"Fifteen, sixteen..."
Darian walked up the stairs, ignoring the incoming bullets. The two armed men who opened fire were taken out the moment they poked their heads out, their bodies tumbling down the steps.
Just as he stepped onto the high-rise platform, a grenade came spinning into his field of vision.
Darian was quick-eyed and nimble-handed; he caught it and threw it back with a backhand motion. The grenade traced a straight line through the air. The armed man who had just thrown it was still holding his post-throw extension pose when the grenade slammed into him, knocking him flying and landing at the feet of several other armed men.
Boom!!
With a deafening explosion, the bomber took out his four teammates in one go, achieving a team wipe.
"Twenty-one."
Darian walked through the smoke and dust without pausing, continuing to push deeper into the building, making no attempt to hide his tracks.
Perhaps because Darian was being too obvious, the remaining armed men didn't dare to poke their heads out; one by one, they cowered in place, acting like potato mines.
Unfortunately, they didn't know that Darian was also using a map hack; everyone's precise coordinates were clearly marked on the mini-map, visible at a glance.
Darian was in no rush. He pulled a micro-speaker from his game inventory, hung it at his waist, and casually selected a song that sounded intense.
Dum-dum-dum-dum-dum... Dum-dum-dum-dum-dum...
Everyone within a dozen meters of Darian could clearly hear a BGM radiating immense pressure. Their hearts couldn't help but tremble, and the already tense atmosphere became even more suffocating.
The armed men who heard the music trembled all over, cold sweat streaming down their foreheads. The layered, driving drumbeats were like approaching footsteps, making it impossible for anyone to even dare to take a full breath.
"Go to hell! You bastard!"
Two armed men ambushed from the corridor, suddenly jumping out from both sides of Darian. Their movements were fluid: raising their guns, jumping, and pulling the triggers.
Bang! Bang!
Two gunshots rang out, and two corpses fell from the air, each with a large hole in their foreheads.
Darian didn't look at the corpses. He held his head high, chest out, hands behind his back, and strolled slowly down the corridor, exuding elegance.
Listening to the getting-closer BGM, the armed men hiding in a room were about to pee their pants. They quickly set up their firing lines aimed at the door; as soon as Darian dared to open it, they would empty their magazines.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With three gunshots, before these armed men could react, they were struck squarely in the forehead by bullets that pierced through the door and walls. Their body armor was completely useless; it could be sold at the trading house without even needing repairs.
An armed man lying in the corner of the room, acting like a camper, had his eyes wide open. He clamped his hands over his mouth, praying frantically that the other party wouldn't discover him.
Creak!
The door opened, a grenade was thrown in, and then it was quickly closed and locked.
The camper: "..."
Boom!!
Thick smoke billowed out from the cracks in the door. The camper cursed, filed a report, and then respawned to start the next match.
Dum-dum-dum-dum-dum... Dum-dum-dum-dum-dum...
The oppressive BGM continued.
The surviving armed men felt like their hearts were about to burst; they desperately wanted to destroy that damned speaker.
"Brothers! Let's fight him together!!"
An armed man finally couldn't take the pressure anymore and poked his body out from cover.
Bang!
The armed man instantly collapsed, with a look of relief on his face.
He was relieved, but the other survivors were on the verge of a breakdown.
That masked figure was simply not human. As soon as they poked their heads out, they died. It was zero-frame reaction time; there was no way to defend against it!
I'm not playing anymore!
Mom, I want to go home!
A few clever ones suddenly thought of something and quickly found motorcycle helmets to put on.
Since the opponent was locking onto heads, wouldn't protecting their heads work?
They were truly geniuses!
With the helmets on, the few clever ones instantly felt a sense of security. Forget facing Darian; they felt they could even try fishing by the river.
Thus, they charged out of cover full of confidence, and full of confidence, they fell to the ground.
Darian looked speechless: "Where did these bots come from? A level-two helmet dares to block my level-six ammo."
"Run!!"
Seeing Darian getting closer and closer, the armed men's morale completely collapsed. They frantically threw all the smoke grenades they had, trying to escape through the smoke.
Gray-white smoke instantly filled the air, obscuring their vision.
However, this layer of smoke was useless against Darian.
Muzzle flashes bloomed within the smoke, and the figures fleeing inside fell one after another. In the end, no one managed to escape the range of the smoke.
They couldn't hide, and they couldn't run.
The few remaining survivors were driven completely mad by this despair.
Without even aiming, they pulled their triggers toward the smoke, firing wildly until every bullet in their magazines was empty.
Dum-dum-dum-dum-dum... Dum-dum-dum-dum-dum...
