Chapter 35: Livestream in the desert with Agent Coulson
Natasha, upon seeing the fate of the girls, preferred not to touch the clothing and costume set cards. Allen chuckled when Gwen and MJ left, retrieving the cards from the inventory.
Allen decided to open the chests himself. He opened a set chest where the oddest thing that came out was a card with an antique coffee mill, and the best was a smart-fridge card.
'System, I didn't want to mention it, but, curiously, the gacha puts a tricycle and a new car in the same type of chest.'
[The gacha sub-system, unlike the store, doesn't take into account the human monetary value of objects. For the gacha, a Ferrari sports car and a tricycle are still vehicles without supernatural or technologically advanced features for the time.]
'Well, that makes sense. The Men in Black's neuralyzer isn't magic, it's extraterrestrial technology and falls under the blue rank,' Allen sighed.
Allen replaced his old fridge with the new one; it was effortless now that he was quite strong. The fridge had a screen and an integrated scanner that allowed him to know everything inside through an app, very useful but nothing out of the ordinary.
"I guess now we'll know when there's no milk without needing to check the fridge," Natasha chuckled, picking up some of the cards. "There are some useful appliances, but... it's a bit disappointing."
"I know, Aunt!" Allen internally bled. "Each ticket had the possibility of giving me a legendary weapon, but this chest gave me a darn fridge with integrated Siri!"
"Allen, you should complain to that stingy entity," Natasha huffed.
[Host, don't bother. There are good things in higher-grade chests... probably.]
"Don't worry..." Wednesday appeared next to Allen, looking at the card of the antique mill on the table. "Wishing that every chest holds something invaluable is ridiculous. The fact that there are regular things only sets the stage for other chests to surprise you."
"Wednesday?" Allen didn't believe she would show herself to Natasha voluntarily.
Natasha observed Wednesday. Even though she had heard about her, it was the first time they had met in person. Yes, technically, Wednesday wasn't human, but the point was understood.
"Good day, a cordial greeting from me, Miss Romanoff," Wednesday turned to Natasha and greeted her.
"Huh?!" This left Allen in shock. Wednesday acting cordially?!
Natasha took a step forward and offered her hand to Wednesday. "Pleasure to meet you, Wednesday Addams. You can call me Natasha. I suppose the trap at the entrance is yours?"
Wednesday detests physical contact, but she still reciprocated Natasha's greeting.
"Yes, and you deactivated four of them that I placed throughout the house almost immediately upon finding them."
Natasha gave a wry smile. "Hehe, well, the rope at the entrance was predictable, but the electric trap on the phone caught me by surprise. However, it was too slow to activate."
"I'll keep that in mind next time," Wednesday replied while nodding.
Allen reacted and was immediately startled. "No more next time! Wednesday, why are you setting deadly traps in my house?"
"Why you don't?" the girl retorted, looking at them with her eyes as black as night.
"What?" Allen couldn't respond because it was a strange argument.
"And they're not deadly traps," added Wednesday. "I still lack the necessary materials... to kill someone."
Allen realized he had forgotten the kind of person Wednesday Addams was. He shook his head.
"What if someone who isn't a super-secret agent like my aunt touches them, say MJ or Gwen?" Allen frowned.
"I only activated them for Natasha Romanoff," Wednesday walked toward Allen. "I designed them for when no one is home. Do you want Fury to fill your apartment with microphones?"
"I like this girl, Allen Haha" Natasha immediately took a liking to Wednesday.
"Aunt Natt... well, okay, just don't kill anyone in my house," Allen gave in.
"... Fine," accepted Wednesday, but Allen wondered if she wouldn't harm anyone. Well, those are future Allen's problems.
...
Natasha talked with Wednesday for a while; then, Gwen and Mary Jane returned dressed casually. Meanwhile, Allen opened all the gray chests, sat at the dining table, and grouped the cards related to various items.
The girls observed the collection curiously.
In the two hundred and forty-nine gray chests, there were twenty land vehicles, where a military Jeep stood out; there were five aquatic vehicles, including a small submarine, and five aerial vehicles, with an F-16 Fighting Falcon jet, a classic one.
"It's supposed to be legal to use, but what will the army think when they see an F-16 registered for private use?" Allen rolled his eyes in disbelief, but he didn't dwell too much on that thought.
