I'm having a blast in Marvel!

Page 6

"Hydra..."

Chu Hang unconsciously uttered these three words.

He suddenly stood up and rushed to the other corpses, examining them one by one.

Everyone, in the same place, has the same badge or the same tattoo.

He finally understood why they had deviated from their course. They also finally understood why they had coincidentally encountered a patrol team here.

This is by no means an ordinary German-occupied area.

They parachuted in, landing precisely within the security perimeter of one of Hydra's secret bases!

This is Hydra's lair!

Chapter 8: Now their equipment has been upgraded from slingshots to cannons.

Damn it, what kind of mess is this?

Standing in the snow, looking at the corpses of the Hydra soldiers on the ground, Chu Hang felt a mix of emotions, like a jumbled mess of feelings.

Fear was certain. He was all alone, and who knew how many more Hydra soldiers were lurking around him. The gunfire just now must have alerted even more people.

But after the fear subsided, an even stronger emotion slowly welled up from the bottom of his heart.

A morbid excitement mixed with tension and greed.

Where am I? The lair of Hydra!

What does Hydra have? It has cutting-edge technology that's ahead of its time!

In the movie, what kind of weapons did Red Skull's soldiers use? Those blue energy guns could turn a person into a pile of ashes with a single shot, far superior to the "rat-a-tat-tat" submachine gun in his hand.

Although these men in front of us look like ordinary patrolmen using conventional weapons, they are Hydra! Their equipment must be better than that of the ordinary German soldiers outside, right?

As the saying goes, the bold get rich, the timid starve. Since things have already come to this point, there's no point in looking back. Whether we live or die, we have to salvage what we have.

Once the thought popped into my head, I couldn't suppress it anymore.

Chu Hang's eyes began to light up. Without further hesitation, he immediately squatted down and began his first "corpse-touching" mission since his transmigration.

He charged first at the squad leader he had just killed with an elbow strike. It's common knowledge that higher-ranking officers usually carry more valuable items.

He quickly searched the captain's body. First, he checked his weapon: a well-maintained MP40 submachine gun and three full magazines. Chu Hang unceremoniously stuffed all the magazines into his pocket. He then took two German-made long-handled grenades from the captain's belt. These things were powerful and could be thrown far, making them good for assaults.

Then came the food. He pulled a dark, oil-paper-wrapped object from the other man's shirt pocket. Opening it, he found a high-energy compressed biscuit, smelling of meat and nuts—far better than the dry military biscuits in his own backpack. Next to it was a small tin box containing several pieces of chocolate.

"These are all good things." Chu Hang mumbled indistinctly as he popped a small piece of chocolate into his mouth, feeling the sweet energy spreading through his body. Sweets can quickly replenish energy and relieve tension; these are lifesavers.

Just as he was about to turn the body over to see if there was anything else behind it, his hand touched something hard and square in an inside pocket.

A thought struck him, and he took it out to look. It was a small notebook wrapped in leather.

He opened the notebook and, using the reflection from the surrounding snow, saw what was inside.

It's a hand-drawn map!

Although the map was drawn hastily, the key locations were clearly marked. He immediately spotted a place marked with a large red cross in pencil, next to which was labeled "Fabrik" in German. He recognized the word; it meant "factory."

Around the factory, several routes were marked with dotted lines, along with timestamps and numbers. These were clearly patrol routes and schedules for the area!

Chu Hang's heart was so excited it almost jumped out of his throat.

This thing is more valuable than a hundred submachine guns! With this map, he's no longer blind in this treacherous forest. He can avoid enemy patrol routes and find the safest path. More importantly, he knows exactly which direction the Hydra factory is located!

He carefully folded the map and placed it close to his body in his innermost pocket. It was his lucky charm.

He suppressed his elation and continued searching the captain's body. Soon, he found something strange in a small pocket.

It was a palm-sized, black metal box with a red button and a few short antennas. It looked like a walkie-talkie, but its design was smaller and more sophisticated than any communication device he had ever seen from World War II.

"This should be Hydra's internal communication device." Chu Hang weighed the box in his hand. Although he didn't know the frequency and couldn't understand German, this thing itself represented Hydra's technological level. He thought for a moment and decided to put it away, thinking it might come in handy later.

After searching the captain's body, he quickly turned to the other three corpses. These three ordinary soldiers didn't have much of a loot; besides ammunition and a little food, there wasn't much else to find. However, adhering to the principle that "even a mosquito is meat," Chu Hang also looted all their magazines and grenades.

