Drawing cards

The chaos of the outside world had nothing to do with Jiang Xiang.

He just thought they were noisy.

Jiang Xiang rubbed his stomach. It was time to grab a meal.

By then, Jiang Xiang had already returned to his grandfather's house.

Officially, he still needed to stay out of sight while the cruise ship incident gradually faded from public attention.

But Hulk's street brawl had already helped the military achieve that goal ahead of schedule.

Such massive upheaval in the streets of New York had made far more of an impact than the cruise ship incident.

And with his grandfather Andre's and Tony Stark's influence, Jiang Xiang had faced little trouble or harassment.

"I'll have shredded pork in garlic sauce and a bowl of noodles with soybean paste." Jiang Xiang went to his usual Chinese restaurant and ordered two of his regular dishes.

"Coming right up." Recognizing Jiang Xiang, the owner answered before turning to tell the kitchen to prepare his food.

"You're still open with all this chaos around here?" Jiang Xiang chatted with the owner as he watched his emotional value gradually rise.

"What choice do I have? I can't afford to close." The owner looked as though he were lamenting the hardships of life.

"We'll go with this plan. Suppress the story first." A military spokesperson carefully reviewed a publicity plan.

"Yes, sir."

Stark's workshop

"Those two big guys sure can do some damage." Tony sounded as though he were joking, but anyone who knew him could hear the gravity in his voice.

"Exactly. It's still too dangerous. You should take Mr. Krillin with you whenever you go out." Pepper agreed with Tony from beside him.

Tony nodded without saying anything else and lowered his head to read the information on his tablet.

The information had come from a friend in the military. Stark Industries was, after all, a defense contractor.

There was no need to hide a scandal so many people already knew about from Stark, who was practically one of their own.

"Oh my God. How did the military create a freak like this?"

The files explained Bruce Banner's abilities in detail.

As a scientific genius, Tony Stark naturally understood what those figures meant.

What Tony didn't know, however, was that the data had been calculated over a short period and probably wouldn't remain valid for long.

Nearby, Krillin was training hard. Training would help him draw out his potential and strength faster.

Above their room was a laboratory containing a large metal shell that was beginning to take on a human shape.

"Another day to open a box."

Well fed and satisfied, Jiang Xiang sat on the sofa at home in an excellent mood.

By evening, his emotional value had successfully passed the hundred-thousand mark.

In his room.

Lying casually on his bed, Jiang Xiang stared at his emotional value and exchanged it for a [Platinum Box] without much hesitation. This chest guaranteed at least a B-grade reward, and with the first-opening guarantee on top of that, he was bound to get a good haul.

Hulk's appearance reminded Jiang Xiang that the birth of Iron Man-the event that would usher in a new era-wasn't far off.

Though Jiang Xiang thought Hulk had appeared a little early.

There had been far too many people where the trouble broke out.

The familiar light flashed, and this time, five orbs of light appeared.

[Item: Sealed Rabbit Talisman]

[Item: B-grade fragment ×1]

[Avatar Card: Dende]

[Grade: B]

[Skills: Healing, Dragon Ball creation...]

[Description: A healing-type Namekian capable of healing others, with relatively low combat power. An inheritor of the dragon's power, he can create Dragon Balls.]

"Whoa, this avatar is amazing."

Jiang Xiang looked at the newly appeared avatar in delighted surprise.

His first healing Avatar Card. His safety was even better assured now.

[Item: Dragon Talisman]

[Item: Terminator T-800 Blueprint]

After looking through all the items, Jiang Xiang raised his eyebrows. These were all good things.

The Dragon Talisman possessed the power of dragon blasts. Judging by the show, it was no less powerful than ordinary firearms.

But in reality, this qualified as an energy weapon, one that could fire whenever he wanted.

This talisman wasn't sealed, either. Perhaps he could merge it directly with the Fire Demon.

The Rabbit Talisman was a little less satisfactory. It was sealed, which wasn't great.

As for the blueprint, knowledge was power. Even if he never used it, it would look nice on a bookshelf.

He had accumulated ten B-grade fragments in the system's storage.

What else was there to say?

Combine!

[Character Card: Tien Shinhan]

[Grade: B]

[Skills: Three eyes, demonic aura, Afterimage Technique, Solar Flare, Tri-Beam, Evil Containment Wave...]

[Description: A mixed-blood descendant of the alien Three-Eyed People and humans of Earth. His distinguishing feature is his three eyes.]

Looking at the system's description and the long list of skills, Jiang Xiang could tell that although Tien Shinhan wasn't a pure-blooded human, his strength was terrifying. Judging solely by the card's image, however, this should have been Tien Shinhan before he met Goku, when he had yet to learn more powerful techniques like the Evil Containment Wave and the Four-Body Technique.

That wasn't much of a problem, though. With steady training, or by waiting until he drew the right item, he would learn them sooner or later.

After reviewing these items, an idea in Jiang Xiang's mind gradually took shape.

"An explosion?"

Inside an abandoned house in the wilderness, Billy glanced toward the sound of the explosion like a startled beast, his expression savage.

"Roar!" He bellowed at the sky twice, then crawled away along the wall.

Left behind were three girls restrained with handcuffs.

They were covered in wounds and barely alive.

"Did something happen? That guy's getting away!" The older-looking, burly man frowned.

"Dad, what was that sound over there?" the young man asked.

"Save them first!"

Outside, the young man operated the surveillance equipment he had set up, trying to locate the fleeing Billy.

The burly man hurried into the house and removed the girls' restraints.

Beep-beep-

"FBI! Hands up!"

A team of people in matching uniforms entered.

With swift, efficient movements, they tied up the burly man.

Just then, another police car pulled up nearby.

"FBI!" Melinda May held up her credentials. "He's one of ours. I'm taking him with me."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I'm afraid you can't." The male agent leading the team flatly rejected her demand.

Melinda looked in confusion at the leader and the dozens of soldiers behind him.

They walked past Melinda and left without hesitation.

Farther away sat another police car, with Billy, who had just escaped, inside.

Ring-

The cars drove away.

Melinda was left standing there, utterly bewildered.

"Sir, the FBI took the man we had our eye on."

"Agent 23, I remember you have FBI credentials, don't you?"

"I showed them my credentials. They took him away without any explanation."

"Keep watching."

Melinda hung up.

She felt somewhat defeated. This had been her second major assignment recently, and she had failed again.

Perhaps she wasn't cut out to be an agent.

Still, those agents had behaved very strangely.

In fact, May's suspicions were correct.

After the cars left, a dozen or so people dressed as agents took off their uniforms.

The vehicles weren't headed toward any FBI field office, either, but toward the Al Psychiatric Hospital.