Volume 5: The Young Wolf Seeks Home Chapter 36: You cunning and pathetic little bastard, you want to run away after offending Mason?
Since joining the Star Society, Mason has traveled to many worlds, done various great deeds and been praised by people. He has become a top figure, but today he was actually robbed in this wasteland.
It really is true that the world is full of wonders.
However, as a party involved in the "Gobi Robbery", Mason said that he was emotionally stable. Surrounded by dense mechanical ants, he seemed not to hear the shouting of the strange guy who appeared on the bridge next to him.
He is thinking about a problem now.
If he were to make a living in this wasteland, and he could control such a powerful mechanical ant colony that, according to Blue Beetle, could devour a city in a few minutes, what measures would he take to live a better life?
Robbery?
No!
Robbery in this ghost place where no one might pass by for several days is the most unimaginative and time-wasting way to get rich, but the guy in front of me did it anyway.
So either there's something wrong with his brain, or these mechanical ants are not as powerful as they appear.
At least not powerful enough to be driven to attack the not-so-distant city of New Babylon.
Mason blinked, his Isu senses focusing on the finely crafted individuals in the dense swarm before him.
These mechanical flying ants are no different in size from normal ants, and their manufacturing process is so advanced that it would be impossible to mass-produce them in the wasteland era. Mason also found many damaged individuals among them.
They were not repaired properly and could only continue to fly hard among the ant colony with their broken bodies.
"He can't control the ant colony."
Mason narrowed his eyes and instantly came up with an answer:
"At most I can guide you, but I can't force you to do anything. This robber is just taking advantage of the power of others!"
"Barbara!"
Mason reminded the hacker master of Team K:
"Electromagnetic jammers ready."
"Already preparing, activating, target the sky."
Batgirl said in the comms:
"You've discovered, haven't you, Mason? These colonies aren't being manipulated at all. They're just mimicking the movements of predatory ants.
This is a scare tactic.”
"We'll know in a moment."
Mason sneered and waited for a few seconds. Then, the electromagnetic interference wave shot out from the spider car behind him and smashed into the sky like an invisible cannonball.
The mechanical flying ants flying around Mason and others seemed to have smelled something terrible and suddenly dispersed, just like a corner of the black clouds in the sky was torn apart.
This allowed Blue Beetle and Bizarro, who were ready for a tough battle, to easily escape with Mason and Harley.
"Right here, land."
Mason kept calculating the distance, and after leaving the ravine thirty meters away, he let the Blue Beetle land on the ground.
I took a few steps forward and looked at the ants rolling on the ground in front of me.
Even though they were less than two meters away from Mason, it was like an invisible line stuck in front of their eyes, preventing those ferocious mechanical ants from taking a single step beyond the line.
He shook his head, stood up and looked at the bridge ahead.
Guarded by millions of ants stood a thin young man wearing tattered but very religious clothes and a silver helmet on his head. The helmet was rusty but the two antennas on his forehead made it recognizable.
"Where did you get this Ant-Man helmet?"
Mason shouted to the young men who were robbing on the bridge:
"You are the 'Ant King' of the Ant Gang? You seem to be having a lot of fun, kid. You have scared a lot of people with this method over the years, right? Let me ask you! Did you create the corpse in the ditch?"
"So what if it's me?"
The young man wearing the Ant-Man helmet, who used it to control the mechanical ant colony around him, saw his trick being exposed, but he was not afraid. He stood on the bridge with his hands on his hips and threatened Mason:
"These people are as smart as you! They all saw that my 'little brothers' would not leave this area, and they all guessed that I could not force them to do so.
So they planned to kill me and steal my helmet, are you going to do the same?
You can try it.”
"Tsk, if this thing didn't have an 'emergency berserker mode' or something like that, I would have laughed at Dr. Pym's poor skills. It's not that easy to fool me, kid."
Mason waved his hand, gestured to Harley, and said:
"You are so vicious at such a young age. This wasteland is indeed full of hidden dangers. But I am not here to discuss this with you today. We have no money on us. I can give you food and water.
Anyway, you have to go to the nearby black market to buy these things after you get the money, but I won’t give them to you for free.
Do you have any Pym particles?"
Seeing Harley take out a bottle of purified water and throw it onto the bridge, the vigilant young man picked up the water and tested it with a strange instrument. After confirming that there was no toxin, he turned his back and took a big sip, wiped his mouth happily, and then turned back to Mason and said:
"What did you say Pym? What is that?"
"A liquid like the drink, purple in color, enclosed in a small test tube that cannot be broken."
