038. The Emerald Armored Hero: Nemesis of Evil

During the half month that Su Ye was busy learning Bajiquan, several major events took place.

The first was Tony Stark’s quarrel at the hearing. His opponents included not only unscrupulous media who repeatedly mocked him as undeserving of his reputation, but also business rivals who sought to suppress him, as well as officials who wanted to seize his Iron Man suit for themselves.

Faced with these three factions, Tony Stark spoke with a smile, eloquent and unruffled, much like Zhuge Liang debating with scholars. “I honestly don’t know why these wretches are here, let alone why they can level so many laughable accusations against me. It makes this hearing seem unprofessional,” he declared. “I’ve done many things they’re unaware of—Senator, are you just as ignorant? If so, I have to question whether you’re fit for your office.” “Of course, I know your aim: you want to use these hacks and that arrogant fool from Hammer Industries to force me to hand over the Iron Man suit. But relying on someone like him, you won’t get this technology in five years, ten, or even twenty.” “Let me tell you, I can prevent nuclear threats; the suit is useful in my hands, and both we and the world are at peace—your country is safe. If you want my creation, forget it!” “I alone can maintain world peace, and I certainly won’t cooperate with clowns like you!”

Tony Stark lived up to his reputation as a winner in life. Not only did he possess wealth beyond most men’s wildest dreams and sleep with women they could never hope to meet, he could even curse out the Senate in a hearing, leaving senators sputtering in outrage. The scene left both the hearing and television audiences awestruck.

To everyone watching, Tony Stark was like a deity. He was unstoppable!

“Can Spider-Man prevent nuclear war?”
“Can Spider-Man preserve world peace?”
“Would Spider-Man dare to point at the Senate and curse them in a hearing? No—Spider-Man isn’t even qualified to attend such a hearing.”

Many topics disparaging Spider-Man surfaced among fans, but only a few days later, Iron Man suffered a crushing defeat.

At the Monaco F1 Grand Prix, a mechanic appeared with a reactor on his chest almost identical to Iron Man’s. Though his armor was crude, his electrified whips packed enough power to nearly kill Tony Stark right on the racetrack. Although Stark ultimately managed to turn the tables with his portable suit, the incident severely tarnished Iron Man’s image of invincibility.

Firstly, the Iron Man suit was proven not to be the only high-tech gear unattainable for twenty years—this assassin, more like a tinkerer, had managed to slap Stark in the face with rough but effective technology. Secondly, Iron Man was shown not to be invincible.

If you can make a god bleed, people will no longer worship him. If there’s blood in the water, sharks will gather.

The assassin’s actions revealed to many that the seemingly untouchable Iron Man, who looked as if he truly could single-handedly maintain world peace, was in fact a man who could be wounded, who could bleed. If people wished, he could be killed.

This dealt a heavy blow to Iron Man’s reputation. In the shadows, all sorts of sinister figures began to stir. Surprisingly, Spider-Man’s fans did not reignite hostilities.

It wasn’t that they’d become more rational, accepting that heroes are bound to be injured, that Iron Man could be hurt just as Spider-Man could. Most fans are irrational—asking them to admit their idol is just an ordinary person is nearly impossible. Most still believed that if Spider-Man faced the same situation, he would have reversed it faster and with more flair than Iron Man.

Yet Gwen managed to control the discourse from behind the scenes, suppressing the inflammatory comments. Now that Gwen had successfully infiltrated the underground hacker community, with their help she could swiftly resolve issues that couldn’t be handled on the public stage.

Meanwhile, the Osborne Group launched a new superhero—the Green Armored Hero—who quickly drew attention and diverted much of the public’s focus. The Green Armored Hero was Harry’s chosen name; ultimately, his flight suit and glider were colored green, supposedly to show the world that the Green Goblin was merely an accident, and that the Green Armored Hero represented the true intentions of Osborne Group.

Perhaps it was a case of rising from where one had fallen?

Su Ye wasn’t certain, though he felt Harry would be better named the Green Shell Hero, or perhaps more bluntly, the Green Hat Hero—after all, with MJ as his girlfriend, that was a fate he’d have to bear sooner or later.

The debut of the Green Armored Hero partially fulfilled the expectations New Yorkers had for Spider-Man. Compared to Spider-Man, whose operating hours were random and erratic, the Green Armored Hero, driven by clear purpose and backed by capital, emerged with an attitude of sworn opposition to crime.

The criminal underworld lurking in New York’s night suffered heavy blows; many exposed criminal activities were struck hard.

It left them deeply disgruntled. Spider-Man was one thing—he only dealt with a few creeps bullying women, never even touching the black market trades like human trafficking. But the Green Armored Hero was different; relying on his mobility and firepower, he could sweep through Manhattan in a single night, following clues up the chain with impressive efficiency.

Police and citizens even united to bestow upon him the title “Nemesis of Crime”—surely more impressive than being known as a friend to women.

“I never realized that under the cover of night, our city harbored so much evil!” Harry said, sitting with Su Ye in the school cafeteria.

With graduation looming, they returned to handle affairs, and perhaps these were among the last moments they could sit naturally and equally with their classmates. After graduation, some would step into society, others would diverge at different universities, and later at various jobs, their lives would diverge completely.

There would be no more chances to sit together so freely.

However, Harry felt that his friendship with Su Ye would not suffer such changes. Even though he had become the Green Armored Hero, Su Ye’s prior display of strength against Thompson suggested he could easily become a masked hero at night—using Chinese martial arts to fight evil.

Yet his friend was too laid-back. Wasn’t this wasting his youth, squandering his talent?

“Xiao Ye, why don’t you join me? Let’s fight crime together. You shouldn’t waste your talent—bring it to New York!” Harry urged.

Su Ye’s lips twitched slightly. What was this supposed to mean? Was he trying to recruit him to play hero together?