Too Thin, Eat More

Dr. Sterns was dead?

Upon hearing his subordinate’s report, General Ross nearly tore off his headset.

So all my years of effort were for nothing?

His mind went blank. General Ross felt utterly helpless, like a teddy bear that had been played with hundreds of times by its owner before being tossed into a garbage dump—having lost its value and its direction in life.

Torn and battered, covered in grease.

Giving off a nauseating stench.

No, I can’t be discouraged!

So what if I have to enter politics? At worst, I’ll start over from scratch!

General Ross pulled himself together and said in a low voice, "Secure The Laboratory immediately. Seal away all the data and the Hulk Serum!"

This wasn’t over yet.

Once the storm passed, once he had established himself at the Pentagon, the experiments could continue.

Everything would get better!

Hope shone in General Ross’s eyes.

Azeroth Laboratory, Old Wang’s bedroom.

An orange-red portal flashed and vanished, and Old Wang stepped out.

"Wang, General Ross must be heartbroken, right?"

Seeing Old Wang appear, Skye guessed what had happened. The corners of her lips curled up slightly. "Hulk is gone, Blonsky is gone, and now even Dr. Sterns is gone. His daughter ran off too. How miserable."

Even having his family destroyed and everyone dead wouldn’t be enough to describe it.

His career and family had both been ruined. What a failure.

Old Wang rubbed Skye’s head. "At least he still has the Super Soldier Serum, the Hulk Serum, and Dr. Sterns’s research materials. If he has the courage, he can keep researching. Maybe he’ll really make something of it. But he probably won’t."

This was the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not some other parallel universe.

The General Ross of this universe was only General Ross. He never became Red Hulk, not even by the time Thanos died.

Besides, Dr. Sterns was already dead. No one would help him.

The Thunderbolt Agents would not come into existence either.

So…

He should honestly go develop his political career.

If he got lucky, with his abilities, he should be able to secure a decent position—Minister of Defense, Secretary of the Treasury, or perhaps…

Secretary of State?

"Forget about him. He can clean up his own mess. We have serious business to handle."

The moment he finished speaking, there was a knock on the door. It was Banner and Betty, the young couple.

"Director Wang, Blonsky…"

Before Banner could finish, Old Wang smiled and said, "Taken care of."

Taken care of?

Banner and Betty exchanged glances.

Well, that seemed normal. Someone who could defeat Hulk could naturally defeat Blonsky, even if that guy looked stronger than Hulk.

Strange. Why did merely having that thought make me feel so angry? Why did I suddenly want to fight Blonsky?

"Perfect timing. Come with me."

Old Wang opened the door and brought the three of them to the high seas.

They were five hundred meters above the open ocean, and the view was splendid.

In every direction, north, south, east, and west, there was nothing but a vast expanse of water. Puerto Rico, hundreds of nautical miles away, was nowhere to be seen, nor was a single ship.

Only a crescent moon and the stars filling the sky remained.

With heaven and earth so vast, there was no shame in skinny-dipping or swimming naked.

The sea breeze carried a salty dampness. Betty clearly liked the feeling, thinking that it would be even better if there weren’t two human-shaped lightbulbs beside them. That would be the world for just the two of us that I want—no father, no troubles, only you and me.

Banner, meanwhile, was more interested in the auspicious cloud beneath his feet.

He stomped on it, then crouched down and touched it. It was wet and slippery. Puzzled, he asked, "Is it a combination of energy and water vapor? And buoyancy generated through air currents? How did you do this? Can you manipulate energy?"

"You’ll have a chance to study it slowly in the future, Dr. Banner."

Old Wang smiled and looked into the distance. "Blonsky is over there… or rather, it should be called ‘Abomination.’"

Not far away, a brown monster was swimming.

Swimming was an essential skill for special forces soldiers. The problem was that in his current form, it clearly did not suit him. He was denser than iron; toss him into the water, and he would sink.