Mason described the shape of the Pym particles to him and asked:
"If you can find the Ant-Man helmet, it means you must have found Dr. Pym's laboratory or something like that nearby. There should be something like this there. If you can't use it, why don't you give it to me?
The price I offer will surely satisfy you.
Don't worry, the place you chose for the robbery is really great. It blocks the only way to New Babylon. With so few people like us, we can't deal with the violent mechanical ants.
You see, I'm a smart guy.
I'm not trying to take your helmet, I just want the Pym Particles."
Mason's proposed deal made the young man on the bridge hesitate. After nearly half a minute of silence, he shouted:
"If I did, what would you give me in exchange?"
"I just said, food and water."
Mason snapped his fingers, Harley shrugged, untied the magic pocket on her waist and waved it casually, and a small warehouse's worth of purified water and emergency food and a large pile of snacks appeared in front of them, piled like a small mountain.
These things are absolute hard currency in the wasteland, and are something that cannot be bought even with money in the current situation.
Mason took a few packets of "samples" and, unafraid of the mechanical ants gathered around him, threw them on the bridge to be "inspected" by the vigilant young man.
After confirming that they were all edible and tasted good, the young man wearing the Ant-Man helmet gestured and said:
"Well, I did find a small box of those Pym particles you mentioned. That stuff nearly killed me... ahem, anyway, there's really no use for us with it.
I can change it for you.
But I want five times as much for this food and water!"
This is obviously a big ask.
The old wolf in the spider car frowned when he heard this. He said to Mason in the communication:
“The amount of food you gave him is enough for a group of dozens of people to eat for a month. He is deliberately making things difficult for us. Dr. Pym has been dead for seventeen years, and the things he left behind may have been damaged a long time ago.
Be careful of fraud."
"It's okay. We have plenty of food and water."
Barbara, who was debugging something strange, explained:
"But Pym particles are extremely valuable. Although I don't know what they are, I have heard Mason talk about them several times. If we can exchange samples for just food and water, then no matter how much we pay, we will make a lot of money."
Old Wolf obviously knew what Pym particles were, so he didn't try to persuade him any further. After Mason agreed, the "Ant King" on the bridge activated certain functions with his helmet.
A few minutes later, a group of ants came to the bridge carrying a shabby little box with the Pym Technologies logo on it, which made Mason raise his eyebrows.
He also prepared food and water.
Zod volunteered to act as the trader and completed the exchange of money and goods surrounded by mechanical ants.
"Okay, you can go now."
The ant king grinned after getting food and water and learning how to use the magic bag.
He waved his hand, and a red light flashed on his helmet, driving the mechanical ants back underground. Then he pointed in the direction behind him and threatened Mason and his gang:
"Don't come looking for us, wise man. I'll only tell you once. If you dare to come, you will bear the consequences at your own risk!"
After saying that, he picked up his bag and quickly disappeared into the hills behind the bridge.
Mason opened the shabby little box in his hand, and there was only a small bottle of purple liquid inside. Harley was furious and cried out that she had been cheated.
But for Mason, the small tube of Pym particles in front of him was enough.
He picked it up and held it to his eyes, and the information tag popped up:
Pym particles
Quality: Legendary Engineering/Alchemical Creation·Perfect Craftsmanship
Effect: Used to drive a series of quantum combat devices and scientific instruments developed by Dr. Pym. It can also be used to destroy the stability of the target object's existence and impose a state of [Quantum Destruction] on it.
warn!
This item can only be stored in a specific container. Once leaked, it will cause extremely terrible consequences.
Producer: Hank Pym
Item Description: All the bits and pieces you got on this trip are not as valuable as this cute little thing. The funniest thing is that you exchanged it for a bunch of bread and water. You're lucky, Mason.
hint!
The formula analysis of this item requires Engineering Lv8 and Alchemy Lv8.
“It’s worth it.”
He calmed down the irritable Harry and put the small tube of Pym particles into his specially made safe. This thing was priceless and could not be measured by money or material things.
What's more, how could a cunning guy like Mason not hold back?
"Have you found his whereabouts?"
Back in the Spider Car, Mason finally asked after they had driven nearly five kilometers across the bridge. Barbara, who was sitting next to him, had red light in her eyes that kept flickering. She said in a hoarse voice:
"If I hadn't just used the super soldier serum to strengthen my brain, it would have taken up two-thirds of my RAM cache just to support the operation of this nano-scale tracker.
The bad news is that the little guy is very cunning, and the area where he is hiding blocks the signal.
The good news is, we are one step ahead.
