Pierce looked slightly surprised at Frank, who was emitting a fiery red glow, and reached out to block the flaming blade of light slashing towards him: "I didn't think you could break through my thundercloud. I truly underestimated you."
Frank at this moment was like a ball of raging fire, with the engine roaring and scorching light blooming.
"Can the Accel Memory release more powerful strength according to the user's will?" Frank thought to himself, gently touching the hot Memory on his waist, and twisting the belt handle before charging towards Pierce.
"Such high temperatures, be careful not to cook yourself. Let me help you cool down!" Pierce scoffed, summoning a blizzard and hailstones that swept toward Frank.
The ice and snow covered Frank, evaporating into a large amount of steam and mist. Frank burst out of the mist, swinging his sword fiercely.
Pierce pushed his hands forward, and a lightning hurricane surged out, striking Frank and blocking the attack.
"Is this the potential of the Gaia Memory? It truly is powerful," Pierce thought to himself, looking at Frank, who seemed to be power-bursting like in a video game.
"My goal has been achieved anyway, so I won't play with you any longer." Pierce pondered for a moment. After repelling Frank with lightning, he directly summoned a hurricane, ascended, and left.
For Pierce, he had obtained the Energy Memory, so there was no need to fight Frank to the death. Furthermore, Pierce believed Frank could still be useful to him. He also did not take the Energy Dopant with him, leaving him for Frank.
This was because he considered that he might be able to use Frank to pursue the organization selling the Gaia Memories and explore the identity of that "Emperor of Fear."
After all, the Emperor's strength was unknown, and Pierce didn't want to risk confronting an enemy whose strength was completely unknown without sufficient preparation.
In fact, the more Pierce experimented with the Weather Memory, the more he felt the hidden power of the Gaia Memory was incredibly strong. Therefore, he was highly wary of the power of the so-called highest-grade "Gold Gaia Memory."
Although Pierce's plan definitely included defeating the Fear Emperor, seizing the Fear Memory, and acquiring the rights to distribute the Gaia Memories, if he could let Frank go first to scout for him, locate and force the Fear Emperor to reveal his strength, he could then devise targeted plans. This would undoubtedly give him more assurance and a better chance of winning than confronting the Emperor directly.
Frank watched Pierce disappear into the sky, then, in a less-than-good mood, walked over to the Thunder Gang boss, preparing to interrogate him.
The reason he targeted the Thunder Gang was primarily because they not only had the Energy Memory but also many weaker users of the same type of Gaia Memory—likely mass-produced Memories. Therefore, Frank suspected that the recently famous and rapidly expanding Thunder Gang was likely closely connected to the organization selling the Gaia Memories.
So he went straight to their base, only to unexpectedly encounter a mysterious person trying to seize other Memories. Judging by his actions and motives, this Dopant, who wanted to steal other people's Gaia Memories, was likely not part of the organization that sold them.
Frank felt like the problems were multiplying.
The Thunder Gang boss could tell Frank was not in a good mood, and the man before him was the Punisher. He answered Frank's questions like "beans pouring out of a bamboo tube," spilling all the information.
"So, all these mass-produced Memories of the same type that you received were bought through special channels by one of your subordinates?" Frank frowned slightly.
"Yes, they were all acquired by Geno Slint. He said he had special channels to get weaker, mass-produced Gaia Memories. I'm not entirely sure about the specifics," the Thunder Gang boss nodded repeatedly.
"Where is this Geno? I hope I didn't kill him already," Frank twitched his mouth. He regretted not leaving the other Thunder Gang members alive.
"I don't know."
"What do you mean, you don't know?" Frank's eyes became dangerous.
Seeing Frank's gaze, the Thunder Gang boss shivered and immediately recounted the situation in detail.
Frank rubbed his chin: "So, you took several people, including this Geno, who had mass-produced Memories to capture a little girl. As a result, you ran into a... street hero with extremely high fighting skills, superhuman physical strength, and the ability to use unknown energy on his fists. You were beaten black and blue, then you abandoned all your subordinates and fled back here. And to escape, you didn't care about your subordinates and threw a grenade directly at them to stall for time?"
"So I can't be sure if Geno is still alive now," the Thunder Gang boss nodded cautiously. "However, if they fell into that guy's hands, they were either reported and taken to the police station or let go, in which case they should return directly to the Thunder Gang. The police haven't contacted me yet, so they were probably just taught a lesson and let go by that person."
After all, not all "superheroes" had the Punisher's style of killing criminals directly.
"You directly threw a grenade at them, disregarding their lives, just to escape. Do you really think they will come back?" Frank sneered slightly.
"They should... come back, right? They will certainly be unhappy with me, but they are important members of the gang, and their interests are tied to the gang," the Thunder Gang boss said with a very certain tone. Although he wasn't absolutely sure, he had to sound decisive right now.
Because the Thunder Gang boss clearly understood that he needed to prove his value at this moment.
"Alright then, I'll wait here," Frank nodded slightly.
The Thunder Gang boss sighed in relief upon hearing this and immediately offered to curry favor: "Mr. Punisher, don't worry. When Geno returns, I'll make sure he spills all the information."
"No need," Frank said flatly.
The Thunder Gang boss was slightly confused. Just as he was about to speak, a gunshot rang out.
A bullet hole appeared between the Thunder Gang boss's eyebrows, and he fell, his eyes full of bewilderment.
Frank put away his pistol and muttered to himself: "I don't need you to ask."
The Thunder Gang members whom Danny had let go did indeed return to the Thunder Gang base afterward, but the guy named Geno was the only one missing. After Frank took care of all those who returned, he was certain that this Geno would not be coming back. At the same time, he became even more convinced that this guy named Geno was definitely suspicious and related to the organization selling the Gaia Memories.
Fisk Tower.
David arrived at Kingpin's office.
"Is something wrong?" Kingpin, standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, turned around.
"Geno has returned... the Thunder Gang was wiped out overnight," David slightly bowed and replied.
Kingpin let out a soft "Oh," and his eyes narrowed: "What happened? Did the Hand detect something? But that shouldn't be the case. Among the entire Thunder Gang, only Geno is our person, and even the Thunder Gang's boss didn't know about our arrangements. Furthermore, besides the Energy Memory, I specifically had Geno bring back many mass-produced Memories. Even the Hand couldn't have wiped out the entire Thunder Gang so easily and silently."