Marvel: The Alchemist Just Wants a Peaceful Life...

How to put it... it's like discovering that the super-popular idol who's all sweet and soft like a little cake on stage is actually a smoker and drinker in private.

Seeing Yelena's bewildered expression, Black Widow simply smiled and didn't say anything more.

After the laughter and commotion, everyone had to face a real problem: Alexei was in a prison in Siberia.

It's hard to imagine that the creature created by the Russians to challenge Captain America is now imprisoned in one of the highest-level secret prisons in Russia, a place for serious criminals.

When Sherlock heard Yelena reveal Alexei's location, he couldn't contain his curiosity and pressed Yelena for more information.

"No, isn't he some Red Guard? Did he assassinate the Corn Maniac and then smuggle out a large quantity of weapons, or did he get drunk on vodka and sleep with the Corn Maniac's wife? How could he be imprisoned in a place like this?"

Upon hearing Sherlock's question, Yelena simply glanced at Sherlock and calmly replied.

"It's not that uneventful."

Sherlock: ? ? ? ?

Seeing Yelena fall silent after saying those words, Sherlock was extremely curious about what the Red Guards had done to be imprisoned here for so many years. However, it was obvious that Yelena didn't want to talk about it, and Sherlock didn't want to ask right now.

Meanwhile, the people at the table began to devise a plan to rescue Alexei from that tight-knit prison for hardened criminals.

It must be said that Russia's geographical environment is indeed a natural paradise for prison construction. Coupled with the numerous buildings left over from the Russian era, many secret prisons are extremely difficult to escape from, let alone break out of.

This was the situation in the prison where Alexei was located.

The prison he was in was located in the permafrost region of Siberia, near the Arctic Circle, where the ground is covered in snow for most of the year.

Even the prison itself was converted from an underground industrial base left over from the time of the Russian bear. The entire base is surrounded by snow-capped mountains, and almost all of the main buildings are located underground. The central courtyard is almost the only passage connecting the outside world and the prison interior.

The good news is that, due to its geographical location and the special nature of the prisoners it houses, this prison remains an extremely secretive institution even today.

Moreover, due to its secluded nature and unique geographical location in the Arctic Circle, the prison's defenses are not very strong, especially its air defenses, which consist of only a single tower.

The bad news is also clear: although the prison's security is very lax, its geographical location and architecture alone have created a formidable barrier that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, making a prison break extremely difficult.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a pipe dream. If the prison can hold out for a certain period of time, then the people who attempt to break out will face the wrath of the Russian authorities.

Let alone ordinary people, even the Avengers would have to think twice before trying to break out of prison without Sherlock.

Fortunately, the current Avengers still have Sherlock Holmes, who is practically a bug in the system, which saves the Avengers a lot of effort.

As for why Alexei, being a superhuman, didn't escape from prison, the reason is actually quite simple: it's impossible.

A glance at a map of Russia reveals that while it boasts the world's largest land area, 65% of its territory is uninhabited due to environmental conditions completely unsuitable for human habitation.

Therefore, if Alexei were to escape, he might walk for more than a month without seeing any human settlements. In addition, the prison itself does not provide particularly warm clothing in order to prevent prisoners from escaping.

Under such conditions, both the food and the temperature were enough to kill Alexei. Even though Alexei had physical abilities similar to the captain, he would ultimately meet a tragic end.

Moreover, this is assuming the prison doesn't send any pursuers. If the prison does send pursuers, facing prison guards with fast mobility equipment like airplanes and snowmobiles, unless Alexei can fly, he will definitely not be able to escape the prison's grasp.

Moreover, given Alexei's personality, he might have tried to escape if given the chance, and the fact that he is still obediently staying in prison speaks volumes.

Chapter 241 The Prison Break Plan - Preparation (Part 1)

After a brief discussion and the development of an action plan, the first thing the group had to do had absolutely nothing to do with the prison break plan, because before carrying out the prison break plan, everyone had to clean the safe house.

So even though the group of 'Hydra' in front of them looked very powerful, they still had to pick up brooms and mops and carefully clean every part of the room. Even Sherlock couldn't escape this process.

