When Li Ming ended the call, Kreacher glanced at the Abomination, still some distance from the RV, then walked over with a beer in hand. "Boss, Kreacher thinks the Abomination is a bad servant."
Li Ming seemed to know what he meant. With a wry smile, he took the beer and said blankly, "I know."
Seeing Kreacher blink in confusion, Li Ming thought for a moment, then pointed at the display screen near the driver's seat. He snapped his fingers, casting a soundproof barrier.
Earlier, under Li Ming's direction, Banner had discovered a small device in the display screen—something that shouldn't have been in the RV.
For certain reasons, Li Ming had chosen not to remove it, and the device remained there to this day.
As for its functions, Li Ming neither knew nor cared to find out. It was likely for tracking, eavesdropping, surveillance—or all of the above.
For all he knew, Jarvis had already recorded everything happening in the RV and reported it to Stark.
Now, Li Ming wanted to discuss something with Kreacher that he didn't want outsiders to hear—hence the barrier."Don't be fooled by how the Abomination keeps calling 'General Ross'—it might seem like he still holds respect for Ross.
In reality, this guy harbors deep resentment toward Ross. If it weren't for Ross, he wouldn't have become a monster, let alone my servant. With his military achievements, he'd probably be sitting in an office right now, smoking, drinking, and playing cards."
"So, all his analysis boils down to one thing," Li Ming said calmly, "getting me to cause trouble for Ross and help him take revenge."
"Thanks to the power of the Contract, the Abomination must obey my commands and can't lie to me," Li Ming took a sip of beer to wet his throat, then curled his lips in disdain and continued, "But I can tell he's been hiding something in his earlier analysis."
Li Ming rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Now that's interesting—he can't lie, yet he's concealing something from me." After a pause, he turned to Kreacher and asked darkly, "Who gave him the power to defy the Contract?"
Kreacher stared blankly at Li Ming. He didn't even know what a Contract was, so when faced with his boss's question, all he could do was shake his head repeatedly.
Li Ming, who hadn't expected Kreacher to answer in the first place, took a sip of beer and continued, "Secondly, I don't have the ability to tamper with Emil Blonsky's soul. That's why he retains all his combat experience from when he was alive, along with his human capacity for thought."
"So don't let Abomination's simple-minded, muscle-bound appearance fool you. He still has extensive combat experience," Li Ming said, stroking his chin with narrowed eyes. "A soldier with that much experience, when faced with someone showing curiosity about his origins—wouldn't he know to keep at least one prisoner alive for interrogation?"
Li Ming spread his hands. "Clearly, Abomination misinterpreted my order to test his full strength."
After hearing Li Ming's explanation, Kreacher asked in confusion, "Boss, if that's the case, why are we still keeping Abomination around?"
"His body has important uses for me. I don't want to destroy it carelessly. And..." Li Ming said with a bitter smile, "I have a pretty good idea who gave Abomination the power to resist the Contract."
In the Marvel world, who else but Mephisto would be so fond of playing with Contracts and so knowledgeable about them?
Back in the town of Saint Venganza, Li Ming had already suspected Mephisto would try something underhanded against him. But he never expected Mephisto would make his move starting with Abomination.
If he hadn't discovered that the ambush wasn't set by Ross but by HYDRA agents, he might not have realized that Mephisto had already made his move.
However, Li Ming was currently in an awkward position. Extracting or destroying the Abomination's soul would be easy—the real challenge was preventing Mephisto from continuing his underhanded schemes. Moreover, once the Abomination was dealt with, Mephisto would likely set his sights on Kreacher.
If Kreacher were to be tempted by Mephisto, Li Ming doubted he'd even notice anything amiss. After all, Kreacher occasionally had bouts of madness—who knew what the little guy might do?
For now, it was better to play dumb and pretend he knew nothing about the Abomination's situation. He truly had no way to counter Mephisto.
Rubbing his forehead, Li Ming took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before turning to Kreacher with a serious expression. "I need you to monitor the Abomination's every move," he said, pausing briefly before adding sternly, "But only if you can ensure your own safety. I don't want to lose such a loyal companion."
Hearing Li Ming's words of concern, Kreacher leaped excitedly into the air, performing a flawless Thomas backflip before landing and bowing deeply to his master.
Watching Kreacher mutter to himself—"Boss cares about me, boss needs me"—while enthusiastically wiping and polishing everything in sight, Li Ming shook his head with a smile and turned to look out the window.
As the Abomination swaggered toward the RV, Li Ming glanced at the scattered energy weapons around.
These weapons were powered by the Tesseract's energy, which was quite valuable to Li Ming. Even if the energy couldn't help him comprehend the laws of space, it would still be useful for crafting spatial equipment.
With that in mind, Li Ming issued a command through their Contract: "Abomination, collect the energy cells from the weapons."
