With Deacon killed, notifications appeared for both of Li Ang's missions at once.
"Thank you for saving me." Blade's voice sounded weak.
He was in terrible shape, enduring his craving for blood along with the injuries covering his body.
These weren't the worst injuries he had ever suffered. He was already used to it.
"As long as you're all right. Come find me if you need anything in the future. Here's my number."
After he left his contact information, Bella immediately came over. She looked very reserved, as though she wanted to say something but hesitated.
"Do you need something?" Li Ang looked at Bella, unsure what she wanted.
Bella took another two steps closer. "You killed all the vampires in the nest. If you leave me to go back, I'll definitely die too."
By this point, Bella was practically pressed against Li Ang. "I really have nowhere else to go."
In the darkness, the pleading in Bella's eyes made Li Ang a little uncomfortable. On second thought, having an assistant like her wouldn't be bad. The manor happened to need someone to manage it.
Kingpin's men were currently managing the manor. It was time to replace them with someone of his own.
"Sure, then I'll give you a job. Will you take it?"
A flash of secret delight crossed Bella's eyes, and she immediately nodded. "Yes!"
Seeing how eager Bella was, Li Ang raised a hand to signal her to calm down. "That's fine, but if I catch you going after the staff..."
"Don't worry. If I really do something wrong, you can deal with me however you like." As Bella spoke, she made no attempt to hide the anticipation and excitement in her eyes.
"In that case, let's go." Li Ang turned to Blade after speaking. Off to the side, Blade had quietly gone to collect his gear. He didn't have Kingpin and Stark supporting him. He was poor.
As for what was going on between Li Ang and Bella, he had no intention of getting involved.
"If you find any traces of vampires, remember to call me."
After parting with Blade, Li Ang took Bella back to his manor.
After Li Ang briefly explained things to the butler, the man didn't dare voice a single objection, afraid that if Li Ang became displeased, he would make him perform a live transformation from man to tree.
Once Bella had more or less learned how to handle the manor's affairs, great and small, he could go back and report that his assignment was complete.
"All right, go with him. I'm going to take a bath." Li Ang turned and walked toward the bath.
Standing beside the butler, Bella gazed at Li Ang's retreating figure, her reluctant eyes lingering until he disappeared into the night.
Inside the bath.
Li Ang opened the system panel and began checking his stats.
[Master: Li Ang] [Presence: 102566 (each upgrade costs 5,000 presence)] [Abilities: Man of Steel lv:22, Heat Vision lv:8, Super Senses lv:8, Gravity Capture Net (cannot be upgraded)] [System ability upgrade (unlocked), Conscientious Slot Machine (unlocked)]
Looking at his panel, Li Ang thought it over carefully and decided where to put his 10 stat points.
His Heat Vision was already sufficient. By his rough estimate, even if the Chitauri invaded right now, he could mow through them all the way to their mothership.
The only unpredictable factor was Thanos.
That made his physical strength very important. He put all 10 points into his body, then exchanged presence for another 10 points, adding five each to Heat Vision and Super Senses.
After he finished allocating the points, a surge of pleasure swept through Li Ang's entire body once again.
"Oh yeah!"
Feeling the massive increase in energy once more, Li Ang exhaled. A stream of cold air rushed out, instantly freezing the still-warm bathwater!
[Man of Steel lv:32, Heat Vision lv:13, Super Senses lv:13!]
These were Li Ang's current stats. They were downright lavish.
"Now it's time for the real business!" Li Ang rubbed his hands together. The previous ten-pull had guaranteed at least a blue item. What about this time?
With that thought, Li Ang opened the panel and saw the slot machine again.
"Say, system, can't you give me all 10 at once? You even make those white junk items play an inspection animation. Doesn't that take up memory?"
[There has to be a sense of ceremony.]
And so Li Ang watched the reels spin expectantly. Only on the final spin did two diamonds appear.
The items from the previous nine spins were like Louis XVI buying a necklace-utterly useless...
They were either bottles and jars or bizarre objects.
"The pity pull?" The corner of Li Ang's mouth twitched.
But when he saw what appeared in the blue light, he froze.
[Tiger Talisman ×1]
The Tiger Talisman was said to balance yin and yang, harmonizing its holder's power and inner peace.
Li Ang took the Tiger Talisman out of the system storage, then asked, "If I collect all Twelve Talismans, does that mean I can resurrect Shendu?"
[Congratulations.]
"Congratulations, my ass! What the hell is this Tiger Talisman good for besides accidentally giving me a split personality?"
Li Ang looked as though he had been scammed. He hadn't forgotten how Alfred had been kicked to death like some roadside dog after getting the Tiger Talisman.
But since he had already drawn it, Li Ang didn't ask for much. Maybe it would come in handy later. For example, he could find a villain, split him apart, and watch the two beat each other up?
Or he could separate Thanos's good and evil sides and see whether he still wanted to wipe out half the life in the universe?
The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. Looking at the stats that had skyrocketed on his panel once again, Li Ang felt a little more confident about the storylines to come.
He just wondered what expression Tony would make when he realized he couldn't outfly him no matter what he did.
Or could he go toe-to-toe with Thor now?
Speak of the devil.
Just as Li Ang was thinking about him, his phone rang.
He picked it up and saw that Tony was calling. Once he answered, Tony's drunken voice came from the other end. "Hey, community welfare boy, how've you been?"
His words were slurred. He had clearly had far too much to drink.
He sounded just like that scientist who wanted to take his grandson along to blow up Earth after getting drunk.
"You're wasted, aren't you?" Li Ang said helplessly.
That reminded Li Ang of the palladium poisoning. He hadn't had any way to address it before, but now he had an idea.
"Oh, right, hic..." Tony could barely get his words out, but pushed on anyway. "What happened with Obadiah made me realize I can't always put on the armor whenever I need it, so I developed a portable suit."
He was talking about the MK5, which transformed from a briefcase. It had only been developed recently.
What had happened with Obadiah had made him realize he couldn't hide inside his armor forever.
"I saved a suit for you too. Made it specially to fit you. You're going to love it."
"Oh, right... hic. I'm leaving for Europe the day after tomorrow, so..."
Listening to Tony ramble from one thing to another before hanging up with his words still slurred, Li Ang was rather speechless. He also understood that Tony was at a low point in his life right now.
He thought he was dying.
The palladium poisoning was eating away at his body bit by bit.
Li Ang rubbed his chin and took a tender leaf from the magical divine tree out of the system storage. It looked just like a pea shoot meant for hot pot. He wondered whether he needed to boil it in clear broth.
"This should be able to save him."