After all, reality isn't a movie. In a movie, a group of people might just pack up and leave, and the scene would immediately switch to the next one. But reality isn't like that.

If not cleaned up carefully, the 'details' left inside this safe house alone would be enough for a 'normal' organization to analyze a lot of things.

In such a situation, if you don't want the enemy to know too much about you, then the only options are to either clean thoroughly or pollute wildly; there is no other way.

As the saying goes, details determine success or failure. Whether you believe it or not, whether it's the Red Room or S.H.I.E.L.D., combat is only a small part of agent training. The real majority of training comes from these seemingly insignificant details.

Of course, despite knowing and understanding, it didn't stop Sherlock and Tony from cursing each other out. Sherlock even said that he had to find a way to create an automatic cleaning machine, or at the very least, a contamination grenade!

Black Widow, Hawkeye, and even Yelena all wholeheartedly support this and are eagerly anticipating Sherlock's work.

The group spent the entire morning thoroughly cleaning up Black Widow's soon-to-be-abandoned safe house, ensuring no clues were left behind. Then, Sherlock decisively pulled the Anywhere Door from his pocket.

When the standard sound effect of Sherlock taking out a gadget from his four-dimensional pocket rang out, and the pink door appeared the instant it did Yelena belatedly realize what the door in front of her was.

Overcome with excitement, Yelena pointed at the door that Sherlock had just placed on the ground while frantically slapping Black Widow's arm.

"Anywhere Door! Doraemon!?!"

Seeing Yelena's naive and unworldly demeanor, Black Widow sighed helplessly and said to Sherlock, whose face had turned as black as the bottom of a pot upon hearing Yelena's shout.

"Sherlock, don't mind her, this is Yelena's first time meeting you."

After saying that, without waiting for Sherlock's reaction, he pulled Yelena to a corner and started talking to her about something, causing Yelena to glance at Sherlock standing at the door every now and then.

What could Sherlock do? Sherlock was completely out of ideas!

At this moment, Sherlock deeply regretted his past mischievousness. Of all things to imitate, why did he have to imitate that blue fat cat? Now he was suffering the consequences.

After letting out a helpless sigh, Sherlock opened the Anywhere Door and walked straight in.

To everyone's surprise, the scene behind the Anywhere Door was something that every man present was extremely familiar with. The two rows of various miscellaneous items in front of the Anywhere Door clearly indicated what this place was.

That's right, this is the place where Sherlock led a group of drunkards to challenge the tiger to a duel and ultimately fled in a frenzy!

The group of men who crossed the Anywhere Door didn't look too good; in fact, they looked a little embarrassed. Tony, in particular, couldn't help but think of his pitiful plea for help in the video as he looked at the various odds and ends that had been paved out on both sides of the 'road'.

"Hey Sherlock, can't we just go straight to that prison or some nearby city?"

Sherlock, who was rummaging through the clutter on both sides and stuffing things back in, responded to Tony's words with only a towering middle finger.

However, Sherlock did explain to Tony that his Anywhere Door was merely an alchemical artifact created by imitating the portal magic of Kamar-Taj, and since he hadn't gone to Asgard to study at that time, his alchemical skills were actually quite limited.

The most direct result is that if you haven't been to a place before, it's highly unlikely that you can use the Anywhere Door to get there. The Anywhere Door will only take you to a general location, and sometimes it might even be tens or hundreds of kilometers away from where you want to go.

For example, on that night when you were drunk, you came looking for the tiger. The Anywhere Door only guarantees to send you to Siberia, but whether you can find the tiger is not the Anywhere Door's responsibility.

It can only be said that the group of people that night were incredibly lucky. Not only did they "successfully" discover the tiger, they also "successfully" discovered the base that led to the events that followed.

It's no exaggeration to say that Sherlock felt he had never been so lucky in a lottery, so much so that his expression was never pleasant.

Of course, the men who were there were not having an easy time either. After the group silently helped Sherlock pack up the department store items, Sherlock gave each of them a bamboo dragonfly.

