Base Laboratory

When Alex woke up, he found himself trapped in a sealed box. The cramped space offered no room to move, and the surroundings were pitch black, devoid of any light. His head felt as if it were encased in something, and his mouth was forced open. Alex couldn't even shift his head or close his mouth.

"I've been captured?" Alex understood his predicament after a brief recollection. Thinking that Audrey might still be in danger, Alex became instantly anxious.

Just as he was about to use Teleportation to escape, a beam of light suddenly shot into his eyes. The blinding light made Alex involuntarily close his eyes, interrupting his Teleportation. At that moment, a straw was inserted, roughly thrust into his mouth.

Before Alex could spit it out, a viscous liquid with a strange, rotten smell rushed into his mouth through the straw, then flowed down his throat and into his stomach. A wave of nausea hit him. Alex gagged a few times, then inexplicably fell unconscious.

Every time Alex woke up, the straw would immediately extend into his mouth, the disgusting, nauseating liquid would flow into his stomach, and then Alex would fall unconscious again.

This cycle repeated. Alex didn't know how many times he had consumed the strange liquid. Finally, one day, when Alex woke up, he found himself no longer in the sealed, cramped, dark box. Instead, he was confined in a spacious glass room. Outside the glass room was likely a laboratory, filled with all sorts of experimental equipment.

The laboratory was completely sealed, with no windows on any side. Alex still couldn't see the outside environment.

In his previous life, Zhang Xuan had trained his Teleportation to the point where he could appear anywhere on Earth with a mere thought, as long as he had a memory of the place, whether he had visited it personally or seen it in a photo or online.

But now, Alex couldn't do that. The limitation on his Teleportation range meant he could only attempt to reach familiar places nearby. On the European continent, the familiar places Alex knew were merely those he had passed through. However, when Alex tried just now, he attempted every place in his memory, but the Teleportation failed!

Just as Alex was feeling incredibly frustrated, the tightly shut iron door of the laboratory opened. Alex eagerly looked over, only to see a long, narrow corridor. Guards armed with guns stood on both sides of the corridor. There was still no way to escape!

Pulling his gaze back, Alex looked at the person who had just entered the laboratory. With a height of just over a meter, he looked like a dwarf, except he didn't have a long beard. He wore glasses and had a stern expression, looking quite ridiculous.

"What's so funny, Teleporter?" The "dwarf" noticed the smile on Alex's face and his expression immediately changed. "Anyone who dares to look down on Zola will die!"

"Zola? Doctor Zola?!" Alex was startled by the name and immediately recalled the short doctor from the movie who helped Red Skull research the Tesseract. Judging by his height, it had to be the person in front of him.

"Kid, I'll show you how powerful I am!"

Zola let out a sinister laugh, turned, and walked to a corner. A moment later, he emerged wearing a long gray trench coat and a ridiculous eye patch, looking like a giant version of Shu Ke.

Watching Zola slowly approach, Alex couldn't help but suppress a smile, looking at Zola with his strange grin with a hint of fear. Although Zola looked ridiculous, his skills were not weak, otherwise, he wouldn't have been valued by Red Skull. Alex was very worried that Zola would use him for experiments.

"Kid, have a good sleep first!" Zola said with a smile, looking at Alex. He pressed a red button on a machine next to the glass room with his right hand.

Hearing this, Alex immediately remembered the strange liquid he had been forced to swallow recently. As he became wary, green smoke suddenly billowed out from all around. Alex knew something was wrong and covered his nose with his hand. Unfortunately, it seemed to be of no use. Alex felt his head getting heavier and heavier, and then he once again collapsed straight onto the floor.

When Alex woke up again, he found himself lying on the cold floor, his body feeling weak and limp. It was difficult even to sit up. His right arm had a faint stinging sensation. Rolling up his sleeve, he saw a needle mark on his arm. He looked up outside the glass room and saw the short Zola holding a glass test tube containing about a third of his blood.

Noticing Alex had woken up, Zola turned his head to look. The ridiculous eye patch was still on his eye. "Kid, you woke up quite quickly. To wake up this fast after having 2000 milliliters of blood drawn, you have good constitution!"

Alex ignored Zola, sitting weakly on the floor. He turned and looked around, hoping to find a way out. Alex didn't consider the main door; with so many guards stationed there, Alex couldn't possibly escape.

The laboratory had no windows, but there must be ventilation shafts. Alex was looking for just such a place. If there was a ventilation shaft, it would definitely connect to the outside. As long as Alex could get a glimpse of the specific environment outside, he could use Teleportation to escape.

After searching for a while, Alex indeed spotted a ventilation shaft on the ceiling of one side of the laboratory. A faint sound of wind could be heard from the small vent. Looking at the position of the ventilation shaft, Alex's mood became heavy. It seemed very likely that this laboratory was underground.

"I'll go take a look after Zola leaves!" Having made up his mind, Alex comfortably lay down, closed his eyes, and pretended to be asleep.

Seeing that Alex was inactive, Zola paid him no further attention and focused on his experiments.

After an unknown amount of time, when Alex woke up, there was no one in the entire laboratory.

Alex immediately used Teleportation to leave the glass room. He walked a few steps to the ventilation shaft and climbed onto a table below it. Peering inside, he saw only darkness and couldn't see anything.

Disappointed, Alex jumped off the table and wandered around the laboratory. After searching for a long time, Alex found nothing. Reluctantly and desperately, Alex cautiously moved to the side of the main door. He carefully nudged the massive iron door open a crack and looked out through the gap. The long, narrow corridor was filled with guards!

Alex cursed inwardly and closed the door again. Helplessly, he returned to his glass room and fell asleep, his mind filled with turmoil.

"Bang, bang, bang!" The continuous knocking sound woke Alex from his sleep. Rubbing his groggy eyes, he looked at the suddenly bustling laboratory.

Yesterday, there were only him and Zola in the vast laboratory. Today, the laboratory was suddenly filled with many people. Judging by their appearances, they were scientists like Zola, along with some soldiers coming and going, helping to move things.

After a busy half-day, the soldiers withdrew from the laboratory, but over a dozen scientists remained. Oh, and there was also a tall man wearing a military cap who stayed behind. Judging by his appearance, he was likely the leader here. Everyone was respectful towards him. Alex guessed that this was John Schmidt from the movie, also known as Red Skull.

"Doctor Zola, I've found the things and the people you need. When can you finish what I want?"

"General Schmidt, it will only take two days!" Facing this leader, Zola was very cautious, his tone of voice significantly softer.

Hearing Zola's address, Alex confirmed his guess. The person in front of him was the future Red Skull.

"Good. In two days, I expect to see what I want." Red Skull looked at Zola with a cold expression. His tone was indifferent, yet it made Zola's body tremble slightly.

Finally, when Red Skull turned his head, Zola let out a sigh of relief. He pointed to Alex in the glass room and asked, "General Schmidt, what about him?"

Red Skull turned his head upon hearing this. After a moment of hesitation, he said, "Keep him. He'll be an experimental subject then!" After speaking, Red Skull turned and walked out of the laboratory.

"Alright!" Zola replied in a low voice. Seeing Red Skull leave, he immediately began working busily with the other dozen or so scientists.

ps: Apologies for the late update. I'll go work on the second chapter now.