Lu Mingfei doesn't want to be a superhero

After greeting Saul, Peter took a deep breath and punched Saul hard in the chest.

The moment Peter hit him, Thor's expression changed drastically. He then became a blur, crashed through the training room wall, and was buried in the rubble.

"Mr. Saul, are you alright?" Peter rushed over and tried to dig Saul out.

A burly figure crawled out of the ruins, clutching his chest and grimacing: "Not bad, mortal, you have some strength... hiss... cough cough cough cough..."

Lu Mingfei stood aside and watched, feeling quite pleased—a dog that's been rained on always wants to shake someone else off.

……

An unknown part of the universe.

"Why haven't we set off yet?" the tall, thin figure asked Loki with dissatisfaction.

“The plan…the plan had a slight flaw,” Loki said somewhat awkwardly. “Originally, as long as the Tesseract was activated on Earth, I could use its power to create a portal to go to Earth, appear directly next to the Tesseract, and take it.”

"Then why aren't you going?" the shadowy figure asked.

“They used to activate the Rubik’s Cube quite often, but for some reason, they haven’t tried to activate it recently,” Loki explained. “If they don’t activate the Rubik’s Cube, I can’t use the Rubik’s Cube’s portal.”

"So you're not even sure when you'll be able to reach Earth?" the shadowy figure said, even more dissatisfied.

"Wait a little longer, wait a little longer, it will definitely work..." Loki said hurriedly.

"I don't have time to wait for you!" the shadowy figure said. "You'll travel to Earth in your spaceship using the warp drive and wormhole. It's not as convenient as the Tesseract, but it won't take long to get there! Remember, be quick. The great Thanos isn't giving you much patience!"

Loki's expression changed several times, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he suppressed it and said, "Okay, I understand."

……

On the spaceship bound for Earth.

Loki gripped his scepter, gazing out at the vast universe.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he had a bad feeling—something seemed off about the script. How come his plan had failed at the very first step?

No... it must just be my imagination.

Perhaps it was just because things didn't go according to his plan from the start that he had the illusion that things wouldn't go smoothly afterward.

Hmm, it's probably just an illusion.

Loki comforted himself in this way while inside the spaceship.

P.S.: Requesting monthly votes at the end of the month!

Chapter 152 Attack

Universal Studios Hollywood, a northwestern suburb of downtown Los Angeles.

Lu Mingfei and Natasha stayed at a nearby luxury hotel.

Because the pre-production work for a big-budget film is very complicated, Tony, Lu Mingfei, and others simply lived near Hollywood to avoid having to travel back and forth between their homes and the filming location every day during filming.

Tony and Steve were originally supposed to stay at this hotel, but Tony said that since he was going to stay here for a while anyway, he simply bought a villa that he liked and moved in there.

Steve rented a house nearby—since he was going to be staying there for a relatively long time, renting a house was definitely cheaper than staying in a hotel.

Although Lu Mingfei wasn't as extravagant as Tony, he wasn't as frugal as Steve either, so he decisively chose to stay in a hotel, which was the most normal option. Natasha, on the other hand, because she had funding from S.H.I.E.L.D., naturally stayed in the same luxury hotel, in the room opposite Lu Mingfei's.

Late at night, Lu Mingfei lay on the large bed in his hotel room, his hands constantly typing on his laptop—although he was currently in charge of casting with Natasha, he couldn't neglect his studies.

"Tuk tuk tuk..."

There was a knock on the door.

Lu Mingfei closed his laptop, got up, walked to the door, and opened it.

He initially thought it was a waiter or Natasha knocking on the door, but instead, a woman wearing a long trench coat, a wide-brimmed hat, and large sunglasses stood at the door, with a dark brown belt cinching her waist, accentuating her slender figure.

"Who are you?" Lu Mingfei became slightly more wary.

"May I come in and talk to you?" The woman leaned slightly closer to Lu Mingfei, her voice clear and bright, and a faint scent of white roses wafted over.

Lu Mingfei stepped aside to let her in.