Allen allowed each girl to choose her car and stored the remaining cards in his inventory.
There were thirty-two electronic devices and home appliances with the Wifi fridge and a hundred-inch TV standing out.
Allen gave those cards to Natasha to place wherever she wanted, in case she wanted to take some home.
"What do you say? I'll be living here from now on, Allen," said the woman with a knowing smile.
"Huh?..." Allen was confused, and Natasha nudged him, laughing. Seeing her eyes, he remembered they had already crossed that line; it made no sense for them to live apart anymore.
"Besides, I'll be taking the imported hairdryer~," Natasha said as she kissed Allen's cheek.
Allen nodded and then wondered if selling all this would be enough to pay off his entire debt.
[Host, do you regret not opening the chests before accepting Fury's proposal?]
Allen contemplated that for a moment and shook his head. 'Paying off the debt is just the beginning; I have to recover what my parents left me, or I won't have the face to see them in the afterlife. Plus, I need to save for the future.'
[Of course, a harem involves many expenses. Imagine when you have to pay for four luxury weddings.]
'Four?'
[Four for now...]
Allen opened his eyes; it was true that a selfish wish like a harem goes beyond simply convincing girls to accept sharing it. It requires a lot of money to cover the expenses of a large family.
[Host...]
Allen coughed without looking at the girls behind him and focused on the table with the cards.
There were also twenty-two clothing sets, with a thermal clothing set for extreme cold, two anti-radiation suits, and one biological hazard suit standing out.
"Great, now I can enter a nuclear plant without growing another arm on my back, heh," Allen sarcastically chuckled. He was no longer bothered about getting so many gray chests and decided to look at the positive side.
Natasha pinched his cheek slightly reproachfully. "Please don't enter such dangerous places."
"I won't do that, Aunt," Allen scratched his cheek, although it didn't hurt; it was just a joke.
There were more than thirty-six individual clothing pieces in the gray chests. Allen felt strange because, as with the vehicles, there were very expensive garments from Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Versace, mixed with second-hand clothes that you could buy for two dollars at a discount store. There were even some strange items like a pair of Kevlar vests, but the highlight was a black bulletproof shirt (Hint: John Wick).
MJ immediately snatched the clothing cards with a playful face. "Sorry, I love you, Allen, but I hope you understand." Maru Jane kissed Allen on the cheek while being mischievous.
"Haha, don't worry," Allen lightly tapped the girl's head at her cute yet manipulative action. MJ puffed her cheeks.
Allen turned to Gwen, and she just sighed at MJ's intimacy. It seemed that with Gwen's issue settled to a certain extent, MJ was starting to lose her fear of being affectionate with him outside the room, and Gwen reluctantly accepted such intimacy.
One detail is that these cards are not activated by touching them like clothing sets, and they also adjusted to the measurements and gender of the one who activated the card.
Allen wasn't usually interested in the quality of the clothes he wore, so he didn't mind if MJ, Gwen, and Natasha split the expensive clothing cards. However, Allen was surprised to see Wednesday slightly interested in a clothing card too.
"Wednesday, do you like this evening dress?" MJ asked the gothic girl.
Surprisingly, Wednesday replied, "It's distasteful to participate in consumerism... although it's fun to think that this outrageously expensive clothing is made by exploited Chinese workers. Perhaps part of their suffering is in this dress... and I like its black tone."
The girls fell silent after Wednesday's statement.
"Is this the real Wednesday?" Gwen opened her eyes in surprise.
"Hehe..." MJ laughed uncomfortably.
"This comes from the mysterious entity, so I don't think it has children's tears," Natasha joked.
"Well, still, I like this black tone; I'll keep it," said Wednesday expressionlessly as she took a card from MJ's hand.
[Host, she's also a girl. Do you think she likes dressing the same every day, even though she's a doll?]
Allen contemplated that. 'Wednesday is a girl... a very peculiar one with some taste for torture and dark things, but she's still a girl.'
Allen decided to consider Wednesday more.
'I'll set aside the other chests and focus on the important ones...'
There were still 129 gray chests left, but Allen opened the interface of his system and looked at the more valuable chests.
"31 green chests, 17 blue chests, 3 purple chests, one crimson, and one iridescent..."
====
====
Allen landed in New Mexico. Fury took it upon himself to get permission from the school for Allen to miss a couple of days. It is a minor detail but not irrelevant.
