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After the Nightmare
Chapter One
Peter Parker felt like he was falling apart.
It was supposed to be just another average day—suit up in the red and blue spandex, swing through the concrete jungle of New York, spar with a bunch of psychos powered by either tech or mutation, and be that Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
But today, just his rotten luck, he’d barely finished dealing with Electro for good and was on his way back to school. He was diving off the top of the Empire State Building when he hit... something.
He thought he must be lying on a Manhattan sidewalk right now, but the smell of dust in his nose told him otherwise.
The air here seemed way too fresh compared to New York.
He couldn't open his eyes, but his spider-sense was tingling. There were two people nearby, one old and one young. And the kid was poking him in the chest.
"Granny—this feller's got a spider embroidered on his clothes."
"You wretched boy! Take your hand away at once! Have a care you don't poke him to pieces!"
Peter had to search his internal database to figure out what these two were saying.
It sounded like the Chinese he took as an elective for easy credits at university, but this definitely wasn't Mandarin.
The language gave him the same vibe as the cashier with the impossibly thick Latino accent when he bought a burrito yesterday morning. Bottom line: he could understand it, but it was just... off.
It took him ages, but he finally managed to pry his eyes open.
...What the hell is this place?
All around were broken wooden tables and chairs. The house had wooden beams and pillars, the skeleton filled in with cheap bricks and yellow earth. And then there were the old woman and the kid...
Those clothes looked familiar to Peter.
Right, when he was a kid, Uncle Ben took him to the movies to see Disney's Mulan. Most of the people in that movie wore stuff pretty much exactly like this old lady.
He was forced to come to a ridiculous conclusion—heaven knows which mad scientist's crazy experiment had dumped him into this dimension that looked like ancient China.
Peter swore that if he ever got back, he was going to send an anonymous tip to the Daily Bugle, claiming Tony Stark was working on something brand new—letting New Yorkers experience a very different kind of theme park.
________________________________________
Chapter Two
"This young feller looks for all the world like... one of them foreigners I saw on the road to the Capital all them years back."
Peter was still trying to pick apart what the old lady was saying.
Fan-ren (Foreigner). That was probably what they called people from other countries here.
He just hoped she hadn't said Fan-ren as in "Prisoner." Or "Criminal."
Peter tested his fingers. Good. Everything seemed to be back online. Taking a dive off the Empire State Building was apparently less taxing on the body than stopping a runaway train.
Seeing him sit up inch by inch, the wrinkles on the old woman's face unfolded like a map.
She smiled and spoke rapidly. Peter didn't catch a word, so he simply accepted the bowl of water she offered.
This isn't going to work, Peter thought. The communication overhead is way too high.
Fortunately, he wasn't completely out of options. The Iron Spider suit Tony gave him was still in his backpack. It should have a built-in universal translation module.
To his relief, the backpack was right there in his field of vision.
But to his dismay, the nanotech storage unit showed absolutely no reaction. In short: it was dead as a doornail.
Which meant he had to use his own mouth.
"Thank... you... Where... am I?"
"How should I put it? Beneath the Son of Heaven's very feet. The Wang Village—"
Okay. Son of Heaven. Emperor. Probably somewhere near a capital city, Peter deduced.
"But, young man, these clothes of yours are a might queer. Where might your home be?"
"..."
Peter was stumped.
Queens, New York. But saying he lived in a place related to a "Queen" in a place that worshipped an "Emperor" might get him labeled as a lunatic—or worse.
"My... home... far. Across... big sea."
"Ah, folk from the Ocean," the old woman nodded thoughtfully. "Met with a mishap, did you? Washed ashore?"
Peter felt he shouldn't elaborate. Explaining quantum physics and the multiverse was about ten thousand times harder than explaining a shipwreck.
However, the old woman suddenly sighed.
"Young man, seeing as you're mended now, you best be off tomorrow to seek your own living... Not that this old trot has a heart of stone, but we're leaving too. This wretched house... it won't hold us no more."
Peter couldn't understand everything she said, but he understood the tone.
There was worry. There was resolve.
And he saw the little boy in the corner, looking anxious and scared.
This doesn't feel right, Peter thought. It sounds like a tenant in Hell's Kitchen getting evicted.
For the next ten minutes, Peter Parker deployed his entire vocabulary of university-level Chinese, combined with a game of charades that involved a lot of guessing, to finally figure out what this old lady named "Granny Liu" was intending to do.
The process was excruciating. It was like being handed a Chinese Gaokao exam without access to Google Translate.
But some words transcended language barriers, carrying a universal scent of blood.
"Gone." The old woman mimed a person falling down, her eyes reddening. "Fengjie... entrusted me..."
"Her girl... sold..."
"Guazhou... wicked men..."
The slightly unfocused look in Peter's eyes solidified instantly.
He understood.
Not everything, but enough.
For the sake of a promise, this rural old woman had sold the last few mu of her land—practically selling everything she owned—to go to a place called "Guazhou."
To redeem a girl named "Qiaojie" from a place she called a Yaozi.
The word Yaozi hadn't appeared in his elective textbooks. But combining "sold" and "flowers," along with the look of gnashing teeth and helplessness on the old woman's face, Peter got the picture.
He thought he had dropped into the Kung Fu Panda zone at Universal Studios—fields, breeze, simple villagers.
But now, reality just hit him in the face like a brick.
Here, there was only the most primal sin.
Human trafficking. Forced prostitution.
Compared to this, Hell's Kitchen looked positively quaint.
"All right, young man, you rest up early. Tomorrow, once we're out of the village, we'll go our separate ways..."
Granny Liu hadn't finished speaking when a hand blocked her view, holding half a grey brick.
He pointed at the bundle nearby, then at the old woman and Banr, and finally, he pointed a thumb at his own chest.
"Bad men... many. I... go. Protect... you."
Crunch.
The brick turned to powder in his hand like a dry cookie.
Granny Liu's jaw dropped. The oil lamp in her hand flickered, nearly crashing to the floor.
No suit.
No AI support.
No Avengers backup.
But he felt that fire in his chest burning again. The fire that hadn't gone out since the day Uncle Ben died.
"Go... together."
Chapter Three
The sun hadn't even broken the horizon when the three of them hit the road.
A donkey cart carried them—or rather, dragged them along. It was less like walking and more like worming their way forward.
Dust kicked up everywhere. Peter felt like he could quit his day job and become a human vacuum cleaner.
But that was beside the point. The real challenge was that he was essentially playing an extreme difficulty level game of Charades with Granny Liu.
"Why?" Peter made a grabbing gesture. "The girl... Qiaojie. Why sold?"
Finally, he pieced together the backstory, and it made his blood run cold.
"Confiscation." (Chaojia)
Peter learned a new word.
It meant the Emperor said the word, and a mansion even more luxurious than Stark Tower was slapped with official seals.
The men were sent into exile. The women were sold off.
"Even... kids?" Peter pointed at Banr, who was tossing pebbles nearby. "Like him... that size?"
"Lord help us, Master Pa, in times like those, who cares about big or small?" Granny Liu wiped the mixture of dust and sweat from her face.
It was absurd.
In Peter's view, even if your dad was Norman Osborn and he blew half of New York to kingdom come, no one would seize you and sell you to a pimp to pay off the debts.
But in Granny Liu's narrative, it all sounded as natural as the sun rising.
"Collective punishment... Damn... It's unconstitutional."
Of course, explaining the Federal Constitution to Granny Liu was pointless.
Peter felt the blood flow accelerate throughout his body.
Suddenly, his mind drifted to something else. A rainy night at the Port of New Jersey, a year ago.
The rain was heavy, but it couldn't wash away the blood on the ground. The neon lights reflected in the puddles turned a sickly color.
The target of that operation was an international trafficking ring. The shipping containers were packed with young girls lured from Eastern Europe.
Back then, Peter was busy finding blankets for the girls. On the other side of the dock, Steve Rogers—Captain America—was trying to stop Frank Castle, The Punisher, from using his smoking M16.
"Enough, Frank! They've surrendered!"
But Frank had no intention of stopping.
No trial. No jury. The ground was already littered with bodies.
"You want to hand them over to the law? Steve, for animals who sell people like livestock, my bullets are the only law."
Before the sentence was finished, another trafficker's head exploded.
That gunshot still echoed in Peter's memory. That was the moment the Captain and the Punisher broke ties.
Peter didn't kill. He had always stood by Cap, believing in procedural justice.
But now, the image of this unseen Qiaojie seemed to overlap with those girls in the container.
Guazhou wasn't New Jersey.
There was no S.H.I.E.L.D. No oversight from the Daily Bugle. And certainly no court of law.
The man selling Qiaojie into that living hell... it sounded like what he was doing was completely legal.
In this godforsaken place, a contract to sell a human being was as legally binding as buying a used car in the States.
If...
Peter's heart gave a violent thump.
If I really meet these traffickers, or these "Heartless Uncles" Granny Liu talks about, what do I do?
Web them up to a lamppost and leave a note for the police?
But there are no police here.
Peter felt a chill crawl up his spine.
In this lawless wasteland, he felt the shadow known as "The Punisher" quietly extending over him.
________________________________________
Chapter Four
If this was the caliber of villains in this era, Peter felt the Avengers could honestly just disband.
When the five thugs with oxidized scrap metal they called swords jumped out of the woods, screaming something that sounded like a rehearsed "Stand and deliver!" speech, Peter hadn't even finished his yawn.
The next five seconds were a one-sided beatdown.
No webs. No suit protocols. Not a problem.
Peter pulled his punches; he was genuinely afraid of turning their insides to paste with a single tap.
A sidestep dodge. A wrist lock. A simple application of leverage to a joint. A sweep of the leg.
In less than ten seconds, the five bandits were neatly laid out on the ground, groaning in unison.
Peter even had the leisure to toss their rusty cleavers high into the tree branches—a height they wouldn't reach in this lifetime.
"Well, I never..."
Granny Liu's jaw hit the floor.
She had seen the guards at the Rongguo Mansion. Big fellows, sure, but mostly for show.
But this young foreigner? He moved like a ghost and struck like lightning. He was exactly like the legendary knights from the storytellers' tales—the kind who could scale walls and take a general's head amidst an army of thousands.
"Amida Buddha..." the old woman muttered. "Is he Wu Song reborn?"
Peter had no idea who "Wu Song" was, but he recognized the hero-worship in her eyes. It made him a little embarrassed. Beating up noobs wasn't exactly something to brag about.
With him around, no one was touching their silver.
...Touching the silver?
A thought suddenly jolted Peter.
He ran a simulation in his head: He walks in with the cash. The Madam of the brothel sees an old woman, a kid, and a foreigner. She would absolutely jack up the price on the spot.
Hell, she might take the money and refuse to release the girl.
Reason with a gang? Talk human rights with a pimp?
Peter shook his head. He had zero illusions about scum like that.
Since they couldn't afford a legitimate ransom, there was only one way left.
Peter remembered a principle of negotiation Tony once taught him: "Always let the other guy think he has a choice."
But this time, nobody gets a choice. And he didn't want to negotiate.
"Granny, we... don't give money. Money, keep it. For Qiaojie, buy food."
He made a grabbing motion in empty air.
"We steal her."
"Steal?! But that place... it's a den of tigers and wolves..."
Granny Liu swallowed the rest of her sentence.
She had lived over seventy years and had eaten more salt than Peter had eaten rice.
Guazhou was a port town, a mix of dragons and snakes. The hearts of those brothel keepers were blacker than coal. Sending silver in there would be like throwing a meat bun at a dog—gone forever.
"If we could really snatch her out..." Granny Liu narrowed her eyes. "As long as we get out of Guazhou, cross the river, and head north back to our village..."
"Run," Peter nodded. "Back to village."
Granny Liu nodded back.
There were hundreds of folks in her village. They might be poor as church mice, but if some out-of-town hoodlums dared to come snatch a person, the whole village—old and young—would come out with hoes and carrying poles.
Country folks survived by sticking together.
Granny Liu gritted her teeth, her peasant toughness surfacing.
A mighty dragon cannot crush a snake in its old haunts, but once out of Guazhou, those thugs would be nothing but rats crossing the street.
"Alright, we'll do it your way! But... high walls and big courtyards... there must be guards and watchdogs... How will you get in?"
Granny Liu looked Peter up and down again. The lad was a fighter, sure. But a house of ill repute like that? Walls taller than a man, gates bolted shut, vicious dogs and hired muscle inside. He couldn't just punch his way through the front door, could he?
Seeing the skepticism in the old woman's eyes, Peter couldn't help but let the corner of his mouth quirk up.
For a spider, walls were never an obstacle.
Chapter Five
Peter rummaged through his wallet. There was still a hundred-dollar bill inside. Useless here as currency, but it worked as a talisman for courage.
"Alright, alright, Franklin. Let's hope this experiment goes as well for me as it did for you..."
Peter gritted his teeth.
Of course, he was asking for trouble. Saving just Qiaojie wasn't the issue, but his moral compass was tingling harder than his spider-sense.
Qiaojie was sold into that place. That meant there were plenty of other girls suffering the same fate.
With great power, comes great responsibility.
He couldn't just save one. He wanted to take the whole place down.
But going in alone, dragging an old lady and a kid, facing a potential army of thugs? That was too risky.
He needed backup. And he needed to find a way home.
Conveniently, dark clouds were gathering overhead, rolling with deep thunder. To normal folks, this meant "bring in the laundry." To Peter, it was a free power bank sent by God.
Just enough to boot up the basic OS. That was all he needed.
He spent ages gesturing to Granny Liu to confirm the shopping list. Granny didn't get why he wanted to fly a kite in a thunderstorm, but out of trust, she gave him five taels of silver.
Peter swore that once he contacted Earth-616, he'd make Tony pay Granny back a hundredfold. Five hundred taels was just a rounding error in Stark Industries' procurement budget anyway.
The kite was easy enough to procure. The quality of the copper wire from the nearby town's smithy, however, left much to be desired.
"Conductivity's probably under 50%. If Oscorp's QC tried to pull this, their stock would hit limit down."
Peter cursed in English. By the failing light, he started winding the coil of industrial-waste-grade copper wire around the kite frame, rigging a small circuit on the other end to plug into the Iron Spider's charging port.
He couldn't let Granny follow him up the mountain. If he got struck by lightning, he might walk it off. For the grandma and grandson, it would be fatal.
If this scene were painted, it would be the peak of East-West cultural collision—a teenager in rough ancient robes, standing on a wild Oriental mountaintop, reenacting that famous 1752 Philadelphia experiment.
"Come on, Zeus. Or Lei Gong... whoever's in charge of this jurisdiction."
The paper kite teetered in the gale, looking like a raised middle finger challenging the might of nature.
KRA-KOOM—!
The sky answered.
In that instant, Peter felt like he'd been punched in the chest by the Hulk, or treated to max-power electroshock therapy by that bastard Electro.
Every bone vibrated. Every nerve screamed. His hair stood on end, and smoke actually rose from his skin.
He slammed hard into the mud. He was certain that if Granny Liu had been standing next to him, it would have been a homicide.
After the thunder, the rain poured down.
Peter lay in the mud, gasping for air, smelling like burnt toast.
But he smiled.
Because that cluster of dead nanometal was now glowing with a faint, spectral blue light.
The female voice sounded like a choir of angels.
"System rebooting... Energy Level: 3%."
"External environmental anomaly detected. Stark Industries Satellite Network not found. Offline Mode activated."
"Welcome back, Peter."
Chapter Six
"Hello? Is this thing on? Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man here..."
Peter spoke to the air—or rather, to the micro-receiver that was desperately searching for a signal.
"I'm currently in a place that is... hard to explain. If there's anyone on duty at Avengers Tower, I could really use some... takeout service. Preferably the kind that can take on ten guys at once."
The rain had stopped, but Peter's mood was gloomier than the storm clouds had been.
The suit, with only 3% battery remaining, was like a dying patient, sending out intermittent distress signals.
"This is Spider-Man... Peter Parker... requesting backup... any Avengers member..."
No response.
Only white noise crackled over the radio, like the universe laughing at him.
He should have known. Tony was probably partying at his Malibu mansion, or off fighting aliens in deep space, completely deaf to a call from this unknown dimension.
"Looks like I'm on my own."
Granny Liu stood to the side, too afraid to speak. She couldn't fathom how this kid had actively courted a lightning strike last night, taken the hit, and still walked down the mountain in one piece, albeit with a limp.
Just then, a hand clapped heavily onto Peter's shoulder.
Every hair on Peter's body stood on end. His spider-sense hadn't triggered at all!
That meant the person behind him was either insanely powerful, or... bore him absolutely no ill will, perhaps even resonating on the same frequency.
Standing behind him was... an Asian man.
He wore a 1970s leather biker jacket, sported wild hair, and wore sunglasses.
If Peter didn't know better, he'd suspect this guy had just walked out of a retro costume party.
The key giveaway was the incredibly clunky bracelet on his wrist—it had a spider painted on it.
"Who... who are you?"
"The Emissary of Hell, Supaidāman!" The man grinned. "Just call me Takuya... Takuya Yamashiro."
"..."
Peter was genuinely confused.
He seemed to recall that there was indeed a Japanese Spider-Man in the multiverse.
"My partner, Leopardon, picked up your wavelength. It was faint, but a Spider can always sense a Spider's cry for help."
"Leo... what-now?" Peter felt his brain processing power maxing out.
"Leopardon," Takuya said, as if introducing his pet dog. "My Space Battleship. Also my Giant Transforming Robot. It's a bit big, so I parked it in the stratosphere. Didn't want to scare the locals of this era."
Peter had thought the Iron Man suit was the peak of technology.
It turned out this parallel version of himself owned a literal spaceship.
"...Then you must have a power source, right? Also, how did you get here?"
Takuya just gave a helpless smile.
"I asked a friend of a friend. Though, the guy's temper is a bit..."
Before he could finish, the air outside the tea shed suddenly distorted.
A silver-gray curtain of light—an Aurora Curtain—unfolded from thin air like a semi-transparent sheet of silk.
Peter instinctively dropped into a combat stance. This spatial fluctuation reminded him of Doctor Strange's portals, but this light curtain felt more... industrial?
Two men stepped out from the curtain.
One was also clad in leather, with an eye-catching red scarf around his neck and an incredibly casual smile.
"Looks like you found him, Takuya."
"Peter, that is my senior, Kazami Shirō," Takuya laughed. "Or as he is known—Kamen Rider V3."
"...Right."
Peter was still searching his internal database. Takuya's world didn't seem to have Avengers, but he did have some cyborg allies.
But that wasn't what concerned him most.
The real issue was the other man standing there, whose vibe was just... off.
He wore a black casual suit over a shirt of a questionable shade of magenta, with a twin-lens reflex camera—which looked expensive—hanging around his neck.
He said nothing at first, simply lifting the camera to snap a photo of Granny Liu.
As the camera spat out the photo, the man looked at it with disdain.
"Out of focus again—you look curious?"
Peter wasn't sure what expression he should be wearing right now.
"I... I am curious. I'm Peter Parker."
"Do I need to introduce myself?"
The man wore a smile that was punchably arrogant, instantly reminding Peter of Tony Stark.
"I'm just a passing-through Kamen Rider. Remember that."
"I told you his temper is weird," Takuya laughed. "That's Kadoya Tsukasa. Kamen Rider Decade."
Chapter Seven
Peter began to suspect that he hadn't just fallen into ancient China, but had somehow stumbled into a Japanese Sunday Morning TV block.
Kazami Shirō was folding paper planes and handing them to Banr, teaching the kid how to throw them for maximum distance.
At first, Banr was afraid of this stranger, but watching a paper plane soar over ten meters broke down his defenses. The kid's curiosity won out.
Kids are always like that. Even without toys, give them a few rocks and they can entertain themselves for half a day.
"Can't help it. Showa Riders are just built that way," Kadoya Tsukasa said as he changed the film in his camera. "He's the King of the Kids... originally, he had a whole pack of brats called the Junior Rider Squad following his ass everywhere."
"Save the sarcasm for later. You haven't had breakfast yet, have you?"
Takuya placed his backpack on the table. Judging by the tension in the straps, the contents weren't light.
When Peter saw what Takuya pulled out, he genuinely almost cried.
Six fully wrapped burgers, radiating the distinct, industrial-era aroma of roasted meat and processed cheese.
"Picked them up when passing through Sasebo. Eat while they're hot." Takuya handed one to Peter.
When his teeth cut through the bun, meeting the grease-filled, calorie-dense beef patty, and the salty fragrance of cheese exploded on his tongue, Peter Parker's heartbeat finally stabilized.
This was the taste of civilization.
This was the taste of the twenty-first century.
This was the taste of not worrying about being sold into slavery or struck by lightning.
"Give one to the old lady, too." Takuya, acting like a worried mother hen, handed another one to Granny Liu.
Granny Liu's hands trembled as she took it. Copying Peter, she took a bite.
The old woman's eyebrows instantly shot up.
"Lordy! This foreign bobo (pastry)..." Granny Liu exclaimed between chews. "It's honest! It's too honest! There's a whole slab of meat cake in here!"
Tsukasa seemed about to lift his camera again, but thought better of it and grabbed a burger for himself.
Granny Liu chewed for a long time before finally swallowing the first bite.
"Back in the Grand View Garden, they used a dozen chickens just to flavor a bit of eggplant. That was called 'refinement.' But this thing... one bite has enough oil and fat to last us farmers half a month. The cook is too generous with his ingredients! Isn't he afraid the master will call him a spendthrift?"
"It's fine, Granny. Where we come from, this is considered 'poor man's food.' It's cheap and fills you up." Peter was still wolfing his down.
"Huh?"
Granny Liu rubbed her ears, her expression even more exaggerated than the day she entered the Grand View Garden.
If poor people can eat meat like this until they're full, what do the rich households eat? Dragon liver and phoenix marrow?
"Well... no surprise there. The rich love their 'healthy diets.' Plenty of them eat purely vegan," Tsukasa sneered.
"Oh, I get it. Buddhists reciting scriptures." Granny Liu nodded and went back to eating.
Tsukasa and Takuya looked at each other in silence.
Peter couldn't care less about the dialectics of eggplant cooking versus chicken stock. He was too busy licking the sauce off his fingers.
________________________________________
After a meal that counted as supreme luxury by ancient standards, the conversation finally got back on track.
Peter no longer had to worry about communication. With Leopardon acting as a super-sized power bank, the suit's translation module could stay on indefinitely.
Granny Liu was baffled. How did this boy go from babbling like a toddler to speaking faster than the storyteller at the village entrance?
"Wait a moment, Granny." Takuya began distributing canned green tea. "You said you are going to Guazhou to save a young girl named... Qiaojie?"
"That's the very one." Granny Liu tentatively took a sip of the liquid from the strange iron tin. "This tea... it's fragrant enough, but a bit bland for my taste."
"Qiaojie... Is her mother named Wang Xifeng?"
"That's the Second Mistress of the Rongguo Mansion. Young man, you folks don't look like locals. How do you know all this so clearly?"
"And... did their family own a massive garden? And was there a young master born with jade in his mouth named Baoyu?!"
"Aye, that's right... but that's all in the past now. Now... sigh."
Takuya suddenly stood up and paced around the cramped tea shed.
"Gentlemen, we have a massive problem."
"What is it?" Peter wiped his mouth. "Alien kaiju inbound?"
"Worse than that." Takuya continued to pace. "I know where we are. In Japan, this book is called The Dream of the Red Chamber. It is the greatest Chinese classical novel."
"Hm?" Tsukasa looked up. "You mean to say we are currently inside a book?"
"But something is wrong. According to the book's ending, the Jia family falls, and it ends with 'A great expanse of whiteness, desolate and clean.' The story should be over. Everything should have returned to the void."
Takuya's voice dropped an octave.
"But now, the snow has melted, and the people aren't all dead. We are in the world after the story has ended."
"...What's the difference?" Tsukasa fiddled with the aperture ring on his camera. "I get the gist... haven't read it, but basically the history of a rich second-generation family's downfall?"
"The difference is," Shiro swiped the last can of green tea, "the story is over. The author's pen has stopped. The people here now... they have no script to reference. This is the world after the finale."
Peter looked at Banr and Granny Liu.
"You mean... like a manga that got discontinued mid-arc? We, and they, have all fallen into the void where the author couldn't keep writing?"
It meant no sequels. No post-credit scenes. Just a mess left behind.
"Like a soap opera that got axed, but the characters forgot to clock out and go home?" Tsukasa sneered. "Well, that makes it simple—we beat down the guys who made the story rot, and then we decide the new ending."
Peter smiled, too.
"Nice speech, buddy. I don't care if this is a Red Chamber or a Nightmare. The only script that matters right now is going in there and saving those girls."
Chapter Eight
"So, Peter Parker, we are going to save a bunch of girls who were written into a novel?" Tsukasa laughed. "This is much more interesting than fighting alien monsters. After all, human joys and sorrows... don't listen to your fists."
"Enough, Tsukasa," Shiro interjected. "Don't forget the truth we discovered during the Rider War... inside parallel worlds, we are also just stories written by someone else."
That remark instantly reminded Peter of Deadpool, who spent all day threatening to massacre the Marvel editorial staff.
Shiro cleared his throat.
"We are programmed to fight, scripted to sacrifice. But even knowing it's a script—we still choose to save lives. Because that is the way we choose to live."
"Can we cut the philosophy crap? Like... focus on what we do once we get into Guazhou?" Peter looked miserable. "We're a team now, sure. But do we save just one? And... what happens after we get them out?"
"He can teleport. We can pop right into the city from here, completely unnoticed." Takuya pointed at Tsukasa.
"Right. Then it's back to basics for us two Spiders. We infiltrate, find Qiaojie, and ideally find out which girls actually have a place to go—there's no Social Services here, but maybe... we can find a safe house outside the city..."
"And then? Master Pa, and then what?"
Peter turned around. It was Granny Liu who had spoken.
He sensed something was wrong.
"Child, I understand. I know you are all good men, but... you don't understand this..." Granny Liu sighed.
"Don't understand? We get them out, take them far away from here, start a new life... is that so hard?"
Peter couldn't finish his sentence. He vaguely sensed that this wasn't as simple as driving from New York to Delaware or Rhode Island.
"They can't go back." Granny Liu shook her head and pointed toward Guazhou. "Qiaojie might be okay; I'll risk my old life to protect her, and the villagers might hold their tongues for my sake. But those girls with no kin?"
Shiro's fist clenched. He understood.
Granny Liu closed her eyes.
"A girl from a clean family... the moment she sets one foot in those Willow Lanes and Flower Streets, even if nothing happened, she is stained forever. It's like jumping into the Yellow River—you can never wash it clean. If they are redeemed properly, maybe. But if they run off with you lot... a group of wild men... even if they are pure, no one will believe it.
"By then, their lives will be harder than they are now. Parents won't claim them. In-laws won't take them. Walking down the street, people will stab them in the spine with their glares. If they go back... they'll either be kicked out to starve, or... drowned in a pig cage, or handed a rope and forced to hang themselves, just to save the family's 'honor'."
Takuya took a deep breath.
"Peter... during World War II, there were women in East Asia like that too. Forced to be Comfort Women. When they came back, no one dared admit they had been hurt."
"Except for that river, they have nowhere to go." Granny Liu wiped the corner of her eye. "It may not be a place for humans inside, but in that fire pit... at least they get fed."
Peter choked on his words.
What could he say?
"It's not fair"? Or "They are victims too"?
Nothing mattered. They had enough firepower to level Guazhou fifty times over, yet they couldn't find a way for a group of innocent girls to survive.
This damn Ritual Ethics.
To smash this kind of stigmatization, Peter thought, Earth-616 would have to come here and remodel the entire society.
—But that would smack of colonialism.
It was a crime, absolutely a crime. But he didn't feel like being Columbus today.
Tsukasa just leaned against a pillar, cleaning his fingernails with a Rider Card.
"What are you thinking? Pulling a Helicarrier out of the sky, abolishing all the laws here, tearing down private tutors to build hundreds of public schools?"
"You know that's impossible," Peter said, head down. "To save a life means taking responsibility for it afterwards... but no one told us what to do if the world doesn't want to be saved."
This feeling of powerlessness was stronger than facing Thanos.
Against aliens, you just activate "Instant Kill" mode and go to town. But against an atmosphere called "Tradition," your punches just hit cotton.
"So, stop trying to be a Messiah. Let's go back to our old trade." Tsukasa toyed with a photo of Guazhou city. Naturally, it was out of focus.
"Old trade?" Shiro looked at him skeptically.
"You're overthinking it. Guys like us, who cover our faces? In the eyes of normal people, we're freaks anyway. In modern times, they call us Kamen Riders or Superheroes. But in ancient times..."
Tsukasa grinned like a kid sticking gum on a subway seat.
"What do people here believe in? Fate. Ghosts. Gods. Karma. Those who run brothels deal in a trade that damages their virtue. So they are more superstitious than anyone. They fear retribution more than anyone. At the slightest disturbance, they'll think vengeful spirits have come to collect."
"You mean... we go... play ghost?" Peter snapped his fingers.
"We don't need to take everyone." Tsukasa stood up and straightened his suit collar. "We only take the little girl, Qiaojie. But we do it with earth-shattering terror. Let them believe that gods from the Heavens, or the King of Hell himself, has come to collect a debt."
Peter scanned his teammates.
A web-slinger like him. A cybernetically enhanced cyborg. And a magenta-clad jerk.
"Fine. So we're throwing a Halloween Horror Night?"
"To these superstitious ancient folks, don't our faces look exactly like Divine Punishment?" Tsukasa's smile grew more mischievous.
"Fear is more effective than law. If we just snatch people, they'll think they were unlucky enough to meet bandits, and they'll try to hunt us down or take it out on the remaining girls. But if..."
Tsukasa didn't finish the sentence.
He simply tapped the compound-eye pattern on his Decade mask.
Granny Liu listened, stunned at first, then suddenly slapped her thigh.
"That's it! That works! Those rotten-hearted things fear that the most! Let them think they've offended the Tai Sui (God of Age), or provoked some deity. You could lend them ten gall bladders and they still wouldn't dare chase! And if there's this 'evil wind' blowing, even if the other girls aren't released, the pimps and madams will treat them like ancestors, terrified of inviting more disaster!"
Peter looked at his eager teammates with mixed feelings.
As a science major, he used to explain everything with logic. But now, he was going to use these people's ignorance to serve justice.
Takuya cracked his knuckles loudly.
"Boys, tonight, there is no Spider-Man, and no Kamen Rider..."
"Only the Grim Reapers, the Yakshas, and the Emissary from Hell."
________________________________________
Chapter Nine
"I have to say, these pants are drafty. And this outer thing... is it a skirt?"
Peter tugged at the greenish-gray long robe he was wearing, feeling like a sticky rice dumpling wrapped in heavy curtains.
Kadoya Tsukasa sat at the inn's rickety square table, slowly sipping cheap, broken-leaf tea. The pale-moon brocade robe he wore fitted him perfectly, as if he had been born a wealthy young nobleman.
"Be grateful," Tsukasa said, setting down his cup. "Picked this up in the last world I visited. The style might be a bit... mix-and-match, but it's a lot lower profile than your red-and-blue spandex."
"It is a Straight Robe (Zhiduo)," Takuya corrected, clearly more knowledgeable about the attire. "For the sake of mobility, switch back to your familiar suit at night. But during the day, to avoid eyes and ears, you'd best dress like rich young masters."
It took Peter a herculean effort, with Shiro's help, to fasten the complex belts and knotted buttons. Granny Liu watched with approval, nodding her head repeatedly.
"That's right, that's right." The old woman circled Peter twice, smoothing out his collar. "Hair's a bit short, but with this figure, you look like a young master trained in martial arts, not a foreign demon."
Peter looked at himself in the bronze mirror and felt weird. If Deadpool saw him like this, he would absolutely turn this scene into a meme and spam it to the entire Avengers Tower and the X-Mansion.
________________________________________
"Dry weather—beware of fire—"
The night watchman's clapper sounded.
For normal people, this meant time for bed. For the two Spiders, it was hunting time.
Two red-and-blue figures slipped silently out of the second-floor window of the inn.
The air was a mix of burning coal and the fishy scent of the river. Peter habitually raised his hand to fire a web line, only to realize there were no skyscrapers around.
"Save it. The tallest building here is that pagoda over there."
On the adjacent roof ridge, Takuya Yamashiro crouched low against the tiles, like a true gecko.
"Follow me. The tiles are brittle. Unless you want to pay for damages, tread lightly."
Peter quickly adapted to the rhythm—no webs, just pure physical strength and balance. Leaping between the upturned eaves, he felt like he was starring in a Jackie Chan movie.
Soon, they locked onto their target.
It was a courtyard illuminated by bright lanterns. Even late at night, the sounds of string instruments and the shouting of drinking games drifted out.
The smell of rouge and powder could be smelled two streets away.
Takuya glanced at the signboard.
"The House of Green Delights (Yihong Yuan)... the name is simply too ironic."
"What's ironic about it?" Peter didn't catch the reference.
"I'll tell you later. Move out." Takuya signaled. "Split up and search."
For Peter, this was child's play.
Night vision mode activated. He quickly pinpointed a small figure in the woodshed in the backyard.
His spider-sense tingled slightly—there was someone inside. Heartbeat fast. Filled with terror.
This is it.
She was shivering. Her tears had dried up, leaving only silent sobs.
That was Qiaojie. The daughter of Wang Xifeng. Once a golden branch and jade leaf of the aristocracy, now reduced to cargo.
Peter felt a pang of acid in his heart. He hung upside down from the eaves and gently tapped on the window frame.
The girl flinched violently, her tear-stained face turning toward the window.
But what she saw was...
...A face with no features, covered in web patterns, staring back with two giant, chalk-white compound eyes.
—It was a man-eating monster from her nightmares!
"Ah—"
"Oh crap! Botched it!"
Peter cursed inwardly. Damn cultural differences.
In that split second, his reflexes moved faster than his brain.
A flick of the wrist. A stream of white webbing shot out.
Thwip!
