Taking You to End This

Little Red. What a wonderful name.

Fresh and elegant, simple and easy to understand. It perfectly captured the color and nature of the Crimson Magic Belt.

At the same time, it deeply reflected Old Wang’s high standards in naming.

And it received unanimous approval from Skye, Fitz, and the others. Simple and memorable, much shorter than "Crimson Bands of Cyttorak."

All the outsiders thought it was a great name, except for the belt itself.

A resentful, disgruntled mental ripple cautiously reached Old Wang’s mind, then decisively retreated the moment he noticed it. It unilaterally cut off contact, stopped fooling around, and flew toward the distant sky.

Gordon had long since hidden somewhere unknown. There was nothing to be done if it could not catch him. It had finally escaped the exhibition hall of the New York Sanctum, so of course it wanted to have some fun. It had no desire to return to Old Wang’s waist and disguise itself as an outrageously cheap leather belt.

Upon hearing Old Wang’s command, it quickly spotted the five missiles and trembled excitedly.

What a fragile system. What powerful explosions. What wonderful toys!

"I’ll handle it!"

It had originally wanted to negotiate terms with Old Wang, something like, "If I take care of these five missiles, how much Titan Essence will you give me?" But time was short, and there was clearly no time for that. Besides, it was afraid he might lose his temper and cut off its supply entirely in the future.

That would be truly miserable.

After Azeroth Blood was transformed by the Heart of Azeroth, it became gentler Titan Essence under the effects of Eternal Blessing of Azeroth. It worked on all of Old Wang’s equipment and could improve their effects to varying degrees.

The Crimson Magic Belt had been powerful before, but only so-so. Now, its speed alone had doubled, and that was only because it had received too little Titan Essence.

Having tasted Titan Essence, Little Red looked down on every form of energy except Cyttorak’s. It had long become an addict.

Whenever it thought of life without Titan Essence, it felt there was nothing left to live for.

Little Red did not dare say another word. Somewhat aggrieved, it tore through the air. From a distance, it looked like an infrared laser.

Although it was not as fast as Gordon’s teleportation, nor as fast as a real laser, missiles were no match for it. It was supersonic beyond supersonic.

In less than two seconds, it reached the first missile. Then it suddenly lengthened and thickened, wrapping around the warhead.

Though it was not an authentic product personally handled by Cyttorak, it was still related to the Crimson Lord. Not only could it transform at will, it could also extend freely. As long as it had enough energy, it could be as thick or as long as it wanted.

The Cloak of Levitation was said to be able to envelop the entire Solar System when driven to its limits. How could it possibly be inferior?

The belt continued extending, binding the other four missiles as well, then gave a hard pull.

The missiles, which had been far apart, were forcibly dragged by their warheads and diverted from their original paths.

Drawn close by love, growing hotter through proximity, sparks flew everywhere. Then, after a brief buildup—

They nestled against one another.

And exploded with a thunderous roar!

At that very moment, the Crimson Magic Belt instantly shrank thinner and shorter like a sponge exhausted to the point of collapse. It dragged itself away before the explosion, then formed a pretty heart shape in midair.

"My mission is complete!"

It happily flew toward a bathhouse in San Juan.

It had scouted the place before. The young ladies there were quite pretty. Disguising itself as a bath towel or hand towel felt pretty nice.

"Come back." Old Wang’s voice rang out.

Little Red froze abruptly and reluctantly formed a broken-heart shape.

Azeroth Laboratory.

Sensing the changes in the distant sky, Old Wang’s lips curled into a cold smile.

"Friends of Hydra, the show is beginning!"

He calculated the direction and opened a portal.

Not to Washington D.C., but to where the missiles had come from.

Ever since the last missile attack, Old Wang had had Skye hack the Puerto Rico military and find the exact location of the military base. The reason he had not retaliated until now was that he had been too busy lately to get away—

Besides, openly clashing with the military was not ideal. Old Wang was not afraid, but he did not want to stir up unnecessary trouble.

There was no need.

After so many days, Old Wang had nearly forgotten about it. He had not expected another attack now—and five missiles at once!

Hydra clearly had no intention of sparing Azeroth Laboratory or him. These five missiles were only the beginning. Though they had failed, further attacks would definitely follow, and the entire laboratory faced the danger of destruction.

That meant he could not leave until the threat was completely dealt with. Egghead would just have to wait.

With the abilities of the King of Spies, he would not die so easily.

An orange portal appeared.

Old Wang stepped through it and arrived at the military camp.

A military base south of San Juan.

