"You've been coming home later and later these days! I'm starving... starving!"
The moment Sean stepped through the door, he was met with the deep resentment of a certain blonde-haired little girl.
Mindy, sprawled on the couch while eating ice cream, rolled back and forth as if protesting the late return of her part-time nanny and chef.
"Hey, hey, let's be reasonable here, Mindy Macready. I give you enough allowance every day to feast at either the Chinese restaurants in Chinatown or the nearby Burger King."
Sean closed the door in exasperation as he watched the relentless pouting of the little girl...
The once ruthless Hit-Girl had now completely devolved into a lazy, spoiled brat who did nothing but laze around and act cute...
Living a life where food and clothes were handed to her on a silver platter made Sean wonder if picking her up in the first place had been a colossal mistake.
"I'm practically your live-in maid now, Miss Mindy," Sean muttered under his breath, yet his body moved on autopilot as he tied on an apron and started preparing dinner.
"Sean, you're not just the world's most considerate nanny... you're also the best chef and the most generous ATM!"
Mindy, lounging on the couch while watching 'How I Met Your Mother', didn't hold back on the compliments.
"By the way, did you get into a fight today?" The little girl suddenly turned her head and asked.
Sean who was busy in the kitchen gave a noncommittal hum. Mindy had an uncanny sensitivity to the scent of battle on him. Any hint of blood or violence, and she'd sniff it out immediately.
"I helped a superhero take down a major villain. I think the NYPD should give me a commendation for my selfless act of bravery!"
Mindy snorted at Sean's shameless self-praise, her expression dripping with disdain...
The assassination of Wilson Fisk (which still sent shockwaves through New York) had prompted the mayor and police commissioner to jointly vow justice, swearing to bring the 'ruthless terrorist' to account.
As a result, every gang in Hell's Kitchen had been swept up in the ensuing crackdown.
Under intense pressure from above, the police were turning the underworld upside down, chasing every lead. The Irish mob and the Hand (who thought they'd scored big) were probably regretting their luck by now.
Turning his head slightly, Sean asked, "Are the police still investigating Fisk's assassination?"
He had underestimated the fallout of killing a high-profile real estate tycoon, let alone one taken out with military-grade weaponry. No wonder the NYPD was losing its mind.
"Don't worry. They're still stuck with their outdated methods... tracing weapons, tracking black-market arms dealers, surveilling ex-soldiers or hitmen entering the city... At this rate, they'll never find us even if the world ends."
Mindy, a seasoned veteran at this point, remained utterly unfazed. Her father had been an elite cop, so she knew police tactics inside out. Hacking into the NYPD database was child's play for her.
"I'm not worried about the police. We cleaned up all the evidence. It's 'that' organization getting involved that would be a problem..." Sean finished cooking and unceremoniously hauled the lazy girl from the couch to the dinner table.
The last thing he wanted was to draw the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. and its one-eyed director. Nothing good ever came from being on his radar.
"Wash the dishes after eating... No puppy eyes! We agreed to take turns, and today's your turn!" Sean remained unmoved by Mindy's pleading gaze.
He wasn't a 'Saint Seiya', but even the most effective tactics lost their power with overuse...
...
The night deepened...
After dinner, Sean watched with quiet satisfaction as Mindy obediently cleared the table and washed the dishes. Taming a wild child was a long process, but progress was progress.
Back in his room, just as he was about to start his usual training regimen, Sean's brow furrowed.
A strange sensation had been lingering in his mind ever since he killed Kingpin and Bullseye. Tonight, after eliminating the Green Goblin, it had grown even more pronounced.
"What's going on?"
Closing his eyes, Sean focused inward to probe the soft white glow in his consciousness.
The long-dormant System Interface flickered to life once more. Beyond the previously activated card function, a new option had appeared along with a string of clear data.
"...Exchange System?"
Delving deeper, Sean frowned in confusion... 'What was this?'
Ever since accidentally activating the Card Function, he had studied this System (a remnant of the virtual fighting game) extensively.
Apart from the initial mysterious potion, it had remained frustratingly passive. No missions, no instructions, not even a dialogue function.
For a while, Sean had wondered if he'd gotten a defective system.
The card function, as he'd discovered through experimentation, required voluntary guidance or teaching from notable figures in this world (superheroes or major characters) to generate cards of varying grades.
These fell into two broad categories:
- Skill Cards...
- Item Cards...
In simple terms, if Tony Stark willingly explained how to build an Arc Reactor, Sean could obtain its blueprint as a card.
If the Ancient One in Nepal accepted him as a disciple and taught him mystic arts, he'd gain a stack of magic skill cards.
Essentially, it was a cheat code for rapid learning.
However, after repeated tests, Sean realized card generation wasn't guaranteed. The success rate was inconsistent, so he'd eventually set it aside...
After all, at this stage, he wasn't about to march up to the Ancient One for apprenticeship or boldly demand Iron Man's armor schematics...
[Defeated D+ rank character: Bullseye. Reward: 80 points]
[Defeated C+ rank character: Kingpin. Reward: 100 points]
[Defeated B rank character: Green Goblin. Reward: 200 points]
[...System shop initialization complete!]
"Exchange system... Does this mean I can trade points for items, like in a game?" A spark of excitement ignited in Sean's chest.
He remembered the original game's shop... stocked with items from countless virtual worlds. If he could access those here, they'd become his ultimate trump cards!
Suppressing his exhilaration, Sean tentatively opened the shimmering System Shop.
A dazzling array of data flooded his mind... core items from countless virtual worlds:
«Terminator Universe: Skynet - A human-created AI defense system from the late 20th century...»
«Star Wars Universe: The Force - A supernatural, omnipresent energy with limitless potential...»
«Limitless Universe: NZT-48 - A drug that unlocks the brain's latent potential, granting perfect recall and superhuman intellect...»
Sean's breathing grew heavier... He could practically hear his own heartbeat thundering in his ears.
This was an inexhaustible treasure trove! Technologies and civilizations from countless worlds, laid out like goods on a shelf, waiting for him to claim them.
It was as if he now had the collective might of Infinite Realities backing him.
"Maybe my ambitions don't have to stop at this world..."
The rush of euphoria lasted only seconds before Sean forced himself to calm down. He needed to maximize the use of his limited points.
Scanning the luminous lists, his gaze finally settled on one particular item...
"With this, the Oscorp problem becomes trivial."
Exhaling slowly, Sean's youthful face brimmed with anticipation for the future.
The Avengers, the Infinity Stones, cosmic warlords... none of these would be the limit of his journey.
Infinite possibilities awaited...