Weapons Testing

The Mojave Desert is the largest desert in the United States. It lies in the southwestern United States and southeastern California, stretching across southeastern California, northwestern Arizona, Utah, and southern Nevada. Covering more than 57,000 square kilometers, it features typical basin terrain and a distinctive western desert landscape.

Although it is a desert, it is far from desolate.

Las Vegas, the gambling capital, is a dazzling pearl in the Mojave Desert. The later it gets, the brighter it becomes, illuminating the city’s endless extravagance. All kinds of people have opened up one of the world’s few major tourist cities in the desert.

The United States’ NASA had also established a satellite surveillance base here and, together with bases in other locations, formed the Deep Space Network.

Likewise, deep in the desert stood a secret military base.

Today, this rarely visited base welcomed a large number of distinguished guests. Various military aircraft landed on the runway one after another, delivering batches of generals and observers to the base.

But they were not the protagonists today. The protagonist today was a seventeen-year-old boy.

After more than half a year of Martial Dao cultivation, combined with adequate nutrition, Peter had begun growing again. He had increased in both height and weight. Tall and powerfully built, with sharply defined features and knotted muscles, he looked every bit the iron-blooded tough guy.

Unfortunately, there was no sign that his inner self had undergone any training at all. He was still weak and gullible.

Nick Fury had conned him into this with just a few words, and now he had "volunteered" to help the military conduct weapons testing.

From beginning to end, he had no idea what the real purpose of Nick Fury and the military’s test was. He had been used from start to finish.

"Haha, welcome, Thor. On behalf of the military, I’d like to express our sincere gratitude to you," the colonel in charge of receiving him said enthusiastically.

After all, Peter’s gullibility was common knowledge among the upper ranks.

It was just that Nick, that black bastard, had acted first. Before they could react, he had already recruited Peter into S.H.I.E.L.D.

Even if Peter wasn’t part of their own organization, leaving a good impression might allow them to coax him over to help with a small favor at a critical moment.

After all, a good-natured person didn’t know how to refuse others.

Before this, the people who had fawned over Peter had mostly been minor figures such as student council members and cheerleading captains. The most important person he had met was probably the principal.

Of course, the unreliable senior apprentice-brother and kind Uncle Osborn didn’t count.

Now, a colonel was actually treating him so courteously, surrounding him with solicitous questions and showing indescribable enthusiasm. Peter immediately felt somewhat flattered.

After exchanging pleasantries, Peter was brought to the training grounds, where a large number of tanks and fighter jets stood ready for action.

"Peter, this live-fire test will involve many new weapons that have never been publicly disclosed. There is a certain degree of danger involved. If you find it too difficult, you can still withdraw now," Colonel Schroder said hypocritically.

"Mr. Fury already told me before I came. The main purpose is to test some new weapons. If ordinary people are used for the tests, their actual combat effectiveness will be uncertain, and it would be very dangerous. But for a Martial Dao practitioner in the Magnetic Field Rotation Realm, although there is still some danger, there’s basically no risk to life."

"My recovery ability is very strong. Minor injuries won’t affect me much," Peter replied confidently.

Schroeder secretly admired Nick Fury’s skill. He had completely toyed with someone as formidable as Thor.

"In that case, you can begin preparing."

Schroeder pointed ahead and explained, "That vast desert in front of us is the entire testing ground. You can evade and hide anywhere on it."

He handed Peter a communication earpiece with a microphone and said:

"Put this on. Before each test, we’ll give you a brief introduction through the earpiece. You can then evade or counterattack accordingly. If you feel you can’t hold on, you can surrender through the microphone, and we’ll immediately terminate the test."

"Okay, thank you." Peter took the earpiece, put it on, and tested the microphone’s communication. After confirming that everything worked, he launched himself forward and ran toward the center of the desert.

Schroeder returned to the command room. The generals and observers had already taken their seats in the conference room, watching the satellite footage on the large screen.

After saluting the generals, Schroeder was ordered to the control console, where he began directing the test.

"Peter, our first round is a conventional weapons test. We’ll be using Jericho Missiles. Are you ready?"

"I’m ready. You can start at any time." At the same time, Peter raised a hand toward the base and flashed a V sign on the large screen.

"Then I hereby announce that the weapons test has officially begun. Missile units, commence the attack!"

The sound of missiles launching came from outside. Then, on the large screen, everyone clearly saw Peter standing motionless as bolts of lightning flashed over his body. Every missile exploded when it approached him, detonated by the lightning.

Through the satellite’s high-definition images, they could see everything clearly. In the face of such a fierce attack, Peter’s hair hadn’t even been disturbed.

"Second round of weapons testing: Demagnetizing Shells. They’re made from polymer materials and won’t be affected by magnetic fields. Begin the attack!"

These weapons had been developed specifically to counter magnetic fields, and the military had placed great hopes in them. Yet the final result left them bitterly disappointed.

Peter still stood there without moving, and to him, the Demagnetizing Shells were no different from ordinary shells.

Some members of the military began to stir. Clearly, they couldn’t understand why the Demagnetizing Shells seemed to have no effect on Peter whatsoever.

Nick Fury leaned back in his seat, watching a group of idiots whisper among themselves without saying a word.

He had known this would be the result long ago. Because of Time Reversal, he no longer remembered Zhan Liu’s battle, but Carol had told him about the trap set specifically for Zhan Liu. It had only worked once before being destroyed.

Thus, it was easy for him to conclude that these weapons developed to target Magneto would certainly be ineffective against Zhan Liu. Otherwise, he would never have taken the risk of using the Tesseract as a power source to deal with Zhan Liu.

However, he also knew that the military’s generals were the sort who would never be convinced until they saw the coffin. No matter how he explained it, they wouldn’t believe him. So rather than explain verbally and invite doubt, it was better to let the facts speak for themselves and wipe out their arrogance and prejudice in one stroke.

Thanks to book friends Moen Aaa and Fengling Yueying for the rewards!