Inside the door, there was a dual-tube hanging lamp that automatically lit up when the metal door opened, illuminating everything inside the storage compartment.
Rusty metal cylinders, each marked with a skull with a crossbones symbol and labeled âhazardous wasteâ, were piled up inside the storage compartment, creating an eerie atmosphere.
Leo glanced into the compartment without showing any reaction.
But Bucky frowned and asked, âUlysses, did you really hide the Vibranium worth over five billion dollars in these old shabby cans?â
âOf course not. The Vibranim I brought from Wakanda is in its raw and unprocessed state. They take serious care in storing them.â Ulysses explained as he pulled a lever on the side of the door. The sound of machinery could be heard from inside the storage compartment.
One by one, the barrels of toxic waste began slowly descending, revealing a hidden storage compartment.
The storage compartment was much more aesthetically pleasing than the previous one, entirely made of silver-colored metal with hexagonal patterns etched into its inner walls. Inside was a storage rack with a dial and about forty to fifty transparent glass tubes, each the size of a human arm. The tubes contained a strange, sci-fi metal that shimmered with a blue-purple glow.
These strange metals were none other than Vibranium.
Reaching out, Ulysses took a tube of Vibranium from the rack and handed it to Bucky and another to Leo while saying, âA tube of Vibranium is worth over a hundred million, and all these almost fifty tubes are just half of what a small Vibranium transport truck from Wakanda can carry.â
A fiery glint sparked abruptly in Ulyssesâ eyes. âBut the Vibranium mines in Wakanda produce enough Vibranium every day to fill up three huge automated transport trucks. And each of those trucks can carry a whopping ten small Vibranium transporters.â
âAre you saying that the total value of Vibranium extracted from Wakanda each day is over 300 billion dollars?â Bucky asked in disbelief as he waved the Vibranium in his hand.
Ulysses nodded in response.
âThen why is Africa still so poor?â Bucky couldnât wrap his head around this question,
âWakanda mines Vibranium every day, which is worth more than ten times the annual GDP of the United States. If thatâs true, why isnât Africa the richest continent in the world?!â Bucky exclaimed, clearly puzzled.
âAs I said, this was Erikâs dadâs lifelong pursuit and it was also the reason for his death,â Leo said while casually playing with the Vibranium in his hand.
âWakandaâs technology is decades ahead of the rest of the world, but they guard their Vibranium and remain hidden from the world. They wouldnât share their wealth or technology with the rest of Africa, let alone the world. NâJobu wanted to share Wakandaâs Vibranium tech with the world, yet he was executed by their king. SoâŚâ Leo shrugged and didnât finish his sentence.
Momentarily stunned, Bucky shook his head and decided not to dwell on this issue any further.
After all, Vibranium belongs to Wakanda and African tribal kingdoms have their own laws to handle their property and criminals. Bucky didnât need to worry about it but Leoâs words greatly lowered his impression of Wakanda.
However, there were some things that Leo didnât mention because if he did, he would have known too much and it would have been impossible to explain.
For example, it was known that NâJobu was originally involved in a war dogs operation for the United States. Later, he fell in love with an American woman and had a child named Erik. But the woman tragically died due to the poor security situation in the U.S.
Other than that, NâJobuâs community was rife with drugs and weapons, and residents were subjected to excessive oppression and surveillance. At the same time, the leader of the United States was also assassinated.
NâJobu believed that this was not just a problem in the U.S., but was happening all over the world. Thus, he wanted Wakanda to provide Vibranium weapons to ordinary people, and overthrow all the oppressive regimes, allowing Wakanda to rule the world in a just manner.
Leaving aside the right or wrong of NâJobuâs words, different people would have different opinions on the matter of justice.
Of course, NâJobu was killed by King TâChaka, not because of his disagreement with TâChaka. The most direct reason was that NâJobu had pulled a gun on Zuri, a fellow Wakanda, and Erikâs Uncle James.
Nevertheless, if TâChaka truly had a strong bond with his brother, and since he had already disarmed NâJobu, why did he still use his right panther class to execute NâJobu?
Naturally, Leo couldnât quite remember the plot of the movie, nor did he know if the same thing had occurred in this universe. But when he spoke those words to Bucky just now, it wasnât to distort the truth. He was trying to provide a legitimate reason to justify NâJobu.
Especially when it came to Erik, he had to paint Wakanda as the villain and NâJobu as the hero. Otherwise, even if he helped Erik claim the throne of Wakanda in the future, could Erik remain loyal to him?
As for using violence to rule over WakandaâŚ
Just look at the beliefs and convictions of the people of Wakanda in the movie.
How could Leo, an Asian who was not from Wakanda, possibly win the hearts of the Wakadan people? And as for committing genocide just obtain Vibranium⌠Sorry, but Leo wasnât ruthless enough to do something like that!
As he pondered, he suddenly recalled something he had thought about for a while before. He had asked Erik about his mother, who was a U.S. citizen but had passed away due to an accident. However, according to Erik, his mother was white, yet Erikâs skin color was no different from that of a black person.
Moreover, he had also secretly confirmed that there was a blue-purple line on Erikâs lower lip, which was a symbol of the Wakandans. During that moment, he couldnât resist marveling at the strength of Wakandanâs genes.
If one were to think about it, if Wakanda wanted to rule the world as NâJobu had intended, they wouldnât even need to resort to the use of Vibranium weaponsâŚ
Focusing his attention back on the ship, he pulled out a Forwarding Box from his Storage Belt and placed the Vibranium in his hand into the box. Then, he took two steps forward and took the glass tube from Buckyâs hand before placing it in the box as well and heading to the storage compartment where the Vibranium was stored.
Three, four⌠forty-eight, forty-nine!
Forty-nine transparent metal tubes filled with Vibranium were neatly arranged inside the box by Leo. Satisfied with the result, he closed the lid of the box and shrank it down to fit into his Storage Belt.
Earlier, when he had casually weighed the glass tube given to him by Ulysses, he had already made a rough estimate of the total weight of the Vibranium. To his surprise, he realized the Vibranium pickaxe and shield he had stolen from the British Museum years ago weighed only slightly more than the Vibranium stored in four glass tubes.
Now, with forty-nine glass tubes filled with Vibranium, his total reserves had increased by more than ten times overnight, making him feel like he had struck the jackpot.
It was worth nothing that the Vibranium reserves that Ulysses had stored were enough for Ultron to create a Vision and upgrade his outer shell. Apart from that, the remaining Vibranium was used as an energy core to send the entire Sokovia flying into the sky.
Although Sokovia didnât exist in Leoâs past life, it was a well-known palace in this world, a tourist destination, and a technological hub located in Eastern Europe with a total area of 200 square kilometers, roughly the same size as Washington, D.C.
Leo had even gone there to purchase materials recently.
With half of this Vibranium being used as an energy core and being able to send the large city into the sky, one could imagine just how incredible Leoâs newfound wealth was!