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A blast of silver-white frost instantly engulfed Hulk's massive frame.
Crack—crack—crack!
Right before Hulk's stunned eyes, he was frozen solid in just a second, turning into a glistening, crystal-clear ice sculpture.
The next moment, Peter slammed into the frozen Hulk like he was spiking a volleyball, smacking him hard and sending him flying straight back onto the bridge.
Crash!
Hulk—still an icy lump—smashed into the sea-crossing bridge, and the frost coating him shattered instantly on impact.
He shook his head hard to snap out of it, regaining consciousness.
Then, without warning, Hulk shoved all four of his arms into the hole he'd just been blasted through.
The entire bridge started trembling!
ROAR!
With a furious roar, Hulk suddenly went full-on rage mode. It was like he'd triggered some kind of personal supernova—lifting a massive chunk of the bridge, easily weighing thousands of tons, up into the air.
And then, he hurled it straight at Peter, who was still floating mid-air!
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On the bridge, traffic had come to a complete stop thanks to Hulk's sudden appearance.
Some drivers couldn't brake in time, leading to a chain of rear-end collisions.
"What's going on up there? Was there an accident?"
As the road got more and more congested, people started getting out of their cars, trying to see what was happening up ahead.
"Run! There's a monster on the bridge!"
Next thing they knew, screams and panicked pedestrians confirmed what everyone feared—something big and dangerous was going down.
"Oh my god—what is that thing?!"
People watched in utter disbelief as a whole chunk of the bridge was slowly being lifted into the air. Their faces were filled with shock.
"No way… that monster actually lifted part of the bridge!"
Up in the sky, news outlets had already gotten wind of the monster sighting in New York. Reporters had been dispatched early and were now circling above in helicopters, capturing everything on film.
"This is insane! Just how strong is that monster?!"
Viewers glued to their TV screens couldn't help but be stunned by the sheer power on display.
"No matter how strong that thing is, there's no way it can beat Superman!"
Of course, Peter still had plenty of hardcore fans backing him.
As Hulk swung that massive bridge segment through the air, it created an enormous gust of wind in its wake.
With the wind howling around him, the gigantic chunk of bridge came crashing down toward Peter.
"The angrier this guy gets, the stronger he seems."
Seeing Hulk suddenly unleash such terrifying power, the relaxed look on Peter's face vanished. He was getting serious now.
In his regular form, Hulk would've been a breeze to deal with. But if this version of Hulk really did get stronger the angrier he got—with no upper limit—then Peter had to be careful.
After all, Peter remembered clearly: in the comics, Hulk could literally destroy the Earth.
"As Superman, protecting my Earth is something I'll never back down from!"
In a flash, Peter flew head-on toward the massive bridge chunk hurtling at him.
His eyes lit up with a fierce red glow!
ZZZZZZT—!
His heat vision, blazing hot and packed with force, shot straight ahead like a superheated laser sword, slicing clean through the air.
Even something as solid as that bridge turned into soft tofu under its scorching edge.
Peter carved the whole chunk of bridge apart in a blink.
Then, without hesitation, he charged down toward Hulk like a god descending from the sky.
BOOM BOOM BOOM…
Countless giant rocks, shattered into chunks, came crashing down hard onto the bridge, making the whole structure shake violently.
In just a matter of seconds, Hulk had torn apart a bridge weighing thousands of tons—only a small portion of it remained intact.
And right at that moment, Peter finally charged in, face-to-face with the Hulk.
Twin beams of heat vision shot out from Peter's eyes, blasting straight at Hulk's face without hesitation.
At the same time, he swung his right fist, slamming it toward Hulk with full force.
Zzzzzz!
But this time, Hulk seemed to have gotten smarter.
He crossed his upper two arms in front of him, blocking Peter's heat vision.
Then he used his other two arms to stop Peter's incoming punch.
And not just that—after successfully blocking him, Hulk grabbed Peter's arms tightly and yanked outward, as if he wanted to compete with Peter in raw strength—or even rip his arms straight off his body.
