Rorschach sat beside the desk in his bedroom.
He lowered his head and examined the new phone in his palm.
It was a small token from Iron Man.
Its purpose was to repair the relationship between them and make up for the damage caused.
This phone had been meticulously modified by Iron Man.
Not only could it summon support from Iron Man at any time,
but it required no operation whatsoever. A light touch was all it took.
It could control the permissions of most electronic devices.
As long as Rorschach knew someone's name,
he could enter it into the phone and obtain all of that person's information and current status.
Simply put, Iron Man had given Rorschach a little toy that combined a mobile database with a supercomputer.
From then on, Rorschach stopped dwelling on Iron Man's change.
Iron Man continued expanding the underground Secret Base.
Whenever Rorschach needed it,
he would occasionally provide remote technical support.
For example, several exam papers from Midtown High School.
After studying for a long time,
Rorschach, whose mind was on the verge of collapse, finally chose to give up.
All he needed was a high school diploma to satisfy his aunt,
not that utterly useless high school knowledge...
At this moment, Rorschach narrowed his eyes and set down the new phone.
He turned on his computer and began searching for the correct answers to the exam papers.
Rorschach needed to memorize the answers.
Then, before summer vacation, he would go to school and take the makeup exams.
Ding ding ding—
Just then, several consecutive news alerts suddenly popped up on Rorschach's old phone.
"Stanford University in California reportedly invaded by a large beast... a black bear or a tiger?"
"Local military deploys armored units... does capturing a beast require the military?"
"Lies and truth... a military experiment out of control?"
"Green giant? Eyewitnesses tell you firsthand..."
The barrage of news directly shattered Rorschach's desire to study.
He frowned slightly and picked up his phone, checking it again and again.
Then, Rorschach searched for the latest news on Twitter and other apps.
He finally confirmed that the green giant Hulk had already had his first fierce clash with General Ross, who was hunting him down.
Rorschach casually picked up the new phone.
He first entered Bruce Banner's name.
A long list of the man's past experiences and titles appeared on the phone, but there was nothing about Dr. Banner's current situation.
Rorschach immediately remembered.
After becoming the green giant, Dr. Banner had fled everywhere and did not carry a phone at all.
So, Rorschach searched Google for General Ross's full name and entered it into the new phone once more.
This time, more than just General Ross's information appeared.
Even his phone became a self-connected eavesdropping device.
Rorschach held the phone to his ear.
At that very moment, furious roaring came from the other end.
"Surrounded by so many people, and he still got away! You just let him get away! There won't be another chance this good to capture him!"
General Ross's roar made Rorschach instinctively move the phone.
He held it farther from his ear.
"General, ordinary soldiers have never seen a 'green' monster like that before. It is only natural that they would be afraid..."
A middle-aged man's voice sounded nearby, as though he were trying to persuade General Ross.
"Besides, General... why not recruit for such a powerful Human Experiment from within the military? A civilian will never understand us..."
"That may have been an irreproducible accident. Too many unknown factors were involved..."
General Ross on the other end of the phone seemed to have fallen into deep exhaustion.
Just as he was about to continue explaining,
another voice interrupted him.
"General, a call from the White House... It's President Norman."
"Put it through. I need to give the President a reasonable explanation..."
What followed from the other end of the phone was General Ross and the President circling around each other with their words.
Rorschach frowned.
After listening for a while, he completely lost interest and shut off the phone.
Rorschach stood up and walked to the bedroom window.
Before him lay the bustling scene of Chinatown and the striking skyscrapers in the distance.
No human being would have imagined that in less than a year,
this prosperous city would become a battlefield for an alien invasion.
Rorschach might not be able to save many people.
He only hoped that this alien invasion
would make his stubborn aunt realize how dangerous New York was,
and give her the idea of leaving the American continent...
Rorschach narrowed his eyes and suddenly opened the Simulator.
He found that there were still dozens of hours left on the cooldown before the next simulation.
Then, he opened the salvage page again.
Rorschach hesitated for a moment.
But he still chose ten salvage attempts.
Salvage completion countdown: 9 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds
After finishing everything,
Rorschach shut down the Simulator and returned to the desk.
It was as though he had forgotten every crisis that might happen in the future.
He actually focused on memorizing the exam answers.
--
In the early hours of the morning,
Rorschach, asleep in bed, was awakened by a series of unwavering calls.
He opened his eyes.
He discovered that Iron Man's mechanical voice was coming from his phone.
"My Lord, wake up..."
Rorschach took a deep breath.
He raised a hand and picked up the phone, asking in a hostile tone:
"Friend, if you don't have a good reason for waking me up, I'll go give you a laser shower right now!"
"Uh... Omnissiah, the situation is truly exceptional..."
Iron Man seemed to hesitate before finally speaking through the phone.
"Your subordinate, the gang led by Madam Gao, has begun attacking Kingpin's headquarters... Half an hour ago, their assault was going smoothly. They successfully breached the building and entered it..."
"And then? As long as they aren't slaughtering civilians, why should I care what they do? It's just gang dogs biting each other..."
Rorschach frowned slightly.
"That is the problem... My Lord, Madam Gao's operation is highly likely to fail..."
Iron Man's mechanical voice reached Rorschach's ears.
It also made him narrow his eyes unconsciously.
"Kingpin's headquarters has undergone extensive mechanical modifications. Its internal structure has become a fortress with a complex network of routes, and he has far more people under his command than Madam Gao does..."
"If it's mechanically modified, can't you just seize control of their headquarters? At the very least, you can contact Madam Gao and guide her through it, right?"
Rorschach took a deep breath and spoke patiently.
However, Iron Man's next words
made Rorschach unable to stop himself from sighing.
"My Lord... In order not to disturb your sleep, I already took it upon myself to provide Madam Gao with a little assistance in these trivial matters..."
"But a few minutes ago, a mysterious organization known as The Hand also joined the battle against Madam Gao. They appear to be well-trained ninjas who do not fear death... Your subordinates have suffered heavy casualties, so I thought I needed to report this to you."
"The Hand?"
Rorschach slowly rose from the bed, his eyes narrowed.
His face seemed filled with savage menace!
"...Gangsters really are all useless trash!"
"Forget it... I'll do it myself."
"Send them on their way!"
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Some readers can't tell the Triads and The Hand apart.
That's my writing problem.
The Triads are Madam Gao's own forces.
The Hand is an organization formed by Madam Gao and the other four Fingers.
Of course, the names of these organizations are also too similar.
Before you continue