Stop A-Train

The next morning.

Both sides of Atlantic Avenue were already packed with people.

Vought International staff had been preparing since early dawn, stringing up caution tape along the roadsides and erecting massive posters of A-Train.

The sound equipment was tuned and ready, while a fleet of drones hovered in mid-air, standing by.

The streets were crowded early on with fans; as die-hard supporters of A-Train, some had even set up bedding in the middle of the night to wait.

A young girl holding a support sign boldly pulled down her low-cut top, revealing her fair, smooth skin.

A reporter shouldering a long-lens camera was sweating profusely while adjusting his equipment.

Lu Heng arrived very early.

He wore a hoodie and a baseball cap, blending into the crowd.

Not far away was the shop where Hughie Campbell worked.

The bloodline perception on his panel had already been activated.

This was a new skill for a Viltrumite Soldier; he could sense the bio-energy fluctuations of all superhumans within a one-kilometer radius.

Currently, there were only a few scattered, weak signals in the area, likely low-level superhumans mixed into the crowd.

A-Train had not arrived yet.

His bio-electric signal should be far stronger than the others; if ordinary people were fireflies and low-level superhumans were lightbulbs, A-Train would be a searchlight.

Lu Heng scanned the crowd while he waited, and soon, he found the person he was looking for.

Hughie Campbell stood at the entrance of the electronics store, his arm linked with a girl.

Robin.

She was tugging on Hughie's arm, standing on her tiptoes to peer into the crowd, muttering something.

Two hundred meters away, Lu Heng used his super-hearing to capture her voice.

"I'm telling you, A-Train is definitely shorter in person than in his photos. Vought photoshops them way too much."

"How do you know that?"

"A woman's intuition."

"Your intuition said the fish at that Mexican restaurant was fresh last time, and I ended up with diarrhea for three whole days."

"That's because you have a weak stomach. What does that have to do with my intuition?"

Lu Heng's mouth twitched.

Fine, the daily bickering of this young couple was actually quite amusing.

Nine o'clock sharp.

The sound system suddenly blared to life, and the host's voice echoed across Atlantic Avenue.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Let's give a thunderous round of applause to welcome... A-Train!"

The crowd erupted into a deafening roar of cheers.

In the distance, a figure in a blue spandex suit appeared at the end of the road.

He began to run, though not at full speed—it was just a performative jog, otherwise, the people around him wouldn't be able to see him at all.

A-Train waved to both sides as he ran, occasionally stopping to high-five fans or sign an autograph.

Lu Heng stared at him from afar.

A-Train's bio-energy was indeed more than ten times stronger than the low-level superhumans around him.

But compared to himself...

Lu Heng silently evaluated the situation.

A-Train's power level was likely between fifteen and twenty tons.

And he himself was currently at sixty-two tons.

A gap of more than three times.

Yes, that was enough!

The community run proceeded according to plan.

A-Train finished the entire route, spent half an hour taking photos and signing autographs for fans at the finish line, and was then ushered into a commercial van by Vought staff.

He's leaving?

Come on, man, is that it?

Just as Lu Heng thought he had wasted his time again, he suddenly noticed that A-Train's bio-electric signal on his bloodline perception hadn't left Brooklyn.

The van drove about two kilometers north and stopped in a block.

Then, A-Train's signal vanished from the vehicle.

He got out—don't tell me he's heading to his girlfriend's place!

Lu Heng shifted his attention back to Hughie Campbell.

In front of the electronics store.

Hughie and Robin were walking home, holding hands.

Before long, A-Train's energy signature began to move.

This time, it wasn't the performance speed of a community run, but true, maximum-velocity movement.

The direction was... Atlantic Avenue!

Here it comes!

The Viltrumite blood within Lu Heng was fully activated in that instant.

He tore off his hoodie, and with a thought, the Dark Gray Soldier Uniform covered his entire body within two seconds, the dark gold runes on the chest glowing faintly.

Lu Heng gathered his strength and took off at supersonic speed.