The strange hammer fell in a desert area of New Mexico, specifically in a locality called Puente Antiguo. It's a desolate and remote area.
The nearest airport was the Albuquerque International Airport, and two hours from there is Puente Antiguo.
Allen stepped out of the airport and breathed the air of New Mexico "Well, I'm in for desert, arid mountains, and heat... alright, system, start the live-stream!"
"[On live]
The numbers began to increase on the stream, 'Hope it's not too difficult to manage fifty thousand people.'
"Hey folks, today we've got a pretty important mission, so keep it down and behave."
– Force me son :v
"Expected that rebellious response."
– Hey Allen, where are you? Are we gonna see some incredible place? I'd love to see Atlantis or that futuristic city full of super smart monkeys.
"Well, I don't think I'd be welcome there."
Natasha – Allen, you just started the stream a second ago, and I've already had to ban seven people...
"Well, it's natural... ten thousand... fifteen thousand... eighteen thousand... and the viewers keep increasing... this is gonna be chaotic," Allen gave a serious look. "Gwen, make a clip of what I'm about to say, so you can show it to the newcomers instead of me having to repeat myself all the time."
Gwen – Wait, how do I do that?!
MJ – Let me do it, Gwen, hehe.
"Since when do we have moderators?! And why do I feel like they're real girls... or weird old guys with lots of experience pretending to be women? (Banned by Gwen - 10 min)
– hahaha! You idiot, doesn't know moderators can ban on their own? XD
– Buddy, since when do your viewers exceed twenty thousand?? O_O
The comments began to speed up the chat, and Allen activated slow mode, but there were too many. They could be primarily classified into three categories: those who came out of curiosity, asking questions about Allen's age, hometown, etc., making up sixty percent, of the majority of viewers.
Then some genuinely liked Allen or were attracted to the DC content itself, splitting into thirty percent of the chat.
Lastly, there were the troublemakers: people who hated mutants, didn't believe the content was real or simply disliked Allen. They were only ten percent, but due to their frequent comments, they seemed more.
Allen remained unfazed. It was time to act more professionally. During the Joker incident, he was scared; during Doomsday, he was risking his life. No matter how you looked at it, this wasn't the right environment for casual interaction and pure entertainment.
"First off, to all the newcomers, I'm Allen Walker. You might know me from the clips that probably brought you here. If you're curious whether I'm a mutant or if DC exists for real, some hate me because they hate mutants, others simply think I'm a big liar and come here to debunk it all, you're all welcome... but," Allen's smile vanished, his eyes turning cold. "I'll say this once: You don't have to like me for you to see me but I don't allow personal insults. Swearing is allowed for fun, not for insults. Anyone who behaves unpleasantly will be permanently banned... "
– Wtf, it's been a while since we've seen serious Allen.
– D:
– Hit me~
– You can't silence my freedom of speech >:v
"You're free to say what you want elsewhere, but this is my house, and my rules apply here, obey my rules or leave."
– Dictator!
– You seemed cuter before D:
– Hahaha, well, gotta keep things in order. I support you, Daddy... I mean, I support you, captain!
– Nice Allen is charming... but being stared at by those cold and beautiful eyes... I wouldn't mind being your b~ (Banned 5 min for indecency)"
– Uwa... feel sorry for the girl who's your girlfriend... can't imagine living, worrying all the time if some crazy woman will kidnap you to her basement.
Gwen "..."
MJ "..."
Natasha. "..."
...
Allen averted his gaze from the chat and noticed a Caucasian man with many receding hairlines, wearing a black suit, staring at him.
"Mr. Walker, I'm Agent Phillip Coulson, and I'm here to support you on this occasion."
Allen looked at him suspiciously and deduced that he was from Fury. "Are you my lackey?"
Phill's eyebrows twitched. "No, I'm your logistical support on this mission."
Allen raised an eyebrow. "That's a fancy way of saying you're my assistant." Allen patted Phill's shoulders. "Okay, Phill, Just don't die easily."
Coulson gave an uncomfortable look. "Of course, I'm not particularly interested in dying."
"What a coincidence, I, too, love being alive," Allen chuckled, patting Phill's shoulders. "Living on the edge doesn't suit me. How about we pretend to work on this mission, and I'll give you part of my payment?"
