Active Skill Card: M1A2 SEP (Green)
This skill card was nothing like the others Hong Fei had obtained. Technically, it was equipment, but it came in the form of a skill card. Considering his recent actions, it had undoubtedly dropped from General Ross. A bold idea struck him immediately. If he locked up General Ross and beat him every day, could he collect every weapon and piece of equipment for land, sea, and air?
The thought flashed through his mind. Hong Fei stared at the card, scrutinizing the tank pattern on the front until his eyes crossed. Even though he didn't know what that string of code meant, it was a real tank! After resting, his physical fitness began to improve again, and the soreness in his bones and muscles vanished quickly. At the same time, the energy within his body slowly grew.
Perhaps because he hadn't completed a kill and had primarily targeted Abomination, who was weaker than Hulk, the improvement was limited. The energy increase was likely related to the buildings destroyed by the bombardment. However, the people had evacuated early, so no one was killed. Otherwise, the energy would probably have broken through long ago.
From this perspective, despite a busy night filled with conflicts with the Military and S.H.I.E.L.D., he was still a good person. Without him, the battle between Hulk and Abomination would have caused even greater destruction and loss. More innocent people would have died. Even if he had fired ten rounds in the city, it wouldn't have caused more damage than letting those two monsters fight without restraint.
In the card slot, the blue passive skill card "Hidden Identity" had been glowing faintly since he changed clothes. The continuous energy consumption of the passive skill card had left only one-fifth of his energy remaining, so this boost was a timely replenishment. As the highest-level card he possessed, the effect of "Hidden Identity" wasn't as good as Superman's glasses, but it shared a similar brilliance.
As long as Hong Fei did not explicitly and completely expose his appearance and voice, no one would be able to deduce his identity based on build or other factors. Even if many clues pointed to him, investigators would ultimately overlook him easily, almost instinctively. This was the experimental result Hong Fei had obtained over the past month; its effect was almost like a different kind of magic. For Hong Fei, tonight's events were an unexpected incident that he had anticipated but could not control; his actions and decisions had to be made on the fly.
As long as Hong Fei did not explicitly and completely expose his appearance and voice...
For the Military and S.H.I.E.L.D., they had no forecasts or advance preparations. They didn't know which direction things would take. In fact, aside from a few people like General Ross, no one knew how "Abomination" had come to be. So, everyone was more or less at the same starting line. The Military and S.H.I.E.L.D. had more personnel and other resources that could be mobilized and utilized. My only advantage was that "the enemy is in the light, while I am in the shadows."
What happened tonight wouldn't need to wait until tomorrow; many people were surely having sleepless nights right now. Once dawn broke, a wave of public opinion battles would inevitably surge. An hour later, an old truck was speeding on the highway, followed by two black SUVs. I sat in the passenger seat, occasionally looking back at the cargo hold.
Frank couldn't help but say, "A liter of anesthetic—you're not afraid of poisoning him to death, yet you're actually afraid he'll wake up?"
"You don't understand. A creature like this cannot be judged by common sense. Otherwise, after being hit by nine shells earlier, any ordinary creature on Earth would have been dead long ago."
Frank countered, "Then he's still a carbon-based lifeform. And does he look like he's about to wake up? I'm practically fainting just from the smell." Abomination, lying in a cage in the cargo hold, was completely unresponsive, his entire body as limp as dough. I sighed, "It's all for everyone's safety. If he wakes up, even if we all attack him together, we won't be able to beat him."
"So you poured a liter of anesthetic into him?" Frank still couldn't help but complain. "That's not a liter of water, and you made him take it orally! Seriously, I'm starting to think you're more and more terrifying."
Hearing this, I replied irritably, "Then what could I do? You saw it too—the needle couldn't even pierce his skin. Was I supposed to blast him with another shell? I could only pour it down his throat; I just accidentally gave him a bit too much."
"Pouring it in bottle by bottle and you still 'accidentally' gave him too much?"
