Cross-Lock Chokehold

The battle on the field gradually reached a fever pitch. Hashirama Senju, the Oceania branch chief, stroked his smooth chin and seriously assessed the situation. "Dr. Banner really had rotten luck. He ran into an opponent who completely countered him."

More accurately, an opponent specifically designed to counter men. "Wrestling's ultimate technique—Cross-Lock Chokehold!"

"Aaargh! It hurts, it hurts! Hulk surrenders! Hulk won't fight anymore!"

"Victory has been decided. Virtual opponent [King of Philosophers] Billy wins!"

"Hero [Hulk] has been defeated. One point deducted."

"Please welcome the next participant!"

The moment Billy heard the declaration of surrender, he stopped. His body turned into a stream of data and vanished from the arena—he was merely virtual data Li Chen had stored in the training room.

At that moment, Hulk, who had voluntarily withdrawn from the arena for the first time, returned control of his body to Dr. Banner. Back in the audience seats, Dr. Banner was wearing nothing but black briefs. "Are you okay?" Captain came over to ask.

"Terrible. I don't remember anything, but my whole body is shaking." Dr. Banner kept rubbing his arms, refusing to recall it. Waves of fear from Hulk kept pouring into him, an experience he had never had before. Those "philosophical" scenes were even more unbearable to think about.

As they spoke, the first Hero War continued. The second participant stepped into the spotlight! "Welcome, [Mumen Rider]. Please select a battle mode."

"I choose the second option." Mumen Rider, wrapped head to toe in a high-fiber protective suit and wearing a green safety helmet and black goggles, answered. He knew full well that he was the weakest hero in the League and had to take every possible precaution. Even with his pure heroic heart, he could not bring himself to attack other heroes.

Li Chen snapped his fingers and activated the roulette wheel. "Begin randomly selecting a virtual opponent!"

Up on the platform, Doraemon casually asked while eating dorayaki, "What did the Chairman put in the database?"

"A lot. The Four Emperors, the Three Admirals, the Five Kage, the Monster Association, Gensokyo's yokai... and a hidden Easter egg."

(Fully comply with the requirements: simplified Chinese, preserve all names, remove original section markers and irrelevant content, with no added prompts or notes.)

"Secret... surprise?"

"Yep, it's me."

"Pfft—"

Doraemon had just swallowed his dorayaki when he gulped down a mouthful of barley tea and suddenly sprayed it everywhere.

He coughed repeatedly from choking, his blue face turning bright red as his round eyes glared resentfully at Li Chen—this setting was way too unfair! Drawing that "surprise" meant certain death. There was no way to win!

Within the League of Heroes, the Chairman was an invincible existence. Even drawing the Vice Chairman, "Zeno," would be useless. The moment Zeno appeared, Li Chen could immediately raise his combat strength by a full level.

"Zero, what did you add?"

"Me?"

Holding a teacup, Zero looked like hazy moonlight. When she tilted her head, starlight seemed to flow through her silver hair. Her fingertip lightly touched her cherry lips as only a few people surfaced in her memories:

"The Ancient One, Origami, Nia, Kurumi..."

Li Chen understood.

Zero had stuffed all eleven Spirit Crystals she had created into the database. There was everything from Demon Level to Quasi-Super-Dragon-Level.

"Only Tohka is still by my side." Zero puffed out her cheeks, ripples stirring in her eyes. "I kind of... miss them."

"Leave it to me." Li Chen ruffled the girl's soft silver hair. It felt like petting a proud ragdoll cat. "When we find them, we'll bring them into the League."

Some Spirits were easy to persuade, like Tohka and Yoshino. Others were nightmare difficulty, like Miku, Nia, and Kurumi.

"Mhm..." Zero narrowed her eyes, her lashes casting butterfly-like shadows across her cheeks. Tohka's spiritual power made her naturally close to Li Chen. If it had been anyone else, she would have blasted them into particles with magic long ago—after all, the magic of the entire Marvel Universe flowed through her body.

