"How the hell did you pull this off?"
Tony Stark stared at the internet in disbelief.
There was practically no coverage of the terrorist attack anywhere online. Even the newspapers had been crushed under the overwhelming dominance of the Global Daily. Quite a few smaller news companies had already gone bankrupt under the pressure.
Only the Daily Bugle, the newspaper Peter Parker would one day work for, was still stubbornly hanging on.
Tony had originally expected the public opinion war surrounding the bombing to drag on for weeks.
He had even prepared himself for a prolonged battle.
Yet in less than two days, every negative article and discussion had practically vanished into thin air.
"Spiderweb currently has more than two hundred million users worldwide."
Drex Valen spoke calmly.
"That means the channels through which those two hundred million people receive information and communicate with each other are in my hands."
"That's equivalent to two hundred million information distribution points."
"So tell me, Tony... what newspaper or media corporation on Earth could possibly compete with that?"
Meanwhile, the Black Queen had already traced the people secretly trying to stir up trouble behind the scenes.
Quite a few of the politicians whose scandals had recently exploded online were among them.
The rest were simply sacrificial offerings Drex Valen tossed out to redirect public attention.
Though technically speaking, the scandals themselves were completely real.
So calling them "victims" was a little generous.
Tony Stark was speechless.
Two hundred million information channels.
That was terrifying.
And those users were not isolated individuals either.
Every one of them had friends, family members, coworkers, classmates, and social circles.
The moment Tony thought about it that way, the scale of Drex Valen's influence became genuinely horrifying.
"Relax," Drex said meaningfully. "I'm not planning to abuse it."
"I just want certain people to understand what the rules of the game are."
If someone refused to play by his rules...
Then they would simply become the next convenient distraction for the public.
And if distraction alone was not enough?
Then an "antihero" could always appear.
A vigilante disgusted by their crimes.
Someone who believed the law could not properly punish them.
In that case...
That antihero could personally send them to Hell instead.
One blade in the light.
One blade in the shadows.
Everything Drex Valen built was designed to ensure that the power of superheroes remained firmly under his control.
Anyone who coveted that power...
Would die.
Under that unimaginable level of influence and control, superhero culture quietly spread deeper and deeper throughout society.
"Warning! Warning! A Dragon-Level disaster has appeared in Boston! All civilians are advised to evacuate immediately!"
"Warning! Warning! A Dragon-Level disaster has appeared in Boston! All civilians are advised to evacuate immediately!"
Sentinel Robots stationed throughout the city streets broadcast emergency alarms nonstop.
As monster attacks became increasingly frequent, these Sentinel Robots had emerged as the Superhero Association's official warning and surveillance system.
They were deployed openly across the United States.
The eyes of the Superhero Association.
And the eyes of Drex Valen.
"Dragon-Level disaster?! Run!"
The civilians flooding the streets turned pale with terror and immediately began fleeing in panic.
The Sentinel Robots maintained order while directing evacuations and clearing safe zones for the superheroes arriving on scene.
The creature standing at the center of the destruction possessed a grayish-brown body and a face as large as a washbasin.
From its forehead extended a massive horn over half a meter long, branching outward at the tip like twisted tree limbs.
Compared to its gigantic body, however, its head actually looked small.
Even while crouched, the creature stood nearly five meters tall.
Its enormous forelimbs resembled stone pillars supporting a mountain of muscle.
Its gray-brown body appeared composed of some unknown biological material, while thick vein-like cords as thick as human fists crawled across its surface in horrifying patterns.
Overall, it resembled a rhinoceros beetle magnified to monstrous proportions.
Asura Kabuto.
This was the debut battle Drex Valen had prepared for the Hulk.
Though a full year had already passed since he originally planned it.
The reason for the delay was simple.
Only after Hulk successfully learned through repeated training that fighting monsters meant nobody would attack him, and that he could freely come out and "play," did Drex finally create Asura Kabuto.
To make that happen, Drex Valen had spent more than a billion dollars constructing an entire amusement park on a remote island specifically for Hulk.
Every single day, Hulk was allowed to come out and play there for a period of time.
After this training process, Bruce Banner eventually discovered something shocking.
If he voluntarily allowed Hulk time outside, then even when his heartbeat exceeded the danger threshold later, Hulk would not forcibly emerge again.
The realization nearly made Bruce collapse emotionally.
He had spent years running, suffering, losing Betty, and destroying his own life...
Only to discover the solution had basically been glorified emotional management.
Afterward, Bruce immediately established a strict agreement with Hulk.
Every day, Hulk would be allowed out for a certain amount of time to play.
But afterward, he had to willingly return control and stay quiet.
Following Drex Valen's "education," Hulk now possessed roughly the intelligence and emotional maturity of a five-year-old child.
Compared to being trapped forever inside Bruce Banner with no freedom at all, this arrangement sounded wonderful to him.
So Hulk agreed immediately.
"This battle is being livestreamed worldwide," Drex Valen said while sitting beside Hulk inside a helicopter.
He reached up and patted Hulk on the back.
Mostly because if Drex did not float upward slightly, he could not even reach Hulk's shoulders.
"Hulk smash monster!"
Hulk slammed his fists together confidently.
"Good."
Drex opened the helicopter door.
"Go."
At that same moment, Asura Kabuto, who had been rampaging through the city, suddenly sensed an overwhelming presence approaching.
The monster immediately looked toward the sky.
"HULK!!!"
With a thunderous roar, Hulk leaped out of the helicopter.
BOOM!
The ground shook violently when he landed.
At the same time, Spiderweb users around the world began watching the livestreamed battle.
"That's the Superhero Association's new S-Class hero! The Hulk!"
"So that monster is the Dragon-Level disaster? It looks terrifying! Can Hulk actually beat that thing?"
"Are you kidding? Among the current S-Class heroes, aside from Dark Knight Drex, not even the Thing or Iron Man can match the Hulk in raw strength!"
Asura Kabuto carefully examined the enormous green figure before him.
Hulk, meanwhile, had no patience for staring contests.
He charged immediately.
Asura Kabuto retaliated instantly.
His attack originated from his mouth.
He inhaled an enormous volume of air, compressed it using his monster-level lungs, then violently expelled it with explosive force.
An utterly unrealistic air cannon erupted forward.
The invisible blast struck Hulk directly.
But Hulk merely staggered backward a few steps before stopping completely.
Then he charged again, face twisted into savage fury.
Without warning, Asura Kabuto crossed more than ten meters in an instant.
The sky darkened overhead as his gigantic body appeared above Hulk, both massive legs descending like collapsing mountains.
At first glance, Asura Kabuto appeared to rely purely on brute force.
A monster that crushed everything head-on.
But in reality, his modified brain contained countless martial arts and combat techniques.
That intelligence made him far deadlier in battle.
And also far more cautious.
Asura Kabuto expected the green giant to dodge.
Instead...
Hulk raised both hands and caught his descending legs head-on.
...
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