A few days later, Steve, now fully recovered and energetic, stood in front of the bathroom mirror, dressing himself up meticulously.
After taking a few deep breaths while looking at his reflection, Steve nervously pushed open the bathroom door, holding a bouquet of flowers. He addressed Li Ming, who was at the dining table pairing beer with steamed buns, and said, "Austin, I'm ready."
Li Ming, who had been struggling with a meat bun, looked up at Steve in his suit and bowtie. Unable to hold back, he spat out the bun with a laugh, saying, "Dude, are you trying to show off how young you are in front of Ms. Carter, hoping she'll get so envious and jealous that she jumps out of her sickbed to fulfill your old promise?"
Steve's face stiffened. He glanced down at his suit, then handed Li Ming a photo of Peggy Carter's hospital room while murmuring, "How do you think I should dress? Dye my hair white and wear old people's clothes? I don't want to deceive Peggy."
"Maybe a receding hairline would be more convincing?" As he spoke, Li Ming took the photo, glanced at it, and waved his hand to open a Portal.
On the other side of the Portal, Peggy Carter, clearly aware that Steve would visit her today, had also dressed up carefully. Accompanied by two medical staff, she sat in a wheelchair, waiting for Steve's arrival.
As the Portal appeared before her, Peggy covered her mouth in excitement, instinctively straightening her posture.
Though Steve had meticulously prepared his lines for this meeting, when he finally saw Peggy Carter, he realized his mouth had lost all function except assisting his nose in breathing.
Peggy, however, remained composed. She waved at Steve and said, "You're back."
"Yes," Steve replied, quickly stepping forward and kneeling beside Peggy. He gently touched her face and asked with a foolish grin, "Are you okay?"
Standing by the Portal, Li Ming felt thoroughly unsettled. A young man caressing the wrinkled face of an elderly woman like a lover—despite knowing it was true love—still struck him as unbearably incongruous.
Shivering involuntarily, Li Ming pulled the Genie Lamp from his satchel and tossed it to Steve, asking, "Did you learn Arabic?"
Steve casually handed the lamp to Peggy Carter and shrugged. "I don't know Arabic, but Peggy does."
Whether due to her age or overwhelming emotion, Peggy's hands trembled as she took the Genie Lamp. Peggy Carter glanced at Li Ming, furrowing her brow as she said, "So you're the mage Fury mentioned?" Without waiting for Li Ming's response, she looked at the Genie Lamp in her hand and asked, "Is this the Aladdin's Lamp?"
Li Ming gave a slight nod in answer to Peggy Carter's question. For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that Peggy Carter was personally using the lamp because she didn't trust him.
Steve, though a relic of the past, genuinely wanted to learn Arabic—specifically a few phrases for making wishes. It probably wouldn't take him long to pick them up.
But now, this task was being handled by Peggy Carter herself.
Li Ming stroked his chin, lost in thought: Did comparing the Genie to a Devil make Fury worry I'd try to harm the Captain? After all, Devils are quite interested in pure souls, and I've shown I can control soul spells...
So they decided to have Peggy Carter make the wish herself?
That way, if anything went wrong, it would be Peggy Carter—who didn't have much time left anyway—who suffered the consequences. And if Peggy Carter got hurt because of the Genie, the Captain would probably come after me...
Li Ming glanced at Steve: Looks like Fury figured out I have a soft spot for the Captain and assumed I was trying to win him over. Talk about overthinking things.
With a dismissive smirk, Li Ming said, "I assume Ms. Carter already knows how to use the lamp?"
Seeing Peggy Carter nod, Li Ming turned and stepped through the Portal, saying, "I'll be back for the lamp in ten minutes."
With that, he waved his hand to close the Portal and waited silently for ten minutes before reopening it.
By then, Peggy Carter had clearly finished making her wish. Though her outward appearance remained elderly, her hearty laughter and the energy radiating from her told Li Ming that her inner self had been restored to youth. How long this state would last depended on how quickly the energy within her dissipated.
When Steve saw Li Ming return, he handed the Genie Lamp back to him and gave him a warm hug. "Thank you."
Li Ming scratched his brow and grinned. "I'll pick you up tomorrow evening. Enjoy the sights of London—especially the beautiful women."
With that, he waved goodbye to Peggy Carter and stepped back through the Portal.
Back by the lake, Li Ming pondered for a moment before opening another Portal to Fury's office. Seeing Fury's stony expression, Li Ming unceremoniously plopped onto the sofa, crossing his legs as he said, "Fury, Shavig invited me to join the Tesseract research team. I'm here to report. When are you sending me to your secret base?" Fury silently closed the book in his hands, paused the video playing on his computer, and turned off the screen. Resting his knuckles on the table with fingers interlaced beneath his chin, he said expressionlessly, "How can I be sure you're going to help study the Tesseract instead of trying to steal it?"