The sticky web pasted precisely over Qiaojie's mouth, forcefully stuffing the scream—which would have alerted the entire courtyard—back down her throat.
Peter dropped to the ground in a panic, waving his hands frantically. In his haste, he forgot to speak Chinese and blurted out a string of Queens English:
"No! No scream! I'm good! Good guy! Liu Lao-lao sent me! Grandma sent me!"
With a soft thud, Takuya Yamashiro landed beside him.
He looked at Qiaojie, then at Peter, and cracked up laughing beneath his mask.
"I have to say, you look more like the Emissary from Hell than I do."
Peter sighed, his white eye lenses narrowing in frustration. "Okay, this was definitely not part of the plan."
The two exchanged a glance and simultaneously pulled off their masks.
"Listen, Qiaojie, we aren't ghosts, and we aren't spider-spirits. We are... uh, reinforcements sent by Granny Liu."
Seeing the unmasked faces—two relatively handsome young human males—Qiaojie stopped trembling quite so violently, though her mouth was still glued shut.
"Listen," Peter pointed to the white blob on her lips. "This stuff is a product of... special alchemy. In one hour—half a shichen—it will turn into water and disappear on its own. Don't pick at it; it just gets stickier. And definitely don't swallow it; it tastes like Super Glue."
"You'll have to suffer through it tonight. Tomorrow, we're coming back to put on a big show to get you out." Takuya smiled, knowing his Asian features were more reassuring than Peter's. "Remember, no matter what you see or hear tomorrow, don't be afraid. It's just a ritual we're performing for you."
Having settled Qiaojie, the two "Spiders" vanished silently into the night.
________________________________________
The round trip had made Peter sweat. No matter how troublesome it was to get a bath here, he planned to ask the innkeeper for hot water once they returned.
However, when he stepped into the lobby, the atmosphere was wrong.
The oil lamps were dim, and the innkeeper was dozing on the counter. But at the square table in the center of the room, Kazami Shirō stood with a solemn expression. Behind him, Banr was hiding, clutching a V3 Badge in his hand.
On the floor sat a person.
Or rather, a pile of mud in human shape.
It was a beggar.
Even in these chaotic times, this man looked too wretched.
He was draped in a tattered red felt cloak that had lost its original color, revealing the dirty cotton wadding of the jacket underneath. His hair was matted together like withered grass. He was barefoot, his feet covered in frostbite, mud, and blood. He muttered words no one could understand, staring blankly into space.
"What's going on?" Peter whispered, having changed back into his long robe.
"This man suddenly rushed in, seemed like he wanted water, and bumped into Shiro." Kadoya Tsukasa leaned against the staircase railing, fiddling with his twin-lens reflex camera. "Cyborg bodies are hard, so..."
"Shoo! Where did this beggar come from!"
The waiter grabbed a stick to drive him out, but Shiro stopped him with one hand.
"Cook him some porridge. Put it on our tab."
Peter didn't know what to say. He sensed the aura of death on the beggar.
It wasn't the smell of poverty; it was the smell of a dead heart.
Hearing the commotion, Granny Liu came out too.
"Child, did you hurt yourself? Let me get you some porridge to warm up..."
Granny Liu's voice choked in her throat.
How could she ever forget those eyes?
He had once made fun of her with the other sisters in the Grand View Garden. But in the end, at Green Bower Hermitage, he had asked the nun Miaoyu for that precious Chenghua porcelain cup and given it to her.
Her hand, rough as tree bark, trembled as she reached out to touch the beggar's face, yet she pulled back, afraid of shattering something.
Tears streamed down her old face.
"Master Bao... Master Bao the Second (Bao Er-ye)! How... how did you fall to such a state!"
Peter saw the beggar's lips moving and leaned in, catching a phrase he couldn't understand.
"No place to stand... is the only place... that is clean." (Wu li zu jing, shi fang gan jing.)
"This is... Jia Baoyu?" Takuya pulled off his mask, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. "The protagonist of The Dream of the Red Chamber??"
"Right now, he just looks like a poor wretch broken by life."
Tsukasa coldly raised his camera, aiming it at Jia Baoyu on the floor.
Click.
The photo slid out.
It wasn't blurry this time. But the image was black and white, radiating a deadly, heavy despair.
Chapter Ten
Peter swore this was one of the most surreal scenes he had ever witnessed.
Just moments ago, Granny Liu was paying the innkeeper silver for two buckets of hot water. Now, two Spider-Men had stripped off their costumes and turned into clumsy orderlies, scrubbing down the once-pampered Master Bao the Second.
The water running onto the floor carried a thick layer of grime.
"God, he's as light as a feather." Peter lowered his voice as he poured water over Baoyu's back. "I've seen documentaries about WWII concentration camps... his ribs are about to pierce through his skin."
"Something isn't right." Takuya dug a bar of soap out of his backpack. "At the end of the story, Jia Baoyu was supposed to become a monk. But look at him... this isn't a monk."
"Why did he become a monk anyway? And what did you mean earlier about the name 'House of Green Delights' being ironic?"
Hearing Peter's words, a muscle in Baoyu's body spasmed.
"A great expanse of whiteness... high heavens and thick earth... desolate and clean... scattered... all scattered."
Takuya simply sighed.
"The place he used to live in... bore the exact same name."
Peter instantly understood why Takuya had been so hesitant to speak.
To let a broken man know that his family home's name had been repurposed by a brothel, and that his niece was locked inside it... that was enough to drive anyone into total insanity.
Once the thick layer of mud and dried blood was washed away, Jia Baoyu's original skin tone was revealed.
It was fair, but a deathly pale with no hint of blood. That face, once described as "radiant as the moon at Mid-Autumn," was now gaunt and sunken. His eyes stared blankly at the soap bubbles on the water, as if they were reflecting another world entirely.
Whether Peter asked him to lift his arm or turn around, he obeyed.
Like a marionette. When the strings were cut, he just collapsed.
________________________________________
Dressed in clean clothes, sitting at the table, faced with steaming hot food, Baoyu maintained the same posture.
He held chopsticks in his hand but didn't know where to reach.
It was as if his brain had severed the connection between "hunger" and "eating." He was like an invalid; even his basic survival instincts had atrophied.
Granny Liu brought a bowl of hot porridge, carefully pushing it in front of Baoyu, lifting the spoon to his lips.
"Master Bao the Second, take a bite. Hm? It's fresh made, still hot."
Baoyu opened his mouth dully, swallowed once, and then stopped moving. It was as if the act of "swallowing" had exhausted every ounce of his strength.
The atmosphere was so oppressive Peter wanted to scream. Banr was too scared to make a sound.
"Hey."
An ill-timed voice broke the silence.
Kadoya Tsukasa leaned against the window, tossing a coin, eyeing Jia Baoyu sideways.
"The 'Protagonist of the Story.' Didn't your 'story' end a long time ago? So what are you now? A deleted scene? Come on, the audience has gone home. Why are you still alive?"
Baoyu glanced at him, then lowered his head, saying nothing.
"Tsukasa!" Peter frowned.
But Tsukasa didn't stop.
"Do you lack the courage to die? Or..." Tsukasa took a step closer, looking down at Baoyu. "Are you expecting a sequel?"
Baoyu's eyes finally moved. He slowly raised his head to look at the man in magenta.
There was no anger. No defense.
Those eyes were as empty as a dried-up well; not even an echo remained inside.
"Let him ask." Takuya reached out to stop Peter. "Some scars won't heal unless you rip them open."
"Alive...?"
Baoyu finally reacted. He looked down at his own hands—hands that once washed rouge for girls, now covered in frostbite and cracks.
"Yes... why haven't I died yet..."
"Whatever happened, just sleep tonight. We can talk tomorrow. You're too tired." Shiro shook his head, placing his right hand on Baoyu's shoulder.
Suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped.
The "corpse" sprang up violently.
"No... can't sleep..."
Baoyu's voice was hoarse and shattered, like two pieces of rough sandpaper rubbing together.
"The moment I close my eyes... I see her... I see Sister Yun..."
He suddenly grabbed Shiro's arm, his grip shockingly strong, nails digging into the flesh in desperation.
"Sister Yun... Xiangyun... she's on the boat..."
Tears gushed from Baoyu's eyes without warning, instantly washing over his freshly cleaned face.
"She's crying... she's calling me... 'Ai-Brother' (Ai-gege)... redeem me... but I can't save her... I'm useless... I can't save her..."
"Flower Boat?" Peter paused, looking at Granny Liu.
Granny Liu's face turned sheet white. "Sinful! Lord have mercy! That's... that's a floating brothel on the water! The Eldest Miss of the Shi family... was sold to a place like that too?"
Baoyu grabbed his own hair, tearing out a handful by the roots.
"She was like a celestial being... in that filth... serving those... serving those..."
He couldn't finish the sentence. All that remained was the sound of desperate retching, as if he were trying to vomit up his own entrails.
The room fell into a deathly silence.
Even Kadoya Tsukasa put away his cynical smile.
Peter Parker felt suffocated.
He hadn't read The Dream of the Red Chamber, but he understood.
Outside the city. A Flower Boat.
Another girl.
And judging by the sound of it, this girl was as important to this madman as his own life.
Peter turned his head to look at Takuya. No words were needed. The spider-sense resonated at that moment. It was the same anger. The same fire.
"Yeah." Takuya nodded. "Just stealing people is letting those bastards off too easy."
Peter pulled out the storage unit for the Nano-Suit.
"Full charge tonight. I want to teach them a lesson: Don't mess with the Avengers."
________________________________________
Chapter Eleven
"So, are you in? How much longer?"
In the cover of night, Peter hid in a tree, watching Tsukasa stride through the main gate of the brothel.
"You'll have to wait a bit—I need to figure out how to drink less wine from these people."
Today, the "Cave of Golden Indulgence" (Xiao Jin Ku) welcomed a VIP.
He was dressed in a moon-white brocade robe, idly waving a folding fan made of some indeterminate material.
He was undeniably handsome, but his eyes carried a weariness that suggested he had seen through all the vanities of the world.
The moment he stepped inside, he casually tossed out a gold ingot, asking only to hear some music. The Madam was so delighted that a layer of powder nearly fell off her face from smiling.
"Young Master, surely one more cup~"
"The wine is too cloudy." Tsukasa tilted his head slightly, avoiding the cup. He gently interposed his folding fan between himself and the girl.
He was assessing the building's internal structure.
Peter, however, was getting impatient.
"Tsukasa, I hope you aren't enjoying this little roleplay too much."
"No rush. We have all night. I need to find the moment when their guard is lowest—"
Suddenly, the spider-sense screamed.
Danger. Right near Tsukasa.
Tsukasa's voice instantly turned annoyed.
"Do it! Don't come to the front hall. Grab the girl and go! Don't look back!"
This was the signal Peter had been waiting for.
Wall-crawling, roof-hopping. He reached the second floor, kicked the window open, grabbed Qiaojie, and bailed.
Thank god Qiaojie wasn't afraid of his mask anymore.
But Peter couldn't help but look back. The spider-sense was blaring like an air raid siren. The sounds from outside weren't the screams of pleasure-seekers, but dull impacts followed by terrified shrieks.
He took one glance, and his eyes widened behind the mask.
The source of the chaos wasn't on the ground floor, but in mid-air.
The girls who had been trying to press drinks on Tsukasa were now screaming their lungs out, scrambling to hide under tables.
In the empty air opposite the VIP booth, a gray screen of light, rippling like water, unfolded from nothing.
The Aurora Curtain.
But this time, it wasn't a hero stepping out.
A claw covered in black bristles reached out first, crushing the mahogany railing.
Next, a nauseating monster squeezed its way through the curtain.
It had a humanoid torso, but six sharp, articulated legs sprouted from its back. Its head was that of a spider, compound eyes flickering, green slime dripping from its mandibles.
It was a Spider Kaijin.
"Aaaah! Monster!"
"Spider Spirit! The Spider Spirit has come to claim our lives!"
The brothel instantly exploded into chaos. The Madam fainted on the spot, while bouncers and patrons trampled each other trying to escape.
Only one person didn't move.
Kadoya Tsukasa gently pushed the shivering girl out of his arms, his movement as elegant as the final step of a waltz.
He stood up, brushed non-existent dust from his robe, and looked at the rampaging spider monster. A flash of disgust crossed his eyes.
"Talk about a buzzkill."
Tsukasa casually tossed the folding fan aside. His left hand moved to his waist, and a silver-gray driver instantly snapped onto his hips.
Click.
"You took a wrong turn. This isn't Roppongi, and it isn't Kabukicho."
Tsukasa sneered as he inserted a card into the belt.
"Henshin!"
[KAMEN RIDE... DECADE!]
Eighteen spectral images instantly overlapped onto Tsukasa's body.
The intense light forced the spider monster to recoil a step.
When the light faded...
Standing amidst the wreckage of the VIP booth was no longer the elegant nobleman.
In his place stood a steel warrior clad in magenta and black armor, staring down the threat with glowing green compound eyes.
________________________________________
[FORM RIDE... FAIZ AXEL!]
A single kick sent the Spider Kaijin stumbling backward. Tsukasa slotted another card into the driver.
His magenta armor was instantly dyed in silver and red Photon Blood. The chest armor folded outward, revealing the core engine beneath.
"I won't waste time on you. Ten seconds."
Tsukasa pressed the button on his wrist watch.
[START UP.]
For the terrified girls and patrons, the world seemed to freeze.
All they saw was the Spider Demon pouncing, claws bared, toward the strange armored man, and then—
A streak of crimson flowing light exploded through the air.
It wasn't just one beam of light; it was the afterimage of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of kicks overlapped into a single moment.
In Peter's spider-sense, he could barely track Tsukasa's movements—it was absurdly fast, like compressing a two-hour movie into a ten-second playback.
The Spider Kaijin didn't even have time to scream. Its body was batted around in mid-air like a ragdoll, its green ichor freezing into suspended droplets in the void.
Tsukasa leaped into the air. He readied the final strike.
Five crimson energetic drill-cones locked onto the Spider Kaijin in mid-air. Then, almost simultaneously, he pierced through all of them.
[CRIMSON SMASH · PENTA]
[TIME OUT.]
Tsukasa, now reverted to his magenta armor, simply dusted off his hands.
Blue-white flames erupted into the sky, and a glowing red Φ (Phi) symbol hovered in the air. The Spider Kaijin had been utterly atomized.
Before anyone could react, Tsukasa deactivated his transformation and walked away.
The only traces of his existence were a floor covered in splintered wood and the gold ingot he had tossed out at the start.
________________________________________
Meanwhile, outside the city, on the Qinhuai River.
"Mist veils the cold water, and moonlight the sand."
This was the line ancients used to describe the beautiful scenery here.
But tonight, what loomed over the river wasn't mist, but the shadow of a sixty-meter-long space battleship.
Takuya Yamashiro didn't share Peter's many concerns. If they were going to save people, they might as well make some noise and show these people what "Heavenly Might" really looked like.
"Marveller, Summon! Change, Leopardon!"
There were no flying swords from cultivation novels, no auspicious clouds.
There was only the roar of warp drives and the screaming wind.
Flip. Transform. The sixty-meter Super Robot stood tall upon the earth.
When the roof of a certain Flower Boat was ripped off, the men had long since fled. Only a half-drunk young woman remained, leaning against the cushions.
Shi Xiangyun.
In her dream, she seemed to have returned to the peony bushes in the Grand View Garden.
She opened her bleary eyes and saw the colossal steel monster towering overhead.
"Is this... the mount of some passing immortal?" Xiangyun murmured to herself.
But what ran down the giant's arm was a strange man in red and blue tights.
Xiangyun wasn't afraid. She smiled.
"Perhaps I am truly drunk... Are you here to take me away?"
"Hah, hold on tight!"
Takuya let out a loud laugh, commanding Leopardon to revert to its ship mode, hovering in mid-air.
He wrapped an arm around Xiangyun's waist and fired a web line upward.
"Haha! Good! Take me away! Anywhere is fine!"
Xiangyun, fueled by the alcohol and her own wild spirit, laughed aloud and tossed her wine pot into the river below.
The winch line retracted rapidly. The two of them carved a breathtaking arc over the Qinhuai River, pulled directly into the belly of the battleship.
The ship blasted blue tail flames, breaking the sound barrier in an instant and vanishing into the depths of the clouds.
Left behind were countless small boats rocking violently in the wake, and a crowd of ancients who believed they had just witnessed a "Heavenly Dragon" descending to earth.
________________________________________
Chapter Twelve
Inside the ruined temple outside the city, the fire crackled and popped. But far more scorching than the fire was the sound of weeping coming from the corner.
There were no heart-rending screams, only intermittent, breathless sobbing.
Jia Baoyu sat on his knees in the straw. Having wandered for so long, the clean cloth robes he now wore looked empty on his emaciated frame.
He gripped Shi Xiangyun's hand tightly, as if holding onto the last straw of a drowning life.
Xiangyun was no longer the carefree "Guest of the Clouds" of old. She buried her face in Baoyu's lap, crying until she could barely breathe.
Only Qiaojie curled up in Granny Liu's arms, her large eyes filled with terror, watching these two elders—who had once doted on her the most—weep like children.
"Everything's changed... Ai-Brother, everything's changed..." Xiangyun's voice was hoarse. "The Garden is gone, the sisters are scattered... how did we end up living like this?"
Baoyu couldn't say a word. He just let the tears flow, over and over, like a broken faucet.
Outside the temple, the four heroes stood in the night wind, backs to the door, acting as silent sentinels.
"I really want to go in there and say everything's going to be okay." Peter leaned against a pillar, taking off his mask to rub his exhausted face. "But we all know that's a lie."
"In this era, they are ghosts of the old world." Takuya Yamashiro shook his head. "We saved their lives, but their souls died a long time ago in that Grand View Garden."
"Leave that aside for now." Shiro was examining a fragment in his hand, something Tsukasa had picked up from the brothel.
Faintly carved upon it was the emblem of a vulture.
"No mistake." Shiro gritted his teeth. "That Spider Kaijin... that was one of the first cyborgs manufactured by Shocker. Codename: Kumo Otoko (Spider Man)."
"Shocker?" Peter scratched his head. "Sounds like an electric rock band that only knows three chords."
"They are remnants of the Nazis." Shiro crushed the fragment into powder. "They modify humans to create emotionless war machines. My predecessors and I paid a terrible price to destroy them."
"That explains it."
Kadoya Tsukasa sat on a headless Buddha statue, holding the photo he had just taken. This time, the image of the exploding Spider Monster was perfectly clear.
"World destruction often starts from within. It seems something wants to build a new evil empire on the wasteland after this story ends. Broken families, scattered lives, social collapse... these are probably the most delicious food for Shocker."
Peter glanced at Baoyu, Qiaojie, and Xiangyun in the corner.
These ancient people, whom he originally thought were just random victims, now seemed to be at the center of a much larger conspiracy.
"The situation is clear." Kazami Shiro slammed the Shocker debris onto the offering table. "Shocker wouldn't appear in this ancient world for no reason. They are usually here to establish a base, or... to search for a specific energy source. And the mastermind who can drop Shocker monsters here must have the ability to manipulate dimensions."
"Dimensional travel capabilities, plus mastery of high-tech cybernetics..." Peter's brow furrowed deep. "In my world, there aren't many maniacs with that skill set, but every single one is a nightmare. Like... Doctor Doom? Only he blends magic and tech that perfectly. Or Dormammu? That big head loves consuming dimensions. Or maybe... Kang? That time criminal?"
These names represented forces of destruction capable of crushing this fragile world like an ant.
Just then, the chaotic sound of hooves and brass gongs echoed from the distance.
"They're searching the mountain!" Granny Liu ran over. "It's the troops from the Guazhou Prefecture, and thugs from the Salt Gang! They're swarming over the hills! They say they're hunting huge bandits and... and White Lotus Sect sorcerers!"
"Do we fight?" Takuya's hand rested on his changer.
"No." Tsukasa interrupted him.
He looked at the distant firelight like an outsider watching a play.
"If we fight the government, these people won't be able to stay in this country anymore. We can leave, but they can't. However... the most dangerous place is often the safest place."
He looked at the three survivors weeping in each other's arms and simply shook his head.
"Let's go. We're taking you home."
"Home?" Peter paused. "You mean..."
"The Capital." Tsukasa flicked a card lightly. "The Rongguo Mansion, The Grand View Garden—I imagine those officials in charge of the confiscation would never guess that the original owners would be hiding inside the very garden the Emperor sealed off, the one rumored to be haunted?"
The Aurora Curtain rose again, like a gray wall, swallowing the group whole.
When the light curtain faded, the noise of the manhunt, the hooves, and the wind of Guazhou all vanished.
A scent of desolation, decay, yet a familiarity that could bring one to tears, washed over them.
Peter opened his eyes.
By the light of the bleak moon, he saw a broken plaque, half-hidden by overgrown weeds. Four characters were faintly visible.
"The Phoenix Alights" (You Feng Lai Yi).
And not far away, the once blooming and prosperous Grand View Garden now lay in the darkness like the withered skeleton of a giant beast.
"We're here."
Kadoya Tsukasa put away his card and looked down at Jia Baoyu, who had instantly fallen to his knees, trembling uncontrollably.
"Welcome back to... your paradise."
Chapter Thirteen
Jia Baoyu sat on a fractured Taihu stone, curled up into a tight ball.
Before him lay two paths.
One led to the now weed-choked House of Green Delights, once his sole kingdom.
The other led to the gloomy, cold bamboo forest—the Bamboo Lodge (Xiaoxiang Guan), the place where Sister Lin had drained her lifetime of tears.
But he dared not go anywhere.
He didn't even dare to let his gaze linger in either direction for more than a second.
It was as if a single glance would turn those dead memories into sharp arrows, piercing right through his already riddled heart.
"Ai-Brother..."
Shi Xiangyun stood behind him, wanting to reach out and pull him up, but she shrank back. She opened her mouth, a name rolling on the tip of her tongue—
"Where is Sister Bao?"
They were married, weren't they? How did Baoyu fall to such a state?
"Eat some. It's like gnawing on a brick, but it'll at least fill your stomach."
Peter shoved a block of compressed ration into Xiangyun's hand.
Xiangyun looked at him and nodded.
After being tossed around all night, she knew that while these people were strange, they were definitely not bad.
Peter, however, wanted to settle a few questions in his heart.
"Those words just now... 'The Phoenix Alights', right? Why... why did Baoyu take one look at it and become... like this?"
Xiangyun, too, dared not turn her head in that direction.
"That... that is the Bamboo Lodge. The one who lived there was Sister Lin... Lin Daiyu."
"She was..."
"She was Ai-Brother's very life."
It was a description that made even an outsider like Peter feel a pang of heartache.
Xiangyun wiped away a tear and sat on the stone steps, beginning to speak intermittently.
She spoke of the sentimental Sister Lin.
She spoke of how she buried falling flowers.
She spoke of her unmatched talent, her propensity for tears, and... that flame of life that seemed ready to extinguish at any moment.
Peter's fist clenched tight.
He couldn't think about it.
He couldn't let his mind drift to that Clock Tower. Now was not the time to drown in memories.
But the image of Lin Daiyu and another person began to overlap, tighter and tighter.
Gwen Stacy.
Without realizing it, a tear had already traced a path down his cheek.
________________________________________
Seeing Peter's tears, Xiangyun could no longer hold back and began wiping her own eyes.
"I'll continue." Takuya sat down on the other side.
"Later in the story, Baoyu lost his jade and went half-mad. Wang Xifeng—Qiaojie's mother—devised a plan to perform a 'Chongxi' (a marriage to ward off bad luck). Baoyu was tricked into thinking he was marrying Lin Daiyu. But when he lifted the veil, he found another girl, Xue Baochai. And at that very moment, Lin Daiyu burned her poems and died of hatred and betrayal..."
Peter felt his blood run cold.
It was a scam.
His grandmother and mother should have been the people closest to him, yet they conspired to deceive him.
No wonder he went mad—
"Absurd! Brother Takuya, what kind of slanderous nonsense is that?!"
Peter didn't understand why Xiangyun was so furious.
She shot to her feet, her face flushing an unnatural red, her emotions so intense that her tears were forced back.
"Sister Feng was so sick back then she couldn't even leave her bed! Where would she find the energy to plot such things? Besides... the Old Ancestor (Grandmother Jia) loved Sister Lin the most! She was the apple of her eye! How could she bear to watch Sister Lin die? Even if the Jia family was falling, no one would do something so devoid of conscience!"
"No, that's not right, this is different..." Takuya scratched his head, confused.
"Didn't you say you knew the plot?" Peter, shaken by the outburst, momentarily forgot his grief.
"I... wait, I need to reorganize my thoughts. My version of the plot might be wrong—"
Peter stepped forward and gently held Xiangyun's trembling shoulders.
"Then... if it wasn't a deception," Peter looked at Baoyu, who still sat like a stone statue, "what actually happened? Why does he feel he couldn't save her?"
Xiangyun took a deep breath and began to tell another story.
In that story, there were no dramatic conspiracies. Instead, there was a reality far more despairing than any plot.
"It was the Imperial Court." Xiangyun pointed at the sky. "Back then, the family was impeached. Great calamity was looming. The Prince of Nan'an suffered a defeat at the border, and the Court needed someone for a Marriage Alliance (Heqin) to appease the foreign kingdom. Third Sister... Tanchun, was the adopted daughter of the Dowager Princess of Nan'an. To atone for the family's 'crimes,' she was sent to marry into a foreign land."
"The journey was long, and the world was in chaos... Ai-Brother went as the envoy to escort Third Sister on her wedding journey."
Peter's heart gave a violent thump.
Even in this world, politics and war were still the prime culprits of destruction.
Xiangyun's voice choked with sobs.
"There was an accident on the return trip. Bandits, floods. No news came for over half a year. Everyone thought... Ai-Brother had died out there."
"Sister Lin... when she heard this news, the breath in her heart just scattered. She... she died because she thought Ai-Brother was dead. She lost the will to live."
Peter felt his chest tighten.
This was worse than being tricked into a marriage. This was despair born of love.
"Then... when she died, did she hate anyone?"
"Hate? When has Sister Lin ever hated anyone? Before she left, she held Sister Bao's hand and entrusted Ai-Brother to her. She said if Ai-Brother made it back alive, only Sister Bao could keep him safe... She left with a smile."
"Later, Second Brother returned after surviving untold hardships, only to see a mourning hall."
"But... he's alive." Takuya looked at Baoyu.
"Yes, fate makes fools of us all." Xiangyun gave a tragic laugh. "He went through hell, practically begging his way home. He came back full of joy, thinking he would see Sister Lin, but when he pushed open the doors of the Bamboo Lodge..."
"He saw only a pitch-black coffin, and a spirit tablet with Sister Lin's name."
Peter Parker instinctively took a step back, his back hitting the cold stone pillar.
He could imagine the scene.
After enduring a thousand trials, defeating every monster, crossing every mountain, thinking the finish line held a lover's embrace.
Instead, there was only a grave.
He was just a little too late.
"Then... why marry Baochai?" Takuya tried to sort out the logic.
"To survive." The answer came from the silent Kazami Shiro.
Xiangyun nodded.
"Ai-Brother hadn't even recovered when the Court's purges began again. The Old Ancestor and Madam, to save Baoyu—the only root left of the family—decided he must marry Sister Bao, then immediately separate the household and move out... Ai-Brother knew everything. He married Sister Bao to fulfill Sister Lin's dying wish. That was the last protection the Old Ancestor could think of."
The truth was out.
No schemes, no rich family feuds.
Just a group of pitiful people trying to protect each other under the crushing wheels of the era, only to be torn apart in the end.
"So... why is your story different?" Peter looked at Takuya.
"Because the original story... had no ending." Takuya sighed. "Cao Xueqin wrote eighty chapters... and then he died. And Gao E... the man who continued the story, he got it wrong. Or perhaps, he didn't dare to write a reality this cruel, so he invented a 'Switching the Brides' plot to cover up this political despair."
Takuya's gaze toward Baoyu changed completely.
He was no longer looking at a spoiled brat, but at a survivor played by fate.
And Peter Parker was staring intently at his own palm.
"Accident. Late."
Peter murmured.
The words pricked his nerves like needles.
He remembered that night.
If his web line had been 0.5 seconds faster.
If he hadn't been stalled by the Green Goblin for those few minutes.
If he had just jumped down to catch her directly.
If...
There were no ifs. There never were.
At this moment, Peter finally understood how deep the black hole in this young master's heart was.
It wasn't madness.
It was Survivor's Guilt.
It was the absurdity of surviving like a cockroach, while the person you loved most died because she thought you were dead.
Chapter Fourteen
"I told you, we are in a void where even the author couldn't continue writing." Kadoya Tsukasa walked over.
"You're just in time," Shiro said. "Since we found Shocker, it's highly likely Destron is here too. I need to go back and investigate thoroughly. I'll leave this place to you."
"Suit yourself."
As Shiro vanished into the Aurora Curtain, silence returned.
"Wait, where did the kid, Baoyu, go?" Takuya closed his eyes, activating his spider-sense.
________________________________________
The Autumn Freshness Study (Qiushuang Zhai).
This was once the residence of the Jia family's third miss, Tanchun (Rose), famous for its spaciousness and grandeur. Now, covered in fallen leaves and shattered furnishings, it felt only terrifyingly empty.
Jia Baoyu hadn't returned to his House of Green Delights. Instead, he lay stiffly on the cold gray bricks of the Autumn Freshness Study.
He curled up in a corner where Tanchun's favorite calligraphy by Mi Xiangyang and the authentic works of Yan Zhenqing used to hang—treasures he had personally found to give to his sister.
Outside the window, Granny Liu was calling his name.
Granny Liu...
When was the last time he saw her?
A crowd of people making fun of her, leading her through the Grand View Garden, playing drinking games.
"...The word 'Heaven' is on the left."
"A fine day and a beautiful landscape, but heaven help me..."
Baoyu didn't dare think any further. He slammed the back of his head hard against the wall.
Peter Parker sat atop a half-collapsed rockery, calibrating his web-shooters. Takuya Yamashiro leaned against a pillar at the door, arms crossed, eyes closed.
"Let him lie there," Takuya whispered. "Sometimes, only the chill of the floor makes you feel like you're still alive."
Xiangyun, however, couldn't bear to watch Baoyu any longer.
"Brother Tsukasa. I... I want to go out of the Garden and take a look."
"As you wish. I need to do some reconnaissance anyway." Tsukasa smirked.
________________________________________
Outskirts of the Capital, near Zitan Fortress.
The silver-gray dimensional wall slowly faded.
Kadoya Tsukasa dusted off his hands. He had safely delivered Granny Liu and her family back to their village—using, of course, the method that made Granny Liu chant "Amida Buddha" the entire way.
"Let's go. The non-combatants have been sent home." Tsukasa glanced at Shi Xiangyun, whose eyes were still red. "Now, Miss Shi, we need to consider some practical issues. For example, your 'Ai-Brother' who only knows how to cry, and the rest of our group... what are we eating for dinner? You can't expect us to keep running back to Tokyo for burgers."
Xiangyun looked up slightly at the man who was still wearing the long robe.
"I can't say, Brother Tsukasa. In the past, we girls... rarely had the chance to leave the inner chambers."
"I get the picture. This social gameplay of gender segregation really cuts efficiency in half." Tsukasa shook his head.
Before he could finish, a woman carrying a basket walked toward them.
She was dressed in a thorn hairpin and cloth skirt—simple, rustic attire—but she was neat and tidy.
Their eyes met.
Thud. The basket dropped to the ground.
"Miss... Miss Yun?" The woman's voice trembled as she rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
"Sister Aroma (Xiren)?!" Xiangyun froze, then tears burst from her eyes. "You... you're still here?"
The two women embraced, weeping bitterly.
Kadoya Tsukasa stood to the side, bored out of his mind. He pulled out his camera and took a photo of a wildflower by the roadside.
He was getting a headache.
Crying again. Are these people from the Red Chamber made of water?
And who was this "Aroma"? Judging by Xiangyun's address, she seemed to have been a maid who served Xiangyun, then Baoyu, but judging by her attire now, she was clearly a married woman.
"Tch." Tsukasa rubbed his temples. "Did the Head Maid resign to become a housewife? I wish Takuya were here. That guy could draw me a character relationship chart more complex than a Super Sentai team."
Finally, after the two had cried enough, Aroma wiped her tears, her gaze falling on Kadoya Tsukasa.
The man was exceptionally handsome, but his entire being radiated an arrogance and detachment that felt completely out of place in this world.
"Miss Yun, this young master is..." Aroma asked tentatively.
"A passing-through Kamen Rider... sort of. No need to remember."
Kadoya Tsukasa felt a massive headache coming on.
He was used to walking with long, striding steps. While the ancient costume was a bit awkward, it didn't hinder his movement much. The problem was the two women beside him were moving at a pace that was testing his sanity.
He decided to distract himself by taking photos while mentally calculating how much film he had left.
Stepping through the gates of Zitan Fortress, he saw another person.
It should be a man, judging by the long gown. As for the face... that androgynous, handsome face would make him a top-tier Idol or the No. 1 star at a Tokyo Host Club.
"Aroma? Why have you brought two people back?"
Okay, the voice fits a boy band, too, Tsukasa confirmed.
"Husband, these aren't strangers! This is Miss Shi! And this is the gentleman who saved her life—"
Aroma looked at Tsukasa, realizing only then that this man had never actually given his name.
"Mah, meeting by chance is fate enough," Tsukasa smiled.
"I... I think I've heard of you. You're the one called Qiguan (Bijou), aren't you?" Xiangyun leaned forward.
"Qiguan was my stage name... My friends, I am Jiang Yuhan." Jiang Yuhan bowed with hands clasped. "Please, come inside and tell me everything."
________________________________________
Once inside, Kadoya Tsukasa and Jiang Yuhan sat in the outer room drinking tea, while Aroma and Xiangyun went into the bedroom to share their tearful stories of survival and reunion.
