Hulk vs. The Rhino

Aiming at the Hulk and standing ready to inject this magical power into the Hulk's body just as before.

Yet.

At that very moment, the gunfire around them suddenly slowed down somewhat, and along with it, the frequency of the infrasound waves seemed to drop quite a bit.

What on earth is going on?

Zhong Shenxiu thought to himself.

Could it be that this base is running out of ammunition? That shouldn't be the case; logically speaking, for a base of this scale, they had only been firing continuously for a short while, so how could that be possible?

Still, Zhong Shenxiu withdrew that strand of magical power first, keeping Wanda's wisp of chaos magic safely contained within the small container.

Let's observe a little longer.

After all, once he added fuel to the fire, the Hulk would plunge into a completely irreversible state. Therefore, this was a decision with no turning back, and Zhong Shenxiu needed to think twice before acting.

After a moment, the bullets seemed to become even scarcer, their density dropping by who knows how many orders of magnitude compared to the beginning.

However, their "naive" little friend, the Hulk, did not think as much as Zhong Shenxiu. Seeing that the bullets had thinned out, he eagerly charged forward once again.

Following that, the restriction level of the secondary infrasound waves also decreased correspondingly. Without thinking twice, and assuming he had suddenly grown much stronger again, the Hulk let out another roar, forcefully broke through the overlapping infrasound zone, and strode once more toward the wall of weapons that had restricted him for so long.

Just as the Hulk was about to swing his sandbag-sized fist and smash into the dense array of weapons that had suddenly jutted out from the soil outside the concrete gates—

A silver-white figure suddenly materialized out of nowhere!

The speed of this silver shadow was so extreme that even with Zhong Shenxiu's current dynamic visual acuity, he could only capture a fleeting afterimage, trailing behind like the tassel of a flying sword, stretched continuously and extensively across his field of vision due to the sheer velocity.

Its target, naturally, was the Hulk.

And the Hulk was truly a barbarian who fought purely on instinct. He might not have been skilled against ranged firepower, but this kind of hand-to-hand combat was effortless for him.

The very instant the silver shadow reached him—

Right at that critical, split-second moment that ordinary people could never perceive—

The Hulk instinctively thrust both hands forward and clamped them together forcefully in front of his chest. His arms moved as swiftly as lightning, astonishingly and abruptly grabbing hold of the silver shadow.

Immediately, immense force collided with surging momentum. The Hulk slammed his feet hard into the ground, but it was to no avail; he was still pushed backward by the tremendous power, his boots gouging two long trenches into the earth!

The hyper-fast friction between the soles of his feet and the soil even kicked up sparks.

The Hulk struggled desperately to anchor his stance, but against that overwhelming force, he could only retreat step by step.

Witnessing this scene, Zhong Shenxiu's eyes widened significantly.

He was extremely curious about what kind of divine entity could utterly outclass the Hulk—currently in this state—in both raw strength and speed!

Zhong Shenxiu's dynamic vision could not clearly capture the true appearance of the silver-white figure at that moment.

No matter.

He still had the Eye of True Sight.

At Zhong Shenxiu's silent mental summons, ripples of shimmering chaos magic rapidly unfurled, enveloping both the Hulk and the silver-white figure.

[Name: Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich (Rhino)]
[Combat Power: 2231]
[Acquirable Ability: Super Soldier Serum (Polymerized), Acquisition Probability: 0.5%]
[Combat Suggestion: An old acquaintance, though his combat power is indeed not to be underestimated. Combining formidable strength and speed, his silver-white polymer skin is impervious to blades and bullets. Coupled with his ferocious rhinoceros horn, he possesses quite an exaggerated level of combat capability. However... his condition seems somewhat unusual at the moment.]

An old acquaintance... Zhong Shenxiu sighed with the exact same sentiment as the evaluation provided by the Eye of True Sight.

To his surprise, it turned out to be the Rhino.

The Rhino could be considered the very first character he had truly encountered in the Marvel Universe who had a role in the plot. White, the Redneck Gang, and the Nigger Gang were all nameless small-timers in the Marvel Universe; the first genuinely notable named character was indeed the Rhino.

The second batch naturally consisted of Baldy and those familiar agents.

It was the Rhino who had truly made Zhong Shenxiu feel the danger of the Marvel Universe—that transcendent powers genuinely existed here, along with bulletproof monsters and beasts capable of punching massive holes through walls all by themselves.

