On the roof of the Triskelion, Heisenberg's eyelids twitched twice.
He'd fallen asleep for a bit, and when he woke up, the sunlight was already gone.
Out of habit, he raised his left hand, intending to check the time.
Right.
He didn't have a watch.
But he had a way.
"System, check how much Origin Matter I have right now?"
[During your multiple falls earlier, you injured over seven Marvel Universe civilians. Your follow-up destructive punch and heat vision caused over eight hundred New York citizens to choose to move away from New York.]
[In total, you have temporarily caused minor changes to the fates of 7,6267,626 people.]
[Only changes that reach minor or above can allow you to obtain Origin Matter through fate collection.]
[Therefore, you have obtained 7.6267.626 cubic units of Origin Matter.]
Alright…
Heisenberg rubbed his head.
When he thought he hadn't done anything, he had actually influenced over seven thousand people's fates?
That "small earthquake" from his punch, and that heat vision that nearly pierced out of the atmosphere, made eight hundred people decide to move away from New York?
After they moved, would they miss some destined encounter?
The new job they found in another city might have been the only position someone else could have relied on to survive.
Would someone miss a chance to become rich just because the city suddenly had one more outsider?
And their future lovers, were they originally supposed to be someone else's lover in another city?
Uh…
Thinking like that was oddly thrilling.
In any case, saying life is like chess was absolutely unreasonable.
What, calculate three moves ahead? Even if you calculated thirty thousand moves, so what?
You can't calculate it through.
Life was more like the roads in Chongqing.
Even with navigation on, you still can't be sure which fork you're supposed to take.
Miss one U-turn, miss one intersection, and your entire trip might never see the end…
When that happens, where will you stop?
That knot of "fate" made Heisenberg open his eyes. He looked at the moonlight, then at the constellations that were unbelievably clear in his vision.
If I weren't a Kryptonian, if I were just an ordinary corporate slave…
Then even if I jumped off this Triskelion building, I wouldn't be able to affect a single New Yorker's fate.
After the thought, Heisenberg raised his left wrist to his chest.
Staring at the empty wrist, he muttered inwardly.
"Give me a watch, the one I wore in my last life. The H. Moser & Cie Venturer Vantablack Concept."
The moment he spoke, the system responded.
[Origin request initiated. Target: H.Moser&Cie VANTABLACK…]
[Origin Matter required: 3.6263.626 cubic units. Confirm consumption?]
"Confirm!"
In the next moment, golden hands and a dial so black it was almost colorless appeared on Heisenberg's wrist.
He held his arm up and examined it for a long time, and he couldn't tell at all that it had been "made" by the system.
Wait, that's not right.
Heisenberg suddenly noticed something.
Under the strap, there was a tiny bit of damage.
This…!
It was actually the exact watch he'd worn back then!
He'd thought the system would remake one, but instead it had strictly carried out his request and truly delivered the same watch he used to wear.
And then the system gave further explanation.
[Origin request completed. Total Origin Matter consumed: 3.6263.626 cubic units. The main consumption was used to support the watch's traversal across the multiverse.]
"OK. Then I'll set up a few more requests. First tell me, how much Origin Matter would it take to eliminate Kryptonians' genetic weakness to kryptonite?"
[Origin request established. Eliminating Kryptonians' genetic weakness requires 17,40017,400 cubic units of Origin Matter.]
"And eliminating my weakness to kryptonite?"
[As an ancient Kryptonian, your genes are more active than those of ordinary Kryptonians. Eliminating the weakness requires an additional 24,40024,400 cubic units of Origin Matter.]
"Let me rephrase. If I changed into a vampire, how many cubic units would it take?"
[If the host bloodline is changed to an Original Vampire, the system will refund you 8,420,0008,420,000 cubic units of Origin Matter.]
"Wait!" Heisenberg froze. "How does it refund Origin Matter?"
[Compared to the vampire bloodline you requested, the bloodline of an ancient natural-born Kryptonian elder-level leader is far more valuable. You should receive this compensation.]
After that answer, Heisenberg nearly rolled his eyes.
Now this is what you call truly user-friendly.
