Arthur just listened to the conversation between the two for a moment and didn’t pay much attention.
But the gist of it was probably…
Schmidt said, “Captain, hi, I’m your fan. Can I get your autograph?”
And Captain replied, “Go away!”
What do you call a disagreement in a single exchange?
That is what you call a disagreement!
The two of them immediately started fighting.
Arthur didn’t intervene. Instead, he flipped over to the other side of the ladder where it hung in the air… With his legs hooked to the railing and his body leaning sideways, he finally saw Schmidt and Captain standing on the iron bridge.
The next thing he knew, he was pulling out a sniper rifle!
There was no such thing as one-on-one combat for Arthur.
Given the opportunity, he just wanted to send that bullet to Schmidt!
He aimed the weapon…
His body was now half hanging from the ladder’s handrail, stabilized by the strength of his thighs.
But his hands remained steady; below him was a great height, a sea of flames burning, with explosions and flames rising rapidly.
But Arthur had put all this out of his mind.
His eyes, his expression, everything about him screamed an unprecedented concentration!
He wanted to hit with one shot!!!
Inhale… Exhale!!!
A deep breath filled his chest and abdomen, in the next moment, Schmidt in the sniper scope was sent flying by Captain’s kick!
“Now is the time!”
Arthur’s determination to pull the trigger was stronger than the iron and fire beneath his feet!
Boom!!!!
Bang!!!!
The immense heat wave and the sniper rifle went off simultaneously.
The strong vibration caused the ladder to shake slightly, but the shot intended for Schmidt’s forehead hit his shoulder instead.
A spurt of blood came out; Schmidt’s body shook, and he looked sharply in Arthur’s direction, his eyes filled with an extremely cold killing intent!
Dr. Zola, short and wearing a round hat, saw the situation deteriorating and immediately pressed the separator on the iron bridge.
The bridge in the air slowly began to separate…
The shot caught everyone’s attention, and for a moment all eyes were in Arthur’s direction.
Meanwhile, Arthur… swung from the outside of the ladder back onto it, shouldered the sniper rifle, and dashed upward.
The flames below continued to rise; if he stayed there, he would probably turn into a fried chicken… Arthur liked chicken, but he didn’t like the idea of being eaten as one.
However, by the time Arthur ran up to where Steve and the others were, Schmidt had already left.
This disappointed Arthur a bit; he had come all this way to kill the guy, but he didn’t even get to say a word.
Arthur had actually wanted to ask Schmidt about his experience as a “celebrity”.
“Instructor!”
Steve saw Arthur and quickly came over to greet him.
“So it’s you!”
The soldier next to Steve was surprisingly excited when he saw Arthur. “You are a legendary figure!”
“A boy who upholds the lofty ideals of the Stars and Stripes is the real legend.”
Arthur looked at the Captain and said, “Oh, my mistake, a man! Captain, can you explain what ‘courageous instructor’ really means?”
“Is this the time to talk about such things, Instructor?”
The captain decided to avoid the subject.
“Schmidt escaped, the military factory was destroyed, your friend was rescued… We didn’t manage to decapitate him, but at least we got a shot at him. But this place obviously can’t hold out much longer. No time to explain, get in the car!”
Arthur urged, sprinting toward the roof.
Steve and Bucky quickly followed. Bucky asked as he ran, “Where’s the car?”
“Who knows!”
The Captain didn’t look back. Arthur’s ubiquitous ‘car’ was truly a mystery that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Where the hell did Arthur think this car could be?
When they reached the top level, there were no more paths available.
The exit on the roof was across from them, with a gap of at least ten to twenty meters between them, bridged by a single beam that didn’t look very sturdy.
The Captain took a deep breath and said to Bucky, “You go first.”
Arthur quickly pulled Bucky back, “Is staying alive not good enough for you?”
“What do you mean?” Bucky looked at Arthur.
Arthur produced three ropes, each with a grappling hook attached.
In the past half year, Arthur had faced numerous life-or-death crises and had resorted to extreme measures to survive, which means that he was equipped with an array of chaotic equipment.
That’s why he dared to come up, even though he knew the military factory was about to explode; his experiences since arriving in this world had made him confident that he could make it out alive.
“Where did you get that?” Captain America was stunned as he hadn’t seen these ropes with Arthur before.
And Arthur’s sniper rifle slung over his back was another thing he hadn’t seen before.
“Found them on the way!” Arthur replied casually, regardless of whether Steve believed him or not.
After handing them the other two ropes, Arthur swung the grappling hook toward the roof and with a flick of his wrist –
Clang!
It caught firmly!
Arthur gestured, “Follow my lead…”
With a Tarzan-like yell, he was about to swing over to the other side. But before he could fly over, the Captain grabbed him and pulled him back.
Arthur was stunned and looked at Steve with a dark expression, “What are you doing?”
No wonder it is said that an impenetrable fortress would crumble from within. Such dark hands reaching out from behind were inevitable!
Captain felt uncomfortable as he spoke, “This thing doesn’t seem so easy.”
Arthur twitched his mouth and looked at Bucky, handing him one of his ropes and taking Bucky’s in exchange. “Let’s make this quick!”
After helping Steve secure the grappling hook, the three of them swung over one by one…
The rest of the trip was silent, except for their frantic running.
They were in full panic mode, jumping where they could amid the flames and explosions, running frantically where they couldn’t.
Arthur wasn’t worried about enemies as Steve was by his side.
What was that saying? This was a protagonist’s journey – he was following someone who had the aura of a protagonist!
Following someone with a protagonist’s aura meant one thing— stability!
When the three of them finally ran out of the military factory in a sorry state, the building behind them completely exploded, with flames licking the sky.
Feeling the rush of wind behind them, Steve and Bucky turned to look.
The experience of life and death took time to sink in for them but Arthur didn’t look back or even glance over.
Not because he had experienced so much in the past six months, but because Arthur had once heard a truth: real men never look back at explosions so that they can look cool in the front!
After making sure the rescued prisoners were settled, they prepared to return. For Arthur, this mission was now complete.
It was just a shame about that last shot.
If the explosion hadn’t caused the platform to sway, Schmidt might already be dead.
“Well… probably?”
(End of Chapter)
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