Bullseye felt a chill run down his spine, but he walked inside anyway.
He sat across from the dining table and placed the briefcase of cash on top.
Shaun Vance sat back down with “Vanessa” in his arms, his hand resting naturally on her thigh.
“Mr.
Bullseye,” Shaun said in a light, playful tone.
“Seeing your boss’s fiancée cheating…
aren’t you afraid Kingpin will kill you to keep the family scandal under wraps?”
Bullseye stared at “Vanessa” for five full seconds.
Then, he suddenly calmed down.
“Boss Vance,” Bullseye said, his voice steady.
“Mrs.
Vanessa is currently accompanying Mr.
Fisk at Lincoln Center watching *Turandot*.”
He raised his wrist and checked his watch.
“Act Two just started.
She couldn’t possibly be here.”
The air went quiet for a second.
Shaun smiled.
He snapped his fingers.
In his arms, “Vanessa’s” body rippled like water as her height, build, and hairstyle rapidly shifted.
Three seconds later, Karla reverted to her original form.
Fluffy blonde hair, a fiery red camisole nightgown, and breathtaking cleavage.
She giggled, stood up, and planted a kiss on Shaun’s cheek.
“That was so exhausting~ I’ll wait for you upstairs.”
With that, she swayed her hips and walked up the stairs.
Bullseye’s pupils contracted.
“A mirror image…
an illusion?” he muttered.
“Just a little trick.” Shaun leaned back against his chair.
“Now, down to business.
Ten million isn’t enough.”
“I can add more.”
“Kingpin paid a hundred million,” Shaun interrupted.
“As his lackey, you can’t offer less than him, can you?”
Bullseye clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.
But he held back.
“…Consider this ten million a down payment.”
Gritting his teeth, he continued, “I’ll gather the rest within a week.
What happened the other night…
we call it water under the bridge.
Deal?”
Shaun chuckled.
The laugh was light, yet it made Bullseye feel deeply humiliated.
“Mr.
Bullseye,” Shaun shook his head.
“You don’t even qualify for me to hold a grudge against.”
Bullseye’s fists popped loudly, but he forced a tight smile onto his face:
“Then…
take the down payment first?
I’ll come back in a week with the full amount.”
Shaun looked at him for two seconds, then suddenly stood up.
“ROOM.”
A pink spherical domain expanded instantly, enveloping the entire dining area.
Bullseye gasped, instinctively wanting to step back, but his body couldn’t move.
Shaun made a grasping motion with his right hand.
At the edge of the domain, a stray dog passing by suddenly let out a bark.
The next second, a complete, wet dog eye flew in from outside the window, hovering above Shaun’s palm.
Bullseye’s eyes widened.
Shaun walked up to him and pressed his left hand against the gauze over Bullseye’s right eye.
“Slaughterhouse: Transplant.”
The gauze and necrotic tissue were instantly severed, exposing a hollow socket.
Bullseye didn’t even feel any pain.
The next instant, the dog eye was precisely slotted into his socket, its nerves, blood vessels, and muscles automatically fusing together under the pink light.
Three seconds.
The domain retracted.
Bullseye blinked.
His right eye…
could see!
But the vision was somewhat strange—colors were muted, but moving objects were exceptionally sharp.
“Th-this is…”
He touched his right eye.
“A dog’s eye.”
Shaun sat back in his chair, his tone offhand.
“Weak color perception, but dynamic vision five times better than a human’s.
For a throwing-knife specialist like you…
it should prove quite useful.”
Bullseye was stunned.
He adjusted to the weird vision, then snapped his head up.
“Why a dog’s eye?!”
“What else?” Shaun poured himself a glass of water.
“A pig’s eye?
That’ll have to wait until tomorrow when I go grocery shopping.”
“You could’ve used a human eye!” Bullseye urged anxiously.
“I can call one of my henchmen right now!
Swap it with his!”
Shaun cast a glance at him.
The look was completely tranquil, yet it felt like a bucket of ice water poured over Bullseye.
“Take it or leave it,” Shaun said.
“Leave the down payment.
Come back in a week with enough cash.
Now…
get out.”
Bullseye stood in place, his chest heaving.
In the end, he left the briefcase behind,
turned, and walked toward the door.
Reaching the doorway, he paused without looking back:
“Boss Vance…
see you in a week.”
The glass door closed.
Shaun sat in his chair, leisurely finishing his glass of water.