What was truly despair-inducing was that the elegant masked figure strode out of the smoke, not only without a single wound but without even a corner of his clothes out of place.
"Hahaha..."
The few armed men seemed to be laughing, but in reality, they were out of options.
Just end it, hurry up, I'm tired.
Darian fulfilled their wish, sending each of them a level-six bullet, letting them withdraw fully geared.
After dealing with all the armed men, Darian seemed to sense something and looked toward a corner, where a monitor was currently active.
He waved at the monitor and then raised his muzzle to blow it up.
"Damn it! Who the hell is this guy!?"
In the office, Kingpin watched the blacked-out monitor screen, furious.
The Kingpin of this World had turned evil, the kind that was black from head to toe.
He was once the uncrowned king of the New York underworld; by day, he was the philanthropist Wilson Fisk, and by night, he was the terrifying Kingpin.
Most people only knew him by name, never having seen him in person.
Because those who had seen him... couldn't see his face in the dark of night, only his white teeth.
And now, he was the ruler of this Salt Lake City ruin, controlling all life and death for hundreds of miles. His power hadn't shrunk; in fact, he had even more power over life and death, but he wasn't satisfied with it.
In the past, he at least controlled the most prosperous New York underworld in America, standing on the top floor of a New York skyscraper every day, drinking high-end red wine, eating steak, and acting cool while looking at the scenery from floor-to-ceiling windows. Occasionally, Spider-Man would even deliver himself to his doorstep to be beaten up—what a comfortable life that was.
But now, although he had become a warlord of this wasteland World, feared and served by everyone, no matter how many resources the wasteland World had, it wasn't as comfortable as living in a peaceful World. His quality of life had plummeted again and again.
Now he couldn't even drink high-end red wine because the red wine had long been divided up by other villains. He couldn't even buy it if he wanted to; at best, he could only get some from 2078.
Spidey, I miss you!
Kingpin couldn't help but reminisce about the days of beating up Spider-Man.
Perhaps out of longing for Spider-Man, Kingpin had chosen to keep Spider-Man's granddaughter, intending to create a few black spiders.
Since he couldn't beat up Spider-Man, beating up his descendants wasn't bad either.
Kingpin had considered that Spider-Man's granddaughter's father, Hawkeye, might come to save his daughter, so he had even set up defenses in advance, ready to take the guy down as soon as Hawkeye appeared.
But he never expected that he wouldn't wait for Hawkeye, but instead, he would get a menace like Darian.
In such a short time, a full fifty armed men had been wiped out by one person!
"I, I don't know. There's no matching information in the database at all. This person is like he popped out of thin air," a subordinate beside him replied tremblingly.
"Could it be a superhero?" a man with a very large head guessed.
He was the Hammerhead of this World, now serving under Kingpin.
Kingpin gritted his teeth and said: "Impossible. Fifty years ago, those superheroes all died out. Even if there were any survivors, they would be superheroes without powers or completely washed up, just like that Hawkeye and Wolverine."
"Besides, does this guy look like a superhero to you!?"
Hammerhead: "Uh, not really."
The Darian on the screen had an even stronger sense of oppression than Kingpin; if someone said he was the mastermind behind the attack on the superheroes 50 years ago, people would probably believe it.
"Whatever, whoever he is, just kill him!"
A man who looked like a Rhino grunted, his fists cracking as he clenched them.
He was Rhino, and like Hammerhead, he was now one of Kingpin's henchmen.
Kingpin ignored the big dummy who only knew how to fight and ordered his subordinate: "Contact the President immediately! Say that we suspect a superhero has appeared here and request emergency support!"
He wasn't stupid. The combat power Darian displayed clearly showed he wasn't a normal person, and he was decisive and ruthless. Just this point alone made him much more dangerous than the Spider-Man of the past.
At least Spider-Man would only send him to prison, not to hell.
Hammerhead scratched his head and said: "But didn't you say he wasn't a superhero?"
"Idiot! If I don't make it sound serious, how would the President send people to support us!?"
"Oh, right! You're still the one, Kingpin, full of bad ideas!"
Kingpin: "..."
He felt exhausted.
Back in the day, he had several supervillain henchmen, teaming up every day to farm Spider-Man, but now he was left with only these two smart guys.
Kingpin reminisced about Spidey again and decided that after he got through this crisis, he would go find Spidey's granddaughter and relive the scene of pinning Spidey down back in the day.
"What are you looking at! Go now!"
Kingpin glared at the dazed subordinate.
"Yes!"
The subordinate nodded quickly and ran out of the office.
Bang!!
The next second, the subordinate crashed through the office door, slamming onto the desk in front of Kingpin. His head lolled to the side; he was dead.