"My head hurts. Why did you all put in such terrifying people..." Doraemon slapped his forehead with his round hand. The virtual enemies he had added were only Wolf-level Threats and Tiger-Level Threats, but the lottery did not care whether someone was D-Class or S-Class. What if a rookie drew a God-Level boss...

Simplified Chinese characters

All one could say was... your luck was truly terrible.

[Ding! Opponent selected—Pseudo-Chairman Level/Pseudo-God-Level Calamity]

"Are you kidding me? This luck is simply absurd!" Li Chen said as he scratched his black hair.

Pseudo-God-Level meant strength beyond Quasi-God-Level, yet short of the World-Annihilation Realm. The virtual database was mostly filled with Quasi-God-Level calamities. The only exception was the one before them...

"Mumen Rider, I suggest you go buy a lottery ticket."

"How can a D-Class Hero possibly fight a Pseudo-God-Level opponent?"

"Just surrender, brother!"

"This is too brutal. I can't bear to watch."

"Luck is on his side!"

The draw result caused an uproar throughout the venue.

D-Class Hero VS Pseudo-God-Level Calamity!

Even more ironically—Mumen Rider was at the very bottom even among D-Class Heroes.

"Boom—"

The iron gates of the arena slowly rose.

As long as he did not surrender, the virtual opponent would inevitably descend.

When Mumen Rider saw who was coming, his breathing suddenly froze—

"Is the Chairman insane? What sick sense of humor!"

"He actually set up an imaginary opponent that can't be beaten."

On the other side of the iron gate, a black-haired young man emerged, his waist-length hair fluttering behind him. A tailored black suit set off his eerie red eyes. The virtual Li Chen wore the [League of Heroes] Chairman's ring, symbolizing supreme authority, on his index finger as he coldly looked down at Mumen Rider.

"You managed to trigger even a one-in-a-million chance."

"Should I call you lucky or unlucky?"

"Begin, Mumen Rider."

Despite having prepared himself mentally, facing the Chairman himself—

Even the hottest heroic heart now seemed to have fallen into an icy abyss.

I'll help you.

"My mastery of Godhead Fist is far greater than Grandis's. I'll simply give you a few pointers."

"U-Understood!"

Mumen Rider swallowed and copied the opening stance of Godhead Fist.

Though he was only at the beginner stage, with physical abilities five times those of an ordinary person, he could still take on twenty or thirty special forces soldiers barehanded with ease.

Only ten minutes later, the referee announced Mumen Rider's defeat, and he vanished from the arena.

Every hero's gaze turned in unison toward the Chairman on the platform.

He called it guiding a newcomer, but every move of that Godhead Fist was vicious and merciless!

He really was giving guidance, but each heavy punch went straight for a vital point. Even at equal strength, he had defeated Mumen Rider on the spot.

Mumen Rider was known for his ability to take a beating, and the instructional remarks had dragged out the fight...

Looking at it that way... the Chairman truly was a ruthless figure who hid his depths well.

"Cough, cough—"

Facing everyone's skeptical stares, Li Chen awkwardly cleared his throat.

How could he have expected the Easter egg he had designed on the spur of the moment to be drawn so quickly?

Besides, virtual combat data would not cause actual harm.

More importantly, those ten minutes of instruction were far more effective than a month of Mumen Rider's usual hard training.

"Victory has been decided! Virtual opponent [League of Heroes Chairman] Li Chen wins!"

"D-Class Hero Mumen Rider has been defeated. Points -1."

"Please welcome the next challenger!"

The two consecutive accidents made everyone realize that this was a gamble on luck.

Though the odds were extremely low, two people drawing "winning tickets" in a row had already made the second challenge method completely unpopular.

The third person to appear was none other than the flashiest person in the entire venue, [Iron Man] Tony Stark.

"I choose the first battle mode."

