"Gwen, where are you?"
"I just left Hulk's place."
"Oh..."
"Don't misunderstand. The city council urged Hulk yesterday to trim his lawn, or he'd be fined. He didn't know how, so I went over early to teach him."
Gwen, driving away from Palm community, was on the phone with Mary, with whom she had an afternoon shopping date.
Mary chuckled at the news.
"Our community has specialized lawn trimmers. Doesn't such a high-end community like Palm Street have them?"
"Yes, but he doesn't want to use them."
"Why?"
"Save when you can, spend when you must."
Gwen, who was driving, repeated Hulk's words from earlier.
Mary on the other end of the phone felt a sense of surprise.
But Mary quickly remembered Hulk from their school days, who only had three sets of clothes, communicated mostly by shouting, and walked everywhere, living almost like an ascetic. So she felt it was perfectly reasonable for Hulk to say such a thing.
However, discussing why Hulk had money to buy a Villa but not to hire workers wasn't the main topic of their call.
Mary quickly brought the conversation back: "When are you coming over? Should I go to Mrs. Noir's dessert shop first and save us a seat?"
Gwen heard this and quickly said, "Okay! I'll be there soon, about half an hour."
She loved to drink hot cocoa.
And Gwen felt that the hot cocoa at Mrs. Noir's dessert shop, which Mary mentioned, was the best-tasting in all of Queens, no, in all of New York City.
Soon.
Gwen, after hanging up the phone, thought of the hot cocoa at Mrs. Noir's dessert shop and instinctively pressed harder on the accelerator.
The yellow corolla beneath her sped up, heading towards Queens.
Behind the yellow corolla, an unremarkable Toyota car, seeing this, also pressed harder on its accelerator.
"Did she spot us?"
"Impossible. It's only been a short while, and this is a straight road."
"Then why did she suddenly speed up?"
"Who cares? According to the plan, after crossing the bridge and entering Queens, we'll intercept her depending on the situation."
"Remember, the employer wants her alive. A million for a live person, five hundred thousand for a dead one. Don't lose the U.S. dollars."
"Understood!"
"Understood!"
The two small Black men in the back seat of the unremarkable Toyota nodded, looking at the yellow corolla driving ahead with greedy eyes.
But the 'understood' just now wasn't said by these two small Black men.
Those two different 'understood' sounds came from the walkie-talkie in the hand of the bearded man sitting in the passenger seat.
Clearly.
This group didn't just have one car, but three.
Indeed.
As Gwen, driving the yellow corolla, was about to enter the Manhattan Bridge, two more equally unremarkable Toyota cars drove up from the left and right roads.
Once on the bridge, the three cars followed the traffic, subtly changed positions, and formed a 'pin' shape, surrounding Gwen's yellow corolla.
After a while.
When Gwen got off the bridge and turned onto the road leading to Mary's house, a Toyota on the left suddenly changed lanes, but seemed to misjudge the distance. As it changed lanes, it accidentally bumped into Gwen's car with a 'bang'.
Gwen was startled and hit the brakes.
The Toyota that changed lanes also stopped, while the other two Toyotas continued forward without slowing down.
A middle-aged woman got out of the Toyota that changed lanes and looked at Gwen in her car, her expression apologetic.
Gwen opened her car door, got out, looked at the bumped area, and sighed.
Just as she was about to turn around to get her phone to tell Mary she might be late, the middle-aged woman called out to Gwen, stating that it was entirely her fault and suggested they move their cars to a place that wouldn't obstruct traffic, and she would contact her insurance company to handle it.
Gwen was distracted by this, and because the middle-aged woman readily admitted her responsibility, she thought about it and agreed.
After all, if they didn't need to call the Police, it would be a quick matter.
Soon.
Gwen followed the middle-aged woman driving ahead and moved her car onto a small side road where it wouldn't easily obstruct traffic.
But just as she was about to turn off the engine and get out, with a screech of tires rubbing against the ground, a Toyota suddenly darted in behind her, blocking her way.
"This is..."
"Shit!"
Gwen was startled first, then a bad premonition flooded her heart.
Robbery or kidnapping.
But as she thought, Gwen quickly pressed the door lock button at the first instant. Just as she was about to grab her phone to call the Police.
Bang!
A loud crash sounded again.
Gwen was startled again, as were the four men who got out of the Toyota behind her, wearing cartoon masks.
The four men instinctively turned their heads to look.
In sight.
A black audi a8, which looked like it had just been purchased and was still glinting in the sunlight, had crashed into the rear of their Toyota.
Immediately after.
Hulk, wearing a black fitted T-shirt, opened the car door and got out.
Seeing this, the four masked men exchanged glances, then simultaneously pulled out their pistols and aimed them at Hulk.
"Fuck!"
"Die."
"Bang, bang, bang, bang!"
