[Vol. 3] Chapter 7: Running Into Purple Man

Finn pulled out his titanium-alloy smartphone and connected to the local network. After downloading Twitter and Facebook, he registered his accounts and browsed through the news. To his surprise, his online popularity was still quite high.

Ever since he had resurrected Lois Lane and, in a sense, successfully piggybacked on Superman’s fame, Finn’s own popularity had remained high.

Spider-Man had even posted a tweet on his official account, describing how Finn had helped him defeat Venom and then sent flames shooting from a longsword, burning Venom to ash.

At the moment, Finn was trending on both Twitter and Facebook. Reddit even had a dedicated “Finn” subreddit, and someone had created a “Finn” entry on Wikipedia.

Superheroes all had nicknames. In the noisy, chaotic world of the internet, netizens had begun coming up with names for Finn themselves: the Flame-Flinger, the Resurrector, the Blazing Hero, the Scorching Stream, the Sword Hero… New ones appeared every day.

Finn stared at the endless arguments online, a look of utter bewilderment and disbelief on his face. He set the phone down with a grimace, then drove his pickup aimlessly around Hell’s Kitchen, hoping to stumble across a way to make some money.

His current plan was to kill Kingpin. The crime lord ought to be rich, and taking him out would surely bring Finn a windfall. Kingpin had previously sent Venom after him in order to obtain the Nine Revolutions Resurrection Pill, but Finn still had no idea what Kingpin was really after.

*A blind guy dares to go blindly wandering around Hell’s Kitchen?*

On the sidewalk, a blind man in a well-tailored suit strode along with his back straight and a cane in hand.

He wore sunglasses and carried a briefcase tucked beneath one arm. If not for the white cane, which occasionally tapped against the pavement, the speed at which he walked would have made it almost impossible to tell that he was blind.

Finn found it strange. Then he suddenly remembered that Hell’s Kitchen had a superhero called Daredevil—and Daredevil was blind.

Daredevil’s real name was Matt Murdock. Before becoming a superhero, he had been involved in a traffic accident, and some kind of chemical had splashed into his eyes.

The accident exposed him to strange radioactive waste, leaving him blind. But he had gained something in return: his other four senses—hearing, touch, smell, and taste—had become extraordinarily sharp. After years of intensive training, he had developed abilities resembling those of a human radar.

By day, he worked as a lawyer. When night fell, he put on a red bodysuit and became Daredevil, fighting criminals in the darkness and settling scores that could not be resolved in court. He even summarily executed criminals beyond the reach of the law.

Finn realized that the blind man’s route led to a Citibank branch. He could almost smell trouble in the air.

But to Finn, trouble meant business. He immediately headed for the bank.

The blind man stopped a considerable distance from the bank, as if he had sensed something and refused to take another step. Finn, however, walked straight inside without hesitation.

There were only a few people in the Citibank branch. Behind thick bulletproof glass, yawning employees sat around with nothing to do. Only five customers were in the bank, while four armed guards stood watch.

All four guards were broad and burly. They wore blue helmets and bulletproof vests, Colt pistols at their waists, and automatic rifles in their hands. Their eyes were sharp as they cautiously scanned every person in the bank.

The branch’s security was clearly excellent. Anyone thinking of robbing the place would have to think twice about whether they were up to the task.

“Sir, what can I help you with today?” A young female teller stood up behind the bulletproof glass and addressed Finn.

She stared at Finn’s face several times before crying out excitedly, “You’re that guy from the internet—”

All of a sudden, her eyes went dull. The light vanished from her bright pupils, and she sat back down in a perfectly proper manner.

Finn glanced to the side.

A figure dressed entirely in purple caught his eye.

The man’s skin was purple, his hair was purple, and he wore a purple suit. Yet despite the fact that such an absurdly strange person had just walked into the bank, the four armed guards acted as though they saw nothing. Everyone else simply stood where they were, not moving an inch.

Purple Man! Zebediah Killgrave.

He had been exposed to nerve gas, which had turned his entire body purple while also granting him superpowers.

He could emit pheromones. Once they were absorbed through his victims’ skin, Purple Man could control them, producing an effect similar to hypnosis. He could control dozens or even hundreds of people at once, and he also possessed powerful regenerative abilities.

With such terrifying mind-control powers, Purple Man had committed countless crimes. Rumor had it that he had even filmed a real-life hypnosis porn video, which had racked up more than ten million views on Pornhub.

Looking at the situation, Purple Man was planning to rob the bank!

Finn was overjoyed—no, he was blazing with fury!

A powerful sense of justice surged within him. Finn was determined to rob the robber—no, to put a stop to Purple Man’s evil scheme.

Finn pretended to be one of Purple Man’s controlled victims and stood motionless nearby. Purple Man noticed nothing unusual. He walked up to the bank counter with a smile.

“Please hand over all the money in the bank.”

The teller had never encountered such a polite bank robber before. She was completely taken in by his courtesy.

All the bank employees, including the manager, sprang into action. They obediently opened the bulletproof doors, entered the vault, and brought out bundle after bundle of cash. They stacked the money into little mountains and pushed it over to Purple Man on four handcarts.

“Master, here is your money.” The bank manager wore an extremely sycophantic smile.

“That’s quite a lot.” Purple Man pretended to be surprised. Then he waved to the four armed guards. “Come help me carry it. I can’t take it all by myself.”

The four guards hurried over, hoisted up the bundles of cash, and carried them outside. A FedEx truck was parked in front of the bank.

The driver jumped out. She was an attractive young white woman wearing a leather jacket and tight jeans, with long, jet-black hair falling over her shoulders. Her eyes, however, were somewhat vacant.

The guards loaded all the money into the truck. There had to be several million dollars at least.

As Finn stared at all those greenbacks, his hands were practically itching.

Suddenly, an armored cash truck pulled up and screeched to a stop in front of the Citibank branch. Six heavily armed guards jumped out.

Purple Man was not surprised in the slightest. He glanced at his watch and shook his head. “Five whole minutes late. Bureaucratic delays really are something.”

Apparently, the armored truck’s delivery to Citibank had been part of his plan all along. Finn restrained his itching hands and decided to wait for a better opportunity.

The six guards unloaded the contents of the armored truck and carried them into the FedEx truck. Judging from the boxes, the armored truck appeared to be carrying nothing but gold bars.

They emptied it in no time.

Purple Man looked at the truck, now packed with gold bars and bundles of cash. Resting his chin on one hand, he nodded with a smile.

“What a haul. Jessica, change the license plates and drive home. I’m going to reward you properly tonight.”

“What a coincidence. I’m taking home a full haul today too!”

Finn closed the distance in a single leap, raised his razor-sharp longsword high above his head, and brought it crashing down toward Purple Man’s skull!