Chapter Six: Summary and Planning

The gang war, thick with the scent of conspiracy, finally drew to a close with the arrival of the military.

The forty-seven-year record of zero escapes at New York’s Xingge Prison became history today.

The Rhino had broken out.

Relying on his impenetrable silver polymer skin and a running speed of up to one hundred sixty kilometers per hour, he managed to break through the lines of countless gun barrels, successfully escaping.

Those inmates who foolishly attempted to follow him were not so fortunate; they were cut down by the relentless barrage of gunfire.

It was only when the New York State military arrived to suppress the chaos that all the prisoners were herded back into their cells.

The prison soon resumed its usual operations.

Zhong Shenxiu sat on the narrow single bed, gazing at the morning sun through a window barely larger than a bowl.

He felt no drowsiness.

He first opened his active abilities panel to check the description of Skrull Shapeshifting.

[Skrull Shapeshifting Lv.1: Obtain target’s blood, able to mimic target’s appearance and voice]

He had to admit, it was truly a divine talent for murder and theft!

Though it wasn’t as monstrous as the Super Skrulls, who could even mimic superpowers, for Zhong Shenxiu, this was more than enough. After all, he could always “nurse” himself into superpowers.

With this calculation, he suddenly realized: wasn’t he essentially a discount version of a Super Skrull?

Seated on his bed, Zhong Shenxiu began contemplating his future path.

Could he, by relying on these two abilities, assume two separate identities:

One, a boss who injures superpowered individuals.

The other, a benevolent doctor who heals all wounds.

One in the shadows, one in the light.

As long as the “boss” worked hard, there would be no shortage of patients for the “doctor.”

Whenever he desired a particular superpower, he’d severely injure that superpowered individual as the “boss,” then Zhong Shenxiu would “heal” them over and over as the “doctor”...

Heh, he suddenly realized he might have found a way to fleece every superhero for their powers!

As he dwelled on these thoughts, Zhong Shenxiu couldn’t help but recall the recent gang battle.

The Rhino, the mysterious figure able to control others with “red light,” Skrull White, and behind them all, Director Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D.

These names circled endlessly in his mind.

He felt this world was extraordinarily real, not something one could fully grasp by merely watching a few movies or picking up bits and pieces of lore.

Take the Rhino, for example: in his previous life, he’d read that “the Rhino often breaks out of prison; no prison can hold him.”

Yet such a simple statement, placed here and now, was entirely different.

Who could have known the Rhino once escaped from New York’s Xingge Prison?

Who could have guessed he injured a Skrull before his escape?

These were the omitted details never shown in movies or comics.

But it was precisely these omissions that now formed Zhong Shenxiu’s reality.

He wasn’t living in a comic book or a film—this was a real world, a Marvel universe where wounds bleed and death is final.

The weak could only hide and flee as he had just done, left with nothing but guesswork—never, “I beat up Nick Fury and learned the truth.”

Therefore, his mindset needed to change.

At first, Zhong Shenxiu only wanted to leave prison quietly, buy some Stark Industries stock, invest in New York real estate, and eventually live a wealthy, contented life.

But after acquiring the system and the almost bug-like Mutated Healing, even he couldn’t allow himself to remain so ordinary.

Everyone harbors some dream of becoming the world’s best.

Zhong Shenxiu was no exception.

He wanted to see the view from the mountain’s peak.

To discover whether it was a cold, wind-swept summit that forced one down, or a place where all nations bowed in awe.

For that, he needed a series of meticulous plans.

Though he possessed great potential, he was still far too weak.

His immediate goals were twofold.

First: get out of prison.

Remaining in a place riddled with surveillance, deprived of all freedom, was far too restrictive—especially for his dual-identity scheme, which couldn’t be realized until he gained his liberty.

Moreover, though his death sentence had been delayed for three weeks, the threat still loomed over him. Escaping prison was undoubtedly his top priority.

Second: he needed to maximize his mental strength as quickly as possible, to fully unleash the power of Mutated Healing.

And the method for increasing mental strength...

Yes, through missions.

Zhong Shenxiu had yet to open the system’s mission panel.

He summoned his personal interface in his mind and clicked on the “missions” option at the bottom.

A task interface composed of lines of pure white text appeared in his mind.

[Main Quest]

Primary world:

The butterfly’s ripple has begun; now, you must either intensify it or snuff it out in the cradle.

Opportunity comes only to those prepared.

Mission objective: Achieve an overall rating of E within twelve days, before the “opportunity” arrives.

Reward: 1+1=3 Synthesis Skill.

Otherworld:

All things have their value; if the host wishes to defy fate, the price must be higher. And who better than a legendary hero whose name echoes through history?

Note: This is a main quest designated for a specific world.

Mission world: fate/zero

Objective: Slay a heroic spirit

World cost: 48 world points per 24 hours

Reward: Random active ability Lv.4, +50 mental strength

Difficulty: B

[Side Quests]

1. Successfully use Healing for 50 seconds; reward: +3 mental strength (0/1)

2. Successfully use Healing for 100 seconds; reward: one random passive ability (0/1)

3. Successfully use Healing for 1,000 seconds; reward: one random Lv.2 active ability (0/1)

...

That main quest for the other world left Zhong Shenxiu utterly stunned.

He’d always thought the system was powerful, but never imagined it was this extraordinary.

Inter-dimensional travel? The system never ceased to surprise him.

As for those world points, he’d seen them in his personal interface. He had one hundred now, and gained one point every twenty-four hours spent in the main world—not especially difficult to accumulate.

The main world referred, presumably, to the Marvel universe he currently inhabited.

As for the fate/zero world, Zhong Shenxiu had heard of it.

There, magi compete for a miracle-granting device called the Holy Grail, summoning seven heroic spirits to battle to the death.

His task: enter that world and slay a heroic spirit.

Easier said than done.

He currently had enough world points to stay there for only two days.

On top of that, his abilities amounted to Healing, Skrull Shapeshifting (acquired from White), and Medical Mastery as a passive skill.

He had nothing truly suited for combat.

Faced with a heroic spirit possessing world-shattering powers, who would be the hunter and who the prey was far from certain.

Thus, he couldn’t rashly attempt the otherworld main quest.

Difficulty level B, while his own rating was only F—a vast gap.

He needed to focus on the main world’s quest first.

The mission description was vague, almost like a riddle.

Zhong Shenxiu distilled from it: he had twelve days to reach an overall rating of E, at which point he’d receive an unknown “opportunity” and a strangely named synthesis skill.

“System, how do I improve my overall rating?” he asked silently.

[Current ways to increase overall rating: acquire more abilities, raise combat stats and basic attributes]

Upon seeing this and glancing at the side quests, Zhong Shenxiu suddenly conceived an excellent idea.