Dum-dum-dum-dum-dum... Dum-dum-dum-dum-dum...
Accompanied by the low BGM, Darian paced into the office, scanning the people in the room.
Kingpin, Diamond Leg, and a Rhino.
There were actually three supervillains here; what an unexpected delight!
"Damn it! How did you find this place!?"
Kingpin looked shocked. This was his secret room; normal people shouldn't know about this place.
And who handled this soundproofing? It was way too damn good; he hadn't heard the BGM approaching at all!
Darian chuckled: "As soon as I saw a red dot on the mini-map that was a circle fatter than the others, I knew it was you."
Kingpin: "???"
He didn't know what that meant, but he felt a strong sense of mockery, quite reminiscent of Spidey's style.
Spidey, I miss you again!
Kingpin narrowed his eyes: "Who exactly are you? We have no grudges, why are you causing us trouble?"
Darian shrugged, his tone matter-of-fact: "Isn't that obvious enough? I'm a superhero. Isn't it only natural to beat up supervillains like you?"
The three supervillains: "..."
How is that obvious!?
"Attack together!"
Kingpin didn't waste any more words and roared. His massive body erupted with agility that defied his size. He grabbed the special cane at his side and charged toward Darian like a battle tank.
The Hammerhead and Rhino of this World might not have been very bright, but fortunately, they were obedient enough.
Upon receiving the order, the two of them roared and followed closely behind, attacking Darian from the left and right in a pincer formation!
Darian stood in place, completely unbothered by this three-sided encirclement.
Now his persona was a superhero. Supervillains ganging up on a superhero was a common occurrence; otherwise, how would it highlight the superhero's strength?
By the same logic, superheroes ganging up on supervillains was also common; otherwise, how would it highlight the supervillains' aura?
In short, being ganged up on wasn't a bad thing.
It was a good thing!
Whoosh!
The next moment, Kingpin's special cane, carrying a fierce wind, smashed down toward his head!
He had been struggling in this World for decades, having fought countless non-humans, and had his own set of universal laws he had summarized.
Those who can fight often aren't smart; those who are smart often can't fight; those who excel at melee often fail at range; those who excel at range usually suck at melee.
As for those SSR-level opponents who have brains, can fight, and excel at both range and melee, Kingpin hadn't encountered one yet.
Otherwise, how could he have survived until today?
Based on these universal laws, Kingpin confidently judged that since Darian's long-range firepower had been so formidable, by contrast, melee must be his weakness!
And the three of them were all experts at close-quarters combat.
Therefore, the advantage was with him!
Kingpin gathered all his strength, his seemingly bloated body instantly tensing up. The bulging muscles beneath his suit ripped the fabric directly. This heavy blow was enough to shatter hard rock!
However, Darian simply raised his hand and lightly caught the special cane.
No matter how hard Kingpin pushed, the special cane remained completely motionless.
"What!?"
Kingpin's pupils contracted sharply, and a chill instantly shot up his spine to the back of his head.
Not good!
It seemed he had pulled an SSR!
Before Kingpin could make any other move, an irresistible force surged along the cane. His massive body, weighing over two hundred kilograms, was easily snatched up like a ragdoll, lifted off the ground, and slammed heavily into Hammerhead, who was charging from the flank.
The two of them screamed as they rolled into a heap, knocking over a metal cabinet by the wall, sending various debris flying everywhere.
"Go to hell!"
Rhino roared, lowered his body, and using the thick Rhino horn on his head as a spear, launched a savage charge toward Darian!
Darian didn't dodge or evade; he quickly reached out with both hands and accurately grabbed the Rhino horn.
The next instant, his strength stat of over a hundred erupted, forcefully halting Rhino's wild charge, unable to move even an inch!
Looking at Rhino's shocked expression, Darian grinned, then lowered his arm and pressed down with force!
Bang!!
With a dull thud, Rhino's head was smashed fiercely toward the ground by this immense force, his entire face embedded into the solid concrete floor!
Gravel shattered, dust rose, and his charge came to an abrupt halt. All that was left was his burly body kneeling stiffly, his head pressed tightly into the center of the crater he had created.
Darian stood up straight, stepped on the back of Rhino's head, and slowly rotated his ankle, applying continuous downward pressure.
Rhino let out a shrill scream, his skull creaking as if his brains were about to be squeezed out, but he couldn't resist Darian's strength at all.
Darian looked at the terrified Kingpin and Hammerhead on the ground, his eyes emitting a white light, and said kindly: "Get up quickly. Actually, I hate violence the most. I promise I won't beat you to death."
Kingpin: "..."
Hammerhead: "..."