The black cloud in front of him was becoming increasingly dense, and the energy contained within exhibited external phenomena such as lightning or black light. Initially, the speed at which they spread was not so fast, but as time passed, it was now like boiling milk, about to overflow from the pot.
"Should I inform those S.H.I.E.L.D. agents about the matter regarding the Longevity People?" Xiaowang looked at the black cloud in front of him, his brow furrowed, as if at this rate of spreading, it'll soon be connected to Dormammu's Dark Dimension nearby.
Su Ming jabbed the black cloud in front of him with a cigarette butt, which seemed to have its own consciousness and would avoid the heat:
"Coulson and the others said that historically, the Longevity People took gravityium from here, so this outcome isn't the worst. Although I couldn't twist history to my will, at least it hasn't gotten worse. You can let them know, but I doubt they can retrieve the Longevity People."
If history hasn't changed, the Shield Squad and Longevity People each obtained some gravityium. The Longevity People previously displayed greed, seemingly needing large amounts of gravityium, while all known gravityium is in the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D., so they'll come to them voluntarily.
As for when exactly it'll happen, it's yet undetermined, but with the Time Gem in hand, Su Ming won't let gravityium go into the cosmos. There's Daisy over at the Shield Squad, whose toughness is out of this world; it's not much of a problem.
Wei nodded, looking at the floating, continuously rolling liquid metal ball at his feet. The Supreme Mage somehow found several large plastic bags to wrap it in, actually suppressing its activity.
"So these..."
"I kept some for myself; all those packed are handed over to the Shield Squad. Gravityium is restrained by plastic, no need to make a fuss. Not just plastic bags, even a box from instant noodles or two plastic basins put together can store gravityium, as long as it's not electrified it's fine."
Seeing Wei still seemed hesitant, Su Ming added.
Let's first deal with the Dormammu issue, shall we negotiate or play games...
By the way, so many enemies fell into the pit previously; now only the vampires might still be alive, but no one knows where they went.
However, when it comes to who on Earth besides the Wilson Brothers best restrains Dormammu, it's definitely Dracula.
The ancestor of the Blood Race cannot be killed, cannot be trapped, lacks a soul, and possesses the concept level self-healing ability that allows him to infinitely resurrect as long as vampires are known in the world, seeking only pleasure.
Any Demon God encountering such a being would be exasperated, aside from not being as gross as Wade, Dracula is genuinely the best at attrition warfare.
"Then shall I leave first?"
Wei raised his hand, blinking expectantly waiting for the Supreme Mage's confirmation, secretly not wanting to leave, wanting to stay.
Facing Dormammu, maybe there's only this one chance in a lifetime. As a Warlock, who hasn't fantasized about directly facing a Demon God and defeating him?
Even if infuriating Dormammu later makes one unable to use any related magic from the Dark Dimension, those spells always came with too high a cost, only fools would use them.
"Remember to exchange cash and goods, and bring back a part of the three giant stones to Kama Taiji, you've bought cut cake before, right?" Su Ming saw through his thoughts, took a deep drag of the cigarette he held: "Go handle it, don't give me those pathetic looks, are you thinking of pulling the 'You jump, I jump' spiel? This is a channel to the Dark Dimension, not the Titanic."
"???"
Despite being bewildered by the mention of a sinking ship, Wei saw that the master was determined not to take him along, his gaze betrayed longing, while he opened the Teleportation Gate and walked inside with the plastic bags.
Seeing Wei leave to take action, Su Ming casually swatted away an underground creature charging at him while another hand slowly extinguished the cigarette.
These underground races have lived here for hundreds of thousands of years, seemed hardly to eat humans, never provoked anyone, but just for having gravityium, their home was destroyed in the blink of an eye, probably losing ninety-nine percent of its population.
As the culprit for destroying their homeland, Su Ming had no opinions, apart from sighing that being weak is an original sin, more often adding up his gains.
While he was stretching his back, an army made up of broken corpses, with glowing green eyes, arrived beside him, silently standing in wait for orders.
These were the Leviathan soldiers killed by Su Ming on the road after entering underground, following Su Ming as rear insurance, now ready for some waste recycling.
Su Ming raised his fist, the section of his hand armor exposed a black, glowing ring face: "You, jump down."
He casually pointed at a corpse with its head split like a watermelon, connected only by the neck and smiling.
Unclear what the situation inside the black cloud is, how deep it goes below, and whether entering would drag one directly to the Dark Dimension, so Su Ming decided to deploy some 'corpse reconnaissance'.
Actually, such human landmine duties are best suited for Wade, who can also return with the space-time belt, telling Su Ming what's happening there. However, under current conditions, they have to make do with controlled walking corpses.
The walking corpses controlled by the Black Lantern Ring have their souls temporarily pulled back into destroyed bodies, acting as puppets, unable to disobey the ring's commands.