"Crap! Superman got grabbed by that monster!"
"Can our Superman pull through this crisis and defeat that creature? Let's all cheer for him!"
High above the scene, a reporter in a helicopter was doing his job with determination.
But even he couldn't hide the worry in his eyes as he looked at Superman being overpowered.
"Come on, Superman! You're the strongest!"
"Don't give up! Justice will always beat evil!"
But sometimes, the line between justice and evil isn't so clear.
Compared to the ugly brute that was Hulk, even though Superman had come off arrogant and selfish before—and hadn't really done much to help people—
Right now, without a doubt, he stood for true justice.
"You think I don't know what you're trying to do? You want to overpower me with strength that's been boosted several times over?"
"And you think I gave up the advantage of flight just to go hand-to-hand with you?"
"No. It's because right now, my strength is way beyond yours!"
Thinking back to that system notification he heard earlier, a smile slowly crept onto Peter's face.
[Congratulations, host. Your 'Super Strength' has successfully awakened…]
ROAR!
Up until now, Hulk had been winning the power struggle, using all four of his arms to completely lock Peter in place.
But suddenly, he felt something terrifying erupt from Peter's body—an overwhelming power that couldn't be stopped.
In the blink of an eye, Peter's strength surged through Hulk's arms.
AAAHH!
With a deafening scream, Hulk's arms were torn clean off his body by that massive force, green blood spurting everywhere.
"It's time to cool you down a bit."
Peter, now holding Hulk's neck like it weighed nothing, shot into the sky in an instant without a second thought.
"Oh my god—they've broken through the atmosphere! Too bad our cameras can't follow them anymore."
The reporter in the helicopter watched as both the man and the monster vanished into the sky, a trace of regret on his face.
"But still… Superman is our hero. He saved all of New York…"
"Ha! Good thing I've got a telescope!"
Back in New York, a stargazing enthusiast excitedly ran to his balcony after seeing Superman disappear from the TV broadcast.
But he was celebrating too early—his telescope just couldn't track such tiny figures in the vastness of space.
Just as he walked away from the balcony in disappointment, planning to check other news channels for any new Superman updates—
He noticed a new message pop up in his astronomy group chat.
"Guys—look at the moon…"
"General Ross, they've left the city. Can we now launch a nuke to wipe out that terrifying monster—and that... god?"
At that moment, inside a top-secret video conference attended only by military generals and high-ranking politicians—
A well-dressed politician slowly spoke up, directing his suggestion to General Ross.
The truth was, whether it was that powerful and terrifying monster, or the godlike Superman—
Both were like swords hanging over the heads of every official in the government.
No one knew when that sword would fall.
Now that they had the perfect chance to eliminate them both… how could they not be tempted?
"Mr. Vice President, your suggestion is childish. That Superman's speed is far beyond any aircraft we've ever built."
"Even if we launched a nuke, it'd never catch up to him. And our Superman is definitely not like those comic book versions who'd stay put and take a nuclear hit just to save people."
"Besides, there's no guarantee that a nuke could even hurt him!"
"And based on our military's satellite tracking, they're about to land on the moon."
As a soldier, General Ross understood better than anyone just how terrifying Superman truly was.
Especially this Superman—one who didn't have mercy, and acted without restraint.
He was practically a god walking the earth.
"Mr. Vice President, I expect you to voluntarily submit your resignation to Congress tomorrow. Treating a hero of humanity like that—you don't deserve your position."
A higher-ranking politician finally spoke up, and with that single sentence, he effectively delivered a death sentence to the Vice President who had made that ridiculous proposal.
He then ignored the now pale-faced Vice President and turned to General Ross.
"General Ross, can you redirect the satellites to show us what's happening on the Moon right now? I want to witness it with my own eyes—see how humanity's hero defeats that monstrous threat!"
As he spoke, his face lit up with excitement, like he was genuinely thrilled that justice was about to win.
"....."