Through Hulk's memories, Bruce Banner understood one thing very clearly—Hulk rejected the Dragon Ball. He refused to be wished away, to be erased from existence.
In other words, without Hulk, Bruce had no chance of winning the Dragon Ball battle.
If he didn't transform into Hulk, he wouldn't stand a chance at getting a Dragon Ball. But if he did transform, Hulk would just throw the Dragon Ball away.
Faced with this dilemma, Bruce fell into deep silence. And worse still, Hulk's memories revealed something terrifying—Smith Dole, the man who handed him the Dragon Ball tournament ticket, was unbelievably strong.
Even in his Hulk form, Bruce had been completely overpowered. Hulk had no choice but to retreat.
Could he really expect the other participants in this tournament to all be regular, physically weak humans?
"I'm in trouble. Things just got complicated."
Betty looked at Bruce's half-naked body, now only clothed in a torn pair of pants. She immediately took off her trench coat and draped it over him.
"No matter what kind of trouble you're facing, I believe in you. After all, you're Bruce Banner—the genius with seven PhDs."
"Let's get out of here and find you some new clothes first."
Encouraged by her words, Bruce nodded.
Betty drove them to a small motel. While Bruce went to clean up, Betty went out to buy him some clothes.
Lying in the bathtub, water from the showerhead hitting his face like a barrage of bullets, Bruce suddenly had a flash of memory—the giant fist of Smith Dole coming at him during the fight. That memory alone took over his vision.
Bruce flinched and dropped down in the tub, recognizing the reaction as post-traumatic. Hulk's memory had triggered a physical response, not unlike PTSD.
Lying there, he tried to think of a solution—a way to get Hulk to help him, not fight him.
If that failed, he would resort to research or reach out to Mr. Blue. Now that he had retrieved the old experimental data, perhaps there would be some promising developments on that end.
Not long after, Betty returned with a bag of clothes. She opened the door and placed them on the bed.
"Bruce?"
She called out just as Bruce stepped out of the bathroom, wearing only a towel and brushing his teeth.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
He set down his toothbrush. "I'm fine. I feel a lot better now."
"You were right—nothing can defeat me."
Betty smiled warmly. "Good to hear."
Bruce then pulled out a USB drive.
"I just removed this from inside my body."
Betty looked at him, wide-eyed. "You ate it?"
Bruce chuckled. "You have to understand—at the time, things were really intense. I didn't have a choice…"
"I even thought about swallowing the Dragon Ball too, but I just couldn't do it."
"If you hadn't found it for me, I wouldn't know what to do next."
"Thankfully, I stitched that Dragon Ball coin into my waistband—it didn't fall out."
Betty was amazed. "Wow!"
"Good thing Hulk tossed the Dragon Ball instead of swallowing it. I don't even want to imagine how you'd retrieve it."
She turned to the bed, gesturing toward the clothes.
"There weren't many options, but I got a few things you can choose from."
"First, this."
She tossed him a watch box containing a heart-rate monitor.
Bruce caught it, opened it, and strapped the watch on.
"Honestly, I thought a power level scouter would look cool on you," she joked. "Too bad it's so expensive."
Bruce nodded. "Yeah, $3 million a unit. I heard they've sold over thirty thousand."
"By the way, do you know what my power level is in Hulk form?"
Betty thought for a moment. "Not exactly, but I heard it's over 150."
"The power level scouter maxes out at 150—anything higher breaks the device."
"And the guy who beat you was Smith Dole, CEO of Capsule Corporation. Tony says his power level exceeds 150 too. They'll probably release a second-gen scouter soon."
She then tossed him a massive pair of stretchy purple pants.
Bruce held them up. The pants were so big they could fit two of him. He tried them on for size and looked puzzled.
Betty laughed. "What's wrong?"
"Too loose? That's already the largest pair they had."
Bruce smiled. "I'll figure something out."
Just then, Betty's phone rang.
She frowned at the unfamiliar number and was about to hang up, but Bruce said, "Answer it. Maybe someone's looking for you."
She followed his advice and picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hi, this is Fox from the League of Assassins. I'm calling to notify Mr. Bruce Banner about the Dragon Ball tournament. Could I speak to him, please?"
Betty looked at Bruce. "It's for you. Something about the Dragon Balls—they want you to join the tournament."
Bruce took the phone.
"This is Bruce Banner."
"Mr. Banner," said Fox, "I'm one of the organizers for the Dragon Ball tournament. We're calling to inform you that the competition will officially begin tomorrow."
"Our team will be arriving via helicopter to pick you up. Please have your Dragon Ball and competition coin ready. We'll transport you to the battle venue."
Bruce nodded. "Got it."
"Do you know where I am? Do I need to tell you?"
Fox chuckled. "Mr. Banner, we know exactly where you are. Please wait patiently—our staff will arrive shortly."
At the same time—
Tony Stark, Selina, Xu Shangqi, and Xu Xialing also received calls from the League of Assassins regarding the Dragon Ball tournament.
…
(End of Chapter)
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