Jiang Yuhan was assessing the man in front of him. He didn't fit into any of the four classes: Scholar, Farmer, Artisan, or Merchant. Calling him a noble son felt wrong—he was too rude and flashy—but the key was in his eyes.
Tsukasa looked at him not as an actor, but as an ordinary human being.
"Dare I ask, sir... how did you save Miss Shi?"
"Hmm... three steps. First, met an unlucky bastard named Jia Baoyu. Second, dismantled the prison where she was kept. Third, ran to the Capital."
Tsukasa wasn't used to drinking from a Gaiwan (lidded bowl). He simply took the lid off, set it aside, blew on the tea, and drank directly.
Jiang Yuhan was bewildered, not by Tsukasa's rough table manners, but by the outrageous story.
But he caught the most critical point.
"Master Bao the Second? You found Master Bao? He is with you?"
________________________________________
Meanwhile, in the inner room, Aroma's tears wouldn't stop flowing.
Yuanchun died suddenly. Yingchun died miserably. Tanchun was married off to a foreign land. Xichun became a nun. She and Xiangyun filled in the blanks of each other's information.
Xiangyun gripped her teacup tightly, her knuckles turning white.
It was true.
Yuan, Ying, Tan, Xi.
Homophonous with "Originally, one ought to sigh."
None of them escaped.
"However..." Aroma lowered her voice. "It's not all bad news. Miss Yun, did you know... Second Mistress Bao (Baochai) is still here?"
"Sister Bao?!" Xiangyun shot up. "Where is she? How is she?"
"Just in a small courtyard not far from here." Aroma pointed to the alley next door. "When the Jia family fell, Second Mistress Bao was implicated too. My husband, remembering his friendship with Master Bao from years ago, spent a fortune to redeem her. Now she is our neighbor, and we help her out with daily needs."
________________________________________
In the outer room, Tsukasa and Jiang Yuhan heard this too.
Jiang Yuhan gave a bitter smile.
"Back then, Master Bao and his wife were thrown into prison together. Imagine, people of their status... Fortunately, I had sung opera for many years and saved some silver from my business. I couldn't bear to let them suffer in jail. But who knew... one morning, Master Bao just vanished without a trace."
Tsukasa felt his brain tying itself into knots.
So, the Head Maid married the Master's actor friend.
Then this couple spent money to redeem the Master's wife.
Now the First Love (Aroma) and the Official Wife (Baochai) are neighbors and help each other out?
And the Master himself went off to become a beggar?
Kadoya Tsukasa swore that when he got back, he was going to dump every scrap of information out of Takuya Yamashiro's brain.
—Wait, judging by Xiangyun's outburst last night, Takuya's knowledge of the plot is unreliable too.
However, Xiangyun's focus was entirely different.
"She's here?!" Xiangyun raised her voice. "Since she's fine, and she has you and Aroma to help, why doesn't Ai-Brother come back?! Why would he rather be a raving beggar sleeping in the mud than come back to find his wife?!"
"Miss Yun?! Did you say... beggar?!"
The sound of a stool crashing to the floor came from the inner room.
"Let's go!"
Xiangyun strode out, grabbing Tsukasa's sleeve with such force that she nearly dragged the unprepared Kamen Rider into a stumble.
"I'm going to find Sister Bao! I'm going to ask her clearly! They are husband and wife, they are both alive—why are they torturing each other like this? What kind of logic is that?!"
________________________________________
Chapter Fifteen
The room was tiny. The paper on the windows had yellowed with age, though it was pasted tightly to keep out the draft.
There was no excess furniture—just an old table and a worn spinning wheel with unfinished needlework resting on it.
Kadoya Tsukasa leaned against the doorframe, sizing up the two women inside.
The maid named Musk (Sheyue) was pouring water for Xiangyun, her head bowed. Her knuckles were swollen and rough from years of washing clothes in cold water.
Sitting opposite Xiangyun was Precious Chai (Baochai).
She wore a cotton dress of faded blue, washed until it was pale. Her hair was held up by a single wooden hairpin.
The corners of her eyes indeed showed fine lines. Her hands were no longer plump and delicate, but marked by the scratches of a hard life.
But her back remained perfectly straight.
It was as if she were seated not on a rickety wooden bench, but on a carved Rosewood Armchair back in the Rongguo Mansion.
To her, the regime changes outside, the destruction of her family—it was all just tea-time gossip.
"Girl Yun, drink some water." Baochai's voice betrayed neither joy nor grief.
The teacup in Xiangyun's hand trembled.
She stared at Baochai as if looking at a stranger.
Baochai shook her head gently and picked up her needlework again.
"Girl Yun, do you still not understand? This dusty world... was never the place for him. He was born a 'Fool' (Chi-ren). That jade, even when dropped in the mud, is still jade. But this filthy world cannot tolerate a jade like him. Since we couldn't keep him, why not let him go to be clean?"
"But now—" Xiangyun tried to argue.
"It doesn't matter. It is fine as it is. His departure is his release. My enduring these days is my penance."
Xiangyun opened her mouth, but a phrase suddenly popped into her mind.
"Though parting, one can still find peace within oneself."
It was a phrase ancients used to describe a state of supreme mental detachment. But applied to this couple right now, it sounded bone-chillingly desolate.
Baochai lowered her eyes.
How could she ever forget?
That day of heavy snow. The figure in the scarlet felt cloak, standing in the white expanse, turning back to look at her one last time.
He didn't say "I'm sorry." He didn't say "I'll be back."
He simply held back tears, like a child who had made a mistake but finally found relief, and said to her, "Sister, I'm going."
And what did she say?
She didn't faint from grief. She didn't scream at the heavens.
She simply suppressed the taste of blood rising in her throat and gave him one last, dignified smile:
"Don't cry. The wind is strong outside... take care."
________________________________________
Kadoya Tsukasa had stopped playing with his camera. He was afraid he might throw it across the room in the next second.
He always thought he was the weirdo.
As a "Passing-through Kamen Rider," he had destroyed worlds and saved them.
He had no home, no belonging, but he had emotions—if he met someone he didn't like, he'd get angry, make snarky comments, pull out his belt, and beat them up.
Traveling through countless parallel worlds, he had met all kinds of strong people. Some relied on power, others on intellect.
But this woman in front of him relied on an extremely internalized calmness.
Whether you threw stones or bombs into her lake, she would only ripple slightly before instantly returning to stillness.
This ultimate acceptance made Tsukasa feel an inexplicable irritation.
He had seen countless destructions, countless resurrections, but he had never seen anyone accept the collapse of their destiny with such dignity.
This woman's wiring was definitely off.
If Shocker ever tried to modify Xue Baochai into a cyborg, they would fail.
Because she had no desires, she had no weaknesses.
Tsukasa unceremoniously pulled up another chair and sat down.
"While I admire your spirit of Danshari (Detachment), I have to correct a piece of your intelligence."
Baochai looked up at the man with the punchable face.
"He didn't go to any 'clean place'," Tsukasa sneered. "And he didn't find release."
"No release?"
"He is right now in the Grand View Garden. Of course, the place is currently full of rats and weeds. If we hadn't given him a bath, he would probably be covered in lice."
The needle in Baochai's hand dropped onto her lap.
"He... is in the Garden?"
For the first time in years, her calm voice trembled.
She could accept him becoming an Immortal. She could accept him becoming a Monk. That was his fate, his purity.
But she could not accept him still being here, rotting in the ruins like a lonely ghost.
Tsukasa watched her reaction and finally let out a satisfied hmph.
Getting angry, getting shocked like a human being—now that's interesting.
"Although you think 'parting brings peace,' I think, since the ending of the story has already been messed up beyond recognition..."
Tsukasa leaned forward.
"...one more reunion won't hurt."
Xiangyun, however, couldn't hold it back anymore.
"Sister Bao, listen to me. This might sound like the ramblings of a dream, but it's true!"
"Originally, Granny Liu sold everything she had to go to Guazhou to save Qiaojie. That place is a fire pit that eats people whole without spitting out the bones. She went there ready to die, but—"
"Out of nowhere came a group of warriors in strange clothes! That young brother named Peter, he can shoot white silk from his wrists and run up walls like it's a game!"
"And that Big Brother Takuya... Heavens above! He actually summoned a... a Giant God made of Iron, taller than the city walls!"
Xiangyun's voice cracked with intensity.
"That Iron God crashed down from the clouds and tore the roof off the Flower Boat with its bare hands! Those pimps and thugs were so scared they wet their pants, kowtowing and begging the Dragon King for mercy!"
________________________________________
Xue Baochai's hand, reaching for the needlework, froze in mid-air. Her mouth parted slightly. Her face, usually the picture of dignified composure, now wore an expression that said, "I am listening to a fairytale."
A Giant God made of Iron? Tearing the roof off a boat?
If anyone else had said this, Baochai would have felt their forehead for a fever. But this was Xiangyun, the straightforward girl who never spoke in riddles.
Baochai had read her fair share of books, but what kind of story was this? The Classic of Mountains and Seas? The Investiture of the Gods?
"And then... there's Big Brother Tsukasa here. He's even more miraculous! With just a wave of his hand, a gray curtain hung down from the air. We ducked into the curtain, and in the blink of an eye, we were back in the Capital from Guazhou!" Xiangyun nearly choked on her words and gulped down some tea. "Sister Bao, this isn't an opera script. I saw it all with my own eyes!"
Baochai slowly turned her head, her gaze resting on Kadoya Tsukasa.
The man was idly spinning a card between his fingers.
She had never seen a man with an aura like this.
His eyes held none of the scrutiny or frivolity that men of this era usually directed at women.
It was an equality that bordered on coldness.
Baoyu was a Fool (Chi-ren); he acted wildly, but he had his own set of morals.
Her brother, Xue Pan, was a Lout (Hun-ren); he messed around all day, never caring about consequences.
—No.
Her brother ignored the rules because he was spoiled.
But Kadoya Tsukasa—arrogant, flamboyant—stood there as if declaring, "I am the rules."
In the old days at the Rongguo Mansion, a man like this wouldn't even make it past the second gate before being beaten and thrown out.
Concepts like "segregation of sexes" or "social hierarchy" seemed nonexistent in his eyes.
Yet, this was the same man who, with the most casual tone, had just pierced the most secret wound in her heart.
"This... Master Tsukasa," Baochai finally spoke. "Who exactly are you people? Are you Immortals? Or..."
"I told you," Tsukasa interrupted her. "A passing-through Kamen Rider. Believe it or not. The fact remains—I'm going back to those ruins. Whether you come along is your choice."
Goading. Crude, but effective.
Baochai looked at the man and took a deep breath.
"Musk."
"Yes, Mistress," Musk responded instinctively.
"Pack our things."
Baochai stood up and snapped the sewing box shut with a click.
"No need for jewelry or fine clothes; they're useless there. Take all the rice and flour we have, and the leftover pickles. Oh, and pull that medicine chest out from under the bed—there's still some ointment for bruises and falls in there."
"And..." Baochai looked around the dilapidated room. "Take that new cotton quilt, too. The Garden is heavy with dampness and yin energy. He won't be able to stand it."
Xiangyun was stunned, then tears welled up again. She wanted to rush forward and hug Baochai.
But Baochai gently blocked her, tidied a loose strand of hair at her temple, and turned to look at Tsukasa.
"Since you possess the magical power to move mountains and fill seas, sir, I assume carrying a bit of luggage won't be a problem?"
Kadoya Tsukasa paused for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Hah." Tsukasa shook his head. "Interesting. Other women would either faint or cry and beg upon hearing this. You, on the other hand, treat me directly as a porter."
Tsukasa waved his hand casually.
The Aurora Curtain unfolded from thin air again, swallowing the bundles on the table and the cotton quilt.
"Let's go, Second Mistress Bao. Let's go see the mess we've made of... the New Grand View Garden."
Chapter Sixteen
Outside the Autumn Freshness Study, the air was as thick and heavy as setting concrete.
Beside the crumbling walls, Jia Baoyu was still thrashing about.
Moments ago, merely catching sight of the hem of Baochai's dress had sent him into a frenzy, dashing toward the courtyard wall. The result: Takuya had webbed him face-down to the ground, immobile.
He could feel her.
She was just a few steps away.
That dignified, pristine, eternally correct Sister Bao.
Xue Baochai stood rooted to the spot, still clutching that new cotton quilt.
Her grip tightened imperceptibly, then relaxed.
There were no tears, no scolding. She didn't even step forward to help him up.
"Everyone, please step outside... It is too stifling in here. Do not look at him; leave him a shred of dignity. We shall keep watch from the courtyard."
Watching Aroma and Musk, who were hesitating on whether to intervene, Takuya shook his head.
"If he runs wild, he might get himself killed... Never mind. Looking at him now, dying is probably exactly what he wants."
________________________________________
"I don't like this." Peter sighed. "It looks... too cold. But my gut tells me that's not the whole story."
Kadoya Tsukasa leaned against a pillar with peeling red paint. He framed a shot of Baochai’s back as she cooked by the campfire, but he didn't press the shutter.
"Because I can't photograph a heart that isn't there. Those two... they are both broken."
Tsukasa turned to Takuya and Shiro, tapping his temple.
"The one inside? Typical PTSD. The moment he sees anything or anyone from his past, he snaps."
"Tell us something we don't know." Peter sighed again.
Tsukasa pointed toward Baochai in the distance.
"I suspect emotional dissociation triggered by severe depression. She looks functional, but she's even more broken than the guy inside. She's turned herself into a robot that only executes commands. If that string snaps..."
Tsukasa sneered.
"The irony is, these ancient people probably think she's achieved some sort of spiritual enlightenment or 'seen through the Red Dust'."
Peter and Takuya exchanged a glance.
He had seen plenty of people like this back in New York.
After the Chitauri invasion, there were citizens who would dive under tables shivering whenever they heard thunder.
There was no pill for that sickness. They could save lives, but they couldn't provide the will to live.
"It's not that they aren't strong... they just haven't learned how to live with the nightmare yet." Peter gave a bitter smile.
Tsukasa suddenly pulled out a card, staring at the somewhat comical headshot of a man with spiky pink hair.
"If only that Genius Gamer were here... Hojo Emu. He'd probably grab his stethoscope and Gashat, shout at these ancient folks: 'I will clear this with No Continues!'"
"Hojo Emu? Is he a doctor?" Peter asked.
"A doctor, a Kamen Rider... though he's not exactly a psychiatrist either." Tsukasa sneered. "Besides, there are no doctors here... only us violent maniacs who know nothing but destruction."
"So..." Peter glanced back at Baoyu inside the room. "Let's take shifts for the night watch. I'll take the first half. Karen's detecting his heart rate is wildly unstable."
Chapter Seventeen
Nightfall.
The Bamboo Lodge (Xiaoxiang Guan). The moonlight was pale as bone.
The bamboo grove had grown wild and chaotic.
Jia Baoyu sat beneath the plaque that read "The Phoenix Alights," hugging his knees.
He didn't cry out loud. Tears simply fell like pearls from a broken string, dripping onto the cold green flagstones.
He thought he could smell the faint scent of herbal medicine that always clung to Sister Lin.
But when he reached out to grab it, there was only the cold wind.
Another person sat down beside him.
No words of comfort. No handkerchief offered.
After a long time, Peter sighed.
"Every inch of this place hurts you, doesn't it?"
Baoyu didn't answer, but his shoulders trembled even more violently.
"I'm the same," Peter gave a bitter smile. "In my city, there is a Clock Tower. Every time I pass it, I feel like someone has stabbed a knife into my heart."
It wasn't a happy story, either.
A blonde girl who smiled like warm spring sunlight, illuminating the darkest corners of Peter's heart.
She was the first person to know that Peter was Spider-Man.
And because of that, she was taken hostage by the Green Goblin. She fell like a leaf.
Peter jumped. He shot his web and caught her.
He thought he had saved her.
But all he heard was a sickening SNAP.
Baoyu saw that Peter's face was also covered in tears.
"But... Inertia. The speed of the fall was too fast. I killed her. If I had been a little faster... or if I had dived down to catch her with my arms instead of using that damn web..."
Baoyu's eyes flickered.
He thought of the moment he pushed open the doors of the Bamboo Lodge.
He had thought this man was an immortal, an omnipotent hero.
It turned out he was just another poor wretch who couldn't keep his loved one.
"What happened later?"
"Later?" Peter laughed bitterly.
"Later, I threw away the mask. I locked myself in my room, unplugged the phone lines, and drew all the curtains. I didn't watch TV, didn't listen to the news. I stayed in that dark room for five months. I felt I wasn't worthy of being a hero, wasn't even worthy of being alive... just like you right now. I felt that if I closed my eyes, I would see her; if I opened them, the whole world was full of her shadow."
Baoyu fell silent for a long time.
He looked at the overgrown bamboo, as if seeing his own past few years.
"But... but you came out in the end."
He didn't understand.
When a person's heart is shattered like that, how can they ever walk out?
"Because it was too noisy outside the curtains." Peter turned his head, looking at Baoyu with teary eyes.
"One day, I was starving. I pulled back the curtain just to see if there was any food outside."
"And I saw the streets were in chaos. Robbery, arson, people screaming and running... New York was in trouble again."
"I couldn't rot in that room with a clear conscience. Because I knew, if Gwen were still here, she would be the first one to rush over and kick my ass, telling me to go save people."
"At that moment, I knew. It was time to open the curtains."
Baoyu sat there, stunned.
Not living for oneself.
But living because this damn world is still breaking, and there are still people crying, so one has to live.
The wind in the bamboo grove picked up slightly, the rustling of leaves masking the chirping of insects.
Two figures walked through the moon gate into the Bamboo Lodge.
"Looks like the emotional bonding session is over?" Kadoya Tsukasa walked in, hands in his pockets, casually kicking away a piece of broken tile.
Takuya Yamashiro followed behind him, looking at the overgrown bamboo and sighing.
Baoyu raised his head to look at these two men.
One was an Emissary from Hell who could summon a steel giant.
One was a passing-through Rider who could traverse dimensions at will.
They were transcendent beings, surely detached from the mortal world, knowing nothing of sorrow.
"Peter told you that because he sees you as a friend—but don't think you two are the only unlucky bastards in this world." Takuya found a step and sat down.
He pointed at the starry sky.
"My father was an archaeologist. He never did a bad thing in his life. He was killed simply because he discovered those invaders from the stars—the Iron Cross Army."
"They killed him. Right in front of me. Along with my sister. They even destroyed my hometown."
"I didn't put on this suit to be some hero." Takuya squeezed his knuckles until they cracked. "I did it for revenge. To send those space monsters who treated human life like grass, one by one, straight to hell."
Baoyu turned to look at Takuya.
A blood feud for a murdered father.
Takuya didn't stop.
"But there were people I couldn't save. My neighbors who were taken for experiments... the innocents who died as collateral damage in my battles... When I close my eyes at night, I see their faces too."
Baoyu was stunned. He looked at Takuya, seeing for the first time that deep within those eyes that always burned with fighting spirit, lay a sea of blood.
He thought his own world was the ultimate tragedy.
He never expected the world to hold such bloody slaughter, such powerless struggle.
"As for Senior Kazami Shiro..." Takuya sighed. "His parents and his sister were slaughtered by Destron in a single night. He accepted cybernetic modification solely for revenge—so that no one else would suffer the same fate he did."
The extermination of an entire family.
Although the Jia family had fallen, scattered and dead, at least some lives remained.
But that brother Shiro, who looked the most steady and reliable, carried such a blood-soaked vendetta.
Baoyu felt compelled to look at the last man present.
Surely he couldn't be in such pain—
"Why are you looking at me?" Tsukasa plucked a bamboo leaf and held it in his mouth. "At least this guy knows who his enemies are and what he's lost."
"Me? I have no memories."
"I don't know who I am. I don't know who my parents were. I don't even know if I'm a hero or a villain. I have no home, no past. The only things I own are this camera and a road that never ends."
"I'm like a lonely ghost drifting through different worlds. Sometimes I'm a savior, sometimes I'm a devil. But I know one thing: I don't belong anywhere."
Baoyu didn't know how to describe this man.
Peter and Takuya had hate, and regret.
But Tsukasa represented a void that negated everything.
Which of their fates wasn't bitterer than his? Which wasn't more unjust?
And yet...
They could drive a giant iron god into the sky.
They could use incomprehensible magic to save Qiaojie from a fire pit.
They could pull Xiangyun back from despair.
And him?
These hands... aside from bowing in greeting and begging for food, what had they done?
These three men, more wretched than him, stood tall and straight.
Baoyu spat at himself in his heart.
Born with jade in his mouth? A rich idler?
Compared to these souls who carried blood feuds yet stood upright, he was trash.
A coward who only knew how to pity himself.
At that moment, Jia Baoyu hated himself more than ever before.
Tears fell one by one onto the dusty floor tiles, blooming into dark dots.
He waited for ridicule. He waited for a reprimand.
Just like before, if he showed such weakness in front of his father or elders, he would receive only a scolding: "You sinful obstacle" or "Useless thing."
In this world, a man's tears were a symbol of incompetence.
He should be studying for the exams, bringing glory to his ancestors, tearing others apart like a wolf in the officialdom.
But the expected scolding never came.
A warm hand gently pressed on his shoulder. It was Peter Parker's hand.
"It's okay, buddy."
"This isn't something to beat yourself up about. We've all been down. Me, Takuya, and Tsukasa... we've all rolled in the mud, we've all felt like surplus to the world."
"But... it's okay if you can't stand up. Really. No rule says a hero has to stand forever."
"If you don't have the strength, we can pull you up. Or we can sit on the ground with you for a while, until you're ready."
Kadoya Tsukasa leaned against the wall and spat out the bamboo leaf.
"Hey, Useless Young Master. I told you, it's an illness."
"It's a sickness of the brain, of the heart. Just like a broken leg or catching a cold."
"There's no shame in it. As long as you remember to see a doctor... although we don't have that genius gamer doctor here, us quacks can at least give you some first aid."
Baoyu froze.
Illness?
Not uselessness, not cowardice... just sickness?
"Besides... even if you really can't stand up, even if you're like this for the rest of your life... we won't abandon you." Takuya walked over and patted Baoyu's shoulder firmly.
"There are four of us. We can take turns carrying you."
________________________________________
Jia Baoyu stared blankly at these three men.
A foreign boy. A wanderer. An avenger.
They all carried the heavy scent of blood and the frost of hardship.
That was the smell of the "Career Worms and National Thieves" Baoyu used to loathe most.
The scent of the "Dirty Men" (Mud-made creatures) he avoided like the plague in the Grand View Garden.
But...
He had thought girls were made of water, and men were made of mud.
Yet these three men had seen the deepest hells, and still, they were willing to hold an umbrella for someone else.
This was what a true man should be.
Someone who stands tall between heaven and earth, yet holds mercy in his heart.
"I... I want to try."
Baoyu finally sobbed aloud.
He didn't say what he wanted to try. Try standing up? Try living?
But Peter understood.
"Welcome to the 'Don't Want to Be a Scumbag' Club, buddy."
Just as the group fell into silence for a moment, the communicator on Takuya's wrist suddenly started beeping.
"Hello, hello, Underoos (Sleepwear Baby)? You better answer right now, or I'm going to test an annihilation reaction on your scholarship fund account—"
Chapter Eighteen
"Next time you decide to play hide-and-seek, could you pick a place with decent 5G reception? Do you have any idea how many cross-dimensional probes FRIDAY toasted just to lock onto your distress signal? If it weren't for that giant robot, Leopardon—"
"Mr. Stark!" Peter nearly jumped out of his skin. "Thank God, and Lei Gong too! Listen, sir, the situation is complex. Really complex!"
He relayed the current situation as fast as his mouth could move.
"Bottom line—whether it's Dormammu or Doctor Doom, there's an interdimensional threat utilizing Shocker cybernetics here."
The holographic image of Tony Stark took off his sunglasses, revealing eyes laced with blood vessels.
"So, you're telling me there's a feudal world that treats people like livestock, practices collective punishment, and hasn't even heard of the Bill of Rights, and now it's been infiltrated by a bunch of Nazi cyborgs and a magic-tech maniac playing God?"
Tony downed a mouthful of coffee.
"What kind of hellhole is this? From your description, it sounds darker than that Svartalfheim place Thor talks about. Haven't they overthrown slavery yet? Lincoln would be spinning in his grave—at least the Dark Elves just wanted to turn the lights out; these guys want to rot the human soul."
Takuya couldn't help but glance at Kadoya Tsukasa.
"Seems like there's more than one smart-mouth in the universe."
Tsukasa rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed hmph.
In the hologram, Tony was already waving his hand to pull up a stream of new data—an analysis of the dimensional coordinates.
"Alright, the situation sucks, but at least the coordinates are locked—I get the gist." (Daitai wakatta.)
"Hey, that's my line." Tsukasa stepped forward, clearly irritated.
"I'll pay you royalties later. Since the coordinates are locked, I'll have a way to get there soon. But before that... Spider-Man from the other universe, do you mind if I study the energy spectrum of your ship?"
Takuya Yamashiro paused, then smiled and nodded.
"As long as you don't dismantle it, be my guest. That is technology from Planet Garia. I'm curious to see what Earth's greatest genius can make of it."
"Deal." Tony snapped his fingers. "Wait for it, kids. The Cavalry's on the way."
The connection cut. The blue light vanished.
The Bamboo Lodge returned to its dim gloom.
But this time, the oppressive atmosphere was gone.
Peter Parker turned around to look at Jia Baoyu, who was still in a state of "Who am I? Where am I? What kind of celestial magic was that?"
"It's okay, Baoyu—our real reinforcements are coming."
"So we're the fake ones?" Tsukasa shot him a glare.
"No, no, no—how could that be?"
Chapter Nineteen
Three days later, Zitan Fortress.
When they emerged from that tidy, humble courtyard, the setting sun was hanging on the treetops.
Peter Parker didn't know what Jia Baoyu and Xue Baochai had talked about inside.
They had talked for a whole day.
There was no arguing, no wailing, not even the sound of a teacup shattering.
It was a deathly peace.
But Peter could see that Baoyu's back was straighter.
Those eyes, once clouded like a foggy mirror, were still filled with sorrow, but at least they had focus now.
He began to watch the road, no longer stumbling along like a wandering spirit.
"Let's go."
Baoyu said only two words, never looking back at the closed wooden door.
The group walked along the official road back to the Rongguo Mansion.
"I'm still bothered by it." Takuya fiddled with a grasshopper woven from straw he bought by the roadside. "Did you actually become a monk or not?"
"I did... and then I left, just the same," Baoyu looked down at the pebbles under his feet. "That day... a group of bald thieves were chanting scriptures to pray for a corrupt official who donated incense money, while someone froze to death outside their gates, and no one cared. So, I took off the robes and came down the mountain."
"You're not the only one who thinks that way—plenty of modern monks are the same." Tsukasa snapped a photo of a roadside candied hawthorn vendor. "Asking a 'Master' to perform a ritual these days... the cost is... heh."
"What should I say? At least churches in New York don't sell indulgences anymore?" Peter checked his watch; it was 6:30 PM.
"You might not know this, but Kamen Riders have a tendency to burn down churches when they fight," Tsukasa laughed.
Suddenly, a piercing gong and the sharp crack of whips hitting the ground came from ahead.
"Clear the way! Idlers step aside! The Prince's carriage approaches! Make way! Make way!"
Several tall horses charged at the front. Fierce-looking bailiffs waved their red-and-black staves, shooing away the commoners by the roadside like flies.
An old vegetable farmer couldn't dodge in time and was shoved into a ditch.
Peter frowned, his Spider-Man DNA twitching.
He was about to rush up to help the man and teach these bullies—who were clearly foxes assuming the majesty of the tiger—a lesson, when his wrist was seized in a death grip by a cold hand.
It was Jia Baoyu.
"Quick... on your knees! Quickly!"
Baoyu's voice was trembling. Instinctively, he lifted the hem of his robe, his knees going soft, ready to kneel in the dust.
"That is the Prince of Beijing... Prince Shuirong's carriage! We cannot offend him!"
The Prince of Beijing was a scion of the imperial family, a figure from the clouds.
Even when Baoyu was the young master of Green Delights, he had to kowtow when meeting him.
But he couldn't kneel.
A hand held him up by the arm. It was Kadoya Tsukasa.
"The last time I knelt was when the Ten-Faced Demon kicked me in the gut so hard I coughed blood and couldn't stand—who does this guy think he is?"
Peter froze.
This is feudal ethics. It didn't just eat people; it removed their kneecaps.
Even after experiencing life and death, faced with imperial power, Baoyu's instinct was still to kneel.
"You... you're crazy!" Baoyu was so anxious tears were forming. "That's a Prince! You'll lose your heads!"
Just as the bailiffs raised their staves to beat these unruly commoners who had a death wish...
"Stop."
A slender hand lifted the sedan chair's curtain, revealing a man with a face as flawless as jade.
Prince Shuirong of Beijing.
His gaze swept over the roadside, stopping on the destitute young man standing amidst the group of eccentrics.
"Can that be... Baoyu?"
Baoyu trembled all over, burying his head lower, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Shuirong looked at the young master who once had a "face like the moon at Mid-Autumn," now reduced to such a state, and could only sigh deeply.
He stepped out of the sedan chair quickly and offered a hand to steady him.
"Since we parted, I never imagined it would come to this... These warriors, I presume, are your friends?"
The three men stood there with no proper posture, completely out of place among the kneeling crowd.
Baoyu didn't know how to explain, so he told the truth.
"Your Highness, forgive me! These are... friends from foreign lands. They do not understand the etiquette of the Celestial Dynasty. I beg Your Highness..."
"No matter."
Shuirong smiled, stopping his guards from shouting.
"The bearing of these gentlemen reminds me of a reclusive master who recently arrived at my residence. That honored guest is the same—he worships no king, respects no ghosts. Seeing the aura of these warriors, they seem quite similar to that gentleman. Why not... accompany me back to the mansion for a chat?"
________________________________________
The Prince of Beijing's Mansion, Reception Hall.
Baoyu sat trembling in a lower seat, while Peter and the others sat down unceremoniously, looking around.
"It looks a bit like Wabi-sabi, but maybe Wabi-sabi learned it from here," Takuya commented, though neither Peter nor Tsukasa understood a word.
"The Master His Highness spoke of is inside."
The steward bowed and lifted the beaded curtain.
The four looked up.
Sitting on the Rosewood Armchair at the head of the room was not a Daoist priest or a monk.
It was a man with a goatee, wearing dark blue robes.
The most ridiculous part was the red high-collared cloak behind him, which was currently wrapping itself around a teapot and pouring tea into the cup in front of the man.
Stephen Strange. Doctor Strange.
In Baoyu's eyes, this gentleman—whether it was the strange cloak or the golden amulet on his chest—radiated an aura of an immortal who had transcended the Five Elements.
This is a true scholar, Baoyu thought. Unlike those Career Worms (Lu-du) whose mouths are full of fame and fortune, this Master's brow is filled with clarity.
"Baoyu, you may not know," Shuirong smiled. "This Immortal Elder is a master of great wisdom who has traveled from beyond the borders. Two days ago, the rockery in the rear garden suddenly collapsed. Thanks to the Master's immortal magic, it was restored to its original state. Such power is truly the method of gods."
Baoyu understood.
No wonder the Prince treated this man as a guest of honor. He wasn't a charlatan; he really knew magic.
Peter, suppressing a laugh, leaned into Tsukasa and Takuya's ears.
"To be honest, while I really miss Tony, if it were him... he probably would have blown the roof off the mansion by now, or been beaten out as a lunatic."
"Exactly." Takuya pointed at Strange. "He just needs to sit there and act cool, and these ancient people will worship him as a living god."
Strange simply glanced at Peter.
"Parker, if your mouth could be as quiet as your webs for a moment, I would be grateful. Stop messing up my magic."
"A rare sight indeed—the Sorcerer Supreme acting as a watchdog here," Tsukasa sneered.
"A Monitor, you World-Destroying Rider," Strange glared at him. "You know better than I do what that is—if Shocker throws any more products over here, I'm ready to handle them."
"Fine, fine. In any case, Your Highness—" Tsukasa turned to the Prince. "Whether it's Guazhou or the Capital, what you're dealing with aren't the demons and ghosts you see in Journey to the West operas."
He tossed the photo of the Spider Man (Kumo Otoko) onto the table.
Prince Shuirong's expression didn't change, but he took a deep breath when he picked up the photo.
Baoyu guessed this was the first time the Prince had ever met someone who dared to be so arrogant in front of him.
"You're disrupting the rhythm of my storytelling," Strange said dryly. "Don't do that next time—I just got them to understand the logic behind these things."
________________________________________
Chapter Twenty
By the time they left the Prince of Beijing's mansion, the sky was pitch black.
Baoyu still hadn't fully understood what Doctor Strange had been rambling about with his mystical jargon, but he was certain of one thing.
He didn't go straight back to the Grand View Garden. Instead, he took a detour and bought a large bundle of incense, candles, and yellow paper.
Peter didn't understand what the pile of yellow paper was for, but he knew one thing: Baoyu's expression was solemn.
They expected the Garden to be pitch black, but to their surprise, there was a single lantern glowing in the dark.
A woman was kneeling before a broken stone tablet, carefully wiping away the dust.
She hadn't left.
Or rather, she knew he would come back, knew what he wanted to do, so she came early.
"Sister Bao..."
Baochai turned around. The firelight illuminated her face, which remained as peaceful as ever.
On the stone beside her were two bowls of clear water, a few wild fruits gathered from the garden, and a makeshift censer burning something that wasn't incense.
"I thought, if the knot in your heart was untied, you would surely want to talk to them... There were no incense or candles at Aroma's place, so I used some withered plum branches from the garden instead. I imagine they would like that."
Baoyu looked at Baochai's face, noting the dark circles under her eyes, then looked down at his own rough clothes.
He hesitated, unsure if he should walk over and light the incense.
But Baochai smiled.
