"Huh? Midtown High? Isn't that my school?"
"The house Stark built for me was invested in by his company, right?"
Blaine, who had just walked out of the villa's backyard and was about to head to school, heard the news, immediately teleported, and dropped straight onto the sofa in front of the TV.
Since Blaine had been living here for a long time, TV news had basically become his main source of information about the outside world, so it was almost always on.
A closer look—his meow, wasn't that Blaine's home in Queens?
"You grandma's—why do you people like blowing up my house? What kind of grudge is this?"
Counting this, it was the second time someone had blown up Blaine's place…
"Looks like the impact last time wasn't enough. This time, if I don't beat your parents for this, then I, Blaine, am not Blaine, and I'm not the indomitable Bounty Hunter…"
He had already been depressed for half a month after that incident. This was perfect timing—he'd been wondering where to vent his frustration. And of all times, they had to blow it up when he was already angry.
Just right—it even saved him a trip to check on the house. A moment ago he'd been thinking of stopping by his home in central Queens on the way to school. He hadn't seen it since Tony rebuilt it.
After all, it was what Blaine's parents had left him in this Marvel world. And as the starting point of Blaine the Bounty Hunter, it held special meaning.
He also wanted to see if anyone had left quests there. Earn some extra money while he was at it. Well, now everything was gone in one shot…
In an instant, Blaine teleported to Queens again. Looking at the pile of ruins before him, the anger in his chest flared hotter. The more he looked, the angrier he felt.
"Hey, what happened here?"
Blaine grabbed an old woman nearby to ask what was going on. Even if it was his own house, he couldn't just barge in shouting, "Who blew up my home?"
But when the aunt turned her head, Blaine realized—wasn't this the same aunt who was watching when his house got bombed the first time? Sure enough, this kind of thing was human nature—it knew no borders…
"Hey, it's you again. Didn't you see the police? The bombing, the whole place, kaboom!"
"What a pity, such a nice house, blown up again…"
After hearing that, Blaine knew it was hopeless. Trying to get useful intel from this type of person was a fantasy.
"Young man, you know, it's been a rough night around here lately."
"You live nearby too, right? As a neighbor, let me remind you—kids your age shouldn't go out at night. Recently, I don't know what's going on, it's just too—"
"Did you see anyone sneaking around here at night?"
She seemed to be a resident of the neighborhood, so it was possible she had seen something.
When it came to finding culprits, Blaine was terrible at it. Criminal methods in the Marvel world were way too elaborate. People blew up your house quietly, erased all traces, and left nothing behind. Extremely annoying—no culprit to catch, and even the almighty American police couldn't do anything about it… Whoever ran into this was just unlucky.
"Well, I heard there were ninjas at night?"
"Hm! Ninjas? The Hand?"
Hearing that, Blaine immediately thought of the mysterious organization. He'd killed one of their Five Fingers last time—Bo Tu—so they must be holding a grudge. As a shadowy group that had existed in the U.S. for so long, they wouldn't swallow that insult easily.
"Thank you."
Before the aunt even finished talking, Blaine strode away.
"Hey, Blaine! Why are you here?"
At the entrance of a nearby dark alley, someone suddenly called out to him.
"Hey, Peter, what a coincidence. Why are you here? Don't you have class today?"
"Well, uh… today's Friday. There's no class in the afternoon, so I came back early…"
"Skipping class."
Blaine looked at little Spider-Man with an indescribable expression. Others might not know, but Blaine did—his mind-reading spell made everything obvious. The kid had obviously sneaked out again to punish criminals, and this alley just so happened to be where he changed suits. Pretty stylish.
"Uh, Blaine… did you know your house got bombed again?"
Little Spider-Man awkwardly ruffled his hair and rushed to change the subject. It was also the reason he'd called out to Blaine.
"Yeah… oh right, Peter, have you seen anything suspicious near my house lately?"
Queens' most Spider-Man-like "friendly neighborhood" hero definitely knew something. Blaine couldn't rely solely on what the aunt said.
He needed to vent his anger—but venting only mattered if it hit the right people. He couldn't cut off his income stream over this…
"You know what, I found this near your house."
Saying that, little Spider-Man took out a cross-shaped throwing dart from his pocket.
The stone hammer—this had to be from the Hand's lunatic ninjas. Remembering how they had also spread his true face around, Blaine's anger deepened.
"Thanks, Peter. I still have things to do. I'm heading out first—see you next time!"
Now that he knew the real culprit, Blaine didn't want to waste another second. His hands were itching—someone desperately needed to take responsibility for this. If there wasn't blood this time, Blaine wouldn't let it go.
"Okay, see you next time—oh, and hey, I really did just pick that up!!!"
Watching Blaine rush off, little Spider-Man yelled his explanation.
Blaine, of course, already knew what had happened—he could figure it out with his toes. This kid must have run into the Hand's lunatics while "patrolling," followed them, fought them, and they escaped, leaving that behind.
Since it was Friday and school was out, business could begin.
Even though Blaine didn't know where the Hand's members were, as long as he knew who they were, he could definitely find them.
On the sofa, Blaine closed his eyes, and his mental power spread outward, following the paper crane.
Ever since buying the Soul Tracking Technique, he'd rarely used it. The last time he pulled it out during the upgrade to Hunter Space 2.0, he'd nearly tossed it as trash. Now, it finally had a use again.
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