Chapter 23: Changes
Seeing the Hulk climb out of the water sphere with a confused look, several news stations deliberately zoomed in.
People watching on television burst out laughing.
But their laughter only grew louder in the next moment—because the Hulk immediately jumped right back into the water sphere.
From beginning to end, he never looked up.
Right now, Lance Ryder was standing on top of the water sphere.
Of course, the people watching from the ground couldn't see that clearly.
They didn't realize there had been a second Lance inside the water sphere all along.
The Hulk's eyes had been locked onto that figure the entire time.
What he didn't know was that the Lance inside the sphere had only been an illusion.
In truth, the Hulk should never have entered the sphere in the first place.
Water made it far too easy for Lance to manipulate illusions and control what the Hulk perceived.
On the surface, the Hulk believed he was chasing Lance the whole time.
But little by little, his direction had been subtly altered.
To be honest, if the situation had been different—if no one had been watching—
Lance wouldn't have minded fighting the Hulk seriously.
Winning might have been difficult.
Even forcing a draw would have been challenging.
But making the Hulk suffer a serious setback?
That was something Lance could still accomplish.
Unfortunately, the current circumstances didn't allow that.
Right now, Lance could only stall and misdirect.
Although the Hulk looked like he was being toyed with, Lance hadn't actually injured him at all.
And if Lance was right—
The Hulk would soon figure out what was happening.
After all, he wasn't a fool.
Sure enough, after climbing in and out of the water sphere three times, the Hulk suddenly realized something was wrong.
He immediately noticed Lance standing above the sphere.
With an angry roar, the Hulk leapt upward and threw a powerful punch in midair.
But Lance simply glanced at him.
In the next instant, his body merged into the water.
The Hulk's punch struck the surface like a hammer hitting water.
Although it blasted a huge hole in the sphere, the Hulk himself fell back into it.
Meanwhile, water continued flowing in from every direction.
The sphere grew larger and larger.
Inside, the Hulk punched and kicked wildly.
But Lance no longer used magic on the water itself.
He only maintained the existence of the sphere.
The earlier illusions had already served their purpose.
At this point, Lance wasn't even inside the water sphere anymore.
He had already slipped out quietly using an invisibility spell, hiding nearby.
Of course, the audience watching on television had no way of knowing that.
They all assumed Lance was still inside the water sphere with the Hulk.
Watching the Hulk rampage inside it made many viewers extremely nervous.
Still, a few people had already guessed the truth.
For example—
Professor X, who had arrived nearby and was observing through telepathy.
Reed Richards, watching through a television screen.
Tony Stark.
Even Nick Fury.
They were all intelligent enough to realize the Hulk was being led around deliberately.
But none of them had any intention of warning him.
With a loud splash, the Hulk jumped out of the water sphere again.
This time, however, the anger on his face had faded.
Instead, he calmly looked toward Betty Ross in the distance.
General Ross's expression changed immediately.
"His strength has completely recovered," Ross said quietly beside Betty.
At that moment, Betty finally understood.
The Hulk hadn't been acting foolish at all.
All that time inside the water sphere—
He had simply been buying time.
Now that enough time had passed, his strength had fully returned.
"He's leaving," General Ross said calmly.
Among all the people in the world, Ross probably understood the Hulk better than anyone.
Even more than his daughter.
Of course, the Hulk and Bruce Banner were still different beings.
Ross understood the Hulk best.
Betty understood Bruce Banner.
They were not the same.
Betty stared at the Hulk with worry in her eyes.
The Hulk looked back at her.
For a brief moment, there was even a trace of reassurance in his expression.
Then his gaze shifted back to the enormous water sphere in front of him.
Slowly, he raised his right arm.
The movement resembled drawing back a bowstring.
The high-definition cameras captured every muscle tightening beneath his green skin.
Then—
The Hulk threw a punch.
This time was completely different from before.
The moment his fist struck, the entire water sphere exploded.
The massive sphere—more than ten meters wide—shattered instantly.
Every part of it was blasted apart by the Hulk's power.
The magic Lance had used to maintain the sphere collapsed completely.
Some of the water was thrown dozens of meters away.
The rest scattered across the entire street.
And among the falling spray—
Lance Ryder reappeared.