Yelena looked at the bamboo dragonfly in her hand, and at the group of Avengers in front of her who were imitating Sherlock Holmes by putting bamboo dragonflies on their heads, but were dressed in villain costumes. For a moment, she didn't know where to begin her吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for sarcastic or critical comments).

She could only silently follow the example of the group and place that seemingly childish toy on her head. However, when the bamboo dragonfly started spinning, all of Yelena's thoughts vanished without a trace, leaving only excitement and anticipation in her heart.

The idea that flight is something humans have dreamed of since ancient times is not just a simple statement. The bamboo dragonfly is unlike any other flying machine in human history. It has no sense of being pushed back or accelerated. All it gives you is the feeling of transforming into a bird.

Happiness, freedom, and doing as you please.

The Avengers weren't much better off than Yelena. Although Sherlock's bamboo dragonfly was certainly slower than Tony's armor or airplane, it could be said to completely surpass any flying machine in human history in terms of freedom.

A group of people were more or less immersed in the purest joy brought by the bamboo dragonfly. Unfortunately, this joy did not last long. When Scarlett Johansson took out the navigation, the men's expressions quickly became strange.

The reason is simple: according to the location data, the group of people are not in Siberia at all, but rather in the Greater Khingan Mountains near China!

Therefore, strictly speaking, Gong Baiwan should be a Siberian tiger, not a Siberian tiger, even though they are actually the same type of tiger.

Chapter 242 The Prison Break Plan - Preparation (Part 2)

It's safe to say that the fact that no big shot on the rabbit side took offense to their accidental entry into the country is already a stroke of good luck. Sherlock didn't dare to stay on the rabbit side any longer and almost immediately urged everyone to use bamboo dragonflies to fly across the border.

Fortunately, the Greater Khingan Mountains were not far from the border of the rabbits. The group crossed the border in just under an hour and arrived in the Skvorodino region of Russia.

Once the group arrived in Russia, Black Widow and Zhao Weike, two Russians, stepped in, and with money paving the way, the group quickly boarded a train to Vladivostok.

It's fair to say that the infrastructure level in the Far East region of Russia is beyond the comprehension of most people. The group spent almost a whole day on the train before finally arriving at this most developed city in the Far East of Russia.

Upon arriving in Vladivostok, the group moved into a safe house arranged by Black Widow. Yelena, Black Widow, and Hawkeye then hurriedly left after dropping everyone off at the safe house.

The three men disappeared for almost an entire day. When they returned, weary from their journey, they brought back not only the 'vehicle'—the most crucial element of their prison break plan—but also the prison's blueprints.

That's right, the three of them used almost all their connections to get a heavy helicopter, the Mi-26, which is still the largest and heaviest helicopter in the world to this day.

The old model that first flew in 1977, the one that Scarlett Johansson and her two friends got their hands on was the first batch delivered in 80.

Despite its advanced age, which surpasses everyone else on the scene except the captain, this thing is undeniably the best means of transportation into the Siberian permafrost region, bar none.

The group rested for another day in the safe house before taking their equipment and heading by helicopter towards the permafrost region where the prison was located.

Although the helicopter was much faster than the train, the territory of Russia was simply too large, so the group flew for almost a day and a night before finally landing in an uninhabited area 20 kilometers away from the prison.

Sherlock used alchemy to build a temporary base here for rest. Most importantly, a group of people needed to carry out the final preparations for the prison break plan here.

Thanks to the versatile tool belt that Sherlock gave Tony, Tony created a capsule-shaped positioning device and placed it inside a Red Guardian figurine.

This thing would be placed by Black Widow in the mail sent to the prison under the guise of a letter package, and delivered to Alexei inside the prison. To ensure that Alexei would obediently take the tracking pill, Black Widow even wrapped a handwritten note on the capsule.

Meanwhile, Sherlock was busy modifying the helicopter.

Although the Mi-26 helicopter was originally built as a military helicopter, a civilian version also appeared later. Unfortunately, the helicopter that Scarlett Johansson and her friends got their hands on was the civilian version.

