Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 374 The Power of Drone Swarms and the Budding of Ultron

Caught off guard, the Chitauri lost five metal fish in quick succession, and they reacted.

The metal fish quickly slowed down and hovered above the skyscrapers, from which Zeta Swiss soldiers wielding sharp blades and energy weapons sprang out.

These soldiers were equipped with significantly better weapons than the previous cannon fodder, and they were also wearing armor, making them look even more elite.

Each metal fish could release hundreds of elite soldiers, most of whom rushed into the building and began to kill. Hundreds of Zeta Swiss soldiers, unable to squeeze in any longer, simply jumped off the building, using strange equipment to stick themselves to the smooth walls and sprint downhill.

A metal fish was also hovering on Stark Tower. Chitauri soldiers bypassed Dr. Erik on the roof and rushed into the building to stop the Avengers.

The two sides then engaged in a fierce battle inside the building.

Inside this building, the Avengers finally had a chance to unleash their power. Not to mention Hawkeye's bow and arrow and Captain America's shield, even Black Widow's small pistol could make holes in the Chitauri soldiers at such close range.

The Hulk did not enter the building. His body was too large; he couldn't even stand upright inside the building, let alone stretch his arms and legs.

So he stayed on the street, relying on his defensive capabilities to ignore the enemy's laser guns, without dodging or defending at all, and just killing the Zeta Swiss soldiers one by one with a punch.

Within minutes, Hulk had wiped out the Chitauri on the ground, and then he set his sights on the Chitauri soldiers climbing up and down the building's exterior walls.

With Hao Jing's amazing jumping ability, he could leap and tumble between the buildings like Mount Tai, each time landing precisely on a Zeta Swiss soldier, flattening him against the curtain wall.

Through Hulk's efforts, the exterior walls of buildings crumbled and fell away, transforming them into transparent frame buildings.

Eagle Eyes caught a glimpse of a dazzling golden-green hue through the gaps—it was Loki, mixed in with the Chitauri soldiers.

Hawkeye almost without thinking, drew an explosive arrow and shot it, but Loki caught the shaft with precision.

Then comes the classic scene of Hawkeye shooting down the god of deceit.

Loki's disheveled state served as a stark reminder that you shouldn't grab arrows flying in the sky, or they'll explode.

Loki, who was blown away, crashed through the glass curtain wall of the building in front of him and fell into the building.

His gleaming gold-green armor caught the attention of the green-skinned Hulk, who curiously followed after him, wanting to see what was even greener than himself.

Loki was thrown around so hard he rolled seven or eight times inside the building before regaining his balance and standing up again.

To his surprise, he looked up and saw the powerful Hulk, head bowed and chest hunched, charging towards him like a silverback gorilla, igniting the wrath of the God of Deceit.

"stop!!!"

Loki raised his hand to stop Hulk from approaching, angrily demanding, "Who do you all think you are?"

"I am a god! A god!! A true god!!"

"You fools, how dare you insult a true God! Once again! And time after time!"

"You insects, don't even think about insulting me again—"

Hulk suddenly exerted his strength, slamming his fists into the ground. The force traveled along the floor to Loki's feet, sending him flying.

But Loki had just taken off when Hulk rushed up and grabbed one of his feet, slamming him to the ground like a rag doll, then grabbing him again and slamming him to the other side.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"!"

After being slammed three times, Hulk stopped, picked him up to take a look, and found Loki staring at him. So he grabbed him again and slammed him twice more.

"Bang!!"

"Thump—!"

In his final slam, Hulk mustered all his strength, but cleverly channeled it all into Loki's body, preventing any leakage that could damage the floor and create a crisp, resonant sound.

This fall was terrible for Loki. His eyes were glazed over, his pupils dilated, and his limbs went limp. He no longer looked like a god.

Hulk picked Loki up and shook him, and finding no resistance, he tossed him aside with satisfaction.

This thing is indestructible; it's not as fun as the Chitauri who burst when stepped on.

So Hulk left looking so fresh and clean, continuing his pursuit of the other Chitauri soldiers.

Loki was defeated, several more Chitauri metal fish were shot down, and the Chitauri soldiers were wiped out like weeds. The situation in the Battle of New York was very favorable.

