Chapter 001: Hammer

New York.

Local time, eight o'clock in the evening.

Wang Bo stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows on a high floor of a building, overlooking all of New York, enjoying the night view of the Big Apple. In truth, he had seen this view many times before.

In the world of Spider-Man, Wang Bo had witnessed New York's nightscape countless times.

But this time, he found that the night view of New York in this world was even more dazzling and beautiful than that in the Spider-Man world.

What attracted him most was probably a building in Manhattan bearing the letters "STARV."

Stark... huh.

Wang Bo sighed and rubbed his temples. He hadn't expected to arrive in the Marvel world so soon, nor had he imagined that the person he would replace here was...

One of Tony Stark's archenemies.

Justin Hammer.

Of course, "archenemy" might be something only Justin Hammer himself believed. Wang Bo figured that in Tony Stark's eyes, Justin Hammer was definitely not an archenemy.

At best, he was a scavenger.

Harsh as it was, that was the reality.

Although both Stark Industries and Hammer Industries were arms dealers producing weapons, they were not on the same level in the eyes of the U.S. Department of Defense and the military.

In the Department of Defense's view, the weapons produced by Stark Industries were absolutely the best.

Thus, the Department of Defense spent huge sums every year purchasing weapons from Stark Industries.

And Hammer Industries?

Though it also produced weapons, both in lethality and technological content, it lagged far behind Stark Industries. Its only standout product was probably its signature... the Ex-Wife missile!

This missile was a kinetic kill sidewinder missile with a secondary cyclic trimethylene trinitramine explosive, meaning it was designed for long-range launch, and its kinetic energy allowed it to penetrate armored targets.

Then, since RDX is a major component of C4 explosive, it detonates with the power equivalent to C4.

Essentially, it was a miniaturized two-stage smart bunker bomb with high explosive yield.

Because this weapon had decent lethality and low production cost, the military took notice and ordered a batch.

But aside from the Ex-Wife missile, Hammer Industries seemed to have no other standout products.

They could only mass-produce ordinary pistols, missiles, grenades, bombs, and the like. Relying on these to surpass Stark Industries was nothing but a pipe dream.

More importantly, Stark Industries disdained producing such mass-market items, which was why Hammer Industries had survived until now. So in Tony Stark's eyes, the other company was merely surviving on scraps he didn't bother to produce.

Thus, Justin Hammer was essentially a scavenger.

Tony Stark had said this more than once in public, in a joking tone.

Others just laughed it off.

Only Justin Hammer took it to heart and swore time and again that one day he would make that playboy Tony Stark pay.

But unfortunately, before he could make Tony Stark pay, he was replaced by Wang Bo.

After absorbing the information left by Justin Hammer, Wang Bo looked at the beautiful night view of New York and sighed again.

This was another man with ambitions higher than the sky but a fate thinner than paper.

Instead of being a contented rich man, he had to compete with "the man cursed with knowledge," and in doing so, he dug his own grave and landed himself in prison.

But now it was fine. After being replaced by Wang Bo, Justin Hammer no longer existed.

He had no chance to court death anymore.

As for Wang Bo himself, he would not inherit Justin Hammer's will and continue to vie with Tony Stark.

Because there was no need. After all, Wang Bo had no grudge against Tony Stark, so why target him? Was the coffee no longer good, or were the chips not tasty? There were so many delicacies and pleasures in the world—why make things difficult for Tony Stark?

Whether the man was poor or rich, a hero or a playboy, what did it have to do with Wang Bo?

Nothing.

So when he replaced Justin Hammer, Wang Bo had already resolved that living his own life well was enough.

After all, the Marvel world was too dangerous.

Not to mention Thanos on another planet in the universe and Dormammu in another dimension.

Even just the big shot, the Ancient One, was enough to make Wang Bo keep a low profile.

He couldn't afford to provoke them.

If Wang Bo had the power of Superman from the Silver Age, he wouldn't be afraid even facing a dozen Ancient Ones, but now... well, better just go to bed.

Living was definitely the best thing in this world.

...

The next day, Wang Bo woke up in a villa covering hundreds of square meters. This had once been Justin Hammer's mansion, but now it belonged to him.

After a simple wash, Wang Bo opened the Gourmet Tablecloth and ordered a table full of delicacies.

He crossed his legs, enjoying the food while pulling a Complete Book of Magic Spells from his Fourth-Dimensional Pocket, reading it with great interest.

But after flipping through it for a while, Wang Bo had to admit one thing.

His understanding of magic was still too shallow. Even with this Complete Book of Magic Spells, he still couldn't comprehend it—or rather, he could only understand a small part; most of it was beyond him.

This was because it involved a lot of knowledge that a half-baked person like him, who relied on a magic lamp to become strong, could not grasp.

Helpless, Wang Bo put the book on the table and decided to cheat his way into forcibly understanding its contents.

So he pulled out the long-unused magic lamp from his Fourth-Dimensional Pocket.

By summoning the Genie and making a wish, Wang Bo believed he could master the knowledge in this book without issue.

But just then, sparks suddenly burst in the space before him.

The unexpected sparks startled Wang Bo.

Then, to his astonishment, a portal unique to the Marvel world opened.

On the other side of the portal was an ancient, quaint temple.

A bald big shot in a yellow mage robe drifted lightly from the temple into Wang Bo's dining room.

To be honest, when he saw this big shot, Wang Bo's first instinct was to run.

But he held back.

Because he knew very well that before this big shot, he probably couldn't escape, so he simply stopped trying.

He ordered some fine dishes from the Gourmet Tablecloth, such as BB popcorn, rainbow fruit, and mirror lychee, then put on an elegant smile.

"Big shot, want some?"