"Frowner (Pin'er) once said... after a person dies, whether the soul scatters or gathers is unknown. The sacrifice is merely for the heart of the living. If the heart is sincere, then even at the ends of the earth, burning a single stick of incense to send one's grief can reach the Nine Springs. If the heart is not sincere, then even with the grandest ceremonial offerings displayed before the grave, it is nothing but a show for the living."
Baoyu trembled all over.
Frowner said that.
Sister Bao still remembered.
In this moment, there was no estrangement, only the shared remembrance of the survivors for the departed.
Lighting the candles, Baoyu knelt and performed the first kowtow.
"Old Ancestor."
He wanted to tell Grandmother Jia: I am back. I am still standing.
The second kowtow.
"Uncle, Aunt." (Referring to his parents).
Baochai moved to kowtow as well, but Baoyu caught her arm.
"Don't bow... Sister Bao, we can't bow. The Master and the Madam... they may not be gone yet."
"...Mm."
The second kowtow, strictly speaking, was for Lin Daiyu.
He was no longer dreaming.
The third kowtow, for Yuanchun.
He wanted to tell his Eldest Sister that he would see the scenery outside the palace walls for her.
The fourth kowtow, for Yingchun.
He now knew all about pain and fear.
The fifth kowtow, for Qingwen (Skybright).
He knew he didn't have Peter's powers, but he would never be too scared to speak up again.
Name after name. Faithful (Yuanyang), Golden (Jinchuan), Chess (Siqi)...
Baoyu chanted each name as he bowed.
Every time his head hit the ground, it felt like he was coughing up the clotted blood that had been blocking his heart.
________________________________________
In the distance, Peter wiped his eyes.
He thought of Uncle Ben's gravestone. He thought of Gwen's funeral.
Back then, he had sat before the grave all day, feeling like his world had collapsed.
But in the end, he stood up and put on the suit.
Tsukasa let out a long sigh.
"He is saying goodbye. He's not asking for their forgiveness, nor for their protection."
"You're not taking a picture?" Takuya asked.
"Didn't bring a flash."
Peter just watched the two people paying their respects.
"He's telling them—don't worry anymore. I've walked out of the dark room."
________________________________________
Chapter Twenty-One
There are many ill-timed things in this world.
Just as Baoyu and Baochai finished their prayers, and Peter was about to say something to lighten the heavy atmosphere, the comms buzzed again.
This time, beside Tony Stark, there was another man with graying temples.
The guy had a big "4" written on his chest, leading Baoyu to involuntarily question his fashion sense.
Reed Richards, Mister Fantastic.
Next to him was a chart that would give everyone present a headache.
"The data models are finished." Reed's expression was emotionless. "The probability of Dormammu is less than 0.04%. That Lord of the Dark Dimension isn't interested in 'biochemical modification technology'; he prefers devouring souls directly."
"So, this bad taste of turning people into machines and establishing absolute order... only one control freak is capable of that." Tony sneered. "An old acquaintance—Victor Von Doom."
"And the bad news is, the hand he's holding is surprisingly good." Reed pressed a key on his console.
The hologram shifted to display a gem—deep blue.
Before the confiscation, we had gems like that, Baoyu thought. Though the Rongguo Mansion mostly used rubies and emeralds; we didn't use blue ones much.
"The Space Stone—that's how he's dumping Shocker trash into your world like garbage." Tony took another swig of coffee.
"There's more," Reed added. "There is also a red energy fluctuation. It's very unstable and is attempting to rewrite the physical constants of that area. If my hypothesis is correct, he also has the Reality Stone."
Baoyu was confused.
They looked no different from the jewelry of his youth, yet everyone spoke of these stones with grave seriousness.
"Peter... what exactly are you discussing?"
"Ah, right, forgot we have a confused local here." Tony said. "You can think of them as... six stones carrying the power of the universe's creation. For example, the Reality Stone is like an advanced version of Aladdin's Lamp. If you want to turn air into gold, or turn lies into truth, you just need a thought. It grants what we call—Wish Fulfillment."
Wish. Fulfill. Ment. (Xin Xiang Shi Cheng)
"And the one on Strange's chest... is the Time Stone." Peter turned to Baoyu. "The Prince said this afternoon that he repaired a rockery. That's because... that stone lets you know the future and the past, and even turn back time."
Turn. Back. Time.
Baoyu didn't want to hear what the other four stones did.
He just wanted to kneel.
As long as he begged.
Even if he had to trade his own rotten life.
As long as Lin Meimei could come back.
As long as—
Baoyu's fingernails snapped against his palm.
It hurt, but to the current him, pain meant nothing.
No matter the cost—
—No.
Baoyu stumbled back a few steps.
This is wrong.
Drag Sister Lin back into this collapsing mansion?
Let her see him in this beggar's state?
Let her watch the Garden get confiscated, watch the family broken and dead, and let her suffer the "swords of wind and frost pressing in" all over again?
That is a sin.
That isn't love; that is selfishness.
And...
That girl named Gwen.
She was Peter's Sister Lin.
If it were really that simple—if turning a green stone could bring back the dead...
Why is Peter still blaming himself?
He is the comrade of the Sorcerer Supreme. He is closer to those stones than anyone.
Why hasn't he asked that Mage to resurrect his lover?
Why have his parents and uncle never returned?
Impossible? Or because... it cannot be done?
Baoyu took a deep breath of the rotting air.
Either the price is too high to bear.
Or it is simply a wrong against the Natural Order (Tiandao).
These changes in just a few minutes didn't escape Peter's eyes.
"You... what's wrong?"
Baoyu just let out a long sigh.
"I was just thinking... the divine objects of this world are indeed too hot to handle. We mortals... had best not dream those foolish dreams of defying the Heavens to change our Fate."
Chapter Twenty-Two
On the daybed in the Autumn Freshness Study, the new cotton quilt was spread out.
Baoyu did not sleep. He held Baochai tightly in his arms.
His arms were trembling, as if the person in front of him would dissipate like smoke the moment he let go.
Baochai didn't move; she let him hold her.
She could feel the heavy, frantic beating of the heart inside Baoyu's chest.
In truth, she had guessed it.
Who wouldn't want to start over?
Who wouldn't want to return to those days of "oil cooking over a roaring fire" (halcyon prosperity)?
If she could do it all again, maybe she would have stopped her brother from beating that man to death. Maybe she would have persuaded her aunt to withdraw from the family affairs earlier...
But she was Xue Baochai. She was more clear-headed than anyone.
To defy Heaven is to invite divine punishment.
To forcibly drag the dead back to the living is not a blessing; it is sorcery.
She felt tears slide down her cheeks, landing on Baoyu's shoulder.
"It's okay now... We won't beg the gods. We will endure this ourselves."
________________________________________
The night had grown deep.
The comms were cut. Peter and Takuya were outside discussing web fluid formulas. Kadoya Tsukasa was half-asleep leaning against the corridor.
Baoyu was still holding Baochai, the two of them lying under the same quilt.
In a low whisper, Baoyu recounted the stories of these men, bit by bit.
He told her how Peter lost his uncle due to a moment of selfishness, and lost his love because he was too late.
He told her how Takuya piloted a universe-class robot, yet still blamed himself for failing to save strangers.
He told her how Kadoya Tsukasa searched for the meaning of his own existence in the cracks between worlds.
Neither wore outer robes; it was skin-to-skin contact in its purest form.
Baochai felt Baoyu's body temperature rising.
She knew why.
Before, she had regarded these men as merely "grassroots rangers" with some magical powers, or perhaps rebels that even the Imperial Court would fear.
But now, she understood.
"So that is how it is." Baochai let out a long sigh. "I had thought that since they possessed the power to move mountains and fill seas, they would naturally be arrogant, viewing mortals as ants. Coming and going like the wind, seeking pleasure in vengeance, uncaring of human suffering. I never expected... they are more like Ascetic Monks (Penitents). They carry blood feuds on their backs, yet they still stop to manage our trivial affairs."
Baoyu looked into Baochai's eyes.
That look took him back to that afternoon years ago when they wrote poems about crabs.
"There are plenty of capable people in this world. Look at Jia Yucun, look at those high officials in the court. When they see suffering, when they see injustice, they either turn their heads and pretend not to see, or they step on the bones of others to climb higher." Baochai gave a bitter smile. "But they... they take the suffering of others as their own."
Outside, there was a bit of noise; it seemed Peter and Xiangyun were skipping stones.
"The Buddha speaks of the 'Heart that cannot bear the suffering of others' and the 'Oneness of Great Compassion.' I used to think these were just words in books. But seeing them now, I believe it—this is the true Bodhisattva's Heart, with the Vajra's Fury."
Baochai gently cupped Baoyu's face.
"Even if their hearts hurt to the point of dying, even if they know they might lose, they refuse to close their eyes. They refuse to look away."
Yes, Baoyu thought.
He had always been too fond of looking away.
If he didn't like studying, he hid in the boudoir. If he didn't like the officialdom, he cursed the 'Career Worms'.
He had spent his whole life averting his gaze from the things that made him unhappy.
He held Baochai even tighter.
"Sister is right. Although we lack their heaven-reaching abilities, since we are following behind the Bodhisattvas... we can no longer close our eyes and pretend to sleep."
This embrace had nothing to do with lust.
It was simply two people in the long night, suddenly finding a few fireflies of warmth to hold onto.
________________________________________
Chapter Twenty-Three
The candlelight flickered beneath the lantern shade. After a short while, a maid brought in a fresh lamp.
Prince Shuirong's spirits were much higher than they had been during the day.
For one thing, at least this new arrival was within the scope of his comprehension.
He was a man of the Central Plains, with short hair like a monk, dressed in fitted scale armor, with five iron rings wound around each arm. He looked for all the world like a warrior monk who honed his body through martial arts.
Of course, the man's posture and speech bore no resemblance to a monk.
And he seemed unusually familiar with Doctor Strange.
Being that close with this Sorcerer... he probably wasn't a proper monk either.
"Warrior Xu." Shuirong performed a greeting of friendship. The man opposite returned a fist-and-palm salute.
"We generally call him Shang-Chi," Strange said. "He's a colleague. For certain matters, he is indispensable."
"Like right now, Your Highness," Shang-Chi smiled. "Dimensions, genetic engineering... you wouldn't understand those terms, so let me translate. There is a... Demon Head from the chaotic lands of the Far West. He excels in Evil Arts (Sorcery) that refine living humans into puppets—creatures with immense strength that feel no pain. In other words—Corpse Soldiers."
"Tell him about the brainwashing, too. Having you here really saves me a lot of thinking time." Strange closed his eyes and sipped his tea.
"Right," Shang-Chi nodded. "These Demon Soldiers have no souls; they obey only that Demon Head. His appetite is huge. He doesn't just want your Capital; he wants to turn this entire world into his armory."
Now Shuirong understood.
"Is this true?!"
"Your Highness, you've seen our abilities. We have no need to waste time lying to you about this."
Suddenly, one of the rings on Shang-Chi's left arm lit up with an orange glow.
It detached automatically, flew a circle around Shuirong, snuffed out a candle flame, and returned to its place on his arm.
It wasn't a hidden projectile. To Shuirong, this was also magic.
Strange nodded.
"Our leader will be here soon—trust me, where we come from, this is a code red emergency."
Shuirong took a deep breath and stood up without hesitation.
"Rest assured, Immortal Masters. This Little Prince (Xiao Wang) shall enter the Palace immediately to present this to the Emperor. I will request His Majesty to mobilize the Capital Battalions, declare martial law, and order the Imperial Board of Astronomy (Qin Tian Jian) to assist you in exorcising this demon!"
"Uh... Your Highness, hold on."
Strange took another sip of tea, trying to keep his expression from looking too exasperated.
"Put the army mobilization on hold. Cold weapons against Shocker monsters is suicide. And... about seeing the Emperor, we need to discuss that."
"Why?" Shuirong was puzzled. "Since the Immortal Masters are here to save the world, naturally the Emperor should treat you with the rites of a National Teacher. Unless... your sect's leader is a hermit of idle clouds and wild cranes? If so, I can introduce you. Even if the Emperor must visit his thatched cottage in person..."
To Shuirong, this was an understandable romanticism of the scholarly elite.
But he couldn't finish, because Shang-Chi spat half a mouthful of tea onto the floor and was laughing awkwardly.
"No, no, no."
Strange shook his head with a bitter smile.
This was a massive misunderstanding.
"Your Highness has misunderstood. He is no hermit, and certainly no 'idle cloud'."
"He once fought a tyrant who tried to rule the world and punched the guy's jaw crooked," Shang-Chi said. "Whether it's a self-proclaimed god, a mad dictator, or the kind of arrogant overlord we just talked about... as long as someone wants living beings to kneel and worship them as Heaven, he will stand in that person's way."
There is only one person who makes living beings kneel.
"He is a soldier. He's spent his whole life rolling in the mud. Wherever there's a fight, that's where he goes," Strange said. "He's spent his life fighting exactly that kind of thing."
Shuirong roughly understood.
He felt a chill down his spine. In traditional definitions, someone who opposed the Emperor was usually called a Rebel (Fan-zei).
It was indeed treasonous. Yet, coming from the mouths of these Immortals, it sounded like the legendary chivalry of ancient times.
He didn't need to ask anymore.
Golden sparks exploded in the center of the room, spinning rapidly, expanding into a circular portal two meters in diameter.
On the other side, it wasn't a celestial mountain or a treasure realm, but a place Shuirong couldn't describe.
Blinding glass lights, metallic sheens filling his vision... and a person.
A pair of tactical combat boots planted firmly on the floor of the Prince's study.
He wore no silks or satins, no golden crown or jade belt.
Only a suit of deep blue scale armor, with a striking Silver Star on his chest.
Shuirong looked at this foreigner.
He was dressed like a mere martial artist, yet Shuirong had an illusion—as if standing before him was not a man, but a mountain, a flag.
"This warrior..." Shuirong adjusted his breathing. "...greetings."
The man simply pulled off his helmet, revealing a face as solid as bedrock.
"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Steve Rogers. Looks like we need to talk about how to defend this city."
Chapter Twenty-Four
The hospitality at the Prince of Beijing's mansion ended before it even began.
Faced with the Prince's warm insistence that he stay, Steve Rogers simply drank a single cup of plain tea out of politeness, then stood to leave.
"I appreciate your kindness, Your Highness. But my soldiers are on the front lines, and my friends are waiting for me."
He picked up his shield and turned, walking into the morning light.
Shuirong watched his retreating back and felt a sense of awe he couldn't quite name: "This man cannot be detained, nor can he be opposed."
________________________________________
Now, the Grand View Tower had become the temporary command post.
The faded characters on the archway of the "Villa for the Imperial Concubine's Visit" were still visible, but the people beneath it had changed.
"...And that's the situation."
Peter spoke until his mouth was dry, finally pointing at Kadoya Tsukasa. "As for the specific details on Shocker, Tsukasa knows more than I do."
"Mah." Tsukasa spread his hands. "Remnants of the Nazis. A bunch of lunatics obsessed with eugenics. Compared to Shocker, Hydra from your world looks almost reasonable—at least Hydra pretends to care about order. Shocker? They don't even bother with the mask; they pride themselves on being evil incarnate."
"Go on." Captain America looked up.
Peter swore he had never seen Cap's eyes look this cold.
Tsukasa sneered.
"Hydra wants to rule the world, so they at least need living humans to be slaves. But Shocker doesn't need people—they excise human emotions, memories, and self-awareness, turning them into biological weapons that only obey orders. In their eyes, humans are just parts waiting to be 'optimized'."
"Plus... they especially love experimenting on civilians," Peter added.
Crack.
The wooden railing Steve was resting his hand on was crushed, cracks spreading through the solid timber.
He didn't roar. He didn't slam the table.
But Baoyu felt the temperature in the air drop to absolute zero.
The gentleness from before vanished completely. In those azure eyes, the giant waves of Normandy Beach seemed to churn.
It was a killing intent born from mountains of corpses and seas of blood—an uncompromising fury against those who trampled on humanity.
"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place... No matter the universe, no matter the name, Nazis are Nazis."
Baoyu didn't dare breathe.
Since the beginning, he had harbored a doubt.
This Captain... looked too ordinary.
He couldn't fly, didn't have a super robot, and didn't use flashy magic. He was just a slightly stronger mortal.
But at this moment, looking at the fire in Steve's eyes, Baoyu understood.
"A great general is defined by his heart, not his strength."
This man didn't need superpowers.
Just then, that gaze bypassed Peter and Tsukasa, landing on Baoyu in the corner.
The biting killing intent vanished instantly.
Baoyu instinctively stood up to bow, wanting to dodge.
Just like every time he saw his father, Jia Zheng. He was afraid of the reprimand, afraid of being scolded for being useless.
But Steve simply reached out and gently patted his shoulder.
"I heard about you from Peter."
The voice held none of Jia Zheng's severity, nor the Prince's polite detachment.
Steve lowered his body slightly, bringing himself to eye level with Baoyu.
"Running away isn't shameful. Faced with a disaster like that, anyone would want to run—including me. But, son, you stood back up. You did good."
Baoyu froze.
He didn't know how to respond.
In his entire life, no one—no male elder—had ever spoken to him like this.
No "Sinful Obstacle" (Niezhang).
No "Unfilial Son."
No "How will you pass the civil service exams?"
He simply said that standing back up made him a warrior.
Tears instantly slid down Baoyu's face.
In this moment, he finally understood why Peter and the others followed this man.
This was the power to inspire.
This man wasn't a god, but his will and character were more indestructible than any deity.
He nodded heavily.
"Yes... Captain."
Baoyu leaned against a corner of the Lotus Scented Isle (Ou Xiang Xie), laughing and crying at the same time.
The feeling was entirely alien to him.
From childhood to adulthood, all he had heard was either the doting, "precious flesh of my heart" spoiling from his grandmother and mother, or the harsh reprimands from his father, who seemed to wish him beaten to death.
He was used to being held in the palm of a hand for fear of melting, and equally used to being trampled in the mud and told he was worthless.
But never had anyone patted him on the shoulder as an equal and validated his efforts.
"Master Bao... Master Bao?"
The voice jolted Baoyu back to reality.
Aroma (Xiren) and Bijou (Jiang Yuhan) had arrived unnoticed. Each carrying a food box, they were helping Baochai and Musk set plates on the old stone table.
"We heard more experts had arrived in the Garden and thought you might not have enough food, so we brought some over," Bijou smiled.
"Bijou, you didn't see him this morning!" Xiangyun laughed until she couldn't stand straight. "After being praised by that Captain, I think Ai-Brother forgot where he was for a moment!"
"How could I forget? Isn't this the Lotus Scented Isle?" Baoyu jumped up, laughing loudly as well.
He couldn't remember how long it had been since he laughed like this.
________________________________________
On the other side, Steve Rogers was sitting under the corridor.
To calm himself from the rage directed at Shocker, he pulled a small notebook and a stick of charcoal from his utility belt.
He always felt he hadn't lost his basic skills as an art student.
Whether in Normandy or New York, sketching was his go-to method for keeping a cool head.
Watching Baoyu laugh heartily, Steve smiled too.
Then, the charcoal descended. He wanted to draw these people in a foreign land.
Baoyu, Xiangyun, Bijou, Aroma, Musk...
But as he drew, Steve's hand stopped.
His brow furrowed.
"No... something's wrong."
He possessed a sensitivity to human anatomy and muscle lines far beyond that of ordinary people.
And right now, within these lines, he saw something that made his blood run cold.
The people under his pen... their lines were broken.
"What's up, Cap?" Peter leaned in. "Looks pretty accurate to me."
"It's not right." Steve pointed at Shang-Chi. "Peter, look at his posture."
"Me?" Shang-Chi walked over.
A martial artist, standing straight as a pine.
"Now look at this." Steve quickly sketched a side profile of a woman standing. "For example, this is Natasha—her spinal curvature is normal, her chest is open."
He then pointed to the neck and shoulders of Musk in his drawing.
"Trapezius, levator scapulae, sternocleidomastoid... they are in a state of permanent tension."
Finally, he pointed to Aroma's knees and lumbar spine.
"And here. Her center of gravity is always low, her spine tilted slightly forward. It is a posture of someone ready to kneel at any moment—even though she is no longer a maid."
"—Cowering." Shang-Chi looked at it for a moment. "Honestly, when my father was still alive, his minions looked pretty much the same."
"Occasional tension is fear. But if everyone's muscle memory is like this..." Steve put down the charcoal.
"It means fear has seeped into their marrow. Hydra rules the world by pointing guns at people's heads. But the people here... have put a lock on themselves in their hearts. Even without a gun pointed at them, they dare not look up at the sky."
Peter sucked in a cold breath.
He knew what the Captain had left unsaid.
This place was sick to the bone.
Chapter Twenty-Five
A few days later, Aroma and her husband returned with more supplies.
There were no tears this time. Or if there were, they were tears of laughter.
The news they brought made Baoyu clap his hands in joy.
"Something happened. Something strange." Aroma's voice was steady, but she couldn't hide the glint of vindictive satisfaction in her eyes. "That Wolf of Zhongshan, Sun Shaozu, has disappeared."
"Disappeared?"
Baoyu, who was helping Baochai hang laundry sheets, almost dropped the fabric in his hands.
"Exactly," Bijou sneered. "I heard he spent a fortune bribing his way up and down the Ministry of War to fill a vacancy. He was about to take office in a few days. Last night, he was still in his study drinking and cursing his servants. But early this morning, when the servants went in, the room was empty."
"The doors and windows were bolted from the inside. No signs of forced entry. The food and wine on the table were untouched. The man just vanished into thin air, like a wisp of smoke!"
Aroma pressed her palms together and chanted a prayer.
"Amitabha... Everyone outside is saying he did too much evil, and perhaps the spirit of Second Sister (Yingchun) manifested, sending the Black and White Impermanence to hook his soul away! Heaven has eyes!"
"Good! Good! Good!" Baoyu's pale face flushed red with excitement. "That damned beast! If he really went to Hell, I'll burn extra incense for the King of Hell! The spirit of Second Sister in heaven can finally close her eyes in peace!"
Great vengeance exacted. This was absolutely the best news in days.
"Don't celebrate too early."
A voice poured a bucket of ice water over Baoyu's head.
It was Takuya Yamashiro.
"Vanished into thin air? Locked from the inside? In this world, besides us, who else can do that? That is clearly Doctor Doom's Space Stone."
Baoyu froze.
He instinctively looked at Tsukasa, who was cleaning his lens, and Shang-Chi, who was practicing his forms nearby.
"But... that's not bad, is it? Even if he was taken, falling into the hands of a Demon Head... surely no good end awaits that beast?"
"That's exactly the problem." Peter walked over. "Baoyu, think about it. Why do Doctor Doom and Shocker kidnap people?"
"Sun Shaozu is a candidate for the Ministry of War. He is a military officer." Steve Rogers spoke up. "According to your description, he is skilled in archery and horsemanship, has a violent temperament, and stops at nothing to climb the ladder. For Shocker, he is the perfect material."
Material.
"He's a lab rat." Peter rubbed his temples. "They will slice open his body, implant machinery and beast genes, replace his bones with metal, and wash his brain into a program that knows only how to kill."
Baoyu seemed to understand, yet didn't.
That demon who once tortured Second Sister to death... if he gained monstrous strength like Peter, or skills like Steve...
"I'm guessing he isn't dead. He's been drafted and upgraded."
Tsukasa capped his lens.
"If I were that Doctor, I'd be more than happy to accept such a running dog. Give him power, give him the authority to slaughter, and he becomes the most loyal monster."
Tsukasa looked at the terrified Baoyu.
"So, don't be in a hurry to thank Heaven. Heaven didn't open its eyes, but the Devil opened his door... and took your enemy in."
However, they were a step too late.
A day later, when they received the news and rushed to the Sun Manor, it had already become a slaughterhouse.
Blood was splattered across the Spirit Screen, and severed limbs were scattered everywhere.
"Help! The Master has gone mad! The Master has turned into a monster!"
A group of servants scrambled and crawled toward the exit, but a massive black shadow descended from the sky, crashing down in front of them with a thunderous boom.
Faintly, one could still recognize the face of Sun Shaozu.
But his skin had turned into a layer of green-black keratin. A massive carapace, covered in barbs and metal tubes, had grown out of his back. Every time he waved his razor-sharp claws, there was the hissing sound of hydraulic transmission.
Sun Shaozu just laughed maniacally.
The sound, synthesized by machinery, was ear-piercing.
"Before, I had to spend silver to buy a rank. Now? These hands alone can tear down the Ministry of War! The Divine Lord has granted me an Invulnerable Diamond Body!"
"Ah—"
It was just a little girl's scream.
But it made Sun Shaozu lock onto her.
One swipe of that claw would turn her entire body into meat paste.
The sound of keratin clashing against metal rang through the mansion.
A flying shield smashed into Sun Shaozu's head, stalling his judgment for a split second.
Then, the wielder of the shield stood before the little maid, blocking the claw.
Captain America.
Immediately after, Shang-Chi slammed into Sun Shaozu's chest with an Iron Mountain Lean (Tie Shan Kao), using the momentum to blast him away with a punch.
"Go! Run outside!" (In Chinese)
Hearing the command, the little maid seemed to find her bearings and stumbled toward the exit.
The Iron Spider suit instantly covered Peter's body.
Takuya pressed his wrist device, and the Spider-Protector suit deployed automatically.
"Henshin!"
Tsukasa inserted a card into the Decade Driver.
"Here's the question—" Tsukasa sneered. "Capture him alive, or execute him on the spot? I prefer the latter. He's beyond saving."
Peter looked at the Captain.
Cap didn't kill. Everyone knew that.
But Baoyu, who rushed in right behind them, wasn't so calm.
He recognized the blood-covered little maid.
Back in Second Sister Yingchun's room, Chess (Siqi) had died. It seemed Embroidery Orange (Xiuju), who married into the Sun family with her, was dead too.
But there were other small maids from the Purple Water Caltrop Isle.
"You are—Lotus (Lianhua)?!"
Lotus, her face covered in blood, realized who was standing in front of her and collapsed again.
"Master Bao... help... Sun Shaozu... he isn't human..."
He isn't human.
Baoyu's mind snapped back to that moment in the past.
Yingchun, covered in bruises, crying that the man named Sun was not a human being. Yet she received no valuable help.
Back then, Lady Wang (Baoyu's mother) said, "This is your fate." Baoyu couldn't defy his mother.
But now he knew. Standing right in front of him was a group of people who believed in fate the least.
"Subdue him first." Steve settled into a combat stance. "Let's see what's left of his brain."
"Subdue?!"
Baoyu couldn't hear anything else.
Aside from the Captain's order, his ears were filled only with Yingchun's weeping.
He roared out the loudest sound of his entire life.
"Kill him... Captain, I beg you, KILL HIM! Make him pay for Second Sister's life!"
________________________________________
Chapter Twenty-Six
"Stand down."
Golden-red eldritch sparks exploded once more as Doctor Strange strode into the courtyard.
Baoyu stared at the sorcerer, his eyes bloodshot.
"He killed Second Sister! He deserves death!"
"I know he deserves death," Strange said calmly. "But Reed and Banner need samples. The genetic modification tech and residual Infinity Stone energy in this guy are the key to unlocking Doom's conspiracy. If we can reverse-engineer it, we might find a way to turn the cyborgs back."
Baoyu's voice sounded foreign even to himself.
"Turn him back? Let him live like a human? Why?! ... Being a turtle is his true form! And you want to save him?!"
A pair of arms wrapped around his waist, instantly sobering him halfway.
It was Baochai.
Captain America was no longer looking at him.
"Avengers, execute order."
The Vibranium shield once again caught the charging Turtle-Monster's claws.
The two Spider-Men wasted no words. They scuttled up the beams, shooting two web lines to restrain Sun Shaozu's arms.
Using the crossbeam as a pivot, Peter and Takuya dropped down, hoisting Sun Shaozu into mid-air.
"Let me go! You low-born scum!"
He struggled and twisted.
Neither the webs nor the wooden beams seemed strong enough to hold his strength.
Shang-Chi clenched his fists. The Ten Rings flew out simultaneously, locking onto Sun Shaozu's shoulders, elbows, and knees, immobilizing him completely.
Finally, Kadoya Tsukasa made his move. He held a white Rider card.
[KAMEN RIDE... FOURZE!]
"Space is here!" (Uchuu Kitaaa!)
The magenta armor instantly transformed into a white astronaut-themed suit, the helmet shaped like a rocket.
Tsukasa took two steps forward and delivered a side kick to Sun Shaozu's chest.
There was no explosion, only absolute cold.
[FREEZE! ON!]
"Turtles should hibernate properly."
A massive freezing module materialized on Tsukasa's right leg. The cold air it emitted made Baoyu shiver from fifty paces away.
Frost covered Sun Shaozu's entire body.
The cold-blooded animal genes were amplified infinitely; the extreme cold instantly robbed him of mobility, turning him into a giant ice sculpture.
"Bon voyage." Strange casually drew a circle in the air.
The massive block of ice fell directly into the portal. On the other side, one could faintly see a silver containment cell filled with futuristic technology—the Avengers Tower Containment Unit.
Thirty seconds. Battle over.
________________________________________
Only Jia Baoyu remained kneeling on the ground, clawing tightly at the dirt.
He hadn't been able to take revenge with his own hands.
The frustration blocked in his chest felt like it would shatter his teeth.
Baochai had to speak for him.
She didn't understand technology, but she had a basic sense of danger.
"Gentlemen... that Wolf of Zhongshan is now invulnerable and possesses immense strength. If he wakes up and goes mad, hurting innocent people on your side, wouldn't that be... releasing a tiger back to the mountain?"
The reaction she got was completely unexpected.
Peter had taken off his mask, and his face wore an expression of schadenfreude—like he was trying very hard not to laugh.
"Actually... that's the one thing we don't need to worry about. If anything, we're more worried for Sun Shaozu."
"..." Baoyu looked up, not understanding what Peter meant.
Peter let out a long breath.
"Mainly because... the medical team we assigned to him includes a Dr. Banner. If Sun accidentally attacks him... well, let's just say that turtle better pray he doesn't wake up."
"Dr. Banner? What kind of... background does this gentleman have?"
Baochai was searching through her entire repository of knowledge.
Doctor (Ph.D.)... it seems to refer to a scholar who teaches the Dao and possesses heavenly wisdom.
Yet, this man, who sounded like a frail scholar, was apparently Sun Shaozu's nemesis.
"Dr. Banner..." Peter wiped sweat from his forehead. "Normally, he's a very gentle man. Wears glasses, speaks softly... a genius scientist with seven PhDs."
"He sounds like a Great Confucian Scholar." Baochai nodded.
"As long as... as long as no one makes his heart rate spike, or makes him angry." Peter gave a bitter smile.
"...And if someone does make him angry?"
"Trust me, you never want to see that scene." Shang-Chi raised his hand to recall the Ten Rings.
But Baoyu's focus was not on science or the future.
"This kind of villain... if you cure him, are you just going to release him to continue doing evil?! Where is Heaven's Justice?!"
"Chill out, Useless Young Master." Tsukasa cancelled his transformation. "Think about it this way—we slice him up for research, figure out how the modification works, and create an antidote. In the future, if innocents like your sister get kidnapped and modified again... we could save hundreds, maybe thousands of lives."
Baoyu gritted his teeth.
Sun Shaozu gets to be a 'bad luck case,' but what about Second Sister? What about Embroidery Orange?
But he had to admit, Tsukasa's logic was flawless.
"...Fine. As long as you make him beg for death without finding release, do what you want."
Steve just sighed.
He knew some things had to be made clear.
"Judging him is a matter for the law, not for us. If we use our power to execute criminals at will, what makes us different from him?"
"Oh, come on, Captain. I have to point out a fact here." Strange lowered his hand.
He had been using magic to gather the scattered body parts into a pile.
"Go ahead." Looking at the heap of severed limbs, Steve didn't have the energy for a long debate.
Regardless, they were too late to save the victims.
"The law here... is basically a joke. He beat his wife to death and didn't even have to pay a fine. And even if it weren't a joke, there isn't a single statute in the code that prohibits 'using Infinity Stones to transform others into reptiles'." Strange looked impatient. "Sending him to Banner is already the most civilized option available."
Just then, a troop of government soldiers rushed through the gates of the Sun Manor.
Looking at the flesh-and-blood workshop before him, even the Prince of Beijing was speechless for a moment.
"Your Highness." Strange pointed at the claw marks everywhere. "I regret to inform you, Sun Shaozu is no longer human."
Shang-Chi spread his hands.
"He colluded with demons and practiced dark arts, but suffered a backlash of demonic power, turning into a half-man, half-turtle monster. If it weren't for us just now, I'm afraid the Capital would have flowed with blood tonight."
Lotus (Lianhua) was kowtowing like a machine.
Though incoherent, she and the few surviving servants pieced together the truth.
Sun Shaozu became a monster, killing on sight. He was invulnerable and possessed monstrous strength.
"Next time I'll just record it for you." Seeing Shuirong's skeptical look, Tsukasa curled his lip.
Shuirong nodded, saying nothing more.
With so many witnesses and the obvious destructive power on display, this was no longer a human crime, but a Natural Disaster (Act of God).
"Then... where is Sun Shaozu now?"
"I have contained him." Strange's face was cold. "He is in our territory now. He will never leave that cage in this lifetime. Your Highness need not worry about him harming anyone again."
Shuirong breathed a sigh of relief and bowed deeply to the group.
"Thank you, Immortal Masters, for saving the people of the Capital from this calamity. This Little Prince shall report the truth to the Son of Heaven and request rewards for you all."
________________________________________
Once the official matters were settled, the group prepared to withdraw.
Peter Parker walked at the back of the team, his brow furrowed.
"Peter?" Steve patted his shoulder.
"Cap... I was thinking. Sending Sun Shaozu to Dr. Banner... is that really a good idea?"
"You're worried Sun might hurt Banner?"
"No." Peter shook his head. "You saw it too. This place... the people here don't even think of themselves as humans, but as the private property of their masters. If Banner sees this... or worse, if the Big Guy senses this..."
Hulk hates bullies.
