An Old Unlucky Egg

Although it seemed likely that Hulk would bid farewell to this world, Kraft, just in case, had Angela confirm the locations of a few people he cared about. Finding them all far from Bruce Banner, he continued to recharge himself with the Learning Helmet.

However, this thing wasn't all-powerful. Inputting knowledge didn't mean Kraft could invent items not seen in his dreams, like those scientists in his dreams. It only allowed him to understand the principles behind existing items and make some modifications. What those scientists were truly brilliant at were their wild, imaginative ideas.

Furthermore, inventions that completely disregarded logic, like those of Dr. Shinonome or Dr. Norimaki, were beyond Kraft's comprehension no matter how much knowledge he absorbed. This made him very curious about what kind of world those people inhabited.

Unfortunately, the dreams mostly showed the creation and testing processes. Other aspects had to be inferred by Kraft himself from details like books, indoor furnishings, and architectural styles.

It was one of Kraft's little amusements in his dreams.

After downloading some of the dream data into his mind, Kraft removed the helmet and shook his slightly throbbing head. After each download, he needed some time to digest the content. He truly wondered how Child Emperor in his dreams managed to absorb the knowledge of an entire library in just one hour.

Kraft slumped onto the chair like a beached fish. Two mechanical arms, clad in white gloves, extended from either side of the recliner and massaged his temples.

"There's trouble with Bruce Banner."

Just as Kraft was recovering slightly and about to put his newly absorbed knowledge into practice, Angela's phantom reappeared before him.

Without waiting for Kraft to ask, Angela projected the scene from the other side onto the wall.

A yellowish-green monster was wreaking havoc in the streets. Its appearance was even more ferocious than Hulk's, with clearly defined joints all over its body and a row of spikes growing from its back. If Hulk looked like a bodybuilder fresh from the gym, this monster was a seasoned veteran of underground boxing matches.

"Hulk! Get out here!"

The yellowish-green monster grabbed a car and casually hurled it at a military helicopter hovering overhead, roaring loudly.

"What the hell is this now?"

Kraft's first thought went to the blood samples Bruce Banner had sent to Samuel Stern.

"Could this guy be Mr. Blue? He's not even blue."

"From his previous conversation with the military, he seems to be the officer in charge of capturing Hulk."

"Uh... so this is General Ross's trump card against Hulk? But it looks like it's out of control too..."

When he was previously searching for information on Hulk, he had indeed seen content about General Ross conducting research related to the Super Soldier Serum. However, the location wasn't New Mexico, so Kraft had dismissed it at the time.

"How did he manage to get the Super Soldier Serum to have Hulk-like effects?"

"It seems this officer secretly injected himself with Hulk's serum at Samuel Stern's."

Angela clarified for Kraft in a timely manner.

"...Alright... General Ross, that guy is such an unlucky fellow."

His son-in-law turned into a monster, his subordinate turned into a monster. If his daughter or even he himself turned into a monster in the future, it would be hilarious.

Thinking this, a malicious smile spread across Kraft's face. As a representative of America's official hawks, Kraft was naturally delighted to see him make a fool of himself.

Just as they couldn't stop Hulk, ordinary soldiers were completely unable to resist the monster that Emil Blonsky had become. Since it was in the city center, many heavy weapons couldn't be used. Thus, apart from firing a few harmless shots from a distance, they couldn't inflict any effective damage.

However, judging by General Ross's past actions, this staunch hawk probably wouldn't tolerate it for long. After all, the person currently causing destruction in New York was his subordinate. If he didn't resolve this soon, he might face a court-martial. In fact, even if General Ross dealt with the monster now, he wouldn't get off scot-free.

In short... such an unlucky fellow.

Just as Kraft had guessed, after most civilians had evacuated, General Ross no longer cared about the surrounding damage and ordered his subordinates to start using heavy weapons like artillery shells. The shockwave generated by the violent explosion of gunpowder did temporarily halt the monster's advance, but it also made him even more furious.

Blonsky, who had initially focused most of his attention on forcing Hulk to appear, began to actively attack his former comrades.

The army, which had only achieved minor victories, instantly suffered heavy losses.

And then, Hulk appeared.

Two green monsters fought fiercely in the streets of New York. However, compared to Hulk, who transformed from a researcher, Blonsky was far superior in combat skills. As soon as Hulk charged forward, he was beaten soundly.

"Didn't you say the Hulk problem was solved?"

Kraft wasn't concerned about the outcome of the fight between the two monsters. In his opinion, as long as America was willing to go all out, they could forcibly kill them.

"According to data analysis, the strength Hulk is displaying now is much weaker than before."

Angela presented a series of comparative data and then released the research materials she had blackmailed from Samuel.

"The serum should be taking effect, but Hulk's existence is proving to be more troublesome than expected."

"Hmm... this solution doesn't seem to have any problems."

Kraft carefully reviewed Samuel's research materials, nodding occasionally. To guard against things like the Zombie Virus, he had also absorbed a lot of knowledge in biological sciences himself, so understanding Samuel's materials wasn't difficult. According to what was described, theoretically, it should be able to solve the Hulk problem.

Moreover, the fact that Hulk hadn't appeared for a long time and now seemed clearly weakened indicated that this plan had indeed been effective, but the mutation within Dr. Banner was far more tenacious than they had anticipated.

"So, does this mean Dr. Banner isn't finished?"

When Dr. Banner transformed into Hulk, he chose to live in isolation, which earned him a little goodwill from Kraft.

However, the events of today seemed determined to prove him wrong. As soon as he reached this conclusion, he was proven wrong again.

"Hulk's strength is rapidly recovering."

Angela once again brought up the combat footage. In the video, Hulk had gone from being dominated by Blonsky to fighting him on equal footing. The strength values Angela had calculated for Hulk were also rapidly increasing.

"The strength Hulk is displaying now far exceeds his previous records."

"Ah... I can see that..."

The fight in the video was completely different from the beginning. The once arrogant Blonsky was now like a giant rag doll, held and thrown around at will by Hulk, completely unable to resist.

"So, how did he manage this?"

Does a knock-off ultimately lose to the real deal? Kraft inexplicably felt like he was being subtly insulted.

"According to the data we've gathered, Hulk's strength seems to be related to his emotions. The angrier he gets, the stronger he becomes."

Angela, unaware of Kraft's inner turmoil, stated her analysis matter-of-factly and brought up a video of Hulk calming down because of Betty Ross.

"It's based on emotions... What kind of third-rate sci-fi romance plot is this?"

Kraft smacked his lips. He suddenly felt that the technology in his world wasn't as logical as he'd thought.