When he finished searching the last soldier and stood up, he looked completely refreshed.

He discarded his empty M1A1 and replaced it with a nearly new MP40. His body was covered with bulging magazines, and his belt was laden with six long-handled grenades. His backpack was stuffed with chocolate and high-energy biscuits, and he also carried a map indicating the way and a futuristic communicator in his arms.

This is a real upgrade from ragtag equipment.

He felt his sense of security instantly increase several notches. Indeed, a man's greatest sense of security comes from ample firepower and supplies.

Just as he was about to leave this place of trouble, his gaze inadvertently swept over the soldier whose throat he had first slit with his military knife.

The soldier's backpack fell open as he hit the ground, scattering its contents all over the floor.

Chu Hang hadn't paid any attention at first, but his eyes were drawn to a faint blue hue in the snow.

Curious, he walked over, brushed away the snow with his foot, and saw the thing emitting blue light.

It was a semi-transparent blue cube, no bigger than a fist, resembling a piece of crystal, yet inside, a faint, pure energy emanated from it, as if a stream of light was slowly rotating. It lay quietly in the snow, its blue hue appearing particularly mysterious in the darkness.

Chu Hang squatted down, reached out his hand, hesitated for a moment, and then picked it up.

The cube felt cool to the touch, but not icy; instead, it had a warm, smooth texture. He could clearly feel a faint yet extremely pure energy emanating from this small cube.

This is... an energy cube?

In an instant, Chu Hang's mind drifted to the energy weapons used by Hydra in the movies. Wasn't the energy source of those weapons the Tesseract? And this small blue cube, in both its color and the texture of its energy, felt somewhat similar to the Tesseract.

He immediately realized that this thing was very likely a standardized energy source created by Hydra after extracting energy from the Tesseract! It was the "battery" for those energy weapons!

Chu Hang's breathing suddenly became rapid.

He carefully put the energy block into his pocket, feeling his heart about to overload.

First the map, then this energy block. God, are you afraid I won't die fast enough, so you've sent me all this treasure so I can drag Hydra down with me?

He was immersed in great joy when a faint sound suddenly came from afar on the wind.

"Wang! Wang Wang!"

It's the sound of dogs barking! And there's more than one!

Chu Hang's expression changed instantly.

He knew that the gunshots earlier must have attracted a larger search team, and they even brought military dogs!

In this snowy landscape, a person's nose might fail them, but a dog's nose never lies. The smell of blood on the ground is the most obvious signpost for him.

Must leave immediately!

He had no more lingering attachments. He glanced one last time at the corpse on the ground, silently saying in his heart, "Thanks for the equipment, bro," before turning and plunging headlong into the deeper darkness.

Instead of choosing the shortest route to the factory marked on the map, he opted for the opposite, seemingly most desolate path, based on the patrol routes on the map.

Going to the factory now would be tantamount to walking into a trap. He must first find a place to hide, wait out this storm, and then make a more careful plan when it's light.

The wind and snow seemed to intensify, and soon they covered his footprints in the snow, along with the four corpses, once again.

The entire forest fell silent once more, as if the brief but bloody battle that had just taken place had never happened.

Only one black shadow, equipped with brand-new gear and a burning heart, was moving swiftly and resolutely through the dark forest and snowfield.

Chapter 9 First, let's find a place to hide.

The wind was like a stepmother's child, stinging my face.

Chu Hang could no longer feel any pain, or rather, he no longer had time to care about the feeling on his face. His entire attention was focused on two things: first, to move his legs; second, to avoid falling.

His lungs were like a bellows with a hole in them, each breath accompanied by a strange, hissing sound. The air he inhaled was cold and hard, like countless ice needles piercing his trachea and all the way to his lungs, bringing a burning, excruciating pain. The self-healing factor did indeed give him superhuman endurance and recovery ability, but this thing didn't offer after-sales service; it only cared about restoring your body, not about whether you were in pain or not. If it were Chu Hang from his previous life, who sat in a cubicle until his buttocks were calloused, he would probably be foaming at the mouth, sprawled out on the snow, waiting for the big wolfhound to come and start his feast.

But now he can't stop, and he doesn't dare to stop.

The barking behind me was like the drumbeats of the King of Hell, each bark louder and closer than the last. "Woof! Woof woof woof!" The barking carried the excited urge of someone who had just found a bone, its penetrating power carrying far through the silent snow-covered forest.

