High-Speed Pursuit

The buildings along the street stood in continuous rows, with no skyscrapers among them, so the collapse was limited to a certain area. It was a small blessing amid the misfortune.

The three Mortar teams hidden in corners of the city quickly packed up their weapons, boarded their vehicles, and withdrew.

Frank remained where he was and gave the order. "Follow the original plan and take a long detour. If anything goes wrong, everyone abandons their weapons and equipment immediately and disperses!"

"Understood!" everyone answered in unison.

Nine shells had directly battered Abomination until he could not raise his head.

If an attack like that had hit Hulk, Hulk would probably have built up several bars of rage by now and doubled his strength outright.

Yet even without inheriting Hulk's trait of growing stronger with anger, Abomination's physique was still terrifyingly powerful.

About ten seconds after the final barrage, Abomination crawled out of the crater again.

Many of the spikes on his back had broken off, and thick green blood flowed from wounds of every size across his body. The sight was horrifying.

Hong Fei aimed at the shell crater and rested his index finger on the trigger. The moment Abomination's head emerged, he activated Shinigami Eye.

A crimson crosshair locked directly onto Abomination's left eye. After nine consecutive marks overlapped, Hong Fei pulled the trigger.

Thump~

Nine dull blasts rang out as nine 40mm armor-piercing grenades fired in succession, arriving in an instant.

The first three struck precisely, but failed to rupture the eyeball. The middle three followed immediately, driving Abomination's eye inward as blood vessels burst. The final three did the real work. With several wet pops, the eyeball exploded, and the grenades punched through.

Abomination instantly covered his eye and howled in agony, the shrill sound enough to send chills down anyone's spine.

Hulk froze for a moment.

Hong Fei said, "Frank, aim at Hulk. Once you fire, run."

Boom!

The shell struck Hulk. Fragments shrieked through the air, and flames completely engulfed him in an instant.

In the distance, Frank turned and ran for his life the moment he finished firing.

Ross was hopping mad in the helicopter. "Wrong target! Order him not to attack Hulk!"

Roar!

With an enraged roar, Hulk leaped high out of the flames. Following the sound of the cannon fire, he crossed the distance in just a few jumps and reached the Mortar position. A few swats reduced the tubes to a pile of scrap metal.

On the other side, seeing Hulk leave, Abomination lost all interest in challenging him.

After taking nine shells head-on, Abomination was covered in wounds, and his regenerative ability had slowed. He felt that Ross's methods were indeed not to be underestimated. If he stayed any longer, something unexpected would surely happen.

Keeping his left eye tightly shut in pain, he turned away from Hulk, sprang forward in great bounds, and used his massive hands to cling to the outsides of buildings as he fled.

Seeing this, Ross abandoned Hulk without hesitation and ordered the helicopter to turn and pursue Abomination.

Even his daughter, Betty Ross, staring longingly at Hulk, could not change his resolve.

Judging from the results of the bombardment, Hulk was clearly far stronger than Abomination.

However, Hulk's upper limit was still unknown. His tendency to grow stronger the angrier he became had gradually left Ross at a loss.

Abomination was different. After nine shells, he appeared to have suffered serious injuries, and his eyeball had just been blown apart. That meant Ross could capture him with similar—or even greater—firepower.

Furthermore, from what he had just seen, although Blonsky had become violent, bloodthirsty, and wicked after mutating, he did not seem to have lost his mind. In Ross's eyes, that meant Blonsky could possibly be brought under control.

Why had Ross pursued Hulk so relentlessly?

Wasn't it all for the Super Soldier Program?

As the helicopter turned to chase Abomination, Ross's eyes gleamed brightly.

On the ground, seeing the helicopter abandon Hulk and change direction, Hong Fei immediately aimed at its tail.

With one shot, the grenade shattered the tail rotor. The torque produced by the main rotor immediately sent the helicopter spinning.

The pilot shouted, "Sir, we've lost the tail rotor! We have to make an emergency landing!"

