C25: New Card
[Prop: Braised Chicken Wings]
[Effect: Relieves cravings]
[Introduction: I like to eat braised chicken wings, but your mother said you're going to ascend to the heavens soon.]
Ignoring the quirky voice-over that seemed to come from the card's meta commentary, suspiciously reminiscent of something from Deadpool's fourth-wall-breaking humor, Li Ran turned his attention to the main prize: the new card acquired from the treasure chest.
The D-rank card gleamed in a muted black with metallic etchings resembling the runic circuit lines often seen on Stark Tech, fitting the style of the [Dark Iron Treasure Chest].
[D-Rank Card - Wesley Gibson]
[Skills: Arc Ballistics, Adrenal Acceleration]
[Background: Wesley Gibson, once a meek office drone, discovers after a deadly gunfight in downtown Chicago that he is the son of a legendary assassin and the next heir to a secretive fraternity of killers. Under the brutal training of Sloan, the Brotherhood's enigmatic leader, Wesley hones his body, mind, and reflexes to superhuman levels. Betrayal and bloodshed mark his path as he turns from pawn to predator.]
[Note: Do you believe bullets can curve?]
Just as expected, starting from D-rank, the cards began to include genuine superhuman abilities.
Li Ran wasn't particularly elated, but neither was he disappointed. While this wasn't a powerhouse combat card like something drawn from Asgard or featuring a hero like Midnighter or Moon Knight, it was solidly useful.
[Arc Ballistics], originally from Wanted (a series adapted under Top Cow, later incorporated into some multiverse-adjacent Marvel lore), defied real-world physics. The card mimicked the Brotherhood's absurd technique: spinning a firearm and inducing a gyroscopic motion to "curve" a bullet's trajectory. Although scientifically implausible, just as Batman would scoff at it in his files, it gave Li Ran a ranged advantage that was lethal against unsuspecting foes, especially those without bulletproof durability, like common muggers or low-tier street villains.
Properly wielded, this power could be lethal, even to someone as agile as Nightwing.
…
Over the following days, Li Ran tested and adapted to the new card's mechanics while monitoring fallout from the recent Midtown drag-racing debacle.
To the public, the NYPD had downplayed the incident. No major outlets like The Daily Bugle, The Gotham Gazette, or even Buzzfeed Stark picked up the story in depth. Tony Stark, as usual, handled it with media flair, grinning on late-night shows, making memes of himself on Instagram, and casually announcing he was test-driving a "hyper-arc Tesla repulsor bike, version 3."
Li Ran might've believed that performance if he hadn't just stolen a classified fragment of StarkTech that very night.
Sometimes, Li Ran felt a flicker of mischief, tempted to provoke Tony again, maybe send a challenge letter like Phantom Thief Kid would to the Gotham PD.
But common sense prevailed.
He knew better than to keep poking the proverbial bear. With S.H.I.E.L.D. lurking in the shadows of Manhattan and potential surveillance from satellites built by Wayne Enterprises and S.T.A.R. Labs, Li Ran couldn't afford to be reckless. Provoking Iron Man once was daring; doing it twice might summon Agent Phil Coulson or worse, Director Nick Fury himself.
Worse yet, if HYDRA had eyes on the situation, things could spiral fast. After all, the last thing Li Ran wanted was to end up on a list shared by both Amanda Waller and Baron Strucker.
So, for now, he kept his head down.
Instead, he threw himself into mastering the skills embedded in the [Wesley Gibson] card.
Unlike the [A Xing] card, which depended on enhanced physical traits like Power King's Leg (close combat with immense leg strength reminiscent of martial artists like Bronze Tiger or Shang-Chi), Wesley's skill set demanded external tools, specifically, firearms. This limitation made it somewhat niche, but in terms of versatility, it rivaled or even outperformed [A Xing] in the right context.
Melee was powerful, but ranged unpredictability? That was a tactical goldmine.
Even if Li Ran couldn't achieve the absurd full-circle trajectory from the climax of Wanted, where Wesley's bullet curved around an entire warehouse and took down Sloan, the 180-degree bend he could now manage was already ridiculous by conventional combat standards.
No one, not even Nightwing or Daredevil, would anticipate a shot that ricocheted back around a wall.
More surprising, however, was the [Adrenal Acceleration] skill.
It worked exactly as the name suggested. The adrenal glands kicked into overdrive, causing Li Ran's heart rate to surge to over 400 beats per minute. Rather than collapsing from cardiac arrest, his perception of time dilated. To him, the world slowed. He could see flies flapping mid-air like helicopters in molasses.
It reminded him of Quicksilver's scenes in the X-Men films or Barry Allen's "Speed Time" in The Flash, but grounded in human physiology, not the Speed Force.
This heightened state didn't even require conscious activation. Like Wesley's own natural-born talent in the film, it seemed to trigger instinctively, much like Slade Wilson's combat precognition or even Spider-Man's spider-sense.
Li Ran began to suspect [Adrenal Acceleration] was a passive, always-on trait. Just like [Baby]'s tinnitus ability from Tokyo Tribe or [Nohara Hiroshi]'s comically pungent foot odor, which, while odd, had proven useful for crowd control—it affected his physiology at a core level.
The passive from [Wesley] was the real deal.
Unlike E-rank passive quirks that offered flavor but no combat value, Wesley's ability elevated Li Ran's reflexes, awareness, and targeting accuracy to superhuman levels.
He felt like a junior version of Taskmaster, someone who didn't just react to motion but predicted it.
It was in that moment that Li Ran truly grasped the value of higher-rank cards. Looking at the dwindling "Famousness" meter on his system panel, he couldn't help but sigh.
Once again, the currency of growth wasn't money or experience, it was reputation. Just like real-life Iron Man or Batman, your power depended on how loudly the world whispered your name.
Even here, krypton gold ruled supreme. Only, in Li Ran's case, "krypton" wasn't green, it was social clout.
…
Bang—
"Oi! Anyone home in this dump?! You all dead or what?!"
The creaky shop door slammed open with a bang, and the sharp-tongued shout of a hoarse, gravely voice echoed across the floorboards like a thunderclap.
Li Ran's thoughts snapped back to the present.
Someone or something had arrived.
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