Aside from glaring at Deathstroke with hatred from its living eyes, the blossomed-headed walking corpse unhesitatingly stepped off the cliff, plunging into the black cloud.
Su Ming closed his eyes, focussing on the connection between the ring and the corpse, which severed after just a few seconds.
"Tsk, devoured, huh? Let's try another one."
The mercenary, devoid of any humanitarian spirit, smacked his lips and signaled another corpse to jump, and this time, the interruption in connection lasted even longer.
Su Ming didn't speak, he simply gestured for more walking corpses to jump simultaneously, carefully savoring the nuances.
If gravity hadn't constantly changed during this period, the distance from falling to disappearance seemed determined by the body's resistance to dark energy.
Because these were Leviathan soldiers' corpses, they were already partially assimilated by Zero Material while alive, and now thrown into the high-density black cloud, instant conversion was inevitable.
However, after drawing this conclusion, Su Ming felt at ease, not worrying about his resistance issue, at least dark matter couldn't assimilate X Metal.
Leaving only a few Black Lamp walking corpses scattered, ordering them to find valuable things in the caves or passageways beside every rock wall, Su Ming jumped into the black clouds.
.........
A Black Lantern Zombie was wandering aimlessly, filled with cold fury, hating the living, and puzzled by the latest command.
What kind of things are valuable? It didn't understand; nothing had value to the dead, except killing the living, those warm blood and brains providing a moment of solace.
Yet, as it wandered back and forth, a tiny bug suddenly flew out from the rock crevice beside it, looking like dust, inconspicuous. In an instant, the bug drilled into its nostril.
The walking corpse stood still, stiff as a wooden man, its eyes' green light gradually receding, its skin started turning to a tawny color, even the Zero Element inside it was expelled like black water.
A mere ten seconds later, the walking corpse came to life, its chest began to rise and fall, expressions formed on its face.
He raised his hand to look, countless bugs under his skin began hatching and swarming, like tiny bumps under the skin creating subtle ripples.
He put his hands behind his back, gazing at the black pillar of smoke ahead, tilting his head expressionlessly, his originally khaki military uniform replaced by countless bugs. Dense tawny bugs ate away the clothes, then changed color, a black leather coat reappeared on him, the Hydra emblem emerged on his arm.
"Sang Zong..." He muttered to himself in a strange tone but quickly adjusted the vocal cords, turning toward Hydra's corpses.
Amidst the wreckage of half-mechanical parts, he found the Viper split into two, crudely piecing the body together, half-kneeling to spit out some bugs mixed with mucus and black water, flowing into Viper's gaping mouth of her unclosing death.
"Rise, my friend." Hive straightened, hands behind his back, taking a few steps back.
The body twitched, writhing on the ground like electrified, countless bugs began mending wounds, others activating the heart and brain.
Hive and Deathstroke had clashed just minutes ago; he believed Viper could still be saved. As for those mechanical soldiers, they were mere expendables, not worth saving.
Visually, like leaf-cutter ants, those bugs stitched up her body, just seconds later, with loud gasps, wide-eyed Viper suddenly sat up.
She coughed a few times, spitting out some bugs with her saliva.
Realizing she was sitting on the ground, she hurriedly stood up, patting her clothes, looking at the unfamiliar face beside her.
"Who are you? What happened?"
A familiar connection sparked her brain, Hive's intermittent voice echoed, "Deathstroke killed you; I revived you."
Viper looked at her clothing torn in half, stained with blood, but at the fracture, her fair skin remained unscathed.
She sighed, wrapping her clothes tightly, "So it's you, Hive, looks like you also suffered at his hands."
"Yes, as you said, Deathstroke is indeed strong." Hive spoke without any evasion, staring blankly at the pillar of black smoke ahead, "But not only he has plans, I do too. When fighting, I split some bugs hidden in every nook and cranny here, even if an undesirable outcome occurred, I could still make a comeback."
"How did you revive me? With bugs?"
Viper showed a slightly disgusted expression, though being alive was nice, Hydra had many revival methods, yet the one beside her mastered the most disgusting method.
Hive saw her speculation and wasn't offended; he saved Viper for her usefulness to the great cause, not for any personal sentiment or to hear pleasant words.
"You'd best not know; both of us urgently need to replenish nutrients. The current flesh is merely temporarily activated, depleting potential; to survive smoothly, take this, you don't need to eat the skin."
Hive extended a hand, a tentacle of dense bugs picked up a mechanical warrior's head, handing it to Viper. He himself grabbed one, cracking it open like a coconut, hurriedly consuming the spicy tofu-like substance inside.
Viper sighed deeply; resurrected like this, there were side effects. She reluctantly accepted the head, asking, "Did you bring salt?"