As Qi Jun wandered around S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret Sandbox base, he had only one goal: collect anything of interest. The Sandbox, a highly classified Level-10 facility of S.H.I.E.L.D., held dangerous, unknown, or anomalous items. But today, an unexpected guest was strolling through this base undetected—Qi Jun.
Unhindered by the base's security, Qi Jun wandered freely, entering any room, even those sealed behind concrete barriers. With just a thought, he could teleport anywhere within the facility. Within minutes, many of the mysterious artifacts stored in the base were quietly absorbed into Qi Jun's collection, but the most astonishing part was that the base's personnel had no clue something was amiss.
This was all thanks to Taibai, the AI controlling the base's systems through a small quantum signal emitter hidden on Qi Jun's clothing. The moment Qi Jun entered the base, Taibai took over the entire system. Now, as Qi Jun reviewed the list of items Taibai had flagged, he leisurely wandered the base, collecting what caught his eye.
Most of the items Qi Jun took were of little use to him directly, but he was more interested in curating a collection. He often thought his storage ring felt too empty, so why not fill it with some exotic artifacts? Plus, there were a few items that piqued his curiosity, like the *Interstellar Transport Stone*, which could open a passage through space, and the *Time Travel Stone*, capable of anchoring a point in time and allowing travel across timelines.
But most intriguing of all was the discovery of an ancient alien machine known as an Immortal!
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Qi Jun was genuinely surprised when he found the Immortal. According to the information he had, there was no mention of such a being being stored in the Sandbox base. What was even stranger was that this Immortal had only been brought here a week ago, shortly after Qi Jun had arrived in the Marvel Universe.
This unexpected discovery sparked a thought in Qi Jun's mind: Could this be... the butterfly effect?
The Immortal, disguised as a broken-down robot, had been stored in the base without S.H.I.E.L.D. realizing what it truly was. S.H.I.E.L.D. clearly didn't know its true nature—at least, not yet—but Qi Jun did. The Immortal wasn't just a robot; it was a member of a manufactured race—a sentient machine that could shed and replace its "skin" like a human changes clothes.
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Finding the Immortal, Qi Jun quickly lost interest in exploring the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret bases. With a swift teleportation, he brought the deactivated Immortal back to his Long Island estate.
Thanks to the advanced mechanical knowledge Qi Jun had replicated from Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, he quickly realized that the Immortal could be reactivated. This discovery made Qi Jun's head ache.
Theoretically, if S.H.I.E.L.D. had known what the Immortal really was, they would have dissected it for study long ago. So how had it remained intact in the base? Why had it only recently been discovered? And how had Qi Jun immediately recognized that it could be rebooted?
Suddenly, a chilling thought crossed Qi Jun's mind: *The Watchers.*
Qi Jun wasn't sure if these cosmic observers existed in reality or were just part of the fictional world. But he didn't want to gamble.
Was this Immortal left as a warning from the Watchers? Were they trying to observe him? Or was this all just a coincidence, and he was overthinking things?
Regardless of the answer, Qi Jun felt vulnerable. Even though he had stood up to S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Ancient One, this strange situation reminded him of how small he still was in the grand cosmic scheme. One unexpected Immortal robot was enough to make him hesitate.
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Leaving Earth!
After pondering the situation for a long time, Qi Jun decided it was time to leave Earth temporarily. Whether this Immortal was a warning or he was simply scaring himself, Qi Jun knew it was best to step away for now.
Besides, aside from the Space Stone, there wasn't much left on Earth that truly interested him at the moment. It was time to set his sights on the cosmos—specifically, the Power Stone!
No matter what might happen, only when the Power Stone was in his possession could Qi Jun feel truly secure. If there were beings like the Watchers monitoring him, they would show up once he had the Power Stone. And with that gem in hand, Qi Jun would have enough power to confront any threat.
With that decision made, Qi Jun placed the Immortal into his storage ring and teleported back to his company headquarters to gather his team.
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Summoning several teleportation portals, Qi Jun's key allies quickly assembled in the room.
"I'm planning to leave Earth for a while—heading to the galaxy," Qi Jun announced, shocking everyone in the room.
"Hulk! You're coming with me!"
Among the team, only Hulk immediately agreed to join Qi Jun on his cosmic journey. Skye and Bruce Banner didn't seem too affected by the news, but Emil Blonsky, Samuel Sterns, and Harry Henriks, the interim CEO of Qi Jun's company, all looked confused.
What was going on? They hadn't even fully explored Earth yet, and now Qi Jun was talking about heading into the galaxy?
"Don't worry," Qi Jun said with a serious expression, "We're heading to the galaxy you're thinking of. And you two," he added, pointing at Blonsky and Sterns, "You're coming with me!"
He then turned to Harry Harris, who was still trying to process everything. "Skye will be taking over as the new CEO while I'm gone. Make sure to support her—you'll be rewarded handsomely."
Finally, Qi Jun addressed Bruce Banner. "You'll be the Chief Scientist in my absence. Keep the research team on track and recruit more top-tier scientists."
With everything in place, Qi Jun was ready to embark on his journey into space, leaving Earth behind for the time being.
*Time to find the Power Stone...*