Marvel and Mercenary

Ten o'clock at night. Beneath the darkness, New York still resembled a city that never sleeps.

Everywhere was illuminated by the brilliance of neon lights, making it clearly visible even from the night sky.

A tall, handsome man in a black cloak was flying at a low altitude, a hundred meters above the night sky.

His speed was incredibly fast, yet he attracted no attention, as if he had completely merged with the darkness.

Within this New York, there was an extremely conspicuous building, marked with the English words "Stark Industries."

The man cast a deep glance at this skyscraper. This was not the first time he had seen this highly representative structure.

However, no matter how many times he saw it, this iconic building and its master, Tony Stark, served as constant reminders.

This was not the world he belonged to in his previous life, but a Marvel World filled with dangers, superheroes, and various supernatural powers.

If he were just an ordinary person without any powers, he would have to consider whether to stay far away.

After all, New York in the Marvel World was not a place for ordinary people to stay.

Not only could ordinary people not stay here, but they would also have to pray that in a few more years, they wouldn't be wiped out by some Purple Sweet Potato snapping his fingers.

Fortunately, in this life, he was not an ordinary person without any self-preservation capabilities.

He had awakened the Void System from League of Legends, giving him some ability to protect himself in this dangerous world.

The man flew for a while, then landed directly in front of a luxurious manor in Brooklyn.

The man skillfully used his key to open the door and walked inside.

At this moment, the man's phone vibrated rapidly.

He took out his phone and looked at a string of new text messages.

The messages read: "Grim Reaper, after deducting the 5% processing fee for contract manufacturing, the remaining funds have been safely transferred to your account. We look forward to our next collaboration."

"Dear Mr. Harvey Anberaka, Zero Technologies has transferred 14.25 million to your account."

"Your current balance is 163.24 million."

Harvey Anberaka smiled upon seeing this.

A string of zeros in an account balance would make anyone feel happy.

In his previous life, the man's name was Chu Wei, a native of China.

In this life, his name was Harvey Anberaka, and he was an orphan.

The only person who had shown him any kindness was the director of the orphanage.

Although life in the orphanage wasn't luxurious or smooth, it had allowed him to grow up successfully.

Because he awakened the system two years ago, he received the help of the Void System from League of Legends, granting him the powers of Voidreaver Kha'Zix, one of the Void race.

This gave him the ability to camouflage himself in darkness, allowing him to become invisible anywhere with shadows. He possessed blades that could easily cut through steel, astonishing physical capabilities, and near-superhuman leaping power.

Harvey also possessed the long lifespan of the Void race from League of Legends. Most importantly, he gained the ability to absorb all energy-containing substances and evolve.

With his newfound power, Harvey Anberaka certainly didn't feel fear towards his abilities or a need to hide them.

This was the Marvel World, after all. As a powerless ordinary person, he could die at any moment from unforeseen disasters caused by battles between heroes.

Therefore, his first thought was how to make money and improve his life.

With his near-permanent invisibility, he could silently enter anywhere as long as it was dark.

He indeed had the ability to rob the rich directly or even rob banks, but that was illegal.

It wasn't that Harvey couldn't reveal his identity, but he didn't want to deal with the FBI all the time.

Ultimately, Harvey Anberaka chose to become a mercenary.

As long as he was offered the price he desired, he would accept and complete the mission.

Depending on the nature of the mission, this profession could be called an assassin or a bodyguard.

Although this was also illegal in a sense, it didn't affect his daily life.

Over two years of mercenary work had greatly improved his life.

He had purchased many manors and villas outright, and he could directly use money to buy all sorts of food and items he desired, allowing him to evolve further.

As for the orphanage, he donated a million to repay that kindness.

It wasn't that he couldn't give more money, but it wasn't a kindness that required a life or a lifetime to repay.

Therefore, Harvey Anberaka felt that one million was enough to repay those years of kindness.

Even in the darkness, Harvey could see more clearly than in the daytime.

Harvey walked through the long corridor to the living room, turned on the lights, took a bottle of fine wine from the wine cabinet, and sat on the luxurious sofa.

He poured himself a glass of fine wine, then picked up the tablet beside him and browsed a certain dark website.

The site listed various missions, such as assassinating important figures, providing protection, or destroying certain locations.

Harvey accepted all missions except those involving assassinating Asians, even those from the military.

Many things the military of various countries did could not be done openly.

When there are bright deeds, there will be dark deeds that follow closely behind.

The militaries of various countries and some wealthy individuals need agents to handle certain dark matters, and these agents are undoubtedly mercenaries like them who risk their lives for money.

Harvey looked at some of the missions posted on the dark web until he saw a special one.

The mission was to go to Afghanistan in a month and kill someone from the military. The reward was a minimum of ten million, with the possibility of reaching fifty million depending on the completion of the mission.

Harvey saw the mission location and realized that the person who posted the bounty had complete knowledge of the target's itinerary.

He glanced at the year 2008 in the bottom right corner of the tablet and immediately knew who the target of this bounty was.

Even though it was clear that the mission was to kill someone under military protection, and the highest reward could reach fifty million, it proved that this job was no ordinary one.

However, there have never been a shortage of desperate individuals in the world who risk their lives for money.

It was no exaggeration to say that a reward of up to fifty million meant that even if multiple people cooperated, they could retire peacefully after completing this single job.

Harvey wondered how many jobs he would need to do to match this one, but he didn't consider taking it.

