48 Hours a Day

“What should we do next? Should we take the opportunity and break out of the siege?” the waiter asked.

“... or we can sit here and wait for your butcher to clear out all those bastards out there,” the bald man suggested. However, as soon as he said that, a bright green beam hit the butcher. The rotting creature, whose performance had been most impressive just a second ago, swelled up like a balloon before exploding into tiny pieces!

Only a mist of blood in the air and the cleaver on the floor was proof that the creature ever existed.

“Oh, no! It’s the evil scientist’s Nano Disintegrator! I can’t believe they actually brought that massive killing machine,” said the bald man, looking dismal.

The butcher, of whom they had placed their hopes on, was eliminated by the enemy in less than two minutes after it showed up. This left the group in great despair. Having used all the tricks up their sleeves, they were still unable to turn the situation around. Right now, with the barrage of bullets raining down before them, they could barely lift their heads. To make matters worse, a sea of men in black were closing in from all directions.

The bald man leaned against the back of a vintage fridge when a bullet flew past his ear. He grumbled, “We’ve held the fort for three minutes already! Is it not my turn to write my last words yet?”

The waiter was devastated as well. “Oh, god! We’re going to die... but I don’t want to die...” he cried. “I just bought a PS4 and the latest 2k13. I haven’t even had a chance to win the championship with my favorite Los Angeles Clippers!”

The Messenger, however, only said nothing. Mei Nan eyed a pile of garbage not far away from them. It had been three minutes since Zhang Heng went through there, and although it was about time for him to return, no movement seemed to be coming out from the trash. To be honest, the bald man and the waiter did not place much on hope on a certain someone since the beginning. Mei Nan, on the other hand, understood the kind of person Zhang Heng was. She knew he wasn’t the kind to make meaningless demands, even though she too had no idea what he could do, considering his less-than-basic LEGO building skills.

“Could I have been... mistaken?”

Right now, even Mei Nan started to panic. The people in black were getting closer, firing their weapons as they inched forward, and were less than twenty meters away at the moment. Mei Nan was even prepared to exit the game.

Just then, a strong gust of wind blew, at them one that was so powerful that she had to close her eyes. Then, from the pile of trash came the loud roar of an engine of some sort.

A giant black shadow emerged from the pile of trash and started to rise into the air!

The bald man rubbed his eyes. “Is there something wrong with my eyes, or are we all dead? Is this real?! I’m actually looking at a Helicarrier here in Guangzhou?! Though, I must say... this is a smaller version, and the classic logo is missing...” he exclaimed. “Did any of you... call the Avengers?!”

The waiter and the messenger stared at the strange aircraft with their mouths ajar.

Before they could say anything more, the weapons bay of the Helicarrier above them opened; as far as the vehicle’s weapon systems were concerned, they didn’t look like a miniature version at all. It was armed to the teeth with missiles and laser beams. It took only one wave of attack, and the bionics suffered miserably!

Not to be outdone, the Nano Disintegrator also emitted the destructive green beam!

“Captain America, watch out!” the waiter called out.

Nonetheless, he realized very quickly that he had nothing to be worried about. The defense system on the Helicarrier activated, and it shielded the aircraft from the green beam. As that was happening, its intelligent guidance system locked onto the Nano Disintegrator.

Three seconds and later, the Nano Disintegrator, along with the bionics around it, turned into ashes with a poof.

“Wow! That was cool! I can now meet my idol, Iron Man, and ask him for an autograph!” the waiter chirped. “With the Avengers taking over, we can just turn this whole ‘defeat-the-evil-scientist-and-save-the-wor ld’ thing over to them. I can continue to work at the bar, and the Messenger can continue to rent rooms...” Then he turned to Mei Nan, saying, “I’m sorry, Chosen One, you came all the way here for nothing; but forget about him. Now, we have the Avengers! Man, it’s the Avengers! Have you ever seen those amazing people fail?”. The bald man was also very excited, but he did not display the same fanaticism as the waiter. He warned, “Don’t get your hopes up too soon. The situation is still unclear. Can’t you see how that thing looks a little different from the Helicarrier? It’s too small, and there’s no logo on it.”

He lowered his voice and continued, “It’s possible that it may be under Loki’s evil spell. We just might have a tough battle ahead of us. But it’s alright... We came prepared. We’ll just need to take it away from Loki’s evil clutches, and who knows, we might even be able to join the Avengers!”

“I understand both of you are diehard Marvel fans, and I don’t want to interrupt your fantasy, but if you don’t want come face to face with another wave of enemies, we should all get up there. Zhang Heng is waiting for us,” said Mei Nan.

“You’re right. We can’t just let him take all the autographs,” said the bald man as he constructed a helicopter. Once all four were inside, he excitedly steered the helicopter upwards toward the Helicarrier. Sadly, there was no Captain America and Iron Man, and neither were there Thor and Hulk.

Zhang Heng was all alone in the cockpit.

“You made this thing?” The waiter found it hard to believe. “To be honest, I would rather believe that I came face to face with Black Widow and Hawkeye when I opened the door.”

“...Or Loki and his evil men,” the bald man added. He then looked over at Mei Nan.

Mei Nan asked, “What?”

“He has awakened. When is it your turn? I still have no idea if the Chosen One could grow rapidly through awakening. It was not mentioned in the prophecy. Anyway, all of these should be recorded in a notebook. By the way, do you Chosen Ones have any more tricks up your sleeves, such as ultra-fusion like Super Saiyan? You can inform me in advance so it’ll be more convenient to strategize the final battle.”

“There’s no such nonsense, alright?” Mei Nan rolled her eyes at him.