Luke Lane didn’t stop him.
He merely curled his lips toward the sneaky reporter crouching in the corner with a camera, and in a blur of movement, vanished without a trace.
“Wow!”
The moment Hulk was repelled, the refugees huddled in front of the giant electronic screen in Times Square exploded into cheers.
Times Square was located in Lower Manhattan, just a stone’s throw from the ruined battlefield.
Most of these people were residents who had rushed over from nearby blocks.
They hadn’t gathered just to watch the show; most were terrified that their own buildings would be caught in the crossfire, their windows shattered, or their lives ruined as collateral damage.
Now they could finally rest easy!
Seeing the massive behemoth flee in panic, the crowd boiled over.
Many jumped for joy on the spot, and several bold young couples even wrapped their arms around each other’s necks and kissed passionately right there in the street.
…
[Nick Fury contributed Shock Value +800]
[Phil Coulson contributed Shock Value +800]
[Maria Hill contributed Shock Value +600]
[Alexander Pierce contributed Shock Value +600]
[Ordinary New York Citizen contributed Shock Value +0.02]
[Ordinary New York Citizen contributed Shock Value +0.02]
…
At that exact moment, Luke Lane had already returned to his villa in the Upper East Side.
Sinking lazily into the couch, system notifications rang continuously in his ears, bringing a relaxed smile to his face.
For this harvest, he really had to thank the military.
If they hadn’t callously turned the entirety of Lower Manhattan into their training ground, where else could he have gathered such a massive haul of Shock Value?
After all, Lower Manhattan was home to over a million residents, every single one of them worried sick.
Even if each person contributed a mere 0.02 points, bit by bit, it accumulated into a formidable sum.
“System, pull up the panel.”
He sat up straight, ready to count his spoils.
The moment the words left his mouth, a translucent light screen silently floated into view, visible to him alone.
Name: Luke Lane
Cards: Zhuge Qing, Kimimaro, En Oyashiro, Bai Yifei, John Constantine, Albert Wesker, Lu Xiaofeng, Sakonji Urokodaki, Hannibal, Ah Fu (Ranked from strongest to weakest)
Items: Necklace of Lies, Captain Jack’s compass, Lollipop of Shame, Red Queen Motherboard, Blood Orchid × 3, Healing Gourd
Materials: B-Rank Card Shard × 4
Shock Value: 394,257.34
…
“Hmm? I’ve accumulated four B-rank shards without even noticing?”
Scanning the data on the screen, Luke Lane raised an eyebrow slightly in pleasant surprise.
It took five shards to synthesize a complete B-Rank card, and he already held four in his hands.
Which meant—
As long as he snagged just one more, he could secure a guaranteed B-Rank card!
“I have to draw.”
His eyes lit up with zero hesitation.
Zhuge Qing was merely an 8-Star C-Rank card, yet his power was already so astonishing.
How could a B-Rank card possibly fall short?
“System, open one Silver Treasure Chest.”
Glancing at his balance of nearly four hundred thousand Shock Value, he issued the command decisively.
A flash of white light erupted, followed by a system notification:
[Item: Spring of Drowned Girl (500ml)]
[Effect: Gender Swap]
[Description: Originates from the anime Ranma 1/2. Legend has it that fifteen hundred years ago, a young girl tragically drowned in the spring. Ever since, the water became imbued with strange magical power. Anyone who falls into it will be transformed into a young girl.]
[Note: No need to travel to Siam. Drinking just 100ml will turn you into a youthful maiden. Hot water restores your original form, cold water turns you back into a maiden—switch back and forth at will.]
…
[C-Rank 6-Star Card: Leon]
[Skill: “I Think, Therefore It Works” Power (Extremely Weakened Version)]
[Description: Originates from Out of the Dark, resident of Room 404 in Chung Kwong Mental Hospital. Born with immense psychokinesis capable of slightly distorting the rules of reality. Chocolate wrapped in plastic wrap can exorcise evil spirits, and paper folded into a hat can carry people into the sky.]
…
“What kind of nonsense is this?”
Staring at the newly drawn spring water and Leon card, Luke Lane’s eyelids twitched.
He felt his luck today was truly terrible.
