The next morning, a warm beam of sunlight shone onto Li Feng's face as he lay on the roof of the RV.
Still half-asleep, the light made his eyes uncomfortable. He instinctively rolled over—only to hear a thud as he fell face-first onto the ground. Nearby, Coulson, who hadn't slept all night and was lounging on a deck chair watching the sunrise, heard the commotion and gave Li Feng, who was sprawled on the ground, a speechless look: Aren't mages supposed to be wise? Why does this mage I know seem like a complete idiot?
With a dark line forming on his forehead, Coulson sighed. Not even considering helping Li Feng up, he simply asked with a hint of resignation, "You okay?"
From Coulson's tone, Li Feng could tell the other man was just going through the motions.
But that's exactly what I wanted.
Face still planted on the ground, Li Feng smirked slightly with his back turned to Coulson, then quickly wiped the expression off his face as he turned around, replacing it with a disgruntled look. Dusting himself off as if nothing had happened, he said, "I'm fine. Just a shame my sweet dream got interrupted. Wonder if I can pick it back up if I go back to sleep now."
"You can try," Coulson rolled his eyes and turned back to the sunrise. "Hope your dream comes true."
Just then, as if remembering something, Coulson suddenly turned back to Li Feng, his tone and expression turning slightly serious. "After May used the Noh mask, did you examine her?"
Li Feng nodded, scratching his head in frustration. "Yeah, but I didn't find anything wrong."
Studying Li Feng's expression, Coulson narrowed his eyes and asked with a trace of concern, "Could you not detect anything, or was there actually no problem?"
"Who knows?" Li Feng shrugged. "Anyway, I didn't notice any changes in Melinda—not even subtle ones."
Honestly, Li Feng felt pretty cheated. Not only had Melinda used the mask, but to secure a talented future subordinate, he'd even thrown in a precious drop of Eternal Spring water afterward.
Yet when examining Melinda, he'd found nothing. He could only guess that maybe she hadn't used the mask long enough for side effects like inner demons to manifest.
But letting her continue using it would mean wasting more Eternal Spring water, which he couldn't bear.
What a mess. So damn annoying.
Coulson's lips twitched as he glanced at the utterly irresponsible Li Feng, thinking to himself that this guy really wasn't reliable. He'd just have to arrange for Melinda to undergo a thorough checkup at SHIELD headquarters later.
As the sun rose, Selvig, who by now saw Li Feng as a knowledge-hungry friend, opened his bleary eyes and approached with Jane and Darcy in tow. "Morning, Austin."
"Morning, Erik," Li Feng greeted with a smile, though he couldn't help but notice the slightly pale faces of Jane and Darcy.
Selvig awkwardly glanced at Li Feng's RV and cleared his throat. "Uh, we were wondering if we could borrow your bathroom."
Ah, so that's why Jane and Darcy look like that—they've been holding it in. Li Feng suppressed a chuckle and gestured toward the car door, signaling for the two to make themselves comfortable. Turning to Selvig, he said, "Looks like Thor won't be returning to Earth anytime soon, so I've decided to leave soon. What about you two? Will you stay here waiting for Thor, or should I take you back to town?"
Selvig rubbed his temples with a sigh. "I'd like to go back to town, but let's ask Jane first. I'll see what she thinks."
"I knew you'd say that," Li Feng shrugged, opening his shoulder bag as he spoke. "Alright, let me know Jane's decision later."
He pulled out a few protective charms from the bag and handed them to Selvig. "Consider these a small gift for you," he said, then pointed at the RV. "You already have my number—feel free to call me anytime, whether it's important or not."
Pausing, Li Feng realized he might not always be available to answer calls—like when he was in another dimension or holed up in a four-door storage cabinet doing research. With a playful grin, he added, "Most of the time, I'm in the training room practicing spells, so I might not pick up right away. Don't take it personally—it doesn't mean I don't consider you a friend."
Selvig chuckled, understanding Li Feng perfectly. As a researcher himself, he was no stranger to missing calls or forgetting to return them when work got hectic.
Taking the charms, Selvig glanced at Coulson and smiled. "You know, these past few days have felt like a dream. Meeting a secret agent is one thing, but befriending a sorcerer and watching a god fall for Jane? It all feels surreal."
Waving the charms in his hand, Selvig mused, "Thanks to Thor and Jane, my name's probably on every intelligence agency's watchlist by now. The moment I return to town, I'll probably be swarmed with people asking for details. But with these charms and your backing, I doubt my life will be too disrupted. After all, no one wants to risk angering a sorcerer."
Li Feng smirked and shot Coulson a challenging look—See that? He's under my protection. Don't go picking fights with him.
Coulson rolled his eyes—Yeah, yeah. Like I'd mess with him when his future son-in-law could crush me. Only an idiot would target Selvig.