This is truly user-friendly.
There's even a price difference.
So Heisenberg asked excitedly, "Then change the request. How much Origin Matter would it take to bring Audrey Hepburn, during the filming of Roman Holiday, right in front of me?"
[Transporting Audrey Hepburn during the filming of Roman Holiday to Earth 19999 requires 163163 cubic units of Origin Matter.]
In an instant, Heisenberg went silent.
This system… it could actually fulfill most of your wishes!
Heisenberg immediately felt motivated. For enough Origin Matter to realize all kinds of wishes, even if he worked himself to death in the Marvel Universe, he wouldn't complain once.
As for right now, his goal was also very clear.
That was, besides getting enough time to sunbathe, he had to save up at least 163163 cubic units…
Cough, cough.
Heisenberg shook his head and quickly drove the dirty thoughts out of his mind.
If he truly liked Audrey Hepburn, he could just apply to go to the Roman Holiday universe.
Or any universe in Europe around the 1960s.
There would always be a wild Audrey Hepburn he could "catch."
His real goal, the real one, was to accumulate at least 40,00040,000 cubic units of Origin Matter!
When that time came, he would first completely eliminate his kryptonite weakness.
Then he would eliminate his weaknesses to red suns, green suns, purple suns, black suns, and so on.
After that, he would earn more Origin Matter to increase his resistance to elemental damage and magical damage.
Only then would he have a temporary sense of security.
Yeah, that security was hard to get.
He got stronger, but his weaknesses got more numerous, sigh…
Maybe he'd been thinking too long, or maybe S.H.I.E.L.D. was rushing too hard. The frowning Heisenberg was finally distracted by Barbara.
From 77 kilometers away, Heisenberg could already hear Barbara's voice.
A Kryptonian's hearing was extremely developed.
So developed that if they didn't control it, they could be driven insane by the countless sounds they heard.
But once they adapted to Earth and learned to actively control their hearing, they could "mark" a particular voice.
No matter how far, as long as that voice appeared within their hearing range, they could instantly locate it.
And that was why Superman could always find out his girlfriend had been kidnapped!
In Batman v Superman, there was a classic scene like that.
At the time, nobody in the world could find Superman because he was deliberately hiding.
Then Lex Luthor kidnapped Superman's girlfriend, Lois Lane, and brought her to the rooftop of LexCorp.
There, he said to Lois Lane, "I've found the key to Superman!"
Then he pushed Lois off the rooftop. Along with Lois's scream, Superman immediately appeared and saved her.
The reason Superman could always show up at critical moments was precisely because Kryptonians could identify and mark voices.
And what did that prove?
It proved that when someone is strong enough, whether they keep a low profile or not, the people around them will still be dragged into danger and hurt.
Even someone as strong as Heisenberg, hiding or showing his face, couldn't change the fact that people would fear him, and countless people would want to use him.
So…
Either make yourself look dangerous and lethal enough.
Or…
Find a woman strong enough, so strong she can't be threatened, as your partner…
Alright. Hearing Barbara's voice made Heisenberg's thoughts drift again.
He shook his head, scattered the distractions, and listened quietly to Barbara.
…
At the "intersection" between Hell's Kitchen and Queens.
In other words, those few blocks the gang types had labeled as forbidden zones.
Barbara was talking to a fat man inside a building.
Their conversation seemed to be coming to an end. Barbara shook the fat man's hand politely.
"Mr. Kingpin, thank you for cooperating with our work. Your Second Bazaar nightclub will become an important base for us. I hope you and your men will no longer have any contact with Second Bazaar."
"No problem. After all, you're being too generous. Three times the price. It makes me completely unable to…"
Boom!
The huge floor-to-ceiling window exploded in an instant. Along with countless shards of glass, Heisenberg arrived right beside Barbara.
Facing the three people present who stared at him like he was a demon, Heisenberg smiled at Barbara and asked, "Did you get the bar I wanted settled? Second Bazaar?"
He shook his head, displeased.
"That name is too tacky. Change it."
"Let me think. Call it Academy of Sciences. Let those drunken idiots experience what it feels like to be surrounded by knowledge."
