After escorting Loki to the Helicarrier, Fury was eager to extract some information from him.
Li Ming, who was already annoyed by Fury's pestering, had no interest in interrogating Loki. He made up an excuse on the spot and left the group's sight, carrying the staff embedded with the Mind Stone, intending to find a secluded corner to carry out his plan of switching the real artifact with a fake.
At that moment, Coulson quietly followed Li Ming. Only when they were alone did he quickly catch up and stand before Li Ming, eyeing the staff curiously. "Was your goal Loki's staff all along?"
Li Ming waved the staff in his hand and asked, puzzled, "Why do you say that?"
Coulson smiled warmly. "I remember back in New Mexico, you admitted outright that you were no match for Loki. That's why you avoided confronting him directly. But now, even under Fury's threats, you still chose to face Loki."
Pointing at the Mind Stone glowing blue on the staff, Coulson half-guessed, half-stated, "You were after the glowing thing on the staff, weren't you?"
Damn it, these agents really don't have a single simple thought in their heads. Li Ming rubbed his temples, inwardly taking a few deep breaths before asking, "What do you plan to do? Tell Fury I want to steal the staff?"
"No," Coulson shook his head with a smile. "In fact, Fury already guessed your target was the staff."
https:https://www.69shuba.com/txt/32680/23290945
8/29/25, 21:42
"We don't care if it ends up in your hands. After all, you're a Wizard—wanting a staff is only natural. But we do hope you can lift the spell on Barton."
Li Ming narrowed his eyes as he studied Coulson. "Fury would never say something like that."Coulson shrugged. "His exact words were 'an exchange.' You lift the spell on Barton, and he'll report that the staff was actually your personal spoils of war. But I don't think an exchange is necessary. My gut tells me I can just ask you for help directly. As for the staff, it's just gathering dust in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s warehouse anyway. Might as well give it to you to strengthen your friendship with S.H.I.E.L.D."
Coulson's words made Li Ming feel thoroughly pleased. Back when he had cast a spell on Coulson, wasn't the whole point to get Coulson to help him collect valuable items? Now, it was clear that Coulson had already been influenced by the magic.
Li Ming, who had expected nothing but bad luck today, never imagined he'd have such an unexpected windfall. Unable to suppress a grin, he said, "Deal."
Coulson smiled and stepped aside, gesturing that he knew of a quiet little room where Li Ming could study the staff undisturbed. After leading Li Ming to an employee break room, Coulson considerately closed the door behind him before leaving.
Unsure if the room had surveillance equipment like cameras, Li Ming immediately opened the Mirror Dimension the moment Coulson shut the door.
Inside the Mirror Dimension, Li Ming finally let out a deep sigh of relief. Grinning so wide his molars showed, he excitedly pulled out his counterfeit Mind Stone from his shoulder bag.
Gazing at the acquired Mind Stone, Li Ming couldn't help but marvel at its immense utility for a Wizard. Enhancing one's mental and psychic powers was just the basics. When using the Mind Stone, one could read others' thoughts, manipulate or even alter their minds. With the aid of other Stones, this gem could simultaneously enter the consciousness of all living beings and dominate their minds. Simply put, with the help of other Stones, Li Ming could connect and freely read the thoughts of every person on Earth—just like how the mutant leader Professor X operated when using Cerebro.
Unfortunately, the Mind Stone itself contained tremendous energy. Given Li Ming's current strength, attempting to use it would be no different from suicide. Thankfully, the Mind Stone in his hand was encased in a layer of energy; otherwise, Li Ming wouldn't have dared to scheme for it. He still wanted to live a few more years.
Soon after, Li Ming removed the blue-glowing Mind Stone and carefully sealed it inside a Matryoshka Doll. Initially, he had worried the doll wouldn't be able to contain the Stone. But somehow, Thanos had managed to seal away most of the Stone's power, which now worked to Li Ming's advantage.
However, Li Ming had also underestimated the Mind Stone's power. Even with multiple layers of seals, as long as he held the Matryoshka Doll, he could still borrow a sliver of the Stone's power. This left him both delighted and frustrated.
Delighted, because simply holding the doll caused his mental strength to skyrocket, significantly boosting the potency of his spells. How could he not be happy about that?Helplessly holding the Matryoshka Doll, the energy emanating from the Mind Stone was too conspicuous. Anyone familiar with the Infinity Stones could guess there was one inside the doll.
What difference was there between this and a child wandering the streets clutching a gold bar?
Fine, he'd just have to use the Mind Stone carefully—or not at all. Might as well treat it as a collectible.
After muttering to himself, Li Ming placed the doll back into his shoulder bag and reinserted the meticulously crafted fake Mind Stone into the staff, making it look no different from before. This wasn't an unnecessary step—Li Ming had his reasons.
