Earth Demon

"You want armor so you can pick up girls. I think a sports car suits you better!"

Ivan added, "This car can help you score more than seventy percent of the beautiful women in the world!"

"I’d say ninety percent!"

Wang Bert burst out laughing. "Ivan, well done. By the way, can you redesign it so the car can transform into armor, like the Autobots?"

"Autobots? You really have quite an imagination."

Although this world had no Transformers comics, Ivan understood what Wang Bert wanted after thinking about it for a moment. He shook his head. "Too complicated. I don’t have time for that. I still need to design new armor!"

"Then forget it!"

Wang Bert did not mind. He instructed, "Ivan, put more effort into Abomination’s armor. It will be our ultimate weapon."

"I understand. I’ll design a large suit of armor capable of destroying an aircraft carrier!"

Ivan said excitedly. As a Russian, he was quite interested in destroying aircraft carriers.

"I’ll leave it to you, then," Wang Bert said. "I’ll be away for a few months. Handle things yourself, and call me if anything comes up!"

Ivan glanced at Wang Bert and asked, "Aren’t you afraid I’ll burn through too much money?"

"Doesn’t matter. I have more money than I can spend. Besides, you probably can’t burn money as fast as I make it!"

Wang Bert laughed. With his current capital and the memories of his previous life, making money was far too easy.

If not for the Black Panther, that bug in the Marvel World, Wang Bert would definitely have become the richest man in the world! Sooner or later, I’ll steal the Black Panther’s Vibranium Mountain. It’s too damn unfair! Wang Bert thought to himself.

"You’re something else!"

Ivan laughed heartily, very satisfied with how much authority Wang Bert had given him. His time had not been wasted making this flying sports car! "Of course I am."

Wang Bert smiled and said to Frank, "Frank, get ready. In a few days, you’re coming with me to Texas to kill demons!"

"Demons? We dealt with ninjas and monsters, and now it’s demons?"

Frank was speechless. This million-dollar salary really was not easy to earn. It seemed he needed a raise!

"Gods and aliens are coming after that!"

Wang Bert said, "The future will be difficult, but it will also be exciting!"

"Then we’ll be waiting!"

Ivan and Frank both smiled excitedly. People like them craved battle in their bones!

In a small second-floor room in Houston, Texas, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson was holding binoculars as he monitored Damon, who was sitting at an outdoor café below and playing on his phone!

With S.H.I.E.L.D.’s capabilities, finding Damon had not been difficult! "Every morning, the target goes around different cities asking about Ghost Rider Cop. At noon, he leaves crowded places and heads into the mountains or desert to hide. He’s probably afraid of turning into Ghost Rider!"

Coulson lowered his binoculars and muttered into his recorder, "Also, the target is severely addicted to his phone. It never leaves his hand. Judging by the screen, he seems to be scrolling through Twitter!"

Coulson was a little speechless as he said that. Such a cool Ghost Rider, scrolling Twitter every day? The image simply did not match! A newly graduated agent suggested, "Boss, we can have Twitter give us its data. That way, we can learn more about the target!"

"The owner of Twitter won’t give us the data," Coulson said.

The agent did not understand. "He dares refuse?"

Coulson shook his head. New agents always thought S.H.I.E.L.D. was the biggest force under heaven, but they did not know that S.H.I.E.L.D. was not as powerful as they imagined. For example, Twitter’s owner would not care about S.H.I.E.L.D. at all.

Coulson waved a hand. "No need to say more. How is the investigation into Ghost Rider Cop going?"

Another agent answered, "There are many legends about Ghost Rider Cop, but most are fake. We need some time to sort through and verify them."

"Make it quick," Coulson said. "Information about Ghost Rider Cop can help us gain the target’s goodwill."

The first agent asked, "Boss, the target can’t transform during the day, right? Why don’t we move in during daylight and capture him?"

"No rush. Observe first."

Coulson smiled, but inwardly gave the new agent a failing grade. Too impatient, too full of himself, and most importantly, he had repeatedly questioned his superior. He was completely unsuited to be a field agent! At the outdoor café, Damon waited for someone while constantly scrolling through his phone to see whether Mindy had posted anything new. Whenever she did, he immediately liked it, letting his daughter know that her father was always paying attention to her! Recently, Mindy’s posts had all been more or less the same—school was so boring, classmates were so stupid, and so on. Clearly, she did not want to go to school at all and even wanted to skip class.

