What the hell kind of outfit is this?
Looking at the kidnappers holding katanas, Li Qingyuan was momentarily dumbfounded.
Did he somehow walk into the wrong script? Had he already crossed into a mission world?
I mean, what era was this? And yet there were still people carrying swords to do kidnappings?
This was New York, for crying out loud! You could walk into any supermarket and buy a handgun. What else could a katana be used for other than cutting fruit?
Surely these small-time thugs weren't all sword masters capable of slicing bullets in half, right?
"You! Move over there!"
Perhaps noticing Li Qingyuan's gaze, one of the kidnappers shouted at him in broken English.
"Uh…"
Glancing at Wanda and Chen Ying, who were crouched beside him, Li Qingyuan decided it was best not to provoke these people just yet.
Even though with his current abilities he could easily pass for a superhuman, facing over a dozen submachine guns still made him feel uneasy.
Not to mention, he had two little burdens tagging along!
Bringing Wanda and Chen Ying into the crowd, he squatted down and began carefully observing the kidnappers.
This was clearly a premeditated attack. The kidnappers had ambushed the subway station, and without causing any casualties, managed to take hundreds of hostages.
Judging from their level of coordination and organization, this wasn't some random gang of idiots.
But with such a large-scale operation, weren't they crossing the line a bit?
After all, this was the world's financial capital — every inch of New York belonged to someone. If he remembered correctly, this stretch of Broadway in Manhattan should belong to that fat bastard, Kingpin.
Yet these guys didn't look like they had any connection to him.
Wait a second… in the Marvel world, a gang doing bad things with katanas… could they be The Hand?
"Do it!"
A woman suddenly stepped forward and gave the order.
Immediately, several kidnappers began setting up plastic explosives around the crowd.
As a bomb expert himself, Li Qingyuan could tell with a glance that the bombs were real — though the dosage was off. Even if they detonated, it wouldn't kill everyone.
At most… half.
"I know you're here. I'm giving you five minutes to come out and surrender. Otherwise, I'll kill all these people!" shouted the woman, who seemed to be the leader. Her voice echoed through the empty subway station.
???
Not only Li Qingyuan — all the hostages were completely confused. None of them understood who she was talking to.
At this point in time, Tony Stark was still hammering away in some cave in Afghanistan, so the concept of "superheroes" wasn't exactly popular yet.
Unlike the years to come when heroes ran all over the place, there wasn't a single one in New York right now. Daredevil was still busy studying for exams, Spider-Man was in elementary school, Iron Man was forging metal, Captain America was frozen in the Arctic, and all the other weird ones hadn't shown up yet.
Even the newspapers and TV stations hadn't coined the term "superhero" — people were far more interested in Victoria's Secret shows and gang wars.
Tony Stark's disappearance after dominating the headlines for two days had long since faded. In New York, no matter how big the news, it was forgotten in three days.
"Aren't you supposed to be the self-proclaimed messenger of justice? Are you really going to let these innocent people die because of you?"
There was still no response from the empty station, but the woman seemed confident, shouting into the air as if she knew someone was there.
Could it be that before Iron Man, there was already some kind of superhero in New York — one who got wiped out by the underworld, so no one knew about them?
Watching the kidnappers act like they were facing a great enemy, Li Qingyuan couldn't help recalling what little he knew.
He wasn't too familiar with Marvel comics. Even though he'd been a failing web novelist in his past life, he only knew about the Marvel movies and a few key characters.
After all, Marvel comics had been running for over seventy years — anyone who memorized all of them would be a real genius!
The woman ranted at the air for several minutes. If not for the dozens of armed kidnappers standing around, most people would've thought she was mentally ill.
"Five minutes are up! Since you refuse to come out, I'll just have to start killing!"
Seeing that her speech had no effect, the woman stopped talking and gestured with her chin toward her men.
Apparently, they were going to make an example — kill someone to send a message to this unseen "superhero."
The kidnapper originally planned to kill a female reporter lying on the floor, but for some reason, his eyes wandered through the crowd and landed on Wanda crouching beside Li Qingyuan.
Maybe it was because, thanks to Li Qingyuan's help over the past six months, Wanda had developed quite a bit — no longer a half-grown loli, but a true childlike beauty. So, after comparing the reporter and Wanda, the kidnapper decided killing a loli would feel more… satisfying.
Judging by the mask, tight clothes, and katana — the guy clearly looked like a pervert anyway.
"Brother, you've chosen the wrong path."
Catching the kidnapper's outstretched, sinful hand before it could reach Wanda, Li Qingyuan sighed and shook his head helplessly.
So many hostages here, and you just had to walk straight into death's door.
"Baka!"
The kidnapper roared in rage when someone dared to resist. Swinging his other hand, he raised the katana to slash at Li Qingyuan.
But clearly, his swordsmanship was nowhere near Iaido level — before he could strike, there came a crackling sound like a string of firecrackers.
From his wrist, which Li Qingyuan was gripping, tiny explosions popped one after another like a human anatomy diagram lighting up.
Because the guy was too close, Li Qingyuan didn't dare use high-powered explosives — afraid of hurting Wanda and Chen Ying — so he simply let the man experience the might of micro-bombs firsthand.
"Kameda!"
Several nearby kidnappers shouted when they saw blood spurting from their companion. They raised their katanas and charged toward Li Qingyuan.
The ones with submachine guns instantly swung their weapons around and aimed at him.
Yanking the barely-breathing Kameda in front of him as a shield, Li Qingyuan began considering how he was going to escape this mess.
From that brief exchange, he had already gauged the kidnappers' strength. They were slightly above average humans — more like elite street thugs.
If he were alone, with hundreds of hostages around, even with a dozen men armed with guns, he could easily take them out before they managed to kill everyone.
Unfortunately, he had two little girls hiding behind him.
But wait a second…
Didn't he forget something?
-----------------------
Completed English PDF of this fan-fic on my Patreon shop if you want to support and own the full fan-fic in one go. Just grab the PDF and binge the entire story from start to finish!
Guys, I've uploaded some High Quality english translated fanfic on my Patreon shop! Feel free to check it out-if you're interested, you can grab a copy and support me there.
patreon.com/SuperTL
Here are a few titles of recently uploaded fanfics:
" Accelerator in Marvel "
" Marvel: Invading the Multiverse, Wanda and Gwen Are Shocked "
" Just Arrived in Marvel, System Awakens Silver Superman "
" Marvel: I Took Over Iron Man's Team "
" Marvel: Some Flash Lost "
" The Giant of light in the marvel world "
" Marvel and DC: The Ruthless Challenger "
many more are available 43+
Your support means a lot-thanks in advance, legends!
patreon.com/SuperTL
(End of Chapter)