Chapter 1387: The Return of the Old Days (Part 3)

Finding Kingpin's stronghold in Hell's Kitchen was as easy as eating and drinking for Riley. After all, for a long time, this emperor of the criminal empire was Spider-Man's main enemy, at least in the Spider-Man of Riley's memory.

Riley recalled what Kingpin was doing in that magical central universe he later went to? Oh, he seemed to have set up some kind of immortality factor industry to promote in the universe. Riley remembered seeing this guy once in the Sanctum Sanctorum, still strong, burly, fierce, with a cold sneer hanging on the corner of his mouth.

Spider-Man was all too familiar with this expression. It often appeared after Kingpin had reached some unknown gray deals with a gang boss in a city, only in that universe it might have been replaced by negotiating a big deal with some interstellar civilization or space pirates.

Riley still remembered his instinctive muscle tension when he bumped into Kingpin in the Sanctum Sanctorum. This reaction lasted until Kingpin smiled and wanted to hire him as a multiverse salesman. At that time, Riley ran fast. Spider-Man had never wanted to see Kingpin so much in his life. Wasn't one Nick enough?

Seeing Kingpin again, Riley felt a kind of desolation, because this man, who was once incomparably strong and possessed almost the strongest muscle power in the world without special power modification, had now turned into a fat, ugly, bloated monster.

He still wore a suit, had Kingpin's appearance, only grew pointed ears and long fangs, hung tumors around his waist, and tentacles stretched out from his back. His perfect body, where every muscle had been tempered countless times, was completely ruined by these foreign decorations.

Standing in the hall of Kingpin's palace, Riley was surprised by the jumpiness of his own thinking, but the fact was, Spider-Man always felt that Kingpin's overly strong body made him a difficult opponent. But now it seemed that when the aesthetic of the human body was destroyed by these trivial monster elements, it was still enough to make one feel regretful.

Kingpin, standing in the hall, roared. Jessica flew to his side, trying her best to avoid eye contact with him, and shouted a reminder: "Careful, he has lost his mind!"

Xu Shangqi stood in the center of the hall, one hand held in front of his body, quickly pinching the magic formula, essence and spirit flowing in his eyes, and a breeze blowing under his feet.

"Cast the hexagram!"

Accompanied by one complex text pattern after another lighting up from beside his feet, the Bagua diagram gradually took shape, the text rotated faster and faster, and the light became brighter and brighter.

Riley understood what Xu Shangqi was going to do, so he gestured to Jessica.

Jessica swooped down, and the hunting gun hit Kingpin's waist with a "bang," but the bullet couldn't penetrate the tentacles at all. Riley shouted: "Use your fists!"

After speaking, he stuck a spider silk to the railing of the second-floor ceiling and swung over with a "whoosh," kicking Kingpin on the shoulder. Kingpin let out a roar and swung his fist backward at high speed, but was staggered by a shot Jessica fired at his foot, failing to grab Spider-Man.

After Spider-Man landed, he stuck to the pillar of the hall, climbed upward spirally at high speed like a real spider, used his leg strength to jump onto the railing of the second floor, turned around and jumped lightly again, jumping onto the chandelier at the highest point like a falling leaf.

Jessica's peripheral vision caught his movement, so she guessed his purpose, so she flew around Kingpin at high speed to attract his attention, but didn't let him hit her. The hunting gun fired from time to time. Although it couldn't cause substantial damage, the kinetic energy of the fired bullets could affect the target's balance.

Kingpin's strong and powerful legs bent slightly, and he jumped up, wanting to grab Jessica who was revealing a flaw in the air, but a cold sneer appeared on the face under Jessica's black hair.

She turned and rotated, her black hair like butterfly wings, dodging Kingpin's pounce with a smooth mid-air maneuver, and then like a panicked moth, wobbled toward the center of the hall.

Kingpin wouldn't let go of such a good opportunity to attack. He supported the ground with tentacles and jumped quickly between the pillars of the hall, searching for that flexible figure, not noticing at all that the chandelier above his head had already swung.

"Bang! Clatter"

The chandelier, along with Spider-Man, smashed down heavily. Kingpin let out a scream and fell to the ground, but he wasn't seriously injured, just stunned by the impact for that moment, but that was enough.

"Rest, Injury, Life, Obstruction, Scenery, Death, Surprise, Open, Eight Gates, Lock!"

The bright Bagua diagram fell heavily from top to bottom, and several chains firmly bound the huge body amidst the clear echoes.

Xu Shangqi turned his hands slightly in a ring in front of his chest, then palms facing down, fingertips facing each other, and the airflow and hair fell together.

"Cool as hell, buddy!" Riley swung over at high speed and shouted loudly.

Jessica also landed on the ground, looking at the silver magic chains with some curiosity. At least in her opinion, this should be a kind of magic. She looked at Xu Shangqi who was walking over, shook her head lightly, and said: "You look quite strong. I thought you weren't the mage type."

"I wasn't before, I'm working hard in this direction," Xu Shangqi shrugged and said, "Fine, actually it's because I'm not very good at fighting. I don't know any fighting techniques. What's the use of having a strong body?"

Speaking of this, the three of them cast their eyes on Kingpin. Riley pursed his lips, frowned, and said: "Don't you think he's a bit weak?"

"This is weak?" Jessica raised her tone and said, "Didn't you see I shot him, and not even a spark splashed out? He's outrageously strong!"