The ground was instantly pressed into a shallow crater by the air pressure, and nearby pedestrians were sent staggering backward by the shockwave.

Hughie was holding Robin's hand as A-Train rushed out from three blocks away, traveling at four hundred miles per hour.

Under the microscopic perspective, one could see his eyes were bloodshot and red, his expression seemingly intoxicated.

At this speed, even if he could see people in front of him, he likely wouldn't be able to react in time.

Just like a drunk driver, by the time he hit someone, it would be too late.

Lu Heng saw everything from the air.

Supersonic flight made him faster than A-Train.

He was about six hundred meters behind and to the side of A-Train, while A-Train was about three hundred meters away from Hughie and Robin.

He flew in a straight line toward Hughie and Robin.

One second!

Robin's hair was lifted by the air current behind her, and she turned her head instinctively.

She saw a bolt of blue lightning rushing toward her.

Zero point five seconds.

A gray figure descended from the sky, landing between her and A-Train.

Lu Heng's feet slammed into the ground, the asphalt cracking into a spiderweb pattern from the force of the impact.

He faced the direction of A-Train, his right hand extended forward.

A biological force field extended from his palm, forming an invisible wall in front of him.

A-Train's face collided with it almost instantly.

BOOM!!!

A massive impact exploded against Lu Heng's palm.

The surface of Atlantic Avenue began to crack outward from the point of impact, the fissures extending over a dozen meters.

Cars parked on both sides were pushed half a meter sideways by the sudden blast of air, and the glass of the high-rise buildings on both sides shattered in unison.

Lu Heng braced his feet against the ground, pushed back about twenty centimeters by the force of the impact.

Even at full speed, A-Train could only push Lu Heng that far.

Lu Heng pushed out with one hand.

A-Train was sent flying by the recoil, tumbling through the air like a ricocheting bullet for two rotations before slamming heavily onto the road twenty meters away, dragging a long skid mark behind him.

The ground was covered in shattered asphalt, as if a deep trench had been plowed into it.

The world went quiet.

Lu Heng withdrew his hand and looked down at his palm; it was only slightly reddened.

He turned his head.

Hughie and Robin were standing less than two meters behind him.

Both of their faces were pale.

"It's alright now."

The panel popped up with a flood of information.

[Major change in the fate of a key character!]

[Robin: Originally destined to die → Survived]

[Hughie Campbell: Original fate trajectory → Completely diverted]

[Key characters experiencing intense emotional fluctuations...]

+2,347

+3,891

+1,256

[Milestone Achieved: Rewrite the fate of a key character's death (First Time)]

[Milestone Reward: +5,000]

Total for this session: +12,494

Current Ability Points: 12,838 / 100,000

Lu Heng looked at that number, and only one thought crossed his mind.

I've hit the jackpot!

Twenty meters away.

A-Train climbed up from the ground, covered in scrapes.

Lu Heng hadn't used much strength; those minor injuries wouldn't kill A-Train.

However, A-Train's state was all wrong. His eyes were bloodshot and red; the manic effects of Compound V had not yet faded. To a superhuman, this stuff was a potent stimulant.

He shook his head and glared at Lu Heng like a rabid beast.

"You motherfucker... you dare stand in my way?"

Lu Heng watched A-Train calmly. To an ordinary person, the other man's rage might have seemed like that of a prehistoric monster.

But from the perspective of a Viltrumite, it was no different from a house cat.

The massive commotion had awakened the nearby residents. Still shaken, they cast their gazes toward the scene.

Before long, mobile phones were being pointed in their direction.

Lu Heng opened his mouth, and his words nearly cost A-Train his life.

"Do you have any idea that you almost killed two people just now?"

"So what?" A-Train grinned. "I'm in The Seven. And what the hell are you?"

Lu Heng tilted his head, a cruel smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

Viltrumites were filled with a fanatical love for battle deep in their bones.

The stronger the bloodline, the more intense this desire for combat became.

And right now, it seemed he had just received a challenge!