Nick Fury picked Li Yue on time the next day. Coming with him were Hill, whom Li Yue hadn't met before, and Coulson, who had been very familiar with Li Yue.
"Mr. Li Yue, your intel has proved very accurate. We have rescued Captain America—Steve, and he has begun adapting to his new life after waking up yesterday," Nick Fury reported to Li Yue.
"Thank you, Mr. Li Yue!" Coulson sincerely expressed his gratitude.
Coulson was undoubtedly the person most excited by Captain America's return. He had always been Captain America's fan. He had to hold himself from asking for a signature from Steve since the Captain had only woken up, and he still hadn't found the right timing.
"No need to thank me. Even without my information, you would've found the Captain within two years. I had only accelerated your discovery," Li Yue said, shrugging off the formality.
"Now, let's go to see the Tesseract," Li Yue urged impatiently. He would only know whether the Cube could strengthen his ability after seeing it.
"Agreed." Nick Fury wasted no more time and brought Li Yue to the secret Tesseract research base.
...
It didn't take long for them to reach SHIELD's secret base. Li Yue gawked at the compound. If nobody was guiding him, he would never have found the location of this base.
An elevator took Li Yue all the way down. He had no idea how far underground he was; the elevator took a long time before stopping.
"So big!" Li Yue muttered in his heart. The base was indeed very large, to the point that the other end of the wall was beyond his sight.
This base didn't seem like the one that Loki invaded in the first Avengers movie.
...
The group entered the base with Nick Fury, but they still got checked in at the security post. Nick Fury had to verify his fingerprints, retina scans, and input passwords dozens of meters long. Li Yue felt nothing but admiration for Nick Fury's dedication. That bald director really deserved the title of the King of Secret Agents, with the amount of secrets he could remember.
Meanwhile, Li Yue could barely remember his six-digit PIN before obtaining his superpower.
Li Yue had no idea who was the current lead researcher of the Tesseract project. The doctor from the first Thor movie shouldn't be recruited yet.
"Dr. Riley, is there any progress in the Cube research?" Nick Fury asked a white-haired doctor in a lab coat.
"The Cube is a mass of energy that contains an immense amount of power. However, we are yet to find a way to harness this power," the doctor replied.
"Doctor, tell your staff to stand back. I'm taking over the floor," Nick Fury ordered.
The doctor was a little reluctant, but he complied and told the other researchers to leave. Nick Fury was his direct superior, after all.
A short while later, the researchers all vacated the room, leaving Li Yue, Nick Fury, Hill, and Coulson. The Hawkeye Barton also observed them in the shadows.
"Mr. Li Yue, the Tesseract is right in front of you. What are you going to do?" Nick Fury turned to Li Yue after making sure the researchers had all left.
"Li Yue? What's wrong?" Nick Fury asked again when Li Yue didn't reply.
"Fuck, stop him! Don't let him touch the Cube!" Nick Fury frantically shouted and rushed at Li Yue when he noticed Li Yue's expression was slightly off.
Seemingly unaware of the ruckus, Li Yue walked straight at the Tesseract in a daze.
Hill and Coulson reacted immediately to Nick Fury's orders and made their move to apprehend Li Yue.
Hawkeye shot an arrow at Li Yue from the shadow. It was a non-lethal stun arrow, of course.
But all four of them missed their marks. Li Yue disappeared from his position.
Li Yue reappeared less than a foot away from the Tesseract, his hand stretched to reach the Cube.
"Li Yue, do not touch the Tesseract. You will lose your life," Nick Fury warned anxiously. He knew that ordinary people would immediately die from the surge of energy that occurred if they touched the Cube directly.
If someone could hear Li Yue's thoughts at this time, they would hear him say, "I don't want to come here, and I don't want to touch the Tesseract. But I can't control myself. How can this be?"
That's right. Ever since he entered the room, Li Yue realized that he couldn't control his body anymore. The Tesseract seemed to have a magic power that enticed him to approach it. It was as if he had seen a beautiful naked woman waving at him—it was a primal urge forcing him to move forward. Even when Nick Fury tried to stop him, he used his superpower to push through.
He had teleported in front of the Tesseract and couldn't hold himself from reaching out to it.
Li Yue didn't want to be banished to Vormir like Red Skull, but the only thing he had control over was his thought. He could only watch as his own index finger approached the Tesseract.
Under the anxious gaze of Nick Fury and the others, Li Yue finally touched Tesseract.
The moment the Cube came into contact with Li Yue's finger, it instantly exploded with a torrent of energy. The research apparatus around them were instantly destroyed into pieces. The dense storm of energy from the Tesseract created visible distortion. Fortunately, Nick Fury and the others had already retreated when they realized the situation had gone out of control, so they were spared from the direct blast.
Nick Fury and the others watched as the corner of the Cube spun at an extreme speed against Li Yue's finger, sending waves of blue energy into Li Yue's body.
The meridians and blood vessels on Li Yue's arm glowed blue. A visible flow of energy filled Li Yue's body.
The process continued for several minutes before the Tesseract finally stopped and dropped to the ground with a ding sound. The energy storm slowly dissipated, leaving only the chaotic wreckage in its wake.
When Nick Fury and the others saw that the storm had subsided, they carefully approached. The Tesseract was lying on the floor, but Li Yue was nowhere to be found.
"Someone tell me what just happened! How did Li Yue disappear?!" Nick Fury turned to the closest person.
"Director, I saw the Cube pump a large amount of energy into Li Yue. Something that looked like a portal opened behind Li Yue, swallowing him, and then disappeared as the Tesseract calmed down," Hawkeye replied as he jumped down from his 'nest.'
Nick Fury paused to process this information before saying seriously, "...the event that just happened is top secret. Keep your mouth shut."
The bald director then added, "and send task forces across the world to find him. Don't tell Stark about this for now."
The group didn't realize the crack in space a few meters from them—mostly because it disappeared moments later.
...
Li Yue's body materialized in front of a bar, unconscious. Otherwise, he would've realized that he had transmigrated again.
Yes, again!