Baki was never a good student, Su Ming knew that from when he was young.
Though he and Steve finished high school in a tough environment, Steve had good grades while Baki always struggled.
He would often encourage Steve to skip classes together to go out and have fun, watch movies, or go fishing by the river.
But seeing Baki sitting cross-legged under a tree now, head down, drooling over an ancient book while asleep, Su Ming sighed helplessly.
He's still the same, feeling sleepy when reading, especially when it's complex characters he isn't familiar with.
"Please tell Master Thunder God, make sure Mr. Barnes undergoes hellish training; as long as he doesn't die, train him to death."
Su Ming said blankly to Master Duan beside him, it's all for Baki's good, otherwise catching up to warriors like Steve with a human body would take forever.
Master Duan nodded seriously while holding a cigarette, affirming the Supreme Mage's words: "That's true, train in winter's chill and summer's heat for both academics and martial arts, without enduring hardship it won't work."
"Alright, I have things to do, I'll go ahead, no need to see me off."
Su Ming shook hands with Master Duan, let Strangulation press the teleportation gem on his arm bone, and instantly vanished from the scene.
The quickest way to escape from the pocket plane is magic; without magic, you would have to take a detour.
However, he was planning to go back to Hawaii anyway; after all, flying relies on the Magic Floating Cloak, so taking a roundabout way doesn't matter as it's effortless.
His sudden disappearance astonished Master Duan; the past Kama Taiji mages would draw circles, is the new Supreme Mage so strong?
Actually, the Seven Cities of Kunlun have had some fierce people, like the sister of Iron Fist, Wu Fengji from the eighteenth century, who barehandedly blew up the Phoenix Power intending to burn Earth.
But she herself was the previous host of the Phoenix Fragment and relied on Elder Shou's Ancient Dragon Power; she couldn't be considered at a normal human level.
The Ancient Dragon Power belongs to alien secrets; Su Ming remembers Wu Fengji eventually disappeared, supposedly after merging with defeated Phoenix Power to fly to the depths of the cosmos, who knows.
In any case, after several decades, the Phoenix Fragment will host on Jean Grey, but the fragment couldn't appear out of nowhere, right?
If he were to say, thinking in a dark direction, Fengji might've been silenced by aliens; the Ancient Dragon Power was given by aliens, they could naturally take it back.
However, the aliens don't talk about it, and of course, Su Ming wouldn't say either.
Master Duan is just the surface-level City Lord; this generation's Jade Emperor is still not him, Kunlun's waters run deep behind the scenes, outsiders shouldn't wade in.
Anyway, he personally doesn't quite believe in aliens, but even if something does happen one day, it's Zheng Xian's headache, if Divine Spear Bureau can't hold it, Kama Taiji would take over.
Thinking about these trivial matters, he effortlessly flies towards Earth, where Marvel's darkness is deeply hidden, as long as it's not seen daily it's settled.
Eat and sleep when needed, wait for plans to proceed step by step.
Gin is vacationing in a beach cottage in Honolulu, while Spider Web Headquarters is underground on Kahol Island, he thought for a while and decided to go to Kahol Island first and get some real business done.
Tomorrow, he plans to take Gin to Warnerheim, to check the development situation there; only Queen Gullveig is present, it's hard to say if things have proceeded according to the plan.
Dr. Erskine is still in the fields at this time, Su Ming didn't intend to find him, he flew straight into the island's jungle, felt below a large stone, and a hole in the ground appeared, he jumped in.
There aren't great security mechanisms yet of this era, for computer ubiquity, one must wait for Dr. Zola's algorithm progress, so the underground is still manually guarded.
Most Spider Web members are girls rescued by Su Ming from the Red House, the earliest batch has started working now, and Natasha's batch is also soon.
Besides them, there are some orphans adopted during wartime, quickly able to be integrated here, Zhongsi Academy conducts targeted training for potential girls.
Many top agents are men, there's no denying this, as male combat strength is higher, societal status is high at this time.
But Spider Web primarily aims at intelligence gathering, once news is obtained, Su Ming himself serves as the force guarantee, so naturally female agents are the best choice.
"Hello, Principal." The girls guarding the entrance greeted him cheerfully, smilingly surrounding him, various light scents enveloped him.
Outside field duties, they can use any makeup and perfume, though this welcome seems a bit too enthusiastic.
"Hi, no need for so many to stay guarding underground, you can go sunbathe or swim up there, those not on duty go enjoy."
Su Ming patted the girls' heads, pointed to the path he came from, which was originally a spiral staircase, just that he had jumped down.
"We've been waiting for you to come over." One girl held his arm somewhat wistfully, "Did you forget us? Wuwuwu...."