Then he stood up and headed upstairs.
In the bedroom, Karla had transformed back into Vanessa’s appearance and was leaning against the headboard scrolling on her phone.
Seeing him enter, she tossed her phone aside, lunged forward, and gave him a passionate kiss.
After kissing for a long moment, they separated.
Karla leaned into his chest, tracing circles with her finger on his torso.
“Shaun…
why are you so set on selling Fruits to mobsters?
Someone like Kingpin—won’t he be even more dangerous with superpowers?”
Shaun wrapped his arms around her, tone casual:
“I’m a businessman.
If customers bring money, I sell goods.
Whether they’re mobsters or heroes…
what does that have to do with me?”
“But…”
“Hell’s Kitchen needs balance.”
Shaun interrupted her with a chuckle.
“Heroes need adversaries to grow.
Villains need power to swell with ambition.
And I…
need them to tear each other apart.”
Karla looked up at him.
“You’re doing this on purpose?”
“Matt Murdock got the Press-Press Fruit, but he lacks the pressure of real combat.
Kingpin…
makes a fine whetstone.”
He leaned down and whispered softly in Karla’s ear:
“Mrs.
Fisk, you wouldn’t want your husband to lose his job, would you?”
Karla froze for a second, then broke into a sultry giggle.
“You’re terrible~”
She flipped over, pressing Shaun down beneath her, and kissed him deeply.
Neither of them slept a wink that night.
…
A few days later.
Hell’s Kitchen, late at night.
Beneath an abandoned pier converted into an “Art Warehouse” lay Kingpin’s true lair.
Daredevil, Matt Murdock, crouched inside a ventilation shaft with his eyes closed.
His radar sense was fully engaged.
Twenty-three people.
Heartbeats, breathing, the rustle of clothes, the reflection of metallic weapons…
And the secret room deep in the underground.
Inside was a safe.
It contained Kingpin’s bribery records with politicians from multiple nations, human trafficking ledgers, and blueprints of his drug distribution network.
Matt’s target tonight.
He slid silently out of the shaft and landed without a sound.
Gravity Control: Localized Weightlessness.
His body weight dropped to a tenth, making his movements as light as a cat’s.
Five seconds to cross the hallway.
Ten seconds to knock out two guards.
A knife-hand strike to the back of their necks, imbued with “Gravity Shock,” rendered them unconscious instantly with severe concussions.
Twenty seconds to reach the secret room’s door.
An electronic lock.
Matt pressed his fingers against the keyhole area.
“Gravity Infiltration.”
The internal components of the lock core deformed and broke apart under ten times gravity.
*Clack.*
The door opened.
He slipped inside.
The room wasn’t large, with the safe sitting right in the center.
Matt didn’t have the combination, but he didn’t need one.
He placed both hands on the sides of the vault.
“Gravity Distortion.”
The internal structure of the safe warped and tore under the chaotic gravitational field.
*Bang.*
The safe door popped open.
Stacks of documents, hard drives, and photographs.
Matt flipped through them rapidly, his heart racing.
Enough.
This was enough to lock Kingpin away for life.
He snatched up the files and shoved them into the waterproof pouch on his back.
Right at that moment—
*Beep-beep-beep-beep—!!*
A piercing alarm blared violently!
Matt whipped his head around.
The file folder he had just grabbed…
was connected to a pressure sensor underneath!
“Dammit!”
He turned and sprinted toward the door.
But it was already too late.
A heavy alloy blast door slammed down with a crash, sealing the exit!
Ventilation grates and duct openings were all shut tight with alloy plates!
Immediately after, the walls around the room flipped open.
Over twenty fully armed gunmen swarmed out from hidden compartments!
Red laser dots from infrared scopes locked onto Matt’s body instantly!
“Good evening, blind man.”
A deep, heavy voice echoed.
Kingpin walked out from the shadows.
He wasn’t wearing his suit jacket, just a white dress shirt and black trousers, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows to reveal thick, boulder-like forearms.
Between his fingers was an unlit cigar.
“Last time, you burned a hundred million dollars of mine,” Kingpin shoved the cigar into his mouth and grinned wider.
“Tonight…
you’re paying back with interest.”
Matt took a deep breath.
Slowly, he raised both hands.
“Gravity Control: Area Pressure.”
An invisible forcefield burst open!
Five times gravity!
The gunmen instantly felt as heavy as lead; their movements to raise their guns slowed down, and breathing became difficult.
