Every beat of his heart was like a war drum, pumping scorching blood through his limbs.
He could feel his muscle fibers quivering subtly at an incredible frequency.
They were cheering.
They yearned to release their stored energy.
His consciousness sank into his mind.
"Bring up my full status panel, real-time data."
The next second, lines of data streams, gleaming with a faint golden luster, appeared in his mind's eye.
[Name: William Rodriguez]
[Ability List:]
[Energy Tuning (Primary), Resilient Skin (Primary), Danger Prediction (Intermediate), Pain Suppression (Primary), Mental Fortitude (Primary), Tiger God Affinity (Primary), Toxin Resistance (Primary), Qi (Primary), Accelerated Healing (Primary), Super Soldier Serum (Optimized · Potential), Lightning Affinity (Primary), Trajectory Prediction (Primary), Electrical Energy Absorption (Primary), Mechanical Induction (Advanced), Spark of Inspiration (Intermediate), Palm Arc Pulse (Miniaturized), Tactical Vision (Intermediate), Bio-static Adhesion (Primary), Radar Sense (Primary), Data Touch (Primary), Phase Shift (Primary), Interrogation Expert (Primary), Superhuman Strength (Advanced)]
[Exclusive Items: "paradox briefcase", "foolproof plan"]
[Overall Assessment: You have initially acquired the ability to handle urban warfare as a single combatant.]
[Your ability system is complex and lacks practical integration.]
William had never felt so good.
This feeling of power, surging from within and inexhaustible, was ten thousand times more real than the satisfaction brought by the ten billion U.S. dollars in his bank account.
Money was security.
Power, however, was security itself.
Just then, the entire apartment building shook violently.
The chandelier on the ceiling swayed wildly, and dust fell in a fine shower.
A sharp, metallic shriek of tearing came from outside the window, followed by the deafening crash of a heavy object hitting the ground.
A Chitauri single-person flyer, spewing black smoke and blue electrical sparks, crashed crookedly into the floor above his apartment.
Perhaps due to the flyer's heavy weight, coupled with the impact, the Chitauri soldier fell directly into his home.
Two ugly, armored Chitauri soldiers struggled out of the wreckage.
They shook their heads.
One of them looked up, meeting William's gaze.
"Sizzle—"
One of the soldiers raised the energy rifle on its arm, and a blue energy beam whistled towards him.
William's body reacted even faster than his brain.
Tactical Vision activated.
The energy beam's flight path, impact point, and three or more evasion plans flashed through his mind.
He simply took a step to the left.
"Boom!"
The floor where he had just stood and the wall behind it were blasted with a basin-sized hole by the energy beam.
The edges were charred and still emitting a faint smoke.
William glanced at the hole and the Chitauri soldier, his brows furrowed.
He hated trouble.
Especially trouble that damaged his property.
Repairing this hole would be another expense.
William didn't give them a chance to fire a second shot.
He pushed off with his feet, his body instantly hurtling down the stairs.
The feeling was strange.
The entire World seemed to slow down in his eyes.
He could clearly see the opponent's finger pulling the trigger, the energy gathering at the muzzle, and even the dust floating in the air.
He had become faster.
"Bang!"
He threw a punch, hitting the chest plate of the Chitauri soldier on the left squarely.
There was no earth-shattering roar.
Only a dull, teeth-grinding sound of bones shattering.
The armor, which had appeared incredibly sturdy, was as fragile as an eggshell under his fist.
The entire chest cavity caved in.
The alien soldier was sent flying before it could even cry out.
It died on the spot.
The other soldier was stunned by this bloody scene.
That momentary pause sealed its fate.
William didn't stop.
He extended his left hand, fingers splayed, his palm aimed at it.
Palm Arc Pulse!
"Zzzzz!"
A blue-white arc, thicker and brighter than ever before, instantly erupted from his palm.
It was no longer a faint spark.
Instead, it was a condensed, destructive miniature lightning bolt.
The arc precisely struck the second soldier's helmet.
"Crackling!"
A series of explosive sounds.
The soldier convulsed violently, and countless tiny electrical snakes burst from the seams of its armor.
A smell of burning protein permeated the entire living room.
It all happened in less than three seconds.
The battle was over.
William unclenched his fist.
He looked at his hand.
He hadn't even used three-tenths of the power in that punch.
And that Palm Arc Pulse, boosted by Lightning Affinity, was at least five times more powerful than before.
This was... power.
An efficient power that could instantly resolve all troubles.
He suddenly felt that his previous cautious, step-by-step way of life perhaps... needed a slight adjustment.
Just then, his phone in his pocket vibrated frantically.
It was the encrypted temporary communication channel.
Spider-Man: "Help! Help!
"The enemies here aren't just The Hand!"
"There are also a lot of aliens!"
"They're coming out of a blue hole!"
"The firepower is too intense!
"I'm almost out of web fluid!"
Deadpool: "Awesome!
"Alien invasion party!"
"Did anyone bring Mexican chili cheese nachos?"
"Wait, my kidney just got shot through again..."
"Did anyone see where it flew off to?"
"Find it within five seconds for a reward!"
Moon Knight: "These heretics... have desecrated the peace of the World..."
"Khonshu's wrath will purify their filth..."
"Steven, shut up, this isn't a movie!"
William looked at the chaotic messages on the screen, feeling a bit speechless.
His "assets," worth one and a half million U.S. dollars, seemed to be in big trouble.
William's expression darkened.
He wasn't worried about the lives of those three guys.
Deadpool couldn't die.
Moon Knight was protected by a god.
Spider-Man had plot armor.
He was concerned about his return on investment.
These three weren't working just because of his recommendation.
Little Spider wanted to earn money.
Deadpool was purely for entertainment.
Moon Knight wanted to purge evil.
Even if the mission failed due to their frivolous nature, his reputation as a top agent would be completely ruined.
More importantly, Danny Rand's next payment might be gone.
Cutting off someone's financial path was like killing their parents.
"contract, pinpoint their location."
[contract: Location locked. Pier 17 Warehouse, Bronx. 12.4 kilometers from your current location.]
William glanced out the window.
In the sky, Chitauri flyers and Stark's armor crisscrossed, the explosions painting the city's skyline an orange-red.
If he drove now, he'd be too late.
His gaze swept across the room, finally resting on the black trench coat hanging on the clothes rack.
Five minutes later.
A man wearing a black trench coat, hood, and mask, completely covered, emerged from the shadows of the apartment's back alley.
[Tactical Vision] automatically activated.
Optimal routes, avoiding the main battlefield, clearly appeared in his mind.
He took a deep breath, his legs slightly bent.
The next second, he shot out like a cannonball.
His speed was astonishing, the gust of wind he created stirring up fallen leaves and trash on the ground.
Ordinary people's eyes could only catch a blurred black Shadow.
He sprinted vertically up the wall; his Bio-static Adhesion ability made him move as if on flat ground.
In a few breaths, he was already standing on the rooftop of a dozen-story building.
The cold wind ruffled his coat.
He looked down at the chaotic city below, and an unprecedented sense of pride surged in his chest.
Before, these tall buildings were an insurmountable steel jungle in his eyes.
Now, they were merely stepping stones beneath his feet.
He didn't linger, pushing off the edge of the rooftop again, leaping.
His body traced an exaggerated parabola dozens of meters long in the air, landing precisely on the roof of another building.
He landed without even making much sound.
His Superhuman Strength, Pain Suppression, and Resilient Skin allowed him to completely ignore the immense impact.
New York had become his hunting ground.
-------------------------------
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