Both the military and civilian versions have a unique way of tracing their origins, which can even trace the helicopter's entire lifespan. Compared to the military version, the civilian version undoubtedly has a stronger ability to trace its origins.

Sherlock's modifications, to put it bluntly, involved erasing any trace of the aircraft's origin, including part codes, stamps on the fuselage, and even the fuselage color—essentially turning the plane into a complete ghost.

This was not a difficult task for Sherlock, who had mastered alchemy; it could be completed in just half a day.

Of course, Sherlock retained a little bit of his own wicked sense of humor, as evidenced by the small Hydra symbol on the lower part of the airplane cabin.

Whether or not Big Mao can discover this little Easter egg is not Sherlock's concern.

After completing the modification of the aircraft, Sherlock went to discuss with the captain and the others how to infiltrate the prison and rescue Alexei without making a sound.

After a heated discussion, the group split into two teams.

The first team, led by the captain, consisted of Sherlock, Tony, and Yelena. Their objective was clear: Sherlock would use alchemy to pave the way and infiltrate the prison from underground.

Then Tony was responsible for locating Alexei's position, Yelena was responsible for confirming it, and then the captain knocked him unconscious and secretly brought him out.

The second team, led by Black Widow, included Hawkeye and Zhao Weike. The three of them were responsible for helicopter pick-up and support, as well as preparing backup plans.

Black Widow and Hawkeye were responsible for piloting the helicopter, while Zhao Weike provided fire support from the aircraft.

Simply put, this team is both the captain's team's Plan B and the most important support team during the subsequent escape.

If the plan goes smoothly, Black Widow's team won't even need to take off; they just need to pick up everyone at the designated location after the first team completes their mission and leave.

If the plan doesn't go as smoothly as expected, then the existence of this second team will become extremely important.

If the captain's group is discovered, a group of people will fight their way out of the prison courtyard with Alexei, and then Black Widow and her crew will have to come and pick them up in a plane.

Of course, since they were on Russia's side and not fighting on their home turf, everyone in the group hoped that they wouldn't need Black Widow's support.

After resting for a night at the makeshift base Sherlock created, the captain led his team toward the prison early the next morning.

Sherlock grumbled and cursed throughout the 20-kilometer journey, and it wasn't until almost nightfall that the group could vaguely see the prison lights.

"Natasha, we're in position."

After hearing the captain's voice over the comms, Black Widow quickly responded.

"Received. Team Two is ready to provide support at any time. The locator has been delivered. Hopefully, Alexei will obediently swallow the locator!"

Upon hearing Black Widow's reply, the captain paused for a moment, ultimately choosing to ignore her complaint and turning to Tony.

"Tony, activate the locator and check. If all goes well, the prison should be dark and resting by now, so the locator shouldn't be moving."

After hearing the captain's words, Tony fiddled with the small screen on his arm for a while before looking at the captain with a constipated expression and asking him a question.

"Which would you like to hear first, good news or bad news?"

Hearing Tony's words, the captain rolled his eyes in annoyance and gave Tony a disapproving look, signaling him to get to the point.

Seeing the captain's look, Tony shrugged and said to the captain.

"The good news is that the location hasn't moved. The bad news is that, according to the architectural plans, the location is currently in the central plaza of Area A of the underground prison."

In other words, it's obvious that those Russians didn't turn off the lights and rest as required; they were still gathered together, perhaps having a party?

When Tony said those words, everyone on the communicator fell silent for a moment, whether it was the first team preparing to infiltrate or the second team ready to provide support.

Finally, Hawkeye's voice came through the communication, summarizing the situation.

"Very standard Maoist operational management style! Yes, very standard!"

Chapter 243 Prison Break 1

To be honest, Hawkeye's criticism is spot on. The Russians have never lacked the spirit and courage to innovate, but their terrible operation and management methods are also infamous worldwide.

It's no exaggeration to say that, from national affairs to company operations, the most common scenario for Russians is that they invent something new, operate it for a period of time, and then quickly decline.