Although his previous encounter with the Rhino could only be described as brief, and the other party probably didn't even retain a fraction of an impression of Zhong Shenxiu,

meeting him again after several months, Zhong Shenxiu inexplicably felt a sense of "familiarity." Perhaps this was simply because people often hold peculiar memories regarding their first times.

Of course, this faint trace of familiarity would not stop Zhong Shenxiu from beating the Rhino unmercifully without hesitation if the latter stood in his way.

What puzzled Zhong Shenxiu, however, was this:

Wasn't the Rhino originally manipulated by that "red light" to break out of prison?

And regarding that red light, after the Wanda incident, Zhong Shenxiu understood that it was merely Hyde seizing Wanda's chaos magic and transforming it into a red light capable of manipulating others' minds.

Earlier, when Zhong Shenxiu was reviewing the records related to Hyde in his secret base,

he had indeed looked into files concerning the Rhino and confirmed that the prison break had indeed been orchestrated by Hyde.

Yet, after the Rhino broke out of prison, Hyde had sold this fellow to someone else.

Zhong Shenxiu was unaware of that person's exact identity because Hyde's files did not display it. It seemed that individual practiced extremely rigorous self-secrecy measures, to the extent that even a trading partner like Hyde remained completely in the dark.

Hyde had never even met the person once, nor was there any description of what they looked like.

At first, Zhong Shenxiu thought Hyde had intentionally concealed the information, but considering current events, it was likely due to that person's extreme secrecy.

Judging from this covert base—the powerful weapons, the shadowed troops,

and now the appearance of the Rhino—

it was easy to deduce that one of Zhong Shenxiu's earlier guesses was correct.

The master of this base was none other than the buyer of the Rhino, and this person had long been aware of the existence of transcendent powers in this world, which explained why they had madly constructed so many large-caliber weapons within this facility.

Furthermore, judging by the base's inconspicuous and hidden nature,

one could easily infer the personality of this buyer.

They were bound to be someone cautious to the extreme.

Therefore, the absence of any records regarding them in Hyde's files, aside from purchasing the Rhino, made complete sense.

The moment the Rhino appeared, Zhong Shenxiu realized that what had initially seemed like a simple, straightforward prison break by the Rhino had actually entangled so many people.

Hyde, who orchestrated the breakout, and Wanda, who was imprisoned.

And behind the mysterious owner of this base who purchased the Rhino, what kind of big fish would eventually be drawn out?

This was the gray industrial chain within the Marvel Universe. A tiny anomaly, when continuously investigated, could lead one to unearth the truly heavyweight players by pulling at a connected thread.

And to avoid being unmasked,

what such a heavyweight had to do was cut the thread, or when things became critical, resort to cutting off their arm to survive!

Thinking of this,

Zhong Shenxiu connected it to the earlier abnormality of the combat personnel completely disregarding police surveillance just to return to this base. Doing so effectively exposed the base entirely.

Yet from the look of it, the other party didn't seem to care about being exposed at all.

In fact, it looked more like...

They were actively exposing themselves!

Once he pieced this together, coupled with the concept of cutting off one's arm to survive,

a layer of cold sweat suddenly broke out on Zhong Shenxiu's back.

If the mysterious person behind the scenes did not want their identity exposed, they would undoubtedly choose to sever the clues—or rather, completely cut the investigative threads leading to them.

Severing them entirely before this irrevocable step arrived!

Then... how would the other party sever them?

Zhong Shenxiu looked up at the concrete factory, which, apart from bristling with weapons, showed no signs of life. Even the large concrete mixer operating constantly at the very top had now unusually ground to a halt.

The other party was truly performing the act of cutting off an arm to survive.

Without a doubt, this factory would, like Hyde's former base beneath Happy Factory, cease to exist entirely amidst a sea of flames!

Realizing this,

Zhong Shenxiu prepared himself to monitor the situation at any moment and make a swift retreat should anything go amiss.

He wasn't afraid of ordinary explosions, but if the other party was deranged enough to blow the base into ruins and still not be satisfied, intending to take everyone in the surrounding area down with it in one fell swoop,

then he would have to take the explosive yield a bit more seriously.

As for a nuclear bomb... that was impossible.

Such an item could not possibly be possessed by a terrorist. Therefore, as long as it wasn't a nuke, Zhong Shenxiu wasn't panicked; his magical shield would still be able to hold out.

