#3 - Secret Base

Yang Le stood on the rooftop beside the alley, watching Tom leave.

"Well, I should go home too." Hearing the sirens coming from a distance, and after confirming that Tom was okay, Yang Le decided to end his patrol for the night.

Turning into Swampfire, Yang Le controlled his form, condensing his body into slender vines, like a python, he climbed down the wall from the rooftop.

Under the cover of darkness, Yang Le quietly crawled to a manhole cover, slightly lifted it to create a gap, and slipped inside.

Once underground, Yang Le resumed his human form and began searching for the way home.

"New York's sewers aren't inhabited by Ninja Turtles, but by me, Yang Le!" Daily self-entertainment had become a habit for Yang Le. Being suddenly brought to this unfamiliar place by the malfunctioning Omnitrix, he felt he might become depressed if he didn't find some amusement.

"Living in the sewers, I've really become a rat."

The sewers weren't complex, but it was easy to get lost due to the lack of landmarks. Yang Le didn't dare to leave any markings, fearing someone would find his secret base.

However, Yang Le had been living here for a month, and since his activity range wasn't large, he had explored the sewers of the nearby blocks quite thoroughly, making it easy to find his way home.

Soon, Yang Le arrived at a valve. He stepped forward and twisted it.

Three turns to the left, three turns to the right, and then a forceful push. With a click, the valve opened, revealing a camera.

Yang Le changed his form, aligning the Omnitrix symbol on his chest with the camera for scanning.

After the scan was complete, with a "beep" sound, the wall beside the valve slowly opened, revealing a passage. After Yang Le walked in, the wall slowly closed again, everything returning to its original state, as if nothing had happened.

The passage wasn't long; the metal door at the end was visible at a glance. Arriving at the door, he underwent the same camera scan, and then waited for the final door to open.

The door opened with a "click," and Yang Le finally returned to his warm home.

As Yang Le entered, the sensor lights turned on with a "pop," illuminating the entire room with bright light.

The room was square, only about 100 square meters. The entire room had no partitions dividing it. Yang Le had simply divided the room into a work area and a living area.

The living area was very simple: a table with a gas stove on it, tableware for one person, a sink in the corner, a hammock, and a portable toilet that had been converted into a fixed one.

The work area was much richer than the living area, with several screens, a computer case, various pieces of equipment, and even a row of soil pots with plants growing in them.

After returning home, Yang Le's transformation time also ran out. A flash of white light passed, and Yang Le turned back into an ordinary Earthling.

Back in his original form, Yang Le immediately went to the soil pots in the work area. What he was cultivating there was a conjecture of his. If the experiment succeeded, his strength in Swampfire form would greatly increase.

Swampfire's race, the Methanosian, has the ability to control plant growth and even modify plants to some extent. So Yang Le wondered if he could cultivate new plants and make them more diverse.

"My little darlings, have you been growing well?" Yang Le gently approached the soil pots, as if he were a parent afraid of waking their sleeping children. However, Yang Le was now just an ordinary Earthling and couldn't communicate with plants.

The plants in the soil pots were cultivated from ordinary peas, but now they were completely unrecognizable. The stems were as thick as wrists, the leaves were heavy, and the pods the size of fists were not the oval shape that encased several peas, but a circle that encased only one.

That's right, what Yang Le wanted to cultivate was the Peashooter. With the help of Swampfire's abilities, Yang Le could make plants grow even without sunlight. With this, Yang Le had already cultivated eight generations of Peashooters.

By the fifth generation, the Peashooters could fire peas, but the power was very weak, and the range of the peas was only about half a meter.

In the seventh generation, Yang Le reduced the size of the peas and increased the strength of the pods, thereby increasing the range and power of the peas, but there was still only one shot, and it was gone after firing.

The eighth generation was similar to the seventh generation, and now it was already the ninth generation.

"It seems that without sunlight, even with Swampfire's abilities, the plants are still underdeveloped." After recording the growth of the plants in his notebook, Yang Le came to the screens.

These screens and computer cases were computers that Yang Le had assembled himself. In addition to some basic functions, Yang Le also used them to connect to the surveillance cameras on the street and to monitor police communications.

Of course, Yang Le didn't have this ability himself. This was thanks to another alien in the little broken watch.

Yang Le turned on the computer, and five screens lit up simultaneously, displaying different information. Three were responsible for monitoring, one for the police, and the remaining one was for Yang Le's daily use.

"I've been here for a month, and since the third day I discovered that this place has the Daily Bugle, I've been looking forward to the appearance of Spider-Man. But it's been a month, and not to mention Spider-Man, I haven't even encountered a super villain."

Yang Le used the computer to watch the news. After being transported here for a month, when Yang Le discovered the Daily Bugle and saw JJJ's face on TV, which was 7.8 points similar to the one in the movie, he felt that he had arrived in the Marvel universe.

The newest novels are first published on Liu Jiu Shu Ba!

After that, looking up some celebrities made it even more certain. For example, Captain America.

This iconic figure can even be found in history.

It's just that Yang Le can't be sure which universe he's in now. After all, Marvel's multiverse is as numerous as the hairs on a cow, and the differences between universes are also very large. Only by determining the universe can he set goals.

Yang Le has been paying attention to Stark Industries, but Stark hasn't had an accident yet, so there's no way to be sure if it's the movie universe.

Although Yang Le has been collecting information, he has always been afraid to reach out too far. After all, there are quite a few special organizations in the Marvel universe, and he's afraid of being discovered.

If he provokes an organization like Hydra and they discover that he has the ability to transform, he's afraid that he'll be immediately captured and given intense pulsed light, and dissected for research.

Just thinking about it gave Yang Le goosebumps.

"Gua! Will Hydra beat me to my knees and take me back to be Starnuli?"

Every time Yang Le played some梗 (internet meme), he felt lonely. A梗 (internet meme) that no one complains about is better than not playing.

"I wonder when Rat will make friends..." Yang Le slumped weakly in his chair, and could only watch TV programs for comfort.