Before long, the helicopter crashed into the ground. Everyone inside passed out from the impact, though fortunately, it did not explode.

By then, Hong Fei had slung the grenade launcher over his back and was rapidly bounding between high-rises. He was even faster than Abomination, catching up in moments.

Separated by a single block, Hong Fei closely tailed Abomination from behind.

As they neared the edge of the city, a bright beam of light suddenly shone down from the sky and enveloped Abomination.

Another helicopter had arrived.

Hong Fei frowned. While running, he brought his gun into his hands, stepped onto the edge of a rooftop, and activated Shinigami Eye as his body soared into the air.

After taking aim, Hong Fei saw the markings painted on the helicopter's exterior.

A circle enclosing an eagle.

He aimed at the tail rotor and fired.

A great burst of sparks erupted, and that helicopter also began spinning as it descended toward the ground.

Hong Fei put away his gun and continued running.

At that moment, someone finally realized that besides the military, there was another force present.

Ross woke to the calls of his soldiers. Hill, who had arrived at the scene, flashed her identification in front of him and said, "General Ross, were the people firing those shells yours?"

Hearing the question, the wary Ross did not admit anything directly. Supported by his subordinates, he stood up and then frowned at one of them. "Have you found out who fired the shells?"

At once, the soldier under his stare lowered his head and stammered, "General, no one has answered the internal calls. We only discovered they were gone after sending someone over to check."

Ross's eyes widened, and he immediately felt that something was very wrong.

Hill had heard every word clearly from beside him, and her brows instantly drew together.

"General Ross, so the people who fired those shells were not arranged by you?"

"You heard him. We don't know yet. Maybe they were, maybe they weren't, but don't discuss this with me right now." Ross brushed her off, then turned and roared, "Send more helicopters! We have to catch him!"

Hill shook her head. "General, I do not recommend sending more helicopters. Someone is targeting us."

As she spoke, she pointed toward the helicopter spiraling down from the sky, fire and black smoke trailing from its tail.

Ross turned to look, froze for a moment, then immediately changed his order. "Notify the fighter jets to take off at once!" Then he looked at Hill. "Who are you?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D., director of the New York Branch, Maria Hill."

Ross said sternly, "I know of your organization. What are you doing here?"

"As you can see, rescue operations."

"This is a military operation. You should stay farther away."

Hill said calmly, "I agree. However, I now suspect that the mastermind behind the shelling outside New York earlier was also involved in this incident."

"What did you say?"

Ross had been entirely focused on the operation to capture Banner, so he had not yet learned about it.

The soldier beside him immediately repeated the matter in his ear. After listening, Ross could not help furrowing his brow. "You're saying the people who fired those shells just now were the same group that acted outside the city before?"

"That's right. They have done it once already. I doubt many people would dare fire artillery in the city, and the weapons and shells they used were the same model. Now, I believe someone is still hiding in the city and attacking our helicopters."

Ross's expression darkened considerably.

He had just been shot down himself.

"You can investigate this matter, but it would be best if we did not interfere with each other. Goodbye, Miss Hill."

With that, Ross turned and left, loudly ordering at the same time, "Where are the fighter jets? Get them airborne and find him! Get me a vehicle right now!"

Hill also turned away from the area. An agent followed her and quickly reported, "The drones have taken off. They are heading southwest out of New York."

"They?"

"Yes, we found the other one." As he spoke, the agent handed Hill a tablet.

In the footage, Abomination was the undeniable star, his massive body and destruction of the high-rises impossible to ignore. Every leap carried him dozens of meters, and he moved at astonishing speed.

Yet in the corner of the video, beyond an adjacent street, a tiny black dot was also rapidly leaping across rooftops. Whether the distance was several meters or several dozen, he crossed it with ease. Sometimes, when obstacles blocked his way, he had to change direction and go around them, but even so, he always remained within two hundred meters behind Abomination.