"Are you saying... meteorites are more expensive per gram than gold?!"
Gulp—
With a clearly audible gulp, Saitama once again extracted the keyword he personally cared about most.
At this moment, the art style shifted back to the strong man's bald egg-shaped face, his dead fish eyes instantly wide, clearly reflecting two sparkling '¥' symbols in his pupils.
He seemed to see mountains of banknotes, and a beautiful future where he would no longer have to worry about missing supermarket sales.
He subconsciously swallowed, looking at the meteorite that had instantly transformed from a "world-destroying disaster" into a "flying giant ATM." The fist he had been preparing to throw suddenly lost all its power.
If he shattered it, it would be hard to collect!
After all, that was all money!
"Then... what do we do now?"
Saitama looked at Han Sen with a conflicted expression, like a simpleton who had found a treasure but didn't know how to open the lock.
Making him effortlessly smash things was certainly no problem, but stopping the meteorite without damaging the city or the meteorite itself—such delicate operation was a bit difficult for the Caped Baldy!
Han Sen smiled slightly, patted his shoulder, and offered a bold suggestion: "It's simple, we'll cooperate—you blow it away, blow it back into the sky, and I'll take care of the rest. I'll go up there, catch it, and transport it away."
"After it's done, we'll split the money from the sale fifty-fifty. How does that sound?"
"Good! Let's do it!"
It sounded like a fantastical plan to anyone else, but Saitama didn't even think twice, nodding frantically on the spot, as if afraid Han Sen would change his mind.
As long as there's money, it's fine!
Han Sen wasn't just talking nonsense. After all, in the official fan-created timeline, Saitama had the terrifying record of shattering Jupiter with a'Serious Sneeze.' Blowing away a'small meteorite' would be a piece of cake!
The two immediately hit it off.
However, just as Saitama took a deep breath, preparing to unleash his Serious Series:'Serious Breath'...
In the distant sky, a tiny black dot was rapidly approaching at an astonishing speed.
"Hmm?" Bang Gu, who had been observing the whole time, narrowed his eyes and was the first to notice the anomaly.
The small black dot quickly grew larger, transforming in an instant into a robot with an incredibly massive and sturdy build, several meters tall.
The robot's broad back was densely packed with mounted missiles, and weapon launch ports covered various parts of its body. Its overall design exuded a cold, violent aesthetic.
The entire mech was pitch black, emanating a suffocating metallic chill. Just hovering there, the pure aura of steel and slaughter silenced the chaos below.
"Metal Knight?" Bang Gu recognized the newcomer, his eyes showing joy. "Are you also here to resolve the meteorite crisis?"
Genos also showed a strong sense of apprehension when he saw this mech.
He had heard of this S-Class Hero's deeds, a high-firepower hero who would not hesitate to destroy all nearby buildings to eliminate an enemy.
"No, Silver Fang."
A rational, almost robotic voice emanated from the mech's loudspeaker.
Metal Knight's crimson single eye scanned the few people present, finally locking onto the giant meteorite, and said in a flat tone: "I'm just here to test my new weapon. This meteorite has arrived at a perfect time."
Before he finished speaking, the cannon muzzle on his right arm had already begun to gather destructive energy, and the missile launch bays on his shoulders and back were all open, locked onto the meteorite's core.
However, just as he was about to press the launch button, the entire mech suddenly shuddered!
"Sizzle—!"
Blinding electrical sparks erupted wildly from various joints of the mech. The cannon muzzle, which had been glowing with energy, instantly dimmed, and the crimson single eye flickered a few times before completely extinguishing.
The entire mech, as if all its energy had been drained, turned into a pile of lifeless scrap metal, plummeting straight down from mid-air.
"My apologies, Dr. Bofoi, you're too late."
Han Sen waved his hand casually, looking in the direction Metal Knight was falling, and said indifferently:
"This meteorite is our property now, you can't just destroy it at will."
..."..."
Somewhere, in an unimaginably large underground laboratory, the atmosphere was eerily silent.
Hundreds of massive holographic screens floated in mid-air, displaying a waterfall of data streams and real-time surveillance footage from all over the world.
In the center of the laboratory, an old man in a white coat with prominent buck teeth and a somewhat neurotic appearance sat in front of a giant control panel.
He was Dr. Bofoi, the mastermind behind the S-Class Hero, Metal Knight.
"Connection interrupted... External forced intrusion... Energy system overloaded and short-circuited..."
On the main screen, the icon representing the combat mech had turned red, and a series of warning messages continuously popped up.
Dr. Bofoi looked at the final image transmitted back synchronously on the screen—the black-haired young man with his hands in his pockets and a calm expression.
There was no anger in his eyes, only extremely rational analysis and curiosity.
"Unidentifiable energy interference, non-physical contact, non-electromagnetic pulse... More like some kind of high-level psychic ability."
"Energy level... no less than Terrible Tornado. It seems like another troublesome individual."
Dr. Bofoi's fingertips rapidly tapped on the control panel, attempting to regain control of the mech.
However, no matter what protocol he tried, all that came back was garbled code.
The blockade imposed by the other party seemed to be beyond the technical level, exceeding his professional domain.
"Han Sen, a mysterious powerful individual previously recruited by the Association, with frequent contact with S-Class Heroes like King, Terrible Tornado, Demon Cyborg, and Caped Baldy."
Dr. Bofoi saw the character file generated by the database, his eyes flashing with a strange light: "Slated to join the 'Neo.Heroes' currently under construction? That's unexpected information... Purpose, unknown, temporarily archived."
After several seconds of trying, and confirming that he could neither regain control nor decipher the opponent's ability, Dr. Bofoi decisively gave up.
"Initiate self-destruct sequence," he calmly issued the command.
"Command intercepted, self-destruct sequence cannot be activated."
The AI assistant's response message popped up on the large screen.
"Sever all remote links, and completely delete this mech's serial number from the database." Dr. Bofoi made the decision without hesitation.
To him, although that Metal Knight was expensive to build, it was ultimately just one of his vast robot army.
To expose more information about himself for an unrecoverable weapon, or even to antagonize a mysterious entity of unfathomable strength, completely did not align with his interests.
Looking at the young face on the screen, a thoughtful expression appeared in Dr. Bofoi's eyes.
"Han Sen..."
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