Four bullets elegantly shot out, and in the blink of an eye, they struck Hulk's face, chest, and right arm.
Then...
There was no 'then'.
Accompanied by four metallic collision sounds, the four bullets, flattened after hitting Hulk's body, clattered to the ground.
Hulk lowered his gaze and glanced at the bullets on the ground.
The next second.
Hulk, who vanished from his original spot in the blink of an eye and appeared in front of one of the masked men, paused for a split second with his right hand raised, moving at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. Immediately after, his left hand also extended, and with both hands, he grabbed the masked man's head and twisted it directly.
Crack.
The crisp sound of a skull twisting and dislocating echoed down the small road.
Another masked man quickly regained his senses.
"Ah..."
"Crack!"
He, too, quickly followed in his brother's footsteps.
Of course.
The other two were no exception.
From Hulk getting out of the car to the four masked robbers with dislocated heads falling to the ground, all of this happened within three breaths.
By the time Gwen reacted, Hulk was already in front of her car.
The engine of the Toyota in front roared madly.
The two rear tires continuously rubbed against the ground.
Dust rose, but the car didn't move.
Hulk held the Toyota's trunk with one hand, his four fingers gripping the inside of the trunk as if passing through tofu. His arm muscles showed no tension, still firmly holding onto the Toyota.
"Fuck."
"Move it."
"Faster!"
The middle-aged woman inside the Toyota yelled, as if stomping on the accelerator.
Hulk raised an eyebrow and released his right hand.
The next second.
Boom!
Like burning rubber in place, the moment Hulk let go of his right hand, the Toyota shot out like a meteor, then crashed into a nearby wall with a 'boom', and the airbags instantly deployed.
The middle-aged woman, who had no time to react, was instantly knocked unconscious by the airbag.
The moment Hulk released his right hand, he had already turned and come to the driver's door of the corolla, knocking on the car window.
Gwen, holding her phone inside the car, heard the knocking sound and stared blankly at Hulk outside the door, subconsciously opening the car window.
"Hello, Gwen? Have you arrived? I've ordered your favorite hot cocoa for you."
Mary Jane's voice came from the phone in Gwen's hand.
But...
Gwen seemed to be in a daze, staring blankly at Hulk.
After all, the last time Hulk fought Hulk, most of the fighting took place underwater, and by the time Hulk appeared again, the outcome was already decided.
But this time, she witnessed the entire process with her own eyes.
Her mind was still replaying the scene: Hulk's cold demeanor, ignoring the bullets that hit him, appearing in front of the four robbers in the blink of an eye, snapping the four robbers' necks with 'crack, crack, crack' sounds, and pulling a full-speed car with his bare hands.
Gwen was stunned, but Hulk wasn't.
He looked at Gwen, who was sitting in the car staring blankly at him, smiled, and reached out to take the phone from Gwen's hand.
"Hello, Mary."
"...Hulk?"
"Gwen has something going on. Can you pack up her hot cocoa for her?"
"Wh-what..."
Hulk ignored Mary, directly hung up the phone, and then, as if he thought of something, looked at Gwen thoughtfully: "So, hot cocoa? Didn't you say you don't like to drink it?"
Gwen instantly snapped back to reality.
"Hulk?"
"Mm."
Hulk said with a smile, "The sheriff's daughter's vigilance has dropped, huh? Or is it because she's thinking about hot cocoa that her vigilance has dropped?"
Gwen's face flushed at Hulk's teasing. She didn't speak, hurriedly pushed open the car door, and got out.
"There's still one car left."
"What?"
"There were three Toyotas in total. There are only two here."
After losing the temptation of hot cocoa, Gwen, whose mind was replaying the scene from the Manhattan Bridge, remembered the three Toyotas that were following her, one on the left, one on the right, and one behind, and quickly said, "There were three Toyotas following me at the time."
However, she would absolutely not admit that her vigilance had dropped because she was thinking about Mrs. Noir's dessert shop's hot cocoa.
Gwen thought, looking at Hulk with a serious expression: "Also, I don't like hot cocoa. I'm already eighteen."
Hulk smiled.
"But I heard Helen say that when you were little, your biggest dream was to live in a chocolate house..."
"Shut up."
Gwen's eyebrows twitched. She quickly interrupted Hulk and redirected the conversation back to the third car.
"There's still a third car."
"They ran away."
Hulk smiled slightly, then looked at Gwen, who was slightly stunned, and added: "Don't worry, they won't get away."
Gwen blinked.
Just as she was pondering the meaning of Hulk's words, "They ran away, they won't get away."
From a distance came the sound symbolizing the arrival of justice.
Getting closer and closer.
"Woo-woo, woo-woo, woo-woo!"
"Thump, thump!"
"Holy shit!"
"Don't move, raise your hands, now, immediately!"
"..."
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