Faced with the thugs charging at him with weapons in hand, Luo Xia raised his gun and took aim, about to fire. But the masked man was a fraction faster, reaching out to push Luo Xia's arm up.
A gunshot rang out, but the bullet flew upward and struck the wall of a building, scraping off a shower of sparks.
Even so, the gunshot made the thugs stop in their tracks.
"No killing!" the masked man shouted at Luo Xia.
Luo Xia didn't argue. He put the pistol back in its holster, took two steps back, then waved a hand at him. "Well, go ahead and put on your show."
The masked man: "..."
The thugs didn't give the masked man much time to think. Seeing Luo Xia put his pistol away, the desperate men charged again without hesitation.
They seemed to sense that things were a little awkward, though. The masked man and Luo Xia weren't on the same side. And wary of Luo Xia's pistol, every one of them charged at the unarmed masked man.
A one-against-ten showdown played out in the narrow alley. The masked man was remarkably skilled, and Luo Xia couldn't help feeling a little outclassed. He seemed able to see behind himself, too; even when attacked from both sides, he sensed every strike.
Even unarmed, he could spot the slightest opening in an incoming cleaver swing and grab the blade to block several others. His punches were powerful. Anyone hit in the face was usually knocked down in one blow. He'd clearly had rigorous professional training; even a professional boxer would be about this good.
But the thugs had numbers on their side. Before long, he was injured, with a few wounds that weren't too serious. Still, the blood running from them looked alarming.
Luo Xia had no intention of helping. For one thing, the other man still had strength to spare. For another, Luo Xia didn't know how to defend without killing; if he got involved, someone would likely end up dead. He didn't agree with the masked man's idealism, but he had no intention of making things harder for him.
As long as the thugs didn't do anything stupid and pick a fight with him again, he'd do this saintly hero a favor.
While the masked man drew all the thugs' attention, Luo Xia walked out of the alley and spotted several Harley motorcycles parked by the roadside. They were obviously the thugs' rides.
He glanced at the nearby street. There didn't seem to be any cameras or pedestrians around, so Luo Xia smiled. "Nice. That saves me a lot of trouble."
Luo Xia placed both hands on one of the Harley motorcycles and fed it two hundred units of AllSpark energy.
The Minor Remodeling Technique activated. The entire motorcycle melted into a pool of silvery liquid, which quickly spread over Luo Xia's right hand.
The metal liquid covered his hand from fingertip to elbow, then slowly formed a thin, silver-gray mechanical glove.
[Sensor Glove: Consumes 00 units of AllSpark energy. Made from magnetic metal. Insulates against heat and provides bulletproof protection. The glove contains one retractable dagger and can increase arm strength to a certain degree.]
Luo Xia raised his arm and flexed his fingers. They didn't feel stiff at all. The Sensor Glove fitted almost perfectly against every inch of his skin.
"It's just a little heavy. So much for increasing my arm strength," Luo Xia complained.
The Sensor Glove weighed at least five kilograms. In ancient times, it would have counted as a heavy weapon. But soon, blue lines of pulsing energy lit up across its silver-gray surface, and the glove immediately felt lighter.
Luo Xia moved his arm and exclaimed in surprise, "Is this... magnetic levitation?"
The Sensor Glove could detect changes in the Earth's magnetic field and use pulsing energy to create an opposing magnetic field that canceled out its weight. What's more, changes in the magnetic field as Luo Xia swung his arm could multiply his strength.
"Now that's high tech!" Luo Xia marveled.
Luo Xia flicked his wrist. With a sharp click, a long, sharp Alloy Dagger sprang from the wrist of the Sensor Glove. It was a full thirty centimeters long.
"Yeah, I could cosplay as Altair from Assassin's Creed."
What's more, when not in use, the Sensor Glove folded itself into a bracelet around Luo Xia's wrist. Like a Cybertronian Robot, it could change shape at will.
Luo Xia was very pleased with the Sensor Glove's features. He spent another few hundred units of AllSpark energy to make three more.
Carrying several metal bracelets, he returned to the alley. The masked man had just knocked down the last thug, but he was drenched in blood and panting heavily.
If he hadn't insisted on avoiding lethal force, he could have easily taken a cleaver and finished them all off. He'd have suffered at least half as many injuries.
"Here. A thank-you gift." Luo Xia tossed two metal bracelets to the masked man.
The masked man caught them, but the weight nearly pulled his arm out of its socket.
Luo Xia held out his hand and showed the masked man his own bracelet. Layer after layer of metal plates unfolded as if alive, covering his hand and turning into a silver-gray mechanical glove. The whole process took less than a second.
"This thing uses a magnetic field to cancel out its weight, so it won't affect your mobility. I can't promise it'll do anything else, but at the very least, it'll help block knives." Luo Xia pointed at the wounds on the masked man.
The masked man tested the Sensor Gloves, then nodded at him. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Hell's Kitchen really needs a hero. I'm not cut out to be one myself, so if you can help, it'll save me a lot of trouble. But you'd better keep at it. If I run into people like these again, I can't promise I'll hold back." Luo Xia smiled.
"Who are you, really?" the masked man asked curiously.
"Just think of me as a savior by hobby. Oh, and this thing needs charging." With that, Luo Xia waved goodbye and left.
The masked man watched Luo Xia's back for a few seconds, then quickly disappeared into the night.
Perhaps that first gunshot had sobered up the criminals of Hell's Kitchen a little. Luo Xia didn't run into any more trouble on the rest of the way, and he made it to the convenience store without incident to buy baking soda.
The convenience store owner, who wore a bulletproof vest and carried a double-barreled shotgun, was a bit long-winded. He kept telling Luo Xia, "Someone like you shouldn't be out buying things this late at night. It's dangerous!"
Luo Xia didn't know how to explain things to the neurotic but kindhearted store owner, so he could only keep nodding and promising to be careful.
Leaving the store, Luo Xia couldn't help remarking, "The people in Hell's Kitchen are incredibly tough. No wonder even the Chitauri can't take down Earth."
Amused by his own thought, he figured the Chitauri might really end up getting blown to pieces by some random civilian with a Pulse Pistol. Of course, it would have to be a Pulse Pistol made by Luo Xia.
The detour had cost him some time, so Luo Xia got back to the apartment a little later than expected. To his surprise, besides Foggy and Mrs. Cardenas, there was also a blind man wearing sunglasses inside.
He'd changed clothes, and his wounds seemed to have received some basic treatment, but Luo Xia could still faintly smell blood.
This blind man was none other than the masked man he'd met in the alley.
A knowing smile crept onto Luo Xia's face. Fate really did work in mysterious ways.
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