Malibu Mansion, Lin Huai's Meditation Room.
He sat cross-legged on a Meditation Cushion, his consciousness already sunk into that boundless expanse of grayish-white fog.
"O Fool that does not belong to this era;"
"You are the mysterious ruler Above the Gray Fog;"
"You are the king of yellow and black who holds good fortune."
Lin Huai recited the prayer, conveying both his desire for the [Magician] path and his need for the [Sin-Patterned Black Panther] material to that great existence.
The gray fog churned, and fragmented yet clear images rushed into his mind.
He saw a humid, sweltering primordial jungle where towering giant trees blotted out the sky; he saw a sleek, pitch-black hunting leopard, its fur covered in eerily flowing, bright purple patterns that seemed alive; finally, the image settled on a strange piece of metal buried in the ground, lying there quietly, yet everyone knew it was extraordinary.
Consciousness returned to his body, and Lin Huai opened his eyes.
"Vibranium... is it Wakanda?"
He knew the plot of this World. One look at that iconic black metal, and he knew where it was.
He immediately stood up and went to the underground workshop.
At that moment, Tony was excitedly showing Banner how his hammer named [Vulcan's Hammer] could "forcefully deconstruct" an ordinary iron ingot—the ingot was disintegrating from the inside out into its most basic metallic powder in a way that completely defied physics.
"Lin, perfect timing!" Tony saw him and began to boast, "Look at this magnificent creation! With it, I feel like I could shatter time itself! That Roselle you mentioned must have been a great engineer like me. We'd definitely have endless topics to discuss."
"Uh... you're not entirely wrong, but there's something more important now." Lin Huai interrupted his excitement, "Tony, I need to go to Wakanda."
"Wakanda?" Tony paused for a moment, then waved his hand, signaling Jarvis to pull up information. A holographic screen immediately unfolded beside him, displaying a map of Africa and a host of related data.
"Let me see... Wakanda, an isolated, landlocked African microstate, one of the least developed countries in the World, primarily exporting agricultural products." Tony read the publicly available information Jarvis had gathered, his gaze at Lin Huai both probing and wary, "What do you want to go to that godforsaken place for?"
"My Lord's revelation says the material I need for my advancement is there." Lin Huai's expression didn't change, "A Demonic Leopard tainted by a strange power is right there."
"Also, what you see isn't necessarily true. Tony, I'll be blunt. That place is the source of Vibranium." Lin Huai looked at Tony's face, not hiding anything.
"Vibranium..." Tony's pupils contracted slightly. The word wiped the relaxed expression completely from his face. He had only ever seen that word in his father Howard Stark's most classified legacy files.
"Public records say it's a backward agricultural country, but Tony, use your brilliant mind. Think about what I just said. Isn't it suspicious that a country sitting on Vibranium is still an agricultural nation? Perhaps that place is far more developed than we think."
"Developed?" Tony snorted as if he had heard the joke of the century, spreading his hands to gesture at all the high-tech equipment around them, "Lin, it's not that I don't believe you, but you might have a misunderstanding of the word 'developed.' Africa has always been exploited by Europe and America, Vibranium output is minimal, that doesn't prove anything. Besides, there's no place more advanced than Stark Industries in this World. Trust me, at most it's a bunch of primitive spear-wielders dancing around a glowing rock."
He sized up Lin Huai, "Maybe your divination this time is like the one in Orlando."
"How about we make a bet? If that place really is one of the most advanced places in the World, more advanced than here, then I... I'll shave my head bald, how about that?"
"Deal." Lin Huai smiled and nodded, already starting to imagine what Tony would look like with a bald head.
This thoroughly piqued Tony's curiosity. A mysterious African tribe with Beyonder creatures and Vibranium, coupled with Lin Huai's mystical prophecy.
"Alright, Banner," Tony turned to Bruce Banner, who was engrossed in data on the other side, "pack your travel gear. Your biological knowledge will be useful in the jungle. We need you to analyze that 'Demonic Leopard.'"