The newly appointed commanding officer, Nio Robinson, stared at the screen. The missile trajectories on it were steadily heading toward Azeroth Laboratory, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Five missiles at once, enough to cover the entire laboratory. Even if the Immortal Iron Fist truly had a body of iron, he would never survive!

After today, he definitely would not be able to keep this position. But with Minister Pierce pulling strings, he could be transferred elsewhere and continue serving Hydra. In a few years, his rank should rise another level.

He was only fifty-three. Still young, still hopeful. Maybe he could even become a general. Then his life would be complete.

Unlike his predecessor, who had ruined everything and even put Pierce and the entire Hydra organization at a disadvantage. That man had no hope left in this life.

"Call Pierce and tell him my mission is complete."

Nio pulled out his phone and was about to dial.

Then he suddenly heard cries of alarm.

"God… what is that?"

Nio froze slightly and looked up.

On the screen, the red dots representing the five missiles suddenly changed direction and exploded one after another in less than a second.

The flames filling the sky were like the most beautiful fireworks, decorating the heavens while casting a shadow over Nio’s heart.

"Can any of you tell me what happened?"

He roared, "Guidance system malfunction? Missile quality problems? Or did the detonators trigger early?"

"Probably… none of those."

The launch operator swallowed and said with difficulty, "It looks like… they hit something."

Hit something?

Heh. These were missiles, not airplanes!

Nio felt as though he had heard the funniest joke in the world. He shouted, "This is Stark Industries’ so-called precision guidance? Safe and efficient? Tell me, did they hit an eagle or a sparrow? Don’t tell me they hit a S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet?"

"…None of those."

The launch operator pulled up the satellite feed, pointed at it, and said quietly, "General, look!"

Nio hurriedly looked over.

On the screen was an unidentified object, wide, thick, and long. It looked like a red ribbon magnified countless times, wrapping around all five missiles.

The next moment, the five missiles were pulled by the ribbon, shifted slightly, and suddenly collided!

"H-How is that possible?"

"It’s magic. It has to be magic!" someone muttered.

Slap!

Nio slapped the man across the face and said coldly, "I’ll say it again. There is no magic in this world. There is only science!"

The man’s face flushed red, feeling utterly wronged.

I don’t believe in magic either, but how else could that thing be explained?

"Perhaps I can give you an explanation."

A faintly amused voice suddenly came from behind him.

Nio’s breathing stopped for an instant as he turned around stiffly.

A slightly chubby figure stood before him.

"Who are you?"

Nio shouted instinctively, sensing that something was wrong.

A stranger had suddenly appeared in the base’s command center, yet no one had raised an alarm. Could he be Translucent?

This harmless-looking fellow stood right in front of him. Though everyone around them had drawn their guns and aimed at him, his expression did not change—

That was only Nio’s guess, because he could not see the man’s face at all.

A red cloth covered his face. He did not even have a weapon in hand—no gun, no dagger. Buddy, were you really here to assassinate him?

Nio drew his gun, aimed it at the other man, and shouted again, "How did you get in here? Speak!"

For some reason, he felt that the cloth over the man’s face was not quite right. Why did it look somewhat like a red ribbon?

"Me?"

Old Wang thought of a young rogue girl seeking revenge for her father and said softly, "I am Edwin VanCleef… victory belongs to the Defias Brotherhood!"

Edwin VanCleef?

The Defias Brotherhood?

What the hell were those?

Nio froze. Sensing the other man’s silent mockery, he realized he was being toyed with and immediately shouted, "Fire!"

Whoosh!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Everyone pulled their triggers, and bullets flew toward Old Wang.

Military pistols undoubtedly fired extremely fast, but in Old Wang’s mental perception, they were like Old Madam Li next door practicing Taiji—slow with attitude, slow with elegance, enough to make snails anxious and turtles stare in amazement.

Golden True Qi formed a Golden Bell. To protect this expensive hundred-dollar outfit, Old Wang made the rare decision to waste a little energy.

This much True Qi would recover by the next second anyway.

For him, with a total reserve of True Qi that could now be called master-level, it was not worth mentioning.

The bullets struck the Golden Bell and encountered tremendous resistance. They quickly slowed, then stopped around Old Wang.

At that moment, time seemed to freeze.

Then all the bullets flew back, like an old film running in reverse.

Before anyone could react, the bullets returned to where they had come from, only with their trajectories shifted ever so slightly.

They pierced living bodies and scorching hearts.

Nio’s eyes widened as he felt his heartbeat growing weaker and weaker. He lowered his head.

His chest was stained crimson.

The vitality throughout his body was draining away. Nio knew he had finally reached the end of his life, before his dreams could come true.

He reached toward the sky, as if trying to grasp something.