"Damn it, who is this, Bullseye!" Not far away, Kingpin snapped out of his shock and immediately ordered Bullseye to test Heisenberg.
He was Kingpin, the underground emperor of New York. He could accept a government department buying his bar at triple the price, but that didn't mean he could accept this kind of bust-in-the-door insult.
Even if the one breaking in was FBI, he would kill them and let the FBI's boss see it.
He had to make everyone understand, and make everyone remember forever.
Not everyone had the right to offend Kingpin.
Following Kingpin's order, Bullseye, the man with a small target painted on his forehead, instantly pulled out throwing knives.
In a blink, at least six knives flew at the same time from different angles, aimed at Heisenberg's eyes, mouth, and nose.
Looking at those harmless little knives, Heisenberg didn't even bother to dodge.
He let them hit his face. Even when a knife stabbed his eyeball, he didn't blink.
Clink clink clink…
The knives fell back to the floor uselessly, but Bullseye's assault didn't stop.
He already understood Heisenberg wasn't normal, but so what? Bullseye had killed plenty of "not normal" guys.
At least, that was what he believed.
After all, he hadn't had the honor of colliding with someone as absurdly overpowered as Heisenberg before.
In Bullseye's mind, if the target's body was hard enough, you switched to electric knives.
Paralyze them, then look for weaknesses. That was always his habit.
But before he could pull out the special throwing knife hidden in his inner lining, Heisenberg had already floated in front of him.
He pressed a hand down on Bullseye's shoulder, and the poor guy dropped to his knees.
Heisenberg glanced at Bullseye's forehead and said, "Looks like there's something wrong with your brain. You seem to have a special and extreme love for circles."
"But your execution is good. The moment your boss gave an order, right or wrong, you attacked immediately."
"That tactical discipline and obedience to orders, even among my subordinates back then, not everyone could do that."
After praising Bullseye with a smile, Heisenberg turned to look at Kingpin not far away.
"Just now, I heard Barbara and you finalize my deal, so I came to meet you. After all, the bar I'll be using to relax is your former territory."
"Now that I've met you, my impression isn't good. You're overly confident and cruel. You choose to kill at the slightest disagreement. That will bring you bad luck. Believe me."
After speaking, Heisenberg casually patted Bullseye's shoulder as he knelt there.
"Your personality is not great, but your subordinate is genuinely not bad. He's a talent worth cultivating."
"I'm taking this subordinate."
"As for the price to trade for your subordinate, how about I leave you a whole corpse?"
"Heh." Hearing Heisenberg's provocation, Kingpin laughed like he was laughing at an idiot.
After he finished laughing, he spoke to Heisenberg with disdain.
"You want my territory, and you want to command my men. Your madness seems especially severe."
"I don't care what kind of ambition you crawled out with, but you dare challenge me, someone who has ruled New York for more than fifteen years."
"At the very least, before you plan to make my subordinate serve you, you should ask my subordinate's opinion with your own mouth."
Heisenberg nodded in approval, then looked at Bullseye seriously.
"Your boss is asking you. Follow me from now on. How about it?"
After Heisenberg spoke, Bullseye seemed to think for a moment.
Then he nodded, earning Heisenberg's satisfied smile.
"See, wasn't that…"
Clang!
A noise like metal being stabbed. The dagger Bullseye had secretly pulled out was blocked effortlessly by Heisenberg's body.
Staring at the snapped blade, Bullseye was shocked beyond words.
Heisenberg looked at his torn pants, fell silent for a moment, then nodded at Bullseye again.
"Very good. I've discovered another of your strengths."
"You're loyal enough."
"But since you don't like betrayal, then I'll just eliminate your original boss. That way, when you follow my orders, it won't count as betrayal anymore."
The moment he finished, Heisenberg released Bullseye and appeared in front of Kingpin's massive body in an instant.
He raised his right hand.
Smack!
A slap with a bit of force sent Kingpin's head flying right off his neck!
The violent palm wind not only shattered Kingpin's head completely, it also made the wall behind him vanish.
Only at this moment did Kingpin's blood finally have time to burst out from his artery.
/-\
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