Chapter 153: Happy Qixi Festival (Bonus chapter for 100 monthly votes)

Steve, that kind-hearted and straight-laced fellow, would never truly understand how shameless the adult world could be.
Even less would he know that, in history, he was destined to spend this humiliating performing career acting like a clown.

"Sigh! Anyway, Captain America was bound to end up as a mascot, so why not let me profit from it instead? That makes me look much more like a Wall Street investor!" In his newly purchased office in Manhattan, Mei Integrity propped up his legs, rocking back and forth comfortably in his boss's chair.

There are no saints on Wall Street.
If Mei Integrity had truly acted as though he had no worldly desires, numerous financial magnates would have swarmed to attack him, slandering him and calling him Hitler's lapdog or something similar.
By selling out Captain America's dignity in exchange for ticket sales to recoup his funds, he instead looked like a true businessman.

Who knows how many financial tycoons secretly cursed Mei Momo for his blind luck in cultivating a national hero.
Even though he only got a one percent commission on the sale of war bonds, the sheer total volume was massive!
The emergence of Captain America was a phenomenal event. Even though the Broadway-style song and dance numbers seemed thoroughly crude in Mei Momo's eyes, in the 1940s, this was the most widely accepted method by the American public.

Initial calculations by the accountant suggested that if they performed fifty sold-out shows, the funds invested in the Super Soldier Project could likely be recovered.
In fact, at this moment, no one had imagined that this national idol, Captain America, would become such a massive sensation, far exceeding everyone's expectations. It wasn't just the live audience; word of mouth spread like wildfire. Huge crowds rushed to banks and war bond sales counters, waiting in long lines to purchase bonds.

Moreover, Steve wasn't going to perform fifty or a hundred shows—he was going to do over two hundred.
To put it mildly, relying solely on the brand name of Captain America, our friend Mei was going to make a fortune.

Of course, making money was just a pleasant side effect for Mei. He had zero interest in money.
The war in Europe was raging on, but to Mei, he was merely a spectator. During this time, quite a few people came to him looking for investments, but aside from pouring money into Uncle Sam's war bonds and Howard's Stark Industries, Mei didn't invest a single cent in any other field.

After a month of recuperation, Dr. Abraham returned to work, but due to someone's meddling, he could no longer remember the original formula.
During this period, he attempted five or six experiments, but essentially, once the dosage reached twenty percent, it had to be aborted. Of course, it wasn't a total loss; one person managed to endure all the way to one hundred percent.
That person was Peggy Carter.

Unfortunately, under Mei's sabotage, the serum was incomplete. It looked as though Peggy had suffered immensely, yet she gained zero enhancement. This left the government deeply disappointed.
In reality, that wasn't the case at all. Only Mei Momo knew that through psychological suggestion, the serum the doctor crafted for Peggy was specifically tailored to her DNA—it lacked the ability to enhance physical strength, but possessed the power to prolong life.

It wasn't obvious now, but ten, twenty, or thirty years later, when Peggy still looked as youthful as a flower, people would finally understand what had happened.
Mei Integrity had no intention of handing out this "longevity drug." Take someone as formidable as President Roosevelt, for instance—it was impossible to imagine what the world would look like if he could live another ten years.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was August 17, 1943. If translated to August 17, 2018, before his transmigration, that day would have been the Qixi Festival.

"Ah, life is truly as lonely as snow—clearly, I already have a house, a car, and cash, so why on earth did I transform from a single dog into a single-dog?"
Gazing up at the night sky, Mei Integrity couldn't help but burst into a song:

"The city I live in is full of misses!"
"Not a single one could time-travel with me—"
"So bored I forgot the dog-abusing festival was creeping up!"
"I've got a string of profanities I didn't get to say in time!"
"Time-travelers fear holidays the most..."
"Getting blinded by public displays of affection and fed dog food!"
"The goddess of my heart sends me a wedding invitation..."

Alright! Mei Momo realized he couldn't make up any more lyrics.
As an untainted virgin, Mei Momo deeply cherished his legendary, potentially prospective scandalous girlfriends, saving his hypothetical first strike for someone special.
Hooking up with some random chick casually, only to return more than seventy years later to find her turned to ash or aged into an old lady—that was something Mei simply could not accept psychologically.

Taking her back to the future wasn't an option either. The poor girl was living fine in this timeline; why drag her back to suffer in the dark void of 2016? That would be screwing over both her and himself!
Suddenly, he somewhat understood why those ancient immortals who lived for thousands or tens of thousands of years often felt so lonely. If everyone around you grew old and died one by one, leaving you entirely alone, you would probably go mad or die of misery.

Perhaps precisely because of this, he had kindly left Peggy Carter for Captain America.
Yet for some reason, the system didn't count this as changing Peggy's destiny. Most likely, Peggy herself had a trial to pass, and only when she survived would her destiny truly be altered.

The deviation points and reversal points gained from changing Captain America's fate earlier hadn't been used by Mei Momo; he had temporarily stashed them away. He didn't need them for the moment. The energy within the Eye of Agamotto was still abundant, so he didn't have to worry about rushing back to face Dormammu anytime soon.

On the other hand, bringing the clone of the Time Stone close to the Space Stone posed a risk for Mei Momo. That meant he likely wouldn't directly confront the Red Skull.
Besides, the Red Skull wasn't going to be overwhelmingly powerful at this point in time either.
This gave Mei the notion to hoard his points.

Just as Mei Momo was letting his mind wander wildly, a sudden "beep beep beep" alarm sounded in his spiritual sea. The magical warning array he had set up in his office had been triggered.

"Hmm? Who is it?"
The intruder actually seemed to have some skill. Mei Momo secretly expanded his perception, yet failed to detect the person's presence. If not for the arcane elements—which belonged solely to him—silently drifting in his office and showing clear signs of disturbance, he might have even thought it was his imagination.

Clearly, the intruder possessed extraordinary abilities.
Mei Momo didn't know who else possessed extraordinary powers at this timeline, but that didn't stop him from venting his pent-up single-dog frustration on the intruder.

"Hehe! Found you!" Sneering inwardly, Mei Momo abruptly hurled a stack of scrap-metal-like items toward the corner of the hallway outside his office.

The intruder was caught completely off guard, regardless of their combat skills.
Unless they possessed heaven-defying strength, in front of the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, nobody could hope to get off easily.

"Clatter-r-r-r-r!"
Caught!

The Crimson Bands were a powerful magical artifact capable of forcing villainous bosses like Kaecilius to their knees; capturing a mere little cat burglar was an absolute breeze.

"Mmm-mmm-mmm!" Amidst muffled groans, Mei Momo saw a female body whose arms and legs had been forcibly bent backward, her entire torso hyperextended as she knelt on the ground to receive punishment.

"Whoa! What a gorgeous babe!"
To his surprise, it turned out to be her!

The hot, curvaceous body was so alluring that Mei Momo actually felt a sudden impulse to commit a crime!
However, when he reached out and placed his hands upon her peaks as if spellbound, Mei Momo instantly regretted it.

To hell with the Qixi Festival!
This chick was toxic!
She... she was Yelena Belova!