After helping Skye quickly complete her mission to become a full-fledged Agent, Darian recruited her into his direct X Squad as a technical scout, responsible for providing intelligence to the team members.
Skye was stunned when she saw the members of the X Squad.
Had she fallen into a pile of superheroes?
Except for her, all the other members were, without exception, superheroes.
Especially Spider-Man and Professor Max, these two were almost regular fixtures on New York media headlines. Skye was quite familiar with them; one relied entirely on the selfless traffic contribution of his biggest fan, JJJ, while the other relied entirely on Darian's money for hype. Their hot topic status was much higher than Harry's Hob Goblin.
However, Harry didn't care about this at all. As the heir to the Osborn Group, if he really wanted attention, he could directly emulate Tony, hold a press conference in the name of the Osborn Group, and then declare on the spot, "I am the Hob Goblin."
The others extended a warm welcome to Skye, the new member.
Now, the X Squad's assault positions had Peter and Harry, the engineer was Max, and with Skye as the scout, the lineup could be said to be quite complete, only missing a medical support specialist like Hagibee.
Afterward, Skye also witnessed what an efficient mission pipeline was like.
Whenever Darian, the Captain of the X Squad, issued a mission, the superhero members would immediately act, head to the destination, quickly complete the mission objective, and then Darian would instantly arrive at the scene using a teleportation bead to clean up, all in one go!
These missions, which were full of danger for S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, were no big deal in the eyes of these superheroes. They could be easily solved in a few moves, and if not, they'd just try a few more times.
Not to mention anything else, just Peter's few moves were enough to overwhelm anyone.
However, after an initial understanding, Skye discovered that apart from herself and Darian, the other members of the X Squad were not from S.H.I.E.L.D., nor were they even external personnel, yet they were all completing S.H.I.E.L.D. missions for Darian.
Skye was puzzled by this: "Why are these superheroes so enthusiastic about carrying out missions?"
Darian explained, "After completing missions, they can exchange for what they need from me. The Hob Goblin and Professor Max both have things they want."
"What about Spider-Man?"
"Uh, I'm not quite sure, maybe he just has a pure addiction."
"..."
To optimize the team's reward mechanism, Darian had Skye develop an exclusive internal platform.
This platform featured a concise interactive interface, where all redeemable items were clearly categorized and displayed, including equipment, materials, props, potions...
From small monetary rewards to supernatural items like life potions, it covered almost all types of needs.
Most of these items were equipment and resources that Darian didn't use or had in abundant stock. Instead of gathering dust in the game warehouse, it was better to use them to motivate the team members.
Darian named this platform the Exchange Mall!
Since this game didn't have a mall, he would create one himself.
Darian's thinking then extended further. Based on the Exchange Mall, he had Skye set up a mission system for the team members.
A mission system for NPCs!
Its function was similar to his own mission system.
When he accepted a daily mission, the NPCs would also receive the mission information synchronously, including the mission rewards!
The only difference was that when Darian completed missions, the rewards he received were experience points, reputation, and game props/equipment, while the mission rewards obtained by NPCs were only points.
They could use the points obtained by completing missions to freely exchange for items they needed in the Exchange Mall.
This felt like letting NPCs play games within a game.
As soon as the Exchange Mall went online, the X Squad members immediately became highly enthusiastic, and even the newly joined Skye was no exception.
Darian also put the local specialties he bought from the Nova Empire into the Exchange Mall. Among them were many excellent beauty products, which, for female members like Skye, were as attractive as the latest 5090 graphics card to men.
Of course, the points required for these items were not low.
Darian set a points requirement ten times their original value. A reward that he could get from one daily mission required members to complete at least ten, or even more, missions to redeem.
Such a black-hearted pricing did not dampen the members' enthusiasm; instead, it ignited the enthusiasm of the entire team.
The members began to frantically grind missions, wishing they could be doing missions every moment, just like Darian's state when he played games in the early stages.
With Skye's addition, the X Squad's mission execution efficiency reached new heights. She was like the team's human mini-map, capable of providing precise coordinates and real-time dynamics of targets at any time.
And Skye didn't need to be present at the scene. Anyway, she couldn't keep up with the speed of the other members. She only needed to stay in the safe house and operate remotely through a computer terminal, even leisurely eating snacks, which was much easier than the members running around outside, risking their lives.
With such high-intensity mission grinding, the other members all lost a circle, while Skye alone rounded out a circle.