And this world was built on the very foundation of bullying.
That embodiment of rage might instantly turn into an unstoppable nuclear bomb.
Steve was silent for a moment.
He looked at Baochai in the distance, distributing wound medicine to the servants, and at Baoyu, who was comforting Lotus.
"Peter, do you know what I admire most about Banner? It's not his seven PhDs, nor his strength when he transforms. It's that he has always managed to control himself."
"I trust him. Plain and simple."
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Baoyu swore he had never tasted anything so bizarre in his life.
It was black as medicinal broth. Not quite sweet, not quite bitter. It felt like countless tiny needles pricking his tongue, yet swallowing it brought a ghostly sense of refreshment.
Crucially, Peter and Shang-Chi were drinking it with looks of pure relaxation.
"After all, this sugar content is enough to alleviate the nausea from a few hours ago," Peter laughed. "Get used to it, Baoyu. Where we come from, this is standard issue for life."
"Just tell him it's called Coke," Shang-Chi said. "Still hung up on not getting your revenge?"
Baoyu took two large gulps of the Coke, feeling like he was punishing himself.
"If my ancestors saw me like that, they'd scold me for being useless, for lacking blood and courage—I truly wanted to cut off that villain's head with one stroke, but I couldn't do it."
"I understand that perfectly." Shang-Chi sat down next to Baoyu. "My dad lived for a thousand years. His greatest hobbies were conquering the world and making me practice martial arts. When I was a kid, I didn't dare look him in the eye."
Baoyu was surprised by his own lack of surprise.
He had already accepted that none of these friends had normal families. Brother Xu's eccentricity was nothing special here.
Shang-Chi clinked his can against Baoyu's.
"Later, I realized he was a pitiful man, too. He lost my mom and went mad. He tried to fill that hole by controlling me. Baoyu, your father forced you to study because of fear. He feared the family's fall; he feared you wouldn't survive. But his fear shouldn't become your shackles."
"And what about you, Brother Xu?" Baoyu took another sip.
"Me? Being the 'Young Master' was too painful—calculating how to make people fear me, how to kill. So I ran away to San Francisco, parked cars for a living, and sang Karaoke every night. Later, I came back, defeated him, and forgave him."
Baoyu was stunned.
Peter and the others were orphans, but Shang-Chi actually fought his own father.
It sounded like the height of unfilial conduct, yet... it didn't feel that way.
An iron ring spun on Shang-Chi's fingertip.
"Look at me. I'm using my dad's Ten Rings now, but I use them to save people, not kill them. That is the best answer I can give to my ancestors—you can love your father, but that doesn't mean you have to become the person he wants you to be."
________________________________________
Baoyu was still digesting Shang-Chi's story when the portal in the courtyard opened again.
Steve and Strange walked in.
They had followed the Prince of Beijing into the palace to meet the Emperor—it was unavoidable, given the noise Sun Shaozu had made.
Strange looked exhausted but relieved, while Steve's face was pitch black.
He stormed over, cracked open a can of Coke, and downed the whole thing in one breath.
"Good thing we have this. I need to wash the taste of that place out of my mouth."
"A fight?" Peter asked.
"Impossible. Probably awarded a pile of gold, followed by ministers kneeling and boot-licking, claiming the Emperor's virtue moved Heaven to send divine aid," Shang-Chi stretched.
Baoyu could imagine the scene.
In the Golden Throne Hall, the Son of Heaven sat high above, while civil and military officials knelt in droves.
And these two—a Sorcerer Supreme and a Captain America—must have stood straight as nails that refused to bend.
Just thinking about that scene made Baoyu's knees weak.
But he didn't want to think about the Palace anymore.
His eldest sister, Yuanchun, had been imprisoned in that forbidden place until death. Imperial power had given her no warmth, only cold titles and endless loneliness.
"Used a little hypnotic suggestion trick. Made the Emperor think that while we lacked manners, we possessed divine power. Otherwise, the Imperial Guard would have the Grand View Garden surrounded like an iron bucket by now." Strange grabbed a Coke too. "A thousand taels of gold, a hundred bolts of brocade. In exchange for us slaying demons. Anyway, I tossed all the gold to Stark; his materials science might find a use for it."
At that moment, low sobbing came from the Drenched Blossoms Bridge (Qinfang Bridge).
It was Lotus.
The maid who had narrowly escaped death. Now back in the Garden, seeing the ruin around her, she finally broke down in Aroma's arms.
Musk was whispering comforts to her.
Though the Garden was fallen, at least here she was treated like a human being, and there were benefactors willing to risk their lives for her.
"Captain," Baoyu voiced his doubt. "Did the Emperor... not blame us? After all, we... mobilized troops without authorization, and..."
Baoyu stammered. He wanted to say "Lese-majesty" (Great Disrespect).
Steve just sneered.
"He owns the world, owns the army, owns the power over life and death. He thinks he is Heaven. But I told him, I only swore an oath to the stars on this shield."
He looked at the weeping Lotus in the distance and was silent for a long time.
"I fight for them... not the Emperor."
"This—"
Baoyu struggled to process what he was hearing.
"Mastering the literary and martial arts to sell to the Imperial House"—that was all he had heard since childhood, and what he hated most.
Yet this man, who could fight a hundred men alone, chose to stand with the weakest.
He viewed the man on the Dragon Throne as dirt, yet felt compassion for a little maid's tears.
Not for the Sovereign Father, not for the State, but for individual, concrete human beings.
Peter finally couldn't hold back.
"Cap... are you okay?"
"Disgusting." Steve crushed the Coke can in his hand. "He thinks our saving people is 'sharing his burden.' He thinks the people's survival is his 'grace.' Those ministers attribute every good thing to Imperial Benevolence and every disaster to 'fate' or 'unruly mobs'."
Baochai had walked over unnoticed.
She sipped her Coke in small swallows, seeming to seek comfort in the high sugar content too.
Steve was almost grinding his teeth now.
"I've seen people like him. In WWII Berlin, in Hydra bases. Whether it's Red Skull or Alexander Pierce—whether they wear a Nazi uniform, bear the Shocker emblem, or wrap themselves in a Dragon Robe... they are no different."
Baochai covered her mouth.
Baoyu dropped his can.
Calling the Emperor a dim ruler was one thing. But Steve clearly meant that the Dragon Chair itself was a monster devouring the innocent.
"Cap... Captain..."
Baoyu stammered, wanting to say something, but found he couldn't refute it.
"That's right—but once we see these things, we can't leave." Kadoya Tsukasa was photographing dead branches in the garden, not looking their way.
Just then, Aroma walked over.
Thank goodness she didn't hear what the Captain just said, Baoyu thought.
"Lotus says... she wants to move back to the Purple Water Caltrop Isle (Ziling Zhou). Second Miss is gone, but she wants to help keep watch over it," Aroma said.
"Simple. Cleaning is my specialty." Peter led the way toward the Isle.
Soon, only Baochai and Steve remained.
"Captain... it is best to be cautious with your words," Baochai lowered her voice. "If those words get out... they might execute your nine generations."
Steve just smiled and shook his head.
"It's okay, kid. My parents died in World War I. I don't have nine generations."
________________________________________
Inside the Purple Water Caltrop Isle, work was in full swing.
Peter shot a static web, sucking up all suspended dust particles in the air, balling them up, and tossing them into the lake.
Then, he hopped onto the beams and started clearing cobwebs.
"Spider-Man cleaning up spiderwebs—isn't that only logical?"
Jia Baoyu stood at the door, watching this scene.
He watched the superhero who had just fought a Shocker monster now bustling up and down with a rag.
As if saving the world and cleaning a broken room were equally important to him.
In the past, even a cup of tea had to be brought to his lips by Aroma or the others.
He had always thought that was how it should be.
Baoyu took a deep breath. He tore off a corner of his robe, dipped it in water, and wrung it out.
Peter was wiping the beams when his spider-sense told him someone else had joined in.
Baoyu was squatting on the ground, bit by bit wiping down the dust-covered dressing table.
That was where Yingchun used to like to sit.
"Leave this side to me. Two people make it faster."
Peter smiled.
That smile was brighter than after winning any battle.
"Then you wipe the table, I'll fix the window!"
Baoyu smiled too.
"Yes... before we open the curtains, we have to fix the windows first."
After the Nightmare
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The weather was partly cloudy, but the atmosphere by the water of the Purple Water Caltrop Isle was indescribable.
The group gathered around the stone table, staring at a holographic projection that was hard to look at directly.
Sun Shaozu, once arrogant and invincible, was now a pixelated mess of broken bones and mangled flesh.
A weak heart rate curve hopped monotonously on the screen.
In the hologram, Tony Stark pressed his lips together tightly, picking up the brandy at his hand and taking a large gulp.
"Peter, your jinx came true. This guy's build quality wasn't bad—he lasted about three minutes with the Hulk. Even so, he's still alive."
Serves him right, Baoyu thought.
Although he didn't know what exactly Dr. Banner was, seeing his enemy reduced to this pile of meat made him feel more satisfied than anyone.
However, the others fell into a silence colder than the previous freezing capture.
Reed Richards displayed a despairing MRI scan.
"I regret to inform you. Shocker's technology is extremely crude. They performed a lobotomy on his frontal lobe, burned out the hippocampus, and replaced his original neural pathways with a bio-chip."
Reed's fingertip tapped a gray area representing necrosis.
"Simply put, the human consciousness of Sun Shaozu died the moment he accepted the modification," Tony said. "You can't turn a scrambled egg back into an egg—unless you use the Infinity Stones."
"You must be joking. We can't risk breaking the laws of the universe for a murderer," Strange said.
"I know we can't." Tony took another drink. "So, let's vote—Protocol Hypnos. Reason: Irreversible brain damage, extreme danger, and a state of continuous physiological agony."
Hypnos. The Greek God of Sleep.
Peter realized what it meant.
Tony didn't intend to let Sun Shaozu wake up again. It was a euthanasia protocol.
And Peter swore there was killing intent hidden in Tony's usual cynical tone.
This wasn't the usual Iron Man.
"I object." Peter raised his hand immediately. "If there's even a one in ten thousand chance... this goes against our principles."
"Banner is resting in bed; he says he objects too. I vote in favor," Tony said.
Right, Banner would vote no. He knows too well what it feels like to be voted out as a monster, Peter thought.
"In favor," Strange said. "Don't forget, I used to be a surgeon."
"In favor." Tsukasa didn't look at the screen. "I said he's beyond saving. Give him a quick end."
"Same here," Takuya said.
"Kung Fu Kid?" Tony turned to Shang-Chi.
"In favor." Shang-Chi stood up.
"Shang-Chi?" Peter stood up too. "He has no ability to resist anymore."
He didn't understand. Shang-Chi had fled his family because he didn't want to be a killer, yet now faced with a kill protocol, he didn't hesitate.
"Peter, you don't understand," Shang-Chi said. "Before I went to San Francisco... my school teacher told us this story. In this book, there was a girl named Yingchun. She was... how do I put it? The most honest, well-behaved student. Then the teacher said she was married off to a bastard. That bastard spent a year torturing her to death like a kitten—and that bastard is this Wolf of Zhongshan."
Shang-Chi glanced at Takuya; the two exchanged a look only they understood.
"I'll say it again. This isn't about cutting losses. This vote is on behalf of my literature teacher."
"Only you left, Steve." Tony said. "I won't ask the locals over there—I know they want him dead."
Baoyu finally understood what Tony was doing.
They were really going to kill Sun Shaozu.
He said nothing, just staring intently at Tony in the hologram, his vision narrowing to a tunnel.
Peter looked at the Captain.
Cap will vote no.
We are not executioners. We can't vote to kill people like this. Cap would definitely say that.
For the next three minutes, the silence made Peter want to scream.
"...Abstain."
"Abstain?!"
Peter froze.
He never expected Steve to make such a choice.
"Fine. Counting Reed's vote in favor, that's eight to two to one. Protocol Hypnos engaged. He won't feel any pain—actually, forget it, he doesn't have pain receptors anymore." Tony turned to the console.
"Tony..."
Tony ignored Peter. He downed the rest of his drink in one go.
The glass was slammed onto the table, the ice sphere clinking sharply against the glass.
He pressed the button.
"For a silent girl... Goodbye, you Turtle Man."
Sun Shaozu's heart rate flatlined.
"Sister Bao, you're hurting me." Xiangyun pulled her hand back from Baochai's grip. Baochai's expression was almost catatonic.
No public parade. No formal execution.
Just like disposing of a broken appliance, he was voted to death.
Aside from Baoyu, who was still smiling, no one looked good.
Peter covered his mouth, feeling nauseous.
Takuya clenched his fists, nails digging into his flesh.
Kadoya Tsukasa turned away, looking at the sky, saying nothing.
—They didn't seem to think that vengeance was a happy thing.
"Good riddance! I'll go tell Lotus!"
Baoyu jumped up and rushed into the inner room of the Purple Water Caltrop Isle.
Xiangyun followed him, running just as fast.
Peter simply walked up to Steve.
"Cap... I thought you would vote no."
Steve sat with his head down, taking several deep breaths before finally looking up.
There was only exhaustion in those eyes.
"Yeah. I ran away. I was selfish."
"Ran away?"
"I only had one thought just now... If Bucky had suffered that kind of brainwashing and couldn't be cured... could I live with myself letting him stay alive? Just to make myself feel better?"
"Lotus, listen to me! That Wolf of Zhongshan was killed by Peter's friends! Shattered to dust, his soul utterly destroyed!"
Baoyu waited to see the light return to Lotus's eyes. He waited for her to cry out, to weep away the grievances of the past few years.
However, she just stared blankly at the withered banana leaves in the distance. The needle in her hand moved back and forth through the embroidery hoop, but the thread was a tangled mess belonging to no pattern.
"Soul scattered... that's good... The Young Miss (Yingchun) down below won't be afraid to see him again... She's timid, afraid of the dark, and even more afraid of him..."
Baoyu felt like he had punched a pile of cotton.
Whether she cried or laughed, there should have been some reaction to this news.
But there was nothing.
Baoyu looked at Xiangyun; the smile on her face vanished at this sight.
It shouldn't be like this. They couldn't understand. The great vengeance had been exacted.
Sun Shaozu was dead, yet the Purple Water Caltrop Isle was still cold, Lotus was still mad, and Second Sister Yingchun... still wasn't coming back.
"This is also PTSD. For her, fear has been carved into her bones. Whether Sun Shaozu dies or not, her world has already collapsed."
Steve walked in and sat beside them.
Seeing her savior, Lotus started to kneel, but Steve caught her and held her up.
"Captain, I don't understand..." Baoyu's eyes were red. "Why... why is it still like this even after killing him?"
"And that can't be called killing. Or rather, not just killing."
"Is there a difference? He's breathless, turned to ash," Xiangyun asked.
"The difference lies in the motive, and also in the process. The crimes Sun Shaozu committed would warrant the death penalty even in a modern American court. If it were on the battlefield, I wouldn't hesitate to shoot him."
Baoyu remained silent.
This didn't sound like the soldiers he usually saw.
"But we don't have the right to judge. We aren't judges." Steve paused. "Tony executed euthanasia on him."
The term was too strange for Baoyu.
"An-Le-Si (Peaceful-Happy-Death)? You made him die happily?"
"No, it means ending his life without pain. His brain was destroyed; living was only torture for him." Steve glanced at Lotus again. "Killing Sun Shaozu won't bring back her heart. But if we didn't do it, more people like her would go mad."
"Like... what the ancient books say? 'Stopping weapons with martial arts' (Yi Wu Zhi Ge)?" Xiangyun rested her chin in her hand.
"That's a difficult question to define legally, and even in our world, it's debated endlessly. But..." Steve sighed. "We gave him a quick end, not because he deserved mercy, but because we didn't want to lose our humanity."
Baoyu listened, half-understanding.
He didn't understand legal definitions, nor the bottom line of humanity.
But he understood one thing: for these heroes, taking a life was never a joyous act.
"Let's go back. Our meeting isn't over yet." Steve stood up.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The smell of gunpowder outside grew stronger.
Tony Stark didn't seem relaxed just because Sun Shaozu had been executed; he poured himself another drink.
"I can't stand Doom hiding in the dark, always making the first move. He's tucked himself into a blind spot of the Multiverse—no time, no space, even magic has a hard time reaching it. Strange's portals can't open there, and my satellites can't scan it. We need a hound. A hound that can run in non-existent time."
"You are definitely drunk," Strange said.
"I'm not." Tony pulled up an image.
It was a streak of scarlet lightning.
"Don't forget, when the Grandmaster wanted to play his little scavenger hunt last time, we weren't the only ones dragged in—The Flash. Only the Speed Force can crack open that turtle shell Doom's hiding in."
"The Flash?" Baoyu didn't understand. "Is he... the Thunder God (Lei Gong) in the sky?"
"No, the Thunder God you know corresponds to Thor on our side," Strange explained. "But we aren't in the same multiverse, Tony. The energy required is astronomical; we could both be torn apart."
"Theoretically impossible," Tony looked at Kadoya Tsukasa standing nearby. "Unless we have an unreasonable stowaway."
"Stowaway? How rude. Clearly, my passport has absolute immunity." Tsukasa placed his belt on the table.
"Deal." Tony immediately connected the data interface. "FRIDAY, send the cross-dimensional communication protocol to the Decade Driver. We're making a long-distance call."
Tsukasa inserted a card and pushed the driver handle with one hand.
The Aurora Curtain unfolded above the Grand View Garden. But this time, it wasn't a dull gray.
Mixed with Tony's data stream, it shimmered with a brilliant silver-blue light.
Space began to oscillate.
Baoyu stared blankly at the holographic image.
The background was no longer the surface of the Earth, but the deep, vast starry cosmos, and the curve of an azure planet.
It was the Watchtower, the Justice League's space station.
"That is... Beyond the Heavens (Tian-wai)?" Baochai murmured to herself.
And when that figure appeared, all the light in the Grand View Garden seemed to dim in comparison.
It was a man in a deep blue skinsuit, with a bright red "S" emblem on his chest.
Clark Kent. Superman.
Baoyu wanted to speak but stopped.
If Captain America showed him the peak of humanity, then the sculptured face before him made him instinctively think of God.
Not the clay Bodhisattvas in the temples, nor the Jade Emperor in books.
But a God among Men—possessing infinite power yet radiating immense gentleness.
Superman spoke.
"Long time no see, Steve. I see you're in trouble."
Tony put down his glass.
"Long story short, Big Blue. We've got a lunatic named Doctor Doom hiding in a dimensional rift with Infinity Stones, preparing to turn an innocent parallel world into his bio-experiment playground. I need Barry to go in and drag him out."
Superman didn't ask about the reward. He didn't ask about the risks. He didn't even ask where that world was.
He simply smiled.
That smile made both Baochai and Xiangyun feel a sense of stability and peace, different from the Captain's, but equally reassuring.
"We answer the call." (Yi bu rong ci)
Chapter Thirty
The comms had gone completely dark.
Xiangyun was still marveling at the vast starry sea she had just seen, while Baochai sat aside, composing herself.
Baoyu suddenly thought of something and offered a cup of tea to Doctor Strange.
"Master... I am just curious. This Doctor Doom... what kind of person is he? And why is he so fixated on this Capital and the Central Plains?"
Strange opened his eyes, gazing at his reflection in the tea, then looked at Baoyu.
"Victor Von Doom. He is a genius, and a madman. He is extremely arrogant, wearing an iron mask because he believes a tiny scar on his face is a flaw in perfection," Strange said. "Where we come from, he is the monarch of a nation... In Latveria, the people live in peace and prosperity. There is no hunger, no crime."
Baoyu was stunned. This doesn't sound like a bad person.
Strange sipped his tea slowly.
"He wants to conquer this world, and even all parallel universes, because he firmly believes—only under his absolute dictatorship can humanity survive the countless disasters of the future. In his eyes, freedom is chaos leading to extinction, and he is the sole savior."
"Sounds like a madman who wants to be an Emperor for the Ages." Baoyu pondered. "Then... what about those monsters?"
"For power—but not just for his rule. That is the origin of his life's pain and tragedy."
The story that followed was unheard of to Baoyu.
A boy born in a Romani camp. His mother, a witch skilled in magic, summoned the demon Mephisto to resist a tyrant's oppression.
However, she was tricked. The demon's contract was a lie. Her soul was imprisoned in the deepest layer of Hell, burned by hellfire for eternity.
Strange's voice sounded distant.
"Doom has only one ultimate goal. To gain enough power to storm into Hell, defeat that demon, and rescue his mother."
Jia Baoyu listened, dumbstruck.
The plot was all too familiar; it was one of the favorite stories sung in operas.
A young boy, to free his mother crushed under a mountain, practiced martial arts and finally split Mount Hua with an axe.
"Chen Xiang splitting the mountain to save his mother..."
But this is still wrong.
This is the pinnacle of Filial Piety (Xiao), a great virtue that moves Heaven and Earth.
Someone willing to make enemies of gods and buddhas to save his mother should be an upright, indomitable hero.
Yet... Doom has become a mad demon that even these heroes fear.
"That child named Chen Xiang... to save his mother, he didn't hesitate to sacrifice himself to challenge gods stronger than him, right?" Steve asked from the side.
"Exactly. Chen Xiang endured hardships and escaped death nine times—"
"But what about the cost?" Peter's voice was low. "If... if the collapsing Mount Hua buried the village at its foot alive, could he still swing that axe? If he did, is he still a hero?"
Baoyu was speechless.
Yes, they say Chen Xiang's piety moved Heaven, but no one ever asked if there were people living at the foot of Mount Hua.
"That is exactly what Doom is doing," Strange said. "Now you understand what kind of man he is."
Baoyu took a deep breath and drained the cold tea in his cup.
"I understand. Chen Xiang saving his mother was eliminating harm for the people and resisting Heaven's rules... but that Doctor, he wants to be the Heavenly Rule. Such a person, no matter how great his grievances, is... a demon."
Steve sighed.
"His soul is trapped forever in the night his mother died. Doom's piety is no longer pure... besides ending his mother's suffering, he wants to prove to everyone that he conquered the greatest failure of his life."
"He cannot accept that there is something he cannot do. He wants to save his mother, but also prove to Mephisto, to Reed Richards, and to the entire universe—that he, Victor Von Doom, is a flawless God."
________________________________________
Baoyu was about to speak when a violent wind suddenly whipped through the Grand View Garden, extinguishing all the candles nearby.
Immediately after, there was the sonic boom of tearing air.
A streak of golden-red lightning struck the courtyard without warning, blowing several tiles off the roof.
Two people appeared.
One was clad in a crimson bodysuit, arcs of golden electricity still crackling around him.
Barry Allen. The Flash.
"Guys, we need a doctor! And... blankets! Fast!"
This drew everyone's gaze to the second person in his arms.
In that instant, the blood of Jia Baoyu, Xue Baochai, and Shi Xiangyun nearly froze.
It was a woman.
But her condition was horrifying.
She was almost naked, covered only by a few strips of cloth slashed by blades. Her skin was covered in bruises from ropes and drag marks.
The most terrifying thing was her chest—a bleeding wound where a blade had just sliced the skin. She had been sped away before it could pierce her heart.
But that heroic air between her brows, that frown that remained even in unconsciousness...
"Third Sister?!"
It was Tanchun (Rose).
The capable, shrewd Third Miss Jia Tanchun, who had married thousands of miles away for the sake of her family.
"Musk! Hurry, get clothes, and brew ginger soup!"
Xue Baochai reacted fastest, tearing off her outer robe to wrap Tanchun's naked body.
"Wait." Peter stopped her, spraying a bit of web fluid on Tanchun's chest. "This has antiseptic properties. Don't tear it off; let it disinfect first and keep the wound closed."
"Third Girl... how did you end up like this..."
Baochai's voice trembled as she hugged Tanchun's cold body tightly, tears falling uncontrollably.
"Listen, the situation is worse than Tony predicted." Barry regulated his breathing. "I scanned the entire time stream with the Speed Force and followed Doom's energy signature to the border thousands of miles away—what you call the Barbarian Lands (Fan-bang)."
"Doom is cultivating proxies?" Steve clenched his jaw.
Barry took two deep breaths.
"That place is no longer a human military camp. That tribal chieftain has gone mad. Doom gave him Shocker tech and told him it was a gift from the gods. Tens of thousands of soldiers have been implanted with mechanical skeletons; their warhorses replaced with armored treads. They are massing, and their target is..."
"Here." Tsukasa sneered.
"Then Tanchun..." Peter looked at the woman in Baochai's arms.
"I just followed Tony's dimensional coordinates here. You know her? She was that madman's Consort."
Barry's brow furrowed in anger.
"This lady... she was truly brave. I heard the soldiers say she tried to stop the chieftain. She told him this would bring destruction, told him not to go to war with the Central Plains. But that chieftain called her a spy, a witch sent by her homeland to obstruct the 'divine miracle.' He said... he was going to dig out her heart to sacrifice to his cyborg army before they marched."
Dig out her heart...
Baoyu felt the world spin and go dark.
That was the punishment suffered by Bi Gan in The Investiture of the Gods.
His brilliant, high-minded Third Sister had sacrificed everything to marry far away to save her family and ensure peace between two nations.
In the end, not only did it fail to bring peace, but she was nearly mutilated by the man she shared a bed with.
He no longer sympathized with Doom. Now, he only wanted to tear that demon apart.
"If I had been a microsecond later... her heart wouldn't be in her chest anymore." Barry wiped away cold sweat.
Just then, Tanchun in Baochai's arms began to convulse violently.
It was a smile of misery.
The ashen despair of impending death.
"Third Sister! Don't be afraid! It's us!"
Baoyu threw himself forward, grabbing Tanchun's flailing hand, weeping like rain.
"I'm your Second Brother! You're home! You're back in the Grand View Garden!"
Tanchun's eyes finally focused for a moment.
Seeing the familiar yet strange face, then looking at Baochai holding her, and finally scanning the surrounding ruins.
This is home.
Even though it's a ruin, it's home.
"Second Brother..."
Her purple lips trembled, and two lines of clear tears slid down her mud-stained cheeks.
She had been such a strong person, daring to slap a rude servant even when the house was being raided.
But now, she was just a wronged child, curling up in Baochai's arms and wailing aloud.
Steve Rogers stood to the side, slowly turning to face the North.
"He wants to use fear and war to turn this land into scorched earth—situation escalated. This isn't counter-terrorism anymore. This is a War of National Defense."
Chapter Thirty-One
After changing into clean clothes and drinking two bowls of ginger soup, color finally returned to Tanchun's face.
Leaning back on the daybed, looking at the bare walls of the Autumn Freshness Study, she could only shake her head with tears in her eyes.
During her time in the Foreign Kingdom (Fan-bang), she had dreamed of this.
She dreamed that Sister Feng had been capable enough to stop the Jia family's decline.
She dreamed that her Second Brother and Sister Lin, that pair of fated lovers, had finally tied the knot.
She wondered if Fourth Sister's cold temperament had softened after marriage.
But now... the family was broken, people were dead. Parents, brothers, sisters—nothing remained.
"If I hadn't died... Second Brother, Sister Bao, Sister Yun... let's run South. That Iron-Faced Warlock... he isn't human. Moving mountains and filling seas, turning stone into gold—it's all as easy as lifting a hand for him."
Tanchun's tears fell again.
"We... have lost."
"What kind of defeatist talk is that? Third Sister, you haven't seen who these Big Brothers outside are!" Xiangyun grabbed Tanchun's shoulders.
"Girl Yun, don't shake her to pieces," Baochai interjected. "But it's not a lie. The Captain and his team came specifically to deal with that man. We... are not just waiting for the slaughter."
Tanchun froze.
She didn't know when her brother had made such a group of eccentric friends, but she caught a key piece of information.
That Iron-Faced Man, revered as a guest of honor by the Chieftain, might just be a fugitive himself.
Just then, Steve walked in, pulled up a stool, and sat opposite Tanchun.
"Child, I know it's cruel to recall these things now, but I hope you can tell me what happened in the Foreign Kingdom. How did that Chieftain change? And that Iron-Faced Man—what did he promise?"
Tanchun took a deep breath and wrapped the blanket tighter around herself.
Although she didn't know who this blond, blue-eyed foreigner was, the aura of righteousness around him made her feel safe.
"Just a few months ago." Though she had drunk plenty of water, Tanchun's voice was still raspy. "An uninvited guest arrived in the Kingdom. No one knew what the face behind the iron mask looked like. The Chieftain honored him as... the Divine Preceptor (Shen-shi)."
"Doom seems to like that title," Steve said. "I heard you say he could turn stone into gold. I believe you, because we all know him."
Seeing Steve's unquestioning attitude, Tanchun's tone became much calmer.
"That man uses Sorcery (Yao-fa). He can regenerate severed limbs and bring withered trees back to spring. But his greatest skill is bewitching hearts. He said... he could turn them into immortal Gods of War."
Steve's fist clenched.
"So... they volunteered?"
Tanchun shuddered.
"More than volunteered. They view dying in battle as glory. In their eyes, that Warlock is helping them achieve Sanctification of the Flesh. Even becoming beasts, they see it as a supreme honor... a reward from the spirits of the grassland."
"So the Chieftain tore up the armistice." Steve took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
The hardest wars weren't against forced slaves, but against fanatical believers.
Doctor Doom didn't need to brainwash them; he just handed them the sharpest knife, and these monsters severed their own humanity.
"Let's put geopolitics aside. I want to hear how his sorcery works." Strange entered the room as well.
"That Iron-Faced Warlock... Doom, never uses doors, nor does he ride horses." Tanchun took a sip of hot tea to steady her breathing. "Every time he appears or vanishes, a strange blue mist rises around him. He just steps into it and is gone without a trace."
"Space Stone." Strange nodded.
"There's more." Tanchun bit her lip. "The Kingdom had a fierce general. Once, after a great victory, he begged Doom to grant him the power of the Wolf God..."
She raised her right hand and clenched her fist in the air.
"Doom just did this... and the wolf totem tattoo on the general's body seemed to come alive... Flesh and skin turned inside out, bones cracked loudly. In the blink of an eye, he turned into a wolf-headed monster over ten feet tall, invulnerable to blades and spears."
"No operating table? No recovery period?" Peter, standing at the door, dropped his jaw. "That violates the laws of biology!"
"Shocker tech definitely requires surgery." Steve's face was grim. "But if you add the Reality Stone... you skip the process and define the result directly."
"Still doesn't add up." Peter cupped his chin. "How can a human body withstand two Infinity Stones?"
"So he likely modified himself with Shocker tech first." Steve opened his comms. "Tony, you heard all that."
________________________________________
In the hologram, Tony Stark slammed his coffee mug onto the desk.
"We have zero chance of winning with our current firepower. He can use the Reality Stone to turn all our defenses into pizza. We need Symmetric Warfare."
Tony stood up and took a deep breath.
"FRIDAY, contact Carol. Tell her to forget about the Kree Empire's nonsense. Go to Xandar immediately. Tell the Nova Corps that Earth needs to borrow the Power Stone. The Avengers assess this as a Universal-Level Threat."
Then, Tony tapped his forehead.
"The Mind Stone on Vision's head can resist Doom's mind control and interfere with his reality-warping thoughts. Plus that thing hanging around your neck, Wizard."
"The Time Stone," Strange said. "It is indeed our only insurance."
"Good." Tony leaned both hands on the table, the hologram projecting the energy signatures of five stones.
Red, Blue, Purple, Yellow, Green interlaced, radiating a devastating brilliance.
"Power, Mind, and Time... versus Space and Reality. If we win, we go home. If we lose... not even dust will remain of this dimension."
The sky had gradually darkened.
The Avengers were still discussing tactics when Baoyu suddenly remembered something.
Back then, Peter had told him there were six Infinity Stones.
But in the meeting just now, no one had mentioned what the sixth one was.
He looked at Strange and asked the question.
"What about the last one? Where is it? Will Doom try to take it?"
The air in the room suddenly solidified.
The Avengers, who had been debating strategies, all froze.
Strange sighed and put down his teacup.
"The last one is called the Soul Stone. It isn't in anyone's hands. Even a madman like Doom likely can't get it."
The Sorcerer Supreme's voice was dry.
"It is on Vormir, the most desolate corner of the universe. It has a twisted consciousness, and a... deeply cruel rule of transaction."
"What rule?" Baochai couldn't help but look over.
Strange looked at the mortal couple and sighed.
"A soul for a soul. To obtain the Soul Stone, you must stand on the altar and push your true love off the cliff, trading their life for that stone."
Baoyu felt cold all over.
Sacrificing one's true love with one's own hands.
This wasn't a divine artifact; it was a man-eating monster.
"That's why we don't go for it," Steve said in a low voice. "We can't pay that price. Or rather, we aren't willing to."
"Neither is Doom," Strange sneered. "That arrogant bastard. He might love his mother, but her soul is in Hell. Aside from her, the only thing he loves is his own reflection in the mirror. He has nothing to sacrifice."
Baoyu slumped into his chair like a deflated ball.
Just a moment ago, he had fantasized about gathering all six stones to create a miracle. Now, a chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his skull.
He touched the Psychic Jade hanging around his neck.
This jade might be useless, unable to let him fly or burrow, but at least... it never asked him to kill anyone. It never asked him to trade another's life for his own future.
"So... this is what they call a 'price'."
Baoyu gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
"If this is what it takes to be an Immortal, I'd rather not be one."
________________________________________
Xue Baochai, sitting to the side, hadn't spoken a word.
She listened quietly, her hands still busy mending a skirt for Tanchun.
Her stitches were fine and dense, her movements unhurried.
But when she heard the words "sacrifice your true love," the tip of her needle paused in mid-air for half a second.
She raised her head and glanced at her husband.
Baoyu was gritting his teeth, breathing heavily.
Baochai lowered her eyelids slightly, the corner of her mouth lifting in a faint, exceedingly bitter smile.
He couldn't do it, Baochai told herself.
This "Prince of Green Delights," who sheds tears over fallen flowers and apologizes to maids when they are wronged... how could he possibly push his lover off a cliff for power or hegemony?