"I can't do that..." Coulson coughed.
"Oh well, worth a shot," Allen shrugged.
...
– Hahahaha!
– What is that weird interaction?, LMAO.
Gwen - Allen, did you just try to bribe a Shield agent? Hahaha.
...
"Well, I guess we should hurry; it's hot in New Mexico," said Coulson standing on the sidewalk.
"Phill..." Allen slapped his forehead.
"What's wrong, Mr. Walker?"
– You're in New Mexico! Not in DC... no, wait, is there a New Mexico in DC?
"Yes, I'm trapped. I'm in New Mexico, on an important secret mission in our world, now shut up."
– So, you're going for the hammer? *Burp*
– What hammer?
"The news just came out a few hours ago about a mysterious hammer that nobody can lift. The locals posted it on social media as some kind of tourist attraction."
"Mr. Walker, who are you talking to?" Coulson looked uncomfortable as Allen seemed to talk to himself.
Allen smiled disdainfully. "Come on, Phill, I know Shield is monitoring my live stream. Curious about how I'm live streaming without equipment?" Allen pointed in front of him, and one of the system's cameras became visible.
"Incredible, I've never seen a drone like this, it's spherical and doesn't seem to have propellers. How does it float?" Coulson, surprised, examined the camera from every angle.
"Phillip..." Allen interrupted, realizing Coulson was overreacting.
"I'd like to know where you got it from, Mr. Walker!" Phill tried to touch the camera, but it disappeared.
"Phill, focus, we have work to do!," Allen grabbed him by the collar.
"Yes," Coulson returned to his normal demeanor, realizing he was being treated as an assistant by someone half his age.
"Alright, how do we get there?" Allen scanned the street.
"There should be a truck nearby for us," Coulson replied.
[Natasha initiated a poll - how should Allen travel?]
All his cards of vehicles appeared on the live-stream screen.
"Natt?!" Allen shouted
.
"Hmph..." the woman pouted from home.
[Host, she's upset for not bringing her with you, when you have another Shield agent by your side without issue.]
'Ugh, she's right...' Allen thought, maybe he was too paranoid. Next time, he wouldn't leave her behind.
As Allen spoke privately with Natasha, people found it amusing and started voting. All they had to do was touch the screen on portable devices or type in the chat which vehicle Allen should use. In the end, Allen decided not to intervene, but he immediately regretted it when he saw, with horror, that the tricycle was in the lead.
"Don't mess with me! There's a damn jet in the options! Why are you voting for the tricycle?!"
Just then, the bike caught up with the tricycle, each having five thousand votes. Allen's face turned pale. Puente Antiguo was a two-hour drive away; how was he going to get there on a tricycle?
"I thought with so many viewers, I wouldn't have to worry about trolls... but now I see, they're all a bunch of b...!!"
– D:
– XD
– Love making you suffer, screw you!
– It's just that I envy you because you're so handsome >:)
– Muahahahaha
In the end, the bicycle won by a hundred votes. Allen looked at this with an emotionless gaze. Of course, it was up to him to do it or not; not even Gwen expected Allen to do it. What kind of crazy person would do that?
"Entertainment is tough," said Allen with a steely look.
===
Amidst an empty road, the scorching sun high in the sky, with only desert, rocks, and mountains in the distance, there were two men on a double-seated bicycle, pedaling non-stop.
"I'm a high-ranking agent of SHIELD... why am I pedaling a damn bike in a suit, in the middle of the desert?!" Coulson, in the front seat, began doubting reality.
"Think you're suffering? I have to deal with those monkeys every time I turn on the stream!" replied Allen from the back.
"What's my fault?!" Coulson dropped the facade of being an agent and replied angrily.
"Listen, Phill, the heat's getting to you; we need to focus on getting to Puente Antiguo, so shut up and pedal!"
Both men sweated as an old woman's truck passed them. The old woman looked at them and shook her head. "These city folks and their punk fashion..." she sped up, blowing smoke at them.
"Old witch!"
Surprisingly, it was Coulson who yelled, not Allen.
– Allen, your secret agent is broken LMFAO.
– I like Phill, hahaha.
"Don't worry, Phill, every effort has its reward... well, the one getting paid a hundred grand is me, but you'll get..." Allen paused and blinked. "A tan?"
"YOU SON OF A B...!!!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone