The War Begins

Hearing Wang Bert's words, Carter was utterly speechless. Everything else about this Blood God was fine, but he occasionally got a little too full of himself! "Naturally, it would be a good thing if we could hollow out Rand Corporation."

Carter asked, "But even if that Hand of yours is controlling them, this won't be easy, will it? Those shareholders definitely won't be willing to see their interests harmed!"

"The Hand has been using Rand Corporation to sell 'illegal drugs' and launder money. As long as we get the evidence, if those shareholders don't want their stocks to turn into worthless paper, they'll have to sell the pharmaceutical company to us at a low price."

Wang Bert smiled. "A very, very low price!"

Carter asked again, "What about funding? It seems Blood God Group's funds have all been used to short Stark Industries?"

"Once we take down the Hand, we'll naturally have money. We won't be short on funds."

Wang Bert lifted his cup and took a sip of tea. Carter naturally understood that he was signaling for her to leave. After thinking for a moment, she asked, "Can you find Tony?"

"I can, but I don't have the time, nor do I want to go to the Middle East. Ms. Carter, you don't need to worry so much. I read Tony's fortune—he won't die that easily!"

Wang Bert said indifferently. What a joke. Why would he leave Manhattan, with beauties everywhere, just to eat sand in the Middle East?

Besides, this was a trial Tony Stark had to go through. Only then could he become the true Iron Man!

"Alright, then. I'll go back and prepare the plan to hollow out Rand Corporation."

Carter said nothing more and rose to leave—she had already obtained the intelligence she wanted. As for asking Wang Bert to find Tony, that was something S.H.I.E.L.D. should consider.

Wang Bert had Natasha see Carter out, while he himself looked up at the television ahead of him. It was broadcasting news about Osborn Corporation.

"Osborn Corporation has officially completed the city's power grid renovation. Beginning tomorrow, Osborn Corporation will use bioelectric power generation technology to provide electricity to the entire city. Bioelectric power is not only cheap, but also highly environmentally friendly..."

Watching Norman Osborn smile brightly on the television, Wang Bert shook his head. Once Iron Man returned, Osborn Corporation's good days would be over! Wang Bert muttered, "Osborn!"

Two nights later, beneath a bright moon and sparse stars, two groups were carefully inspecting everything at Rand Corporation's dock in Hell's Kitchen, making sure there were no ambushes. Xue Ren was in charge of the Blood Clan's inspection, bringing fifty fully armed elites. On the Hand's side, it was the bandage-wrapped Jonin Giyohachiro, who had brought fifty ninjas—these ninjas were likewise fully armed, though their gear looked somewhat strange!

After a while, both groups finished their inspections. As they faced off against each other, they used their radios to notify their respective bosses that everything was safe.

Soon, two cars drove into the dock from opposite directions. The car on the left was an old-fashioned Rolls Royce. After it stopped, Wang Bert stepped out with Mercury and Madame Gao!

The car on the right was a black Toyota. Alexandra, Bojutsu, Sowande, and Murakami—four of the Hand's Five Fingers—stepped out.

More than a hundred people from both sides faced each other at the dock. This was the time, place, and number of people they had agreed upon!

"Welcome, everyone from the Hand!"

Wang Bert laughed heartily and walked forward with Mercury and Madame Gao. Alexandra and the other three approached with smiles on their faces. "Blood God, we finally meet!"

This Blood God is still too young. Does he really think we came here to negotiate with him?

Alexandra, who looked like an elegant noblewoman, sneered inwardly. This dock appeared to be neutral territory, but it actually belonged to the Hand. To receive the illegal drugs, they had secretly built several underground rooms beneath the dock!

And at this very moment, more than a hundred ninjas were lying in wait inside those rooms. At a single command from her, they would rush out and use ultraviolet light and silver bullets to take the Blood Clan's lives! Share the Dragon Bone? Dream on! At the same time, a figure quietly arrived at the dock and carefully hid behind a shipping container. It was Daredevil. He had followed the ninjas here, and seeing the scale of the confrontation, he could not help swallowing. There was going to be a huge battle tonight!

At the dock, the two groups walked to the middle and shook hands. Alexandra said to Wang Bert, "Blood God, I'll have to trouble you to look after Madame Gao!"

"You're welcome."

Wang Bert understood what Alexandra meant and nodded. Leaning on her cane, Madame Gao trembled as she slowly walked toward Alexandra. Alexandra questioned her with a glance, and Madame Gao nodded!

