Top-Secret Broadcast and the "Thor" Thunderstorm
Boom--!!!
The deafening explosion still echoed through the streets.
The passerby, who had simply pulled out a metal coin, along with the asphalt road beneath his feet, was instantly wiped out by a black lightning bolt ten meters in diameter.
There were no charred corpses, no blood. All that remained was a bottomless crater, its edges crystallized by extreme heat. The air was thick with the pungent smell of ozone and carbonization.
[WARNING: Please be sure to discard all metal objects you are wearing.]
Do not look directly at the sky.
On the car radio by the street, that cold, mechanical female voice continued to play on a loop without any emotion.
Tick-tock.
A drop of pitch-black rain fell from the thick thunderclouds and landed on the ground at Jiang Li's feet.
Immediately afterwards, a torrential downpour began.
This so-called "Asgard Rain" wasn't actually water, but rather highly liquefied plasma and electrostatic ions!
"Aaaaaah--!"
The once stagnant streets of Queens were instantly plunged into extreme madness.
The remaining NPCs and passersby, after witnessing the coin man's gruesome death, were filled with absolute fear of this rule.
A man in a suit frantically ripped off his Rolex gold watch from his wrist and smashed it to the ground.
A wealthy woman nearby, whose fingers were too thick to remove her wedding ring, actually bit her own ring finger and ripped the entire finger, skin and all, off, then flung it far away!
The most terrifying sight was an old man on the street corner. He opened his mouth and, with a rusty pair of pliers, frantically pulled out several metal dentures from his mouth. Blood gushed out, but he seemed oblivious to the pain, desperately spitting out the bloody metal teeth.
This is the oppressive aura of "Thor".
Swish!
Another bolt of dark lightning tore through the clouds.
The wealthy woman who had just torn off her finger had a metal bra hidden inside her clothes for shaping.
Boom!
The lightning bolt instantly locked onto her. A million-volt burst of voltage pierced through her skull, instantly carbonizing her into a pile of black ash, which was washed away by the heavy rain, leaving nothing behind.
"A scanning mechanism with no blind spots. As long as you carry more than one gram of metal, it will trigger ' Thor's' automatic cleaning program."
Jiang Li stood in the torrential black rain, looking up at the huge string of blood-red code on the sky.
Rainwater pierced through his "Untargetable" ghostly body and slammed onto the ground.
The [Causal Foresight] system was pulsating wildly on his retina, clearly analyzing the underlying logic of the thundercloud in the sky.
"Thor" has no physical form.
The black thundercloud that covered the entire city of New York is its true form. It's like a super-large antivirus software that covers the entire map, and all the metal objects are "Trojan viruses" in its eyes.
Just as Jiang Li was analyzing the code...
"Woof!"
The Mechanical Hound that had been following Jiang Li suddenly let out a low, anxious growl.
Jiang Li frowned.
He forgot that the dog he had just created using [Cyber Infection] was made entirely of pure metal! In this bizarre storm where carrying any metal was forbidden, this mechanical dog was practically a mobile super lightning rod!
As expected.
The thunderclouds in the sky instantly became agitated.
As if sensing the presence of a massive "illegal entity" below, the black lightning at the center of the clouds converged wildly like countless raging venomous snakes.
[A massive, unauthorized metal structure has been detected!]
[Divine Punishment Locked In!]
Boom--!!!
Three bolts of world-destroying black lightning, several times thicker than before, twisted into one, carrying an overwhelming aura of destruction, and crashed down towards the Mechanical Hound at Jiang Li's feet!
The lightning bolt was too fast.
That's a rule that applies to the speed of light.
Bang!
The Mechanical Hound didn't even have time to dodge before its metal shell, powerful enough to crush armor, was instantly vaporized by the terrifying heat the moment it touched the black lightning!
Along with the half-block beneath Jiang Li's feet, everything was reduced to scorched Wasteland by this single blow.
The blinding lightning gradually dissipated.
The heavy black rain continued to fall.
In the center of the Wasteland, Jiang Li still stood unharmed. The lightning bolt had passed through his body, which was in a [Null] state, without causing him any physical damage.
But when he looked at the pile of mechanical dog ashes at his feet, which had vanished without a trace, his expression instantly turned cold.
"You killed my dog?"
Jiang Li slowly raised his head, and an extremely violent killing intent surged in his originally indifferent eyes.
He was never a dog lover. That Mechanical Hound was just a street cleaner he made on a whim.
But in Jiang Li's dictionary, it was only him who smashed other people's things; no one had ever dared to forcibly destroy his property in front of him! Not even a robot dog he could casually sculpt!
"OK."
Jiang Li stuck out his tongue, licked the raindrops from the corner of his mouth, and let out an extremely arrogant sneer.
"You don't allow metal items, right?"
"You'd kill someone just by touching a tiny bit of metal, huh?"
Jiang Li ripped off his black trench coat and threw it on the ground.
He ignored the warnings broadcast over the loudspeaker to search for the basement, nor did he activate the watch face's defensive mode.
He turned around and strode over to the wrecked Ford sedan parked on the side of the road.
Click!
Jiang Li gripped the car's metal chassis with both hands and exerted tremendous force, tearing the entire car frame apart with a screeching sound of steel being torn apart!
He carried the one-ton solid metal frame on his shoulder with one hand, like carrying a giant umbrella.
Not only that.
Jiang Li his head, his gaze locking onto the towering New York landmark— the Empire State Building—a few blocks away.
At the top of that building is the longest and thickest metal lightning rod in all of New York City!
"Since you enjoy chopping metal so much..."
Jiang Li, carrying the massive metal frame, strode towards the Empire State Building, ignoring the stares of the NPCs hiding under the eaves who were looking at him like he was a madman.
"Today, we'll find the thickest iron bar in all of New York and hold it up from the highest point."
The Omnitrix on Jiang Li's left wrist had begun to emit extremely excited green sparks.
"If you've got the guts, then strike down all the lightning in the sky!"