His heart is too soft. Soft as the paste of Begonia flowers in the garden.
But...
A sharp pain pricked her fingertip. A bead of blood fell onto the cloth.
Even if his nature truly changed.
Even if he hardened his heart to take that step for the sake of saving the world...
The person being led to that cliff would not be her.
She had always known.
Baochai looked up, her gaze piercing through the window lattice, toward the pitch-black bamboo forest of the Bamboo Lodge.
There lies a lonely soul.
There lies his lifetime of tears and obsession.
"Sister?" Baoyu noticed Baochai's silence.
"It's nothing. I was just listening so intently I slipped with the needle," Baochai smiled.
"I was just thinking, it is fortunate we are all common mortals. A test of 'True Love' like that... I fear in this lifetime, neither of us is qualified to even touch it."
Chapter Thirty-Two
Two days had passed, and the woman named Carol still hadn't arrived.
Baoyu was going mad. Every time he thought of the price of the Soul Stone, his head felt like it was splitting open.
He had to go out and see something, anything.
The streets were still bustling with people; no one believed a catastrophe was imminent.
A mansion hung up white funeral banners. The sound of intermittent mourning music drifted out.
A funeral procession dressed in plain white mourning clothes slowly turned the corner.
On the fluttering white banner, a large character "DIAN" (In Memoriam) was strikingly harsh to the eyes.
Baoyu's heart gave a violent lurch.
Birth, aging, sickness, and death were common, but at this juncture of family ruin and death, any death felt like an omen.
Neighbors watching the scene were cracking melon seeds and chatting.
"Oh my, Widow Li had a hard life. She endured for a lifetime, finally saw her son pass the exams and fill a vacancy at the border. She was about to be the mother of an official."
"Official? More like a ghost! I heard Jia Lan had only been at his post a few days before the Tartars attacked."
Jia Lan.
Baoyu felt all his internal organs tighten.
That meant... his sister-in-law Li Wan was dead.
"Auntie, dare I ask... is this funeral for... for Lady Li of the Rongguo Mansion, wife of the late Jia Zhu?"
He couldn't control his legs and moved closer to ask.
"Who else could it be? You know her, young master?" The auntie looked indifferent.
"How... how could this be?" He muttered to himself. "I heard that since her father was the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, the mother and son were not implicated..."
"They weren't implicated by law, but human hearts..."
The auntie sighed, as if speaking to Baoyu, yet also talking to herself.
"When that great disaster struck the Jia family, so many suffered. Take Qiaojie, such a good girl, sold into a fire pit by her heartless uncle Wang Ren. Plenty of people saw it, but who dared to stick their neck out? Lady Li was a daughter-in-law of the Jia family, too. If she had spoken up, or used some of her private savings to help, maybe... Sigh, but she chose to protect herself and watched helplessly as the girl was taken away."
Yes, she was afraid.
She feared being tainted by the Jia family's crimes, feared affecting her son Jia Lan's future.
In the past, Baoyu would have hated her to death.
But now, standing in the cold wind, watching the miserable white banners, that hatred scattered like smoke.
He remembered what Captain America said—Fear is a contagious disease.
Not everyone had Granny Liu's courage to risk everything.
Not everyone could straighten their spine before an Emperor like Steve.
Li Wan was just a mother trying to protect her only flesh and blood.
He decided to change the subject.
"You said... the Tartars attacked?"
A man in his forties leaned in.
"I heard it too! It's wicked! They say those barbarian soldiers aren't human at all—they are tigers and wolves walking upright! Jia Lan didn't even leave a whole corpse. They say... he was eaten alive by those beasts, bones chewed to splinters! Widow Li heard the news, couldn't catch her breath, and died on the spot!"
An army of tigers and wolves... literally tigers and wolves.
Baoyu turned and ran back toward the Grand View Garden.
If Jia Lan really encountered those monsters, it meant the cyborg army had begun to eat people.
Passing a teahouse, he heard another wave of exclamations.
"Did you hear? Yesterday, a god manifested at the front lines!"
"How could I not hear? They say a seven-colored rainbow suddenly bridged the sky! A Thunder God wielding a great hammer rode the lightning down!"
"Oh my, isn't that the heavenly soldiers coming to save us?"
"Save my ass!" The speaker spat viciously. "That Thunder God summoned rolling thunder to strike the Barbarian King dead. But that Iron-Faced State Preceptor... that demon, just raised a hand, and the thunder was gone!"
"There was also a righteous warrior with a green mask and fangs who tried to assassinate the demon in the chaos. In the end... heard he was beaten until he vomited blood, and was only saved by being pulled back by that rainbow!"
"Even Grandpa Thunder God couldn't beat that demon... we are truly doomed!"
Thunder God.
Baoyu's lungs felt torn by the cold air. It sounded more and more absurd.
Rumors, definitely rumors.
Is it?
It has to be.
Must be—
All hope evaporated when he returned to the Garden.
The holographic projection was on.
On the other end, it wasn't the conference room of Avengers Tower, but a medical bay.
A blond giant lay in a regeneration tank.
His rugged face was full of defeat, his chest wrapped in thick bandages, half his silver armor shattered.
And the person next to him, Baoyu recognized—Kazami Shiro (Kamen Rider V3).
The cyborg armor on his chest was completely shattered, revealing sizzling circuits and mangled flesh inside.
"That is Thor." Steve's face was frosty. "King of Asgard, God of Thunder."
Baoyu's breathing nearly stopped.
God of Thunder.
The street rumors were all true.
"Sorry, Cap." Thor spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm. "I blew it."
"Not your fault, Thor." Steve clenched his fist. "We underestimated Doom's mastery of the Stones."
Tony Stark's voice was gritted.
"It wasn't a loss; it was a massacre. The plan was perfect. Thor descends as a god to create shock and awe, scaring those superstitious barbarian soldiers. Shiro uses his stealth to decapitate the leadership."
Thor took two large gulps of alcohol, staring at the hammer he had set aside.
"He used the Reality Stone. He turned my lightning—enough to level a mountain—into snakes made of magical energy. Then he turned the ground under Shiro into a swamp, leaving him no leverage, and sliced him open with a portal."
"If Heimdall hadn't forced open the Bifrost, I'd be paying pensions to Asgard right now." Tony sighed.
Dead silence.
In the Grand View Garden, even the wind seemed to stop.
"My nephew died." Baoyu suddenly spoke, his voice low, as if talking to himself.
"I was on the street just now... I heard it. Jia Lan was at the border. He was... eaten by that army of tigers and wolves."
"Brother Lan?!"
The scream came from Tanchun.
She still remembered the child who used to toddle after her calling "Third Auntie."
Now, he was gone too.
Baoyu was trembling.
"Brother Lan is dead... Captain, Peter, can we still win?"
Steve turned to face everyone.
"We aren't waiting for Carol."
"A god lost, doesn't mean we will lose. We aren't going there to scare them, nor to assassinate them. We are going to... fight for our lives. We go to the border now. Not one step into the interior!"
"Our hand isn't strong enough for that." Tony's voice suddenly became brisk. "We're facing a regimented biochemical army plus Doom with two Infinity Stones. Just us? We'll die of exhaustion before stopping tens of thousands."
"So?" Steve asked.
"So, I agree with you—screw spatial stability. That aerial fortress prepared for alien invasions, equipped with independent Arc Reactors, carrying the latest Quinjets and heavy orbital cannons—we're bringing the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier over."
Tony typed furiously.
"I don't care if that Old One-Eye (Nick Fury) gives permission. I'm hacking it myself. If Doom wants to play wolf-pack tactics, I'll rain missiles on him."
The green light on Strange's chest finally went out.
"Correct. If Fury has a problem, let him come to the Grand View Garden to find us. I just simulated the future. Once Doom validates the feasibility of 'Infinity Stones + Shocker Army,' he will immediately lead this undead legion back to Earth-616, or even invade other multiverses."
Baoyu understood completely.
This wasn't just defending the border; the heroes were defending their own homes.
Just then, a new signal cut into the comms channel.
No image, only a black Bat Symbol, and a voice that seemed to come from the depths of the night.
"Superman and Flash have briefed me. Interdimensional Nazi remnants, plus Infinity Stones threatening the multiverse."
"The Justice League... needs to increase intervention depth."
________________________________________
Chapter Thirty-Three
In the council hall of the Prince of Beijing's Mansion, the atmosphere was one of gloom and despair.
Not only Prince Shuirong, but the surviving descendants of the Four Kings and Eight Dukes were all gathered.
War reports from the border flew in like snowflakes, each one stained with blood: Three lines of defense breached. Fifty thousand troops routed. That army of tigers and wolves ate no grain; they fed only on living flesh.
"We must deploy more troops! Send in the Shenji Camp (Divine Machine Battalion)!" Niu Qing, the Duke of Zhenguo, slammed the table and roared. "I refuse to believe our iron cavalry can't stop a bunch of barbarian savages!"
"You can't."
Doctor Strange pushed the doors open, his Cloak of Levitation billowing behind him without wind.
Shang-Chi stood beside him. The playfulness was gone from his face.
"Yesterday, you saw the celestial phenomenon. The Thunder God mentioned in the reports personally descended to intercept them. And the result? Gentlemen, that was our guy. A legitimate General of the Thunder Department. Even he was beaten half to death by that Iron-Faced Demon King and had to be carried back to the heavens—do you really think your Shenji Camp is tougher than the God of Thunder?"
Strange simply sneered.
"You aren't facing savages. You are facing killing machines armed with Infinity Stones and biochemical technology by a madman who is thousands of years ahead of your time."
This time, Shang-Chi didn't need to translate.
They didn't need to understand the terms; the casualty reports explained everything.
"So, this isn't a suggestion. Evacuate the garrison and the civilians. We will handle him." Shang-Chi vibrated the Ten Rings on his arms, sending a tremor that made the Dukes shudder.
________________________________________
Meanwhile, an Imperial Decree arrived at the Grand View Garden.
This time, the eunuch delivering the decree wore a smile full of fawning ingratiation, followed by a long train of bearers carrying gifts.
"By the Will of Heaven, the Emperor decrees..."
"...In recognition of the loyalty of the Jia clan, and Jia Lan's sacrifice for the country, he is posthumously awarded the title of Reader-in-Waiting at the Hanlin Academy, with the honorific 'Wenlie' (Literary Martyr). His mother, Lady Li, taught her son well and is posthumously honored as a Lady of the First Rank..."
"...All crimes of the Jia family are pardoned. Confiscated properties are to be returned. Jia Baoyu is to inherit the title of Duke of Rongguo, awarded ten thousand taels of gold to repair the Rongguo and Ningguo Mansions. Respect this!"
The eunuch smiled, rolling up the scroll.
"Master Bao the Second... no, Lord Duke, please accept the decree? This is a grace as vast as the heavens! Our Emperor is sage and benevolent; he remembers old sentiments after all. Look, the title is back, the property is returned. The revival of the Jia clan is in sight!"
But Baoyu only felt cold.
Bone-chilling cold.
This was what he and his entire family had hoped for half their lives.
Glory, wealth, high office, family resurgence.
For this, Eldest Sister died in the palace.
Second Sister died in the Sun family.
Third Sister was married off to a barbarian land and nearly had her heart dug out.
Eldest Sister-in-law and Lan-er, the orphan and widow, burned their lifeblood away and ended up with no corpses to bury.
And now, it was back.
Like a clumsy joke, floating down lightly after everyone was dead.
He didn't want to waste words with the eunuch. He thanked the Emperor, accepted the decree, gave a tip, and collapsed into a chair, drained of all strength.
The scroll was tossed carelessly aside.
He had no interest in it anymore.
He used to think losing these things was the sky falling. Now that he had them back, he realized that in the face of true death, they were less than dust.
________________________________________
Steve Rogers was packing his gear.
Baoyu walked over, his steps firm.
"Captain. You are going to the border, right? I'm going too."
Steve stopped what he was doing.
"Give me a reason. That isn't the battlefield you imagine. There is no romance of poetry there."
In that moment, Steve had already decided to take Baoyu, regardless of the reason.
Because the boy had the eyes of a soldier now.
"Captain, I don't seek to kill the enemy, and I know I don't have the skill. But... I am Jia Lan's uncle. He died for this family, and in the end, not even his body was recovered. At the very least, I want to go to the place where he fell and burn a piece of paper for him."
"Good." Steve nodded.
"Keep up, Duke of Rongguo."
________________________________________
The Golden Throne Hall.
A deathly silence reigned.
The most majestic place in the realm was now shrouded in the panic of a dying nation.
Jia Tanchun knelt beneath the imperial steps. She had changed into a thorn hairpin and cloth skirt, yet the rough attire could not conceal the chilling aura of someone who had crawled out from a pile of corpses.
"You mean to say..." The Emperor's voice was dry, his fingers unconsciously gripping the dragon heads on his armrests. "That Barbarian King tore up the treaty not for land, nor for gold and silver?"
"Replying to Your Majesty." Tanchun's voice was clear, echoing through the great hall. "The Barbarian King is merely a puppet. The true mastermind is the Iron-Faced Warlock—Doctor Doom."
The Emperor shifted uneasily.
"Since he is a warlock, he seeks nothing more than alchemy, Daoist immortality, or glory and wealth. We shall appoint him as the National Teacher, build him the grandest Daoist temple, grant him..."
"He does not want it."
Tanchun interrupted the Emperor. This was great disrespect, yet no one dared to scold her.
"Gold, silver, and jewels are but dust in his eyes. Royal power and wealth are jokes to him."
Tanchun raised her head, looking directly at the monarch who ruled the world yet knew nothing of the imminent apocalypse.
"This Guilty Woman (Zui-nv) once heard Doom muttering to the void in the dead of night. He has only one obsession—his mother is imprisoned in the deepest level of Hell, tortured by demons. He swore to obtain power surpassing the gods, to raze Hell to the ground, and bring his mother's soul back to the human world."
The Emperor froze. The civil and military officials froze.
They had imagined countless reasons: ambition, revenge, greed. But they had never imagined this.
A demon capable of destroying heaven and earth, unleashing a storm of blood... all for the sake of Filial Piety.
"This... this is sheer madness!" An old minister trembled as he accused. "The dead cannot come back to life; this is the Decree of Heaven! He dares to defy the Heavens?"
"He intends to do exactly that." Tanchun sneered. "And he holds the power to do so."
The Emperor's face turned pale as a sheet.
If the enemy wanted money, the treasury had it. If the enemy wanted land, the borders could be ceded.
But the enemy wanted to save someone from Hell. He had finally encountered a madman who could not be bought by any means.
This meant no retreat. No negotiation.
Either death, or...
"Your Majesty." Prince Shuirong kowtowed heavily, his head hitting the floor with a thud.
"When the sky falls, mortals cannot repair it. The only one who can mend the heavens is Nuwa. Your servant implores Your Majesty to entrust the war at the border entirely to that group... the Avengers. Whatever they ask for, whatever they do... let the Court stay out of it."
"Besides them, no one can stop a monster who has gone mad to save his mother," Tanchun added.
The Emperor looked at the subjects kneeling on the floor, then at Tanchun, whose expression was sorrowful yet resolute.
After a long time, a long sigh echoed through the hall.
"Permission... granted." (Zhun Zou)
Takuya Yamashiro was adjusting his Spider Bracelet to ensure Leopardon could be summoned without a hitch.
Meanwhile, in the pavilion, Shang-Chi finished his final set of forms.
"It's a total mess."
Takuya stopped his hands, looking at Captain America in the distance draping a coat over Tanchun, and then at Tsukasa and Peter chatting with Baoyu.
"According to the translation I read in Japan, by this point, the Jia clan should have scattered, Baoyu should have become a monk, ending in a 'white void, desolate and clean.' But now? Space battleships, Infinity Stones, Superheroes... The plot has gone so off the rails that the original author is probably doing backflips in his grave. But..." Takuya grinned. "It's thrilling."
"Yeah, thrilling." Shang-Chi caught the returning Gold Ring, sighed, and then couldn't help but laugh. "Honestly, Takuya, my feelings are complicated right now—I've never wished my dad was still alive as much as I do now."
"Huh?"
"Think about it. That Old Antique lived for over a thousand years. He definitely visited Beijing during the Qing Dynasty. Maybe he even drank in some tavern there. What if... I mean, just what if... in those thousand years, he actually met Cao Xueqin?"
"...It seems possible." Takuya paused.
"Right?" Shang-Chi stretched his arms. "Imagine the scene: My dad, wearing the Ten Rings and long robes, passing by the Western Hills, seeing a destitute scholar writing a book. Maybe he even mocked the guy: 'What's the use of writing these sentimental love stories? Why not come with me and conquer the world?'"
Shang-Chi couldn't hold back his laughter anymore.
"If he were alive, I could ask him: 'Hey, Dad, if you had casually sponsored Mr. Cao back then, or helped him save the manuscripts after Chapter 80... would we even have to fight this battle today?'"
Takuya chuckled too.
"But if your dad had intervened, Dream of the Red Chamber might have turned into a Wuxia novel."
"Pity. He didn't understand literature; he only understood conquest. So he missed the greatest novel in Chinese history, and now I have to be here fighting monsters for its protagonists."
The Ten Rings glowed with golden light on Shang-Chi's arms.
"But it doesn't matter. The ending he missed, I'll patch it up for him."
________________________________________
Chapter Thirty-Four
No carriages, no long trek.
Kadoya Tsukasa simply slid open an Aurora Curtain as casually as opening a door to his backyard.
"That over there is Yumen Pass." Tsukasa stepped aside and gestured for them to enter. "Though I suggest you brace yourselves. The air quality isn't exactly great."
Jia Baoyu took a deep breath, supporting Tanchun, who had just recovered. Behind them followed the pale-faced Baochai and Xiangyun.
They stepped through the curtain of light.
Instantly, the stench of rotting corpses and the acrid smell of burning flesh assaulted their nostrils and coated their lungs.
"Urgh—!"
Almost the moment her feet touched the ground, Shi Xiangyun bent over and vomited violently.
Xue Baochai followed suit.
Even Tanchun, who had seen the barbarian war camps, turned deathly pale, clapping a hand over her mouth and nose as her stomach churned.
This was not the battlefield of their imagination.
No flags blotting out the sun, no thunderous war drums.
No romantic images of "wrapping the corpse in horsehide" or "lying drunk on the battlefield."
There was only a deathly silence, and a landscape that resembled an Asura Hell.
The ground was no longer the color of yellow earth, but a sticky, dark blackish-red.
It was the color of countless layers of blood drying, then being covered by fresh blood, soaked over and over again.
Baoyu tried to touch the ground, but recoiled as if shocked.
He was terrified that his fingertips might touch Jia Lan's blood.
He couldn't hold it back either. Leaning against a half-burnt dead tree, he emptied the contents of his stomach.
"I really didn't want to come back to a meat grinder like Iwo Jima."
Steve didn't vomit, but his voice held only exhaustion.
Peter Parker, even with his mask on, had activated air filtration. The horror here was suffocating for the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
But just then, his spider-sense gave a violent jolt.
Not danger.
But a... trembling fluctuation of energy.
"Guys! Look at the sky!"
Baoyu fought back the nausea and followed Peter's pointing finger.
In the gray, gloomy sky, countless golden sparks suddenly lit up.
The sparks rotated and expanded, finally connecting to form a massive golden ring kilometers in diameter.
It was a super-sized portal cast by the combined efforts of the mages of Kamar-Taj.
The roar of turbine engines blew away the smoke and stench of the battlefield.
Then came a steel hull as majestic as a mountain range, flashing with countless red and blue signal lights, and bearing the prominent eagle logo.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. Descent.
It was too big.
The ruins of Yumen Pass looked like a child's building blocks in front of it.
"That... that is..." Tanchun wiped her mouth, staring blankly at the leviathan that blocked out the sky. "Is that... the Celestial Court?"
"No." Tony Stark's voice, flippant as ever, came through the comms. "That's our firepower platform."
"Let's go." Tsukasa snapped one last photo. "No need to stand in this slaughterhouse any longer."
________________________________________
"Third Sister, you were just at the Golden Throne Hall yesterday. Is it as big as this place?"
"A bit bigger, but... the view here is far superior."
Entering the bridge command center, Xiangyun couldn't help but ask Tanchun.
Outside the massive floor-to-ceiling glass windows lay a rolling sea of clouds, and below them, Yumen Pass looked as small as a chessboard.
Standing behind Peter, Baoyu felt like he didn't have enough eyes to take it all in.
Aside from S.H.I.E.L.D. agents of all genders and races bustling about, the place was filled with flashing screens, incomprehensible instruments, and... a group of eccentrics with vastly different styles.
A man with a yellow gem embedded in his forehead was hovering in mid-air.
Beside him stood a woman in a red dress with scarlet hair. Their hands were tightly clasped, and faint red glimmers of Chaos Magic flowed around them.
The Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff. And Vision.
Is that... a Red-faced Arhat and his Celestial Consort? Baochai speculated inwardly.
In the corner, a bald elderly man sat in a wheelchair, eyes closed in rest.
He looked kind and benevolent, carrying no weapons, appearing almost frail.
Yet, for some reason, Baoyu felt as if his thoughts were laid bare the moment he glanced at the man, causing him to lower his head in fright.
Charles Xavier. Professor X.
"And this is Dr. Bruce Banner."
Peter Parker led Baoyu and the others to a middle-aged man examining a data screen.
The man turned around, took off his glasses, and offered a gentle smile so shy it bordered on awkward.
He wore a slightly loose suit, his hair greying, a fountain pen in his hand.
By any measure, he looked like an honest scholar doing research in the Imperial Academy.
Baoyu was thoroughly confused.
This is the man... who pounded Sun Shaozu into a paste of meat?
"H-hello..." Baoyu stammered a bow. "I have... heard much of your great name."
Dr. Banner scratched his head, his smile growing even more awkward.
He clearly wasn't good at dealing with looks of adoration—or terror.
"Uh, how should I put it..." Banner sighed. "Just treat it as... well, let's say I did it. I spent a lot of time fixing the floor afterward."
Baoyu swallowed hard.
He suddenly felt that in this group, the kinder someone looked, the less they should be provoked.
Just then, the pneumatic airlock of the command deck hissed open.
If the room had been in a state of busy preparation before, now, the air seemed to freeze.
Two men walked in.
One was Superman, whom they had seen on the comms.
The other...
A black cape hung behind him like bat wings. He wore a cowl that exposed only his chin. He moved without a sound, blending perfectly with the shadows.
The Dark Knight of Gotham. Bruce Wayne. Batman.
"You're just in time. The party's just started—" Tony turned around. "Honestly, Old Bat, that idea of yours is the rottenest plan I've ever wanted to use in my life. But we brought Charles anyway."
"I hope we don't have to use that contingency." Batman was expressionless. "Best case scenario: Clark and the three Stones you have are enough to subdue Doom."
Baoyu listened with a pounding heart.
He didn't know what capability that wheelchair-bound elder possessed to be the Avengers' trump card.
Batman looked at Superman.
"Clark, you are the main assault. Thor is injured, and Carol is still hundreds of light-years away. You are the only one right now who can physically suppress Doom in terms of strength and speed."
"I'll hold him off." Superman nodded. "Until Strange and Vision find an opening to strip the Stones."
Chapter Thirty-Five
Tony was tuning the energy core, which was overloaded from the interdimensional transport. Strange was drawing defensive sigils by the window. Batman was simulating battle scenarios at the tactical table over and over again.
Everyone had something to do—except Jia Baoyu.
The newly appointed Duke of Rongguo looked like a mere ornament here.
He knew nothing of technology, nor magic, and he lacked the muscles to charge into battle.
"I... what can we do?" Baoyu looked at Steve, trusting the Captain would know his purpose.
The result was that he was now holding an agate chess piece, listening to Professor X explain chess openings.
"Chat with Professor Charles. That is your mission," Steve had said.
"Replying to the Teacher... I only know how to play Go (Weiqi). I have never learned this Western Chess." Baoyu bowed respectfully.
"It doesn't matter. I'll teach you. I am just a teacher, after all." Charles pointed to the chair opposite him. "Sit."
Charles explained slowly. Rooks, Knights, Bishops, and Queens.
An old man and a young man, on the eve of an explosive war, played a slow, leisurely game.
"This game... is somewhat like our Xiangqi (Chinese Chess)," Baoyu moved a pawn casually. "But it is strange that this lowly soldier (pawn) can transform (promote) into a Queen."
"Isn't life the same?" Charles smiled. "Even a pawn that has crossed the river, as long as it keeps moving forward, can change the entire tide of the battle with its own body."
Charles didn't talk about the impending war. He talked about the Grand View Garden.
At first, Baoyu didn't dare to speak; the mere mention of it made his heart ache.
But Charles was like a deep, bottomless lake, accepting all his outpourings.
Slowly, Baoyu began to talk.
He spoke of composing poetry at the Snowy Rushes Retreat.
He spoke of the tears when Daiyu buried the flowers.
He spoke of the afternoon they read The Western Wing together.
Baoyu was surprised to find that he wasn't crying.
In the past, recalling these memories brought only the desolation of "the people are gone, the tower is empty."
But now, under Charles's guidance, those images became vivid and bright again.
"She won't come back."
Baoyu placed his piece on the board. His voice was soft, but steady.
"But I remember her. I remember that tree of Begonia flowers, I remember the wind of that day, I remember the way she smiled."
"That is enough." Charles nodded gently, tapping his own temple. "Those beautiful things exist not to make you feel pain after losing them. They exist to prove that even in this cruel world, we truly lived, loved, and laughed."
Baoyu sat frozen.
Sister Lin wasn't coming back.
But that didn't mean the poems in the Bamboo Lodge were fake. It didn't mean the afternoon reading The Western Wing was fake.
"True death is being forgotten." Charles smiled. "As long as you remember how the Begonia flowers bloomed that year, the Grand View Garden is never truly destroyed."
Baoyu took a deep breath. He felt the heavy stone that had blocked his chest for years being gently lifted away by the old man's words.
He would no longer run away.
"The Teacher speaks the truth." Baoyu picked up another chess piece. "That year, Third Sister Tanchun started a poetry club, and Sister Lin took the top prize... It was an exquisite poem. Let me recite it for you."
________________________________________
Not far away, Shi Xiangyun was leaning on the railing, watching the busy superheroes below.
She saw the burly man in the blue suit and red cape sitting aside, resting with his eyes closed.
"Um..." Xiangyun summoned her courage. "Big Brother Immortal?"
"I'm not an immortal. Just call me Clark," Superman smiled gently.
"Big Brother Clark." Xiangyun pointed at the eagle emblem on the ship. "I heard Peter say you people are called The Avengers. Like Wu Zixu flogging the corpse, or the Orphan of Zhao. Isn't that name... a bit too fierce?"
Xiangyun was straightforward. She felt these people were clearly saving lives, so why choose a name that sounded like they were out to slaughter whole families in blood feuds?
Superman just smiled. He didn't explain that he wasn't actually a member of the Avengers.
"That name was chosen by Tony Stark."
He looked out at the sea of clouds, his expression relaxing.
"It means... although we are not gods, we cannot guarantee that we can hold the line every time, nor can we save everyone every time. But if evil invades, if the world falls, if we fail..."
Superman looked at Xiangyun and patted her shoulder.
"Then we will avenge it. We will demand the final justice for those who were powerless to resist."
Xiangyun nodded, half-understanding.
It wasn't a bloody vendetta of the martial world.
It was an oath of no compromise, regardless of life or death.
________________________________________
Chapter Thirty-Six
Sirens wailed through the clouds, and red warning lights bathed the bridge of the Helicarrier in a grim, blood-like glow.
FRIDAY's electronic voice cut through the alarm.
"Massive thermal signatures detected! Hostiles crossing the Yumen Pass defense line. Count: 50,000 cyborg units. And... Warning! Ten ultra-class high-energy targets detected!"
The holographic screen expanded instantly.
Amidst the tide of cyborgs, ten massive figures, each twenty stories tall, rose from the ground.
They were purple and magenta, with three signature glowing eyes and massive mechanical arms. With every step, the earth trembled.
Sentinels.
"Damn it." A flash of pain crossed Professor X's eyes. "Those are the ultimate weapons for hunting mutants. Doom captured them and reprogrammed them."
"They can adapt to any super-powered attack." Steve Rogers gripped his shield tight. "This isn't a fight we can win with hand-to-hand combat."
Against monsters of this size, ordinary Avengers couldn't even reach their knees.
"Hmph. Big guys?"
Takuya Yamashiro stood at the edge of the bridge, looking down at the rampaging steel giants with a cold sneer.
"Marveller! Change, Leopardon!"
The cloud layer was instantly torn apart.
The massive lion-headed battleship in the stratosphere emitted the deafening sound of mechanical interlocking.
A sixty-meter-tall giant robot, clad in red, black, and silver, crashed down onto the wasteland in front of Yumen Pass.
"Since they're showing their trump cards, I won't hold back either."
This time, Kadoya Tsukasa didn't just pull out a card.
He produced a device that looked like a touch-screen phone—the K-Touch.
[KUUGA! AGITO! RYUKI! FAIZ! BLADE! HIBIKI! KABUTO! DEN-O! KIVA!]
[FINAL KAMEN RIDE: DECADE!]
When the light faded, Kadoya Tsukasa was no longer in his basic magenta form.
On his chest, nine Rider cards were arranged in neat rows, and on his forehead, he wore his own Decade card like a crown.
Decade Complete Form.
Peter Parker had just suited up in the Iron Spider armor, ready to jump down for support. He turned his head and saw Tsukasa's new look.
Even in this life-or-death moment, as a Queens kid with some pursuit of aesthetics, Peter couldn't help himself.
"I gotta say... isn't that a bit... ugly?"
Tsukasa just sighed.
He turned his head. That card-plastered face looked at Peter. Though no expression was visible, a thick aura of resentment radiated from it.
"Go complain to Toei and Bandai! I didn't design this thing!"
________________________________________
Gale-force winds screamed, churning up the heavy scent of blood outside Yumen Pass.
On the deck of the Helicarrier, the heroes stood in a line.
Facing the overwhelming army of cyborgs and the ten demon-like Sentinel robots, their backs were as immovable as mountains.
Steve Rogers stood at the very front, his Vibranium shield gripped tight, his gaze sweeping over every comrade beside him.
From different universes, bearing different powers, standing here for the same goal.
The Captain took a deep breath, and his voice resonated across the entire battlefield.
"Avengers... Assemble!"
Before the echo faded, the horn of war sounded.
Leopardon took a massive mechanical stride, crashing into the phalanx of Sentinels. Takuya Yamashiro's roar pierced the sky.
Fighting alongside him, standing on the robot's shoulder, was Decade.
[KIVA! KAMEN RIDE... EMPEROR!]
Beside him manifested Kamen Rider Kiva, Emperor Form.
[FINAL ATTACK RIDE... KI... KI... KI... KIVA!]
The Ride Booker sword and the Zanvat Sword slashed down in unison, tearing a massive gash in the chest of the first Sentinel.
"FRIDAY, play some AC/DC!"
Tony leaped from the edge of the deck, the MK.85 nanotech suit covering his body instantly. A barrage of cluster missiles rained down madness upon the ground.
Beside him, Scarlet Witch's chaos magic decomposed every incoming long-range attack into harmless particles.
Black Widow and Hawkeye had already reached the ground, commanding S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to set up heavy weapons using the terrain.
Superman broke the sound barrier, charging straight for Doom in the center of the enemy formation, with Strange and Vision close behind.
________________________________________
But at the edge of the deck, one person remained motionless.
Bruce Banner.
The gentle doctor took the glasses off his nose and tossed them casually off the deck.
He turned around to look at Jia Baoyu, who was standing behind him.
Baoyu was trembling, awestruck by the apocalyptic opening scene, but he didn't retreat. He stared fixedly at the battlefield.
Banner looked into Baoyu's eyes.
Clear, spiritual eyes that should have held only "wind, flowers, snow, and moon" (romance).
But now, Banner saw something else in those eyes.
He saw the mad Lotus in the Purple Water Caltrop Isle.
He saw Li Wan's corpse fallen before the mourning hall.
He saw the remains of Jia Lan in the jaws of wolves.
He saw how this world tore beauty apart, bit by bit, and ate people alive, piece by piece.
"A thousand reds cry one tear, ten thousand beauties mourn in unison."
A green, eerie glow began to spread deep within Banner's pupils.
But he wasn't losing control.
On the contrary, his expression was calmer than ever before.
"Baoyu... Peter told me that people in this world consider anger a sin. They teach you to endure, to yield, to submit to adversity. But I... I don't think so."
"Doctor, you..."
Baoyu instinctively took a step back.
He felt it. Inside this frail scholar, an aura ten thousand times more terrifying than the killing intent below was erupting.
"Yes—"
Banner jerked his head up. His entire face had turned a horrifying shade of green. Muscles tore through his suit; bones cracked with a sound that set teeth on edge.
"I am angry."
This was no longer an uncontrollable curse directed at himself.
It was a weapon, sharp and unreserved, with a clear target.
Steve simply nodded.
"Smash, Hulk."
"ROAR——————!!"
Jia Baoyu couldn't believe his eyes.
The mild-mannered Dr. Banner expanded and transformed in an instant.
His loose clothes were shredded by terrifying green muscles as he grew to three meters tall.
The timid scholar vanished.
Replaced by a Green God of Destruction radiating the pure aesthetic of violence.
Baoyu could swear that Hulk had even smiled at him for a second.
Then, the green figure launched like a heavy artillery shell. Carrying world-ending kinetic energy, he smashed directly into the densest part of the enemy formation.
The shockwave from his landing alone turned every Shocker cyborg within a hundred meters into meat paste.
Hulk rose from the dust, grabbed a Shocker armored tank as if it were a pebble, and hurled it into the distant ranks.
Baoyu finally understood.
He understood exactly what had beaten Sun Shaozu into a barely breathing pulp.
"This is... Vajra's Fury."
Chapter Thirty-Seven
"Deploy proximity mines! Clean up the stragglers on the ramparts!"
