The door was pushed open.
A salty, fishy smell from the docks, mixed with a faint hint of gunpowder, instantly filled the dilapidated room.
Lin Ent clutched his lower abdomen, sucking in a sharp breath.
Damn it.
That Black Widow, she really hits hard.
But... he grinned, feeling the burning pain in his muscle and the lingering excitement in his veins.
It was so damn thrilling.
With a haggard look on his face, as if he'd just run an eight-hundred-meter dash and was about to collapse, he slapped a paper bag onto the table.
"Damn, this godforsaken place is so noisy it's giving me a headache, I can't sleep at all."
He grabbed a slice of cold pizza, took a big bite, his acting flawless.
But the moment he stepped in, the air in the entire room changed.
It was like suddenly falling into an ice cave in the dog days of summer.
All the background noise—the shouting from next door, the cursing from downstairs—vanished in an instant.
Dead silence.
In the darkness, those golden Beast-like eyes opened silently.
No warning, no premonition.
A blue shadow, so fast it ripped through the air!
Damn!
Lin Ent's pupils dilated, and only that one word flashed through his mind.
The next second, the world spun!
He was slammed to the ground with brute force, the back of his head hitting the carpet with a thud.
Raven straddled him.
Her legs, like two giant steel pythons, locked tightly around his waist.
She propped herself up on either side of his face, her wild, powerful blue body towering over him like a mountain.
Then, she picked up something and held it up to his eyes.
A strand of hair.
In the dim light, that dazzling fiery red looked like blood.
"She."
"Who is she?"
Raven's voice was flat, like ice scraping against ice.
Lin Ent's heart skipped a beat, but he forced a smile that was uglier than a cry.
"Who? How would I know... This wretched place is full of all sorts of people, must have rubbed off on me..."
"Don't pretend."
Raven's fingers gripped his chin, applying slight pressure.
Creak.
His bones groaned.
"I've seen this color before."
"That S.H.I.E.L.D. bitch."
"Black Widow."
Lin Ent's heart sank. Was this woman's nose like a dog's?
She could even smell that out?
He suddenly laughed, a particularly obnoxious laugh.
"Why are you so tense?"
"Afraid I'll get a new power bank? One... more exciting than you?"
"You're asking for death!"
Crack!
The grip on his chin tightened abruptly, and Lin Ent felt his bones were about to shatter.
"No."
He endured the sharp pain, forcing out each word through gritted teeth.
"I'm damn well looking for a way to survive!"
He stared intently into those beastly eyes, the curve of his lips growing more insane.
"Look at the state you're in now, Raven!"
"You're angry that I saw another woman? Bullshit!"
"You're scared!"
"Scared?"
For the first time, Raven's golden pupils showed an emotion other than mockery.
"Yes! That's right, scared!"
Lin Ent's voice wasn't loud, but it was like daggers stabbing into her heart.
"You're afraid that I, your power bank, will be unplugged!"
"You're afraid that the sweetness you just tasted will be gone!"
"You're afraid of turning back into that pathetic wretch, wagging her tail behind Charles and Erik, looked down upon by everyone!"
"Shut up!"
Raven shrieked, raising her hand, her five fingers tightening their grip, ready to slam her palm down on Lin Ent's head!
But that hand stopped in mid-air.
Suspended, trembling slightly.
Lin Ent's laugh grew more unrestrained, his eyes filled with an all-knowing pity.
"See, you don't dare."
"Kill me, and your pathetic bit of power will be gone overnight."
"You are not my Master, Raven."
"You're just the first lucky one to get my VIP experience card."
"You're so agitated, so out of control..."
He leaned in closer, whispering in a devilish voice.
"It's simply because you've realized... you can't live without me anymore."
"You... you dog... you dare..."
Raven gritted her teeth, each word sounding as if it was ground out from her throat.
She found that her strength, which could tear steel, was useless at this moment.
She could kill him.
But a single sentence from him could kill her heart.
"Why wouldn't I dare?"
Lin Ent's voice was as light as a feather, yet as heavy as Mount Tai.
"I'll say it again, we are partners."
"If you ever lay a hand on me again..."
He paused, savoring the expression of humiliation, anger, and powerlessness on Raven's face, a shiver of pleasure running down his spine.
"...I'll package up the secret to making you stronger and sell it to White Queen, sell it to Jean Grey, sell it to that S.H.I.E.L.D. bitch you just mentioned."
"Believe me, they'll pay a good price."
The hand suspended in mid-air finally softened and dropped.
The physical suppression was still there, but her aura had completely collapsed.
Raven stared intently at the man beneath her.
For the first time, she felt that within this frail body, there lurked a monster more terrifying than her, than Magneto, than anyone she had ever seen.
Finally, she slowly lowered her head.
Her hot breath fanned Lin Ent's ear.
"It seems you have a lot of energy."
Her voice was hoarse, suppressed, carrying a desperate cruelty.
Her hips began to move rhythmically, the fabric separating them by only a single layer.
"Then let's... train."
Meanwhile.
Above New York, inside the Quinjet.
"Impossible."
Hawkeye Clint Barton stared at the data on the holographic screen, his brows furrowed into a knot.
"That probability is even lower than me missing a shot on a mission. Natasha, this might be a coincidence."
His judgment was professional and calm.
"Would a coincidence help you calculate the bullet's trajectory?"
Natasha's voice was colder than the air outside the cabin.
She pointed at the frozen image on the screen.
"Look at his face, the second before impact, there was fear, but in his eyes, there wasn't a hint of hesitation."
"This isn't the reaction of someone scared stiff; this is someone following orders."
Lin Ent's profile popped up on the screen—a playboy laughing like an idiot at a party.
"His background is as clean as a blank slate, a typical rich second-generation."
Clint shook his head.
"It doesn't make sense, are the files fake?"
"Or..."
Natasha turned off the screen, leaned back in her chair, and closed her eyes.
Inside the cabin, only the hum of the engine remained.
But her mind was filled with the words Lin Ent had whispered in her ear.
"He said... he could unlock the collar around my neck."
Clint suddenly turned his head, his usually composed face changing color for the first time.
"He knows about the Red Room?"
"He knows far more than we thought."
Natasha opened her eyes.
In her beautiful green eyes, a light flickered that Clint had never seen before.
Mixed with extreme danger and... irrepressible curiosity.
"This Lin Ent..."
"I want to meet him again myself."