[Stark Industries CEO Tony Stark went missing in Afghanistan today...]
"Fuck!"
Yang Bo angrily stuffed the newspaper he had picked up into his pocket. Now he finally knew exactly where he was.
Manhattan, New York, in 2008-and in the legendary Hell's Kitchen, no less. Tony Stark had yet to become Iron Man, and the grand, tumultuous Heroic Age had yet to fully dawn.
He had originally thought he had merely transmigrated into Blade's world, but now it seemed he had landed in the larger Marvel cinematic universe.
That sent this world's danger rating straight from 1 to over 100. After all, no monster or freak would be out of place in the Marvel Universe.
He raised his head and looked at Matt Murdock's law office across the street. That was another piece of evidence confirming he was in the Marvel Universe.
Matt Murdock, known as Daredevil, had saved a blind man from an oncoming truck, cutting short the man's chance to transmigrate. In the process, Matt had accidentally been exposed to radioactive material spilled from the truck, blinding him but unexpectedly heightening his other senses. Later, under the harsh training of the blind martial arts master Stick, Matt had mastered his superhuman senses and become a formidable fighter. From then on, he worked as a lawyer by day and donned a mask by night, becoming Daredevil to fight crime and uphold justice in New York's Hell's Kitchen.
"The starter village chief..."
Yang Bo couldn't help making a snarky comment. Daredevil was one of the first people many transmigrators met. After all, he wasn't that powerful. Aside from his hearing and perception, his abilities didn't go beyond human limits.
He turned and left. He had no desire to get involved with Marvel's heroes-except Blade, of course. Right now, all he wanted was to let those vampires who couldn't stand the light feel the warmth of both him and the sun.
The timing seems a little off. Matt's law office shouldn't have opened until after the Battle of New York. It's only 2008. Shouldn't he still be training under Stick?
Reality and movies really are two different things. They always talk about how dangerous Hell's Kitchen is, but I've been wandering around for ages and only seen two robberies and heard gunshots three times. It's nowhere near as exaggerated as on-screen.
Yang Bo had nowhere to go. With no money and no identity, his only way to survive somewhere like America was to hide in a chaotic neighborhood, and Hell's Kitchen was the best choice.
"What the hell is this?"
He stared in bewilderment at the row of drumsticks that had suddenly appeared before his eyes. He counted ten in all, and the first looked as though someone had taken a bite out of it.
Is this Minecraft's hunger bar? Have I played so much that I'm hallucinating?
That thought only lasted an instant. Whether he closed his eyes or shifted his gaze, the row of drumsticks remained clearly visible in his field of vision. None of the passersby noticed anything unusual, which meant only he could see it.
Could it be... my cheat isn't a system? It's Minecraft?
If he really had become a real-life Steve, then everything made sense: his miraculous respawn, the vampire mod, the row of drumsticks before his eyes, and the system that never responded.
Minecraft was a sandbox game with an enormous amount of freedom. Players could fight monsters, go on adventures, craft equipment, and build wonders. They could also add all kinds of mods to shape it into whatever they wanted.
As a veteran Minecraft player, Yang Bo naturally knew the game inside out.
Since I've become Steve, my body should be in a data-based mode. Why can I still feel pain? Have my Minecraft abilities not finished loading?
He reached out and pinched his arm. The pain was still unmistakably clear.
Suddenly, he sensed that something was off around him. Coming back to his senses, he realized the passersby were looking at him with pity.
Standing there with his eyes closed, shaking his head around, had already drawn their attention. Now that he was hurting himself, they were even more suspicious that he had suffered a head injury.
Even Yang Bo couldn't withstand all those stares. His face reddened, and he took off running. The passersby hurriedly cleared a path, afraid they might catch some strange disease from him.
He returned to the little alley where his respawn point was. He didn't know this city at all, so this alley was the place he knew best. After all, he had left his mark here.
"I don't feel tired at all. Is this a perk of changing classes to Steve?"
He had sprinted for at least ten minutes. Aside from his hunger bar dropping another notch, he didn't feel the slightest fatigue. He wasn't even breathing hard.
He held out his hands and examined their fair skin, then glanced at the filthy stone paving. It was time to test his most important ability. He tapped lightly against the ground, and little black squares appeared on the gray paving slab. As he continued tapping, more and more appeared. An excited smile spread across Yang Bo's face.
"It really works! The most important ability is still here!"
Without the ability to break blocks, Minecraft wouldn't be complete.
Pop! A crisp sound rang in his ears. The paving slab beneath his feet suddenly vanished, replaced by a miniature slab hovering above the ground. Before he could react, it zipped straight into his body.
"Holy shit!"
The sudden sight startled Yang Bo. Even though he had prepared himself somewhat, watching a palm-sized stone slab fly into his body still caught him off guard.
Instinctively, he reached out and patted himself all over. Only after confirming that nothing was wrong with his body did he breathe a sigh of relief.
"Looks like this slab counts as a decorative block. Otherwise, I couldn't have broken it with my bare hands. And did it just fly into my inventory?"
The moment that thought arose, a translucent window appeared before his eyes. Just like in the game, the inventory had thirty-six slots arranged in four rows of nine. A gray stone slab lay quietly inside-clearly the one he had just knocked out of the ground.
At the top of the interface was a two-by-two crafting grid, with four equipment slots on the left.
Unlike in the game, there was no miniature Yang Bo where the player model would normally be. Three buttons had taken its place.
[Full data mode] [On][Off] [Equipment display] [On][Off] [Respawn permission] [On][Off]
Of the three options, only [Respawn permission] was switched on. The other two were off.
When he saw the last option, Yang Bo couldn't help complaining, "Can you hide that last option? I'm afraid I'll click it by accident!"
Before you continue