Anomaly in the Tesseract

"…"

Nick Fury was clearly in a foul mood, so Hill did not try to strike up another conversation and risk provoking him.

All along, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s technology had been considered the most advanced on Earth. Yet in such a short time, China’s power had already far exceeded their expectations.

Not to mention that China now had the God Spear Bureau, standing directly against S.H.I.E.L.D. And the news they had received today—that something had gone wrong with the Tesseract—only made Nick Fury even more irritated. Early in the morning, he and Hill had arrived at the base researching the Tesseract.

"How is the Tesseract situation now?"

Seeing that Hill did not wish to continue discussing China, Nick Fury changed the subject and asked.

"The cube is still continuously emitting energy. The personnel inside the base have all been evacuated to prevent any danger."

Hill immediately reported the current situation.

"Understood."

The elevator stopped, and Nick Fury and Hill stepped out. A man in armor walked toward them.

Hawkeye Barton.

Hawkeye’s Kirin Armor had now undergone extensive modifications by S.H.I.E.L.D. It could be said to be the crystallization of their technology, with many of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s finest technological achievements incorporated into it.

It could be fitted with all kinds of powerful firepower. With a heavy-firepower configuration, it was even somewhat stronger than the military’s War Machine.

But Hawkeye was not someone afflicted with Fear of Insufficient Firepower. His armor was more often equipped with high-precision weapons, such as sniper rifles or his specialized arrows and arrowheads.

"Have you found anyone suspicious?" Nick Fury asked as Hawkeye approached.

"No. I’ve been watching since yesterday, and so far I haven’t discovered anyone behaving strangely."

Barton continued, "I used infrared scans to search the base. There are no suspicious places inside where anyone could be hiding."

"Forget those matters for now." Nick Fury frowned deeply, then looked at Hill beside him and continued, "Have people take away all the research materials. This base can be abandoned, but the data here cannot be lost. Barton, go outside and stand guard. Use the armor’s mobility to help move some of the equipment."

Nick Fury did not care how dangerous this underground base might be. In his eyes, the experimental data concerning the Tesseract was more important. As for the lives of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents?

Please, this was America. Who cared about that?

"We’re about to begin the second phase of experiments on the Tesseract. We cannot lose such valuable materials."

Nick Fury said coldly, "Tell everyone to move faster. The Tesseract is our only chance to surpass China and surpass the God Spear Bureau. We absolutely cannot miss it."

If S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to surpass the God Spear Bureau, the Tesseract was now the only thing it could rely on.

They had conducted extensive research on the Tesseract. As the Space Stone among the Infinity Stones, it not only possessed bizarre spatial properties but also limitless energy. S.H.I.E.L.D. had long been studying it, but unfortunately, they had never achieved much. Their only result was the creation of energy firearms extracted from the Tesseract’s power. Their firepower was decent, stronger than ordinary guns.

But that was all. Moreover, this thing had originally been a legacy left behind by Hydra, the method discovered from their research records.

And now, after decades of studying the Tesseract, S.H.I.E.L.D. could be said to have accomplished virtually nothing.

It was only recently that they recruited Dr. Erik Selvig, the scientist who had been with Jane Foster in Thor.

Erik was undeniably a genius. Not long after joining S.H.I.E.L.D., he made significant progress in Tesseract research and was already able to use its spatial properties to create portals.

Although the portals he created were still unstable, and they did not even know where they led, this was still tremendous progress for S.H.I.E.L.D.

In their view, they might even successfully develop portal technology similar to what the God Spear Bureau used. The future looked promising!

Nick Fury simply did not know that successfully activating the Tesseract’s spatial power had attracted the attention of certain powerful forces in the universe.

The Tesseract’s spatial portal was different from the common spatial jump technology used throughout the universe. The moment it was activated, several powerful civilizations detected the fluctuations of an Infinity Stone.

Some civilizations had no particular interest in the thing, and that was one matter. But in this universe, there happened to be a force searching for the Infinity Stones. It immediately caught the trace and prepared to come to Earth to seize it.

Thanos.

Earth was located within the World Tree, which was Asgard’s territory. Many advanced civilizations would not provoke Asgard over the legendary Infinity Stones. Even Thanos could not directly go there at such a time. Thus, Thanos had decided to send his subordinates to invade Earth instead.

He intended to test whether Asgard would intervene if they invaded Earth, this backward planet.

And Thanos had long since chosen the person to invade Earth: the Asgardian he had encountered in the universe years ago, Loki…

"Then what about Dr. Erik? Is there anything wrong with him?"

Nick Fury looked toward Dr. Selvig, who was still nervously operating several pieces of equipment in the distance, and asked Coulson, who had just arrived.

"The doctor appears to be fine."

Coulson shook his head. After thinking for a moment, he continued, "If the Tesseract is like a door, then could someone open that door from the other side?"

It was a simple guess, but it brought Nick Fury back to his senses.

That made sense!

"Rumble…"

At that moment, the base shook violently, startling everyone. They all looked toward the Tesseract amid the instruments. At this moment, it was radiating intense energy fluctuations.

"Shut it down! Cut off the power!"

Nick Fury hurriedly shouted.

"There’s no way! It’s a powerful energy source itself!"

Seeing Nick Fury and the others arrive, Erik shouted loudly. He had no solution for the Tesseract as it released energy.

"Boom!"

With an explosive blast, a beam of energy shot out from the Tesseract and struck the platform at the center of the instruments. Everyone looked over with curious expressions.

Because they had been using the Tesseract to research portal technology, no one present found this unfamiliar.

At that moment, everyone was curious about who would emerge from the portal.

When the light faded, they saw a figure on the platform, half-kneeling on the ground with a long spear braced in hand.