He's hiding underground!
The tracking route has been issued and the signal simulation of the mechanical ant colony has been completed."
Barbara ejected a separation chip from the running personal computer at hand, loaded it into a USB-like device, and handed it to Zod, who was ready to leave with an expressionless face.
She advised:
"Keep this thing close to you, and the mechanical ants won't attack you. Go in according to the route, in and out quickly, and don't touch anything on the way."
"Um."
Zod nodded, stood up from the speeding spider car, leaped into the sky and sped towards the back.
You took Mason's things and you want to run away?
Although the 'Ant King' was trained to be vicious and cunning by this wasteland, he was obviously a little too naive.
"Mr. K! How did you put the tracker on that guy?"
Harry asked in surprise:
"You obviously didn't make any contact with him! Can the Bat Boys' technique of placing trackers be accomplished with their minds now?"
"Stupid Harry!"
The blue beetle flying next to him almost laughed out loud, holding his stomach. He reminded:
"That bottle of water! That greedy guy took a sip of water, remember? The nano-scale tracker is hidden in the water. I just realized it."
"So that's how it is... That's not right!"
Harry still frowned and said:
"That water was all made in Osborne Tower and was never opened! Mr. K didn't have a chance to put a tracker in it, did he?"
"Well, is there such a possibility?"
Barbara glanced at Mason, who was resting with his eyes closed, and said in a low voice:
"The water was already filled with the tracker when it was bottled. It's not a question of which bottle of water has it in it, Harley. It's in all the bottles.
You all have it in your body right now, but there is no need to activate it."
The atmosphere in the Spider Car suddenly became strange. Harley rubbed her flat belly. She glanced at Mason. Her Mr. K shrugged and said in a long voice:
"This is just a proper 'protection', in case you get lost and I can't find you. Don't think too much about it. And you've seen that it never hurts to be prepared, right?"
In the truck bed behind the Spider Car, the silent Hawkeye drank a sip of wine and said hoarsely to his daughter who was rubbing her belly and looking weird:
"This is the new boss you chose for yourself! Ashley, now, do you still have the confidence that you can outsmart him?"
"Pym's Cross is here! Everyone."
The only one who did not participate in the discussion, Lao Lang, who had been driving silently, suddenly said something to make everyone look forward.
They had been curious about why this intersection closest to the city of New Babylon was marked with the surname "Pym". When the spider car crossed a valley, everyone understood the reason.
This intersection leading to different directions is just at the foot of the mountain ahead.
It was not born naturally, but a huge skeleton nearly a hundred feet tall lying there.
Its pale arms pointed to the north and south respectively, while its head and broken legs pointed to the east and west. From a high vantage point, it looked like a person falling down with his hands spread out.
This is the origin of the Pym's Cross.
"During the nuclear war, he single-handedly stopped the Red Skull's pursuers, buying time for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people in New York City. The mechanical ants controlled by the 'Ant King' just now are probably the ultimate weapon released by Dr. Pym in his last stand."
The old wolf said in a hoarse voice:
"After that night, this place was called 'Pym's Cross'. The people who survived in the wasteland now are those who were evacuated and their descendants.
It can be said that this place is a holy place known to everyone.
Clint was determined to go to New Babylon, so he had to follow the direction of Pym's thigh, but we wanted to go to the old site of Xavier Institute, so we had to go straight in the direction of his left hand.
The two places are nearly a hundred kilometers apart and must be separated."
"Mr. K and I are going together!"
Harley raised her hand and shouted, but no one objected.
Mason looked at the huge Pym's Cross in front of him. He turned to Barbara and said:
"You guys follow Clint to New Babylon, stay in touch at all times, and act according to the plan."
"Um."
Batgirl nodded.
Apparently she and Mason had made some plans before setting off.
However, everyone cannot leave now, because the black Superman Zod has not yet finished tracking down the "Ant King". Mason has a lot of ideas about the power of the mechanical ant colony that he has just witnessed.
He always felt that Barbara, as a hacker master, had weak self-protection ability, and that someone .
This model obviously cannot last long , so it is better to take this opportunity to "upgrade" Barbara Gordon.
"I think you should have a new title, sis."
Mason stroked his chin and said to Barbara, who was tracking Zod's whereabouts and performing a self-examination of her prosthetic body:
"What do you think of the nickname 'Ant Queen'?"
"Not very good. Terrible."
Barbara moved her shoulders uncomfortably and said:
"I've never liked ants since I was a kid."
"oh?"
Mason curled his lips and said:
"Then you probably have to learn to like it from now on..."
