Chapter 13: The Poor Man's Superman
Hiding in the distance, Mr. Blue sported an enormous head. He endured the immense power from the Hulk Serum while greedily watching everything unfold from afar.
He had been kicked away by Abomination, and a drop of Hulk Serum had landed on his head, causing his brain to undergo a world-shaking transformation. But the higher his intelligence became, the more reluctant he was to leave.
Mr. Blue couldn't bear to part with these strange creatures.
With his intelligence, he took all the information from the first moment he saw Du Wa and the Xenomorphs and ran it through hundreds of millions of computations—make no mistake, he absolutely possessed this level of memory and computing power, far surpassing what would typically be considered strong artificial intelligence.
Mr. Blue noticed the ultimate aesthetic beauty of the Xenomorph as a weapon; every curve of its body was born for better battle.
He also realized there were different types of Xenomorphs. Having vaguely deduced this, he became even more reluctant to leave.
It wasn't until his dramatically enhanced vision allowed him to witness Abomination's chest burst open that he began to tremble all over.
It was not just fear, but also excitement.
"To think such a monster exists in this world... I understand now. I understand why that man acted while holding that egg, and why the spider-like creature that crawled out of the egg died for no apparent reason after latching onto Blonsky's face..."
"It was all for parasitism! Everything was for the sake of obtaining Blonsky's power!"
If it had only been that, Mr. Blue would have been surprised, but not to the point of risking his life to stay. That changed when he personally witnessed Abomination's skull, which could withstand a missile, being easily pierced by the newborn Xenomorph's tongue-like Inner Jaw.
Combining this with his previous deductions, Mr. Blue confirmed a theory.
"These things can parasitize different hosts and obtain the host's power... no, its genes? But the gene fragments within a being are incredibly complex. How does this creature so quickly filter out the useful genes? And what is the standard for determining what's useful and what isn't?"
Does it only extract genes beneficial for battle? Or is it more extreme... does it seize all superior genes in one go, discard all inferior ones, and then burst from the chest with potential far greater than the host's?
Mr. Blue couldn't be sure. The speculation was too insane. If it were true, then without a doubt, this unknown creature was a perfect creation.
He simply couldn't imagine how that man of unknown origin had obtained these creatures, let alone how he managed to control them.
"A telepathic link like Professor X? Or does this creature imprint like birds, viewing the first person it sees as its mother?" Mr. Blue's heart pounded wildly.
As a researcher, he certainly had his own ambition, but at the very least, one thing was an absolute instinct—the pursuit of ultimate beauty within his specialized domain.
In Mr. Blue's eyes, Abomination, Hulk—they were all, without exception, rejects from the creator when compared to the Xenomorph, completely unworthy of mention.
The more powerful, outstanding, and full of potential a lifeform is, the more the Xenomorph that bursts from its chest will surpass it, emerging in an even stronger and more perfect state after parasitism. How could anything compare?
In reality, most people can never fully realize their potential because their time and energy are limited, making it impossible to learn and master every skill they are capable of.
But the Xenomorph is different. Born from seizing all of the host's superior genes, its potential is maxed out. After developing for a period and evolving into its mature form, it can completely surpass the host.
It was too terrifying, too breathtaking, too... beautiful!
"Mine! This is mine!! This perfect creature should belong to me—the greatest biologist in all of humanity, Samuel Sterns!" Mr. Blue's large head finally stopped expanding. In an extremely short time, his intelligence had swollen by roughly five hundred times.
But intelligence was one thing. When he truly came face to face with this unheard-of monster, the hysterical greed and desire nearly drove him mad.
"And that black-haired man... he was able to withstand the attacks of a near-death Blonsky. His body isn't normal either! Could there be some connection to these lifeforms? Is that perhaps the reason he can manipulate these beautiful creatures?"
Even with Mr. Blue's superior intelligence, the lack of information and the unknown domain were causing his brain to crash. This logical dead end was nearly suffocating him.
Mr. Blue suddenly saw Du Wa turn his head and look in his direction.
Their eyes met.
"He's spotted me!" The thought flashed through Mr. Blue's mind.
Du Wa glanced over, maintaining mental communication with the Abomination Xenomorph while also monitoring Mr. Blue's changes.
The comic version of Mr. Blue, Samuel Sterns, was known as one of the eight smartest people on Earth. He only gained his powerful intelligence after being accidentally exposed to gamma rays.
But now, the Mr. Blue in front of Du Wa had his intelligence enhanced by a drop of Hulk Serum on his brain.
Du Wa could now be certain of one thing: the universe he was in was not a pure movie version.
Considering the vastness and complexity of the Marvel Multiverse, blindly trying to define the entire universe without thoroughly exploring it first could easily get him killed at a critical moment.
Maintaining a cautious attitude toward everything was the most reliable approach.
Besides, even if it were the movie version, it wouldn't be safe. Outside the universe, the Multiverse-level gods reigned supreme, stirring up trouble across the Omniverse. Some were calling in debts, others were planting time bombs. Who the hell knew what kind of thing, tainted with multiversal-level power, might pop out of some godforsaken corner.
Not to mention, the conceptual entities from the Megaverse beyond the Multiverse were even more dangerous.
By the time it evolved to the Seventh Multiverse, all sorts of true heavy-hitters had taken their turns, upgrading the entire Marvel hierarchy to an omniversal concept.
Casually dispatching a Messenger Xenomorph to secretly keep an eye on Mr. Blue, Du Wa raised his head and looked into the distance.
The commotion here had already spread, and he anticipated that someone would arrive soon.
However, he hadn't expected the arrival to be Blade, Iron Man, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, or other heroes and criminals. Instead, it was... huh, Superman?
Clad in a blue and gold form-fitting battlesuit, his body floated in the air without any physical means of support. His expression was cold, and a golden light flashed in his eyes, faintly brewing an extremely powerful energy. He was clearly prepared to fire it at any moment.
It could be said that aside from the lack of a cape and trunks, this guy really resembled the Superman from next door in every way.
With just one glance, Du Wa remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he felt it was incredibly strange. He never expected that the first one to arrive would actually be this guy.
One of the eleven Eternals who had been lying in wait on Earth for thousands of years, shouldering the heavy responsibility of birthing the Celestials, indirectly bringing about the destruction of Earth, and causing the extinction of humanity... Ikaris!
(end of chapter)