Alexandra was immediately relieved. The Blood God's strength was the only variable in this battle. Giyohachiro had been knocked unconscious by Mercury before, so he had no idea how strong the Blood God truly was. Now that Madame Gao had agreed to her plan, it meant the Blood God could not withstand the combined force of the others!

Soon, Madame Gao reached Alexandra's side. Just as Alexandra was about to speak, three violent explosions sounded in rapid succession underground, shaking the entire dock. Immediately afterward, flames and thick smoke erupted from three locations! "Those places are—?"

When Alexandra saw where the smoke was coming from, she was instantly shocked, because those were the places where the ninjas were hiding. Before she could react, she suddenly sensed danger and hurriedly twisted aside. But she was still a fraction too late. A blood-red dagger stabbed viciously into her back from behind.

As Alexandra was stabbed in the back, two things happened at the same time. First, a sniper bullet came from the left and struck Sowande's left thigh dead-on, instantly shattering it into flying blood and flesh—his attention had been drawn by the explosions! The second thing was that five figures surfaced from beneath the water at the dock. Each had a Rocket Launcher resting on their shoulder. Then, they pulled their triggers together, and the rockets whistled into the ninjas' ranks before exploding with a thunderous boom.

The ninjas were blasted apart, flesh and blood flying everywhere. Many of them died on the spot without even having the chance to scream!

"Kill!"

Before the remaining ninjas could react, the prepared Blood Clan elites immediately raised their rifles and fired wildly at them. One ninja after another fell with screams.

At the same time, Vampires surfaced one after another from the sea to join the battle—Vampires did not need to breathe! From the explosion of the underground rooms to the ninjas being raked by gunfire, only a few seconds had passed. Yet in those few seconds, the Hand suffered devastating casualties! "Madame Gao, you betrayed me!"

Alexandra, stabbed in the back, let out a furious roar. She spun around and leaped into a kick at Madame Gao. Madame Gao released the dagger and raised an arm to block Alexandra's attack. With a bang, she staggered back several steps!

"If I said I didn't want to, would you believe me?"

Madame Gao sighed and charged forward with her cane, swift as lightning. Alexandra was about to counterattack when the dagger embedded in her body suddenly came alive and stabbed toward her heart!

It was a dagger formed from Wang Bert's blood! Alexandra hurriedly used her energy to stop Wang Bert's blood while barely fending off Madame Gao's fierce attacks. She was in an extremely miserable state.

At the same time, everyone else began fighting as well. Mercury and Xue Ren teamed up against one of the Five Fingers, Bojutsu. As for Murakami, he was being besieged by the traitorous Giyohachiro and several Elite-level Vampires.

Murakami roared angrily, "Giyohachiro, you actually betrayed me! What happened to your ninja way?"

"I didn't want to either!"

Giyohachiro sighed helplessly, but the blade in his hand moved faster and faster. Although Murakami was highly skilled, being surrounded by so many opponents quickly put him at a disadvantage! There was also Sowande among the Five Fingers, and he had it the worst. After having his thigh shot apart by the sniper rifle, he was hit by several more bullets and had now completely fallen unconscious!

In fact, if Wang Bert had not said to leave someone alive, Frank would have killed him with the first shot. That was right—the one firing was the Punisher, Frank, and Natasha was beside him as the spotter! As for the Hand's other ninjas, they were almost all dead. Even those still alive were not far from death.

Hidden in the shadows, Daredevil "sensed" the countless corpses ahead, a scene like the hell of Asura, and felt a chill run through his entire body. Was he on a battlefield? Had the script gone wrong? Wasn't this supposed to be a gang fight? The reason the Hand lost tonight was precisely this—they thought it was a gang fight, but they did not know Frank was fighting it like a war!

Whether it was the Rocket Launchers or the timed bombs planted in the underground rooms beforehand, all of them were top-tier military products—made by Stark Industries!

After the initial fear, deep fury surged within Daredevil. What did these people take human lives for, that they could slaughter others as casually as chickens and ducks?

Though furious, Daredevil also felt somewhat powerless. He, a mere street-level hero, could not handle something on this scale. It seemed there was only one thing he could do—call the police!

A Super Hero calling the police sounded like dark humor, but Daredevil had no other choice. What frustrated him was that the signals nearby had actually been blocked. He angrily smashed his phone onto the ground, gritted his teeth, and sprinted toward the sniper's position! "Even smoother than expected!"

Wang Bert nodded in satisfaction. Though the situation no longer required him, the boss, to personally intervene, he stepped forward to join the siege against Alexandra just in case—and to end the battle as quickly as possible.

With such a huge commotion in the dock district, the police were probably already on their way.

