Grotesque! The Path to the Extraordinary!

The Hulk was huge. Really huge.

He looked like a squat, half-sized Ultraman.

Ian had considered the possibility that he had "logged into" some future day in his dreams. He had also wondered whether some magical curse had subjected him to cosmic exile for fixed periods of time.

However.

He had never imagined that this apocalyptic world was actually one on the same level as the DC Universe he lived in—and that he would see the Hulk's corpse here!

Yes, the Hulk.

That famous American comic character who grew bigger and greener whenever he got angry, supposedly possessing limitless strength. Someone like that should not have appeared in Ian's second life.

"Oh, Father above... am I really not just seeing things?" Ian's throat bobbed several times as a bizarre, absurd feeling rushed straight to his head.

Was this the Marvel world?

No!

At least, it was not entirely the Marvel world!

The Hulk's enormous body was like a small mountain. His skin was a cold bluish green, his muscles still bulging. Lying on his back, both hands remained raised high in the air.

And it was the thing trembling in the cold wind between the Hulk's hands that kept Ian from recovering from the shock of seeing the Hulk's corpse.

Who would not find this bizarre?

There.

The Hulk, with a gaping hole in his chest, still held his skyward hands clenched tight. In his left hand, he was gripping a blond head.

The blond head's eyes were wide open, its face filled with resentment and fury. The blood vessels in its neck and the torn skin were clearly visible, all swaying in the wind along with its golden hair.

The Hulk's other hand held the body belonging to that head. The muscular remains wore a dark blue uniform, with the Stars and Stripes—the symbol of American honor—on its back.

Was that not Homelander from Ian's favorite television series, The Boys?

The Hulk and Homelander?

The corpses of two utterly unrelated characters had appeared before Ian so abruptly that he had no desire to think about what was going on, or what had happened before their deaths to turn the world into this state.

I really might just be dreaming, and I really can learn and level up in my dreams.

Ian truly found this all far too surreal. Honestly, this was insane! Right now, he wanted to find a reliable doctor and have several personalized treatment courses prescribed for himself.

Really.

If he did not take several pounds of medicine, Ian was afraid he would not be able to suppress his condition!

"Which is more likely: that I'm crazy, or that this world has gone crazy? What a difficult question." Ian could not help letting his thoughts run wild.

He slowly approached the massive green creature.

The ice and snow around the Hulk had been smashed into a huge crater. Ian had to exert great effort before he could touch the Hulk's skin. He had merely been curious about what the corpse of such a creature felt like.

However.

As his hand touched the green blood that had already congealed on the green man's body.

The next moment.

The system's voice suddenly rang out beside his ear.

[You have come into contact with unknown extraordinary matter. A new profession template has been unlocked. You may obtain it by fulfilling the required conditions. You have acquired a corrected extraordinary profession—[Berserker].]

As expected.

This system was becoming more and more like a game system.

After hearing the prompt from his system, Ian was only stunned for a second. Then, rather than immediately checking the requirements for acquiring the so-called [Berserker] profession—

"What a wonderful bond I share with my father!" Ian stared fixedly at Homelander, whose corpse had truly reached a state of "plasmolysis" as it was held aloft by the Hulk's body.

Like a scrawny little monkey pumped full of stimulants, he used all his strength to climb onto the Hulk's chest, then planned to use the Hulk's arm like a tree trunk to climb toward Homelander's remains.

Young people really did think quickly. If the Hulk's blood could unlock an extraordinary profession template, then Ian believed the blood from Homelander's remains would definitely have the same effect!

He wanted the [Berserker] profession!

And he wanted whatever extraordinary profession Homelander might bring as well!

Perhaps the extraordinary profession Homelander brought could even help Ian draw closer to his family! The thought made Ian so excited that his entire body seemed flooded with adrenaline.

He clung to the Hulk's arm and climbed. And climbed.

Splat~

The downside of reading without exercising became painfully obvious at that moment. With ice crystals coating the Hulk's body, Ian's strength could only support him for two or three meters of climbing.

Then, as if he were lying on a steel pipe coated in lubricant, he slid smoothly back down.

"I don't believe it!"

Ian kept climbing.

Splat~

This time, he fell before even reaching three meters.

"For family!"

Ian charged again, leaping up and scrambling wildly with both hands and feet. Unfortunately, shouting did not grant him astonishing strength, and he only managed to reach a third of the way up the Hulk's arm.

Splat~

The same familiar descent.

This time, every muscle in Ian's hands and feet had been pushed to its limit.

They hurt. They really hurt.

He sat on the Hulk's cold pectoral muscle, his eyes full of unwillingness and confusion. This was not scientific. He had already raised the banner of family—why had he not suddenly powered up?

"Sure enough! I still haven't fully integrated into the local way of life!" Somewhat helpless, Ian shook his aching arms and reluctantly glanced up at Homelander's remains high above.

"Giving up isn't running away! We'll settle this tomorrow!" Ian had always been extremely precise with his timing. Sure enough, just as his bold declaration left his mouth—

The next moment.

Dong~~~~

The first heavy toll of a bell exploded beside his ears. It sounded like the echo of an ancient church, carrying an irresistible force, as though the entire world were twisting and dissolving within its chime.

Ian's soul trembled.

Uncontrollable fear and terror surged through his heart.

Dong—dong—

The second and third tolls followed one after another, and Ian's vision immediately blurred.

The Hulk's corpse, Homelander's savage head, the frozen streets—everything faded and collapsed in the bell's tolls, as though being sucked into an invisible vortex.

Smack!

It was the sound of his forehead kissing the desk.

Ian lifted his head.

Instinctively, he looked at the peach-butt alarm clock sitting on his desk. It had been a birthday gift from his second brother, Jordan, last year, and it could make a terrifying sound like an old woman's cackling laughter.

[00:42]

As always.

The time pointed to the correct moment.