Natasha Romanoff shouted orders as she sprinted down the city wall.
She slid to a halt beside a crate and began assembling the anti-material sniper rifle inside.
This was no ordinary weapon; it was loaded with nerve-severing bullets provided by Kadoya Tsukasa, designed specifically for cyborgs.
"How's it looking, Nat?" Hawkeye's voice crackled over the comms.
"A man listens to another man's incitement and then overestimates his own ability to fight back. It's like the content with the lowest ratings on a Tuesday morning political talk show."
The heavy sniper was assembled. Click.
"Clint, your one o'clock!"
This time, it was Steve's voice.
"Copy."
The only response was the hum of a bowstring vibrating.
________________________________________
"Steve, I'm leaving command to you. Peter, we're going to neutralize the Chieftain and cut off his command chain over the Orc Legion."
Batman was a man of few words. When he spoke, it was an order.
"Copy that, Big Black... uh, Mr. Batman." Peter spread his hands helplessly.
Jia Tanchun stood before the massive floor-to-ceiling window, her hands gripping the railing white-knuckled.
She heard the Dark Knight's plan.
To subdue the Chieftain.
The man who wanted to dig out her heart to sacrifice to his flag.
In the past, according to the teachings of Nu Jie (Lessons for Women), perhaps she should have begged for her husband's life, or felt sorrow.
But now, she only felt a fierce satisfaction.
If they say I abandoned my husband's family afterward, then let me die. But not before I see him fall.
The launch bay beneath the deck opened.
A black fighter jet, shaped like a giant bat, tore through the air instantly, carrying Peter Parker as it pierced deep into the battlefield.
________________________________________
On the ground, it was a pure crush of martial force.
Iron Man strafed low over the enemy lines, missiles and lasers painting fireworks of death.
"Blind spot on your left."
"Copy."
Five spinning rings formed a buzzsaw, slicing a straggling cyborg in half at the waist, then flew back to Shang-Chi's hand. The Ten Rings then aligned to form an energy spear.
"Take that!" (Zou ni!)
He hurled the spear, blasting the cyborg squad in front of him into scattered debris. Even without the Ten Rings, the "Orcs" couldn't get near him.
Blades, swords, claws—all missed by mere millimeters.
"I guess Yang Guo at Xiangyang looked something like this—whatever!"
Retracting the rings, he unleashed a shockwave that blasted back every Orc surrounding him.
They didn't hit the ground.
Before they could, they had already dissipated into red particles.
Scarlet Witch hovered in mid-air.
The group of Orcs in front of her was being twisted into pretzels.
"Twist—Vanish."
The particle mist from the exploding Orcs was scattered by a massive wind pressure.
"HULK SMASH!"
No technique, no routine. Just pure power.
Tearing, crushing, pounding. That was the Hulk.
________________________________________
However, the true decisive battle was not here.
Strange formed hand seals, slashing a magical light sword at Doctor Doom on his throne.
Doom didn't even rise. He simply raised his left hand with contempt.
A green magical shield expanded instantly, blocking the strike.
"Strange. Your magic is still so dogmatic. Sitting in the seat of the Sorcerer Supreme for too long, have you forgotten that the essence of magic is domination?"
Before his voice faded, the shield shattered.
No flashy moves. Just Superman's unpretentious punch.
However, the punch didn't smash Doom's mask.
The air shattered like a mirror.
Superman punched into a void. His immense inertia carried him right through Doom's body—it was merely a projection from the Mirror Dimension.
"Kryptonian." Doom sneered. "Nothing but brute force. In my domain, distance and direction mean nothing."
The Reality Stone flashed red.
Superman's face turned purple instantly. He clutched his throat and fell from the sky.
Green mist surrounded him. Doom had turned the air directly into Kryptonite dust.
A beam of golden, high-energy light shot out instantly, hitting the green mist and dissipating it completely.
Then, Strange's Time Spell activated on Superman, rewinding his body to the state it was in a few minutes ago.
Back to before the Kryptonite took effect.
"Your illusions are based on twisting reality," Vision analyzed calmly. "But the Mind Stone sees through the essence of consciousness. Doom, I see your anxiety."
The beam from the Mind Stone acted like a scalpel, forcibly severing the frequency link between Doom and the Reality Stone.
The mirror image shattered. Doom's real body was revealed for a split second.
Superman didn't hesitate. Heat Vision erupted instantly.
Doom only had time to throw up a magical shield before he was blasted away by the impact.
________________________________________
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Dust swirled amidst the ruins of the barbarian great tent.
The target no longer resembled a human being.
His body had doubled in size, skin covered in thick bristles and scales. His legs were recurved like the hind legs of a horse, his hands transformed into wolf claws, and sharp Tibetan Antelope horns protruded from his head.
Yet, within those green-glowing eyes burned a fanatical clarity.
He hadn't been brainwashed by Doom.
"Insolent rats! You dare challenge the King of Beasts!"
Peter executed a backflip, dodging a claw swipe capable of tearing through a tank, his mouth running as fast as his body.
"Let me count... you've got wolf claws, are those... Tibetan Antelope horns? Come on, that's a protected species! That's illegal! And horse legs? Eagle wings? You look like the result of throwing a biology textbook into a blender. What are you supposed to be? A Chimera?"
"You can talk less, Peter."
Batman rolled sideways, planting seven or eight Batarangs into the Chieftain's body simultaneously.
"Copy that. Just trying to lighten the mood. After all, this guy looks... ridiculous."
Two web lines stuck to the Chieftain's legs; the next target was his arms.
Batman simply pressed a button on his gauntlet.
The embedded Batarangs lit up with blue light. 50,000 volts of instantaneous voltage—enough to drop an African elephant.
Yet, the Chieftain remained unharmed.
"God-given power! How can mortal thunder and fire harm me!"
"Insulating epidermal layer. Muscle density is twenty times that of a normal human. Conventional non-lethal weapons ineffective." Batman dodged another kick.
The Chieftain grinned savagely, about to pursue, but suddenly stopped.
That horned head looked toward the sky.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier in the sky. Countless jets were launching, bombing his "Invincible Army" into disarray.
And behind the glass of that carrier, he sensed a familiar aura—one he hated to the bone.
"It's you... You wretched woman! You brought these demons here!"
Hatred instantly overpowered fear.
For him, being betrayed by a woman he once treated like grass was more unbearable than defeat.
He abandoned the black and red figures, kicked off the ground with tremendous force, spread his wings, and rocketed into the sky, diving straight for the hovering carrier.
"Don't even think about running."
Batman reacted instantly, firing his grapple gun.
The alloy claw clamped tight around the Chieftain's left ankle, while two web lines stuck to his shoulders.
However, the monstrous strength from the stacked beast genes allowed the Chieftain to ignore the weight of two adult men.
Peter felt like he had snagged a taking-off Boeing 747. The immense drag instantly lifted him and Batman off the ground.
"Wait! What is this? Northwest Airlines? They got bought out by Delta ages ago!"
Batman ignored Peter's terrible joke.
His gaze was locked on the monster above and the carrier in the distance.
"Hey! Stitch-monster! Can you hear me?" Peter yelled at the top of his lungs. "You made a huge mistake! In fairy tales, a villain should never underestimate a princess married off to a foreign land! Although the customs here are different from Europe—no dragons guarding castles—the principle is the same! She really will go back to her maiden home and borrow an army of Avengers to kick your ass!"
"Silence! Insect!"
The Chieftain roared, rolling in the air, trying to shake off the two ornaments attached to him.
"Target has friendly units attached. CIWS (Close-In Weapon System) cannot fire."
The AI fire control voice was perfectly calm.
"I anticipated that." Steve simply tilted his head.
A chuckle came over the comms channel.
"Hah, these days any bird dares to fly? A raptor's opponent should be a raptor!"
A silver-and-red figure shot out, mechanical wings tearing through the gale on the deck.
Falcon. Sam Wilson.
Just as the Chieftain prepared to slice Sam in half, the black warrior changed direction.
A standard Pugachev's Cobra maneuver. Sam turned at a right angle, hovering directly above the Chieftain. The twin machine pistols in his hands fired in short bursts.
The bullets didn't aim for the heart, which they couldn't penetrate, but scattered across the wing roots and around the eyes.
The Chieftain shrieked in pain. His flight stability was instantly lost, his body tilting violently.
The massive centrifugal force finally flung Peter and Batman loose.
Sam dove, catching the flailing Peter steadily in mid-air.
"Thanks, Sam! Your wings are way cooler than his!" Peter shouted.
"You owe me a pizza, Spider-Kid!"
On the other side, the moment Batman let go, the black cape on his back hardened instantly, turning into a massive glider.
The Dark Knight carved an elegant yet eerie arc through the air, gliding silently toward the carrier deck.
The Chieftain, freed of his burdens though slightly injured, was even more murderous.
He saw the glass of the bridge right in front of him. It was the only entry.
Through the glass, he saw the woman he hated most.
The Chieftain folded his wings, concentrating all his power into the bone spikes on his shoulders, and slammed into the reinforced glass of the command center.
CRASH.
Shards flew everywhere.
But inside the bridge, there was no panic. No scattering crowds. Not even a drop of blood.
Blocking the Chieftain's charge was a large shield.
Steve Rogers slowly straightened his body, lowered the shield, and stared at the monster trying to get up.
"You're not welcome here."
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Dust still swirled in the command center. The massive monster on the floor struggled to rise, muttering incoherent curses.
Tanchun stepped out from behind Steve.
"Do you still want to kill me? Like you did in the great tent? Like you did to those women you snatched—stripping me naked, letting your soldiers watch my humiliation?"
She was no longer afraid.
She wanted to vent all the pain of the past few years.
It wasn't a marriage; it was conquest and tearing apart.
She remembered herself, played with until she was bruised and bleeding, then tossed aside.
"I said that Warlock was a devil, and you wanted to dig out my heart. Now I stand here... watching you go to Hell! Even if I go with you, I will watch you fry in the oil cauldron with my own eyes!"
That aura of mutual destruction (burning jade and stone together) made even the frenzied Chieftain pause for a second.
"Calm down, child."
An invisible, warm force gently wrapped around her consciousness.
Like a broad, kind hand, it smoothed away every suicidal thought in her mind.
Tanchun turned to look at Professor X.
He didn't speak aloud; his fingertips simply rested lightly on his temple.
"I know you are in pain. I understand that pain. You have every right to hate him."
"But... there is no need to burn yourself to ash for this beast. We are all with you."
"Sir..." She turned her head, tears blurring her vision. "But I... I am dirty..."
"The soul cannot be dirtied." Charles smiled. "Look around you. Your sisters, Steve, myself—this is not your war alone. We are all with you."
In that instant, the tension holding up her will to die dissolved.
She let out a long breath.
Charles turned his head to face the beast.
His gaze instantly became sharp as a blade.
The world's strongest telepathy pierced the Chieftain's brain, but saw only chaos.
"Interesting... but pitiful. He's beyond saving." Charles shook his head. "The bloodlust of the wolf, the cruelty of the eagle, the restlessness of the horse... the animal genes Doom stitched into him are devouring his humanity."
Steve was already poised to strike.
"Copy that, Professor. Since he's a beast, we treat him like a beast."
"Slut—"
The Chieftain tried to charge again to tear Tanchun apart, but two web lines shot through the broken viewport.
"Hey! No copyright infringement! 'Slut' (Jianren) is Wade's exclusive title where we come from!"
Peter's muscles tensed. The four Iron Spider legs dug into the deck, and with a violent heave, he yanked the Chieftain out of the bridge.
Steve followed close behind, leaping from the breach on the second floor. His Vibranium shield smashed down onto the Chieftain's head.
One of the antelope horns, which the Chieftain viewed as his glory, snapped off.
"My horn! I am the Chosen One! King of Beasts!"
"You are just a failed experiment."
Steve landed, shield held across his chest.
The moment the Chieftain tried to counterattack, Steve delivered an uppercut to the chin, followed by a shield bash to the gut.
Connecting with a side kick, Steve created some distance between them.
Batman appeared and disappeared in the shadows of the jets on the deck.
Two smoke bombs were thrown, but the high-altitude winds dispersed them instantly.
"I can't dance on the deck; it's too crowded!" Sam Wilson circled in the air. "I'm going down to help Tony sweep the trash! I'll leave the big guy to you!"
With that, Falcon dove like an arrow toward the ground battle.
Batman wasn't idle. He drew a short gun from his utility belt.
No sound, no muzzle flash. Peter didn't know what kind of bullets he fired.
Webs plastered the Chieftain's eyes. Peter swung down from above, kicking him hard in the face.
On the deck, only pure melee combat and tactical maneuvering remained.
Baoyu supported Tanchun at the breach of the command center, watching the scene.
The demon who once made his sister tremble in fear was now broken-horned, tangled in webs, beaten by a shield, and dismantled piece by piece by a black ghost using incomprehensible weapons.
In that moment, Baoyu suddenly felt that gods and demons, once they bled, were nothing special.
"Steve, turn him around," Batman said.
Captain America didn't ask questions.
A fierce sliding tackle dodged the Chieftain's sweep. Then, an upward shield strike hit the Chieftain's chin, forcing his guard open and making him stumble back, head exposed.
Batman's hand simply pressed a button.
"Time."
A series of muffled explosions rang out, not in the air, but from inside the Chieftain's body.
Beneath the impenetrable armored fur, it sounded like firecrackers had been stuffed inside.
With every muffled thud, mists of blood exploded from his knees, elbows, and wing roots.
"Cavity formation—injecting liquid explosives into the body. Effective." Batman sneered.
Without needing a word from the Captain, Peter moved.
A deluge of webbing poured down—fast-drying cement webs specially designed for heavy units.
Steve threw his shield and took a running jump.
The Chieftain's head was knocked to the side by the throw. Before he could react, Steve caught the shield in mid-air.
This time, he didn't use the flat of the shield to bash.
He aligned the edge of the Vibranium shield with the Chieftain's skull.
There was no hatred in his eyes, no pleasure.
The sound of shattering bone was swallowed by the howling wind.
The mad beast who wanted to dig out Tanchun's heart would never see his ambition realized.
His skull had been split into six pieces.
For a second, Peter felt the Captain was a stranger.
But then he understood.
Stopping the Punisher in New Jersey was because they couldn't override the law.
Abstaining from Sun Shaozu's death vote was because they couldn't lynch a prisoner.
But this was a battlefield. And the Captain was a soldier.
Facing an enemy commander who threatened the command center, a butcher who slaughtered civilians... what a soldier had to do was eliminate the threat directly.
There is no "no-kill" rule on the battlefield.
Only you die, or I live.
________________________________________
Facing the corpse with the crushed skull, Tanchun's breathing had never been heavier.
That nightmare... is it finally over?
Suddenly, her pupils dilated violently.
"Captain! Watch out!"
Steve Rogers instantly raised his shield in defense.
The headless corpse began to convulse violently.
No more blood flowed from the severed neck; instead, countless dark red fleshy tendrils surged out. The broken bones reassembled with sickening, wet crunches.
This wasn't resurrection. This was cancerous mutation.
Doctor Doom had buried a final command in his body—Death is merely the catalyst for evolution.
"I knew Doom wouldn't be this kind, but apparently, he didn't know that." Steve lowered his center of gravity, ready to charge again.
Sirens blared once more in the command center.
"Unidentified object detected! Entering atmosphere at high velocity!"
No nonsense. No wind-up.
A golden beam, composed of pure energy, struck the proliferating mass of flesh with surgical precision.
The kinetic force blasted it straight off the deck.
The second attack was a Purple Light.
This time, the Chieftain was completely swallowed.
It wasn't burning. It wasn't an explosion.
It was Annihilation.
His flesh, Shocker's mechanical skeleton, and every single sinful cell disintegrated at the molecular level in an instant.
Under the bombardment of the Power Stone, not even ash remained.
The light faded.
A short-haired woman, radiating the brilliance of a sun, hovered in mid-air.
Captain Marvel. Carol Danvers.
She had finally returned with the Power Stone.
"Sorry I'm late. The folks on Xandar are a pain in the ass with their protocols. But... looks like quite a party started while I was gone?"
Steve let out a breath of relief.
"Go support Superman and Vision! Doom has two Stones; we need your firepower to break his defense!"
"Copy."
Carol nodded, ready to fly off.
But her gaze swept across the deck and stopped on one person.
She saw Tanchun's clenched fists. She saw those eyes that didn't flinch even when facing a resurrected monster.
She smelled the scent of a kindred spirit.
"Hey." Carol tilted her chin at Tanchun.
"Been violated? Been wronged? Instead of hiding in fear, you dare to stand here and watch him die?"
She gave Tanchun a thumbs-up.
"I like this kid."
With that, she didn't linger.
She turned into a golden comet, trailing the purple light of the Power Stone, and smashed directly into the center of the god-level battle.
Tanchun stared blankly at the figure disappearing into the clouds.
She had always felt she was dirty.
She was a consort sent for peace who failed to keep the peace. She was a woman who, after marrying out, betrayed her husband.
In the old days, a woman like her, even if she returned alive, would be a stain on the family, expected to commit suicide or redeem herself in a nunnery.
She thought the heroes saved her out of pity.
But that Goddess of Destruction said she liked her.
Carol didn't say "you poor thing." She didn't say "you suffered."
She was saying: You are not dirty. You are brave.
You didn't kneel in Hell, so you are our comrade.
Two lines of hot tears finally flowed down Tanchun's face without restraint.
Not from grievance, but from relief.
She picked up the broken antelope horn from the deck and hurled it with all her might into the sea of fire below.
"Go to hell. I am Jia Tanchun. I didn't fall."
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The sky had lost its original color.
The colliding energies of five Infinity Stones tore the firmament into a chaotic tapestry of iridescent confusion.
Every clash of energy triggered small-scale electromagnetic storms outside the atmosphere.
Carol Danvers burned with Binary energy. The Power Stone erupted with a purple beam of destruction, aiming straight for Doom's face.
"Child's play." Doom scoffed.
Upon contacting Doom's force field, the purple beam capable of piercing planets turned into... soap bubbles.
Before she could react, the Space Stone on Doom's right gauntlet lit up. He appeared instantly behind Carol, and with a punch enhanced by Shocker cybernetics, blasted her away.
But in the next second, Superman didn't use heat vision; instead, he rammed into Doom with imperceptible speed.
Doom's armor suddenly shifted, extending countless mechanical tentacles, each inscribed with magical runes.
The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak + Shocker High-Tensile Nano-Tentacles.
Though Superman broke free instantly, it bought Doom that one crucial second.
Doom used the opening to create distance.
"You're treating this place as a testing ground for bio-weapons."
Superman's eyes were blood-red, rage ready to erupt in a physical sense.
He couldn't see Doom's expression, but he guessed it was a sneer.
"Correct—Kryptonian from another universe, you wouldn't understand."
Doom's voice, amplified by magic, vibrated through the entire airspace.
"Look at this world—a Court that gifts women like objects, a family that pushes its own daughter into a fire pit for profit. This tree is rotten. What use is trimming the branches? —Just like your exploding, rotting, foolish Krypton."
Strange formed hand seals, unfolding countless green mandalas around Doom, attempting to lock his time stream.
"And then use this army of painless, soulless cyborgs to storm Hell and save your mother... Victor, this is overkill."
Doom spun around, a swarm of dark magic bats tearing the time arrays to shreds.
"You are used to compromise. You are used to finding one so-called 'optimal solution' out of 14,000,605 possibilities. That is why you are not me, Strange. You will never become a God. I don't need to find a way. I am the Way."
Just then, a beam of pure yellow light sliced through Doom's shield again.
"Based on logical analysis," Vision's voice was steady, "such extreme self-inflation is usually a precursor to collapse."
"And..." Carol flew back, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth. "Thank god he isn't you."
The Power Stone began to recharge.
"Lock him down! Let me hit him with a big one!"
________________________________________
Doom's power was still climbing.
"He is parsing the underlying code of this dimension using the Reality Stone and Dark Magic. Once completed, he won't be an invader; he will be the God of this reality." Batman spoke over the comms. "We need a quick victory—activate the contingency plan, Stark, Strange."
"Are you sure, Bruce?" Tony's voice lost its playfulness. "You're playing with cosmic laws. If it fails, their minds won't hold up."
"We have no choice."
The answer came from Steve Rogers.
He looked at the unstoppable Doctor Doom and took two deep breaths.
"Execute it."
________________________________________
S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Bridge.
Kadoya Tsukasa, having just slain the last Sentinel, landed back on the deck panting heavily. Strange's astral projection teleported there simultaneously.
The two exchanged a look. No words were needed.
Strange drew a golden portal.
Tsukasa opened a gray Aurora Curtain.
The two spatial powers overlapped, forming a tunnel to a cursed place in the depths of the universe.
Jia Baoyu, Xue Baochai, Jia Tanchun, Shi Xiangyun.
The four young people felt the floor disappear beneath them before they could react.
Next second, biting cold wind.
The noisy battlefield, the roaring carrier, the bloody Yumen Pass—all vanished.
Beneath their feet was cold black rock. Above their heads hung a dim sun that would never set, dyeing the entire world a desperate, dark orange.
In the distance, two stone towers soared into the clouds, looking like gates to Hell.
"Where... where is this?" Baoyu shivered. "Is this the Netherworld?"
Batman stood at the edge of the cliff, his black cape indistinguishable from the surrounding darkness.
"Vormir. We need the Soul Stone. Only by obtaining it can we suppress Doom on the level of universal rules."
Baoyu's pupils dilated violently.
He remembered what Strange had said—A soul for a soul. Sacrifice your true love.
"Impossible! This is your plan?! Dragging us to this hellhole to force us to kill each other?!"
Baoyu had never spoken to Batman.
He never knew how to talk to this gloomy figure.
Now he knew: This guy is not a good person.
He thought of Daiyu, of Qingwen, of Jia Lan.
He had lost enough in this life.
"I don't care about the universe! I don't care about Doom! I will never push them off!"
Before he finished speaking, he turned and charged toward the altar.
Even if I jump myself, I won't let these three girls get hurt.
But his legs wouldn't move.
It made no sense, as if someone had cast a freezing spell on him.
"I'm sorry, child. I stopped your movement."
Professor X's voice rang in Baoyu's head again.
"Good." Batman looked at the furious Baoyu and nodded slightly. "You passed the first test."
"Wh... what?" Xiangyun couldn't process the chaos.
"Calm down, children. No one needs to be sacrificed." Charles's voice continued. "We brought you here not to sacrifice, but to... cheat this planet."
"Cheat... the planet?" Baochai looked at the altar under the blood-colored sky.
"Correct. We are going to weave an illusion strong enough to deceive the laws of the universe. We will let this disgusting altar know exactly what is meant by 'A thousand reds cry one tear, ten thousand beauties mourn in unison.'"
Charles's voice became clearer and stronger.
Chapter Forty
Earth-616.
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Underground Cerebro Chamber.
Blue psychic waves surged like a physical substance, filling the spherical room.
"Are you ready?" Reed Richards' fingers flew across the holographic keyboard, moving so fast they were a blur.
"I'm ready to run at any moment." Barry Allen stretched his joints.
"Listen, we cannot fail. Charles's brain will have to withstand the pressure of two universes. If the connection is suddenly severed, he will become a vegetable."
Reed stretched his left arm several meters, grabbing the newly fabricated interdimensional antenna and connecting it to Cerebro.
"Watch your machines, Rubber Man."
A white-haired elder floated in mid-air. His iconic helmet, usually used to block telepathy, sat on a chair nearby.
Magneto. Erik Lehnsherr.
"I really didn't expect you to help, Erik," Reed remarked as he calibrated the system. "I thought you'd say something about letting humans die."
"You saw those stories too, Reed." Erik closed his eyes.
"That madman born with jade in his mouth, that sentimental girl, that Consort who wanted reform but was betrayed... They don't carry the X-Gene. But in that man-eating hellhole, they were ostracized and destroyed because they were too smart, too sensitive, and too unruly."
"True. That kind of rejection is even more terrifying than in your world," Barry glanced at Erik.
Erik sighed, a desolate sound of mutual understanding.
"In a sociological sense... aren't those children Mutants of a kind? Since they are my kin, I cannot sit idly by."
Reed nodded.
"Exactly. Doom, that egomaniac, will never believe that anyone's emotions could be purer than his. And he will never believe that sometimes, there are people more unscrupulous than him. —Let's begin."
Barry said nothing more. With one step, he sprinted along the inner wall of the sphere, transforming into a scarlet vortex of the Speed Force.
The moment the metal began to scream under the stress, the most primal Electromagnetic Force forcibly stabilized Cerebro's mechanical structure.
"Charles... don't let me down."
On the wind-swept cliff edge, Jia Baoyu and the others stood with eyes closed, bodies stiff.
Deep within their minds, that gentle voice spoke again.
"Don't worry, children. Do not resist the images before you. That is your past, and also your strength. Follow the light ahead."
Although Baoyu was still confused, he trusted this voice.
That old grandfather who was willing to play chess with him and listen to his stories about the poetry club gave him a sense of security, just like the Old Ancestor (Grandmother Jia) once did.
So, he took a step into the darkness.
A step across life and death.
________________________________________
When Baoyu opened his eyes again, the purple sky of Vormir was gone.
Pavilions and towers, windows half-hidden by greenery. Peach blossoms were in full bloom; willow threads hung long and green.
"The Grand View Garden..." Xiangyun's tears burst forth. "This is... the Garden as it used to be."
The Garden before the raids, before it became ruins. The Garden still filled with laughter and voices.
Baoyu walked forward in a daze until he saw that figure.
A slender girl wearing a moon-white shirt, carrying a flower hoe on her shoulder and a brocade bag on her back, weeping alone amidst the falling petals.
It was Lin Daiyu.
"Frowner (Pin'er)! I'm here!"
Baoyu rushed forward like a madman, wanting to grab her hand, wanting to tell her how terrible everything had become, wanting to take her away.
But his hand passed through Daiyu's body like it was smoke, like mist.
Daiyu didn't turn back. She didn't look at him. She didn't even hear his shout.
She remained immersed in her own world, sweeping up the fallen flowers while softly chanting the poem Baoyu knew by heart.
"To the ends of the earth, where is the fragrant mound?"
"She can't hear you." Baochai walked up, her face streaked with tears. "It seems... this is a shadow of the past. A fate that has already been sealed."
They could only follow that cruel point of light and continue forward.
With every step, the scenery around them shifted.
They saw the prosperity of the Lantern Festival. They saw the liveliness of the Crab Flower Poetry Club.
It was "fresh flowers on brocade, oil cooking over a roaring fire."
Then, the scene shifted.
The orderly collapse began.
The appearance of the Embroidered Spring Pouch. The farce of the Raid on the Grand View Garden. Skybright's (Qingwen) unresigned death. Rose's (Tanchun) reluctant departure for marriage. Yingchun's weeping upon her return visit.
"Crashing down like a great building tilting." (Hulala si dasha qing)
Finally, the light stopped in a dim room.
The Bamboo Lodge.
Outside the window, bamboo shadows swayed. Inside, the smell of medicine was thick.
Baoyu still hadn't returned. Daiyu lingered on her sickbed, holding Baochai's hand.
"Good Sister... if he makes it back alive, only you can keep him safe... If he is truly dead, I will find him... down below... for our next life..."
Watching her past self, Baochai finally couldn't hold on. She fell to her knees, weeping like rain.
In the dead of night, flames danced in the brazier.
Her original poetry manuscripts turned to ash and smoke, bit by bit.
Then, she put on her outer robe and walked out, step by step.
Baoyu knew what the unnatural flush on Daiyu's cheeks meant. Terminal lucidity.
She didn't call anyone.
She didn't disturb Nightingale (Zijuan).
She walked past the Drenched Blossoms Bridge, past those long-decayed pavilions.
Finally, she arrived at that place.
The hillside where she had once carried her flower hoe, shedding tears as she buried the fallen petals one by one.
She slowly lowered herself, sitting on the stone bench nearby.
Looking at the leveled mound of earth, it was like looking at her own life.
Under the gaze of Baoyu, Baochai, Tanchun, and Xiangyun, the Daiyu in the illusion gently shook her head.
"Let it be. Let it be."
Though there was no sound, everyone seemed to hear this sigh in her heart.
Lin Daiyu smiled.
It wasn't a bitter smile, nor a cold sneer.
It was a smile of someone who had finally laid down a burden of a thousand pounds.
She leaned against the stone table and slowly closed her eyes.
Her body slid down along the table, falling softly onto the soil covered with fallen flowers.
"Cold moon buries the flower soul."
Heaven and earth fell into a dead silence.
Until the time in the illusion flowed rapidly, and the sky turned the color of a fish's belly.
A panicked Nightingale searched all the way there, finding the figure by the Flower Mound, already wet with morning dew and devoid of breath.
The girl lay among the flowers, that smile of relief still hanging on the corner of her mouth.
She slept peacefully in the cleanest place.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH——!"
It was a scream of a soul being hollowed out.
Baoyu knelt on the ground, his hands clawing at the black rock of Vormir, fingernails breaking, blood flowing freely.
It hurt too much.
This hurt more than seeing her burn the poems.
Because she died so lonely.
In that deep night he didn't know of, while his life and death were uncertain, she walked the final road alone and returned herself to the earth alone.
She didn't even leave him a last word, only leaving the world a back view and a smile.
The entire illusion suddenly hit pause.
Then, spiderweb-like cracks spread across the surroundings like shattered glass.
Professor Charles Xavier spat out a mouthful of blood, his hands gripping the armrests of his wheelchair in a death grip.
"Come on, you demon... You will be satisfied with this pain."
Chapter Forty-One
The illusion shattered.
The white void of the earth, the flames consuming the manuscripts, the weeping Sister Lin—all turned into nothingness.
Jia Baoyu snapped his eyes open, gasping for air, cold sweat drenching his forehead.
He felt as if he had truly died once; the sensation of ashen despair still lingered on his fingertips.
But the scene before him made him hold his breath.
At the edge of the pitch-black cliff, it was no longer empty.
A gem emitting a soft, orange glow hovered silently in mid-air.
It looked like a solidified fire of the soul, rotating slowly under the eternal eclipse.
The Soul Stone.
"It... it worked?"
Baoyu couldn't believe his eyes. They had actually... cheated the Heavenly Laws? Cheated the universe?
________________________________________
S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Command Center.
Batman had stepped back from the monitor.
"I analyzed the behavioral mechanism of this planet. It isn't a simple 'soul for a soul' trade, but a high-dimensional mental threshold detection device. Or rather, it doesn't want to devour a soul, but a pain sufficient to tear a soul apart. They did it."
Beside him, Charles was coughing. He finally withdrew his psychic power and nodded firmly.
"They share the same tragic memory; the pain is resonant. The energy reading generated even exceeded that of a real death. So... none of them could be missing."
But Peter Parker stood in front of Batman, blocking his path, saying nothing.
"Peter." Batman stopped. "We don't have time to debate ethics. Doom is still rampaging."
"You know this isn't ethical." Peter didn't move. "You threw them into hell and forced them to watch their loved ones die all over again."
"I told you." Batman looked directly into Peter's eyes. "This was the plan I least wanted to use. I also hoped Superman could solve everything, or the remaining three Stones could subdue Doom. But the reality is, we are losing. Someone had to look into the abyss."
"Then what about you? Since pain and memory are enough to cheat that stone... why didn't you go yourself?! Is your pain not deep enough? Or are you afraid?!"
Peter didn't understand.
He knew Batman's story too.
Lost his parents, lost Robin, carrying the darkness of all of Gotham.
Batman remained silent.
The sound of wheels turning approached. Charles glided between the two.
"Peter, although the sorrow of these children is deep, it is human emotion. The altar on Vormir can read it, can understand it. But Bruce... is different. His pain ceased to be 'grief' long ago."
Charles looked up at the Dark Knight.
"Trust me. If we poured that level of mental data into Vormir... I suspect the system... would crash directly."
Peter froze.
He looked at Batman.
For Baoyu, that pain represented loss.
But for the man before him, the two gunshots in Crime Alley represented creation.
That night, an eternal monster was forged from his own regret, pain, obsession, and powerlessness.
That pain was enough to slay gods.
________________________________________
Vormir.
Baoyu reached out with a trembling hand.
Behind him, Baochai, Tanchun, and Xiangyun gathered around.
Four hands, weathered by wind and frost, marked with scars, reached simultaneously toward the orange light.
There was no burning sensation as imagined, nor any evil chill.
An indescribable warmth flowed from their fingertips through their entire bodies.
Baoyu's tears flowed, but this time, he felt no heart-rending pain.
Instead, the fear, anger, and regret that had pressed on his heart for years were miraculously soothed by this wash of warmth.
"Sister Lin... is that you?"
"Sister Lin... it's like she's still here." Tanchun wiped the corner of her eye.
"She is here." Baochai smiled through her tears. "This stone holds all the love and all the souls of this world. As long as we hold her in our hearts, she is here."
"Because it is made of love," Charles's voice echoed again, sounding weak. "Now, children. Bring that gift back."
Baoyu suddenly paused. He tilted his head, as if listening to a sound in the wind.
"...Hee."
A laugh, extremely light and crisp.
Like wind chimes in the bamboo forest of the Bamboo Lodge, or the sound of Sister Lin covering her face to laugh at his bad poetry years ago.
Was it a hallucination? Was it a small comfort from the Soul Stone?
Baoyu didn't know.
But he looked down at his dust-covered hands.
"Sister Lin, are you laughing at my sorry state? Or are you laughing... that I finally learned to live like a human being?"
"Ai-Brother, stop spacing out!" Shi Xiangyun grabbed Baoyu's arm. "Let's go! Let's go beat that Iron-headed Demon Lord out of here! Together with Sister Lin!"
Chapter Forty-Two
Above the firmament.
Doom used the Space Stone to teleport Superman away, then used dark magic to create a gravitational singularity to suck in Captain Marvel. But immediately after, he took a punch from Vision, who had phased out of the solidified air.
From behind his iron mask, Doom's eyes locked deathly onto the carrier deck below.
