.

Zhang Xuan could only respond with a wry smile. He'd have to find a chance to get closer to the goddess later. For now, he had to figure out how to get back to the United States!

Under Audrey's guidance, the three of them wove through streets and alleys, constantly evading the **. After nearly half a day, they finally arrived at a small courtyard not far from the Arnhem Music Academy. This was the location of the Arnhem Newspaper Office. Due to the ** occupation, the office had long been forced to shut down, and the place had fallen into disuse, abandoned.

"The telegraph machine is in there." Audrey pointed to a room in the southwest corner of the courtyard. After the continuous trekking, fine beads of sweat had formed on her forehead, and her cheeks were slightly flushed.

"Wait here. I'll send a telegram." Zhang Xuan instructed, then walked into the room with the telegraph machine. He tested it—it still worked.

In his previous life, telephones and computers were ubiquitous, and telegraphs were obsolete antiques he had never even seen. Since arriving in this era, he'd had no choice but to learn how to use such relics.

After sending off a somewhat clumsy telegram, Zhang Xuan didn't leave immediately. He knew Howard would reply quickly. Sure enough, just a few minutes later, the telegraph machine clicked to life again.

Howard's reply was a text-described route map, telling Zhang Xuan how to safely return to the United Kingdom. After reading it, a smile crept onto Zhang Xuan's face. He thought to himself, Howard was reliable after all.

According to Howard's description, Germany and France were locked in fierce combat, making it impossible to pass through France back to the UK. Taking a boat directly from the Netherlands to the UK was also out of the question—the English Channel was swarming with German warships and aircraft. So the best route was to cross Germany, pass through Denmark, enter Norway, and then take a ship from Norway around the North Sea back to the UK.

Looking at the route map Howard had sent, a thought suddenly struck Zhang Xuan. He remembered that in "Captain America," the Red Skull had found the Tesseract in a church in Norway. "Should I go look for it?" The idea of the Tesseract stirred a surge of impulse in his heart—it was a treasure, after all.

But when he turned his head and saw Audrey Hepburn shivering in the autumn wind in the courtyard outside the window, he immediately extinguished that thought. He had come to Europe with only one goal: to bring Audrey Hepburn to the United States. Everything else could wait.