Chapter 59

Hovering five kilometers above the battle zone, Liu Rui'an, lying in a small spacecraft, suddenly opened his eyes.

"It seems that even the movie version of the Hulk, with its power armor and a person enhanced by intermediate gene optimization fluid, still can't match up to the opponent."

"But it's not surprising. Although this guy's strength has been weakened in the movie version, the characteristic of becoming stronger the angrier he gets has been retained to some extent."

"In this situation, it's not a problem that they can't win. Unfortunately, I've never been able to obtain the Hulk's genetic sample. Otherwise, I could try to cultivate another combat species."

Thinking about this, Liu Rui'an, knowing he still needed to intervene, didn't waste any more time. He went directly to his private cabin and put on the improved angelic armor, which had been redeveloped using Kryptonian power armor technology and materials.

That's right, the one who had just fought the Hulk face-to-face was not, or rather, not entirely Liu Rui'an himself, but a genetically enhanced artificial being.

The reason it wasn't entirely Liu Rui'an himself was that the artificial being accompanying Skye had been in a "networked" state with Liu Rui'an since they left the Umbrella Technology Tower.

This networking was different from the telepathic connection with Skye. To some extent, it was as if Liu Rui'an had transferred his consciousness into the artificial being and used its body to fight the Hulk directly.

This way, not only were Phil Coulson and the others in the dark, but even Skye, who was unaware, didn't notice that the person beside her wasn't entirely the same person.

After quickly putting on the angelic armor, Liu Rui'an teleported to the sky above the battle zone.

At the same time, the 'Liu Rui'an' who had just been punched away by the Hulk, with his power armor suffering fatal damage, lost his combat ability.

Faced with this situation, Skye, who had been closely watching the battle, instantly unleashed her strongest power, and a powerful shockwave erupted.

This time, the shockwave didn't just cause a sandstorm, or rather, not entirely.

The Hulk, who was charging towards the area, had just crossed his arms in front of his face to withstand the sandstorm. Before he could continue his charge, he felt the ground beneath him give way.

Under the influence of the powerful shockwave, the relatively solid sand was almost instantly split into a curved, trench-like abyss.

The Hulk, despite his immense strength, couldn't fly like Superman without a surface to push off from, and thus fell directly into the abyss.

"Are you okay, Hao Tian?" Skye, who had performed exceptionally, quickly came to the side of the person after confirming that the green giant had disappeared into the abyss she had created.

"I'm fine, but I can't continue," the 'Liu Rui'an,' whose power armor was already shattered by at least one-fifth and had cracks covering another two-fifths, replied.

Just as Skye was about to use the communicator she had obtained from Phil Coulson to terminate the test, she heard an angry roar from the nearby abyss.

Before the roar had even ended, a green figure shot up from the abyss and charged directly towards 'Liu Rui'an' and Skye.

Both Skye and Phil Coulson, who were watching the monitors, knew the consequences if the green giant reached them.

"Find a way to terminate this test!" Phil Coulson, grabbing a staff member's shoulder, ordered urgently.

"I can't, sir. The inhibitors placed earlier malfunctioned during the battle and are now out of control," the staff member, who had been operating the controls, replied helplessly.

Natasha Romanoff, standing beside him, remained calm. She stopped Phil Coulson, who was about to leave the tent, and said, "Don't worry, Phil. I don't think he would risk his own life."

At that moment, the staff member, who had just said he was helpless, suddenly exclaimed, "Sir, an unknown object has appeared above the monitoring area!"

Phil Coulson, returning to the monitor, didn't need to give an order. The staff member had already displayed the corresponding image on the screen.

Meanwhile, Liu Rui'an, clad in angelic armor, teleported in front of the Hulk, who was now red-eyed, and punched him.

"Back off!"

Although the Hulk didn't know the origin of this sudden enemy, it didn't matter. He just wanted to fight first.

So, a green fist quickly collided with a similarly large, dark-golden armored fist.

To everyone's surprise, in this head-on confrontation, the one who lost was the Hulk, who had almost destroyed a city.

"Good grief, this guy's strength has broken through again!" Liu Rui'an, who had punched the Hulk away, thought to himself, though he wasn't at all relaxed.

There was no way around it; the Hulk's strength was indeed formidable, far exceeding what was shown in the movies.

Liu Rui'an didn't know what the Hulk had been through, but he could guess it wasn't something pleasant.

"Hey, how's Liu?" Liu Rui'an asked, taking advantage of the moment when the Hulk was punched away to appear beside 'himself.'

"He's fine." Skye, who had known about this person before the mission, couldn't help but ask, looking at the dazzling armor, "Are you Imperius?"

"Yes, I am." Liu Rui'an nodded and then turned to look in the direction where he had punched the Hulk.

Without giving Skye a chance to speak, he teleported between 'himself' and the Hulk, grabbing both and rising into the sky.

"Take care of him. I'll handle this." Liu Rui'an said, sending them to the transport vehicle.

"Be careful." Skye, knowing this wasn't the time for politeness or bravado, nodded and said, "We appreciate it. And you did well just now."

Liu Rui'an, looking at her through his helmet, said, "I'll make sure to avenge you. And you did great."

Skye, subconsciously walking to the cabin door and watching the figure fall, had a strange look in her eyes as she tightly gripped the cabin wall.

Liu Rui'an, not paying attention to Skye's thoughts, crashed into the sand dune with a loud thud.

Strangely, the sand, which should have turned into a small sandstorm under the impact, instead coalesced into a massive statue in the air.

Although the statue wasn't as detailed as a real one, anyone with good eyesight could see that it was almost identical to Liu Rui'an's current appearance.

This unusual situation naturally caused great concern and shock among Phil Coulson and the others.

After all, Liu Rui'an's current appearance was too similar to an angel from a certain pantheon.

Even though not everyone in the group was devout, the effect was still considerable.

However, for the red-eyed Hulk, the statue formed by the sand had no effect.

Seeing the green figure rapidly approaching, Liu Rui'an remained calm and extended his right hand towards the Hulk.

"Sir, another abnormal object has appeared above us," the staff member at the control panel in the temporary camp reported immediately.

Before Phil Coulson could ask for the image, a monitor showed a "meteor."

At the same time, the Hulk, who had been punched away, was making his final leap to attack his target.

But while still in mid-air, he felt a terrifying energy surge from above.

Just as he managed to look up, he felt a massive heat wave plummeting from a short distance in front of him.

Before the Hulk could instinctively dodge, a deafening explosion sent a terrifying shockwave and a cloud of sand hurtling towards him.

Liu Rui'an, sensing through his telepathic radar that the Hulk had been knocked away by the shockwave rather than hit by the dark-golden spear, thought to himself without any guilt, "Poor guy, no, lucky guy..."

In truth, the Hulk was indeed lucky.

Although the meteor-like spear that fell from the sky might not have killed him, it would have certainly injured him, and not just lightly.

What surprised Liu Rui'an was that after the dust settled, the Hulk didn't launch a new attack.

"Did I really kill him?" Liu Rui'an, pulling the dark-golden spear that caused the sandstorm into his hand, couldn't help but wonder.

After the telepathic radar and the small spacecraft's detectors scanned the area, Liu Rui'an was somewhat amused to find that the Hulk had been knocked back to his human form.

Hovering above the crack that Skye had created, Liu Rui'an saw a figure curled up on a protruding platform and called out, "Hey, Dr. Banner, need some help?"