Lu Mingfei doesn't want to be a superhero

“The address is…Miss Natasha Romanov’s house,” Lu Mingfei told Jarvis.

“The pilot is preparing to depart, please wait a moment,” Jarvis replied instantly. “Also, according to Mr. Stark’s instructions, the helicopter will take you directly to his home. He and Mr. Steve have something important to tell you.”

"Important matter? What's so urgent?" Lu Mingfei asked curiously.

“Mr. Stark said you’ll find out when you get there. He also said that since you’re at Ms. Natasha’s house, you should bring her along,” Jarvis said.

Lu Mingfei was full of questions.

Discussing important matters... then why call Natasha over?

He turned to look at Natasha with a puzzled expression; with her hearing, she should have been able to hear Jarvis's voice on the phone.

Seeing the confusion in Lu Mingfei's eyes, Natasha gave him a mysterious smile. Lu Mingfei could roughly read the meaning on her face: Curious? I won't tell you.

Lu Mingfei narrowed his eyes slightly.

Natasha got up to go to the bedroom to change her clothes, but Lu Mingfei stopped her: "By the way, Natasha, do you have any lizards at home?"

Natasha's steps faltered for a moment.

Lu Mingfei had already started looking for lizards in the gaps between the living room furniture.

"Ahem," Natasha coughed lightly, turned around, and smiled, "Isn't it to discuss the cooperation between S.H.I.E.L.D. and you?"

"What kind of cooperation?" Lu Mingfei was taken aback at first, then a bold idea surfaced in his mind, "Wait! The cooperation you're talking about wouldn't be..."

Natasha nodded with a smile: "That's right, it's about S.H.I.E.L.D. helping Captain America run for president."

Lu Mingfei: ...

146. Chapter 145 Let's make a Captain America movie!

At Tony's home.

Natasha, Lu Mingfei, Steve, and Tony sat at the conference table in a clockwise order.

Natasha changed into ordinary casual clothes, while Lu Mingfei looked around the futuristic round table with a curious expression. The glass tabletop emitted a faint blue light, and every point on the tabletop could project a holographic screen.

"Tony, when did you get this table? It's so cool!" Lu Mingfei touched the table from left to right.

“I made this a few days after you left, to make it easier for us to have meetings,” Tony said, holding a glass of champagne in one hand and a hamburger in the other. “Of course, it’s a meeting about Steve’s presidential campaign.”

"So, S.H.I.E.L.D. has really become our ally, and is going to help Steve run for president?" Lu Mingfei asked, his gaze involuntarily drifting to Natasha, who was sitting there representing S.H.I.E.L.D.

“Well, that’s what I wanted to tell you,” Tony said. “Not long ago, after a series of efforts by Steve and me, including persuasion, appealing to emotions, reasoning, and even coercion, Fury agreed to cooperate with us more deeply and provide assistance to Steve’s presidential campaign.”

Tony specifically used Chinese to say this, in order to use that string of idioms, but...

"The last idiom was used incorrectly; it's not a good word," Lu Mingfei complained.

"Hmm, maybe I'm wrong." Tony blinked.

Natasha smiled: "And I am the representative responsible for liaising between S.H.I.E.L.D. and you all."

Lu Mingfei thought to himself, "Just as I thought. Natasha is a representative of S.H.I.E.L.D. But for such a big event as running for President of the United States, Fury only sent a representative? Is he busy with something more important?"

“However, strictly speaking, S.H.I.E.L.D. is not entirely our ally yet,” Tony said, looking at Lu Mingfei. “Procedurally, we still need your vote of approval for S.H.I.E.L.D. to truly be considered as part of our alliance.”

No wonder Tony was in such a hurry to have Jarvis bring me here. Lu Mingfei suddenly realized.

Lu Mingfei shook his head and said, "Tony, you and the captain can decide this. I'm just here to join in the fun."

“Treating the US presidential election as a ‘spectacle’…” Tony nodded in satisfaction. “Hmm, I like your analogy.”

“You’re also part of our team,” Steve said, becoming much more serious. “As one of the original three members of the team, your opinion is very important.”

Having come this far, Lu Mingfei couldn't be coy, so he nodded and said, "Then I also agree to S.H.I.E.L.D. joining."

He knew a bit about S.H.I.E.L.D., and from a certain perspective, this group could be described in one word—a plus version of the FBI.

