"Ross!!!"
Compared to Loren's composure, Bruce Banner—trapped inside the cage—looked astonished as he watched General Ross transform into the Red Hulk. His eyes burned with a storm of complex emotions.
If Ross hadn't kept him from being with Betty back then, they wouldn't have been torn apart for so many years… and Betty wouldn't have died because of him.
Guilt gnawed at Banner over his girlfriend's death, but in his mind, the true culprit stood right before him: General Ross.
Even though Ross was Betty's biological father, Banner couldn't forgive him for what he'd done.
All those years of wandering? Caused by Ross.
The relentless pursuit? Ross.
The life he'd been forced to live in exile and fear? All because of Ross.
Thinking of it all, Dr. Banner felt not just anger—but a sudden, rising heat.
His heart rate spiked abnormally, pounding like war drums in his chest.
In an instant, his body swelled uncontrollably—and Bruce Banner became the Hulk.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! Give me back my daughter's life!" roared the Red Hulk.
The deafening bellow sent shockwaves through the castle, shattering every pane of glass in the hall.
Seeing this, Loren calmly turned to Tifa. "Make a note of all the damaged items. We'll make him pay for them later."
"Yes, boss," Tifa replied with a slight smile, pulling out a notepad and pen with mock seriousness.
If Banner and Ross had known what was happening at that very moment, they might have been stunned—or furious.
Here we are, fighting to the death… and you're already tallying up repair bills? That's not just disrespectful—it's absurd.
Most people would flee at the first sign of a battle between two Hulks.
But Loren didn't. Instead, he gave orders to 2B and A2.
One woman began massaging his shoulders from behind; the other washed a bowl of grapes and stood ready to feed them to him. In seconds, he'd transformed into the ultimate first-row spectator.
"Alice," he said, stretching lazily, "activate arena mode. If they're going to fight, let them go all out. I've been bored out of my mind these past few days."
"Understood, boss. Arena mode activated."
The moment Alice finished speaking, the massive hall trembled violently—as if struck by an earthquake.
Before the two giants could react, a fissure split open beneath their feet. The floor tiles cracked, then retracted sideways like steel jaws.
In a blink, both Hulks plummeted into an underground arena forged from reinforced alloy.
The arena wasn't enormous—roughly half the size of a football field—but building a fully functional combat pit beneath a castle was undeniably extravagant.
Loren had originally designed it to test his general-purpose combat robots.
Strategic coordination required a secure, contained environment—outdoor trials risked exposure.
He never imagined it would come in handy for this.
The Red and Green Hulks were equally shocked to find themselves in Loren's hidden colosseum—but there was no time for questions now.
General Ross was dead set on killing the Hulk. This was his chance—perhaps his only one.
Without wasting a word, he lunged.
The Hulk met him head-on.
And just like that, the two titans clashed in hand-to-hand combat beneath the earth, shaking the very foundations of the castle above.
The two giants were like savages from a primitive world—roaring, shouting, their punches landing squarely.
If punches couldn't kill their opponent, they'd resort to biting and tearing him apart. The scene was bloody and frenzied, delivering a powerful visual impact.
Yet despite witnessing this chaos, Loren remained calm and composed.
As he watched the battle between the two Hulks, he contacted the artificial intelligence Alice.
"Alice, have you found any news about Mr. Stern—the one I asked you to investigate?"
"Boss, we still haven't located him. Ever since he left that university, he's vanished without a trace—as if he evaporated into thin air."
"That guy's brain was enhanced to an extraordinary degree by the Hulk serum. With that level of intelligence, he's probably already aware someone's tracking him."
That's why he's most likely abandoned all networked communication devices—making him impossible to find through conventional means.
"But don't worry. Nothing stays hidden forever. Right now, check General Ross's movements over the past month."
"He wouldn't have transformed into the Red Hulk out of thin air. My guess? He met with Mr. Blue in secret."
"The reason he ended up in that grotesque state was almost certainly due to Mr. Stern's machinations. He's a brilliant man—but also a serious threat."
"If we can recruit him to our side, that would be ideal. If not…" Loren's voice dropped, low and cold. "We'll have to eliminate him before he becomes a problem."
As a time traveler, he knew exactly who Dr. Blue was: Samuel Stern, a supervillain from the Marvel Universe. The Hulk serum had amplified his intelligence to a thousand times its original capacity in the main continuity.
But this world was still unfamiliar to him—and precisely because of that uncertainty, he needed to uncover everything he could about Stern as soon as possible.
Unlike the Hulk, whose power stemmed from limitless rage, Dr. Stern was his opposite: a being of limitless curiosity and icy composure—an intellectual predator.
Recruiting him would significantly accelerate their technological development. But if Stern refused to cooperate… then death would be the only option.
"Understood," Alice replied. "We're analyzing General Ross's movements from the past month and running big-data correlation to identify suspicious contacts."
"Analyzing…"
Ding. "Suspicious contact detected. Retrieving footage."
"Two weeks ago, General Ross met a mysterious man at a coffee shop on Central Avenue. The man wore a hood, obscuring his face."
"However, based on frame-by-frame motion analysis and biometric comparison, the match probability with Dr. Stern is 99%."
"That's almost certainly him. Besides me, he's the only person in the world who knows the full Hulk serum formula right now. Keep tracking him—and alert me the moment you find anything new."
"Clear!"
Just as Loren was reviewing the intel on Dr. Stern, a pained scream echoed from inside the arena.
General Ross—who moments earlier had been bellowing threats to kill Dr. Banner—was now being trampled under the Hulk's foot like a lifeless dog.
The super neurotoxin he'd sold to Ross lay crushed beneath the brute's heel before the general could even deploy it.
To Loren's surprise, the Hulk didn't finish off the defeated Ross. Instead, the beast turned his attention… directly toward him.
Their eyes met.
And in the Hulk's gaze, Loren saw not mindless fury—but a raging inferno of focused intent.
In an instant, the Hulk leaped toward the observation booth and slammed a massive fist into the bulletproof glass.
The impact spiderwebbed the reinforced barrier with terrifying force.
Immediately, 2B and A2 drew their weapons, ready to engage.
But Loren slowly rose to his
feet, raised a hand, and pressed down on their weapon barrels.
"Step back, both of you," he said calmly. "I'm about to show off."
Visit patreon.com/ShiroTL to gain access to 40+ chapters