Banner looked up, adjusted his glasses, stared at Tony's head, his eyes also revealing intense interest: "I'm in."
Tony's gaze shifted again, landing on Steve Rogers, who had just finished his morning workout and was wiping sweat with a towel.
"Captain, you've been staying here, having Lin arrange that Kamar-Taj training for you. Gotta pay some rent, you know Lin's my consultant." Tony called out to him, "Want to see what your shield's hometown looks like? We're heading to Africa."
Steve walked over. After listening to Tony and Lin Huai's explanation, he glanced at the vibranium shield placed nearby, then looked at Lin Huai, his eyes growing resolute.
"I'm in."
Four hours later, a Stark Industries private jet took off from a secret hangar, heading straight for the African continent.
"Alright, gentlemen, welcome to the Stark airborne command center." Sitting on a luxurious leather sofa, he waved his hand, and dozens of bee-sized miniature Drones were released from the plane's belly, scattering into the jungle below, "Let our eyes scout the path first. Jarvis, build a 3D topographical map and scan all energy signals simultaneously."
On the holographic screen, green data streams quickly sketched the terrain of the jungle below. However, the moment the Drone swarm crossed an invisible line, an accident occurred.
Dozens of light points representing the Drones on the screen, all at the same second, went dark.
"Sir, all 'Hummingbird' Drone signals have been lost." Jarvis reported in his emotionless electronic voice.
"What?" The confident smile on Tony's face froze instantly, "Signal lost? Impossible! They use multi-band quantum-entanglement communication! Even a geomagnetic storm couldn't..."
"Not a communication failure, sir," Jarvis corrected, "All their onboard systems were completely shut down at the same time. As if... their power was cut."
Tony immediately ordered the plane to circle over that airspace. They circled for a long time, even using high-precision optical telescopes, but those dozens of state-of-the-art Drones seemed to have vanished into thin air, not a trace to be seen.
"Tony, the old-fashioned way might be more useful now." Steve, who had been silent until now, spoke up, his expression serious, "We land and search on the ground. If we find people, we ask the locals directly."
"Ask the locals?" Tony retorted, throwing up his hands, "Ask them if they've seen a strange cat recently?"
Despite his verbal complaints, Tony ordered the plane to find a suitable place to land.
The plane landed on a relatively flat savanna. The four men stepped off the plane, greeted by a hot wind carrying the mixed scent of earth and grass.
They found tire tracks on the ground. Following them for about an hour, a primitive tribal village appeared in front of them. The village consisted of simple thatched huts and wooden fences. Dozens of villagers dressed in animal skins with white paint on their bodies looked at the unexpected visitors with curiosity and wariness.
And in the very center of the village stood a massive leopard statue, several meters high, molded from a mixture of mud and branches. The statue's form was vivid and full of raw power.
The moment Lin Huai's gaze fell on the statue, his spirituality stirred.
What he was looking for was absolutely connected to this tribe!
Just as Lin Huai was about to try and negotiate, Steve's communication request suddenly came through. Captain America had gone ahead to scout the surroundings before they entered the village.
"Tony, Lin, get over here now!" Steve's voice came through the communicator, suppressed anger and extreme seriousness, "Come to the coordinates I'm sending. I've... made a major discovery."
The three men immediately set off, passing through a small grove following the coordinates, and quickly found Steve.
Captain America was kneeling on a patch of devastated ground, his face ashen.
And in front of him was a scene of carnage.
A dozen or so mutilated carcasses of Beasts lay scattered in pools of blood. An antelope had been gutted, entrails spilled everywhere; a buffalo's head had been brutally twisted off, lying alone to one side; the most terrifying sight was a mature male African lion, half its body torn to shreds, mixed with dirt and blood, unrecognizable.
The smell of blood was overpoweringly thick.
"My God..." Tony looked at the scene. Even his usually sharp tongue was speechless.
This wasn't hunting.
This was a slaughter... a massacre carried out for no reason whatsoever, purely for the sake of killing.