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The Next Day – Inside a Mountain Cave
A tent flap lifted, and Ron stepped out, stretching his arms above his head before cracking his back.
"Being a man is hard. Being a man with many women? Even harder. Never thought I'd understand that at such a young age," he muttered to himself with a wry smile.
It was well known that aphrodisiacs like camellia extract were nearly impossible to counteract.
And given how much he had inhaled last night… well, the solution was obvious.
The details were not for outsiders to know, but let's just say—it was exhausting yet enjoyable. His waist, however, was ruined.
He was barely past 20, still far from 30. With his physique, he could probably smash his head into a mountain and leave a dent in the rock.
And yet, when it came to women, he felt drained—from the inside out.
The ancients really knew what they were talking about:
"A fair maiden of sixteen, as soft as cream,A blade at the waist to cut down fools.Though heads may not roll,They leave men hollow, bones dry as dust."
He wasn't quite at the bones dry as dust stage yet, but it was always good to plan ahead.
Ron shook his head, chuckling to himself.
"Unbelievable. I'm a damn supernatural powerhouse, and I already have to start taking care of my health."
His eyes flickered with thought. Then, he narrowed them slightly.
His spatial ability could restore human corpses…
So, theoretically, it should work on animals too.
And if that was the case, what about a powerful mythical beast?
Like, say… a demon? Or even a dragon?
Setting demons aside for now, dragons were notorious for their… stamina. Without a strong enough body, keeping up with that kind of power would be impossible.
Since his spatial ability connected to different worlds, who knew—one day, he might just end up in a world where dragons existed.
If that happened, he could at least settle for a lesser creature—maybe a flood dragon, or even a powerful snake. Killing one might just give him a much-needed boost.
For the sake of his body, he needed to start preparing.
Ron took a deep breath, silently setting a new goal for himself.
Now the only question was, what exactly triggered the spatial vortex expansion?
The last time it happened, it came out of nowhere, without any warning.
Who knew when the third one would appear?
No rush. He was still young, after all.
"Lord Ron, you're awake."
Shizune's voice called out hesitantly.
Her large eyes flickered nervously, avoiding direct contact with Ron.
Unconsciously, she glanced at the slightly open tent flap behind him.
Whatever she saw made her cheeks flush even harder.
Ron nodded casually. "Yeah. When they wake up, tell them to freshen up. I'll go find something to eat."
There was no point in being shy—Shizune had witnessed what went down last night.
Let's just say… the Senju and Uzumaki clans' legendary endurance was no joke.
Thankfully, his own body was just as strong—and with his Lightning Release techniques, he had plenty of stamina.
As Ron disappeared in an instant, Shizune's forced composure wavered.
Excitement flickered in her eyes, mixed with a hint of nervous anticipation… and a bit of fear.
Last night's activity had been intense.
Could her small frame even handle something like that?
Inside the tent, a rustling noise suddenly broke the silence.
Startled, Shizune quickly averted her gaze and pretended to admire the sunrise, putting on a serene expression as if she were deeply moved by nature's beauty.
Marvel Universe
As usual, Ron had Jarvis order food for him.
Meanwhile, he checked up on recent events.
He also took a moment to reply to his messages.
Most of them were from Gwen.
She was telling him about the latest criminals she had taken down and reporting possible superpowered activity in certain areas.
But more than anything, her messages were filled with longing.
She was straightforward, bold—practically throwing herself at him.
She wanted to meet up when he was free, and as for what they'd do when they met… well, that went without saying.
A passionate love indeed. Ron couldn't help but smirk slightly.
After going through all her messages, he moved on to the others.
Tony had sent him some information—updates on Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
Thanks to Tony and his team's interference, Stryker's attempt to take over the school had failed.
Naturally, Professor Charles Xavier's Cerebro was not taken away.
Not only that, but S.H.I.E.L.D. actually brought it back and locked it up in secret.
Judging by Nick Fury's attitude, Charles might not even be able to use it again without his approval.
In his words, "This thing is too dangerous. It needs to be regulated."
Yeah, that sounds exactly like something Fury would say.
On top of that, Ron's wooden clone within S.H.I.E.L.D. was fully on board with this decision.
With S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra reaching an understanding, the so-called "Snake Shield" was practically impenetrable.
So, even though Professor Charles was captured, Stryker's entire plan had collapsed.
Now, he had to constantly be on guard for potential mutant attacks.
Then came the information from "Pierce."
He laid out everything about the Xavier incident in full detail.
He also mentioned the serum and speculated that Fury would likely come looking for him soon.
And lastly, "Pierce" revealed something big—he had found the man who likely ordered the Winter Soldier to assassinate Howard and Maria Stark.
Doctor Arnim Zola.
Zola…
Memories from Ron's past life surfaced in his mind.
One of Hydra's most notorious scientists, Zola had been researching the Tesseract since World War II.
His understanding of it was decades ahead of where S.H.I.E.L.D. was now.
Back then, he had already developed space-energy weapons—terrifying technology.
If Captain America didn't have main-character plot armor, he would've died long ago.
Later, after S.H.I.E.L.D. was established, Zola infiltrated the organization, just like Pierce.
Basically, he used S.H.I.E.L.D. to continue Hydra's work.
But he was getting old, so in the end, he transferred his consciousness into a computer system.
And, honestly, it was because of him that Pierce decided to go through with Project Insight.
Without Zola's tech, they wouldn't have been able to use satellite tracking to target potential threats.
Ron knew all about Zola.
And if Ron knew, "Pierce" definitely did too.
This message was just to keep him updated on the situation.
Ron stared at the information, deep in thought.
"So… Howard found out about Zola's consciousness transfer? Is that why he was killed?"
A moment later, he shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Whatever the reason, Zola has to die. The only issue is…"
A name surfaced in Ron's mind—The Winter Soldier. Bucky Barnes.
Cap's best friend, and the one who actually carried out the hit on Howard.
If Tony and Cap didn't have their history together, Ron wouldn't have even hesitated—Bucky would be dead already.
"I'll handle Zola. As for Bucky… that's Tony's problem. If he wants to kill him, then so be it."
The next second, Ron made his decision.
As for whether Cap or the Avengers would try to stop Tony? Or even fight him?
Doesn't matter.
Worst case scenario, Ron would go full villain.
He refused to believe that, with all the superhumans running around now, they couldn't take out one damn assassin.
A man has his pride. If he has to swallow it, then what's the point of living?
"....."