Li Ming was taken aback, rolling his eyes as he replied, "Who's the idiot here, you or me? That's a giant glowing lump of energy—you think I could just swipe it right under your nose without you noticing?"
Fury shook his head slightly. "Before, maybe you wouldn't dare. But now, you mages keep growing stronger."
"What do you mean?" Li Ming asked, puzzled.
Fury narrowed his lone eye at Li Ming. "You performed that spell in front of Steve, conjuring an apple out of thin air. Even if the apple was fake, I don't know if you were holding back. What if you could create a convincing fake Tesseract and swap out the real one?"
"Uh—" Li Ming genuinely didn't know how to respond to that. Creating a Space Stone? He'd drain himself dry before managing that. These were the Infinity Stones, not some candy you'd find on the street.
But crafting a fake Tesseract convincing enough to fool scientists for a short while? As long as they didn't run deep tests, Li Ming figured it wouldn't be too hard. In fact, in that very moment, he'd already thought of the perfect material—the energy blocks from the weapons Hydra had used to ambush him.
Those were derived from the Tesseract's energy, so they retained some of its properties. With a little Genie magic enhancement, the chances of success were pretty high.
Of course, Li Ming wasn't foolish enough to share any of this with Fury.
After a moment's thought, he shrugged and said, "The problem is, I can't conjure something on the level of the Tesseract."
Fury opened his mouth to speak, but Li Ming waved him off. "I know what you're going to say—you're worried I'll steal it, right?"
Fury nodded bluntly, his expression screaming, Exactly. I don't trust you.
Seeing this, Li Ming stood up irritably. "If I wanted to steal it, I'd have done it already. It's not like I haven't had the chance."
Before he could finish, Fury cut in coolly, "Back then, you probably didn't have the strength to keep it. At least, you couldn't conjure an apple out of thin air. Now it's different—you're strong enough to hold onto the Tesseract."
Strong enough to hold onto the Tesseract? Li Ming was baffled. Where had Fury gotten the idea that his power was growing? That made no sense.
Sitting back down on the couch, Li Ming narrowed his eyes, studying Fury.
Since I walked into this office, he's brought up conjuring an 'apple' multiple times. Is there some kind of cause-and-effect thing going on here?
After a long pause, Li Ming tentatively asked, "What if I give you the Genie Lamp, and you let me study the Tesseract?"
"Deal," Fury answered instantly.
Li Ming's lips twitched. Raising a middle finger, he snapped, "How about I throw in the Night God Mask while I'm at it, huh?" Fury nodded with a serious expression and replied, "Yes, and the Night God Mask. That item is too dangerous and must be confiscated."
Li Ming: "..."
"Heh," Li Ming sneered a few times, stood up, and walked over to the desk, mocking, "Should I just hand over my RV to you while I'm at it?"
Fury was actually tempted to nod, but that was clearly impossible. The RV was Li Ming's home—his only home. If Fury took it away, Li Ming would undoubtedly lose his temper.
At the desk, Li Ming glanced down at the storybook of One Thousand and One Nights on the table and couldn't hold back a snort of laughter. He shot a look at the computer and said, "Don't tell me you're watching Aladdin cartoons."
Fury's face darkened, and his lips twitched as he nodded. What's wrong with watching cartoons? None of your business.
If in the past, Li Ming could barely spot Fury's face in a pile of coal, now he reckoned he'd need to activate his magic eye to find Fury's spirit form—otherwise, there was no way he'd locate that big face in a coal heap.
"The mighty director of S.H.I.E.L.D. watching cartoons during work hours—do you even have any shame?" As he spoke, Li Ming reached over, turned on the computer screen, and hit play. The voice of the Magic Lamp Genie explaining the lamp's powers to Aladdin immediately filled the room.
"Now I get why you thought my abilities improved so drastically," Li Ming said, glancing at the computer with exasperation. "Not all wishes can be granted by the Genie, especially when it comes to a mage's power—it takes cultivation, step by step. Otherwise, you can't control your own strength. Besides, I don't believe you didn't anticipate my growth. So let's skip this topic and get straight to the point—you want the Genie Lamp, don't you?"
Fury nodded bluntly. "I want the lamp."
"You've got some nerve," Li Ming said, leaning sideways on the desk and tilting his head at Fury with a smirk. "You know that's impossible, so your strategy is to ask for the moon first, piss me off, then reluctantly 'give up' the lamp before revealing your real small demand?" He waved a hand dismissively. "Cut the act. You're all talk and no action."
Watching Li Ming grow increasingly brazen, Fury couldn't help but reminisce about the old days. Back then, Li Ming had been much easier to handle—still tricky, but a little intimidation could squeeze out some useful intel. Nothing like now...