The woman seemed completely unceremonious. She walked to the sofa in her high heels, sat down, took off her hat and sunglasses, turned to look at Lu Mingfei, and a faint smile appeared on her lips.

She was very beautiful, probably the kind of beauty that top-tier "pretty face" actresses possess, with lightly drawn eyeliner and radiant blonde hair cascading down her back.

"May I ask who you are?" Lu Mingfei asked again.

Hearing Lu Mingfei ask again, the woman's face showed an incredulous expression: "You don't recognize me?"

"Should I...know you?" Lu Mingfei asked, sitting on the sofa with a puzzled look on his face.

Although the woman was very beautiful, he didn't actually know her.

"You haven't seen my movies?" the woman asked, her eyes wide.

Lu Mingfei paused for a moment, then took out his phone in front of the woman, took a picture, and quickly typed a line in Jarvis's chat interface: "Jarvis, help me find this person."

Half a second later, several web pages popped up—the profile of a top-tier movie actress.

“Elena Whittaker?” Lu Mingfei looked at her.

The actress nodded in satisfaction.

Although his world and Tony's world are quite similar, there are also many differences, including many entertainment stars and various entertainment works in the two worlds.

Lu Mingfei casually glanced through the information. In his world, there was no famous actress named "Elena Whittaker." However, in Tony's world, the actress in front of him was a well-known American film star who had starred in many box office hits and was characterized by her pure and aloof demeanor.

"Miss Elena, how did you know I lived here?" Lu Mingfei asked. "And what are you doing here?"

“How I found out where you live is a secret, and I’m sorry I can’t tell you,” Elena tossed her hair, leaned forward slightly, and stared into Lu Mingfei’s eyes. “As for why I’m here, you should know very well…”

Lu Mingfei looked down at his phone and opened the audition form: "Oh, you've booked an audition for tomorrow, right? And it's for the female lead, Carter, um... isn't it a bit early to come for an audition now?"

“So we have plenty of time until dawn, right?” Elena’s smooth, fair legs were crossed, and her trench coat slipped down to reveal her upper thighs.

Lu Mingfei finally realized something was wrong: "Wait! You...you wouldn't be here to..."

Elena took a deep breath: "Mr. Lu Mingfei, this may be your first time participating in film production, but it's certainly not your first time... to have close communication with people like us. Why don't we be frank with each other?"

"No, what's there to be honest about? I've always been an honest person." Lu Mingfei scratched his head.

“Well… I’ll be frank with you too.” Elena gave Lu Mingfei a seductive look, then got up from the sofa, loosened her belt, opened her trench coat, and met Lu Mingfei's gaze with complete honesty.

Lu Mingfei's eyes widened instinctively.

He was unsure whether Elena was wearing one or two pieces of clothing—because he wasn't sure if the rope should be counted as clothing.

Elena stared intently at Lu Mingfei with her emerald eyes, took two steps forward, bent down and wrapped her arms around Lu Mingfei's neck, breathing warm, moist air into his ear: "How about it? Am I... more honest than you now?"

Lu Mingfei froze, then took a deep breath.

……

Natasha, who was lying in her room applying a face mask, suddenly heard a faint scream coming from the opposite room—Lu Mingfei's scream.

Without bothering to change her clothes, Natasha didn't take the pistol from under her pillow. Instead, still in her bathrobe, she rolled over and jumped to the cabinet, took out a metal briefcase, opened it, and took out two Uzi submachine guns—in a sudden crisis that even Lu Mingfei couldn't handle, the pistols would probably be of little use.

Holding guns in both hands, Natasha rushed to the door like a fierce cheetah. She didn't open the door immediately, but looked through the peephole. A beautiful woman in a long trench coat walked out of Lu Mingfei's room, slammed the door shut with a furious expression, and then strode away.

Natasha: ? ? ?

……

Lu Mingfei's room.

"hahahahahahahahahaha……"

After removing her face mask and changing into casual clothes, Natasha sat on the sofa opposite Lu Mingfei, letting out a shrill laugh that had nothing to do with being a lady, while forcefully slapping the sofa.

