Marvel: The Imposter Inventor

Chapter 161 Gems, Protest (Fifth Update)

Indeed, the light emanating from the entire Loki scepter far surpasses that of the rest of the scepter.

In fact, Luca had noticed long ago that the gem at the top of the scepter seemed a little too bright.

At first, Luca thought it was just the light emanating from the original gemstones on Loki's scepter.

However, looking back at the description on the panel now, it seems that this is not the case.

'Could it be that the Mind Stone and Loki's Scepter were separated and determined to be two core components by the cheat system?'

'It doesn't seem impossible?'

With his doubts in mind, Luca reached out and touched the top of the scepter, the blue crystal that contained the Mind Stone.

However, the pop-up panel still displayed the [Yuri base vehicle] notification.

'Well, okay, it seems this protective shell can't trigger the cheat code panel's prompts.'

But this immediately put Luca in a dilemma.

If the crystal encasing the Mind Stone is destroyed, it could very well lead to the complete destruction of Loki's scepter.

If the cheat code simply considers the Mind Stone and Loki's Scepter as two separate core components, that would be fine.

When crafting items using cheat codes, unrelated materials are usually left in place. After the [Yuri Base Vehicle] is crafted, Luca can still keep the Mind Gem and see what it can be used to craft.

However, if the cheat code considers these two items as a single unit, the Mind Gem might disappear along with the completed base vehicle.

In that case, Luca might never know what the Mind Stone can be synthesized into.

For a moment, Luca was also caught in a dilemma, which was rare for him.

'Do we need the base vehicle, or gamble with the Mind Gem?'

Just as Luca hesitated, a commotion suddenly arose below the building. Even Luca, who was on the top floor, could vaguely hear the noise downstairs.

Before Luca could even send the husky to check the window to see what was going on, there was a rapid knocking on the office door.

Meanwhile, the person knocking on the door outside didn't wait for a reply from inside before quickly starting to report.

"Your Excellency, a large crowd of Novigrad residents has gathered outside the Orange Mansion, seemingly protesting... well, protesting the Orange Company's entry into Sokovia!"

Inside the office, Luca frowned slightly upon hearing the report from the Hydra soldiers outside, but immediately stopped dwelling on it and handed the Loki scepter back to the husky.

He winked at Strucker, who was still standing there in a daze, and gave the order in a low voice.

"Everything is as usual. Let's resolve this matter first."

"Yes, boss."

After Luca gave the order, not only Strucker, but also Lena and Dr. Lister returned to normal, as if they had really just been discussing company cooperation matters in the office.

Meanwhile, Strucker pushed open his office door and reprimanded the subordinate who came to report.

"Do I need to teach you how to handle such a trivial matter? Get rid of all those troublemakers! And shoot any who disobey!"

"This"

Upon hearing this, the Hydra soldier immediately looked troubled.

However, this is actually normal, since all members of the Sokovia base where Strucker is currently located belong to Hydra.

However, many of these soldiers were recruited from the local Sokovians. Given his swift and decisive action of ordering the killing of civilians, it was understandable that his subordinates, who hadn't yet been thoroughly brainwashed, hesitated.

Even Luca didn't expect that his instruction to "handle it as usual" would result in this kind of outcome.

Thinking that he planned to invest heavily in Sokovia in the future, developing his own power under the guise of 'giving back to his hometown', Luca quickly spoke up to stop him.

“Ahem, Your Excellency, I don’t think it’s necessary to be so violent. After all, our Orange family also comes from Sokovia. I suppose those people are so dissatisfied with the company’s move because they don’t know these things.”

Since Luca had spoken up, Strucker naturally wouldn't object.

After a moment of contemplation, he looked again at the soldier who had come to report.

"Let's go, take me to the scene and see what's going on!"

Now, it was the Hydra soldier's turn to stand there, stunned, staring at his leader with wide eyes.

'So, Your Excellency the Baron is this easy to talk to?'

In fact, after that brief moment of hesitation, he had already prepared himself to accept punishment.

Unexpectedly, a single casual remark from that young American caused their leader's attitude to completely change 180 degrees.

However, seeing that Strucker had already started walking towards the elevator, he didn't dare to delay and immediately jogged after him.

However, Luca did not go downstairs with Strucker in the office. Instead, he gave a wink to Shield Mountain and the others outside, indicating that they did not need to worry. Then he went directly to the office window and looked down.

It doesn't matter if you look at it.

At this moment, hundreds of Sokovia citizens had gathered below the Orange Tower office building.

Although most of these people were dressed simply, some even dressed like homeless people on the street.

But at this moment, they were all excited and had ferocious expressions.

Holding up their flags and banners, the crowd roared and cursed angrily in the direction of Orange House.

"Americans! Get out of our country!!"

"Get out! You're not welcome here!!"

"We want fairness! We don't want dollars!!"

While some of these angry roars were in English, most were interspersed with Sokovia dialect slang.

Yes, Sokovia does have its own language, but due to prolonged warlord conflicts and the disruption caused by the invasion of external capital, even the official language has now become English.

It is only in moments of extreme anger that people realize that their mother tongue seems to be better able to express their indignation.

Fortunately, the Orange family is a relatively traditional Sokovian family. Although Luca was born in the United States, his mother Gina lived in Sokovia until he was an adult, so she taught him Sokovian from a young age. At this moment, he could understand what the people below were cursing.

Well, it seems that understanding what others are saying about you isn't necessarily a good thing.

At this moment, the furious protesters, seeing no response, began to lose control and prepared to storm Orange Tower.

If it weren't for the fact that the security guards of this office building were all soldiers dispatched from within the Hydra base, they might not have been able to stop these angry civilians.

However, it was precisely in such a chaotic scene that...

Looking down from the top floor, Luca immediately spotted a figure in the crowd, shrouded in red, with a snow-white forehead.

(End of this chapter)