"Damn it, what a bunch of beasts!" Chu Hang cursed inwardly, unsure whether he was cursing the dogs or the Hydra soldiers with them. Using dogs for tracking was practically cheating, utterly unsportsmanlike.

He dared not run in a straight line; that would make him an easy target. He could only rely on the vague memory of the map in his mind, deliberately choosing the most difficult paths. A patch of waist-high bushes, covered in thick snow, appeared before him. Without a second thought, he plunged into it. Sharp, dry branches lashed against his overcoat with a crackling sound, even tearing his trousers and leaving bloody welts on his legs. His self-healing abilities quickly took effect, sending waves of tingling itch through his wounds, but this damned itch, mixed with the biting cold, felt more like torture.

He ran out of the bushes, but then stepped into a deep pit covered in snow. He lost his balance instantly and fell face-first into the snow, getting a mouthful of cold snow.

"Ptooey! Ptooey!" He spat out the snow in his mouth, not bothering to check if he was injured, and scrambled to his feet, continuing to run forward. He could feel his strength draining away at an alarming rate, his limbs becoming heavier and heavier, as if filled with lead.

Running like this is definitely not a solution. A man can't outrun a dog, especially in this complex snowy terrain. He has to find a way to completely shake off the pursuers.

His brain was racing. Climb a tree? No way, too conspicuous, and the dogs would keep barking below, making him an easy target. Dig a snow cave? Too late; by the time he finished, they'd have him wrapped up like dumplings.

The only solution is to find a place where the smell and traces can be completely eliminated.

Rivers or... caves!

A river! His eyes lit up; there seemed to be a stream covered with a thin layer of ice not far away. He immediately changed direction, rushed to the stream, and stepped in without hesitation. With a "crack," the thin ice shattered, and the icy water instantly submerged his calves. The chill felt like it was seeping into his very bones. He gritted his teeth, enduring the freezing cold, and ran downstream for about a hundred meters.

This should temporarily disrupt the dogs' sense of smell.

He climbed out of the stream, dripping wet, his trouser legs frozen stiff, making a crackling sound as he walked. He knew he had to find a place to hide before his body froze completely.

As he ran, he frantically scanned the surrounding terrain with his eyes. The moonlight and the reflection of the snow allowed him to see the outlines of most of the scenery even in the darkness.

Suddenly, his gaze was drawn to a black mountain wall about two hundred meters to his left. Most of the wall was bare, but near the ground, there was an unusual area. There grew a particularly dense clump of low shrubs, and the snow piled on the shrubs formed a slightly outward-protruding arc, making it look like the mountain wall had a small belly.

In a natural environment, this shape is somewhat illogical.

A tremendous hope rose within him. Without further hesitation, he mustered his last bit of strength and charged toward the mountainside.

The closer he got, the stronger his premonition became. When he reached the bushes, panting, he pushed aside the snow-laden branches and saw a dark, narrow gap, just wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways.

The cave entrance was perfectly hidden by bushes and snow. If he hadn't observed carefully enough, he would never have discovered this secret entrance even if he had walked past it a hundred times.

He didn't immediately go inside; who knew if a hibernating bear or a family of wolves might be living in the cave? He pressed his ear against the cold rock wall, held his breath, and listened carefully to any sounds coming from inside.

Apart from a few drops of water dripping from the rock wall, making a soft "drip, drip" sound somewhere, there was no other sound. He brought his nose to the cave entrance and smelled it again. A smell of damp earth and rocks wafted towards him, without the pungent odor of wild animals.

It should be safe.

He didn't linger any longer; the barking of the dogs behind him seemed to be getting closer. He hugged his MP40 submachine gun tightly to his chest, then turned sideways and, like a mudfish struggling to stay afloat, painstakingly squeezed himself little by little into the narrow gap.

The moment his body fully entered the cave, he was enveloped by an air completely different from the outside. The temperature inside the cave was significantly higher than outside, and the bone-chilling cold instantly dissipated by more than half.

Just as Chu Hang was about to breathe a sigh of relief, his foot suddenly slipped, and he fell uncontrollably into the ground. With a "bang," he landed heavily on the ground, almost dropping the submachine gun he was carrying.

He then discovered that the ground at the entrance of the cave was a smooth slope covered with a thin layer of ice due to water seepage, making it wet and slippery—a natural trap.