He stood about ten meters away from the Hulk.
For a moment, the two simply looked at each other.
Both could see the strength hidden in the other's eyes.
Then they moved.
At the same time.
Lance took a step forward.
Water streams rushed toward him from every direction.
When he took the second step—
A water giant, as tall as the Hulk, appeared once again.
Endless streams of water poured into the giant's body.
Yet its size didn't grow larger.
Instead, it actually shrank slightly.
The power inside it had become more condensed.
The next moment—
The two giants collided.
The Hulk's fist slammed into the water giant's chest.
The impact punched a massive hole straight through it.
At the same time, Lance's counterattack struck the Hulk's chin.
The force launched the Hulk into the air before he crashed heavily onto the ground.
For anyone else, having their chest punched through would have meant instant death.
But Lance was different.
Most of the Hulk's force had been dispersed by the water giant's structure.
And the damage to the giant itself—
Was repaired instantly.
Streams of water rushed into the hole and restored it in seconds.
The Hulk quickly recovered as well.
Within moments he stood up again, staring at the water giant in front of him.
The giant stood in the middle of the street with its arms spread wide.
Fire hydrants around the area were still spraying water violently.
But now the streams were being drawn toward the giant like water into a powerful pump.
Faster than before.
Much faster.
The color of the water giant's body began changing.
It darkened from clear blue to deep navy.
Even its eyes seemed to contain a trace of black.
The deeper color meant one thing—
The giant's power was growing.
At that moment, hundreds of U.S. soldiers rushed onto the street.
They quickly surrounded General Ross, protecting him.
Their weapons were immediately aimed at the Hulk.
This sudden movement finally drew the Hulk's attention away from Lance.
He looked toward Ross.
A hint of disdain flashed across his face.
Then he turned back to Lance.
After shaking his head slightly—
The Hulk bent his knees.
And jumped.
He soared nearly fifty meters into the air.
Grabbing onto the wall of a tall building, he pushed off again and leapt even farther away.
Gunfire erupted behind him.
But it was useless.
The Hulk disappeared into the distance.
Even the pursuing helicopters eventually lost him near the Atlantic coastline.
And Lance Ryder—
Had disappeared as well.
After the Hulk left, the water giant silently collapsed.
No one noticed when it happened.
When the water fell apart, there was no one inside.
The fire hydrants that had been spraying water suddenly stopped as well.
The entire battlefield fell quiet.
The chaotic battle in the streets ended in an unexpectedly quiet way.
General Ross withdrew with his daughter and the soldiers.
The New York government was left to handle the aftermath.
In the following days, the public demanded answers.
People wanted to know the identity of the mysterious water giant.
Many began calling him a new superhero.
Some even compared him to Iron Man and Spider-Man.
Others demanded explanations about the Hulk and Abomination.
After all, the military had appeared suspiciously quickly during the incident.
It was obvious they had known something beforehand.
Public debates filled the media.
But behind the scenes—
The real struggle was political.
When Lance saw General Ross again, the general was sitting alone in Betty's house, drinking.
He was still wearing his uniform.
But all the active-duty insignia had been removed.
Ross had been dismissed from the military.
He was even being pushed into retirement.
When Lance entered the room, Ross tossed a small green booklet onto the table.
"This is a new identity," Ross said impatiently after taking a puff of his cigar.
"An active-duty U.S. Army officer."
"A real identity."
"But you won't appear in any official military records."
Lance opened the booklet.
Inside was his photo.
The name printed beneath it read:
Daniel Whitehouse
A U.S. Army Major assigned to the Department of Defense.
Everything looked completely legitimate.
Except there was no specific unit listed.
"If action is needed," Ross said casually, "someone from the White House will contact you."
Lance frowned slightly.
"So I'm under the President's direct command now?"
Ross took a drink and sneered.
"Through me."
"I'm leaving the military, so I might as well take something with me."
"I won't let everything fall into the hands of those people."
Lance understood immediately.
Ross had made a deal with the President.
"So you're entering politics now?" Lance asked.
"Maybe," Ross replied vaguely.
He poured himself another drink.
At that moment—
The door opened.
A middle-aged man with black-rimmed glasses and a small mustache walked into the room, humming quietly.
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