Not hitting a B-rank shard was one thing, but drawing two items in a row that both exuded an air of utter absurdity?
Spring water that could change gender?
Who was he supposed to use this on?
He couldn’t prank Tony again, could he?
That guy was already miserable enough.
“Fine, set them aside for now. Keep drawing. I refuse to believe I can’t assemble that fifth shard today…”
Shaking his head, he temporarily suppressed the urge to go tease Tony again and decisively opened another Silver Treasure Chest.
[Item: Flower of Blood]
[Effect: Deep control over one’s own flesh and blood. As long as you do not die on the spot or suffer complete purification and stripping of power, your flesh can wriggle and regenerate, granting a portion of flesh-and-blood secret arts.]
[Description: An Extraordinary object forged from the Sequence 6 “Rose Bishop” Extraordinary Characteristic of the Hanged Man pathway, originating from Lord of the Mysteries.]
[Note: The wearer may experience sudden loss of cognitive ability and random, unannounced drops in sanity.]
…
[B-Rank Card Shard × 1]
[Effect: For synthesis use only]
[Description: Shard of an unknown B-Rank Card. Collect five to forge a brand-new card.]
…
[C-Rank 8-Star Card: Gehrman Sparrow]
[Skill: All Extraordinary abilities of Sequence 5 “Marionettist” from the Fool pathway]
[Description: Originates from Lord of the Mysteries, one of the identities used by the protagonist Klein Moretti—a crazy adventurer.]
[Note: Contains only the powers of Marionettist and the Sun Brooch. Other settings are not bound.]
…
“Finally.”
Luke’s eyes narrowed.
Without pausing to examine the new card and item in detail, he opened the system panel directly.
Beneath the row of five B-rank shards, he clicked the quietly floating option: [Synthesize?]
“My first B-Rank card…”
Luke took a deep breath and decisively tapped the synthesize button.
[B-Rank 3-Star Card: Wuming, the Heavenly Sword]
[Skills: Unnamable Sword Technique, Return of Ten Thousand Swords]
[Description: Recognized as the supreme Sword Saint in the Hong Kong comic Fung Wan. Blessed with supreme talent, he once subdued all the martial arts legends with a single longsword. His sword intent is so magnificent that it can rouse ten thousand swords across the land into resonance.]
[Note: Playing the zither with full health, tearing through enemies like a hurricane on low health—such is the true portrayal of Wuming’s life.]
“Wuming, the Heavenly Sword!!”
The moment he saw the synthesis result, Luke’s pupils trembled slightly, and his spirit surged with excitement.
Unlike screen adaptations, the original Hong Kong comic *Fung Wan* belonged to a mid-to-high martial arts power system, where top experts could shatter mountains, split rivers, and tread on clouds with a casual wave of their hand.
And Wuming was the undisputed pinnacle of Sword Dao in that world.
His terrifying power required no further explanation.
“Now I can finally rest easy.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, he immediately fused the “Wuming” card into himself.
A short moment later…
Luke slowly opened his eyes.
The light in his eyes was deeply restrained, yet it was impossible to conceal his inner shock.
Too strong!
This sense of power was difficult to articulate, but he clearly perceived that as long as he activated “Return of Ten Thousand Swords,” the four-hundred-meter-tall World Trade Center towers before him could be ground into dust by tens of thousands of sword qi in an instant.
Before this, he was merely probing and testing the waters.
Now holding the power of Wuming, he possessed absolute confidence to flip the entire chessboard over.
After a quick thought, Luke gathered his mind and sank his consciousness into the perspective of his clone, the Marquis of the Blood Wardrobe.
…
The Hand’s secret base.
Beneath an open dome, seventy-two massive ice pillars stood grimly, each pinning a pure-blood vampire.
At the center of the circle of ice pillars lay a deserted altar.
Only cold moonlight poured down from the dome, falling squarely upon the Marquis of the Blood Wardrobe standing quietly beside the altar.
Under the moonlight, his blood-red robe looked as thick and dark as ink.
The oppressive aura radiating from him caused the leaders of The Hand lurking nearby to shift uneasily, their complexions changing slightly.
Madame Gao lowered her eyes to hide the gloom within, her voice submissive: “Lord Marquis of the Blood Wardrobe, all seventy-two sacrifices are in position. May I ask what else requires our services?”