"Can't I have lost count?"
"And I was right there shouting that it was enough."
"I didn't hear you." Frank was momentarily speechless. After a long while, he added, "Next, The Hand and the Mafia will definitely go quiet for a while again." Something this big happening had truly affected many people's nerves. As gangs, they would certainly keep a low profile now. This was very unfavorable for Frank's actions, and he himself had to follow the trend and go into hiding for the time being. I watched the night scenery fly past the window. "They won't run, and they can't bear to run. Don't be in a hurry; it's not like you're going to die tomorrow."
Frank fell silent, his expression darkening.
A moment later, the truck stopped, hidden by the mountain forest. Hong Fei jumped out, quickly hoisting Abomination onto his shoulder, and dashed into the woods. Frank followed close behind. The truck was left for a subordinate to drive onward; from then on, that person would pretend to be a normal transport driver. Hong Fei wouldn't underestimate the Military or S.H.I.E.L.D. Even with "Hidden Identity" in hand, he'd performed a sleight of hand, just in case.
They passed through shaded mountain paths, crossed the ridges, and returned to the manor.
On the third basement level, Abomination was thrown into the only secret room cast from steel. This room was equipped with multiple mechanisms, including spray nozzles for anesthesia and sedation, as well as high-intensity electrical currents for punishment or even execution. "Arrange for people to watch him twenty-four hours a day without interruption. If he wakes up, notify me immediately. But remember one thing: if any uncontrollable situation arises, kill him rather than let him go."
Until he could face Abomination head-on, he couldn't let him break out of the cage and wreak havoc, even if it meant losing such a near-perfect experimental subject. In fact, Hulk was the most perfect sparring partner and experimental subject for Hong Fei. But Hulk's power was far beyond my control. If Hulk were to turn on me, forget sparring or experiments—even survival would likely be an issue. Therefore, without the assurance of being able to protect myself or truly learning how to soothe Hulk, I had no designs on him whatsoever.
General Ross was a general of a nation, but I didn't have that many war resources to consume and waste.
Closing the heavy alloy door, Frank added, "That The Leader you mentioned earlier has been captured and is locked up next door. Do you want to go take a look?"
By tracing back from where Abomination appeared, there was a chance to find "Mr. Blue," who had also mutated because of merging with Banner's blood. The Leader hadn't had time to run when my people arrived. Mr. Blue, real name Samuel Sterns, was Banner's online friend.
He had been helping Banner research a serum that could eliminate Hulk. Although he hadn't achieved that specific goal, he had successfully developed medicine that could suppress Hulk's emergence. Of course, he wasn't really a pure scientist; he was extremely interested in Banner's blood himself. Whether it was self-healing or other effects, once he successfully analyzed, extracted, and turned it into medicine, he would gain both fame and fortune. Consequently, he used the blood samples Banner sent him to produce a large amount of serum.
It was precisely these serums that, to some extent, directly led to the birth of Abomination. Now, he'd also been infected by these serums, turning him into a grotesque The Leader.
"Keep him locked up for now," Hong Fei said, after a moment's thought. "We'll talk about it tomorrow. He might have some telepathic abilities, or something similar, so don't get too close. Set up remote monitoring first. By the way, where is Dr. Cho?"
"Sleeping upstairs."
"Mm, you go get some rest too. It's been a long night."
Arriving at the spacious area on the second basement level, Hong Fei placed the green active skill card M1A2 SEP into the card slot.
With a thought, green waves rose from the bottom of the card slot like filling water, but they stopped abruptly when they'd only filled a quarter of the way. This meant Hong Fei's remaining energy was insufficient to use this active skill. Additionally, the energy in his body had just recovered to one-quarter. In other words, he'd need to consume a full amount of energy just to barely activate this green skill card.
With a quiet sigh, he shook his head and returned to his room upstairs. He didn't care about anything else and just collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep.