What an Unlucky Bastard

Although it was practically certain that Hulk was about to say goodbye to this world, Kraft still had Angela check the locations of the people he cared about, just in case. Once he confirmed that they were all far away from Bruce Banner, he continued using the learning helmet to recharge himself.

However, the thing was not all-powerful. Uploading knowledge did not mean Kraft could invent gadgets that had never appeared in his dreams like those scientists could. It merely allowed him to understand the principles behind gadgets that had already appeared and modify them to a certain extent. What made those scientists truly impressive were their wild, unconstrained ideas.

Besides, Kraft could not understand inventions that completely ignored logic, like those made by Dr. Dongyun and Dr. Arale, no matter how much knowledge he uploaded. It made him intensely curious about what kind of worlds those people lived in.

Unfortunately, the dreams generally only showed the manufacturing and testing processes. As for everything else, Kraft could only make guesses based on details such as the contents of books, interior furnishings, and architectural styles.

It was one of Kraft’s little pleasures within his dreams.

After stuffing some of the information from his dreams into his head, Kraft removed the helmet and shook his slightly swollen head. Every time he finished uploading knowledge, he needed some time to digest it. He really had no idea how that Child Emperor in his dreams had managed to absorb the knowledge of an entire library in an hour.

Kraft slumped in his chair like a salted fish. Mechanical arms wearing white gloves extended from both sides of the backrest, pressing against his temples and continuously kneading them.

"Something happened on Bruce Banner’s side."

Just as Kraft had recovered a little and was about to put his newly absorbed knowledge into practice, Angela’s projection appeared before him again.

Before Kraft could ask anything, Angela projected the scene onto the wall.

A yellowish-green monster was rampaging through the streets. It looked even more savage than Hulk, with sharply defined joints and a row of spikes running down its back. If Hulk looked like a bodybuilding champion fresh out of a gym, then this monster looked like a veteran underground fighter who had spent years brawling in illegal boxing rings.

"Hulk! Get out here!"

The yellowish-green monster grabbed a car and casually hurled it at a military helicopter overhead, roaring at the top of its lungs.

"What the hell is this thing now?"

Kraft’s first thought was of the blood Bruce Banner had sent Samuel Stern.

"This guy isn’t Mr. Blue, is he? He’s not blue at all."

"Based on his previous conversation with the military, he appears to be the officer in charge of capturing Hulk."

"Uh… so this is General Ross’s trump card against Hulk? But it looks like he’s lost control too…"

When searching for information related to Hulk earlier, Kraft had indeed come across material about General Ross conducting research into the Super Soldier Serum. The location had not been in New Mexico, however, so Kraft had ruled it out at the time.

"How the hell did he turn the Super Soldier Serum into something that looks like Hulk?"

"It appears this officer secretly received another injection of Hulk’s serum from Samuel Stern."

Angela promptly cleared up Kraft’s confusion.

"…Fine… General Ross really is one unlucky bastard."

Son-in-law turned into a monster, subordinate turned into a monster. If his daughter, or even he himself, became a monster someday, that would be hilarious.

At the thought, a malicious smile appeared on Kraft’s face. As a representative of America’s hawkish establishment, General Ross was naturally someone Kraft was more than happy to laugh at.

Just as they could not stop Hulk, ordinary soldiers were completely incapable of stopping the monster Emil Blonsky had become. Since they were in the city center, much of their heavy weaponry could not be used. Other than hiding at a distance and firing a few ineffective rounds, they could not inflict any meaningful damage.

However, judging from General Ross’s usual behavior, that hardline hawk probably would not endure this for much longer. After all, the one currently rampaging through New York was his subordinate. If he did not deal with him soon, he would probably end up before a military court. In truth, even if General Ross dealt with the monster now, he would not get off lightly.

In short… what an unlucky bastard.

Just as Kraft had guessed, once most of the civilians had evacuated, General Ross stopped worrying about the surrounding damage and ordered his men to begin using shells and other heavy weapons. The shockwaves from the violent explosions temporarily stalled the monster’s advance, but only made him even more enraged.

Blonsky, who had initially focused most of his attention on forcing Hulk to appear, began actively attacking his former comrades.

The army, which had only just gained a slight advantage, immediately began suffering devastating losses.

Then Hulk appeared.

The two green monsters began brawling in the streets of New York. However, compared to Hulk, who had been transformed from a researcher, Blonsky was far more skilled at fighting. The moment Hulk charged in, he was beaten senseless.

"Didn’t they say Hulk’s problem had already been solved?"

Kraft did not care who won between the two monsters. In his view, as long as America was willing to be ruthless, killing them by force would not be a problem.

"According to data analysis, the strength Hulk is currently displaying is significantly lower than before."

Angela listed sets of comparative data, then displayed the research materials she had stolen from Samuel Stern as well.

"The medication should have taken effect. It is simply that Hulk’s existence is more troublesome than expected."

"Hmm… there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with this solution."

Kraft carefully reviewed Samuel’s research materials, nodding from time to time. To guard against things like zombie viruses, he had also uploaded quite a bit of biological science knowledge into his own brain, so understanding Samuel’s materials was not difficult. Based on the description, it should theoretically have been able to solve Hulk’s problem.

Moreover, Hulk’s prolonged absence earlier and his obvious weakening now clearly showed that the solution had worked. It was just that the mutation in Doctor Banner’s body was far more tenacious than they had expected.

"So Doctor Banner isn’t dead, then?"

After Banner transformed into Hulk, he had chosen to live alone in seclusion, which had given Kraft a slightly better impression of him.

However, the events of the day seemed determined to contradict Kraft. The moment he reached that conclusion, he was proven wrong again.

"Hulk’s strength is recovering rapidly."

Angela brought up the battle footage again. In the video, Hulk had gone from being utterly dominated by Blonsky to trading blows with him evenly. Meanwhile, the strength values Angela had calculated for Hulk were rising at an astonishing rate.

"The strength Hulk is currently displaying has already far exceeded his previous records."

"Yeah… I can see that…"

The battle in the video was completely different from how it had begun. The once-arrogant Blonsky was now like a huge rag doll, gripped in Hulk’s hand and slammed around at will, utterly unable to resist.

"So how did that happen?"

Did the knockoff ultimately fail to measure up to the original? Kraft somehow felt as though he had been indirectly mocked.

"Based on the information gathered, Hulk’s strength appears to be related to his emotions. The angrier he becomes, the stronger he gets."

Angela had no idea about Kraft’s complicated inner thoughts. She matter-of-factly gave her analysis, then brought up footage of Hulk calming down because of Betty Ross.

"Emotions, seriously… What kind of trashy romance sci-fi movie plot is this…"

Kraft smacked his lips. He suddenly felt that the technology in his world did not seem all that logical either.