Xiao Han hovered high in the sky, looking down at the HYDRA Base below.
With his current power, a mere breath could level the place.
But then he suddenly thought of something and flew downwards.
He landed in the Base's main control room and found the database for the "Serum Project."
After a quick scan, Xiao Han discovered he was randomly chosen; HYDRA had found his body at a car crash site, yet for some unknown reason, he still showed signs of life, so they brought him back as an experimental subject.
"So… I was just unlucky? A car crash brought me to the Marvel World?" Xiao Han frowned.
"Ding! Host's query detected. Additional explanation: The host's selection was not accidental; the system detected an anomaly in the space-time structure of this Universe, and quantum fluctuations appeared at the host's time of Death…"
Xiao Han shook his head: "Speak in plain terms."
"Simply put, Host, you were supposed to die, but a bug appeared in the Universe."
Xiao Han couldn't help but laugh out loud: "So I'm a bug now?"
He closed the database and flew into the sky again.
The Sun shone on him, and his blue experimental suit flapped in the wind.
Xiao Han suddenly realized that he now possessed the power to change the World.
"Since I've been given a second life…" He looked towards New York in the distance.
"Superman…?"
"No! I'll do whatever I want!" Xiao Han raised his head, his eyes firm.
As he left, he destroyed the Base with a single Heat Vision blast.
He broke the sound barrier, leaving a circle of White vapor in the air, and vanished into the sky.
Clouds over New York were silently swept past by a blue Shadow.
Xiao Han landed on the roof of an abandoned factory building in Queens, the cold wind blowing against his thin HYDRA experimental suit.
He rubbed his temples; Super Vision unfolded like an invisible radar net, and the sound waves of the entire city instantly flooded his ears.
"…The gold will be delivered to the docks tonight…"
"…This batch of goods is 92% pure, trade at the usual spot…"
"…The Black Mask gang's deal is tonight…"
Countless criminal conversations were filtered through Xiao Han's ears.
Three minutes later, he locked onto a suitable target.
A strip club in Brooklyn called the Red Snapper, with the Irish gang's illegal gains from the past three months hidden on its second basement level.
Xiao Han glanced at a passerby's watch again.
The current time was 0:17 AM, New York time, of course.
Perfect timing for the operation.
A hint of a smile flashed in his eyes, and his figure instantly vanished from the spot.
In the club's back alley, two bodyguards were smoking.
"I heard Boss Devin recently got his hands on Stark Industries' weapon prototypes?"
"Shh, don't mention it, that batch of goods is hidden in the vault…"
Before he finished speaking, a gentle breeze swept past.
Bodyguard A suddenly felt a chill on his neck, his vision went black, and he collapsed, never to wake up again.
Bodyguard B had just reached for his waist when he saw an Asian youth standing in front of him, his eyes glowing with an eerie red light.
"If you want to live, shut up," the youth asked, his voice carrying a strange resonance.
Bodyguard B's pupils dilated: "Okay."
Xiao Han nodded in satisfaction and sent him to meet God with a light hand chop.
Super Speed allowed him to pass through layers of security as if no one was there; all surveillance cameras inexplicably malfunctioned as he passed by.
In front of the underground vault door, Xiao Han's Super Vision directly saw through the internal structure of the 30-centimeter-thick alloy door.
He focused his eyes, and Heat Vision precisely melted the twelve bolts without triggering any alarms.
The sight inside the vault made him raise an eyebrow; besides piles of cash, there were three metal boxes bearing the Stark Industries logo in the corner.
Xiao Han casually opened one, revealing a weapon prototype inside.
He took out his phone, which he'd taken from the unconscious bodyguard, and snapped a photo of the weapon.
Then he threw away the ugly experimental suit top and stored everything in his system space.
Enough to last him for a while.
As Superman, he wasn't afraid of being traced, but there would be a lot of trouble, and he wasn't the God of Death; he didn't just kill anyone who came his way.
That wouldn't be human; that would be the God of Death.
Besides, this low-level way of making money would only be for this one time.
Just as he was about to leave, his Super Hearing suddenly picked up an unfamiliar electronic sound from upstairs.
Xiao Han narrowed his eyes and used his Super Vision to see that in the third-floor VIP room, Black Widow was interrogating the club owner.
"…Where is your smuggling chain?" Natasha's voice was cold.
"I swear to God I don't know! We only do ordinary human trafficking…"
Xiao Han shook his head, not planning to meddle.
He left silently, taking nothing with him.
5 AM, a high-end apartment in Midtown Manhattan.
The real estate agent groggily opened the door to see a well-dressed Asian youth standing outside.
"I want to rent this one." The youth handed over a stack of cash, "Right now."
The agent looked at the six months' rent, totaling $96,000, in the other party's hand and instantly sobered up: "Don't you need to see the apartment first?"
"No need." When the youth smiled, his eyes seemed to flash with a hint of blue light.
Two hours later, Xiao Han was soaking in his new home's jacuzzi, with three newly purchased laptops floating in front of him.
His Super Brain was absorbing information about this World at an astonishing speed.
"Iron Man just announced his identity… Captain America hasn't been unfrozen yet… Spider-Man saved someone again…"
Xiao Han muttered to himself, simultaneously typing lines of code on the keyboard.
Ten minutes later, he successfully created a perfect new identity.
"Xiao Han, U.S. Chinese, orphan, MIT dropout, currently a freelance programmer."
There was no other way; no matter which World it was, a Chinese ID card was hard to get.
With Superman's abilities, he now had three choices.
One, completely hide his abilities and build a business empire.
But this was a superhuman World; that wasn't realistic.
Two, intervene in crime to a limited extent and become a Shadow Guardian.
He didn't want to be a good neighbor, so this was also a pass.
Three, wait for the opportunity, then join the Avengers.
After thinking about it, he felt this was also a pass.
S.H.I.E.L.D. was annoying, and he didn't want to be controlled.
Having teammates wasn't out of the question, unless the other party was Batman.
So, he only had one choice, and that was to do what he wanted to do.
Xiao Han didn't dwell on these thoughts, walking to the floor-to-ceiling window to overlook New York.
The Sun shone on his well-defined face, reflecting a pair of unfathomably deep eyes.
"First, get familiar with the World," he said softly, "Then…"
His Super Vision penetrated a dozen blocks, seeing a red-haired female reporter in The Daily Bugle building writing an article about Iron Man.
In a certain Base, a one-eyed Black man was staring at energy readings on a screen.
On the top floor of Oscorp Tower, Green Goblin Osborn was researching something.
Xiao Han's lips curled slightly; in this perilous Marvel Universe, he neither wanted to be a hero nor a villain.
But one thing was clear: when he was ready, the entire World would know of Superman's existence.
And now? Now he needed a cup of coffee and more detailed World intelligence.