CHAPTER 16

"Sir baron."

Dr. Liszt looked at Baron Strucker—now Carl in disguise—whose smile was growing wider and wider, with a face full of confusion.

He didn't understand. The base they had built and maintained for so many years had just been destroyed, yet instead of anger or grief, the baron seemed genuinely delighted.

"Dr. Liszt, don't be sad. Soon, you'll have a bigger lab, better equipment, and everything will be better than before."

Carl gently patted Liszt on the shoulder, his tone warm and reassuring.

Dr. Liszt's eyes lit up at that. So the baron had already made arrangements in advance. He had a plan!

"Let's land over there—on top of that hill."

Carl scanned the terrain below and pointed to a remote mountaintop. He turned to the Hydra pilot at the controls of the helicopter and issued the order.

The pilot nodded quickly and steered the chopper toward the peak.

Once the helicopter came to a stop, Carl led Dr. Liszt and Dr. Smith out. Then, without warning and in full view of the two men, he turned and broke the Hydra pilot's neck in one clean motion.

The two doctors froze, stunned and horrified.

Then, Carl released the Transformation Technique, and his original appearance emerged from the fake visage of Baron Strucker.

"Mr. Carl!"

"Who... who are you? Where is the real Baron?!"

Dr. Smith's frightened expression instantly transformed into surprise and joy. But Dr. Liszt only grew more panicked.

"Dr. Smith, congratulations—you're finally safe."

Carl smiled reassuringly at Smith before turning to Liszt, who was now pale and shaking.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but your 'Baron' got blown to pieces right after he pressed the self-destruct button. Let me reintroduce myself—Carl, President of the hudson group. Also, your future boss."

"Th-this..."

Dr. Liszt opened his mouth, trying to object, but the memory of the pilot's neck being snapped so effortlessly made him swallow the words.

He understood the situation perfectly. Right now, Carl held all the cards.

Seeing that Liszt knew how to read the room, Carl didn't push him further. Instead, he walked over, extended a hand, and smiled warmly.

"Dr. Liszt, don't worry. As long as you work hard for me, I'll give you everything Hydra gave you—and more."

Carl wasn't naive. Even though he didn't know everything about the Marvel world, he knew one thing: the scientists here were game-changers.

Dr. Abraham Erskine created the Super Soldier Serum that made Captain America. Bruce Banner became the Hulk through gamma research. Dr. Octopus nearly built a mini sun. And Extremis tech? Terrifying and impressive.

There were black technologies everywhere—world-changing stuff—and most of it came from genius-level scientists.

If he could build his own top-tier scientific team, he wouldn't just advance Hudson Group's tech and medical arm—he'd be able to enhance his own strength and safely massively.

That's why he never killed Dr. Liszt. He was part of the long game.

To be honest, if Dr. Liszt could whip up a stable Hulk serum—one that gave Carl Hulk powers but let him keep full control—he'd charge straight into the Naruto world and beat down a Kage with a grin.

"Master!"

At this moment, a voice suddenly rang out in front of him.

A dozen young men in camouflage uniforms, armed with various firearms, appeared before Carl under the leadership of an elderly man.

It was Uncle Li, who had been ordered by Carl in advance to wait at the foot of the mountain with his team.

"Uncle Li, I'll leave the rest to you. I'm heading home—Wanda's still waiting for me to eat."

"Yes, master!"

Seeing that Uncle Li and the others had arrived as planned, Carl checked the time. With no more need to worry about follow-up matters, he turned and drove off.

Uncle Li was far better at this sort of cleanup than him, anyway.

---

"Five Detonation Talismans, one scroll of the Fireball Technique, one scroll of the Shadow Clone Technique, a razor sharp blade, a valuable Jade Buddha, and a box of 999 vitality Pills."

While driving toward his villa, Carl opened his mission item space.

The mission item space was a unique feature on his system panel. Every time he completed a side mission, the rewards would be deposited there. It allowed him to freely store and retrieve these specific items at any time.

The downside? It only accepted mission-rewarded items. Regular objects couldn't be stored inside. Even if he tried wrapping a long knife in tape and sneaking it in, the tape would fall off automatically.

If that weren't the case, he wouldn't have had to swallow Military Ration Pills just to smuggle them back.

The top three items currently in the space were his rewards for completing the three recent missions.

"These Detonation Talismans aren't too bad."

Among the three rewards, the Great Fireball Technique was the most valuable—being a signature ninjutsu of the Uchiha clan, it was notoriously hard to inherit outside the clan.

The Shadow Clone Technique was practical too, but relatively easy to obtain once he returned to the Naruto world.

Though it was a B-rank ninjutsu originally created by the Second Hokage, it had become so popular that every village had developed its own versions—Water Clones, Earth Clones, Lightning Clones, etc.

The one that was truly exclusive to Konoha was the A-rank forbidden jutsu, the Multi Shadow Clone Technique, also developed by the Second Hokage. That technique allowed for the creation of dozens or even hundreds of clones simultaneously.

But the cost? Enormous chakra consumption. Anyone without massive reserves could end up draining themselves to death.

As for the five Detonation Talismans, they were decent but not particularly rare. In the Naruto world, Carl could easily afford to buy a whole stack with his current resources.

In the Marvel world, their explosive power was roughly equal to a standard grenade.

Their true advantage lay in deception—they looked like harmless slips of paper. To the untrained eye, they didn't seem threatening at all. That made them perfect for sneak attacks.

Even better? They were undetectable by modern scanning devices.

---

Just before 6 PM, Carl finally pulled into the driveway of his villa.

But as he parked, he noticed another familiar vehicle already sitting there.

"Pietro?"

That sleek black car belonged to Pietro Maximoff—his brother-in-law and Wanda's twin brother, born twelve minutes before her.

Carl smiled knowingly. He could guess the reason for Pietro's visit.

It was likely because of the Asturias stew, a famous Spanish dish that Wanda had attempted for dinner. Given her, let's say, developing cooking skills, she must've called in backup.

And Pietro? A certified pro in the kitchen.

"Looks like we'll be eating well tonight."

With Pietro handling dinner, at least they wouldn't have to endure another culinary catastrophe like Wanda's legendary triple-salted noodles from three months ago.

Besides, this was the perfect opportunity to bring up something important—his plans to move to New York for a permanent base of operations.