Without wasting words, Wang Bert turned his arm into a three-meter-long blood blade and slashed down at Alexandra through the air! As Madame Gao swung her cane, creating a skyful of cane shadows that attacked Alexandra, she complained, "Why aren't you shouting out your move names now?"

Wang Bert replied, "Because someone said that as a big shot, I can't be so embarrassingly edgy!"

Alexandra was in no mood to trade barbs like Madame Gao. She had already been in a miserable state, and now Wang Bert—who was even stronger than Madame Gao—had joined in. Before long, she was in constant danger, nearly struck several times by Wang Bert's ferocious blood blade.

In fact, it was only because Wang Bert's combat technique was lacking that she had not already lost!

As Alexandra struggled desperately to resist, Wang Bert's blood blade suddenly exploded, turning into countless blood arrows that shot out. Alexandra was instantly pierced into a porcupine! Worse still, after striking Alexandra, the blood arrows burrowed into her wounds like blood snakes, making her scream in agony! Madame Gao smashed Alexandra's knee with a strike of her cane, sending her screaming to the ground, then sighed. "This ability of yours is far stronger than martial arts!"

"One is fantasy, the other is wuxia. Of course they're different!"

Wang Bert spread his five fingers, and three of them flew out, transforming into three short spears that pierced through Alexandra's hands and right leg, pinning her firmly to the ground!

Alexandra screamed, utterly stripped of her former noblewoman's poise. As she desperately fought against Wang Bert's blood inside her body, she roared, "Blood God, Madame Gao, you will pay the price!"

Wang Bert said with mock seriousness, "We certainly will. When it comes time to take over The Hand's inheritance, I'll probably be very busy. I might even have to work overtime!"

Everyone nearby burst into laughter. By then, the battle had ended. Murakami had followed Sowande's example and fallen unconscious with grave injuries—he was quite strong, but Giyohachiro had fought him without regard for his own life, and the two had ended up severely injuring each other. In the end, Giyohachiro died while Murakami was gravely wounded! Bojutsu, meanwhile, had been defeated by Mercury and Xue Ren. The wound in his chest was pouring blood as if it cost nothing. Mercury and Xue Ren had suffered some minor injuries, but they looked exceedingly excited; they had proven their worth.

As for the other ninjas, they had all been killed, not one left alive! Everything had gone very smoothly, just as Frank's earlier tactical simulation had predicted. But there was one unexpected development: Daredevil had found Frank, and the two had started fighting! Daredevil roared, "What do you think human lives are? They're people too, you butchers!"

"This is war, Red!"

Frank looked disdainful as he fought Daredevil with a tactical dagger in hand. One had exceptionally sharp hearing and astonishing predictive abilities, while the other was battle-hardened, with fighting techniques ingrained in his bones. They were evenly matched, and their battle only grew fiercer! Black Widow stood quietly nearby, playing the part of a beautiful woman, yet inwardly she was quite astonished by the Blood Clan's audacity. They had actually used mines and rocket launchers in Manhattan, the heartland of America. Were they really not afraid that Washington would come after them? What was there to fear? At worst, they could throw more money at the problem. After all, the ones who had died were members of The Hand, not American citizens!

"Something seems to have gone wrong over there. Xue Ren, take a few people and go check it out!"

Wang Bert glanced in Frank's direction and gave Xue Ren the order. Xue Ren nodded and led several subordinates over to help!

Wang Bert turned his attention back to Alexandra. He pushed the Purple Man Virus with all his strength, trying to control her as quickly as possible!

Alexandra shouted with a ferocious expression, "Do you think you've won?"

Wang Bert shrugged. "Did we lose, then?"

"Of course you lost. The Hand will never be defeated. The Beast, please accept my sacrifice!"

Alexandra threw back her head and roared. Her body lit up with a dazzling, blood-red glow. Immediately afterward, her entire body rapidly reddened and swelled, crushing the blood spears on the ground and turning them back into blood.

Not only that, but the blood Wang Bert had placed inside Alexandra's body was also forced out bit by bit.

"What is this? Madame Gao, you never said this could happen!"

Wang Bert asked in shock, hurriedly controlling his blood to hide inside Alexandra's organs so she could not force it out.

"I've never seen this move either!"

Madame Gao was equally stunned. Then she seemed to realize something and cried out, "I understand. Alexandra sacrificed all the souls of those fallen ninjas to The Beast in exchange for power granted by The Beast!

How could she dare do that? Those ninjas will never be able to resurrect again, and she herself will suffer terrifying aftereffects!"