Master

Chapter 368: Master

"Banner, you lost your temper again just now."

A white man with orange hair, a calm, indifferent face, an earring, and a nose ring watched Banner tuck a bloodstained towel into his pocket and spoke in an ethereal tone.

The moment his words fell, Banner’s lingering agitation vanished completely. He then sat cross-legged across from him, palms pressed together.

"I lost my composure, Master."

If any Reincarnators with well-informed French Legion intelligence sources had been nearby, they would have recognized this orange-haired man as one of the big shots from French Credit, the tenth-ranked legion in France!

But…

Only French Credit’s upper ranks knew that this big shot had perished completely during a Bloody Counterattack.

Using the alias "Bernard," a French Brazilian—this was Human Path Pain’s current identity.

Human Path Pain fully understood what Banner wanted most right now and knew his goals and intentions inside out. Having reached an extraordinary level of mastery over emotions and mental control himself, after locating his target through that beverage factory, he naturally and effortlessly gained Dr. Banner’s favor.

At the same time, he taught him a few small techniques for controlling his emotions.

"I can sense that you possess unimaginable power within you. But how to control that power, how to control your emotions—those are things only you can rely on yourself to do. Outsiders cannot help."

Human Path Pain spoke in an unfathomable tone.

Someone without ability would be dismissed as a fraud, but when Human Path Pain said it, it was genuinely convincing.

Because around him, Banner could clearly feel his mind become tranquil and peaceful.

"Master, I have learned quite a few methods of controlling my emotions over the years, but none of them compare to staying by your side. I hope you can give me a chance."

Banner maintained his reverent posture with his palms pressed together, sitting properly across from Xu Yue’s Human Path Pain.

"I cannot give you what you seek. As for how much you can learn, that will depend on your own fortune."

Human Path Pain remained expressionless. How am I supposed to teach Space skills?

What he needed now was an opportunity to get close: raise his relationship rating while inserting himself into the Hulk storyline, and find chances to draw more blood.

Banner was extremely cautious about his blood. When he bled into that drink before, he had even stopped the production line to search for the source. He simply had not found that tiny trace of it.

Without earning enough of his trust or showing that he had a solution, it would be difficult to obtain his blood.

In fact, the future "Leader," Samuel Sterns, was currently conducting related academic exchanges with Banner online under the alias Mr. Blue.

Only after gaining Banner’s full trust did Banner mail a blood sample to him.

He found the sample too scarce, so he secretly replicated a large quantity of blood himself. Abomination was later able to gain part of the Hulk’s power because of this, while Sterns himself underwent the Leader mutation after his wound was contaminated with the blood.

Like the diluted First Hokage solution cells, replicated blood was definitely less effective than the original. But if he could bring out the complete data and the replication equipment, they would still be quite valuable.

It would be best to acquire the production line for replication over there while extracting as much original blood as possible from Banner over here.

With his current identity as Master Bernard, earning enough favor for Banner to trust him should not be too difficult. He could simply obtain the blood by spending favorability…

"This is a bit troublesome, Jason."

Still inside a corrugated metal shack in the slums, the female Reincarnator who had received new intelligence spoke solemnly to her teammate, who had already attempted to obtain blood.

"What trouble? General Ross’s side?"

Jason took Lucy’s intelligence sources very seriously. In their previous collaborations, she had acquired highly secret information, and they had gained considerable benefits every time.

"No. I carefully filtered through Banner’s connections, and among all the intelligence I gathered, there is no information about him interacting with this Master Bernard."

The female Reincarnator’s expression had already darkened somewhat.

"Oh, didn’t you say he seemed to enjoy seeking out all sorts of jujutsu masters and folk masters? It’s impossible for you to know about every single one he meets."

Jason, however, did not think much of it. Brazil was relatively chaotic, and Banner was highly vigilant. Sometimes, simply noticing Reincarnators following him could make him alter his original course of action.

So the masters he came into contact with should have been entirely random.

"I remember finding some related information: someone once tried to impersonate a master to approach Banner, but triggered his transformation and got torn to pieces. There shouldn’t be any other Reincarnators foolish enough to court death, right?"

He added another remark afterward.

"No! My intelligence sources are extensive. While it is uncertain exactly whom Banner will meet, there is still a general circle of people. Yet this Master Bernard has never appeared before."

Lucy seemed extremely confident in her intelligence sources as she spoke decisively.

Seeing her companion’s stern expression, Jason gradually put away his dismissive attitude. His face also turned grave.

When it came to gathering intelligence, he truly could not compare to his companion.

If she was completely certain, then it was almost certainly true.

"Then what do we do? Work with him? He should also want Banner’s Blood, and he definitely does not want us to release the monster inside Banner."

The other party had quietly approached such a terrifying target and was nearly successful. Naturally, they could not possibly think he lacked ability.

Since he was a capable Reincarnator, choosing to coordinate and cooperate in this ordinary mode was clearly a good option.

However, his suggestion was rejected as well.

"It’s useless. The benefits each key target in this Mission Space can provide are limited. If he obtains a large amount of Banner’s Blood, Banner will become increasingly wary and protective of his blood. He may even ruin the injection plan that originally could have worked for us."

Lucy seemed to understand the intelligence surrounding this Mission Space extremely thoroughly, her voice filled with anxiety and gravity.

There were other competitors, but none of them were worth worrying about. Only this one was special!

Damn it. We have already come this far, and success is right within reach.

"Then what do we do?"

Lucy had already made up her mind. Upon hearing her companion’s question, a cold glint appeared in her eyes.

"Kill with a borrowed knife!"

"Whether it is the Reincarnator, Banner himself, General Ross, or even S.H.I.E.L.D.! There will always be something he cannot withstand. The enemy is in the open, while we are in the shadows. That is our greatest advantage…"