There's no reason to refuse such an ally, especially since even Tony agreed. That means that even if there are any hidden dangers associated with S.H.I.E.L.D. as an ally, Tony must have taken them into consideration. There's no reason for Lu Mingfei to disagree.

“From now on, we’re all in the same boat,” Natasha said, extending her hand to Lu Mingfei. “Won’t you shake hands?”

“No,” Lu Mingfei shook his head, picking up the hamburger beside him. “I bet Natasha, you haven’t washed your hands yet.”

Natasha was silent.

She had eaten dinner before arriving, so she didn't order fast food and naturally didn't wash her hands.

Holding a hamburger, Lu Mingfei asked, "By the way, Tony, how's the election going? Has the captain's reputation taken off yet?"

The most important thing in running for president is to build momentum and win votes; in other words, the first step is to gather a large number of people's hearts and minds.

“Captain America’s name is already legendary,” Tony said, “but Steve is different.”

"What?" Lu Mingfei asked, biting into his hamburger.

“As I predicted, most politicians, and the forces behind them, have reached a consensus that they don’t want Steve to take a slice of America’s pie,” Tony said. “They have been creating public opinion in various media outlets, questioning Steve’s identity, and belittling the long-standing glorious image of ‘Captain America’.”

“However, the latter is not a big problem at the moment. The concept of ‘Captain America’ has developed since World War II and has become one of the spiritual totems for a considerable number of Americans. It cannot be easily influenced, and the military will not allow politicians to tarnish this heroic image. Otherwise, they will not be able to use Captain America in recruitment advertisements in the future,” Tony said. “The bigger problem is the former. Major media outlets are questioning the identity of Steve Rogers’ Captain America under the instruction of their backers. For example, they are suggesting that he is an imposter or that he has had plastic surgery.”

“In the world of public opinion, what is true can become false, and what is false can become true,” Lu Mingfei said, taking a sip of his Coke. “But isn’t S.H.I.E.L.D. involved? From the moment they discovered Captain America in the Arctic, they should have been recording the whole process, right? Why can’t they just release the recordings?”

“It’s possible, but this is a powerful weapon. Theoretically, it should be used to turn the tide when we’re at a disadvantage, or to seize the opportunity and win in one fell swoop. The current public opinion environment is quite chaotic, so throwing this powerful weapon out directly would be a waste,” Tony said. “Besides, the record isn’t always reliable. You yourself said that whether it’s true or false isn’t important in the war of public opinion. Even if the record is true, it can still be falsely accused of being fabricated…”

Steve smiled wryly: "I've heard that there's always been a difficult problem in philosophy: proving 'I am who I am.' I never thought I'd encounter this problem in political science as well."

"So, our top priority is to completely associate Steve with the image of 'Captain America' in the public eye?" Lu Mingfei concluded.

“That’s right,” Tony said. “No matter how legendary Captain America’s story is, if people can’t immediately associate the image of Captain America with Steve Rogers when they think of him, the legendary story won’t be a help to us.”

"Wait... a legendary story? Captain America's legendary story..." Lu Mingfei had a sudden inspiration and slapped his thigh, "I've got it!"

Tony and his two companions were startled by his commotion.

"What are you thinking about?" Natasha asked.

"Tony, does Stark Industries have any involvement in the film and television industry?" Lu Mingfei asked.

“No,” Tony shook his head, “but it’s possible.”

After a brief moment of thought, Tony seemed to realize something: "You don't mean to..."

Natasha also showed a somewhat surprised expression.

"In terms of film and television?" Steve, whose mindset wasn't entirely modern, was a bit confused.

“Captain,” Lu Mingfei looked at Steve, “are you… interested in becoming an actor?”

“To be honest, acting isn’t one of my interests. During World War II, I did a lot of acting as a military agent to boost morale and recruit soldiers,” Steve shook his head. “But I still prefer fighting on the battlefield.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to go back to the stage for a while, Captain,” Lu Mingfei said, raising his Coke cup. “Everyone, let’s make a movie called Captain America, and tell the legendary story of Captain America in the movie. Steve, you’ll play Captain America!”

Steve: !!!

147. Chapter 146: The Gift of Blood?

Early morning, at Lu Mingfei's home, at the training ground.

"clang--"

The sound of metal clashing echoed throughout the training ground.

Lu Mingfei slowly lowered his fist, leaving a deep dent in the thick steel plate in front of him.