Twitter is run by your Master. Posting that you want to skip school there is basically walking into a trap, Damon silently complained. Just then, he sensed danger and instantly darted away from his chair. The next moment, a sharp earthen spear shot out of the ground, pierced the chair, and shattered it into pieces! Seeing that he had missed, the Behind-the-Scenes Manipulator directly controlled the ground to tremble. The café’s parasols, tables, and chairs crashed down amid the shaking, and Damon was pinned beneath a parasol!

"Ah! An earthquake!"

The people around them fled in panic. Realizing something was wrong, Coulson immediately led several agents downstairs and rushed toward the café!

After pinning Damon beneath the parasol, the Behind-the-Scenes Manipulator immediately controlled the earth under him, turning it into a spear that thrust upward. Damon shouted, and raging flames erupted from his body. Both the parasol and the earthen spear turned to ash!

The moment the parasol burned away, sunlight shone on Damon again. He screamed as the Hellfire vanished and his body rapidly returned to normal! Under sunlight, Ghost Rider could not transform!

The concrete ground in front of Damon suddenly split open. Then, a large amount of dirt flew out and formed an ugly earthen man. He laughed loudly. "Mephisto’s rider is nothing special!"

"Who are you?"

Damon demanded angrily while secretly using his phone to send a distress signal. They had arranged to meet here earlier.

"I am Earth Demon, and I was ordered to kill you!"

Earth Demon shoved forward, and more than ten spears burst from the ground at once, stabbing toward Damon. Damon retreated to evade them, then turned and fled toward a dark alley nearby.

Earth Demon immediately pursued him. Along the way, he grabbed two earthen spears and hurled them at Damon. Damon dodged them in a miserable state!

Just as Damon was about to reach the shadows, Earth Demon stomped the ground hard. The earth shook, the wall to Damon’s front left exploded with a bang, and a large amount of dirt and stone shot toward him. Damon could not dodge in time. Several bricks struck him, sending him flying backward onto the ground.

"Die!"

Earth Demon raised an earthen spear, intending to throw it through Damon. At that moment, several people beside him opened fire simultaneously. Bullets blasted one small crater after another into his earthen body! Earth Demon turned and saw several men in suits attacking him. He smiled disdainfully, raised his left hand, and several spears shot out of the earth. Other than Coulson, who dodged in time, the other three agents were all pierced through! However, none of them died. Earth Demon seemed to have deliberately avoided their vital points.

"Damn it!"

Coulson was both shocked and furious. This was simply not an opponent they could handle.

After severely injuring three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Earth Demon ignored them and turned his attention back to Damon. Damon had already climbed to his feet and was clutching his chest as he fled outside! "It’s useless. You’re dead!"

Earth Demon grinned viciously. Just as he was about to attack again, a sniper bullet fell from the sky and blew his earthen body apart!

Immediately afterward, camouflage-colored armor slowly descended from the sky. It said to Damon, "Mr. McReady, are you all right?"

"Bert sent you?"

Damon breathed a sigh of relief. Then he sensed something and hurriedly shouted, "Careful, he isn’t dead! Also, don’t land!"

Before Damon had finished speaking, more than ten earthen spears shot from the ground at Hero Number Two. Frank gave a disdainful smile and activated the Gatling gun on his arm, firing a barrage that shattered every earthen spear!

Not only that, the Earth Demon that had just reassembled himself was blasted apart again, making him curse repeatedly in his heart.

Frank stopped firing and asked, "Is he dead now?"

Earth Demon reformed once more and answered, "I am immortal, human! You will pay for what you have done!"

Frank shot him apart again, then asked Damon, "Is this a demon? How do we kill it?"

Damon said helplessly, "I don’t know either. This is my first—no, second time seeing a demon!"

"Die!"

After being shattered several times in a row, Earth Demon furiously controlled the dirt to form a massive palm that swept toward Hero Number Two. Frank snorted coldly. The Gatling guns on both arms began firing at once, while two missile launchers rose from his shoulders and screamed toward the giant earthen hand!

Boom! Boom! The entire earthen hand was blown to pieces, and dirt rained down with a crackling patter. Damon and Coulson hurriedly dodged. Frank’s firepower was truly ferocious.

Earth Demon grew even angrier and forgot Damon entirely. He constantly controlled dirt to form spears that shot at Frank. Frank’s entire body was a weapon. Why would he fear Earth Demon? He fired madly, nearly turning the surrounding area into ruins!