However, the X Squad soon encountered a not-so-small problem.
This problem came from Harry Osborn's Osborn Group.
Ever since Tony, the Iron Man Suit enthusiast, set a precedent, coupled with Darian's Titan Mech BT's fierce battle with Abomination in Harlem, and the powerful combat effectiveness displayed in the Battle of New York, the Military developed a strong interest in single-person combat mechs.
Even General Ross, who was always a Hulk fan, couldn't help but turn his attention to the field of mechs.
Of course, he hadn't abandoned his long-held belief. He always believed that his Super Soldier program was not outdated, as could be seen from the revived Captain America.
A seventy-year-old popsicle could run and jump as soon as he thawed; wasn't that enough to prove how awesome Super Soldiers were!
But mechs were equally powerful. The scene where Darian killed Abomination with a single plasma railgun was still vivid in General Ross's mind.
As for how to choose between Super Soldiers and mechs...
As an old man, General Ross scoffed.
What's there to argue about? Just mix the two together to make a Super Soldier Mech, stupid!
Unfortunately, Tony had already retired and clearly stated that he would never use Iron Man Suit technology for Military purposes.
And Hammer Industries, which was willing to cooperate with the Military, saw its chairman, Justin Hammer, arrested and imprisoned after Ivan Vanko was killed by Darian, and the plan to manufacture Iron Man Suits similar to Tony's ultimately fell through.
Now, looking at the entire U.S. Military industry, the only one with research and development capabilities was the Osborn Group, with its wide range of businesses.
Thus, at the request of the Military, a major financier, the Osborn Group fully invested in mech research and development.
It must be said that the Osborn Group indeed had many talents, and they quickly developed several decent prototypes.
However, a criminal gang successfully stole their latest developed 'Rhino' heavy mech. This mech, shaped like a giant metal rhino, not only had astonishing defense but also was equipped with powerful destructive weapons.
This criminal group was the same organization that had previously robbed the Osborn Group's Plutonium-238 transport vehicle.
Because the leader's brother died in Darian's Great Fortune, and they couldn't find the real culprit, they decided to retaliate against Peter and Harry, who had appeared at the scene. With the help of an insider at Osborn Group, they obtained this new type of armor and caused widespread destruction on the streets to lure the two out.
One could only say it lived up to its name as the cradle of supervillains.
To stop the criminals driving the Rhino heavy mech, Peter and Harry rushed to the scene immediately.
But unfortunately, the Rhino mech's defense was truly astonishing. Peter and Harry's attacks were completely ineffective against it, and due to the large crowd on the street, they didn't dare to cause too much destruction, suffering repeated setbacks.
Their predicament at this moment was like Tony facing Stane's Iron Monger mech back then; in the face of purely stacked stats, any skill seemed so powerless.
Even Max, who arrived later, was helpless. The surface of this armor was covered with a special insulating layer, which perfectly blocked his electric shocks.
Evil Osborn Group!
Max felt targeted and couldn't help but curse inwardly.
As for Skye, facing such a purely confrontational scene, she could do nothing but watch the live footage from behind her computer, sipping happy fat-house water, just like an audience watching a blockbuster in a movie theater.
Just then, Darian's voice came from their ears.
"BT, smash it for me!"
As soon as his voice fell, a Military-green, one-eyed Titan Mech descended from the sky like a meteor, with a whistling wind, accurately smashing onto the top of the Rhino mech!
Boom!!
A deafening crash echoed throughout the entire street.
BT was seen kneeling on one knee in a standard superhero pose, completely suppressing the Rhino mech beneath it. The immense impact instantly cracked the surrounding ground, sending debris flying.
The Rhino mech, suppressed below, struggled frantically, trying to overturn the heavy pressure on it, but facing BT, whose stats were even higher, all resistance was futile.
BT's single eye suddenly lit up, its mechanical elbow joint retracted sharply backward, and then it delivered a powerful elbow strike towards the Rhino mech's cockpit!
Muay Thai warning!
This was precisely Darian's most proficient fighting technique.
Since BT and he had achieved 100% neural synchronization, BT had fully recorded all his combat habits and muscle memory, and naturally, it could also perform them.
Titan's Fist, also Muay Thai!
Boom!
The elbow strike heavily hit the cockpit's glass. This specially made bulletproof and blast-proof glass cracked slightly, and the criminal inside the cockpit was even dizzier.
Before he could react, BT's elbow strikes immediately followed!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!