"That wavelength... the Soul Stone? I see. You ants actually passed that foolish test."
"Give it to me!"
A blue spatial vortex opened instantly in front of Baoyu.
According to the laws of physics, space should fold, and the boy holding the stone should appear instantly in Doom's palm, ready for slaughter.
However, the orange gem in Baoyu's hand seemed provoked. It erupted with a soft yet indestructible orange halo.
Two primordial cosmic forces collided in mid-air.
There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a mutual cancellation on the level of universal laws.
The portal vanished without a trace, like a pencil drawing erased by rubber.
"The Soul is singular. It refuses to be defined by Space." Strange sneered. "Doom, you can't take them. Their souls are harder than your armor right now."
"Irrelevant."
Doom harrumphed. The thrusters on his back flared, breaking the sound barrier instantly as he crashed down onto the carrier deck.
Dust cleared. Doctor Doom, in his green cloak, stood before Baoyu and the others.
He took a step forward. The magical pressure radiating from him nearly forced Baoyu to the ground.
Doom could see that this boy and the three girls knew no magic; killing them would be easier than crushing an ant.
But he couldn't blast them with the Stones, because the Soul Stone was fully protecting its wielder.
And...
Doom tilted his head slightly.
Red cape, golden aura, yellow mind beam, green mandalas—Superman, Captain Marvel, Vision, and Strange had sealed off all his retreat routes.
He simply laughed.
"How foolish. What a waste. In my Latveria, you should have been my Grand Vizier, my Archmage, my Artists."
Doom shook his head, his gaze sweeping over Xiangyun's stubborn face, Baochai's steady eyes, and finally landing on Baoyu.
"Possessing a talent for statecraft, yet gifted to savages like an object."
"Possessing practical wisdom, yet trapped in the boudoir doing needlework."
"And you, Jia Baoyu... possessing an exquisite heart capable of perceiving the joy and sorrow of all things, yet treated as a mad waste."
"A group of geniuses, born in an era that cannot tolerate you, crushed like ants by that stupid ethics and Imperial power."
"Give me the Stone. I will establish a New Order. The superior shall rule, the mediocre shall obey, and tragedies of wasted talent like yours will never happen again. And for you... I will reserve front-row seats."
Listening to Doom, Jia Baoyu felt an absurd sense of resonance.
Yes.
This world is indeed wrong.
Someone as clever as Skybright died without even a sip of water.
Someone as capable as Tanchun was forced to marry far away.
Someone as divine as Sister Lin could only wither under the swords of wind and frost.
Back then, he, too, had wished to poke a hole in the sky, wished for the world to be destroyed completely.
But...
Baoyu looked down at the crossfire between Iron Man and the cyborg army, at the Yumen Pass flowing with blood.
He finally spoke.
"You think this world is wrong. I think it's wrong too. I don't understand why my sisters had to die one by one."
"But I never thought... of washing the world in blood. This world is indeed sick, but I don't want to cure it by killing it."
Doom's eyes went cold.
"Foolish. Benevolence without power is merely weakness. Give me the Stone; you are unworthy of it."
Baoyu instinctively gripped the Soul Stone tighter.
In that instant, a wondrous sensation flowed from his palm through his entire body.
A hand gently rested on the back of his hand.
Cool, soft, so thin it felt like only bone, yet carrying a familiarity that haunted his dreams.
Baoyu's tears flowed instantly.
In that dream called the Grand View Garden, they had argued, fought, cried, and laughed.
Though their hearts were connected, though they had read The Western Wing together, under the strict segregation of the sexes, they had... never truly held hands.
The closest they got was that time he smelled the fragrance from her sleeve, and she scolded him for half the day.
But now, on this battlefield of another world, at this moment of life and death.
She placed her hand on his.
"Baoyu, don't be afraid."
There was no sound, but he heard it.
It wasn't just her.
Baoyu felt more weight layering onto his hand.
That was Skybright's sharp and stubborn fingernails.
That was Yingchun's trembling, ice-cold fingertips.
That was Yuanchun's thick, warm palm.
That was Golden's wet hand...
They were all here.
The youth that faded in the Grand View Garden, the beauty crushed by the era, the lives he once cherished but was powerless to save.
They hadn't disappeared.
They melted into this Stone, forming an indestructible wall.
"You want it?"
Baoyu stopped crying. Instead, facing the arrogant Demon Lord, he revealed the most defiant smile of his life.
"Dream on."
Chapter Forty-Three
Xue Baochai stood in the howling wind, watching Doctor Doom, who remained arrogant even when surrounded.
Through that cold iron mask, she seemed to peer into the black hole deep within that man's soul.
"So that is how it is."
Baochai sighed in her heart.
Doom looked down on Baoyu, thinking his immersion in love and affection was weakness.
But in Baochai's eyes, Doom was the true coward.
He possessed the power to destroy worlds, yet could not walk out of the shadow of his mother's death.
He wanted to conquer the universe, yet dared not face the natural law of birth, aging, sickness, and death.
"You laugh at our obsession (Chi), we laugh at your madness. You are nothing more than this."
Dark green magical energy coiled around Doom's hands.
Thunder and lightning flashed in the sky.
Just as Doom intended to summon dark lightning, he realized something was wrong.
That wasn't lightning created by dark magic. It was the purest Will of Thunder itself.
"DOOM!!!"
Stormbreaker, wrapped in the force of ten thousand thunderbolts, descended from the sky like a meteor.
The god-slaying weapon tore right through the defense of the Infinity Stones, cleaved through the magical shield on Doom's chest, and embedded itself right in the center of his armor.
Next came Mjolnir, flying at supersonic speed to smash him viciously in the face.
It wasn't over.
A rainbow bridged the sky, wrapping around the roar of an engine.
The Hurricane motorcycle charged down the Bifrost. Kazami Shiro leaped into the air.
"V3——Kick!"
He didn't aim for Doom's head. He aimed for the handle of Stormbreaker embedded in Doom's chest.
This kick carried twenty tons of impact force.
Like a hammer hitting a nail, it nearly split Doom in two.
Thor and Shiro had finally exacted their revenge.
No hesitation, no need for command. Everyone took action.
Heat Vision, Photon Blasts, Bolts of Balthakk, Mind Beams, Decade Final Attack Ride—all opened fire on Doom.
Peter and Steve didn't hesitate to stand in front of Baoyu and the others, forming the final line of defense.
All attacks converged at this moment into a torrent of energy sufficient to restart a universe, blasting toward the figure flying backward.
The two Infinity Stones on Doom erupted with blinding light to protect their master.
Simultaneously, the Soul Stone in Baoyu's hand, along with the stones held by Vision, Strange, and Captain Marvel, resonated.
The power of six Infinity Stones collided at this single point.
Time stopped. Space shattered. Reality warped.
An invisible shockwave swept across the field.
Baoyu, Baochai, Tanchun, and Xiangyun—four mortals—could not withstand this cosmic-level energy resonance. Their vision went black, and their souls felt ripped from their bodies.
________________________________________
Darkness.
Boundless darkness.
Unknown time passed. Perhaps a second, perhaps ten thousand years.
Baoyu felt a gentle breeze brush his cheek, carrying the faint, fresh scent of bamboo leaves.
He opened his eyes.
No bloody battlefield. No cold deck.
Before him was a lush green bamboo forest, sunlight dappling the ground through the leaves.
The Bamboo Lodge.
"Oh my, look at this family. Everyone covered in dust and grime; you look like you've been rolling in a mud pit."
Baoyu jerked his head up.
Under the window gauze, a woman in pale green robes sat sideways, holding a book, looking at the four of them with a smile that was not quite a smile.
Brows knit like distant hills, eyes shimmering like autumn pools.
It was the Lin Daiyu he had dreamed of day and night.
"You lot..." She chuckled softly. "...really took the long, hard road to get here." (Hao shi duo mo)
Chapter Forty-Three
Bamboo shadows swayed in the Bamboo Lodge, dappled light playing across Jia Baoyu's face.
He knelt before Daiyu, tears falling like pearls from a broken string, impossible to wipe away.
It wasn't the desperate wailing of Vormir, but the catharsis of a wronged child finally seeing their family.
"Oh my, look at you."
Daiyu held a handkerchief, but instead of wiping her own eyes, she smilingly poked Baoyu's forehead.
"In the past, I shed tears for you, saying it was to repay your debt of watering. Now the tables have turned, and it's you, this flesh and bone made of mud, crying like a tearful person in front of me."
Her eyes shimmered, a smile playing on her lips. She was so enchanting and lively, without a trace of the desolation from when she burned her poems.
"Sister Lin... I..." Baoyu sobbed, yet couldn't help but laugh aloud.
Yes, to be scolded by her like this... even death would be worth it.
The four of them sat around Daiyu, just like when they started the poetry club in the Grand View Garden.
Only this time, they didn't talk of "wind, flowers, snow, and moon," but of the blood, fire, and rebirth they had walked through.
Baoyu spoke of his begging days, how he wanted to die in the mud, and how a foreign boy named Peter Parker taught him to open the curtains.
Baochai spoke of that humble cottage, how she had decided to keep her heart like an ancient well without ripples, until a bastard in magenta barged in and told her that "passing through" was also a way of life.
Xiangyun gestured wildly, describing the giant robot and the man who called himself the Emissary from Hell yet was more merciful than the Arhats in the temple.
Finally, Tanchun spoke of the barbarian tent, the cold wind of the altar, the husband who wanted to dig out her heart, and the shield that smashed both the Chieftain's head and her self-doubt.
They talked endlessly.
It was as if they wanted to pour half a lifetime of grievances, fears, wonders, and growth into the ears of the one person who understood them best.
In this soul space where time did not flow, they were no longer young masters and misses of the Rongguo Mansion, nor survivors of the apocalypse.
They were just five family members reunited after a long separation.
Unknown time passed.
Daiyu sighed softly, her voice gentle as a breeze.
She reached out, stroking their faces one by one, as if caressing rare treasures.
"Alright, alright. I've heard it all."
Her voice grew fainter. The surrounding bamboo forest began to blur into a warm orange halo.
It was the sign of awakening.
The battle in reality continued; they couldn't stay in this dream forever.
Baoyu panicked, grabbing Daiyu's sleeve.
"Sister Lin, you... you come back with us! That stone can save you!"
"Silly boy. I am right in your hands, right in your hearts."
Daiyu shook her head and gently pulled her hand back.
Before completely dissipating, Daiyu looked at Baoyu one last time.
"But... we will meet again. This time, I'm not lying to you."
________________________________________
S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier Deck.
The smoke was clearing.
After the earth-shattering energy storm subsided, Jia Baoyu, Xue Baochai, Tanchun, and Xiangyun slowly woke from their coma.
The soul-leaving warmth vanished, and the Soul Stone was gone from their grasp.
Baoyu instinctively looked for it, settling down only when he saw it in Steve's hand.
Where Doom had stood, only a pile of sparking green armor fragments remained. The light of two Infinity Stones pulsed weakly within the debris.
"...Is he dead?" Xue Baochai looked at the scrap metal, her voice light as a whisper to the wind.
"No."
Steve Rogers holstered his shield and walked to the pile of armor, picking up the still-intact iron mask.
"Victor Von Doom cannot be killed. He backed up his consciousness thousands of times, scattering them across every corner of the multiverse."
Baoyu just listened.
"To save his mother, he challenges the Hell Lord Mephisto every year. Every time he fails, the demon takes a part of his memory or a piece of his humanity as the price. To deal with that demon, to ensure he doesn't go completely mad or become an idiot... he came up with this idea."
The Captain tossed the mask back into the ruins.
"As long as his obsession remains, as long as his mother suffers in Hell... we can never truly kill him. But this time, he has been stopped."
Baochai fell silent. She remembered the metaphor of Chen Xiang splitting the mountain.
So, the mountain can never be split. And that Chen Xiang, to not forget his oath to save his mother, turned himself into an eternal monster.
Just then, a piercing sound like metal scraping against glass rang out.
________________________________________
"Granny, Sister Qiaojie, come out and look!"
In the Wang Village, Banr pointed at the sky, while Granny Liu pressed her palms together, chanting Buddha's name incessantly.
In Zitan Fortress, Aroma, Jiang Yuhan, Musk, and Lotus looked up, their faces blank with shock.
"Look at the sky!"
Tanchun's cry broke everyone's contemplation.
Baoyu jerked his head up.
He expected to see the familiar moon, or a sky full of stars.
But what he saw was a rift burning with blue fire at the edges.
The rift spanned the sky, as if the Heavens had opened a giant eye.
And reflected in that "eye" was not the void, but another world.
It was a sight Baoyu couldn't even imagine in his wildest dreams.
An inverted city.
Countless glazed pillars (skyscrapers), thousands of times taller than pagodas, pierced the clouds, flashing with colorful flowing lights ten thousand times brighter than the lanterns of the Lantern Festival.
Giant steel beetles sped tirelessly along bands of light in the air.
Massive screens played human figures more vivid than any opera stage.
The "A" logo of Avengers Tower, glowing with an eerie blue light, was directly facing the beacon tower of Yumen Pass.
There seemed to be no night there, only eternal light.
"Heavens above..." Xiangyun slumped to the ground in fright, pointing at the moving lights in the sky. "Is... is that the Celestial Court? How... how can there be buildings so high? Lights so bright?"
The scene before them transcended even their imagination of the immortal world. It was the might of industrial civilization, a forest of steel and electricity.
Peter took off his mask and let out a long sigh.
"Not the Celestial Court. That's Manhattan... that's my home."
"Your... home?"
Baoyu suddenly realized he had never asked his best friend what his hometown looked like.
But this... this was terrifying.
Peter gave a bitter laugh.
"At the last moment, Doom used the Infinity Stones and Dark Magic to forcibly punch through the dimensional barrier. He linked this place... with our world."
Chapter Forty-Four
The rift in the sky grew wider. The neon lights of New York nearly illuminated the night at Yumen Pass.
The physical laws of two dimensions began to rub against each other violently, emitting a tooth-aching screech.
"The two worlds are like conjoined twins right now. If we don't separate them, no one knows what will happen," Strange said. "The good news is, all six Infinity Stones are now in our possession."
"It has to end."
Tony Stark flew back to the deck from the ground. His nano-armor was riddled with holes, barely protecting his vital organs.
Tony raised his hand. The nanometal receded like flowing water, pooling in his palm to form an Infinity Gauntlet with six slots.
He limped toward Superman.
"Only you can handle this job, Big Guy. Hulk is still smashing things on the ground, and Shang-Chi is trying to rein him in. While I'd love to be the handsome hero... I'm afraid I can't survive this."
Superman nodded and slowly put on the gauntlet.
Baoyu knew what was coming next.
All good things must come to an end. The heroes were leaving.
It is for the best. With the Soul Stone in the Captain's hands, Sister Lin... must be safe.
Steve Rogers stepped forward, took off his helmet, and placed his hand on Baoyu's shoulder one last time.
"It's okay, son. Remember. No matter how hard the road ahead is, no matter what this world becomes... stand tall."
[Time Stone. Inserted.]
"Mah, looks like my journey passing through here is over."
Kadoya Tsukasa raised his camera, snapped a casual photo, and smiled at Baochai.
"Don't see me off. I'm just a passing-through Kamen Rider. I don't need anyone to remember me."
Though he said that, as he turned around, the corner of his mouth curved up slightly.
[Space Stone. Inserted.]
"Congratulations." Takuya Yamashiro pulled down his mask, glancing at Leopardon hovering beside the carrier.
"Who would have thought? Leopardon simply picked up a distress signal from Peter, and it turned into such a spectacular battle. It was my honor to fight alongside you all."
[Mind Stone. Inserted.]
"Yeah..." Peter Parker's eyes shimmered with tears. "Who would have thought? I just fell in here inexplicably and ended up saving Qiaojie with Granny Liu."
Peter sniffled and gave Baoyu a big hug.
"Hey, buddy. We have to go back, but I'll miss this place. I'll miss your stories, and... even though I don't understand tea, yours was really good."
[Power Stone. Inserted.]
Jia Baoyu finally couldn't hold it back.
Disregarding the dignity of the Duke of Rongguo, he cried like a child. He bowed deeply to everyone, bending his waist low, refusing to rise for a long time.
"Thank you... Thank you all..."
Baochai, Tanchun, and Xiangyun, eyes red, performed a deep Wanfu bow to their friends from other worlds.
[Reality Stone. Inserted.]
"Alright." Superman smiled again. "Honestly... don't blame Bruce."
[Preparation Complete.]
"Ready?" Tony asked. "Objectives: Repair the dimensional rift, separate the two universes, and... wipe that damn Shocker virus from this world completely."
Superman nodded.
[Soul Stone. Inserted.]
A torrent of multicolored energy instantly crawled over Superman's body.
His brow furrowed slightly, but even the berserk energy of the Infinity Stones could not bend the Kryptonian's spine.
But in that instant, Superman's movement suddenly paused.
He tilted his head slightly, as if listening to a sound that was extremely faint, yet extremely important.
Superman froze for a second.
Then, his sculptured, perfect face lost the seriousness of enduring the backlash. Instead, it blossomed into a smile—unutterably relaxed, unutterably gentle.
"I heard it. May your future... hold no more sorrow."
And then, he snapped his fingers.
Epilogue
Sunlight.
Blinding, warm, vibrant sunlight spilled through the glass window, landing on his face.
Jia Baoyu frowned and slowly opened his eyes.
No smell of gunpowder. No stench of rotting blood. No despairing cold of Vormir.
Only a scent of clear fragrance he couldn't name.
He propped himself up, looking around blankly.
Where... is this?
It seemed like his bedroom, yet it was completely different.
The walls, once hung with calligraphy and paintings, were now painted with pristine white latex paint. And on the wall... a poster of The Amazing Spider-Man.
Wait, that's wrong, Baoyu thought. Why is Peter printed on a painting?
"Am I... dreaming again?"
Baoyu rubbed his throbbing temples. His memory was still stuck at the moment Superman snapped his fingers.
From outside the door came the sound of hurried footsteps, sounding for all the world like a frolicking fawn.
"Baoyu! Still lazing in bed!"
With a sweet shout, the door was banged open.
A girl rushed in like a whirlwind.
She wore a simple white T-shirt and pale green denim shorts. Her long hair was tied in a high ponytail that swung behind her head with her movements.
Before Baoyu could even see her face clearly, the girl had taken a running start and jumped.
She landed right on top of him, clinging like a koala.
Baoyu jolted in fright, instinctively wanting to push this bold woman away.
But when he saw that face, all his movements stopped.
Brows knit like distant hills, eyes shimmering like autumn pools.
Though right now, her eyes held only laughter.
Is this really Sister Lin?
The Sister Lin who would fall if the wind blew, who panted after walking two steps, who took medicine three hundred days a year?
This energetic girl who had the strength to pin him to the bed... was really her?
Daiyu reached out and pinched Baoyu's cheek—not too lightly, not too hard.
"Silly goose, don't recognize me anymore?"
Baoyu didn't know what to say.
He wanted to ask how her illness was cured, ask where this was, ask where the others were.
But he couldn't say a word. Tears just kept spinning uncontrollably in his eyes.
Seeing Baoyu looking so foolish and wronged, the smile on Daiyu's lips deepened.
She didn't take out a handkerchief to wipe his tears like before, nor did she say any depressing words about "swords of wind and frost."
She simply lowered her head.
Generously, openly, she planted a firm kiss on Baoyu's cheek.
Smack.
Then, Daiyu laughed, hopped off the bed, and pulled open the curtains.
________________________________________
Earth-616. New York. Queens Public Library.
Peter Parker, backpack slung over one shoulder, weaved through the rows of bookshelves.
"Chinese Classical Literature... Chinese Classical Literature..."
He muttered under his breath, his fingers trailing over the spines.
Since coming back, he hadn't been able to forget that experience. Although Tony said it was best not to dig too deep into parallel universes, he still wanted to know.
He wanted to know what kind of life his friend, Jia Baoyu, had lived before he became a beggar.
"Ah, found it." Peter's eyes lit up. He pulled a thick set of books from the top shelf.
A Dream of Red Mansions (The Story of the Stone).
The librarian behind the checkout counter was a grandpa with snow-white hair and sunglasses, currently reading a comic book with great relish.
"Hi, I'd like to borrow this."
The old man pushed up his sunglasses, glanced at the massive tome, then at Peter, a smile appearing on his face—a smile that seemed to have seen through everything.
"Whoa, young man. That book isn't light." The old man stamped the book. "It holds the tears of hundreds of people, and the rise and fall of a family. Reading it might make your heart ache a little."
"It's okay. I already know the true ending." Peter smiled. "See you around."
"Go on, kid." The old man picked up his comic again. "Those sincere emotions, those beautiful moments... they will last forever like diamonds, won't they? 'Nuff said."
Peter found a seat by the window and opened the first page.
At the dawn of creation, who sowed the seeds of love?
All for the sake of a passion deep as the wind and moon.
The poem on the title page gave Peter his first challenge, but he thought, even if he had to use AI translation, he wanted to finish this story.
Outside the window, the traffic of New York flowed as always.
Avengers Tower shone brightly in the sunlight.
And in that distant parallel timeline...
The Divine Attendant (Shen Ying Shi Zhe) finally found his true home.
[THE END]
Bonus Chapter: Zero Second
Zero Second.
That was the instant Superman snapped his fingers, the split second when time and space reorganized.
Amidst that infinite white light, Lin Daiyu, existing within the Soul Stone, felt her consciousness swept up by a grand, warm torrent, connecting to a vast, boundless mental world.
It was the mind of Clark Kent.
She saw New York on the other side of the rift, saw the boy named Peter swinging through the steel jungle.
She saw the city called Metropolis, with skyscrapers standing like crystal pillars.
What she saw next made her heart pound in terror.
It was the death match between Superman and General Zod.
The reinforced concrete of Metropolis was less than tofu before the Kryptonians.
Half the city lay in ruins. To stop Zod from killing innocents, Superman was forced to snap his neck.
He is a God, Daiyu thought. Even the immortals in the storybooks are not this powerful.
But... why is he crying while holding his lover?
He has the greatest strength, he did the right thing, yet now he is just a fragile child.
________________________________________
Then, Metropolis vanished.
Replaced by endless fields of wheat and corn.
For no reason, Daiyu recalled the poem she had written for Baoyu when Yuanchun visited home years ago.
"Apricot banners wave, beckoning guests to wine,"
"A mountain village comes into view."
"Geese paddle in the water, swallows nest in the beams."
"A patch of green spring leeks, ten miles of paddy fragrance."
"In a prosperous age without hunger,"
"Why rush with ploughing and weaving?"
She was only twelve then, with no concept of agriculture, merely synthesizing what she read in books.
But today, she finally saw this scene of abundance.
Smallville, Kansas.
She saw the spaceship crash-landed in the farm field, engraved with the same crest as on Superman's chest.
Lin Daiyu suddenly realized: Superman was the baby in that ship.
So that is how it is. Powerful as a deity, yet also a wandering orphan.
The scene shifted quickly to ten years later.
Beside a slightly dilapidated barn, Daiyu saw a little boy in a plaid shirt.
He was squatting by the ship, crying his heart out.
That sense of being an alien, of being alone and helpless in this world... Daiyu knew it too well.
"Can't I... just pretend to be your son forever?"
Hearing the boy's words, Daiyu's heart ached again.
Yes. Daring not to speak a word too many, daring not to take a step wrong. That was how she lived every day when she first entered the Rongguo Mansion.
And what would happen next?
A boy crying uncontrollably?
If this were the Jia Mansion...
If it were Jia Zheng, he would scold the boy for lacking dignity.
If it were Lady Wang, she would sigh about the cruelty of fate.
But that man, with calloused hands looking like a simple farmer, just smiled warmly.
He crouched down and tightly hugged the child who possessed divine strength yet was weeping.
"You... have always been my son."
This single sentence was more deafening than all the thunder on the battlefield combined.
Lin Daiyu was stunned.
So... there really are parents like this in the world.
They don't ask the child to bring glory to the ancestors, don't ask the child to pass imperial exams, don't even require the child to be their own blood.
Just because "You are my child," I love you.
She finally understood.
Why that Peter could smile and pull Baoyu up even after falling.
Why that Captain named Steve could block a butcher's blade for a stranger.
Why this Superman, with the power of a god, treated the world so gently.
Because they grew up in love.
The parental love in that place was utilitarian-free, asking for nothing in return.
It nurtured this group of heroes who could pull people out of the darkest nights.
She looked at that small town in Kansas and pressed her palms together piously.
"If you can truly rewrite Heaven and Earth... please, turn our world into this, too."
"Let Baoyu, let Sister Bao, let all my brothers and sisters... live happily like this."
The light swallowed her. She thought it was time for her to reincarnate.
________________________________________
[System Process]
The Infinity Stones, receiving the wish, were running at full power.
[Space Stone]: Locking Snap range. Two universes.
[Time Stone]: Locking synchronization. Effect permanent.
[Mind Stone]: Identifying all life forms within target range.
[Soul Stone]...
The Soul Stone crashed.
[Wish Verification]: A world where Jia Baoyu is happy.
[Paradox]: In Jia Baoyu's happy world, Lin Daiyu and others are indispensable core variables.
[Execution]: Life form reconstruction.
[Soul Stone]: Identifying souls of this world.
[Power Stone]: Stabilizing energy supply, amplifying output of other Stones.
[Reality Stone]: Executing Underlying Code Rewrite.
...
And so, Lin Daiyu woke up.
In that sun-drenched modern bedroom, she possessed a healthy body, legs that could run freely.
She looked at Baoyu, pinned under her on the bed with a silly look on his face. This time, she laughed from the bottom of her heart.
That smile held the spirit of the Grand View Garden, and the scent of Kansas sunlight.
________________________________________
The Kent Farm.
Deep night. The farm was silent, save for crickets playing their fiddles in the grass.
Under the warm yellow light inside the house, the TV was playing a rerun of a not-so-intense football game.
Jonathan Kent sat on the sagging old sofa, holding a cold beer, taking a satisfied sip.
"Martha, look at that pass. No aim at all, just like when Clark threw hay bales as a kid."
Martha Kent was knitting a sweater nearby. No one knew if it was a Christmas present for her son.
"Oh, stop it. Clark threw them wide on purpose because he was afraid of smashing your tractor."
The old couple looked at each other and smiled. It was the tacit understanding and peace settled over decades of time.
On this ordinary night, on this ordinary farm.
They would never know that in a distant dimension, a war between gods and demons determining the life and death of millions had just concluded.
They would never know that they hadn't just raised a good man.
That love had crossed the multiverse, and unknowingly, healed a world they didn't even know existed.
[THE END]
________________________________________
Bonus Chapter 1: The Sound of Silence
It was deep into the night.
The sound of Malibu waves slipped in through the slightly open crack, mingling with the low hum of the climate control system.
Tony Stark lay in bed. Beside him, Pepper Potts turned over, resting a hand on his chest.
"FRIDAY told me your heart rate hasn't gone down yet," Pepper's voice was laced with sleepiness. "Still thinking about that parallel universe?"
Tony raised his hand and clasped Pepper's.
Her palm was warm and strong, slightly calloused from long hours of handling paperwork and wearing the Rescue armor.
"I'm thinking about... that girl," Tony whispered. "Not the brave Tanchun, nor the wish-making Daiyu. It's the one... who was already dead."
Pepper opened her eyes, studying her husband's profile in the moonlight.
She knew who Tony was referring to.
"The one tortured to death by her husband?"
"Yeah. Yingchun."
Tony spat out the name, tasting rust in his mouth.
"You know, Pepper? While I was over there, I kept thinking about one thing. That bastard Sun Shaozu beat her, cursed her, threw her in a corner like a piece of trash. For a whole year. And she... she didn't even scream. She didn't fight back, didn't run, didn't even beg for help. She just... died in silence. Like a piece of wood rotting in the mud."
Tony turned his head to look at Pepper.
"I kept telling myself he was brain dead, that he was unsavable. I watched his heart stop with a smile. Really, Pepper, I didn't feel like I was killing a person; I felt like I was cleaning up some... contagious virus. But lying here now, I suddenly feel terrified. I'm terrified of that silence."
Pepper propped herself up, looking at the man who was usually insufferably arrogant but was now as fragile as a child. She leaned down and gently kissed his forehead.
She knew this man too well.
His frantic showing off, making everyone look at him—because as a child, his father didn't care.
And in Yingchun, he saw the most terrifying possibility.
If I didn't have talent, I might have died silently too.
"Tony," Pepper's voice was gentle but firm. "This isn't that place. Look at me."
Tony looked at her.
"I will scream," Pepper laughed. "If you dare make me angry, I'll yell at you, I'll kick you out of the lab, I'll put on the Rescue armor and chase you down. Morgan too. Just this morning, she cried like she was going to tear the roof off because I wouldn't let her have ice cream."
Tony paused, then a smile of relief curled at the corner of his mouth.
Right.
His Pepper was a CEO, a powerhouse.
His daughter Morgan was a little princess, a spoiled little troublemaker.
They were loud.
They complained, threw tantrums, laughed, and cried.
They possessed the luxury that girl named Yingchun never dared to dream of in her entire life—the right to express oneself.
"You're right."
Tony reached out and hugged Pepper tightly. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, taking a deep breath.
It was the scent of shampoo, the scent of being alive and free.
"Even if you yell at me, it's fine," Tony mumbled. "Even if Morgan blows up the garage, it's fine."
"Just don't be silent. Never die quietly in a corner like that girl..."
Pepper gently patted his back, soothing the man who saved the world just as she soothed Morgan to sleep.
"Sleep, Tony. That girl is at peace now. You avenged her. And we will keep living noisily. I promise."
Tony closed his eyes.
He finally slept the most peaceful sleep he'd had in two months.
Bonus Chapter 2: The Boy from Kansas
Justice League Watchtower, Observation Deck.
Outside the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, Earth rotated slowly, displaying a breathtaking azure hue.
But in Clark Kent's eyes, this planet seemed to have acquired an extra, invisible bond.
He had just finished telling Wonder Woman, Diana Prince, the entire story.
"...And that girl named Tanchun." Diana smiled. "Stripped of dignity, nearly had her heart dug out, yet she dared to tell that monster's corpse to go to hell? Carol was right. This proves one thing, Clark. The soul of an Amazon does not exist only on Themyscira. Even in those oppressive inner chambers (deep boudoir), as long as you give a woman a shield, or even just a look of affirmation, she can transform from a victim into a Nemesis (Goddess of Vengeance)."
Clark nodded, his gaze shifting to the bandage on his right arm.
That was the aftereffect of using the Infinity Stones to rewrite reality.
"And that Commander." Clark recalled the figure who fought beside him. "Steve Rogers. Captain America."
Diana's movement paused for a moment.
She chuckled lightly, shaking her head.
"Hah... I knew it. I've never met a man named Steve who was a letdown."
"It seems no matter the universe, the 'Steves' are always the first to stand up and say no," Clark remarked.
Diana stood up and walked to the window.
"It seems even Superman can't carry the world on his shoulders forever—what do you plan to do while you heal?"
Clark smiled.
He had saved countless worlds, yet it seemed like ages since he had gone back to see the place that made him Superman.
Since that girl from another world longed for Kansas so much, what reason did he, a son of Kansas, have not to return?
"I think... it's time to go home for a visit. I don't plan to fly back. I want to... take a plane. Like an ordinary person. Buy a ticket, go through TSA, and let my dad pick me up in that beat-up old pickup truck."
Diana looked at his back and smiled.
"Give my regards to Martha."
________________________________________
Kansas City International Airport (MCI), Terminal B.
No sonic boom clouds. No red cape.
Clark Kent, wearing a slightly loose flannel shirt and those heavy black-rimmed glasses, blended into the crowded stream of people.
Lois Lane walked beside him, holding two cups of freshly bought coffee.
"Do you think this is too slow?" Lois laughed.
"Not at all—this gives me more time to sit next to you." Clark smiled too.
"Did you pick up this smooth-talking (glib tongue) from that Young Master in the other world?"
"The kid, Baoyu... wasn't actually that glib."
A wave of heat mixed with the scent of soil and corn hit his face. This was the smell of home.
A red pickup truck with peeling paint was parked by the curb.
Jonathan Kent leaned against the door, fanning himself with an old baseball cap.
Martha Kent was standing on her tiptoes, looking anxiously through the crowd.
"Dad! Mom!"
"Oh, my God, look who's back!" Martha's eyes lit up instantly. She rushed forward and gave Clark a big hug.
Jonathan smiled and took the coffee from Lois's hands. "Welcome home, Ace Reporter."
But as a mother, Martha didn't miss the anomaly on Clark.
The burns from the six Infinity Stones were not easy to heal, even for a Kryptonian.
"Heavens, Clark, what happened to your arm? It looks like... you were burned by fire."
Clark instinctively tried to roll down his sleeve.
"It's nothing, Mom. Just... work's been busy lately, moved some heavy stuff."
"Don't listen to his nonsense."
Lois stepped forward. She glanced at Clark.
"He did move something very heavy. And... he caught a falling girl."
The air went quiet for a second.
Martha froze, looking at her son. She knew that in Clark's world, "catching" someone was never a simple task.
Jonathan Kent turned from the truck bed.
The old man looked at Clark's somewhat bewildered expression, then at the look of pride on Lois's face.
A sly smile, unique to fathers, appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Hmph."
Jonathan opened the driver's door and tapped the roof of the truck.
"I'm guessing that girl definitely wasn't you, right, Lois?"
Lois laughed.
"Of course not."
Lois linked her arm through Clark's left arm, resting her head on his shoulder.
"I don't need him to use that much effort to catch me. That girl... she fell from a place very far, very high, and very cold. But thankfully... he caught her."
Clark scratched his head, embarrassed.
"Let's go home, son."
Jonathan started the engine.
"There's a game tonight, and your mom made roast beef just for you."
"Coming, Dad."
Clark Kent climbed into the back seat.
Outside the window, waves of golden wheat rose and fell in the wind.
________________________________________
【Truly End】