Corin had no idea he had almost become a target for the Ancient One to erase.
Right now, he only had one question, 'When exactly is this system maintenance going to end?'
After the alien invasion war, Corin's account balance had already climbed past five hundred billion. That was enough to push his strength up another level.
But the system had gone into maintenance while he was trapped in space.
That almost broke him. If it weren't for the spatial energy accumulated in his demigod body helping him tear open a spatial rift, he might have starved to death out there in space.
Back at the hotel, Corin thought about it for a long time before catching a hint of a clue.
It was simple. Process of elimination.
He really couldn't think of anything other than the activated demigod body that could have allowed him to open a portal from the vast emptiness of space back to Earth.
The demigod body's compatibility with spatial energy clearly wasn't just talk.
But when Corin tried to summon that energy within him again, there was no response at all.
———
Nearly half of New York's streets were bustling with reconstruction work after the war.
The bodies of the Chitauri soldiers were collected immediately by S.H.I.E.L.D. and handed over to the tech department for research.
The scientists in the tech department were already losing hair over how to reinforce holding cells when they were suddenly dumped with a mountain of alien corpses. That nearly broke them mentally.
Tony and Miss Pepper, with JARVIS's help, were also drafting a repair plan for Stark Tower.
From a distance, the Stark building now had almost no glass left on its top floor.
Of the huge "STARK" sign mounted outside, only one letter remained, "A".
Although half of New York had been dragged into the flames of war and suffered widespread damage, the hearts of its citizens had never felt closer than they did now.
They had collectively become fans of one star group, the Avengers.
Only when arguing about which superhero was cooler did disagreements arise.
Tough guys liked Hulk. Tech geeks saw Tony as their role model. Those obsessed with mythology stared at Thor's armor and hammer, unable to calm down.
But even when they argued, they never brought up Crimson Silver Duke.
Simple reason. There was nothing to criticize.
Even the most vicious keyboard warriors, when they came across posts about Corin, could only quietly close the page and mutter, "Next…"
In this war, Mr. Silver Duke had played a role that turned the tide. Even within the Avengers, his performance stood far ahead.
Citizens might argue red-faced over whether Thor was more handsome or Hulk more powerful, but they never dared compare anyone to Corin.
The public's eyes were objective.
They knew it was Corin who had borne most of the pressure.
That world-destroying gaze was like the Grim Reaper's scythe. The invaders died if they brushed against it, shattered if they touched it.
And that terrifying cold. It was bound to become the nightmare they saw at midnight.
———
On the other side of space, Thanos showed little emotional reaction to the failure of this battle.
He had fought for his beliefs for far too long. The gain or loss of one city meant nothing to him.
It just seemed that this time, he had misjudged someone.
Loki, who called himself the God of Mischief, had failed to show his supposed cunning on this planet, even with an entire army backing him.
"What a weakling."
Thanos turned his gaze toward the depths of the universe, a trace of resolve in his eyes.
"This world has already endured too much."
The spaceship turned into a streak of light and vanished into deep space. No one knew where it went.
———
That day—
Click!
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Corin was in his room enjoying a roast duck wrap, complaining that they had given too little shredded scallion and that the sauce didn't taste authentic.
Suddenly, all the lights in the room went out.
Only the emergency fire lights remained, giving off a faint alarm sound.
"Power outage?"
Just then, Alyssa appeared barefoot in front of him.
"Boss! Stop eating!"
"The power plant is about to blow."
"Your friend is fighting there!"
During the alien invasion, Alyssa had received Corin's early warning and used her hacking skills to locate an abandoned military air-raid shelter.
While Corin was fighting, she hadn't been idle either.
She spent quite a bit of money transforming the shelter into a temporary base.
It was equipped with sufficient water and food, as well as multiple satellite computers to help her monitor various places and anomalies.
There was even a very comfortable living area.
Of course, Alyssa alone couldn't have accomplished all that.
Corin had called Tony.
When Tony learned that Corin seemed to want to establish a secret base, he agreed wholeheartedly.
His own Stark Tower had become almost the core of the invasion war precisely because it was too high-profile.
After the war, seeing that only the top floor and outer walls were damaged had nearly made Tony doubt his own eyes.
He had thought the building would collapse, yet it had only suffered minor injuries.
As for whether Tony would learn from the consequences of being high-profile. Impossible.
"Low-key? Not in this lifetime."
In the repair plan, Stark Tower would shine even brighter, with its sense of technology raised to another level.
Now the whole world knew that Tony Stark was Iron Man and that he had joined the Avengers to fight off aliens.
How could Stark Tower possibly keep a low profile?
Would his company allow it?
Would his stock prices allow it?
Would his fans allow it?
No… not even he himself would allow it.
So Tony continued further down the road of being flashy and carefree.
["Haha, Mr. Silver Duke, how about you beg me?"]
"Beg your ass… help or don't…", Corin hung up with a click.
Tony might tease him over the phone, but after hanging up, he personally arranged everything.
So the so-called base established by Alyssa was, in its later stages, practically packaged and completed by Tony.
The control system even came with an intelligent assistant similar to JARVIS.
Alyssa had just returned to the hotel to get some beauty sleep after finishing the base when the rumbling from the other side of the city shattered her rest.
After pulling up nearby surveillance, she realized a guy covered in crackling electricity was causing chaos there.
The city's entire power supply had been affected.
Spider-Man was there too.
Knowing Spider-Man was the boss's friend, she rushed over immediately to warn him.
"Hm? Electro?"
The darkness did nothing to affect Corin's eating pace.
He had been in places far darker than this.
Swallowing the food in his mouth, Corin let out a small burp.
Five roast ducks down, and he finally felt a bit full.
"Besides Little Spider, who else is there?"
"A lightbulb guy covered in electricity."
"Oh?"
Corin remembered.
'Isn't that the guy who short-circuited at Times Square before?'
'How did he get released?'
———
Peter's friend, Harry Osborn, had hit the lowest point of his life.
The board of directors pinned Max's accident on him and kicked him out under the charge of conducting illegal human experiments.
It had to be said, the Osborn board was a breeding ground for backstabbers.
Back then, his father Norman Osborn had already cleaned out a large batch of board members.
Yet not long after, newly promoted so-called loyal directors had kicked his son out.
It was a perfect display of how quickly people turn cold once you lose power.
Harry, of course, refused to sink just like that.
For revenge, he used his identity to infiltrate the lab and shut off the controller on Max.
With a common enemy, the two quickly reached an agreement.
That Spider-Man would be made to wish he were dead.
Right before security forced Harry away, he injected a surge of electricity into Max's body.
Max successfully broke free of his restraints.
Crackle!
A flash of electricity, and all the guards and researchers in front of him dropped to the ground at the same time.
Their faces were covered in burn marks.
Only the doctor who had once abused him was left behind.
What awaited him was a flashlight therapy session, returned in kind.
Not only that, with Max's help, Harry went after the Osborn board members one by one.
With Max's assistance, Harry finally obtained the spider venom he had long dreamed of.
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