But in the end, his hand closed on empty air. He caught nothing—the returning bullets were faster than when they had been fired. They pierced his heart and completely destroyed his life force.

"Hydra… forever!"

Nio murmured before slowly collapsing.

"May the Holy Light be with you. Amen."

Old Wang drew a full moon in his heart and prayed to Elune for this general whose name he had not even remembered, then waved his hand.

Streaks of jade-green lightning destroyed the electrical system.

Amid the crackling short circuits, the entire command center was completely paralyzed.

The crimson mask automatically fell from his face, turning back into a ribbon and returning to Old Wang’s waist. It tightened slightly, felt the resistance of Old Wang’s skin, then cautiously loosened a little, just right.

"I’ve wasted nearly a minute. Egghead, don’t turn into bomb-fried eggs or bullet-stir-fried eggs."

Old Wang raised his wrist to check the time, then opened another portal.

He arrived in Washington D.C.

Less than two minutes had passed since the attack began.

For Egghead, these were two minutes that decided life and death. Never before had he felt so close to god, as though he could already see god’s benevolent gaze—

Though after encountering aliens, he had become less and less convinced that a real god existed. He only believed in the god within his heart:

Morality and conscience.

"Pierce is truly ruthless!"

Looking at the increasing number of vehicles around him, Egghead completely gave up on escaping.

The final battle had begun. This was not merely an assassination attempt against him, but an operation to destroy all of S.H.I.E.L.D. Pierce had completely disregarded the consequences and sent more than twenty vehicles to surround his car. There was no way out.

He thought about it but still could not understand why Pierce had joined Hydra.

He was the Minister of National Security, second in status only to the President and the Secretary of State. At the same time, he was a member of the United Nations Security Council. His position was special, and he had practically reached the pinnacle of politics—

Did he want to become President?

President of the United States, or President of the entire world?

Whoosh!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Bullets pierced his body one after another. Egghead kept changing positions, using every possible method to evade more bullets. One response plan after another flashed through his mind, only to be rejected in the end.

He took out the pager that did not belong to Earth. At the final moment of his life, Egghead realized that the person he thought of was not the tardy Iron Fist, but Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel, whose whereabouts were unknown.

Carol’s words echoed in his ears again:

Only call when it is most critical.

"If I’m about to die, it’ll be too late even if I call, won’t it?"

"But if Hydra’s plot succeeds, who knows how many people will die across the world? This should count as the most critical moment, right?"

Just as Egghead was about to press it, a red ribbon suddenly wrapped around his hand, firmly pulled it away, then enveloped the pager.

His vision blurred, and it vanished.

The gunfire suddenly grew more intense, but it was no longer aimed in his direction.

It was accompanied by terrified screams and furious roars.

Egghead could roughly guess what had happened. You finally came. The tension in his heart eased, and he nearly failed to catch his breath.

"I can’t die yet!"

He struggled to get up and turned his head, only to see that red silk ribbon darting back and forth around him, blocking bullet after bullet and wrapping around one Hydra agent after another.

Snapping their necks.

When had Master Wang gained such a powerful new method?

Could it have something to do with Kamar-Taj?

Iron Fist, which had been growing clearer and clearer in his mind, became blurred again. Egghead realized that he had never truly seen through Master Wang.

Everyone else on the street had long since fled. The only ones who had not were Hydra agents.

And now, every last one of them had fallen. Not a single one had been left alive.

The entire street was silent. Even the screams had vanished. That red silk ribbon had struck far too ruthlessly, killing with a single blow.

After killing nearly a hundred people, the red silk ribbon flew into the distance.

Following its path, Egghead finally saw the person he had been thinking about for the past two minutes.

Soft footsteps sounded as Old Wang slowly approached. The Crimson Magic Belt placed the pager in his hand before wrapping itself around his waist again.

"This thing is what Captain Marvel gave you?"

Old Wang carefully examined the pager in his hand. It looked unbelievably cheap, more like an ancient game console than anything else.

A sweep of mental power revealed an extremely complex internal structure. Its technological sophistication might even surpass that of an Arc Reactor.

Anything capable of interstellar communication could not possibly be simple.

"Master Wang… cough, cough…"

Egghead coughed a few times and barely managed to extend a hand. "Give it back!"

"As if I care about it?"

Old Wang flicked his wrist and tossed it into Egghead’s arms. At the same time, he conjured a cloud of Mist of Revival, pulling him back from the brink of death. "Let’s go."

"Where?" Egghead asked as he painfully crawled out of the car.

"Of course, to put an end to all this."

Old Wang opened another door. On the other side stood a futuristic complex of buildings.