1:00 AM, Manhattan, New York.
Shaun Vance flipped the wooden sign to “Closed” and locked the glass door.
Business had been good tonight, with wave after wave of customers.
He genuinely enjoyed cooking.
Even though he was financially set for life now, he had no intention of closing down this Chinese restaurant.
[Ding!]
The system prompt sounded without warning.
Shaun paused his movements.
A pale blue light screen floated before his eyes:
[New Synchronization Target: Natasha Romanoff (Chop-Chop Fruit)] [Synchronization Rate: 0.5%] [Ability Branch Preview: Body Splitting (Activated), Partial Reinforcement (0%), Splitting Transfer (Locked)]
Shaun raised an eyebrow.
“Black Widow ate the Chop-Chop Fruit…
That smooth-headed Fury sure is sharp, knowing how to put a good blade to use.”
He clenched his fist, feeling the faint, new sensation of “splitting” within his body.
It felt as though every joint and muscle possessed the potential to “disconnect.”
It was faint, but distinctly present.
“Works for me.
Whoever eats it just becomes my power bank.” Shaun smiled nonchalantly and looked out the window.
The night was deep, and New York’s neon lights flickered in the distance.
At this hour, certain neighborhoods were bound to be quite “lively.”
Shaun untied his apron but didn’t change his clothes.
He walked behind the counter, opened a drawer, and pulled out a watch.
A Rolex Daytona in gold with diamond hourly markers—it gleamed dazzled under the lights.
It wasn’t to show off, but because it served a different purpose tonight.
“My hands are itching,” he murmured, pushing open the back door.
“Time to put my training into practice.”
***
Late night in Hell’s Kitchen.
The air drifted with the stench of garbage, cheap beer, and danger.
Shaun strapped the golden Rolex onto his wrist, the watch face gleaming conspicuously under the dim streetlights.
It quickly caught the attention of three thugs nearby, who closed in on him.
“Hey, yellow monkey.” The lead thug grinned, revealing a gold tooth.
“Nice watch.
Mind lending it to us?”
The other two blocked his path of retreat, twirling spring-loaded switchblades in their hands.
Shaun smiled inwardly.
*The fish took the bait.*
He raised his wrist, deliberately letting the golden watch reflect light onto the man’s ugly face.
“What if I say…
no?”
“Say no?” Gold-Tooth spat on the ground.
“Then I’ll rip your guts out and stuff ’em down your throat!”
Shaun retorted mockingly, “Is robbery the only thing you N-words know how to do?”
The air froze for a second.
“Fuck!”
Enraged, the three lunged forward.
Shaun took a deep breath, his muscles tensing as he prepared to activate Iron Body.
Just then—
*Whoosh!*
A yellow silhouette plummeted from above, slamming onto the concrete right in front of Shaun with a loud thud.
It was a girl wearing a yellow jumpsuit and a cat-eye mask that covered half her face.
She glanced back at Shaun, her youthful voice laced with annoyance: “Are you trying to get yourself killed coming out here at night?!”
With that, she turned and landed a punch right on Gold-Tooth’s face.
*Crack.*
The sound of a shattered nose bone echoed.
The other two slashed forward with their blades, but the young woman didn’t dodge.
She raised her forearm to block.
When the blades struck her arm, sparks actually flew off her skin!
“A superhero?” Shaun raised an eyebrow.
The girl made quick work of the thugs, her movements swift yet unrefined.
She turned around, her eyes behind the mask glaring at Shaun.
“And you!
Put that watch away!
Are you trying to show off how rich you are?”
Shaun put on a startled, fearful expression.
“Th-Thank you, heroine!
Who…
who are you?”
The girl puffed out her chest, her voice tinged with pride.
“Jewel!
I specialize in taking out garbage like them!”
*Jewel?*
Shaun quickly combed through his memory.
One of Marvel’s obscure heroes—wasn’t that…
Jessica Jones’s early hero identity?
She was certainly attractive though, and Marvel had even given her a few TV seasons.
Shaun pulled out a restaurant business card and handed it over.
“Thank you so much!
I run a Chinese restaurant.
Come by anytime, dinner’s on me!”
The girl took the card, her eyes lighting up when she saw the address.
“Next to Stark Tower?
Wow…
can I really come tomorrow?”
“You’re welcome anytime.”
Jewel waved, kicked off the ground, and awkwardly yet effectively flew up into the air, disappearing among the buildings.
Shaun pulled back his smile and continued his walk.
He hadn’t met his goal of practicing against gang members yet.
He strolled for another half hour.
However, he didn’t run into a second group of “volunteers.”
Just as he was feeling disappointed, he passed a 24-hour diner and heard strange sounds coming from inside.
It wasn’t a fight.
It was…
a voice giving orders with a pleasant smile.
“Yes, just like that.
Jam the fork right into his eye.”
Shaun pushed the door open.
The stench of blood struck his nose.
Inside the diner, a dozen people lay in pools of blood.
