Chapter 341 - 341: Celebrating Already? It’s Far Too Soon

"We need to find a way to open it."

Karl had Iron Man and Eric O'Grady move farther back.

He wanted to see whether the Phoenix Force could split the starship open!

First, he sent a signal to the people trapped inside, telling them to move to both sides and leave the center clear.

Only then could he safely unleash his power.

"Is this really going to work?"

Eric looked at the enormous starship and knew that dealing with it wouldn't be easy.

Although he sometimes looked down on the Skrulls' high-tech creations, he had to admit that their technology was often far more advanced than expected.

Faced with something like this, even he wasn't sure what to do.

"Whether it works or not, we should let Karl try first."

"Otherwise, all we can do is sit here doing nothing."

Iron Man had already poured wine for them, almost as though he were preparing to celebrate.

Regardless of whether they ultimately succeeded in opening the starship, simply managing to bring the entire vessel back had already exceeded anything they could previously have imagined.

Before this, they wouldn't even have dared consider such a plan.

"We still have to try."

"If we just sit around here, we'll never make any progress…"

Karl had no intention of waiting helplessly.

Now that they had brought the starship back, the next stage of the plan had to proceed methodically.

He still possessed plenty of magical artifacts.

If necessary, he could use them one after another until everything was firmly under his control and could no longer be exploited by anyone else!

"Let's see what you can do!"

"Phoenix Force, show me the power you're supposed to have."

"I need to get everyone inside out safely!"

Karl immediately unleashed the Phoenix Force.

A streak of crimson light flashed before their eyes.

Yet the entire starship remained completely unharmed!

Karl was stunned.

He knew that the Skrulls were intelligent and that the things they constructed were incredibly advanced.

But even he had never encountered something like this before.

For a moment, he could only stare in disbelief.

Iron Man even stopped pouring the wine.

He walked over and lightly touched the vessel.

The outer hull was scorching hot.

"I've heard that they developed technology capable of converting incoming energy into heat."

"I didn't expect them to perfect it this quickly."

"This is far beyond what we anticipated."

"How did they manage this?"

Eric had been reluctant to believe it.

But even he now felt genuinely shocked.

"What are you doing out there?"

"You didn't put us inside an oven, did you?"

"It's unbearably hot in here!"

"Hurry up and get us out!"

"Or at least make an opening!"

"This starship looks so advanced. How does it not even have air conditioning?"

Voices rose one after another from inside.

It seemed Iron Man's assessment had been correct.

The vessel had completely absorbed the Phoenix Force Karl had just unleashed.

It had then converted all that energy directly into heat!

The interior must have become unbearably hot.

Unfortunately, none of the prisoners understood how to operate the starship.

They didn't even know whether there was some kind of control system for ventilation or temperature regulation.

"Don't panic."

Karl directed Iron Man and Eric to move farther away again.

Then he used another ability.

A pale flash erupted.

In an instant, frost spread across the surrounding grass.

The power released was far beyond what they had expected.

"That should make things much better…"

Karl had used his ice power to rapidly cool the entire exterior of the starship.

That should keep the people inside from suffering from the accumulated heat and buy them more time.

"I know you're uncomfortable in there."

"But we're trying to figure out how to open this damn thing."

"Standing around doing nothing isn't going to help."

Karl was becoming frustrated himself.

But getting impatient wouldn't solve anything.

For now, they could only continue examining the vessel and wait for an opportunity.

"What else can we try to get this thing open…?"

Seeing Karl struggle with the problem made the others increasingly uneasy.

The superheroes trapped inside kept shouting out all sorts of reckless suggestions.

But after thinking them through, most of those ideas clearly wouldn't work.

Some might even create an even greater disaster.

"Those ideas are too dangerous."

"We need a solution that won't put everyone inside at risk."

"Until we're reasonably confident, we can't just start trying reckless methods."

"Otherwise, we might only make the situation worse."

"I think I understand this starship a little better now."

"Its capabilities are far beyond what we expected."

"Unless we possess enough raw power to overwhelm it, we absolutely cannot attack it recklessly."

"Just look at the design of this entire vessel."

"We don't even understand how much power is contained within its systems."

"As long as we don't understand it properly, it remains a serious danger."

After Karl finished speaking, the others silently nodded.

Iron Man began thinking.

Between Karl's Phoenix Force and the full power of his own armor, he refused to believe there was absolutely no way to open the starship.

Karl, however, had already formed another theory.

The hull appeared to be made from an extraordinarily durable titanium alloy, described by the Skrulls as one of the toughest metals in the universe.

Perhaps Captain America's shield could still do something against it…

Karl suddenly remembered something.

The Skrulls had copied countless superheroes.

Captain America had been among them.

"They've been collecting ultimate weapons."

"If we could get hold of Captain America's shield, then even metal this tough might be cut apart!"

But brute force alone clearly wasn't enough to open the starship.

It seemed to require some kind of unique command phrase and specialized access code.

That made things even more difficult.

Without the correct command phrase and authorization, forcing it open was almost impossible.

Karl's idea might be difficult to carry out, but it was still worth considering.

If they could somehow obtain Captain America's shield, they could at least try using it to breach the hull.

"Then why not just have Captain America open the starship from the inside with his shield?"

Eric suggested.

Captain America's voice immediately came from within.

"Because they took my shield away, obviously!"

That made sense.

The Skrulls had already demonstrated how thoroughly they prepared for everything.

They would never have left such a useful weapon in the hands of one of their prisoners.

Once everyone understood that, silence fell again.

The atmosphere grew increasingly awkward.

"All right."

"Stop looking so miserable."

"Instead of standing around like this, we should keep thinking."

"And if nothing else works…"

Karl paused.

"We'll use our usual method."

Eric immediately sucked in a sharp breath.

Whenever Karl came up with one of these plans, Eric somehow always ended up being the first one expected to take the risk.

It was starting to feel as though Karl had some kind of personal grudge against him.

(End of Chapter)

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