“Who am I? Didn’t S.H.I.E.L.D. already investigate that pretty thoroughly?”

After downing the vodka in his hand in one go, Blake Thorne lifted his gaze toward the Black Widow standing before him. He had no interest left in idle pleasantries.

Yet those very words only made Natasha feel even more strongly that the Asian-looking teenager in front of her was shrouded in mystery—dangerously so, and impossible to read…

“Blake Thorne. Male. Seventeen years old. Born in the state of Florida. Raised from childhood at St. Paul’s Orphanage. At the age of ten, suspected of awakening supernatural powers. After killing the newly appointed head of the orphanage, you relocated to New York.”

After calmly reciting part of the information held by S.H.I.E.L.D.’s internal intelligence files, Natasha fixed her sharp gaze on Blake—the teenager who had already been labeled ‘extremely dangerous’ by the organization—and asked in a serious tone,

“So… what exactly are you? A mutant? Or… an alien?”

Blake merely smiled and slowly shook his head. He was just about to open his mouth to answer when, in the very next second—

From somewhere far away, deep within New York City, a chain of violent explosions suddenly rang out, accompanied by thunderous impacts that shook the air itself.

Blake’s brows knitted together instantly. His Infinity Perception System activated on reflex…

In uptown Manhattan, two gigantic humanoid figures—each several meters tall, massively built, and utterly monstrous in appearance—were locked in a brutal battle right in the middle of a densely populated area.

Both creatures had striking green skin. One of them was even more grotesque, with sharp bone protrusions jutting out from its back, elbows, and various joints, forming rows of deadly-looking spikes.

Hundreds of armed soldiers on the ground, along with several attack helicopters in the air, were continuously pouring gunfire into the spiked creature.

Unfortunately, it was completely pointless.

Not only did the bullets fail to cause any real damage, they only seemed to drive the monster into a greater frenzy.

Looking at the scene projected into his mind through the system, Blake immediately recognized the two beings.

Weren’t they “Hulk” and “Abomination,” born from exposure to gamma radiation?

Abomination didn’t even need further discussion—a crude imitation.

In the comic lore, Hulk’s power was described as nearly limitless. The greater his anger, pressure, or even excitement, the greater his strength became.

At peak rage, Hulk’s power could reach a level capable of destroying the world itself.

Not only that, Hulk possessed astonishing regenerative abilities. Even if his vital organs were destroyed, he could regenerate them.

He was immune to all known diseases and poisons, capable of surviving extreme temperatures, and—

Most importantly, he possessed an incredibly powerful form of “mental defense.” The vast majority of spiritual or supernatural attacks were almost completely ineffective against him.

Yet from what Blake was seeing right now, the massive green figure being pummeled by Abomination in the streets below showed no sign whatsoever of possessing such overwhelming power.

Blake knew that the Abomination currently holding the upper hand would soon be defeated by Hulk anyway…

But when his gaze shifted to a Rolls-Royce trapped in traffic not far from the battlefield, his expression changed.

The luxury car was completely boxed in, unable to move an inch. Blake let out a quiet sigh. It seemed that tonight, he would have to step in once again…

And inside that unfortunate Rolls-Royce, a certain little princess—Gwen, the small goddess of their Spider-Man—was sitting there, her face on the verge of tears.

If she had known that her trip home would involve two rampaging monsters clashing like this, then no matter what, she would have chosen to stay the night at Blake’s mansion.

Through the windshield, Gwen watched as the two monsters casually hurled cars around like toy pebbles. Powerless, she could only pray softly in her heart.

“Evil monsters, please go away… evil monsters, please go away…”

— — —

Seeing Gwen placed in danger because of him, Blake naturally couldn’t remain idle.

Without sparing Natasha a single glance, he immediately released the terrifying power he had cultivated over many years—a level of internal energy sufficient to shatter an entire planet.

In the next instant, Blake activated Instant Transmission.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared directly in the middle of the battlefield.

Moving at a speed that surpassed both human vision and high-speed cameras, Blake shot toward Hulk and Abomination, delivering a brutal uppercut to each of their chins in succession.

After unleashing two light-speed punches, Blake didn’t even bother to look at the results. He instantly returned to his mansion using Instant Transmission.

However, the overwhelming aura he had released just moments earlier was enough to leave Natasha frozen in place.

She had witnessed it with her own eyes—after hearing the distant explosions, Blake had suddenly erupted with an immense surge of energy, his body seeming to vanish for an instant before reappearing as if nothing had happened.

If she hadn’t nearly collapsed under the pressure of that aura, Natasha might have thought she was completely drunk.

— — —

Back on the battlefield, the moment those punches landed, a massive explosion erupted, accompanied by an invisible shockwave that instantly shattered every window across uptown Manhattan.

And the two green creatures that had been smashing into each other moments ago now lay in ruin.

One of them had been sent flying, piercing straight through the atmosphere and drifting into a peaceful slumber.

The other… was still standing.

But—

Its head was gone.

Completely obliterated from the neck up by a single punch from Blake.

The headless body remained upright, a violent fountain of blood shooting skyward from the severed arteries in its neck.

Blake hadn’t held back even a fraction of his strength in those two punches. He knew full well, based on the lore, that Hulk wouldn’t die from an attack like that.

And sure enough—Hulk had merely been flung far away and knocked unconscious.

As for Abomination? His head had exploded on the spot.

From this difference alone, it was painfully obvious—

The hidden power and durability contained within Hulk’s body far surpassed that of Abomination.

