Seeing the soldier in a ghillie suit forced into a no-rope bungee jump, Li Ming felt nothing. After all, the guy had been lying in ambush right at his doorstep—killing him was justified. This wasn't some child's game where you could call time-out or quit whenever you felt like it.
If the forces behind these soldiers had the audacity to target a mage, they should be prepared for casualties. Even if the soldiers themselves had no idea what they were up against, their deaths could only be blamed on their own bad luck.
But when Li Ming suddenly noticed the oddly shaped sniper rifle falling from the soldier's grasp, his expression instantly shifted. His eyes bulged as he cursed inwardly: Holy shit, an energy weapon? Was this the source of the danger I sensed earlier?
Li Ming wasn't a gun enthusiast and couldn't distinguish between sniper rifle models. He only knew that most firearms with long barrels fell under the sniper category.
Yet even someone with zero knowledge of sniper rifles would realize that their stocks weren't supposed to emit a faint blue glow.
The glow wasn't very noticeable in daylight, but at night, it would stand out like a beacon. What kind of idiot gun designer would create a sniper rifle like that? Were they trying to make it easier for enemies to spot the sniper? If they wanted to screw over snipers, they didn't need to be this obvious about it.
Li Ming was certain the soldier hadn't been carrying conventional weaponry—otherwise, the gun designer would've been beaten to a pulp by the troops long ago.
When it came to factions in the Marvel universe that wielded energy weapons, the first name that popped into Li Ming's mind was Red Skull. That bastard had experimented with the Tesseract and used it to manufacture plenty of energy-based firearms.
His nerves rattled by the energy weapon, Li Ming quickly downed a large gulp of alcohol to steady himself. As he set the empty glass aside, he felt noticeably more at ease.
Truly, there was nothing in this world that a drink couldn't soothe.
"Klee Che, another round," Li Ming called out, handing his glass to the house-elf while rubbing his eyes. He activated his magic eye to scan for any remaining hidden soldiers, all while watching the Abomination play a deadly game of hide-and-seek with the troops.
Just as Li Ming was thoroughly engrossed, the phone inside the RV suddenly rang.
Puzzled, he crooked a finger, summoning the phone to his hand. Before he could even ask who was calling, Coulson's urgent voice crackled through the receiver: "Austin, stop the Abomination—now!"
Li Ming curled his lip in disdain. Ignoring Coulson, he didn't bother hanging up either. Instead, he casually set the phone aside, letting Coulson's voice continue to blare from the speaker while he sipped his beer and enjoyed the spectacle outside the window.
Perhaps it was because the Abomination had effortlessly located and hurled a second hidden soldier into the sky within seconds. The remaining troops, realizing their hiding spots were compromised, tore off their disguises and opened fire on the Abomination with their energy weapons.
Back when the Abomination was alive, his bulging muscles had not only shrugged off bullets but could even deflect artillery shells with his chest. Now, as an undead monstrosity...36. The body's defenses were so strong that it could easily be considered the perfect candidate for chest-crushing stunts.
Even though he was dead now, his muscular physique and sturdy skeleton remained intact. This allowed Li Ming to effortlessly preserve his defensive capabilities while mummifying him. Moreover, Li Ming had made some magical modifications to him, resulting in him being completely unscathed when facing energy weapons—aside from being knocked off balance and having the few remaining bandages on his body shredded to pieces.
Abomination looked at the dwindling strips of bandages on his body, his anger rising uncontrollably, almost visibly so. These were the last bandages in the house, and now they were all ruined. From now on, he'd have to go around naked. As for expecting Li Ming to spend money on new bandages—ha! Abomination would sooner believe the Earth was triangular than trust Li Ming to ever be generous.
A mighty warrior like Abomination had been reduced to this: watching others (Li Ming) eat while he starved, watching others (still Li Ming) drink while he stayed parched, and now, damn it, he didn't even have clothes left.
The more Abomination thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt. Rage surged from his heart, and malice crept into his actions. Swinging his arms wide, he leaped high into the air and crushed a poor soldier into a meat pancake. Then, with a furious roar, he charged at the remaining soldiers like a sprinter, tearing through them at full speed.
With his full power unleashed, Abomination swept through the remaining soldiers like autumn wind scattering fallen leaves, swiftly finishing them off.
Seeing Abomination return victorious, Li Ming leisurely picked up the phone and asked, "Hello? Who's calling?"
From the other end of the line came Fury's furious, teeth-gritting roar: "Austin, what the hell have you done?!"
"Oh, if it isn't the great Director," Li Ming instinctively held the receiver away from his ear, rubbing his earlobe before chuckling. "Did the sun rise from the west today? A busy man like you actually has time to call me—how rare."
