The next morning.
Both sides of Atlantic Avenue were already packed with people.
Vought International staff were preparing early in the morning, stringing up caution tape along both sides of the road and putting up giant posters of A-Train.
The sound system was set up, and a drone formation hovered in mid-air, standing by.
The sides of the street were packed with crowds early on; as fanatical fans of A-Train, some had even set up bedding in the middle of the night to wait.
A young girl holding a support sign boldly pulled down her low-cut top, revealing smooth, fair skin.
Reporters carrying telephoto lenses were sweating profusely while adjusting their equipment.
Lucas arrived very early.
He was wearing a hoodie and a baseball cap, blending into the crowd.
Not far away was the shop where Hughie worked.
The Bloodline Perception on the panel had been activated.
This was a new skill of the Viltrumite Soldier; he could sense the bio-energy fluctuations of all Supe within a one-kilometer radius.
Right now, there were only a few sporadic, weak signals in this range; they were likely a few low-level Supe mixed into the crowd.
A-Train had not arrived yet.
His bio-electrical signal should be much stronger than the others. If ordinary people were fireflies, low-level Supe were light bulbs, and A-Train was a searchlight.
Lucas scanned the crowd while waiting and quickly found the person he was looking for.
Hughie Campbell was standing at the entrance of the electronics store, with a girl on his arm.
Robin.
She was tugging at Hughie’s arm, standing on tiptoe to peer into the crowd, muttering something.
Two hundred meters away, Lucas used Super Hearing to capture her voice.
"I’m telling you, A-Train is definitely shorter in person than in the photos. Vought International photoshopped them way too much."
"How do you know?"
"A woman’s intuition."
"Your intuition said the fish at the Mexican restaurant was fresh last time, and I ended up with diarrhea for three whole days."
"That’s because you have a weak stomach, what does that have to do with my intuition?"
Lucas’s mouth twitched.
Fine, the daily bickering of this young couple was actually quite amusing.
Nine o’clock sharp.
The sound system suddenly blasted, and the host’s voice rang out across Atlantic Avenue.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Let us welcome... A-Train with the loudest applause!"
The crowd erupted into earth-shattering cheers.
In the distance, a figure in a blue bodysuit appeared at the end of the road.
He started running, not at a fast speed, just a performative jog, otherwise the people around wouldn’t be able to see him clearly.
A-Train waved to both sides as he ran, occasionally stopping to high-five fans and sign autographs.
Lucas watched him from afar.
A-Train’s bio-energy was indeed more than ten times stronger than those low-level Supe around him.
But compared to himself...
Lucas silently evaluated it in his mind.
A-Train’s power level was probably between fifteen and twenty tons.
And he was currently at sixty-two tons.
More than a three-fold difference.
Hmm, that’s enough!
The community run proceeded as scheduled.
A-Train finished the entire route, took photos and signed autographs with fans for half an hour after reaching the finish line, and then was ushered into a commercial vehicle by Vought International staff.
Left?
Seriously, buddy, is that it?
Just when Lucas thought he had wasted his time again, he suddenly noticed in his Bloodline Perception that A-Train’s bio-electrical signal hadn’t left Brooklyn.
The commercial vehicle drove north for about two kilometers and stopped in a block.
Then A-Train’s signal disappeared from the vehicle.
He got out of the car; he couldn’t be going to his girlfriend’s, could he!
Lucas shifted his attention back to Hughie.
At the entrance of the electronics store.
Hughie and Robin were walking home, holding hands.
Not long after, A-Train’s energy signal started moving.
This time it wasn’t the performance speed of the community run, but true high-speed movement.
The direction was... Atlantic Avenue!
Here he comes!
The Viltrumite Bloodline inside Lucas was fully activated at this moment.
He tore off his hoodie, and with a thought, his dark gray soldier’s combat suit covered his entire body within two seconds, the dark gold runes on his chest flickering slightly.
Lucas gathered his strength and took off at Supersonic speed.