Continuous heavy blows were like a storm, and cracks rapidly spread across the bulletproof glass, soon covering the entire observation window.
In the criminal's horrified gaze, the glass finally shattered, and a gun barrel larger than a head extended into the cockpit, pointing at him, accompanied by BT's cold mechanical voice.
"Hands up, and don't move!"
"I surrender! I surrender!"
The criminal was so scared he almost wet himself, his trembling hands quickly raised above his head.
He had no doubt that if he hesitated for a moment, he would be blasted into pieces the next second.
BT's mechanical arm then reached in, lifted him whole from the driver's seat, and threw him onto the open ground outside, breaking an unknown number of bones, making the criminal scream in pain.
Peter swung down from above, and seeing the criminal's miserable state, he couldn't help but click his tongue: "BT, can you be gentler next time?"
BT didn't speak, just silently looked at Peter.
BT: (⊙_⊙)
Peter: (゜_゜)
Harry landed from his glider, looked up at BT, and said in shock: "Is this Darian's mech? It actually defeated our Osborn Group's latest developed Rhino mech so easily. This is currently the best performing mech in our group."
At this moment, Darian walked in front of them, glanced at the Rhino mech, which had already turned into scrap metal, and showed undisguised disdain on his face:
"What a stupid mech design, who made this? To expose such a large observation window outside, what's the difference between this and driving a mech without a helmet?"
Harry: "..."
I didn't make it, I'm just responsible for signing it off, it has nothing to do with me.
"Guys, he looks really bad, he needs to go to the hospital."
Peter couldn't bear to see the criminal in such pain, so he squatted down, preparing to help him up.
"No, don't."
Upon hearing about going to the hospital, the criminal actually endured the severe pain and stopped wailing, raising his hand to firmly grab Peter's uniform.
One must know that medical expenses in America were an astronomical figure. Going bankrupt from a common cold was no joke, so many Americans would rather endure the pain than go to the hospital, and even criminals were no exception.
Damn it, hospitals were faster at taking their money than they were at robbing!
Peter covered his mouth: "Don't talk in this state. I know you're unhappy with me. You want to say you don't want me to send you to the hospital, right? No problem, I've already contacted New York Hospital, and an ambulance will take you to the hospital for treatment soon."
Criminal: ∑(Д)! This Spider-Man is so vicious! I will never rest until I get my revenge on you!
[Mission 'Mech Rhino' settlement completed]
[Reward obtained: 1500 Experience Points, S.H.I.E.L.D. Reputation +30, Equipment 'Spider-Man Suit']
[Equipment: Spider-Man Suit (A Spider-Man Suit from a parallel Universe, personally crafted by his non-blood-related father, utilizing cross-era nanotechnology, equipped with independently operable mechanical spider claws, combining offensive and auxiliary functions, and comes with the passive skill'Spider-Sense', greatly enhancing danger premonition ability)]
Recalling the early stages of the game, an opponent like the Rhino mech would have been considered a mini-BOSS.
But now, with Darian's increase in strength, such an opponent was at most a common side quest.
This was normal; early-game BOSSes often became elite monsters, or even easily dispatchable mobs, in the later stages. Players went from fighting tooth and nail at the beginning to casually finishing them off later. This was something every game experienced.
However, this mission reward actually dropped a Spider-Man Suit, and it didn't look weak in terms of strength.
Compared to Peter's homemade Spider-Man uniform in front of him, it was simply too much better.
It seems that the treatment of Spider-Man in each parallel Universe is not quite the same.
Some Spider-Men, like Peter on this server, had to go home and pick up a needle and thread, daintily mending their tattered clothes after fighting supervillains, while others could use nanotechnology to completely overpower enemies with high-tech.
What different fates for the same Peter!
"Since the matter is resolved, I'll head back first."
Darian waved his hand, preparing to teleport away.
He was originally fishing with Wanda by the lake in Sokovia when Skye suddenly sent a distress signal, so he teleported directly. That automatic fishing rod was still standing by the lake, continuing to fish on its own.
If he didn't hurry back, Wanda might discover the secret of the automatic fishing rod.
Imagining the scene where Wanda saw the fishing rod automatically catch a big fish, and Chaos Magic instantly surged onto her face, Darian felt a headache.
Just as he was about to activate the teleportation, Peter suddenly stumbled forward two steps, looking at Darian in a daze.
"Darian, I'm not feeling so good. I don't know, I don't know what's going on."
Darian: "?"