“F-Fire!”
Someone roared.
Bullets discharged, but within the gravity field, their speed plummeted drastically, their trajectories curving downward.
Matt moved.
He dashed into the crowd like a phantom, swinging his cane.
Every strike was infused with “Gravity Shock”!
*Crack!*
A gunman took a strike to the chest and felt as if he had been hit by a truck, flying backward and slamming into the wall.
*Snap!*
Another guard’s wrist snapped, sending his gun flying.
In five seconds, half of them were down.
Matt’s breathing grew slightly ragged.
Maintaining a large-area gravity field was more draining than he had anticipated.
“Enough.”
Kingpin’s voice sounded out.
He stepped into the gravity field.
Matt’s pupils contracted.
Kingpin’s steps…
were barely affected!
“Ten times gravity!” Matt growled, driving the power to its limit!
The concrete beneath Kingpin’s feet cracked with a sharp snap, sinking five centimeters into the ground.
Yet he grinned.
“That’s it?”
His muscles surged and swelled!
His white shirt tore open with a sharp rip, exposing the brownish, metallic-sheened hide beneath!
Bear-Bear Fruit: Fur Hardening!
Like a true giant bear, Kingpin forced his spine straight even under ten times gravity!
Then, he moved.
His speed was absurdly fast!
The explosive burst of a wild beast!
Matt barely dodged aside as Kingpin’s fist grazed his cheek, the wind off the punch stinging his skin.
Matt swung his cane horizontally, striking toward the back of Kingpin’s neck with gravity augmentation.
Kingpin didn’t dodge.
*Clang!*
A sound like striking metal reverberated!
The cane hit its mark, but the hardened fur on Kingpin’s neck absorbed the blow directly, leaving only a faint white mark.
He reached back and grabbed the cane.
“Mine now.”
He yanked!
Matt was forced to let go; otherwise, his arm would have been ripped off.
Close quarters.
Matt shoved both hands forward: “Gravity Field Distortion!”
He tried to trap Kingpin in a chaotic gravitational warp.
Kingpin roared, undergoing semi-beastification!
Claws sprouted from his fingers as his power surged, tearing right through the gravitational field!
A fist hammered straight toward Matt’s face!
Matt barely turned his head; the fist grazed his ear, setting off a ringing roar.
A second punch landed straight to his abdomen!
*Thud!*
A direct, solid hit!
Matt coughed up a mouthful of blood, feeling as though his internal organs had been shifted.
Using the impact to retreat, he slammed back against the wall.
Kingpin walked toward him, making the floor shudder with every step.
“Your ability is interesting,” Kingpin cracked his knuckles.
“But in front of me…
it falls short.”
Matt wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
He knew he couldn’t win.
Not right now.
He slammed both palms onto the ground!
“Gravity Ejection!”
The floor beneath him caved in violently, and the rebound launched him like a cannonball toward the ceiling!
There was an emergency vent up there that hadn’t been sealed!
“Trying to run?”
Kingpin smashed a fist into the ground!
Bear-Bear Fruit: Shockwave!
A shockwave flared out, cracking the concrete floor.
Caught mid-air by the blast wave, Matt spit out another spray of blood.
Yet he grit his teeth and slipped into the vent.
And vanished.
Kingpin didn’t pursue him.
Standing in the center of the secret room, he stared up at the hole in the ceiling and sneered.
“Next time,” he growled under his breath, “I’ll have a cage ready.”
…
Dragon Pavilion, bedroom.
Shaun Vance leaned against the headboard, scrolling through news on his phone.
Suddenly—
[Ding!]
A system chime sounded in his mind.
[Press-Press Fruit Synchronization Rate updated: 5% → 18%]
[Bear-Bear Fruit Synchronization Rate updated: 0.4% → 12%]
[Notice: Synchronization targets experienced life-or-death combat; ability mastery significantly increased.
Gravity Field Generation unlock progress: 7%]
Shaun smiled.
He set down his phone and felt the new strength surging through his body.
His perception of gravity had grown sharper; he could even vaguely “see” the contours of weight surrounding objects.
His muscle density seemed to have increased slightly as well—not by much, but definitely noticeable.
“As expected…
pressure is the best catalyst.”
A smirk curled on Shaun’s lips.
“Kingpin…
Matt…”
“Keep sharpening each other’s blades.”
“The sharper you hone yourselves…
the greater my harvest will be.”