You're Softer Than a Woman

'Aaah!!!' The Steelclaw Man roared, and the steel claws on his other hand shot out, stabbing fiercely toward Qi Li, determined to punch straight through his chest. The wind howled with a sharp edge. The roar was just about to reach its peak when, in the next instant, it stopped abruptly. Qi Li's left hand shot out and clamped firmly around the Steelclaw Man's wrist. The other man first gritted his teeth and strained against the grip, then froze, dumbfounded. Under his disbelieving gaze, his own hand was being forced back, bit by bit. Bronze was stronger than he was. 'You...' The Steelclaw Man's eyes went wide. He wanted to say something. But Qi Li gave him no chance. His right hand lashed out and clamped tight around the man's throat. 'Gah... gah... gah...' The Steelclaw Man's breath caught, his face flushing red in an instant. He thrashed desperately, but no matter what, he couldn't break free of the hand around his neck, harder than an iron pincer. He could only watch helplessly as he was lifted up little by little, raised to face Qi Li. 'Now it's your turn to die,' Qi Li said flatly, increasing the force of his grip. An ordinary person would have been dead beyond saving by now. But the Steelclaw Man was a formidable superhuman, and killing him took considerably more effort. The Steelclaw Man caught the scent of death. His other hand, which had been struggling in vain all this while, finally reacted, thrusting its steel claws hard at Qi Li. In several films he had made in the past, the six steel claws on the Steelclaw Man's hand were described as able to cut through any metal, comparable to Adamantium. Qi Li didn't know how much of that was bluster. To be safe, he swung his right arm and flung the Steelclaw Man away. Boom, boom— Like a shell fired from a barrel, the Steelclaw Man flew backward, smashing into the ground and gouging out several large craters in succession, before finally slamming into the wall of an abandoned factory a hundred meters away. The wall cracked under the impact, bricks and stone shattering, dust flying everywhere, burying him completely. When Qi Li walked over, he vaguely heard curses that sounded like a Black man's rap, and then gunshots rang out again. 'You damned bastard!!' There was no telling who the Steelclaw Man was screaming that at. Soon, a man was hurled out of the dust, whistling through the air toward where Qi Li stood. Qi Li didn't even look. He threw a punch, blowing the incoming man into a smear of pieces. He shook the beads of blood from his hand, quickened his pace, and charged straight into the factory. 'Come on!' Inside the factory, Steelclaw was bent at the knees with his back arched, arms spread wide, striking the classic offensive stance he had in the films. Seeing Qi Li enter, he let out a roar and charged, brandishing his steel claws. Qi Li simply tilted his head to the side, easily dodging the claws, then stepped forward and swung his right fist in a smooth arc. Bang! The Steelclaw Man took it squarely on the head, his vision exploding into stars in an instant, and he stumbled backward. Without another word, Qi Li stepped in and clamped one hand around the Steelclaw Man's shoulder, while his other hand, carrying a fierce wind, rained blows down on him. One punch! Two punches! Three punches! At this point, Qi Li and the Steelclaw Man were not the only ones in the abandoned factory. There was also a gang of Black men who were clearly no strangers to the wrong side of the law. They stared blankly as the Steelclaw Man and Qi Li suddenly crashed in one after the other, then started fighting plainly and unpretentiously of their own accord, looking nothing like the aesthetic beauty of the movies. Yet every collision between the two men was like a giant pounding a drum, shaking the whole factory with a hum, making the very ground tremble. Again and again, it filled them with a heart-pounding dread. 'A... a superhero's here!' Someone snapped out of his high, saw the scene, and couldn't help crying out in terror. Seeing that their weapons couldn't hurt either man in the slightest, the gang of Black men abandoned everything they'd stashed there and hastily fled. Qi Li paid them no mind. He slipped past the Steelclaw Man's stiff, clumsy counterattack and knocked him down completely with another punch. The Steelclaw Man lay on the ground, wailing. Qi Li rolled his right wrist and, pacing beside him, remarked: 'You're softer than a woman.' Drinking and indulging his lust all day, neglecting his training—even with a superhuman foundation, his combat ability had long since collapsed. More than enough to bully ordinary people, but the moment he ran into a superhuman of the same caliber, he was exposed at once. The Steelclaw Man refused to accept this fact. 'No! I am the invincible Steelclaw Man! When I was making a name for myself, you were still nursing at a woman's breast! I will not be defeated!' The Steelclaw Man struggled to his feet, and one could see the wounds on his face rapidly healing under his self-healing power. In an instant, he raised his steel claws high and, on unsteady feet, charged at Qi Li once more. Qi Li leaned to the right and hooked a foot around the Steelclaw Man's ankles, and with a 'thud,' he fell flat on his face again, six steel claws carving deep gouges into the concrete floor without even meaning to. This time Qi Li gave him no further chance. He raised his left hand and flipped the Steelclaw Man over, face up. Before the Steelclaw Man could resist, Qi Li pressed his whole body down, his left knee pinning the man's right arm so it couldn't move an inch. Then he clamped both hands around the Steelclaw Man's left arm, his fingers wedging between the other's fingers, fixing the extended steel claws in place so they couldn't retract. 'No! No! No!' Over the next few seconds, the Steelclaw Man watched helplessly as his left hand was forcibly wrenched around. Then it was aimed at his own chest. Qi Li drove both hands downward with sudden force. It turned out that the steel claws described in the films really were that sharp. The Steelclaw Man, his eyes nearly splitting with terror, watched as his own steel claws pierced through his battle suit and, bit by bit, sank into his own chest. 'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck...' He was terrified, swearing over and over, his voice trembling more and more, until at last he completely broke down and, weeping and sniveling, begged for mercy: 'I was wrong, spare me! Los Angeles is yours, I sincerely apologize. Really, I swear it to God!' Qi Li paused for a moment. Seeing a glimmer of hope in the eyes of the Steelclaw Man, whose face was smeared with snot and tears, Qi Li smiled at him. And then... Squelch! Three sharp claws pierced through his heart. The Steelclaw Man's pupils contracted sharply, and soon after, he stopped breathing entirely. His self-healing power could not save a fatal wound. It was all over. Qi Li clapped his hands, slowly rose to his feet, and closed his eyes. Unnoticed by others, not long after the Steelclaw Man died, a stream of power began seeping out of the other's body, pouring ceaselessly into his own. This was not some superhuman ability—it was a golden finger belonging to Qi Li alone. He was not a native of this place, but a transmigrator. Once, while playing a Marvel open-world game, Qi Li had just finished setting his personal hero talents, maxing out every talent on the physical side, determined to become the hardest man in all of Marvel—when suddenly everything went black, and he transmigrated into this world where superheroes made their debut, a world that resembled Marvel and yet did not. Accompanying him was that already-tuned physical-side talent, his golden finger. The golden finger was simple. Every time he killed a superhuman, he could absorb their power and strengthen his own abilities. What's more, if the other possessed a physical-side superhuman ability he did not have, he could even draw one out and make it his own. For example, right now Qi Li had absorbed the Steelclaw Man's self-healing power. And so, as a superhuman with the codename 'Bronze,' his abilities now included the following: Super strength, super defense, flight, a mental barrier, and the newly acquired self-healing power.