Unfortunately, this favorable situation is limited to the area where the Avengers are located. If we broaden our perspective, we can see that the Chitauri have gained an absolute advantage.

As the heart of the United States, Manhattan has an extremely high population density, yet its defense capabilities are negligible.

Less than half an hour into the battle, the New York police were overwhelmed, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

However, the Chitauri's laser guns did not stop; instead, they began an even more frenzied massacre.

In a war involving an invasion by an alien army of hundreds of thousands or even millions, the role that a few superheroes can play is extremely limited.

Of course, this is assuming Xia Zuo doesn't unleash his power.

When superheroes become powerful enough, they can indeed turn war into a personal show, just like the Fourth Shinobi World War in the Naruto world.

When Madara Uchiha appeared, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of ninjas were subjected to a dimensional reduction attack. When Six Paths Madara became the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, the ninjas simply became numbers, nothing more than numbers.

Thanks to the efforts of Naruto Shazam, the current Shazam in the Marvel universe has integrated a complex power system and can wipe out the more than 20,000 Chitauri in front of him with just one move.

But Xia Zuo is not a saint. While his actions may save more people, they do not benefit the overall situation and may even turn him into an enemy of humanity.

Superman is targeted by humans and schemed against by Batman not because he is an alien, but because he is kind!

Moreover, Superman's alien identity might make humans somewhat wary, but for a native human like Xia Zuo with a clean background, being seen as a saintly good-natured person would naturally attract countless greedy and covetous people.

At that time, if you don't fight back, you will be seen as a good person, turned into a beast of burden that everyone wants to ride, and ultimately end up being completely exploited and morally kidnapped into slavery.

But if she retaliates, she will be seen as a false saint, and will be rejected and ostracized by all of humanity, thus embarking on the path of becoming a world-destroying demon king.

If a good person does one bad thing, it's considered an unforgivable crime. If a bad person occasionally robs but doesn't kill, it's considered a prodigal son returning home, meaning his heart isn't inherently bad.

Xia Zuo never portrayed himself as a good person, but rather as a rule-abiding but vindictive madman, a greedy but restrained capitalist.

Therefore, he wouldn't step forward at this time and sacrifice himself to save ordinary people in Manhattan.

In reality, there weren't many ordinary people among them; most were his enemies and henchmen of the Judah financial group. The more of them died, the more advantageous it would be for him and the Onsa financial group behind him.

Norman Osborne was the only one who understood what his boss meant, but he didn't see it as a problem; on the contrary, his faith became even more devout.

The archangels who wield power with restraint are the true sword of God.

Skye, always rather simple-minded, couldn't help but ask as the situation crumbled, "Boss, what do we do?" as she watched the situation gradually collapse.

Xia Zuo pointed to the western sky and said, "Our swarm of drones has arrived."

The electrically driven quadcopter drones were extremely quiet and were completely ignored in the noisy battlefield. Only after Shazo reminded them did Norman and Skye notice the swarm of drones approaching from the west like a locust swarm.

Norman and Skye stared in astonishment at the sky, never imagining that a swarm of 20,000 drones could exert such a terrifying sense of oppression.

They were no less formidable than the densely packed Chitauri army.

In fact, the quadcopter was proposed by Shazo, the flight control system was solved by Skye, and Norman was in charge of production integration.

Over the past year, Skye and Norman have participated in numerous drone experiments, including multiple formation flights, but they were deceived by the drones' small size and thought they were just toys.

Who knew that after some improvements at the University of Tokyo, its weight was reduced from 2.6 kg to 1.2 kg, while its load-bearing capacity increased from 0.8 kg to 9 kg. Once it could carry a camera, it was transformed into a useful surveillance tool.

The latest iteration of Dongda Technology has integrated the camera and radar functions into the entire fuselage, giving the 1.6-kilogram drone an extra 8 kilograms of payload, which is a serious problem.

Even so, Norman and Skye still didn't think the thing was that amazing.

Because drones are so cheap.

The cost of a mere $80, even if increased 1000 times, is only tens of thousands of dollars. How can that compare to missiles costing hundreds of thousands or millions?

