“I know.
Long before I decided to act, I was already prepared to face this reality.” Duval looked at Iron Man, who remained on guard in the distance.
He knew full well that Iron Man had already targeted him with all kinds of high-tech weapons built into his armor, ready to strike at any moment.
“So calm.
Who do you think you are, a superhero?
Or some brilliant biologist—the kind of genius entrepreneur backed by government funding?” Tony’s voice came through the armor.
Duval paused thoughtfully.
“Actually, when it comes to entrepreneurship, I do have a bit of experience.
Look at these fine little fellows.
Beautiful, aren’t they?
Aren’t they my best business card?” *Little fellows?* Tony instinctively looked at the Xenomorphs behind Duval, his gaze settling silently on the four-meter-tall Abomination Xenomorph.
He categorized Duval: an arrogant, insufferable pest who used every public opportunity to relentlessly show off his talent.
Proud people sometimes hated their own kind even more.
For a brief moment, Tony recalled a guy he had met before—someone with bad legs named Guderian, wasn’t it?
He claimed to have extraordinary research achievements and had desperately fanned his feathers at Tony like a peacock in heat, even though Tony found it laughably naive.
Who didn’t know Tony Stark was a super-genius?
The people sucking up to him daily could fill every burger joint in New York.
“Only people who lack self-confidence go out of their way to find a stage just to tell everyone how strong they are,” Tony said.
“You and the big guy behind you caused tonight’s second bout of chaos.
Someone’s going to come looking for trouble.” “Hold me accountable?
I clearly acted out of civic duty, defeating a Deviant lurking among humanity to commit evil.
The cheers of the public are my best reward.” Tony felt this guy’s psychological fortitude was unnervingly solid—frighteningly calm, and capable of holding his own in a match of shameless rhetoric.
What caught Tony’s attention even more was the word “Deviants.” “Jarvis.” “Sir, after Level-2 information filtering, seven suspicious document files were retrieved, but without exception, all are locked and inaccessible.
Based on technical analysis, the organizations suspected of possessing information on the Deviants are SHIELD, SPEAR, the Ten Rings, The Brotherhood, Atlantis…” Jarvis reported faithfully.
Tony’s heart skipped a beat.
That was only what Jarvis had scraped from global networks.
What about what couldn’t be found?
What on earth were these so-called Deviants…
a branch of humanity similar to Mutants or Inhumans?
“Fine, I have to admit, you’ve successfully diverted my attention.” Tonight had given him quite a shock.
Any one of the individuals who had fought tonight could easily crush him along with his armor.
“Your armor is too weak, too limited.
It needs reinforcement.
Perhaps you could design different models specifically to handle different enemies—that’s a paid tip.
One hundred thousand dollars.
Remember to wire it to my account.
No need to thank me.” Leaving behind those words, Duval turned and left with his Xenomorphs, heading back toward his base on the outskirts of New York.
“I need to develop the Mark IV as soon as possible, maybe even the Mark V and VI…
No, or maybe just as he said, I could build specialized armor sets…” Tony had Jarvis log and analyze all data on the Xenomorphs, particularly the Abomination Xenomorph.
Designing a tailored suit of armor to deal with such a monster didn’t seem like a bad idea.
“Jarvis, wire him the money.
Make it…
$100,001!
The extra dollar is a tip from the infinitely charming Tony Stark.
Though that tip wasn’t cheap—I could’ve thought of it myself, and now I’m paying for it!” Tony grumbled.
The night’s chaotic battle finally drew to a close.
To the vast majority of people, it was a perilous and inexplicable night.
They had watched a few monsters spring out, fight a battle, and then end it all in a blur.
Aside from witnessing the military’s incompetence, the public seemed unable to do anything.
Yet global public opinion had already exploded, pushing anyone who possessed special abilities to the center of the storm.
As usual, the internet began reviling mutants, vigorously pushing the mutant threat theory.
Various experts took turns appearing on television screens, discussing mutants with grave solemnity, as if mutants had genuinely committed some heinous atrocity on Broadway.
The entire world was like a massive vortex that had already begun spinning.
While falling into the abyssal depths of the ocean was only a matter of time, Duval’s appearance was equivalent to delivering a hard kick to the world and those capable of influencing it, accelerating the process.
Seated on the shoulder of the Abomination Xenomorph under the surveillance of numerous satellites in the sky, Duval calmly returned to his residence.
The words “Weyland Private Research Institute” still hung high.
In the past, people treated it as a joke, but from now on, that would no longer be the case—no matter how informal the name sounded.
The Abomination had died, giving birth to the Abomination Xenomorph, whose strength far surpassed the original Abomination, demanding everyone’s attention.
The creatures known as “Xenomorphs” were now being secretly researched and coveted by countless individuals at every level of society.
This species was truly extraordinary.
In all of human history, across the entire Earth, no such creature had ever existed—one capable of stealing the power of a mature host for itself and evolving even further on that foundation.
Leading his pack of Xenomorphs, Duval returned unimpeded to the dilapidated building, even offering a casual greeting to Dum Dum in the adjacent building.
“You won’t be enjoying this kind of leisure for long.
All kinds of characters are going to come looking for you,” Dum Dum said, hesitating.
Under normal circumstances, he would need to bring Duval back to SHIELD for brainwashing and training, or at the very least long-term detention to prevent him from running wild and causing social chaos.
But as things stood, that was going to be extremely difficult.
When Duval wasn’t so tough to handle, SHIELD hadn’t paid him much mind; now that they had noticed his talents and the terror of the Xenomorphs, trying to recruit him or take action seemed a bit too late.
Duval paid no further attention to Dum Dum.
Reaching this stage was inevitable.
Duval knew clearly that the only entities he could absolutely trust were the Xenomorphs.
Naturally, he had to seize every opportunity to expand the power under his command.
Yet agencies like SHIELD would inevitably try everything to limit Duval’s growth, keeping the scale of the Xenomorphs within a relatively safe and controllable range, or even wiping out every single Xenomorph in one fell swoop, along with Duval himself.
This was a fundamental conflict with zero room for compromise.
“A Warrior Xenomorph born from parasitizing the Abomination is only the beginning.
In the future, even more powerful Xenomorphs like this will fall under my command…
I won’t stop my pace of growing stronger.
Likewise, others won’t stop just because I stop.
In that case, I’ll simply press on blindly to the very end.”