"With my strength, as long as I don't run into some freak opponent, this point is basically free—"

[Ding! Matched with S-Class Hero "The Strongest Man on Earth," King.]

Tony's smile instantly froze on his face.

Of the League's only four S-Class Heroes, he had actually drawn one?

But in Li Chen's eyes, Tony had actually drawn the weakest S-Class Hero.

To Tony, however, this was absolute rotten luck.

"A newly promoted S-Class powerhouse?!"

"I heard King and Yugi Mutou were just promoted to S-Class Heroes."

"King also received public support from Child Emperor, Lord Aizen, and the Chairman."

"Tsk, tsk... isn't Iron Man guaranteed to lose now?"

"Hang in there, Mr. Stark!"

Almost no one at the scene believed Tony could win.

Only the rookie Spider-Man was cheering for Tony.

He had even skipped class to come watch the heroes fight.

"Whoosh—"

King and Tony were teleported into the arena at the same time.

Even wearing the Mark VII armor, Tony still felt uneasy.

He knew that this armor was probably unable to withstand the attacks of an S-Class Hero.

"Boom—boom—boom—"

King's Engine roared violently, signaling that he had entered combat mode.

"Could you go easy on me later?"

"I surrender."

King raised his hand toward the judges' table.

He knew in his heart that if they really fought, he would definitely lose.

As a pain-sensitive shut-in, he did not want to get beaten beyond recognition.

"Wait... surrender? Are you humiliating me?"

Tony's expression immediately darkened.

Though he knew he was not as strong as an S-Class Hero and had even prepared himself for a crushing defeat—

For the other side to surrender rather than fight him was simply too humiliating.

"No, I'm really weak."

As if anyone would believe that! This old fox is way too cunning!

Other than King and Li Chen, every hero present had the same thought.

"Anyway, you're not allowed to surrender!"

"Then can I request equipment support?"

"What?"

"The Mark VII you're wearing... just give me a Mark III."

As a top-tier gamer, King was also a mecha enthusiast.

Without a Gundam, an Iron Man suit was still a decent alternative.

Since it was a virtual training ground, Li Chen could generate any equipment at any time.

"You can, but... is the Mark III really enough?"

An S-Class Hero wearing an outdated Mark III to fight him—

No matter how he looked at it, that was serious holding back.

As the armor's developer, Tony knew very well that there was a massive performance gap between the two generations.

Combined with his own expert control over the armor, if he still lost like this, he would have nowhere to show his face.

"If I win, can you give me an armor suit in reality?"

"Piece of cake."

"..." Mountain.

Ten minutes later, Tony was embedded in the wall like a specimen, having fallen into a deep state of self-isolation.

At first, he had overwhelmed King with superior piloting skills and armor performance. Who would have thought that King would use the Mark III to defeat the Mark VII across generations? In merely ten minutes, he went from clumsy to utterly dominant. That rate of evolution was simply inhuman!

Even more humiliatingly, Tony had not lost to King's own strength. He had been blasted to pieces by an old model from four generations ago.

"Still alive?"

King popped open his faceplate, pulled Tony out of the diamond wall, and patted his shoulder armor in consolation. As a veteran gamer, being able to wear real armor and fight a VR battle was practically the peak experience of his life.

"Damn it, you bastard..."

"Don't be depressed. I'm a multiple-time esports champion."

"You treated actual combat like a game?! Fine, I admit defeat..." Tony shook his buzzing head. "You're this absurd even at games. No wonder you're the Strongest Man on Earth."

King answered with silence.

This was already the peak of his combat strength—defeating a B-Class Hero was an achievement he could have bragged about for the rest of his life in the past.

"I'll give you the armor as promised, though it's just an oversized collectible to you."

"Thanks."

The duel ended amicably.

Everyone's favorability toward King collectively increased by one: powerful(?) yet humble, with gaming skills that were at the absolute pinnacle.

Li Chen narrowed his eyes from the platform.