Du Mu's speed in defeating the three was simply too fast.
Before Kilgrave could even react, the three street heroes had successively collapsed.
No! My Charmander! Squirtle! Bulbasaur!
Of course, Kilgrave didn't know what the starter Pokémon were, but his current feeling was roughly the same.
He had thought that with superhumans, if not the whole of New York, at least the territory of Hell's Kitchen was unbeatable.
Who knew that they hadn't even made it out of the restaurant before all those superhumans were defeated, with one left idling on the ground.
Kilgrave was heartbroken.
If he had known Hell's Kitchen was this rough, he would have continued his happy-go-lucky life somewhere else.
Seeing Du Mu walk up to him, Kilgrave suddenly yelled, "Stop right there!"
He still held a glimmer of hope that maybe Du Mu wasn't deaf, just a little hard of hearing, which was why he kept missing his commands.
Unfortunately, he lost the gamble.
Du Mu walked over, slapped Kilgrave to the ground, and frowned. "Why are you shouting so loud?"
With the Dunce Ring on, Kilgrave's ability was completely ineffective against him.
Wait a minute, is this thing really making me a dunce?
Du Mu suddenly felt that something was wrong.
No, nine-tenths of it felt wrong!
Based on his usual style, he should have controlled Kilgrave, the trainer, first. Why did he go after those Pokémon instead?
Matt and the others weren't required-attack minions with the 'Taunt' ability.
A thread of suspicion emerged in Du Mu's heart.
But with Kilgrave right there, he couldn't take off the Dunce Ring to study it immediately, so in a fit of pique, he slapped Kilgrave again.
Kilgrave was dazed by the hit. "I didn't shout this time! Why did you hit me?"
"Don't think I can't hear you cursing me in your head."
Kilgrave: "..."
Are you telling me you can read minds too?!
Kilgrave hadn't considered trying to control ordinary people into committing suicide to threaten Du Mu, like he did with the other heroes. After all, this guy looked even more evil than him—maybe an old-school supervillain—and if Du Mu ended up killing him and the hostages, there'd be no one left to cry to.
Du Mu cut the nonsense and immediately took Kilgrave to a secluded spot for interrogation.
Initially, Kilgrave was unwilling to talk.
Fortunately, Du Mu also had the ability to control others, though Kilgrave's was mind control, and Du Mu's was physical control.
Under Du Mu's physical control, Kilgrave finally confessed everything honestly.
As expected, the recent series of riots in Hell's Kitchen were all Kilgrave's doing.
The entire reason was merely that Kilgrave had used his ability to hypnotize a woman. After a minute and 36 seconds of intense fighting, he fell into the post-coital clarity, felt too bored, and recklessly manipulated the people around him to fight each other.
Under his mind control, loving couples, devoted siblings, and close relatives all turned into mortal enemies, savagely fighting one another until one side died.
Even Du Mu, a well-traveled player, couldn't help but sigh at how much fun this guy was having.
He patted Kilgrave on the shoulder. "So, did you put your parents' photos in the safe yet?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Bang!
Before Kilgrave could react, a bullet hole appeared on his forehead.
Thus fell a protagonist of hentai lore.
"Hmph! I am eternally sworn enemies with evil!"
Du Mu scoffed. He fired that shot purely to punish a beast.
It definitely wasn't because he was jealous of the guy's ability!
And as Kilgrave finished revealing the truth of the events, the System's notification sounded right on cue.
Mission 'Hypnotist of Hell's Kitchen' settlement complete!
You received the reward: Level 7 S.H.I.E.L.D. (HYDRA) Agent Clearance Qualification.
Your S.H.I.E.L.D. (HYDRA) identity clearance has been upgraded to: Level 7.
New Feature Modules Unlocked!
Feature 1: Dungeon System Activated!
Feature 2: Achievement System Activated!
Dungeon System: Dungeons will open periodically. Upon completion, you can receive rich rewards.
Achievement System: When the player fulfills certain specific conditions, they will receive a special title. Equipping a title grants attribute bonuses.
Seeing the new features unlocked by the game system, Du Mu's eyes immediately lit up.
He was all too familiar with these two features!
There was no need to say much about the Dungeon System; basically, all role-playing games have this feature—you're either running a dungeon or on your way to one.
As for the Achievement System, this feature was even more familiar.
A portion of players didn't really care about this feature.
But another group of players, especially those with collecting compulsions, would invest a lot of time and energy into the Achievement System.
To collect all the achievements in the game, they would even commit various insane acts.
Of course, the difficulty of obtaining some achievements wasn't low; for example, in an extremely difficult game, the condition for a certain achievement might be completing the entire game with only one health point remaining—pure torment for players with poor dexterity.
Some players only chased achievements for the small rewards they offered, painstakingly gathering enough resources for one chance at a gacha draw, only to be utterly heartbroken when they pulled a three-star piece of trash.
As a formerly lucky player who had managed a 'triple yellow' pull (multiple rare items at once), Du Mu didn't quite understand that feeling.
Du Mu yelled excitedly, "Where's the Achievement panel? Bring it up! Watch me grind out a hundred achievements today!"
The system replied: To enhance the fun of game exploration, achievements need to be triggered and discovered by the player independently.
"Fine. I'll go grab a plane later and fly to ten thousand meters to try a parachute-free drop and see if I can unlock an achievement."
The system replied: ...
Du Mu picked up a few bottles of alcohol from the restaurant and poured them over Kilgrave, then took out a pixelated torch and lit him on fire.
Only after the Purple Man had been charred black did he dare to take off the Dunce Ring.
After taking it off, Du Mu instantly regretted his actions.
Why did I kill Kilgrave?
Kilgrave controlled others; he controlled Kilgrave. Didn't that mean he controlled others?
Damn it! He had truly been affected by this lousy ring.
However, Kilgrave was now well-done, with a hole in his head larger than a certain president's ego, and even if Du Mu used his ultimate last-resort Senzu Bean, it wouldn't bring him back to life.
"I should have realized there would be a problem when I first called it 'damn clever'!"
Du Mu was filled with remorse.
This wasn't a Dunce Ring; it was clearly an Intelligence-Draining Ring!
He decided to temporarily seal the Dunce Ring and vowed never to use it unless absolutely necessary.
Since the deed was done, there was no point in regretting it further.
So, Du Mu returned to the restaurant, placed the three unconscious street heroes together, and had the system take a commemorative photo.
He usually fought villains, but this was the first time he'd fought so many heroes, so he definitely had to properly document it.
Du Mu took a few photos but didn't feel satisfied. He then posed the three in different positions and took more pictures.
After taking dozens of photos, he suddenly felt refreshed and was no longer mired in gloom.
Indeed, why engage in self-pity when you could seek out some fun?
That sentence was truly a life truth!