Hulk's body crashed to the ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust.
In the dust, the battlefield suddenly fell into a dead silence.
The piercing high-frequency electric sound disappeared, and Hulk's screams came to an abrupt halt.
This sudden silence made Gwen, Felicia, Tony, and the others in the distance feel their hearts leap into their throats.
After an unknown amount of time, the dust gradually dispersed, and everyone was finally able to see the scene clearly.
In the dust, Peter, who had already deactivated his Knight form, stood upright like a javelin.
At his feet, the green monster so powerful that the Military was completely helpless against it had already vanished.
In its place was a naked man with a large hole pierced through his chest from front to back.
It was Bruce Banner.
He had fainted at this moment, but that terrifying wound was healing rapidly at a visible rate.
Peter's Hell Stab just now, although failing to completely kill Hulk, had made him feel an unprecedented fear.
Combined with Hulk's successive outbursts of rage earlier, it had reached the limit of what Banner could endure at this stage.
Therefore, no matter how unwilling Hulk was, he could only return silently to the depths of Banner's heart after exhausting his last bit of strength to help repair Banner's body.
Everyone looked at the unconscious Banner on the ground, then at Peter standing there, not knowing what he was thinking, and for a moment, they felt a sense of awe.
Little did they know that Peter was actually laughing wildly in his heart.
The reason he was laughing was not only because he had mastered Armament Haki, but also because he had just gained a rich reward from Hulk:
[Detected Purple Rare Item: Banner's Purple Stretchy Pants]
[Stretchy pants that even Hulk cannot destroy, containing strange rule power; perhaps something incredible can be researched from them]
[Sacrifice for points: 8,000]
[Sacrifice Point Balance: 20,000]
A full twenty thousand sacrifice points!
He had never fought such a wealthy battle!
Peter had already foreseen that next month's product refresh might be very crazy!
While everyone was in awe of Peter and Peter was immersed in the joy of his harvest...
The roar of propellers came from the sky.
A Military helicopter circled down, the cabin door opened, and a spirited old man with general's epaulettes and a toothbrush mustache jumped down, accompanied by a beautiful young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes.
As soon as the beautiful young woman landed, she picked up Banner without a second thought.
She was Banner's first love—Betty Ross.
And the old man beside her was, naturally, General Ross.
Betty picked up Banner and looked him over nervously. Only after confirming he was still breathing did she let out a long sigh of relief, then held Banner and began to weep softly.
As for General Ross, he looked at the devastated Brooklyn, then at Peter, Tony, Gwen, and Felicia, his expression shifting.
After a moment, he tried his best to put on a dignified yet kindly appearance and spoke:
"Mr. Punisher, and Mr. Stark, Ms. Ghost-Spider, and Ms. nightingale... On behalf of the Military and this country, I thank you for your heroic performance."
"You saved this city; you are well-deserved heroes!"
General Ross's bureaucratic talk became smoother and smoother. By the end, he acted with such sincerity that he even cordially extended his hand to Peter, as if today's disaster had nothing at all to do with him.
Gwen and Felicia, unaware of the inside story, felt a bit embarrassed hearing such solemn thanks from a general and hid behind Peter, not knowing what to say.
Tony, however, had a look like he was constipated.
He naturally knew the ins and outs of this matter, but he ultimately had deep ties with the Military.
Furthermore, in his heart, he didn't really want to go against the Military or the entire country.
So, despite cursing the old man to high heaven in his heart, Tony ultimately suppressed his dissatisfaction and didn't fire off at the old geezer on the spot.
For a moment, everyone turned their eyes toward Peter, waiting to see how he would respond.
Under everyone's expectant gaze, Peter did not reach out for a long time, only staring coldly at General Ross.
The atmosphere on the scene instantly dropped to the freezing point.
Ross's hand, extended in mid-air, also froze awkwardly.
He looked at Peter, his face turning various shades of blue and white:
"Mr. Punisher, what is the meaning of this?"
"Heh~ What do I mean?"
Peter sneered and finally lifted his eyelids. Those clear eyes carried a chill that made Ross's heart tremble with fear:
"Someone first plotted to kill and study me, and after failing, remained unrepentant. Even after I had given you face, they stubbornly went behind my back to launch a private operation to capture Hulk."
"And when they messed up and created such a huge mess, they hurriedly called me to clean up their mess."
"Now, that the matter is resolved, you pat your butt, run over to say a few words of nonsense, and expect the whole thing to be over just like that?"
"You old geezer, do you really fucking think I'm some kind of Mr. Nice Guy? You really think I wouldn't dare to wash the U.S. Military in blood?"
Peter's voice wasn't loud, but every word was like a heavy hammer, smashing hard into everyone's hearts.
When Gwen and Felicia heard that everything today was caused by this old man and that he had even plotted against Peter, their expressions changed on the spot.
The two women glared at General Ross, their beautiful eyes filled with hostility.
"Peter, you've misunderstood..."
Colonel Rhodes, seeing the situation turning sour, hurried forward to try and smooth things over.
"Shut up, Rhodes."
Peter didn't give him any face at all, directly and rudely interrupting him, and turned to look at Tony beside Rhodes, asking in a calm voice:
"Tony."
"Do you remember what you promised me?"
Hearing this, Tony's body jolted.
He looked at Peter's calm gaze, took a deep breath, and spoke in a heavy tone:
"If the Military dares to break the rules again, I'll leave America with you."
After glancing at Rhodes, he spoke with a firm tone:
"Don't worry, Peter. I, Tony, keep my word."
"A wise choice," Peter smiled at Tony, then raised his volume a bit more,
"After all... staying in this country, who knows what other shameless stunts they'll pull?"
"They dare to treat me like this today; maybe tomorrow they'll dare to use your private possession of high-threat weapons as an excuse to force you to hand over the Iron Man Suit?"
The moment his voice fell, the expressions of everyone present changed drastically once again.
Tony's face instantly turned ashen; he knew Peter's words were not baseless speculation.
Meanwhile, the faces of Rhodes and General Ross appeared somewhat pale at this moment.
After all... they were truly, secretly pushing forward the development of this matter behind the scenes!