The ground was instantly pressed into a shallow crater by the air pressure, and the surrounding passersby were pushed back, stumbling by the Shockwave.
Hughie was holding Robin’s hand as A-Train rushed out from three blocks away, at a speed of 400 miles per hour.
Under a microscopic perspective, it could be seen that his eyes were bloodshot and red, and the expression on his face seemed somewhat intoxicated.
At this speed, even if he could see people in front of him, he probably wouldn’t be able to react in time.
Just like a drunk driver, by the time he hit someone, it would be too late.
Lucas saw everything from the air.
Supersonic flight made him faster than A-Train.
He was about six hundred meters behind and to the side of A-Train, and A-Train was about three hundred meters away from Hughie and Robin.
He flew straight toward Hughie and Robin.
One second!
Robin’s hair was lifted by the air pressure behind her, and she instinctively turned back.
She saw a bolt of blue lightning rushing toward her.
Half a second.
A gray figure descended from the sky, landing between her and A-Train.
Lucas slammed his feet onto the ground, and the asphalt road was cracked into a spiderweb pattern by the impact of his Bio-field.
He faced the direction of A-Train, his right hand extended forward.
The Bio-field extended from his palm, forming an invisible wall in front of him.
A-Train’s face collided with it almost instantly.
Boom!!!
A massive impact exploded in Lucas’s palm.
The surface of Atlantic Avenue began to crack outward from the point of impact, with cracks extending more than ten meters.
The cars parked on both sides were pushed sideways by half a meter by the sudden air pressure, and the glass of the tall buildings on both sides shattered in unison.
Lucas braced his feet against the ground, pushed back about twenty centimeters by the impact force.
With A-Train pushing at full speed, he could only push Lucas to this extent.
Lucas pushed with one hand.
A-Train was bounced up by the recoil, rolling twice in the air like a ricochet, and then slammed heavily onto the road twenty meters away, dragging out a long skid mark.
The ground was covered in shattered asphalt, looking as if a deep trench had been plowed into it.
The world went quiet.
Lucas withdrew his hand and looked down at his palm; it was only slightly flushed.
He turned his head.
Hughie and Robin were standing less than two meters behind him.
Both of their faces had turned pale.
"It’s okay now."
The panel popped up a large amount of information.
[Major change in the fate of a key character!]
[Robin: Originally destined to die → Survived]
[Hughie Campbell: Original fate trajectory → Completely deviated]
[Key character emotions in violent fluctuation...]
+ 2,347
+ 3,891
+ 1,256
[Milestone event achieved: Rewrite the death fate of a key character (First time)]
[Milestone reward: + 5,000]
Total this time: + 12,494
Current Evolution Points: 12,838 / 100,000
Lucas saw the number, and only one thought crossed his mind.
Win big!
Twenty meters away.
A-Train climbed up from the ground, covered in abrasions.
Lucas hadn’t used much effort; those injuries wouldn’t kill A-Train.
But A-Train’s state was very wrong; his eyes were bloodshot and red, and the mania from compound v hadn’t faded yet. For a Supe, this stuff was a potent stimulant.
He shook his head and looked at Lucas, like a crazed beast.
"You motherfucker... you dare to block my path?"
Lucas looked at A-Train calmly. In the eyes of ordinary people, the opponent’s rage might be like a prehistoric monster.
But from a Viltrumite perspective, it was about the same as a kitten.
The huge commotion woke up the people nearby; they were still shaken as they cast their gazes toward this side.
Don’t know when it started, but phones were successively pointed in this direction.
Lucas spoke, and it almost cost A-Train his life.
"Do you know that you almost killed two people just now?"
"So what?" A-Train grinned, "I’m with The Seven, what kind of thing are you?"
Lucas tilted his head, a cruel smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
The Viltrumite were filled with battle frenzy in their bones.
The stronger the bloodline, the more intense this desire for battle became.
And now, it seemed he had received a challenge!