Fortunately, everyone on the street had fled earlier. Otherwise, the casualties would have been terrible.

At that moment, a voice suddenly sounded beside Damon and Coulson. "Looks like I’ll have to pay compensation again. Coulson, can S.H.I.E.L.D. cover part of it?"

The two turned and saw that Wang Bert had arrived at some point. Both were delighted. Coulson hurriedly asked, "Mr. Wang, can you deal with this demon?"

"It won’t be easy," Wang Bert said. "Let Ghost Rider handle it!"

Damon smiled bitterly. "The sun is too strong right now. I can’t transform!"

"Don’t worry, I made preparations. The truck should be here soon."

Wang Bert smiled. As soon as he finished speaking, a large truck drove over. Wang Bert led Damon and the others to the cargo bed and opened the rear door. Inside was a battered suit of armor—Hero Number One! "Mr. Wang, can this armor still be used?"

Coulson was stunned. Shouldn’t this be displayed in a museum? Without the chains on the outside, the armor would probably fall apart immediately! "Others can’t use it, but Damon can."

Wang Bert smiled. "Damon, put on the armor and deal with Earth Demon. From the very beginning, I wanted you to demonize the armor!"

"Demonized armor? That really is a great idea!"

Damon excitedly climbed into the truck bed and placed his flaming hand on Hero Number One.

As the flames spread across Hero Number One’s body, it was not only rapidly repaired, but its appearance also became more imposing and ferocious! Then, Hero Number One automatically came apart, flew onto Damon, and reassembled around him. Damon roared excitedly, wearing the burning Hero Number One as he smashed through the truck’s roof and flew toward Earth Demon!

"I understand you’re excited, but why did you have to smash through my roof? What did my roof ever do to you?"

Wang Bert was speechless. Coulson smiled. "With the armor, even sunlight can’t stop Ghost Rider!"

"Ghost Rider’s flames weaken in sunlight, but they should be enough to deal with Earth Demon!"

Wang Bert said. At the same time, Ghost Rider flew above the battlefield. Without a word, he grabbed his flaming chain and whipped it down hard. The chain plunged directly into the earth, tunneling downward! Then Ghost Rider yanked upward. The ground shattered, and he forcibly dragged out an earthen man. That was Earth Demon’s true body—the earlier ones had all been clones, which was why he could keep reviving! Frank stopped firing in annoyance. The professionals really were different. He had settled it in one move!

Earth Demon, burned by Hellfire, let out a miserable scream. His body melted at a visible rate as he begged, "Spare me! Please, spare me!"

"I do not forgive you!"

Ghost Rider was about to burn Earth Demon to death when Wang Bert shouted, "Damon, spare his life. I want to send him to the lab for research and see what demons are like!"

Coulson hurriedly said, "Mr. Wang, S.H.I.E.L.D. can help with the research!"

Wang Bert glanced at Coulson. "This is my trophy!"

Coulson smiled awkwardly and did not dare say anything else. Ghost Rider shouted unhappily, "Sinners should all be judged! Him, and you as well!"

"Looks like he’s getting carried away!"

Wang Bert took out a Controller and pressed it. The armor on Ghost Rider immediately came apart and fell away. The mighty Ghost Rider from moments ago was struck by sunlight, instantly returned to normal, and fell to the ground.

Earth Demon was freed as well. Just as he was about to flee, Wang Bert said, "If I were you, I wouldn’t run. I only have one chance of mercy!"

Earth Demon froze. He looked at Wang Bert, hesitating. Run or not run, that was the question! After a moment, Earth Demon made his decision. He raised his hands and said, "I surrender, but I demand prisoner treatment!"

"You even know about prisoner treatment?"

Wang Bert was surprised. He raised a hand and pointed at Earth Demon. A streak of blood-red light flew into Earth Demon’s chest, locking his power core like a chain!

"You’re a Vampire?"

Earth Demon was startled, secretly relieved that he had not run. Otherwise, he would have been dead for sure.

Wang Bert lowered his hand. "Call me Blood God! Can you change your appearance? You’re too ugly like this!"

"Of course! I’ve actually been living among humans all along."

Earth Demon nodded. Yellow light flashed across his body, and he turned into a bald man. Then, with a flattering expression, he said, "Blood God, I can serve you. I can do many things!"

"This is a demon?"

Frank was deeply disappointed, as was Damon, who had climbed back to his feet. The demons they had imagined were not supposed to be this afraid of death!