It wasn't until today, seeing the swarm of drones from Wujue Wujue, entering the battlefield in an orderly fashion under the control of the group flight control system, that the two realized how brilliant their boss was.

Buzz—

A quadcopter drone, emitting the sound of bees flapping their wings, locked onto the curious Chitauri based on the outline of the drone and then crashed into it at 130 miles per hour.

boom!

The explosion of 6 kilograms of TNT pulverized the locked-on Zeta Swiss soldier, and the burst propelled 2 kilograms of steel balls, turning the unfortunate man into a sieve of bullets.

In terms of technology alone, drones are incomparable to the laser guns wielded by the Chitauri, but despite their inferior technology, their power is undeniable, and both are capable of killing.

If Shazo's drones could use 40% of their power for killing, then the Chitauri's laser guns could only use at most 5% of their power for killing.

Their weapons waste too much technology and weight on inexplicable control and limitations.

The result was that the outdated drones completely outclassed the advanced Chitauri laser guns.

As soon as the drones achieved their first victory, a massive swarm of drones pressed forward aggressively, blasting the Chitauri soldiers and aircraft to pieces.

Even the giant metal fish, after being attacked by hundreds of drones, was bombarded and fell down, riddled with holes and billowing black smoke.

Twenty thousand drones swept across the battlefield, killing all the exposed Zeta Swiss soldiers, and all the individual flying vehicles and metal fish in the sky also fell to the ground.

With just over 10,000 drones, the entire New York battlefield was cleared out.

Only the Chitauri, who were rampaging inside the skyscrapers, survived. But it was soon discovered that drones were beginning to penetrate the buildings, searching for and eliminating the Chitauri one by one.

This scene left countless people dumbfounded.

These drones are incredibly efficient in combat, and their adaptability is beyond imagination. Their overall performance far surpasses that of most missiles.

In particular, the fact that drones can enter rooms to fight not only makes them more efficient than elite soldiers, but also carries only the risk of cost, which has excited high-ranking officials in the Ministry of National Defense.

The chubby defense minister slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "Whose product is this? I need all the information about it in five minutes!"

His secretary pointed to the large logo on the back of the drone and said, "This is a new product from Osborn Industries, but the ownership belongs to Mr. Shazo."

The Secretary of Defense, backed by DuPont, was overjoyed to hear it was Mr. Shazo's company, exclaiming, "Adjust the military budget, cut missiles in half, and buy drones instead! These things are incredibly useful!"

Not only the Department of Defense was interested, but the president of the White House was also very interested.

He even directly ordered the purchase of a batch of weapons for the fourth class. If Congress didn't approve such cheap weapons, it would be a huge disrespect to the president.

The CIA, FBI, and local police departments have all recognized the value of drones and have formulated procurement plans.

Those who thought Shazor's development of drones was an idiotic act after Hammer Industries' unmanned robotic soldiers failed are now kicking themselves.

Although the price of a drone is unknown, a toy with only three functions—flight, reconnaissance, and explosion—would definitely not be more expensive than a man-portable air defense missile.

Cheap and effective weapons, being fast-moving consumer goods, would naturally attract the attention of the US military.

After this battle, Xia Zuo will dominate the drone market, occupy the vast majority of the market share, and make a fortune.

Stark wasn't thinking about making money right now; he gazed thoughtfully at the drones buzzing and swirling in the sky.

"Jarvis, these should be AI-controlled drones, right?"

Yes, Mr. Stark, these drones autonomously identify and lock onto enemies, unaffected by electromagnetic interference.

"So, the combination of drones and AI is quite effective, and it's not even a very advanced form of artificial intelligence."

"No, no, no, I am Iron Man Tony Stark. How could I use a moronic AI? Even the artificial intelligence combat system developed by Ivan Vanko is not worthy of my status."

"Yes, I want to develop a more powerful artificial intelligence, which, when combined with combat mechs of the same level as battle suits, will give me my own AI-powered steel army."

"Okay, let's call him Ultron."

"We can no longer fight alone like vigilantes on the streets. Only a smart, steel army can protect the earth in today's large-scale invasion."

"I, Tony Stark, will definitely protect the Earth!"