Water was not suitable for jumping either. This stretch of high seas was a natural prison for him. Leaving would not be easy.

It would take time.

Most importantly, with no landmarks around him, he had no idea where he was or which direction would bring him closer to land.

So even after several minutes, he was still floundering in place.

So helpless, so pitiful.

Old Wang almost felt sorry for him.

"That’s Blonsky?"

The night was deep. Even beneath the starlight, they were too far away to see clearly.

But they could at least make out his rough outline.

How had a perfectly good United Kingdom soldier turned into such a thing?

He was far uglier than Hulk!

Director Wang was right. He should be called "Abomination" now. Just looking at him was disgusting.

"This place isn’t suitable. Let’s change locations."

Old Wang drew a circle, and an orange portal appeared in front of Blonsky. Then he waved a hand. A giant hand of True Qi shoved Blonsky into the portal.

Bang!

The poor special forces soldier fell from several thousand meters in the air and smashed out a huge crater.

The tremendous impact of the fall knocked him unconscious immediately.

Although his physical abilities surpassed Hulk in his normal state in every respect, his healing ability and resistance to damage were actually weaker. He simply could not withstand it.

Even through the portal, Skye could feel the force of the impact. While silently mourning for Blonsky, she looked at Old Wang.

You did that on purpose?

"Alright, I wasn’t very familiar with that place, so there was some deviation."

Old Wang looked a little embarrassed.

He truly had not done it on purpose. The teleportation distance had simply been too great this time, so some error was normal.

Opening another portal, Old Wang arrived on a deserted island.

This was the same deserted island where he had fought Hulk hand-to-hand last time. It was covered in craters, and more than half the vegetation had been destroyed. The remaining half probably would not last much longer either.

Banner looked at Old Wang, not knowing why Director Wang had brought him here. I’m not interested in muscular brutes.

"To give Hulk some practice."

Old Wang smiled. "It’s better to guide than suppress. Bottling up emotions for too long leads to serious consequences. From now on, whenever your emotions fluctuate too intensely, go fight him. Come back after venting. Isn’t that great?"

Skye rolled her eyes at Old Wang. There were two more reasons he had not mentioned.

Fighting was something that improved with practice.

Strength alone was not enough. Experience and skill were needed too.

Hulk was a child who knew nothing, and he did not look like someone willing to study properly. Tedious training did not suit him. Using combat to temper him was the best method.

Blonsky was stronger than Hulk in his normal state, and he was tough and durable, making him difficult to kill. He was the best sparring partner.

Besides, Blonsky possessed both Hulk’s power and the power of a Super Soldier. He was one of a kind—the best experimental material.

It was just that his skin was too thick. How to draw blood from him was a problem, a very big problem…

"Fighting barehanded isn’t ideal. When I get the chance, I’ll get you some armor and a weapon."

Hulk was an Earth God-level being. Only divine artifacts were worthy of him, and in this world, divine artifacts were probably equivalent to legendary weapons in World of Warcraft—such as Thunderfury or the Warglaives of Azzinoth.

Hulk was a strength-based hero. Plate armor suited him best, and the material had to be good enough, or there was no point.

His hide was thick and his flesh tough. His defense was comparable to Vibranium. Among all the materials in World of Warcraft, few could rival Vibranium. They were all epic-grade materials, absurdly expensive.

Any reasonably good legendary weapon was worth an entire Immortal Dragon’s Dragon Bone. He truly could not afford the exchange.

"I need to find a way to get some good stuff…"

There was no need to exchange for ordinary items. Old Wang had high standards. At the very least, they had to be Kamar-Taj artifact-level, or even divine artifacts.

Wait…

Hulk’s physique was comparable to Tortolla the Turtle God.

Although for various reasons, the value of his blood definitely could not compare to a demigod’s blood, it certainly would not be bad. And it was a renewable resource—he could get as much as he wanted.

What if…

"Dr. Banner, you’re too thin. You should eat more."

He looked at Banner with a concerned expression.