— — —

Blake set the empty glass down on the table, then casually poured himself another full glass of vodka. Without even turning his head, he spoke in a relaxed tone.

“Teacher, it’s already very late. Shouldn’t you be heading home by now?”

Natasha—who had nearly been forced to her knees just moments ago by the overwhelming aura of the Asian-blooded teenager in front of her—fell silent for two full seconds. Then, she reached into her pocket, took out a plain, unmarked business card, and placed it gently on the table.

“I apologize. I hope my presence here hasn’t caused you too much trouble. Since my identity has already been exposed, this information-gathering mission will most likely be terminated by S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“But you should know this. Even if someone else is sent here after me, neither I nor the current Director of S.H.I.E.L.D—Nick Fury—have any intention of becoming your enemy.”

“That’s my contact number. If you ever need assistance from S.H.I.E.L.D, you can reach out through that number.”

After saying that, Black Widow turned around and left Blake’s mansion without another word.

— — —

Even though ending the mission and expressing goodwill toward Blake had been entirely Natasha’s own decision, for her—someone who had personally witnessed Blake’s power firsthand that night—it was without question the best decision she had ever made. Not just for S.H.I.E.L.D, but for herself as well.

That aura…

It was simply too terrifying.

Even a super agent like Black Widow—someone who had seen countless battles and faced all kinds of monsters and threats—had been deeply shaken by it.

Some time after that night, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, Nick Fury, launched a thorough investigation into what later came to be known as the Hulk Incident.

Combined with Natasha’s firsthand report upon her return, the ever-cunning and meticulous Nick Fury quickly realized one shocking truth.

Hulk—and the creature codenamed “Abomination”—had both been defeated by a single individual.

Blake Thorne.

What was even more unbelievable was how fast it had all happened. So fast that not a single piece of footage had successfully captured the process.

This was New York—a super-dense metropolis.

Not only were there surveillance cameras lining nearly every street, but during the battle between Hulk and Abomination, countless media outlets had rushed to the scene, equipped with high-resolution cameras. Even military monitoring equipment had already been deployed.

And yet, somehow, none of it managed to record the moment Blake took action.

The only clue they found came from a military satellite in orbit, which had accidentally captured a single frame—Hulk’s massive body drifting unconscious through the air.

And in that footage, one detail stood out with startling clarity.

There was a fist mark on Hulk’s chin.

A fist-sized imprint, glowing a vivid red against Hulk’s green skin. Even the lines between the knuckles were clearly engraved, perfectly preserved—silent proof of just how overwhelming that strike had been.

Through detailed analysis of that video, a Harvard professor of anatomy was even able to estimate the attacker’s height… with remarkable accuracy.

Backed by additional data from Natasha’s report after returning to headquarters, Nick Fury quickly reached a conclusion.

The only person capable of pulling this off was that mysterious young man of Asian descent.

Blake Thorne.

It was hard to imagine just how much power was hidden inside the body of that teenager.

In a span of time so short that neither ordinary humans nor modern technology could even react, he had crossed dozens of kilometers—from the New York coastline all the way to uptown Manhattan…

And then proceeded to defeat two super-powered monsters.

One of them had its head brutally destroyed.

The other—weighing well over a thousand pounds—had been launched into the atmosphere by a single uppercut, sent flying tens of kilometers into the sky.

How terrifying was a power like that?

Nick Fury couldn’t help but think that if such a punch were aimed at the Earth’s surface, the result might not be much different from a nuclear explosion.

Despite his intense curiosity about the source of Blake’s power—and his undeniable desire to control it—Nick Fury knew better than anyone that neither he nor S.H.I.E.L.D was in any position to antagonize Blake right now.

If they ever managed to anger him…

And considering that Captain Marvel was currently not on Earth…

Nick Fury truly could not think of a single force on this planet capable of standing against Blake Thorne.

Fortunately, based on all the information gathered so far, that mysterious young man had never once shown behavior that went against justice or ethical principles. Every action he took aligned with order and fairness.

And most importantly—despite possessing such terrifying destructive power—Blake lived with humility.

He almost never acted unless he was genuinely disturbed or provoked.

— — —

After the Hulk Incident, Nick Fury quietly raised all classified documents related to Blake to the highest security level.

At that level, access was restricted to only two people.

Nick Fury himself, and one other individual—the Head of the World Security Council.

Unfortunately, this additional measure—meant to increase security—ended up becoming the very crack that triggered a new chain of events.

Those classified files caught the attention of one of Hydra’s high-ranking infiltrators within S.H.I.E.L.D.

Alexander Pierce.

— — —

As for Blake, he honestly had no idea how he was supposed to evaluate an organization like S.H.I.E.L.D.

An organization that claimed to safeguard world security, one that even possessed alien technology far beyond Earth’s civilization…

And yet, in reality, it had been infiltrated to the bone by its own sworn enemy.

The moment a truly serious threat appeared, S.H.I.E.L.D would immediately fall into disarray, eventually relying on civilian heroes to clean up the mess.

Blake genuinely couldn’t understand it.

What was the true purpose of this organization’s existence?

Was it just to train Hydra operatives, distribute weapons, and exploit extraterrestrial technology?

Take the “Hulk Incident” in New York as an example—a supernatural disaster that should have fallen directly under S.H.I.E.L.D’s jurisdiction.

And yet, at the scene…

Not a single S.H.I.E.L.D agent was present.

It wasn’t even about whether they could stop Hulk or Abomination or not.

At the very least, Nick Fury should have tried to do something.

Right?

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep