Chapter 20: Rapidly Increasing Performance Progress

Wu Chen's remarks left Natasha, Nick Fury, and others feeling perplexed.

Engaging in street brawls (taking on the Hulk), committing street-side murders (eliminating Zemo), assaulting officers publicly (knocking down General Ross and his entourage), and inciting public fights (single-handedly taking down a group of thugs in Hell's Kitchen).

With actions like these, if you claim to be a law-abiding citizen, then wouldn't everyone in this world who follows the rules be considered model citizens?

But enough about that, it was time to get down to business.

After deliberation within the SHIELD think tank, Wu Chen's request was reluctantly accepted.

This was akin to a powerful and free ally volunteering their assistance—too good to pass up!

Compared to the prowess demonstrated by Boruto Uzumaki, the rewards for those tasks were inconsequential. After all, SHIELD wasn't concerned about petty cash, having already shelled out a hefty sum of ten million. 

However, the SHIELD think tank also harbored some concerns.

The seal at Times Square in New York could be breached at any moment, unleashing the immensely powerful Nine-Tailed Fox.

You, the only one capable of preventing this catastrophe, instead of immediately seeking clues or striving to become stronger, seem more interested in making a profit.

My friend, do you have some underlying issues?

This query was subtly conveyed to Wu Chen by Natasha.

"Huh, is this the problem you all are worried about?" Wu Chen retorted disdainfully. "Do you think that at my level, becoming stronger is something that can be achieved easily?"

"Since becoming stronger is so difficult, why bother with training? It's better to earn money to support oneself and one's family!"

"Furthermore, those who seek to break the seal are deeply hidden. Without them voluntarily revealing themselves, they can't be found."

"In such a scenario, one can only follow the faintest of clues and act covertly to avoid alerting them."

"In this way, while it may appear that I'm assisting SHIELD on the surface, I'm actually conducting covert investigations! I thought you all could understand this, but apparently not..."

Instantly, members of the SHIELD think tank blushed with embarrassment, except for a few seasoned individuals who remained unfazed.

Meanwhile, those ashamed individuals silently mused: Indeed, the logic is sound, but how could we possibly anticipate your specific circumstances?

However, "support oneself and one's family"? Did Boruto Uzumaki settle down?

Ultimately, Natasha assumed an additional role, becoming a dedicated task mistress for Boruto Uzumaki.

Her responsibilities mainly involved assisting Boruto Uzumaki in selecting and locating tasks, confirming task completion, and disbursing task rewards.

As for implementing the charm strategy, it shifted from being a mandatory tactic to a case-by-case consideration.

Clearly, even with a small probability, SHIELD didn't want to risk offending Boruto Uzumaki.

The humble SHIELD wasn't going anywhere~

Over the following week, Wu Chen successfully boosted Boruto Uzumaki's progress to fifty percent.

Here's how he did it:

Firstly, Wu Chen diligently completed SHIELD's assigned tasks, treating them like a regular work routine.

Every morning at 8 a.m., he would appear beside Natasha like clockwork, and by 6 p.m., he would promptly return to his residence.

Of course, he claimed to Natasha that he preferred his own bed, so he went back to sleep at his family home in Konoha.

With techniques like the Flying Raijin Jutsu at his disposal, Wu Chen could say whatever he liked, and the folks at SHIELD had no choice but to believe him; after all, how could they possibly refute it?

During his time with Natasha, Wu Chen also ramped up his acting skills, pretending to diligently perform tasks while covertly gathering intel, although in reality, he was simply completing tasks diligently.

This multi-layered approach significantly enhanced Wu Chen's acting prowess.

During this process, Wu Chen earned a twelve percent progress boost.

By completing ten relatively straightforward tasks for SHIELD, he earned a reward of one hundred thousand US dollars, along with a ten percent progress boost.

The remaining two percent revealed to Wu Chen the difference in progress increase between tasks commissioned by ordinary people and those commissioned by famous figures or superheroes in the Marvel universe!

Tasks commissioned by ordinary individuals resulted in a much lower progress increase compared to those commissioned by famous figures or superheroes.

This famous figure wasn't a celebrity in the Marvel world but rather a superhero or super villain!

For instance, assisting an ordinary person, Wu Chen earned a newspaper as a reward for teaching a bully a lesson, which only yielded a 0.1 percent progress increase.

Contrastingly, aiding Black Widow, Wu Chen earned a dinner reward for helping her discipline a villain, which boosted his progress by 1.9 percent.

That's a whopping nineteen-fold difference!

Therefore, SHIELD's ten tasks only provided a ten percent increase because those individuals weren't superheroes or super villains but rather unremarkable agents or spies.

Wu Chen promptly decided to prioritize completing tasks commissioned by superheroes or super villains in the future!

With the initial twenty-eight percent, he now had a total progress of forty percent.

And the remaining ten percent progress was also achieved within the same week.

Courtesy of Dr. Bruce Banner.