CH 208

Chapter 208 Ulysses’ Vibranium

TL: Kyous

In front of the high-tech brainwashing device, two leather lounge chairs popped out of nowhere and looked out of place.

However, Leo and Bucky paid no attention to this, and Ulysses didn’t even have the right to care, Thus, the interrogation began.

“Ulysses, where’s the Vibranium you stole from Wakanda?” Leo cut to the chase and went straight to the point.

Ulysses was quite honest at this point, disclosing everything he knew, “The first batch was bought by Howard Stark for a hefty sum. Afterward, I sold some to the C.I.A. through a few middlemen. They are… Then, I sold some to the Soviets and also to China through different intermediaries… They are… I used the money to expand my arms dealing business and secured a shipyard along the African coast. As for the remaining Vibranium, I stashed it away in my lair, the shipyard.”

As Ulysses spoke, Leo nodded slightly and recalled memories from his past life. It seemed that in the movie “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, Ultron had searched the world for the perfect materials to create its body, and it found Ulysses at a shipyard along the coast of Africa. Then, Ultron bought all the remaining Vibranium from Ulysses at a high price. But Ulysses’ words angered Ultron and he tragically lost his left arm as a result.

“Ulysses, you should thank me. I‘ve saved one of your arms.” Leo said out of nowhere.

Upon hearing this, a trace of emotion immediately appeared on Ulysses’ previously expressionless face, the emotion of bewilderment.

Without further explaining, Leo continued asking, “How much Vibranium do you have right now?”

“Vibranium is too precious, and few people can buy a large amount at once. Plus, I can’t risk exposing myself to having too much Vibranium. So, I’ve only sold small portions over the years. Converting the remaining Vibranium to US dollars, it’s worth about five billion.”

Leo’s eyes lit up with excitement as he listened to Ulysses’ answer while Bucky gasped, completely baffled by how valuable the ‘whatever-Vibranium-was’. It could even rival Erwin Tech Company’s current total assets!

Leaning over, Bucky whispered to Leo, “Is this brat making things up? He stole something so valuable from Wakanda, why aren’t they coming after him?”

Ulysses hadn’t reached thirty years old, and Bucky calling him ‘brat’ wasn’t entirely inaccurate. Regardless, Bucky’s youthful appearance was similar to Ulysses, which made it sound strange to Leo.

But Leo shook his head to dispel the strange feeling and began to explain with a slight smile, “Ulysses isn’t lying. Five billion dollars of Vibranium isn’t a lot of money for Wakanda.”

“Besides, how can you be sure that the Wakandans didn’t pursue him? It’s only because he is clever enough to evade them.” Leo continued to explain.

“Even if he’s clever, he still ended up being caught by you in the end, didn’t he?” Bucky interjected with a smirk.

Grinning, Leo exclaimed, “Hah! Bucky, when did you learn to start sucking up on me?!”

Bucky, unfazed, replied, “You’ll be going to Africa next, which happens to be this brat’s turf, right? Going to grab that Vibranium, aren’t you? Take me along too.”

“No wonder you’re trying to suck up to me. So you’ve got an ulterior motive. Bucky, you’re becoming more optimistic. The image of Winter Soldier is almost gone,” Leo said with a half-smile and half-sigh. “I’m indeed heading to Africa, probably tomorrow. But if you’re coming, you must ride in the Capsule House. Are you still up for it?”

“Can I take the plane by myself?” Bucky instantly put on a depressed face as he had developed some psychological trauma from the turbulence he experienced during his last flight on the Capsule House.

“Nope. Firstly, it’s too slow. Secondly… your left arm, how will you pass the security check? From now on, you’re pretty much off-limits from commercial flights.” Leo said, eyeing Bucky sideways.

Bucky’s expression contorted and ultimately, he gritted his teeth, “Deal. At most, I’ll find a rope and tie myself onto the pillar.”

It appeared that Bucky had been extremely bored for the past year. When he heard about the opportunity to go on a business trip, he disregarded everything.

Looking at Bucky’s expression, Leo felt like laughing. Finally, he reassured Bucky, “Don’t worry, I’ve made some modifications to the Capsule House. I’ve installed a cockpit inside, so once you lie down, you won’t feel the turbulence anymore.”

Bucky felt relieved and scratched his head before smiling at Leo.

Leo stopped chatting with Bucky and continued interrogating Ulysses, “The real Wakanda is hidden deep in the mountains with a thick protective shield surrounding it. How did you manage to slip inside?”