Instead, because Harvey knew that Tony Stark was about to embark on his Iron Man journey, he was thinking about which of his properties still had insurance that hadn't been purchased.

Harvey had been a mercenary for over two years. Except for the very beginning, Harvey had been taking mostly big jobs, accepting anything as long as the price was right.

It was naturally impossible for him to only have 160 million in savings besides this manor.

In fact, ever since he knew this was the Marvel World and gained his abilities, Harvey had been preparing.

He bought Stark Industries Shares, purchased various properties, and set up a series of insurance policies.

He knew that after Tony Stark became Iron Man, New York would quickly become dangerous, and it would also mean it was time to make money.

As long as he was prepared, he could not only legitimately claim a large amount of money from insurance companies but also "milk" Tony Stark.

And the price he would pay was merely moving to live in his manors and villas in other cities for a period of time.

Thinking of the large sum of money he would soon have, Harvey couldn't help but smile.

He wasn't taking the Iron Man job. As Harvey continued to browse other bounty missions, a private message came in.

"Mr. Grim Reaper, we have a specific mission for you."

Seeing this message, Harvey pondered.

While specific missions were not common among mercenaries, as long as their reputation was great and their mission completion rate was high, there would occasionally be direct requests.

Moreover, the rewards for specific missions were usually quite generous, as they were calculated according to the mercenary's self-set rates.

The assassination mission of a high-ranking official in Afghanistan that he had just completed was a big job worth twenty-five million.

"Since you found me, you should know my price for taking on a mission, right?"

So Harvey responded.

At the same time, on the other side.

A bald black man wearing an eye patch saw this response. He noticed that the Grim Reaper didn't ask about the specifics of the mission but directly inquired about the price, sensing an unparalleled confidence, even arrogance.

Nick Fury had naturally investigated this Grim Reaper before contacting him.

In the mercenary world, no one knew who the mercenary codenamed Grim Reaper was or what he looked like. Only certain things were well-known to countless people.

The Grim Reaper joined the mercenary world two years ago under the codename Grim Reaper. His appearance was always that of a figure cloaked in a black cloak, and this Grim Reaper only accepted jobs worth over ten million, and his strength was outrageously high.

Bounties exceeding ten million were undoubtedly high-reward jobs that required venturing through life and death to complete.

Many mercenaries, even when cooperating with other teams, could not guarantee a 100% completion rate and might return defeated.

After all, sometimes they might face an entire army of several thousand people fully equipped with firearms.

Or they might have to infiltrate heavily guarded facilities to steal the most classified documents.

Some missions would be difficult to complete even for a team of his own agents.

However, this Grim Reaper could complete any big job he accepted with a 100% success rate.

No matter how vigilant the target was, how many troops were mobilized to set up strict defenses, or what kind of protection they were under.

As long as this Grim Reaper accepted the mission, the target would die mysteriously in the night, and the information would quietly disappear, as if he possessed some kind of superpower.

It was no exaggeration to say that the Grim Reaper, by appearing in the mercenary world and relying on just over two years of time, had become a legend known to everyone in the mercenary world.

There was also a saying in the mercenary world: as long as the bounty you posted was accepted by the Grim Reaper, then you could leisurely drink fine wine and wait for your objective to be achieved.

It was precisely because of these legendary feats and the rumors of superpowers that reached Nick Fury's ears.

This made Nick Fury have some thoughts about meeting the Grim Reaper.

However, after investigating, despite his methods, he could not find any more specific information about this Grim Reaper beyond the known details.

To contact the Grim Reaper, he had to start with a designated mission price of twenty million, with no upper limit depending on the difficulty of the mission.

And once the other party accepted, he would have to pay a deposit of ten million US dollars.

Twenty million, and that was US dollars, not Zimbabwean dollars.

However, Nick Fury also knew that mercenaries were desperate outlaws, and it wasn't impossible for them to betray each other.

The prerequisite was having enough strength. Faced with a mercenary whose identity and abilities were unknown, and who very possibly possessed superpowers, deception and betrayal certainly weren't the first methods to consider.

It was just that twenty million US dollars, even for him, would require a great deal of effort to lobby various parties and write some false plans to persuade the higher-ups before it could be mobilized.

However, if he could advance the Avengers Initiative and successfully recruit this Grim Reaper, then Nick Fury felt the price was acceptable.

With the money prepared, Nick Fury didn't immediately contact the Grim Reaper.

It wasn't until the news of the bizarre death of a high-ranking Afghan official arrived tonight, with the Grim Reaper being the perpetrator, that Nick Fury truly made his decision and contacted the Grim Reaper through the dark web.

"I certainly do, and I don't know if what I'm about to say will offend you."

"However, before explaining the specific mission and price, we hope to meet with you in person."

"Because the bounty mission I'm about to issue is somewhat special."

Nick Fury hesitated for a moment before typing this out.

Then, Nick Fury waited nervously.

No one knew the Grim Reaper's origins, which was largely due to him only appearing on the dark web.

"As long as the money is right, time and place."

Harvey naturally didn't refuse this and responded directly.

"Then, day after tomorrow at three in the afternoon, we'll meet at this location. Any problems?"

Seeing the Grim Reaper's response, Nick Fury immediately sent over a map location.

"Okay."

Harvey's eyes flashed upon seeing Washington, but he still agreed to the meeting.

Honestly returning to writing fanfiction, seeking support and votes for the new book!