Startled by Li Ming's voice suddenly echoing in his mind, the Abomination paused and glanced at him through the RV window. Grinning widely, he turned and ambled toward the weapons. The Abomination wasn't in any hurry to return—inside the RV, he was either stuck cleaning or standing motionless in a corner like a statue.
Though standing at attention was also motionless, he was a warrior, a battle-hungry frontline fighter. Playing the role of a decorative sculpture? Not his idea of fun.
By the time the Abomination finally sauntered back with the collected energy cells, Li Ming was growing impatient.
Handing the energy cells over, the Abomination wordlessly retreated to his corner, resuming his statue impersonation.
Li Ming casually stored the energy cells inside a Matryoshka doll, then waved his hand to open a Portal, driving the RV back to New York.
Arriving home by the lake, Li Ming stepped out of the RV and stretched. Just as he was about to lounge on the deck chair by the shore to soak up some sun and replenish his calcium, the phone inside the RV rang again.
Scratching his head in confusion, Li Ming wondered: The phone's usually just for show—why so many calls today?
Or is today some kind of "National Phone Call Day"?Shrugging his shoulders, Li Ming, who didn't want to return to his room, continued walking toward the lounge chair while shouting, "Kreacher, bring the phone and grab some beer and snacks while you're at it."
As he spoke, Li Ming had already comfortably settled into the lounge chair and casually conjured up a pair of sunglasses.
Before long, Kreacher arrived in front of Li Ming with a large mug of beer, snacks floating behind him, and the phone in hand. As he handed the phone to Li Ming, he said, "Boss, it's Dr. Shavig on the line."
Blinking in surprise, Li Ming took the phone and said, "Hey, Erik, what brings you to call me?"
On the other end of the line, Shavig spoke with a tone that was both weary and excited: "Austin, are you in New York?"
"Of course," Li Ming replied, narrowing his eyes as he noticed the overly cautious and nervous tone in Shavig's voice. He lowered his voice and asked, "Are you in trouble?"
"Well... not exactly trouble," Shavig hesitated before continuing, "I'm in New York too. Can I come see you? I want to ask you about something."
Li Ming would never refuse such a small request from Shavig. In fact, he was more than happy for Shavig to reach out—it would help strengthen their friendship and make it easier to consult him for academic advice in the future.
After confirming that Shavig was at a small square in a Manhattan neighborhood, Li Ming threw on his invisibility cloak and sped off on his black somersault cloud.
Soon after, Li Ming lifted the cloak to reveal his disheveled hair and approached the somewhat haggard-looking Shavig. Frowning, he said, "Erik, what's wrong with you? You look like you've aged a lot."
Shavig chuckled bitterly and said, "I'm holding up." But when he caught sight of Li Ming's messy hair, he couldn't help but laugh. "What's with that hairstyle? Which stylist designed it for you? They must have some guts."
Li Ming absentmindedly touched his hair, then recalled something and casually replied, "I've been tinkering with a new flying tool lately. Forgot that going too fast would mess up my hair."
"Never mind me," Li Ming said, smoothing his hair as he sat down beside Shavig. Curious, he asked, "So, what's going on?"
Shavig shrugged. "What else? Lately, it's either the CIA or some intelligence agency knocking on my door, asking about Thor. They've been driving me crazy."
With a heavy sigh, Shavig continued in a tone full of resignation, "You know how these intelligence agencies operate. Before questioning me, they dig into my past. As a result, old friends I haven't spoken to in years, landlords, neighbors—everyone's being investigated. They're either calling or emailing me, asking what's going on."
"Thor doesn't mind me telling his story," Shavig added, covering his face with a bitter smile. "But the government obviously won't let me talk freely. I can't explain anything to my friends, so many of them think I've done something terrible and have started keeping their distance. I even lost my job because of it."After hearing Shavig's complaints, Li Ming couldn't help but laugh. "What's the big deal? It's just a temporary job loss," he said, patting Shavig on the shoulder. "Why not treat it as a long vacation? Come stay at my place for a few days, go fishing, have some drinks—"
The moment Li Ming mentioned "drinks," Shavig immediately recalled the miserable aftermath of being drunk by Thor. Terrified, he shook his head frantically. "No, no, I've quit drinking. It's not that I don't have a job now, but—"
Shavig glanced around and lowered his voice. "Today, S.H.I.E.L.D. approached me with a job offer—to study something called the Tesseract. I heard from Fury that you've researched the Tesseract before. I came to ask you, what exactly is the Tesseract? Some kind of alien technology? And also, would you be interested in joining my research team?"
Inviting me to study the Tesseract? And such a good opportunity at that? Li Ming rubbed his cheeks to calm himself down.
A few seconds later, Li Ming asked curiously, "Erik, Fury doesn't know you came to see me, does he?"
Shavig hesitated, then shook his head. "He knows. But he said you'd have to give him something in return if you want to join the research team."