“Prince N’Jobu gave me a shield decoder, which acts like a key that can open a door in the shield,” Ulysses answered.

Leo followed up, “Do you still have the decoder?”

“Yes, it’s stored in my junkyard with Vibranium. But when I went back to Wakanda again, the decoder stopped working. I almost got caught by the Wakandan people.” Ulysses replied truthfully.

Nodding, Leo’s mind began racing. The protective shield was like a changeable password and the shield decoder was like a key that stored a fixed password. When King T’Chaka discovered N’Jobu’s betrayal, he naturally would have changed the password of the protective shield, rendering the decoder useless.

Nevertheless, he possessed the Mechanic System which could analyze the blueprint of the shield decoder and design a password-cracking program based on it. There was a chance that he could successfully crack the shield with this program.

Of course, this was a preliminary solution Leo had. If this method failed, he could always think of other ways to bypass the shield.

Thinking of this, he continued asking, “Do you have a map of the terrain inside Wakanda?”

“I didn’t keep a physical copy of the map, but I’ve memorized it. My memory is pretty good, so I can draw the map out exactly as it is. But the map N’Jobu showed me only covered a small portion of Wakanda, and I don’t know about the rest.”

“It’s okay. Just draw a map for me based on your memory.”

Ulysses nodded his head, seeming very obediently.

Right then, Bucky leaned in quietly toward Leo’s ear, only to be met with Leo’s avoidance and disdain, “Bucky if you got something to say, then just say it normally. There’s no one else here. Why are you whispering to me like some kind of flirt?”

Taken aback by Leo’s comment, Bucky sat back on his lounge chair in embarrassment, muttering sullenly, “So you’re asking all these questions because you want to sneak a peek at Erik’s hometown, Wakanda, right?”

Since Bucky was the person who knew most of Leo’s secrets and also the one he trusted the most currently. So he didn’t plan on hiding anything from Bucky and simply nodded in agreement.

Bucky instantly began to make suggestive gestures, wiggling his eyebrows and pointing at himself frantically, crazily hinting.

“Do you want to go to Wakanda too?” Leo understood Bucky’s meaning.

Bucky nodded vigorously.

Stroking his chin, Leo said, “It’s not impossible. You’re a professional scout, so you can be responsible for gathering intelligence when we get there.”

Continuing to nod vigorously, Bucky gave Leo a thumbs-up.

Standing up, Leo pulled out a Forwarding Box and said, “Bucky, remove Ulysses’ shackles and give him some lessons tonight. Tomorrow, we’re going to Africa together. You can tell him what he should and shouldn’t say from now on.”

Bucky promptly stood up and approached Ulysses, unfastening Ulysses’ restraints as he said, “Brat, remember to call me Boss Bucky from now on.”

Ulysses obediently nodded and greeted Boss Bucky with an admiring and flattering expression, appearing very close to Bucky.

As Leo was packing up the lounge chair into the Forwarding Box and stashing it in his Storage Belt, the partially released Ulysses suddenly spoke up, “Boss Leo, what about my henchman Mark, where is he? The big strong black driver.”

Only then did he remember that there was another person in his Storage Belt. So he pulled out a Capsule Cell and opened its door.

Inside the metal box lay a muscular black man, who was none other than Mark. He had one without food or water for seven to eight hours straight, and his left wrist was injured. On top of that, the rough ride in the cell had left him barely conscious, unable to stand.

Fully untied, Ulysses hurriedly came over and helped Mark up, showing a lot of concern. Indicating that there was some story between the two of them.

Mark cleared his dry throat, unable to swallow even a drop of water. Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked at Ulysses with a pair of widened eyes and was about to cry, “Boss…”

Feeling a bit awkward, Leo realized that if it weren’t for Ulysses’ reminder, this Mark guy would have probably starved to death in the Capsule Cell, ending up as a dried-up corpse.

Killing without batting an eye was no big deal for Leo, and this Mark guy was initially an enemy. If he had killed Mark directly, he wouldn’t have felt any guilt. But almost starving someone to death? He couldn’t put his finger on it… But he felt a bit disgusted by it.

And so, Leo swiftly put the second lounge into the Storage Belt and instructed Bucky, “Make sure to take care of this guy, and be ready to go to Africa tomorrow morning at ten o’clock.”

With that, Leo turned and left. The rest was all up to Bucky to handle.