The metallic clanging sound earlier was from Lu Mingfei's fist hitting the steel plate. His entire arm was covered in jet-black scales, which were as tough as most alloys.

After agreeing to S.H.I.E.L.D. joining the team at Tony's house last night, and briefly outlining the "Captain America movie plan," Lu Mingfei returned home.

Although Tony's house is very big and has many rooms, so you can rest directly when you're tired, Lu Mingfei still prefers his own big bed.

This morning, after being woken up by his blonde housekeeper dressed in a mini-skirt maid outfit instead of the cold alarm clock, he came to the training ground for his morning exercise.

He no longer needs a martial arts coach. It's not that he's invincible, but with his current fighting level, coaches who can be hired through normal means have nothing left to teach him.

To use a somewhat juvenile term, Lu Mingfei's current fighting skills are just one step away from becoming a "grandmaster," and only he himself can take that step.

Incidentally, judging from Lu Mingfei's perspective, Senior Brother Chu's swordsmanship should be considered "Grandmaster". However, Senior Brother Chu's swordsmanship has a very distinct personal style. Even if he can learn it using the power of words, it does not fit his fighting style and the effect is far less than that of Senior Brother Chu himself.

However, if we disregard the power of words and only engage in hand-to-hand combat, Senior Brother Chu would likely have a hard time defeating him. If they were to fight with weapons, Senior Brother Chu would have even less of a chance. Murasame is a very good alchemical weapon, but no matter how good it is, it cannot compare to the Silver Oak Sword.

After all, although he was inferior to Senior Brother Chu in terms of skill, he was superior to Senior Brother Chu in all aspects of physical fitness.

After Tony activated his bloodline for the second time, Lu Mingfei discovered that he not only experienced another improvement in his physical abilities, but also gained the ability to cover his body with scales as a form of defense.

As time went on, his scales' defensive capabilities seemed to be slowly increasing day by day.

Furthermore, when his body is covered in scales, the strength of the muscles in the corresponding areas will also increase.

This change is similar to the hardening of scales. The enhancement of muscles will gradually increase over time. When he first gained the ability to scale, covering his body with scales could only simply add a layer of protection for himself. But now, the muscle strength of the parts covered by scales has more than doubled.

Because his melee combat ability is greatly enhanced when his body is covered in dragon scales, Lu Mingfei calls this ability "Dragon Scale Mode" or "Dragon Scale State" in a rather childish way.

He also consulted Tony, who told him that this was normal, proving that his current physical condition had not yet reached the limit of his current genes, so his body would slowly and continuously become stronger.

Just like a robust golden monkey evolving into a malnourished human, even the most malnourished human is still stronger than a golden monkey that is only a few tens of centimeters tall. However, this malnourished human can still "become stronger." As long as he continues to eat a reasonable diet and exercise, he will transform from a "malnourished human" into a "strong and healthy human."

In any case, becoming stronger is always a good thing, but there is one thing that is quite troublesome - although his scales and muscles are strengthened in the Dragon Scale state, his bones are not strengthened. This causes his muscles to put pressure on his bones when he exerts too much force.

Although his bones seem relatively strong at the moment and won't easily break in Dragon Scale Mode, the amplification of his muscles will gradually increase in Dragon Scale Mode. If it increases two or three times in the future, it's hard to say whether his bones will still be strong.

He also asked Tony if there was a solution, and Tony said that the only option was to wait for the third version of the drug, but the third version of the drug was still a long way off. Tony said that he hadn't even found a breakthrough yet.

Therefore, the most realistic approach at present is for Lu Mingfei to continuously train and try to control his power in the Dragon Scale state, using techniques to protect his bones. Moreover, the training cannot be interrupted, because the power in the Dragon Scale state will continue to increase before reaching the current genetic limit.

"Hello? Is this Tony?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"Mingfei, come quick! My research has succeeded!" Tony exclaimed.

……

In Tony's laboratory.

Lu Mingfei held up a sealed test tube: "Is this the drug you mentioned, Tony, that can turn ordinary people into hybrids?"

The liquid in the test tube looked a bit too clear and transparent—it looked exactly like distilled water!

“Yes, this is the safest version right now,” Tony said. “It can only give people a trace amount of dragon blood, which is definitely not comparable to your bloodline, but it is stable enough that there is absolutely no risk of turning into Deadpool.”