"I mean, he's become a bit stupid," Riley seemed not to know how to express it. He walked around Kingpin and said, "Kingpin used to be very cunning. He wouldn't face me head-on, but would first find a large group of killers to exhaust my physical strength, and then set up a bunch of traps in his bedroom or office, making me run around in exhaustion."

"Finally, he would find a completely open space favorable to him, without any fulcrum to borrow strength, forcing me to fight him head-on. Although I have great strength, I'm light in weight and not in the same weight class as him, so it's easy to be thrown away."

Riley babbled about his failed experiences facing Kingpin. He said, "He isn't a small fry like Bullseye. He's powerful and cunning. I suspect I haven't even dealt with his true self. Those were just stand-ins, but now this..."

Xu Shangqi also frowned. He stretched out a finger and analyzed rationally: "If, as Jessica said, all the superheroes in this world have been infected by a kind of madness virus, then perhaps what they gained isn't strengthening, but actually weakening."

"This madness virus makes them more aggressive, growing tentacles and fangs, with heads full of crazy ideas about destroying the world, but this also means they may have lost the most important advantage of being human, which is wisdom, or calm self-restraint. This is very important."

Jessica frowned, seeming not to understand a bit. He shook his head and said: "I only know that if it were the original Kingpin, if I shot him like I did before, he would definitely die. His kidneys would explode into pieces, but now it's completely impossible. Doesn't this count as strengthening?"

"But the Kingpin before wouldn't have given you the chance to hit him at all," Riley had full right to speak, "If guns could solve the problem, Kingpin wouldn't have lived so long. Too many people wanted to kill him."

"Judgment of one's own situation, strategic head for thinking of countermeasures after judgment, and the executive ability to stably execute strategy and tactics—this is what's most important," Riley repeated the content of Ma Te's lecture, imitating Ma Te's tone.

"Humans have five fingers. Without clenching into a fist, they can also make tools and set traps. Humans have mouths. Without using them to insult the other party, they can also be used to interfere, persuade, or even communicate. But monsters seem to have completely forgotten these, exchanging these most important things for some less important defensive power. A huge loss."

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Jessica seemed to understand a bit. She nodded, and then looked at Riley, who said these words, with a slightly surprised gaze. Riley shrugged and said: "Don't look at me, this was said by an elder."

"Who? Your father?"

"No, Daredevil Ma Te. I don't know if he's famous in your world, but he can also be counted as our common father, although I'd rather see him as a mother."

"Daredevil." Jessica raised her tone. She had of course heard this name. After all, she had lived in Hell's Kitchen for quite a while. If she remembered correctly, Purple Man seemed to have been taught a lesson by this guy.

Jessica was just about to open her mouth to say something when a black shadow appeared outside the palace of Kingpin. The three turned their heads in unison and saw a tall figure wearing a tight suit. The figure was very familiar to Riley.

"Ma Te!" Riley exclaimed.

But his spider-sense rang. So much so that not only did he not step forward, he took two steps back. After seeing the specific image of the visitor, anger rushed to Riley's heart.

This Daredevil Ma Te also had long fangs, a series of tentacles growing on his chin, the skin on his neck was full of abscesses and tumors, and the skin was collapsed beyond recognition.

"Riley, Riley, calm down!" Xu Shangqi hurriedly grabbed Riley. Seeing Riley's clenched fists, he had to hurriedly pinch a heart-clearing formula with his other hand and pat it on Riley's back.

Riley shook his head hard, took a deep breath, his arms still trembling, and he gritted his teeth and said: "How dare they..."

"Careful!" Jessica exclaimed.

Ma Te, who rushed in at high speed, entangled with Riley again, and Xu Shangqi, who temporarily had no close-quarters combat experience, had to avoid the edge and stand on the periphery of the battlefield to provide assistance with magic formulas.

And looking along the distant skyline toward the distance of New York, another battle was erupting on the commercial street of Manhattan. Quill and Rocket Raccoon were back-to-back, facing the siege of several monsters.

Quill held a shotgun in his hand, while Rocket Raccoon had a hand cannon. Quill first blasted the head of a zombie with tentacles, then swung the gun barrel to knock down a centipede-like bug that was approaching Rocket Raccoon. Rocket Raccoon's hand cannon finished charging. With a "whoosh," a rocket exploded, shaking the monsters until they fell over.

"Wait! What is that?"

Quill stared behind the smoke of the explosion. A figure walked out, slender, burly, holding a star-spangled shield in his hand—this was probably the only superhero Quill recognized.

In the era before Quill left Earth, he was a household name, but Quill used a serious and low tone to call out his name: "... Captain America!"

"How dare they!"

With a "bang," the tea on the table was knocked over. Stark in front of the Zen window could no longer maintain his deep posture. He stared at the text on the notebook with eyes full of anger, gritted his teeth and said: "They turned Captain America into a monster! How dare they!"

Strange sat on a single sofa, one leg crossed over the other, still maintaining decency, and even quite a bit of high-and-mighty mockery and ridicule.

But when a page of the notebook was turned, and other dense text was understood by his brain, he couldn't sit still either.

"This monster Captain America was actually toyed with by the owner of the notebook?! Just with a burning truck???"

Strange's tone was even higher, almost cursing.

"He gave up his human appearance, human wisdom, and even human dignity, just to gain this little bit of power?!"

"Damn idiot!" ===== CHAPTER 1388 =====