As the sun climbed higher, everyone took turns using the RV to freshen up before enjoying a hearty breakfast prepared by Kreacher. Coulson was the first to leave, citing a need to file a report on "demons and the Asgardian prince's visit to Earth," and asked Li Feng to open a portal back to base.
Li Feng obliged without hesitation. Next, Jane—finally calming down after her earlier excitement—finished her meal, patted her full stomach, and vowed through gritted teeth to give Thor a piece of her mind next time they met. With Li Feng's help, she returned to town to resume her research.
With everyone gone and the wilderness now empty, Li Feng grabbed a beer and headed back into the RV. Inside the RV, Li Feng put away his playful grin. Slouching on the sofa while stroking his chin, he absentmindedly sipped beer in small gulps, lost in thought:
Researching hellfire and forging magical artifacts should be put on the agenda now. However, neither of these tasks can be completed quickly.
Especially hellfire—if I openly study it, it might attract the attention of Mephisto or Johnny Blaze.
If it's just Johnny Blaze, that's manageable. I have plenty of ways to deal with him, and even if I can't win, I'm not afraid. Just stepping through a portal would be enough to leave Johnny Blaze panting behind me.
As for Mephisto, with my current strength and some equipment, I'm not afraid of a direct confrontation. But I worry he might play dirty, like first exhausting my supply of pseudo-angel feather holy water.
So, the best course of action is to focus on improving my strength as quickly as possible. Only solid personal power is the true way forward.
Additionally, using the Destroyer to craft a magical artifact would inevitably draw Odin's attention. That guy is cunning and might also resort to underhanded tactics, just like Mephisto.
After a long while, Li Feng decided that an interdimensional trip might be the best solution—both to avoid the prying eyes of Mephisto and Odin and to quietly improve his strength.
The only downside is that he has no idea which world he might end up in. If it turns out to be a world where gods roam freely and demigods are as common as dogs, Li Feng figured he'd immediately return to the Marvel universe and open another portal instead.
After all, his frail self really can't handle any major storms.
With that in mind, before the trip, Li Feng instructed Kreech to prepare his luggage while he bathed in pomelo leaf water to ward off bad luck, silently praying for good fortune.
Once he had scrubbed himself thoroughly until his entire body carried the scent of pomelo leaves, Li Feng finally put on fresh clothes with satisfaction.
After making the RV invisible and ordering the mummy abomination to guard the place, Li Feng opened a portal and disappeared inside with Kreech.
The moment he stepped out of the portal, before he could even take his first breath of the new world's air, Li Feng felt his footing vanish beneath him, sending him tumbling head over heels toward the ground.
Damn it, I'm in mid-air?!
Realizing his predicament, Li Feng instantly transformed into black mist, floating in the air to avoid a fatal fall. "This damn portal is getting more and more unreliable," he grumbled.
Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, Li Feng, now too tired to complain about the portal, gazed with interest at the city below.
The city wasn't large, but its geographical setting and architectural style piqued his curiosity—and made him drool a little.
First, the city was coastal, yet on the opposite side, there was an endless desert.
Li Feng, admitting his lack of education, genuinely hadn't expected a desert right next to the sea, which struck him as oddly fascinating.
In reality, places where deserts meet oceans aren't that rare—it's just that Li Feng had no idea. Secondly, the roofs of the buildings below were all large domes, which immediately brought to Li Feng's mind images of 'mosques,' along with big plate chicken, roasted whole lamb, and if nothing else, a bowl of beef noodles would do for a quick bite.
Wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth, Li Feng draped himself in his invisibility cloak and descended into the crowd, idly listening here and glancing there.
It was just that Li Feng had finished breakfast not long ago, and his stomach couldn't handle any more food at the moment. Otherwise, judging by the way he wiped his drool as he passed by a vendor selling roasted lamb legs, he would definitely have swiped one to munch on while strolling around.
After all, he was invisible—no one could see him, so there was no shame in it.
Before long, having mastered various languages, Li Feng realized where he was. However, he couldn't quite figure out where the city of Agrabah was located or who the protagonist was. Li Feng had already cranked his detection magic to the max, but there wasn't a single person nearby with energy inside them.
Could it be that the protagonist this time was just an ordinary person? If that were the case, did that mean he was invincible again?
Seems like bathing with pomelo leaves really does wash away bad luck. From now on, he'd have to use them before every trip to cleanse the misfortune. Heh heh.
With a sly grin, Li Feng flew up to a rooftop, surveying the bustling marketplace below.
Suddenly, a young man wearing a hat and carrying a monkey on his shoulder caught Li Feng's eye.
The man was parkouring through the alleys, scaling walls and leaping between buildings, while a group of guards chased after him, shouting, "Aladdin, stop right there!"