[Mission "Hulk's Rage" completed!]
[Rewards obtained: 3000 EXP, 50 S.H.I.E.L.D. reputation, equipment "Hormone Gun," item "Invincible," item "Invisibility Potion."]
[Equipment: Hormone Gun (fires multiple homing medical rounds that slowly heal the target while briefly suppressing abnormal status effects)]
[Item: Invincible (negates any single attack; can be negated by Invincible, which can also be negated by Invincible, which can again be negated by Invincible…)]
[Item: Invisibility Potion (grants full-body invisibility for 30 minutes after use)]
The rewards this time were quite excellent.
Daniel was satisfied, especially with Invincible. Blocking any attack once without injury—this was a god-tier item.
He'd have to go leave a five-star review for the game later.
"Um… could you help me find some clothes?" Bruce asked awkwardly.
Because of the Hulk transformation, Bruce's underwear had stretched into XXXXXXL, and he had to hold it up with both hands just to keep it from falling.
"Oh, sure. Come with me."
Daniel nodded and headed toward a nearby alley.
Bruce didn't know what was going on, but he still followed.
Before long, they ran into a group of shady-looking street punks in the alley.
When they saw the two appear, the street punks instantly reacted like they had triggered some preset routine and surrounded them.
"Hey, spare some cash—bro, don't shoot!"
The moment they saw the golden Desert Eagle in Daniel's hand, the punks immediately raised their hands with practiced familiarity.
Daniel glanced back at the stunned Bruce and said, "Come over and pick what you like. Just take whichever set you want. By the way, do you have any preference for underwear style?"
Bruce: "…"
Soon, Bruce had changed into a new outfit—classic West Coast street style.
Afterward, Bruce said he had to leave. He had something extremely important to do.
Seeing how determined he was, Daniel called Nick Fury and relayed Bruce's message.
Fury thought for a moment. "Let him go. I'll have people monitor his movements."
"Understood, sir."
"And my car—"
Daniel immediately hung up.
No way he was returning the car he drove away. Even the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't getting it back.
The next day.
Daniel was at home flipping through a comic book, reading with great interest.
He unexpectedly discovered that the DC company existed in this game world.
Considering that DC and Marvel were notorious rivals—both being superhero giants locked in constant competition—this was surprising.
Yet here, in a Marvel-themed game, a DC comic book existed.
Was this an Easter egg?
To be honest, Daniel was fairly familiar with DC, especially their flagship hero, Superman.
Back in his original era, DC had rebooted their universe for the 28th time and were about to release Superman: The Re-Re-Re-Re-Re-Reboot – The Prequel.
With a new Superman film every year, it was impossible not to know him.
Out of curiosity, Daniel opened the DC comic—and quickly lost track of time.
He noticed that many DC heroes resembled the superheroes he had met in this game world.
Especially Batman and Daredevil.
Both protected a chaotic district, both wore pointed-ear cowls, both operated mainly at night.
And both followed an unbreakable fundamental code—no, baseline: the no-kill rule.
The only difference was that lawyer Matt Murdock wasn't as rich as Bruce Wayne. After fighting crime at night, he still had to work in the morning to pay the bills. Just thinking about it felt tragic.
Speaking of which, Batman's nemesis, the Joker, did give off strong player energy.
Completely unhinged.
While Daniel was engrossed in reading, the system suddenly chimed.
[Attention, player: BOSS Event is now live!]
[Target: Defeat "Whiplash" Ivan Vanko!]
[Rewards will be based on the damage you deal to the BOSS. The more damage, the greater the reward!]
"Hmm?"
Daniel raised a brow.
Who activated a BOSS without telling him?
New York. Stark Expo.
Tony was flying at high speed in his Iron Man suit.
Behind him, more than a dozen Iron Drones were in relentless pursuit, continuously firing at him.
Leading them was his friend Colonel Rhodes—now wearing the War Machine armor.
Boom!
Tony barely dodged a missile and yelled into the comms, "Rhodey, you sure this isn't personal vengeance?"
Rhodes sighed helplessly. "Ivan Vanko hacked Hammer Industries' systems and took control of the suit. What could I do?"
Tony winced. "You never should've let Hammer Industries touch your armor! Their system is basically a public restroom—anyone can walk right in!"
Aside from Rhodey's War Machine, all the Iron Drones were Hammer Industries products, created by the Russian engineer Ivan Vanko.
This was the same man who had attacked Tony on the Monaco F1 track, almost frying him into charcoal.
Now he had seized control of War Machine and the drones, aiming to kill Tony for good.
Fortunately, Tony—thanks to Daniel's intervention—had managed to develop a replacement for Palladium in time. His suit now had ample power and wasn't being worn down by the drone assault.
At that moment, Natasha's voice came through the comms: "I've breached Hammer Industries' system. Preparing to reboot Colonel Rhodes' armor."
Tony brightened. "Excellent work, Agent Romanoff."
He really had been right—Hammer's system was a public toilet.
To keep Rhodes from crashing mid-flight, Tony guided both of them down into the simulated environment dome, with the drones diving after them.
The moment War Machine hit the ground, Tony shouted, "Do it now!"
A second later, War Machine rebooted, freeing itself from Ivan's control.
Tony and Rhodey exchanged a glance—no words needed. They immediately turned their weapons toward the remaining drones.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!
Explosions filled the air.
Soon, all the drones were reduced to smoking piles of scrap under their combined fire.
But their own armors were in terrible shape—scorched black, dented, peppered with bullet marks. They looked miserable.
Before Tony could catch his breath, JARVIS spoke up:
"Sir, a high-energy signature has appeared overhead. Far above the Iron Drone threshold."
"Ivan Vanko!!"
Tony didn't need to guess.
Sure enough, seconds later, a massive armored suit dropped from the sky and crashed heavily in front of them.
The bulky helmet slid open slowly, revealing Ivan's unkempt face.
Looking down at Tony, he said in heavily accented English, "Good to be back."
With such a dramatic entrance, Ivan expected Tony to look shocked.
Instead, Tony was staring at him with a very strange expression.
Ivan frowned. "Stark, are you scared stupid?"
Tony glanced past him at a distant figure. His lips twitched. "Have you ever heard a saying?"
"What saying?"
"There's no such thing as piloting a suit without a helmet."
"?"
Bang!
Ivan hadn't even processed the words when a gunshot rang out.
And then—
There was nothing.
In front of Tony's helpless expression and Rhodey's stunned stare, Ivan's head exploded like a melon, and he collapsed—massive Whiplash armor and all—onto the ground.
A supervillain.
Gone in under ten seconds.