First, while S.H.I.E.L.D. had verbally agreed to give him the staff, what if Fury changed his mind later? Who knew what harebrained scheme that guy might come up with?
Second, no matter where Mjolnir was, if Thor wanted his hammer, it would obediently fly back to him.
Li Ming wasn't sure if Loki had a similar connection to the staff, but he wasn't about to gamble on it. What if the staff returned to Loki's hand at his call, only for him to find the Mind Stone missing? Wouldn't Loki come after Li Ming with a vengeance?
After stepping out of the Mirror Dimension with the staff in hand, Li Ming stretched his arms and took a deep breath of the sweet air. Though it hadn't gone according to his original plan, the first Infinity Stone was now his.
As Li Ming idly twirled the staff, Coulson hurried over. "Austin, you need to go calm down Banner and the others—they're in a heated argument."
Li Ming blinked at the staff in his hand. What was going on? Without the staff's interference, how were they still fighting? Had Loki's mind-control with the staff been unnecessary?
Baffled and curious, Li Ming let Coulson drag him to the scene of the argument.
Before he even entered the room, Fury's voice rang out: "Why are we using the Tesseract to develop weapons?"
"Because of him," Fury pointed at Thor. "Last year, Earth received an extraterrestrial visitor. Due to some grudge, a small town was nearly wiped off the map. That's how we learned we're not alone in the universe—and that these visitors are far stronger than us."
Noticing Li Ming enter, Fury jabbed a finger at him. "And it's not just threats from space. There's also this so-called Earthling wizard, who can control people without a sound, conjure a nuclear bomb with his bare hands—hell, for all we know, he might not even be the only wizard on Earth."
Banner raised his hand like a schoolboy, cutting Fury off. "Actually, I can confirm Austin isn't the only wizard on Earth."
Fury's impromptu speech was successfully derailed. "You've met another wizard?"
Banner shrugged. "Yeah. A Black wizard who used the same Teleportation gate as Austin."
Fury glanced at Li Ming, frowning. "A Black wizard? What's his name? What did he want with Austin?""He's called Mordo," Li Ming said, stepping forward as Banner hesitated over whether to speak. "When I killed Abomination on the streets of Manhattan, I didn't even think about hiding my identity. So afterward, Mordo came to warn me not to reveal myself in public, to avoid endangering the Sanctum."
Li Ming pointed at the cape on his back and shrugged. "As you can see, since then, I've mostly worn this cape so I can turn invisible and conceal my identity whenever needed."
Fury thought for a moment and nodded. "Since we're talking about Wizards, I'd like to ask—what does the Ancient One think about Loki's invasion of Earth? Isn't she supposed to protect the planet? Why haven't I seen her anywhere?"
Li Ming rolled his eyes at Fury. Of course, even now, he couldn't resist probing into the magical world.
"Because the Ancient One is too powerful—so powerful she could flatten Loki with a single slap. In her eyes, Loki's invasion is as laughable as a child's game."
Fury lowered his head in thought, then blinked twice with his one eye at Li Ming. "The Ancient One might be strong, but what about facing an entire Chitauri army?"
Li Ming scratched his head. He had a feeling Fury wasn't really asking whether the Ancient One could handle the Chitauri—but rather probing for information about what the Chitauri even were.
Especially since Fury had emphasized the word "Chitauri" and inexplicably blinked twice.
Given that Fury had generously gifted him the staff, Li Ming gave him a knowing look and said, "Those half-biological, half-mechanical creatures are the army Loki's using to invade Earth?"
Fury's eyebrow twitched. Perfect—this was a chance to steer the conversation away from the Tesseract and learn more about the Chitauri.
Clapping his hands, Fury allowed a faint smile. "Excellent. At least now I know what kind of enemy we're dealing with. What else do you know?"
Li Ming tilted his head in thought before shrugging. "Not much. The Chitauri have troop carriers—massive ships that transport soldiers and also serve as heavy war machines."
Then, out of nowhere, he asked, "Has anyone here seen Star Wars?"
Everyone except Thor and Steve nodded. Li Ming continued, "The Chitauri are semi-mechanical beings, similar to the droid armies in Star Wars. If you destroy their Mothership, their soldiers will instantly shut down."
After a pause, he shrugged. "That's about all I know."
"The Chitauri Mothership is probably in outer space. Earth doesn't have any spacecraft to take it out, so that plan's off the table," Fury mused, stroking his chin. "What if we used electronic jamming? Could that disable the Chitauri?"
"No idea," Li Ming said, his tone speculative. "Probably wouldn't work. Their tech is already interstellar—if electronic jamming could cripple them, some other civilization in the universe would've wiped them out by now."The moment Li Ming's words fell, a sudden sense of danger rose in his heart. Without hesitation, he immediately cast a Shield around himself.