The Legendary Mechanic in Marvel Universe

Chapter 223 Self-criticizing

TL: Kyous 

Standing on the operator’s seat of the excavator, Leo began to ponder. In the current situation, how should he secretly take the Vibranium from the excavator?

Both the Vibranium and the rocks were swallowed by this “fish-like machine,” and it only swallowed without spitting out. Thus, the Vibranium had already been processed inside the fish monster’s belly.

To obtain the Vibranium, he needed to drill into the fish monster’s belly.

With this in mind, Leo jumped off the operator’s seat and began to crawl through the cracks and pipes in the fish monster’s body from its head to its belly.

Being the size of an ant, he sensed no resistance as he wandered through the fish monster’s body which was over five meters long. Instead, he even experienced a peculiar feeling.

Have you ever seen a screw that’s bigger than a person?

Stepping on the pieces of Vibranium, he played “white-water rafting” on the rubble flow of rock and Vibranium fragments swallowed by the fish monster. It was more thrilling and exciting than kayaking in a mudflow.

As he stood on a piece of broken Vibranium, he used his Mechanical Force to bind himself and the broken piece together firmly. Then, he followed the flow of rubble, moving deeper into the belly of the fish monster.

Soon, he saw a blue glowing ring ahead of him that was spinning rapidly, carrying the stream of rubble along with it.

To be cautious, Leo flew out of the stream of rubble and circled around the ring through a gap while looking behind it. While the rubble flowed through the ring, it began to spin faster and faster. Due to the extreme difference in density between the Vibranium and the rocks, the spinning ring used a centrifugal force principle to separate the Vibranium from the rocks.

Continuing to follow the separated Vibranium, he went further into the creature’s body but shortly after, he had to stop.

Suddenly, a dark box appeared in front of him, and the Vibranium was transported into it by a conveyor belt, making a soft splashing sound as it hit the water. Leo also smelled an odd acidic odor.

Having no other choice, he had to backtrack for a while and then discovered a narrow passage between two pipes, which he squeezed through. Guided by the sound and feeling, Leo navigated around several giant boxes and eventually found the Vibranium again.

There was a huge glass box, without a lid, where thumb-sized nuggets of Vibranium were transported through specialized tubes and deposited. The box was almost full, with the nuggets piled on top of one another.

Landing on a nugget inside the box, he inspected it closely. He was surprised to learn that even after preliminary separation, some small rock fragments were still attached to the Vibranium, Buf after passing through several black boxes, all the rock fragments had disappeared.

The Vibranium in the box was actually the original, purified Vibranium!

Realizing that the black boxes contained some kind of corrosive and cleaning solutions, Leo was amazed by the advanced automation system of the excavator. It appeared that Wakanda had perfected its mining skills over thousands of years.

He knew he had arrived at the right location since the glass box had no seal and no inventory of the Vibranium, so he could take as much as he wanted. Swiping his Storage Blet with his right hand, a Forwarding Bag appeared in his hand.

Throwing the bag into the glass box, it immediately enlarged to about half the size of the box. However, Leo was still ant-sized and couldn’t open the bag with his hands. But he came prepared, the Forwarding Bag had a metal clasp. So, he released some Mechanical Force, and the bag opened and suspended in the air.

As for how to collect the Vibranium in the glass box, it was even simpler.

Gesturing his fingers towards the ground, the Vibrannium nuggets immediately flew out of the box and landed in the Forwarding Bag with precision, like a pro basketball player shooting three-pointers.

One, two, three…

While he continued to collect the Vibranium, Leo’s playful spirit took over and he began to toss the nuggets with increasing speed, forming a beautiful pattern.

The dollar symbol, the pound symbol…

Leo was thoroughly enjoying himself until he had taken more than half of the Vibranium from the box before stopping and the Forwarding Bag automatically sealed shut.

Controlling his Mechanical Force, he estimated the weight of the Vibranium in the bag to be about the same as five standard glass tubes. It was almost the same amount he had obtained from the British Museum.

If he sold this bag of Vibranium, it would be worth five hundred million dollars which was an enormous amount. However, after seeing the Vibranium warehouse with tens of thousands of standard glass tubes, Leo felt this bag of Vibraniums was…

Too little!

Unworthy for him to spend so long inside the fish creature!

Times were changing, and Leo’s perspective and values were gradually evolving.

In the past, he had traveled all the way to England for a Vibranium pickaxe and even got zapped by Tony Stark along the way. Regardless, wasn’t he still ecstatic about it and felt like he had struck it rich?

But now, five tubes of standard Vibranium were worth much more than a pickaxe, and they even continued vibratory energy, making them even more valuable. Yet he felt it wasn’t worth it to spend so much effort digging inside of the fish creature for just five tubes of Vibranium. 

The world is tough, but going from rich to poor was even tougher!

Nonetheless, all of these were beside the point. Leo now held a “fortune” of over fifty tubes of raw Vibranium, and he even witnessed a warehouse filled with numerous tubes. It wasn’t a surprise that he didn’t think much of just five tubes.

Naturally, Leo didn’t dwell on past hardships, nor was he content with his current situation. As a successful person, he knew that he must have ambition and always strive for more.

Thus, he gazed at the remaining Vibranium in the glass box at his feet and roughly estimated that there was enough space for at most four more glass tubes. Even if he took them all, he would only have nine tubes, and there was even the risk of exposure.

After all, the two operators had been digging for quite some time. If the amount of Vibranium was reduced in half, it was possible to state that the ore in this area was lacking in Vibranium. However, if they ended up with only a pile of rocks, even a fool would realize that something was amiss.

But he began to question himself once more. Was there really that much of a difference between five or nine tubes of Vibranium to tens of thousands of tubes?

Not really, they were practically the same as having none at all!

Since he had been working so hard for so little, he couldn’t help feeling that he had been wasting his time. The more he thought about it, the more he felt disturbed, feeling he had been overly cautious.

Ever since he arrived in Wakanda, the Vibranium had blinded him to the importance of other things. Did having an additional five or nine tubes of Vibraniums was going to help him right now?

The answer is no.

Wasn’t finding the laboratories in Wakanda and learning all the black technology should be the thing he needed to do right now? After mastering their black technology, he could build his personal spaceship, and then attempt to locate the Tesseract in outer space, which was his initial plan!

In addition, weren’t the ninety-nine shield generators towering at the Wakanda border more enticing than Vibranium? And the heart-shaped herb, which could strengthen his body when ingested, wasn’t that more substantial than Vibranium?

‘Oh, Leo, oh! Why are you messing around in the belly of a fish creature when you have so many important tasks to do?’

After all the hard work, he only gained five tubes of Vibranium. It was equivalent to getting nothing! Why not just boldly nab the numerous tubes of Vibranium when he was leaving Wakanda?

Even if he was exposed, so what? The Wakandans wouldn’t know it was him, and even if they did, he could just never return to Wakanda. That huge amount of Vibranium was enough for him to use for a lifetime! If it wasn’t enough, then just robbed more warehouses. He couldn’t let himself be treated unfairly like this, could he?

As he pondered, he gave himself a self-critique from head to toe and finally had an epiphany. He knew what he needed to do the most right now. 

But before leaving, he still stored the bag of Vibraniums in his Storage Belt, after all, he had already wasted his time in the fish creature’s belly. There was no use regretting it.

As for pouring the packed Vibranium back, it would be… too stupid!

Leo was an extremely pragmatic person.