Chapter 1372: The Problem with Paranoia

Also, Luke remembered a little of the plot of the Avengers.

While he couldn’t recall exactly how the battle had progressed, he still vividly remembered the Chitauri army, which had looked like a swarm of locusts.

Just like with a certain horror movie in his previous life, he didn’t remember the exact plot, but the scene of a certain wizard opening his mouth to spit out a swarm of locusts had left a deep impression on him.

This was also a habit for most people.

What humans truly remembered was a particular moment that was clearly different from ordinary life.

If a person played games every night, he wouldn’t remember the details of a game he played two months ago.

But if there came a day that he was screwed over by some kid teammate and his level dropped, he would remember very clearly what happened in the game that day.

The bulk of what Luke remembered of the Avengers plot was Loki paving the way → a space portal opening → the Chitauri’s army pouring through.

Following this, the Marvel World would encounter an unimaginable number of battles sooner or later.

Luke, on the other hand, was completely different from the authorities.

First of all, he wouldn’t work with them to “do his part” for the country.

Putting aside Hydra’s position in SHIELD, Luke had interacted with Sentinel Services and the Joint Advanced Research Unit, which were real and official organizations.

Their top brass were the military colonel William and Amanda from the Department of Defense.

Why would he cooperate with these officials? He might as well break into their ranks and take them down in one go since he hated wasting time.

Actually, he didn’t need to hide.

No matter how many of the top brass was killed, there would always be bad eggs among those that were left.

Secondly, even if he wanted to cooperate with the authorities, he could only do so indirectly, like using Phil or Flegg as an intermediary.

Only by taking the initiative to control how the cooperation worked would he be able to avoid being screwed over by Hydra or Amanda, and then achieve his goal of screwing them over instead.

It could be said that Luke never regarded the American government as an ally from the very beginning, but as an enemy he could use as a smoking gun.

Superheroes would never be friends with the American government.

The American government just wanted superheroes to be their dogs.

Luke could only choose to increase the combat ability of his teammates and allies.

Without the system’s good and evil panel and the teammates panel, he would have had to put some precautionary measures in place against them.

Luke was a very paranoid person.

The only people he was willing to trust without needing to test them were his family, and that was purely based on feelings.

Like with Selina at the beginning, Luke hadn’t trusted her that much, and had tested her for a long time.

Later, when Selina became his only 3-star teammate, Luke felt that he was too paranoid, so he now tried to make it up to her a little.

But it was hard to change one’s nature.

Thankfully, the system could significantly reduce his paranoia. He now finally had a way to measure trust, which had sped up the development of his teammates.

Otherwise, based on his plan when he first obtained the system, it would’ve taken him ten years to prepare a teammate; only after putting them through all sorts of tests like alcohol, sex, and money would he decide who could become his teammate.

This included the superheroes in the Avengers.

After living in this world for 20 years, Luke no longer believed that the superheroes of this world were exactly the same as in the movies.

Like in the movies, Tony was an arrogant tycoon, Thor was a revered god and heir, and Captain America was all about the country.

Even if he hoped they could work together, however, disappointment was inevitable.

Black Widow and Hawkeye were professional agents, and were trusted by the director. It would be stupid to trust them.

Hulk… Even Dr. Banner didn’t believe in him. Only a lunatic would try and subdue this big green creature.

As someone who liked to consider the worst case scenarios, Luke wouldn’t pin his hopes on them.

It wasn’t until the good and evil panel and his teammates panel appeared and removed his biggest obstacle in developing teammates — trust — that he now had a new plan.

Instead of thinking about the movie superheroes… why not put together his own team?

After the Star of Justice clone appeared, his one worry was dispelled, and this idea officially turned into a plan which he set into motion.

So far, Luke’s superhero alliance was still at an early stage.

Apart from Selina, everybody else were unconventional characters.

However, he would definitely be the main fighter in the alliance. Selina’s suit and her complete symbiotic form would place her as second-in-command, while everyone else would be good at providing support.

However, Luke knew his own shortcomings.

For example, he really didn’t have any talent in field command.

If he didn’t have any, then he didn’t have any. It wasn’t something that could be replaced with an A.I. program.

This included formulating a battle plan, countermeasures for dealing with unexpected events during the battle, and plotting a retreat route after the battle.

Luke was able to use the A.I. program to do all these now because his opponents were too weak.

When it came to the invasion of the Chitauri army, he didn’t think that his A.I. program could compare with the Chitauri hive mind.

His was just Earth technology, while the Chitauri had been fighting wars throughout the universe for many years.

Even if they were a little weak, that was in comparison with Thor.

In front of Asgard’s combat force, there were probably few forces in the universe that wouldn’t be considered weak.

There was no great result going up against the “weak” Chitauri.

Whether it was the Avengers or the superhero alliance that Luke was preparing to put together, they were at most a small special forces team.

What the superheroes needed at the moment was a super tactical expert with enough battlefield intuition to break through a critical point in one go and turn a situation around.

Luke already had a candidate.

It just so happened that cheap uncle Frank Castle had finally made a move not long ago.

A few months ago, Frank changed his name and started working as a construction worker in Pennsylvania. This was a lot like the character of the sweeper monk in online novels.

And indeed, reality didn’t disappoint Luke.

After a few months as a construction worker, Frank ran into drug dealers again.

It was impossible not to run into them in slightly bigger cities in America. It was just that this unlucky gang tried to cause Frank trouble.

So… they were killed.

Dear Uncle Frank picked up the eight-pound hammer that had accompanied him for months, and hit them one by one. None of the six hoodlums survived.

He felt good for a moment, but could only run after that.

Luke was incredibly pleased with this cheap uncle.

Flegg could be considered an acquaintance of Robert’s, and had helped Luke out a few times, but Luke found Frank more pleasing to the eye.

Someone who would kill small fry with a hammer absolutely had to be part of his team.

If he was ruthless with small fry, would he show mercy to the Chitauri?

Luke believed that if Uncle Frank could pick up a tough enough hammer — like what a certain heir had, for example — he would definitely smash open the Chitauri commander’s head.

It was a pity that that hammer was an exclusive weapon! Sighing inwardly, Luke called Robert.