Afterward, Zhong Shenxiu turned his attention back to the Rhino and the Hulk.

Naturally, he would also keep an intermittent eye on any changes within the base, constantly watching for anything suspicious.

When those two long trenches finally stopped forming, the Hulk finally managed to halt the Rhino, who had been blindly charging forward with its head lowered.

The two shifted from their previous mismatched stalemate into a contest of sheer brute strength.

The Hulk stood on the left, gripping the Rhino's single horn with both hands for dear life. The Rhino, on the right, kept his head lowered, aiming his horn straight at the Hulk's head as he drove his entire body forward relentlessly, attempting to skewer the Hulk's brain with that infallible horn.

For a moment, neither would yield, locking horns in a fierce stalemate.

As the Rhino exerted his strength, white steam billowed continuously from his nostrils; clearly, like a wild beast, he was giving it everything he had.

Meanwhile, every single bulging, greenish muscle across the Hulk's body was engorged to an unprecedented degree. The jagged contours of his physique were as terrifying as solid iron, especially his arms gripping the horn, where his triceps bulged so violently that individual muscle fibers were clearly visible. He, too, was giving it his all.

These two massive brutes were roughly similar in size, both embodying the traditional, multi-colored mutant muscle men of the Marvel style.

Their contest of strength was genuinely visceral and fierce.

Due to the mechanics of leverage, after the two remained deadlocked for a time, the Rhino's horn began to inch forward, drawing closer and closer to the Hulk's massive head.

This couldn't really be blamed on the Hulk having less stamina than the Rhino;

it was primarily because one relied on his legs and waist for power, while the other relied purely on two thick arms.

The difference between the two was glaringly obvious.

If this stalemate continued, the Hulk was bound to lose.

At this point, low as the Hulk's intelligence might be, even he could perceive this outcome. Therefore, the Hulk suddenly stepped his right foot back, his center of gravity sinking abruptly. Under the Rhino's continuous forward momentum, the Hulk abruptly let go with both hands.

Before doing so, however, the Hulk had already twisted his head, allowing the rhinoceros horn to graze past his greenish cheek by a hair's breadth.

Licking blood from the edge of a blade—it was an extremely close call!

This was indeed a maneuver that only someone fighting on wild, savage instincts like the Hulk could—or rather, would dare to—execute.

Moreover, the Hulk's movements did not stop with this successful dodge.

The exact moment the Rhino became momentarily rigid due to its forward momentum and inertia, the Hulk pivoted entirely on his right foot, using the momentum to twist his body around so that his back faced the Rhino.

Instantly, his hands locked onto the Rhino's neck like a pair of iron pliers.

"ROAR!!!"

With an angry roar, the Hulk exerted explosive force from his waist and legs!

The Rhino's body, which was vaguely even taller than his own, was actually yanked by the neck and subjected to a clean, decisive shoulder throw.

The Rhino's silver-white physique, under the Hulk's iron grip, traced a rapid silver arc through the air.

BOOM—

The Rhino's massive body slammed heavily into the ground, creating a massive crater under the sheer force of the Hulk's throw.

In an instant, dust filled the air.

"ROAR!!"

Having landed the blow, the Hulk let out another beastly roar at the Rhino in the crater, saliva flying everywhere with the shout.

In the animal kingdom, this sort of behavior would be akin to a victor flaunting his victory over a defeated weakling and showing merciless mockery.

Yet, a creature of monster-level status like the Rhino would hardly lose his combat capability from a single shoulder throw—even though a shoulder throw of this magnitude was enough to smash a well-equipped tank into scrap metal.

For the Rhino, it merely left his head feeling a bit dizzy.

He would recover almost instantly.

Therefore, facing the Hulk's provocation, the long-dormant ferocity within the Rhino flared up once more.

He vaulted out of the crater in a single bound.

Twisting his waist mid-air, he delivered a straight punch accompanied by an incomparable sonic boom, aiming squarely for the Hulk's head!

CLANG—

The collision of flesh against flesh sounded to all onlookers like the clashing of steel, illustrating just how far the density of their skin far surpassed that of metal.

This punch staggered the roaring Hulk, causing him to stumble back a few steps.

Immediately, green fury flared anew in the Hulk's eyes.

Without a second word, the Hulk charged back into the fray.