The four or five people still standing had hollow eyes, wielding steak knives and broken glass bottles as they slaughtered one another.
And in the center stood a man in a purple suit with slicked-back hair.
With one hand, he held Jewel by the neck, lifting her straight off the ground.
The girl’s yellow jumpsuit was torn in several places, her mask crooked, revealing half of her painfully contorted face.
Her limbs hung limply, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
The Purple Man turned to Shaun, smiling elegantly.
“Another spectator?
Perfect.”
He pointed at Shaun and commanded, “Pick up that knife and slice your own stomach open.”
A faint surge of psychic force pierced toward Shaun’s mind.
Then, like slamming into a wall of ice, it shattered.
Shaun stood completely unfazed.
Instead, he smiled.
“Your little tricks don’t work on me.”
The Purple Man’s expression changed for the first time.
“You…
impossible!” He gestured violently.
“Kill him!”
Two controlled, burly men charged forward.
Shaun moved.
He didn’t run; he “vanished” from the spot, reappearing three steps to the Purple Man’s left the very next second!
*Six Powers: Shave—a taste of its true sharpness.*
The Purple Man’s pupils contracted.
He grabbed an iron chair and hurled it toward Shaun.
Shaun didn’t dodge.
He raised his forearm, his skin turning a faint greenish-gray.
*Thud!*
The iron chair crumpled, leaving his arm completely unharmed.
*Iron Body: Partial Hardening.*
“What on earth are you?!” the Purple Man shrieked in horror, stumbling backward.
Shaun didn’t answer.
He flicked his fingers, and the reflections from the diner’s glass windows and metal cutlery distorted simultaneously, projecting three or four afterimages that lunged from different directions!
*Mirror-Mirror Fruit: Mirror Interference.*
In the instant the Purple Man’s vision fell into chaos, Shaun’s true body was already before him, striking his shoulder with a palm.
A bone-chilling cold erupted!
Half of the Purple Man’s body instantly froze solid, his lips turning purple as his movements slowed to a crawl like a frozen corpse.
*Underworld Frost: Soul Freeze.*
Shaun closed his eyes for half a second.
The perception synced from Pepper’s Op-Op Fruit allowed him to “see” the critical nerve nodes at the back of the Purple Man’s neck.
A knife-hand strike descended.
Precise and cold-blooded.
*Crack.*
The Purple Man’s eyes bulged, his body slumping to the ground as his life force vanished rapidly.
The surrounding controlled survivors instantly regained clarity in their eyes.
Looking at the bloodbath around them, they fell into stunned silence.
Shaun paid them no mind and walked over to the wall.
Jewel lay there unconscious, suffering from multiple contusions, her brow furrowed tight as her body trembled involuntarily.
“Troublesome,” he muttered, bending down to scoop her up in his arms.
Before walking out of the diner, he glanced back at the Purple Man’s corpse.
[Ding!]
The system prompt sounded in his mind:
[Combat Data Recorded: Iron Body defense rating evaluated and increased, Shave proficiency +5%, Underworld Frost (Soul Freeze) application expanded.] [Warning: Key villain “Purple Man” (Kilgrave) eliminated prematurely.] [Worldline Divergence Rate increased significantly: +15%.
Cumulative Volatility: 35%.] [Notice: This shift will drastically alter the fates of related figures such as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage, disrupting the balance of power in Hell’s Kitchen.]
Shaun raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Only 35%?” he murmured.
“Looks like things can get a whole lot messier.”
Holding the unconscious girl, he stepped into a mirror and returned to the second floor of Dragon Pavilion.
***
Shaun placed Jewel on the guest bed.
He performed a quick medical check: minor rib fractures, multiple soft tissue contusions, and severe mental trauma.
Using the Op-Op Fruit, he set her bones and sanitized her wounds.
During the process, the girl groaned a few times in her sleep, tears leaking from the edges of her mask.
Shaun removed her mask.
A young, pale, youthful face was revealed—she couldn’t be older than seventeen or eighteen.
“Jessica Jones…” he whispered her name softly, pulling the blanket over her.
Standing by the window, Shaun looked down at the quiet street below.
The Purple Man was dead.
The psychopath who manipulated countless lives and would have completely ruined Jessica’s future had exited the stage early.
What did this imply?
One less enemy for Daredevil?
Luke Cage wouldn’t run into a mind-controlled Jessica?
The darkness of Hell’s Kitchen taking on a different form as it spread?
“Interesting,” Shaun murmured, the corners of his mouth curving upward.
His phone buzzed.
Carl sent a text: [Shaun, are you asleep yet?]
He replied: [Nope.
Missing my big stick?]
A long moment passed without a response.
However, when Shaun returned to his bedroom, he saw Carl—wearing sheer, fiery-red lingerie—stepping out from the mirror.
She flew into his arms like a bird returning to its nest, bestowing a fiery, passionate kiss upon his lips…
It was a sleepless night, and the squeaking of the bed frame didn’t stop until the sun reached high in the sky.