Su Ming tapped her head, hearing this would surely make someone uninformed think he did something to them.
These girls are young, but each is a drama queen, always wanting to practice what they learned at the Red Room on Su Ming whenever they get a chance.
"Stop talking nonsense, go upstairs and play, I didn't rescue you to be local rats. Is Dotti and Anya at the base?"
The girl who was tapped on the head became serious, she waved her hand to dismiss the others, then whispered, "Black Widow is currently infiltrating a newly discovered Hydra branch, has already gained initial trust. Lace Bird is monitoring Magnetic King, currently located in Western Europe."
"A new Hydra branch? Where is it?" Su Ming scratched his beard, is this another head growing?
"In the snowy plains of Norway, based on the information from the last contact, there's no leader there, but instead they've launched a new 'Imperial Leader', named Lady Erisa as the new leader."
The girl recounted the intelligence very efficiently, their judgment was that it's likely not very important there, Hydra is either led by Baron Stryker or follows the orders of the chicken farm owner.
Rebuilding branches in remote areas and introducing a new leader won't please anyone from different fronts.
"It seems Dotti thinks it will be eradicated sooner or later, she wants to coat herself with a Hydra identity." Su Ming instantly understood the girl's thought and walked towards the underground command center somewhat helplessly.
Besides a large number of communication devices, there are only very old-fashioned transistor computers here, the adjutant's computing power has been invested in more important projects, as for computer projects...
If garlic chicken was some sort of food, those scientists from Wilson Enterprises might be able to research it.
"Indeed, we are still short-handed, both the agency director and deputy director are out on missions, what's up with this?" Su Ming sighed and casually patted the old machine beside him.
The machine is new, but to him, it's considered 'old', older than those Cold War-era stocks of Green Arrow.
The girl beside him laughed lightly, casually flipping her long golden hair: "Actually, they just couldn't stay idle, wanted to go out and stretch their muscles, originally it was my partner and I's task."
"I remember your name is Sharapova, what is your codename now?" These girls originally from Dotti's class were supposed to be entirely dead, now that future trajectory has changed, Su Ming is not sure about their codenames, or their abilities.
"I'm Hermit, my partner is Six Eyes," the girl proudly stated her codename.
In their ranking, the more toxic the spider, the stronger the strength, these two kinds of toxin are similar to Black Widow, indicating their strength is quite comparable.
It's just unknown what their codenames will be once Natasha graduates, will they have to use centipede scorpion due to running out of spider names?
But let them solve this internally, there's no need to manage everything.
"Right now, it seems you're the temporary manager here, Dotti trusts you a lot, so do you think there's any intelligence I should be aware of recently?"
Su Ming leaned against the instrument and took out some DC-special candy from his belt for the girl.
Hermit thought for a moment, biting her lip gently: "Infiltration into S.H.I.E.L.D. and Leviathan continues, but to avoid alerting them, progress is slow, most things aren't worth bothering the principal, we can handle them ourselves, but there's one thing I find strange."
"Tell me, what's the matter that even my students find strange?" Su Ming asked with a smile.
"Not long ago, Romanoff Student pulled up some information at the Spider Web, about a man's whereabouts, but it's not her graduation assignment." Hermit held her arms and sold Natasha without hesitation.
Su Ming nodded, he knew who Natasha was looking for, if there was anyone who was her relative, it's only her uncle.
Actually, it's just a generational call, though Logan suffers from amnesia, he was born in 1832, which means he might be older than Natasha's grandfather.
"Has her graduation assignment ended?" Su Ming casually pursued, seemingly indifferent.
"Yes, she scored top marks and gave herself the codename Red Widow, she has already left the academy, perhaps to find that person." Hermit shared her intelligence, completely loyal to the principal.
Su Ming rubbed his beard, feeling strange under the gaze of admiration, did Hamill brainwash them in school?
No, it should be the admiration transferred to him after he rescued them from the Red Room.
"Show me the information she reviewed." Su Ming extended his hand: "Has she not contacted anyone? Nor called for support?"
"Aside from the first prize 'Widow Sting' and some dollars, she brought nothing else." Hermit turned back to her office, soon returning with a paper document and handed it to Su Ming.
Flipping open the information, it's exactly as assumed — Wolverine. After meeting Charles, Su Ming compiled files on many famous mutants and Inhumans, handing them to Spider Web for monitoring.
Wolverine is naturally no exception.
However, Logan's whereabouts are currently unknown, Su Ming only knows he got hit by a nuclear bomb in Japan back then, but where he went later, intelligence has not been updated.
The last intelligence in the document is captured in Japan at Nagasaki Imperial Navy Prisoner of War Camp after Wolverine lost his memory.