"Hey, have you laughed enough?" Lu Mingfei rolled his dead fish eyes.

"Hahahaha, I could laugh about this for three years, hahahaha..." As Natasha laughed, Lu Mingfei's face grew darker and darker.

After a long while, Natasha finally stopped laughing, but her voice still carried an uncontrollable mirth: "You and Mr. Stark are such good friends, how come you can't even handle a celebrity?"

"Tony is Tony, and I am me, okay!" Lu Mingfei said with a dark face. "I'm not as cunning as him!"

“No wonder Mr. Stark specifically asked me to use S.H.I.E.L.D.’s systems to look up Elena today,” Natasha said with a sudden realization. “I thought he had his eye on this actress himself, but I didn’t expect it was for you.”

"I knew Tony leaked my address!" Lu Mingfei gritted his teeth, then loudly complained, "And isn't S.H.I.E.L.D. an intelligence organization? Why are you helping Tony investigate this kind of thing? It suddenly makes your whole organization look sleazy!"

“There’s nothing we can do. Mr. Stark is a major shareholder of S.H.I.E.L.D., so we have to carry out these orders,” Natasha said helplessly.

Oh right, I forgot about that. Lu Mingfei covered his face.

“Mr. Stark is so good to you,” Natasha couldn’t help but sigh. “We’ve already looked into Elena. Although she’s a very famous actress, she comes from a well-off family and has some connections in the film industry, so she hasn’t experienced any unspoken rules or gone astray as other stars. She hasn’t contracted any strange diseases, and she hasn’t used hallucinogens or anything like that…”

"Then why did she suddenly... make such a huge sacrifice?" Lu Mingfei wondered.

"Not long ago, her family's business went bankrupt. When she debuted, she signed with a big agency. Although she was quite popular, she wasn't considered a true talent. A large part of her success was due to the company's promotion, so she was very dependent on the company. As a result, the company would take away most of her income. She wanted to go solo, so she signed a performance-based agreement with the company. If her film remuneration reached a certain amount within five years, the company would terminate her contract and let her make movies as a free agent. Otherwise, she would have to pay the company a large sum of money."

“It’s been four years now, and she’s only reached two-thirds of the agreed-upon amount,” Natasha said with a smile to Lu Mingfei. “So the Captain America movie has become her lifeline—as long as she can get a role, she still has a chance to turn things around. I guess she contacted Mr. Stark, the director, through some means, but Mr. Stark generously recommended her to you.”

"That's too ruthless..." Lu Mingfei smirked. "And what kind of loyalty is this?! He's just trying to set me up!"

“She’s a big star, after all. So many people try every means to get close to her but can’t,” Natasha laughed. “You’ve missed a great opportunity. According to the information I’ve found, she might be the cleanest A-list celebrity in the entire American entertainment industry.”

Lu Mingfei sat on the sofa, turned around and pointed to a pile of ropes on the bed, complaining, "This is what she left behind before she left. I feel like she was playing some pretty clever tricks?"

Natasha's eyes flickered slightly, and she teased, "Isn't it more satisfying for men to do this kind of thing while enduring shame?"

"Then go by yourself. Aren't we the two of us in charge of casting?" Lu Mingfei retorted. "What if she can convince you?"

“Although she is very beautiful, unfortunately, I still prefer handsome guys like you~” Natasha suddenly got up from the sofa, sat down next to Lu Mingfei, held his chin with one hand, and breathed into his ear.

Lu Mingfei looked at her expressionlessly, grabbed her wrist, and then used a grappling technique to pin her to the ground.

"Don't move, it seems like someone is watching us," Natasha whispered in Lu Mingfei's ear.

Lu Mingfei's wrist stiffened.

“Come close to my ear and whisper,” Natasha said.

Lu Mingfei stiffly approached Natasha, but carefully controlled the distance so as not to actually get close: "What's going on?"

“It seems like we’ve just been monitored; there are snipers outside,” Natasha said.

"Are you sure? I've drawn the curtains," Lu Mingfei said. "What use is a sniper?"