“No need.”
Hands folded behind his back, the Marquis of the Blood Wardrobe looked up at the bright moon in the night sky and said calmly, “Tomorrow night at midnight, when the moon is full, gather your ninjas and guard the perimeter outside. No one is permitted to approach.”
“Understood!!”
Madame Gao’s eyes flickered.
She exchanged quick glances with the other leaders and quietly stepped back.
Watching their departing backs, the Marquis of the Blood Wardrobe curled his lips into a faint smile: “I have given you the exact time and location. I only hope you don’t disappoint me.”
…
“What do we do next? Strike now?”
As soon as they left the Marquis’s sight, the five leaders of The Hand gathered once more.
Bakuto, the hottest-tempered among them, gripped his sword hilt, bloodlust gleaming in his eyes.
In his eyes, no matter how strong the Marquis of the Blood Wardrobe was, he was still alone.
Executing a successful surprise attack wouldn’t be difficult.
Now that they had uncovered the exact time and method for resurrecting the Blood Demon, staying patient made no sense.
“Calm down,” Madame Gao said, her face lined with deep wrinkles, her smile chilling.
“Danny Rand has returned to New York. Those old relics in Kunlun actually picked a foreign kid to be the new Iron Fist. I bet he doesn’t even know what ‘qi’ is yet.”
“Isn’t that perfect for us?” Bakuto sneered.
“The weaker he is, the easier it will be for us to take the power of the Iron Fist.”
“Do not underestimate the enemy,” Murakami, the oldest, spoke slowly.
“The Marquis of the Blood Wardrobe is unfathomably deep, and the Iron Fist is Kunlun’s sacred treasure. Following our original plan and letting them injure each other to the death is the best strategy.”
“Danny Rand won’t win against him,” Bakuto shook his head decisively.
“Last time, even Daredevil and The Punisher teaming up couldn’t budge the Marquis in the slightest. What makes you think a green kid fresh out of the mountains can turn the tables?”
“We never expected him to win,” Madame Gao smiled meaningfully.
“I built this base with my own hands ten years ago. Buried underground are several tons of high explosives. As long as Danny Rand dares to step inside, neither he nor the Marquis will leave alive.”
“What about the Blood Demon?” Bakuto frowned with slight regret.
He still remembered the “godlike power comparable to immortals” mentioned by the Blood Demon last time.
“Our primary objective is the power of the Iron Fist to reopen the ‘Gate’ and retrieve the Dragon Bone,” Madame Gao’s expression turned stern.
“As for the Blood Demon, if it can’t even survive explosives, then its so-called divine power is nothing more than hype, not worth risking our lives for.”
“Fine.”
Seeing things put this way, Bakuto had no choice but to agree.
Sowande and Alexandra raised no objections either.
Only Murakami frowned deeply, muttering in thought, “What if… the explosives can’t kill them?”
“I’ve also borrowed two hundred elite gunmen from Kingpin,” Madame Gao narrowed her eyes, a cold sneer surfacing.
“Bai Yifei considers himself invincible, but he forgets times have changed. No matter how supreme your martial arts are, can flesh and blood stop bullets?”
One day later.
New York, Connors Private Hospital, Room 407.
Zhuge Qing pushed open the door and entered.
His eyes landed on Lu Xiaofeng, whose right arm was wrapped in heavy bandages on the hospital bed.
A smile touched his lips: “Little Chick Lu, you look quite wretched like this.”
“Just barely clinging to life,” Lu Xiaofeng crossed his legs, munched on an apple, and teased, “You on the other hand, Brother Qing, sure keep a high profile. You just landed in New York and already caused such a massive scene.”
“I reckon the streets of New York are going to gain a huge flock of your fans. Look, there’s one crouched right here in the room.”
He gestured toward Jessica, who suddenly blushed, joking, “Hey, where’d that feisty attitude from earlier go? This doesn’t look like you, Jessica!”
“Shut your trap!” Jessica rolled her eyes, stood up, and extended her hand graciously.
“Hello, Mr. Zhuge.”
“Just call me Zhuge Qing,” Zhuge Qing took off his sunglasses and mask, narrowing his eyes with a smile.