Hearing Li Ming's flippant tone, Fury let out a cold laugh. "I don't know about the sun rising from the west, but I do know you're in deep trouble now. You'll spend the rest of your life branded as a murderer."
"Murderer?" Li Ming glanced at Abomination, who was heading back to the RV, and sneered. "Who did I kill? The beer in my left hand or the peanuts in my right? Don't go throwing baseless accusations at me."
"Baseless? Do you know what I'm doing right now? I've put aside my busy schedule to sit in front of a computer watching Abomination livestream his massacre of soldiers, and you call that baseless?!" Fury sounded like he was on the verge of pulling out his gun and shooting the phone. Panting heavily, he roared, "I know you've resurrected Abomination—"
Before Fury could finish, Li Ming impatiently cut him off. "So you've seen Abomination's performance. In that case, go arrest him. Why call me?" Pausing, Li Ming asked expressionlessly, "By the way, answer me this—which bastard sent those guys to blow up my windows?"
"Blow up your windows?" Fury was momentarily stunned before narrowing his eyes in realization. "Someone tried to break into your RV?""Obviously, or do you think I'd let Abomination out for fun? I'm still waiting for him to come back and mop the floors." Li Ming rubbed his temples in frustration. For some reason, he felt Fury's mood swings were unusually erratic—completely unlike the unflappable director who could face a mountain collapsing without blinking.
Unable to make sense of it, Li Ming set aside his confusion and asked, "You still haven't told me who—"
Before he could finish, the line went dead with a dial tone.
Li Ming stared blankly at the phone in his hand, first bewildered, then inwardly fuming: Hey~ That bald egg's got some nerve, daring to hang up on me!
Triskelion Headquarters, Director's Office
After hanging up, Fury smirked at Coulson standing before his desk. "See? That's how we confirm why Austin sent Abomination out to kill."
Coulson forced a smile, his expression conflicted. "But sir, no matter Austin's reasons, those soldiers were innocent. Letting Abomination slaughter them like that—"
"Soldiers?" Fury cut him off, shaking his head. "Coulson, tell me—has military technology advanced to the point where soldiers use energy weapons in training exercises?"
Coulson paused, then shook his head. "Probably not."
Fury nodded slightly, tapping a few keys to zoom in on a satellite image of Abomination's massacre. He pointed at the weapons in the soldiers' hands. "When the military forwarded the live footage, the blurriness made me suspicious. Since when do soldiers' body cams have such low resolution that we can't even identify their weapons?"
"So," Fury gestured at the clear photo, "I borrowed Stark's private satellite. Take a look at these soldiers' weapons—do they look familiar?"
At a glance, Coulson recognized them as energy weapons. As for familiarity—being S.H.I.E.L.D.'s walking encyclopedia—he immediately saw the resemblance to weapons once used by their predecessor's nemesis, Red Skull.
Coulson's expression turned to shock. "Wasn't this supposed to be a military cover-up for the destruction caused by Thor and the Destroyer? How did Hydra get involved?"
"Cover-up?" Fury scoffed. "You actually believe politicians?"
Sighing, Fury massaged his temples. "I don't care about Abomination slaughtering those bastards. In fact, I'd applaud it. Besides, the military never caught Austin on camera—they can only suspect he's behind Abomination, but they can't touch him. What worries me now is something else."Coulson tilted his head in thought, and after a moment, a look of astonishment appeared on his face. He said, "The exercise order was issued temporarily, and by the time the military entered the exercise zone, Hydra had already infiltrated the commanding officers. Are you suggesting that there are Hydra members within the military participating in the exercise, and their ranks might not be low?"
"Not just that," Fury stood up and walked to the window. Gazing at the scenery outside, he said with a bitter smile, "In the past, any military exercise would undergo lengthy discussions and research. But what about this one? Even if the purpose was to cover up the existence of aliens, don't you think this exercise was executed too quickly and thoroughly? I'm worried that Hydra has infiltrated Congress, the Department of Defense, and other agencies—they're the ones pushing for this exercise."
Coulson swallowed hard and forced a smile. "Sir, maybe you're just overthinking it?" After a pause, as if trying to convince Fury or himself, he muttered quietly, "Over all these years, the Hydra members we've found have been few and far between. Plus, with our constant pressure, both overt and covert, their situation should be dire. But from what you're saying, it sounds like they're thriving."
Fury glanced at Coulson. There were things Coulson didn't know, but that didn't mean Fury was unaware. Moreover, the longer he sat in the director's chair, the more he sensed Hydra members lurking around him. Yet, whenever he tried to dig deeper, the suspects either got hit by a car or died on missions, leaving him utterly frustrated.
Can't I just enjoy the perks of being director in peace? So much nonsense every day...