New York, Manhattan
The afternoon sun lazily spilled across the Fifth Avenue storefronts as usual, while the air was filled with the rich aroma of coffee.
Jiang Li's eyes snapped open. Before he could even make out the Starbucks sign in front of him, a violent palpitation nearly made him crush the iced Americano in his hand.
"Rumble—!!"
A deafening crash, as if it could shatter eardrums, instantly broke the peace of New York.
The ground shook violently. The enormous floor-to-ceiling window in front of Jiang Li instantly filled with spiderweb cracks, then shattered completely with a crash! Countless razor-sharp shards poured down like a torrential rain, tearing through the otherwise peaceful afternoon.
"Ah!!"
"Oh my God! What is that monster?!"
"Run! Run!"
Screams, sobs, and the screech of car brakes erupted all at once. The New Yorkers who had been enjoying an elegant afternoon tea now shoved and surged toward the exits like a herd of panicked gazelles.
Ignoring the small cuts on his face from the glass, Jiang Li instinctively rushed out of the café and followed the terrified gaze of the crowd.
A few blocks away, thick black smoke billowed into the sky from the direction of Harlem.
Amid the ruins, two enormous figures, each like a small mountain, were locked in a ferocious battle.
One was covered in vivid green, his muscles bulging as if pumped full of air. That was Hulk.
The other looked even more fearsome, his body covered in ochre, bony armor, with spinal spikes jutting out like a demon from Hell—Abomination!
"The Harlem battle? Is this the timeline of The Incredible Hulk?"
Jiang Li's mind exploded with a buzz.
Being transported to another world was one thing—but to Marvel? And not only Marvel, but right into the middle of a brawl between Hulk and Abomination?
This was a nightmare start!
"Run! I have to get out of here!"
Without a second thought, Jiang Li turned and plunged into the fleeing crowd. He was just an ordinary person. In a battle between superpowered beings, even a flying piece of rubble could kill him.
But just as he took two steps, an unbearable burning sensation suddenly flared across his left wrist.
"Gah—!"
It felt as though a red-hot branding iron had been pressed against his skin. Jiang Li sucked in a sharp breath from the pain and instinctively raised his left hand to look.
The moment he saw it, he froze. Even his fleeing feet came to a halt.
A strange watch had appeared on his left wrist at some point.
It was a deep blackish green, made of neither metal nor jade, and gave off the feel of alien technology. Its broad face resembled an hourglass, with two fluorescent green lines at its center forming a distinctive geometric pattern.
As a seasoned nerd, Jiang Li was even more familiar with this thing than he was with Marvel.
The Omnitrix!
The most powerful individual device in the Omniverse! It contained the DNA of over a million intelligent life forms from across the universe and could transform its wearer into all kinds of alien heroes!
"Is this my cheat?"
Jiang Li's heart began to pound. Fear and elation tangled together, making his whole body tremble.
Just then, a cold, emotionless synthetic voice rang rapidly in the depths of his mind:
[Beep! Omnitrix, Omniverse-grade gene database, activated.]
[DNA sequence binding complete. User: Jiang Li.]
[Initial DNA database unlocked: Heatblast, Four Arms, XLR8, Grey Matter, Diamondhead, and 5 other heroes.]
[Newbie mission issued: First Appearance.]
[Mission description: Now that you've arrived in a world of superheroes, how can you settle for being ordinary? Survive the battle ahead, and let S.H.I.E.L.D. feel the shock of alien technology.]
[Mission reward: One-time access to the "Ultimate" feature.]
"Ultimate?!"
Jiang Li's breathing quickened. That was a feature of the Ultimatrix, a devastating power that could evolve alien heroes into their wartime forms!
"Whoosh—!!"
Reality gave Jiang Li no more time to study the system.
A piercing whistle suddenly cut through the air.
The monster known as Abomination seemed to have gone berserk. He casually grabbed a yellow taxi from the side of the road and hurled it like a baseball straight toward the crowded area where Jiang Li stood!
The steel behemoth, weighing several tons, screamed through the air like the wail of death.
"Look out!!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Jiang Li saw a young white mother not far ahead of him, desperately shielding the little girl in her arms. She had collapsed to the ground in terror. The taxi hurtling toward them was on a direct course for the mother and daughter!
Everyone nearby was fleeing for their lives. No one could save them.
The mother closed her eyes in despair and pressed her daughter's head against her chest.
Time seemed to slow.
Jiang Li stood rooted in place, watching the enormous shadow fall over them. If he kept running, he might make it out alive. But the mother and daughter were doomed.
"Damn it... I never wanted to be a superhero."
Jiang Li clenched his teeth. The uncertainty in his eyes vanished in an instant, replaced by an unprecedented resolve and fervor.
Since fate had given me this watch, how could I cower now?
He abruptly raised his left hand, brought his right index and middle fingers together, and expertly pressed the activation button on the side of the Omnitrix.
"Zzt—!"
With a distinctive mechanical sound, the hourglass symbol in the center of the dial popped up, revealing a green holographic projection core.
Without hesitation, Jiang Li turned the dial and locked onto the figure that looked the most fiery.
As the taxi was about to crash down, Jiang Li grinned wildly and roared:
"It's Hero Time!"
He slammed his hand down on the dial!
Bang!
A dazzling emerald light erupted, bright enough to outshine the afternoon sun. A powerful wave of energy spread outward in a ring from Jiang Li, blasting away all the broken glass around him.
The taxi came crashing down with tremendous force, now less than two meters above the mother and daughter.
The mother let out a despairing scream.
But the agony and death she expected never came.
A scorching wave of heat washed over them, followed by a deafening hiss of vaporization.
"Fsssshh—!!!"
The several-ton taxi seemed to hit an invisible wall in midair, only to be swallowed instantly by a column of fire that shot up into the sky!
The steel melted into molten metal under several thousand degrees of heat, raining down like red droplets—but an invisible barrier of heat kept it away, leaving the mother and daughter unharmed.
The whole scene fell silent.
The crowd, who had been screaming and running moments before, now seemed frozen in place, staring wide-eyed at the sight.
The smoke slowly cleared.
A humanoid creature made of dark red rock stood in front of the mother and daughter, his head and hands blazing fiercely. The asphalt beneath his feet had softened in the heat, leaving two deep, charred footprints.
Jiang Li lowered his head and looked at his hands, which burned with flames, feeling the seemingly endless fire energy within him.
He clenched his fist. The fire in the air seemed to cheer as it rushed toward him.
He turned around. His flaming face, half skull and half mask, seemed to carry a confident smile. He spoke to the mother and daughter, who were still too stunned to move:
"I know it's already hot out, but mind if I turn up the heat at this party?"
With that, he raised his head. His blazing eyes pierced through the smoke and fixed on Abomination, who was rampaging in the distance.
"Heatblast!"
Meanwhile, aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. stealth aircraft a few blocks away:
"Director! We've detected an extremely high-energy heat source in Harlem! The readings are off the charts!"
Agent Maria Hill cried out.
Nick Fury's one eye snapped toward the screen.
In the middle of the ruins, a streak of green fire shot up into the sky like a meteor flying against the current, hurtling straight toward the arrogant Abomination!
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