Chapter 10 Time Shards

In the face of incoming bullets, Luke Cage calmly blinked his eyes, refusing to dodge. He stood tall, confronting the attack head-on.

Moments later, the bullets hit him, but they only left bullet marks on his clothes and a lingering smell of gunpowder. There were no other traces of damage on his body.

Luke Cage looked down at the bullet marks, feeling somewhat helpless as he spoke. He doubted why his opponents still didn't believe in his abilities despite witnessing them firsthand.

Taking a step forward, he approached both robbers. With ease, he crushed the handguns they held in his large palm, as if they were made of clay.

The guns clattered to the ground, startling the two robbers.

As they saw their impending doom, both robbers turned around and wanted to escape, but Luke Cage raised his arms and effortlessly stopped them in their tracks.

He then turned and walked towards Colin.

The robbers were nothing more than ordinary criminals to Luke Cage, whose skin was impenetrable and possessed superhuman strength. They didn't even provide him with a warm-up.

As Luke Cage faced Colin again, he patted his shoulder and assured him that he had taken care of the situation.

"Okay, buddy, I've..."

However, as Luke Cage's hand made contact with Colin's shoulder, Colin's vision started to blur. He saw a multitude of green lights flashing, within which countless images of Luke Cage fighting, falling, and rising again appeared. Among the various Luke Cage figures, there were also blurry figures that Colin couldn't identify.

"I am a Defender!" Luke Cage's roar echoed through the scene.

Colin's eyes were then greeted by fleeting lines of text.

"Encountered distorted time nodes, collected a small time fragments × 1."

"Black Iron Mark (1/10)."

"Belief (32/1000)."

Colin couldn't help but be surprised by the text before him.

"Distorted time nodes?"

"Time fragments!"

"Black Iron Mark? And... belief!"

Confused, Colin mentioned the name "Defender" that appeared during Luke Cage's roar.

"The Defender?"

Luke Cage raised an eyebrow and corrected Colin, stating that he was a member of the Thunderbolts, not the "Defender" he mentioned.

"However, 'Defender' does have a nice ring to it," Luke Cage added, as he repeated the name.

Colin looked at Luke Cage, processing his words while recalling the information he had just seen.

"So, this is what they refer to as a 'distorted time node'?"

Luke Cage, a member of the Street Heroes Defender League, has joined the Thunderbolts in this world.

Colin's mind raced with various complex thoughts, but he couldn't dwell on the current situation any longer.

"Could you please help me call an ambulance? I don't think I can hold on much longer," Colin pleaded, clutching his agonizing wound.

"You're injured?!" Luke Cage exclaimed, finally noticing Colin's injuries upon his request.

Luke Cage couldn't be entirely blamed for not noticing earlier. The alley was poorly lit, and Colin had been concealing his wounds against the wall. It was only natural that Luke had overlooked them in a moment of carelessness.

...

Metropolitan General Hospital.

After confirming that Colin's injuries were not severe, Luke Cage hurriedly left the hospital.

As a member of the Thunderbolts, he led a busy life and had little time to spare.

He had arrived in the alley because he had overheard gunshots nearby.

"Mr. Luper, I must say, you're quite fortunate..." the doctor said with a sigh after treating Colin's wounds. "If the bullet had been just a centimeter or two higher, your recovery wouldn't be as simple as lying in a hospital bed."

Although the doctor left the sentence unfinished, his implication was clear to Colin—that a slightly higher trajectory of the bullet would have resulted in his lifeless body in the morgue freezer.

"Lucky?" Colin didn't say much in response to the doctor's sigh. However, he knew deep down that luck alone wasn't the reason he survived.

Contrary to the doctor's belief, the bullet hadn't merely missed its target; it had struck a vital spot on Colin's body with precision.

At least, that was the case before he traversed over.

...

Lying quietly in the hospital bed, Colin gently touched the bandages, aware of the wounds hidden beneath.

However, his gaze was fixed on the line of text in his field of vision.

[Time Shard (Luke Cage)]

The shard resembled shattered glass, with the faint figure of Luke Cage flickering within the fragments.

Observing this [Time Shard], Colin began to form a theory.

It had been nearly a week since he arrived in this alternate world. During this time, as a journalist, Colin had encountered numerous people, yet none of them had triggered a [Time Shard]. If it hadn't been for Luke Cage's appearance, he might have remained unaware of its existence.

In simpler terms, if Luke Cage hadn't coincidentally appeared, Colin wouldn't have discovered the [Time Shard] at all.

Pondering this, Colin couldn't help but feel grateful for his stroke of luck.

Though, it seemed that this luck had come at the cost of his life.

Since encountering Luke Cage led him to obtain the [Time Shard], could there be other similar entities capable of providing such shards?

Or perhaps, only the [Distorted Time Nodes] could offer [Time Shards].

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