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Kevin quietly stared at the glass beside him.
On the other side of the glass was a closed laboratory, pitch black inside due to the lights being off, allowing those outside to clearly see their own reflections on the glass.
If the reflection were normal, the Kevin appearing in the glass should be wearing a casual suit without a tie, with a clean chin and a normal hairstyle.
But the Kevin in the glass reflection now looked different.
It was a figure wearing a hero uniform that Kevin hadn't worn since becoming CEO, with a full beard and a short buzz cut.
"The Deep?"
Kevin narrowed his eyes, looking at himself in the mirror.
And the figure in the mirror, as if seeing the most terrifying thing in the world, let out a sharp, explosive shriek and rapidly retreated.
It was then that Kevin realized he could actually hear his voice.
"You… you, you, you—! You are me…? No… you are not me… Damn it! I must have drunk too much and am hallucinating!"
The Deep continued to mutter to himself while screaming.
Kevin didn't respond, just quietly watched him until the figure disappeared from his sight and Kevin's own reflection reappeared in the glass.
In the glass, The Deep from the original timeline had vanished.
Kevin, however, stared at his reflection in the glass, lost in thought.
Although he had heard Annie say before that she had seen another version of herself, it was only when it truly happened to him that Kevin had a unique feeling.
He couldn't quite describe the feeling, but it was definitely strange.
"Being able to hear a voice proves there's a channel for sound transmission… Does this mean that when necessary, I can also travel to another world this way?"
Kevin recalled the startled cry he had just heard from The Deep and began to ponder.
If he could hear the voice, it proved that he didn't just simply see himself; perhaps he had unintentionally opened a passage to a parallel world.
But what was the principle behind it?
Why could he and Annie see their other selves, and why were they the only ones who could?
Was it because Kevin was a transmigrator? Or was it because their destinies had been drastically altered?
With too few examples, Kevin couldn't judge, but from the current situation, it seemed that merely seeing them wouldn't affect their current lives.
However, no one knew if continuing this would cause the impact to gradually expand.
So, even if it meant wasting some skill points, Kevin intended to go to the Marvel World first to inquire about the situation.
That's right, right now.
...
In the Marvel Universe, when Kevin returned, he was still in the New York Sanctum.
And Ancient One was still sitting there, sipping tea and enjoying the view of New York.
Seeing Kevin return, she raised an eyebrow slightly:
"You returned a bit quickly."
"You always seem to know how much time has passed in my world…"
Kevin couldn't help but complain.
The last time he came back, Ancient One also instantly knew how long Kevin had been gone, even though time here was paused.
Ancient One smiled:
"I don't know what you experienced in your world, but I can see the traces of time passing on you."
"You're trying to say I've gotten old?"
"I didn't quite mean that… Never mind, it's not important. You came back to me so quickly; I imagine it's not because you've decided to become the Supreme Mage. Do you need something from me?"
Ancient One took out a teacup for Kevin, personally poured him tea, and adopted an attentive posture.
Kevin selectively ignored the implications in her words. He sat opposite Ancient One and told her what he had just seen:
"My girlfriend and I have recently suddenly been able to see our selves from another world. I know the concept of parallel universes, and I understand that the world isn't composed solely of our single world, but what I don't understand is why, without doing anything, I saw our selves from another world?"
"Are you worried?"
"Yes, I'm worried this will affect my world."
Kevin said honestly.
If there was no impact, it would be fine; he saw his other self, and he saw it, so he could just treat it as some special phenomenon and laugh it off.
But if this phenomenon could lead to bad changes in Kevin's world, such as a cosmic collapse, then this matter would need to be dealt with as quickly as possible.
Ancient One patiently listened to Kevin's words, and once Kevin quieted down, Ancient One said:
"Kevin, if I'm not mistaken, you are a very special person in your world, aren't you?"
"You mean… what?"
"Simply put, you know what kind of person you will be in the future, and you know what you will do in the future, but you have deviated from your original path and helped more people deviate from their original paths."
Which is to say, changing destiny.
"Are you trying to say that because I changed my own destiny, and the destinies of others, that's why I can see my self from another world?"
"Don't you understand it quite well?"
Ancient One said with a smile.
Kevin's brow furrowed even deeper:
"But… why? Why can changing destiny allow us to see our selves from another world?"
"Because your current destinies are not on their original paths."
Ancient One said, raising her hand and sweeping it to the side, causing a green ribbon to appear before her.
She explained:
"If this is your original future, a constantly extending straight line, and this—"
Ancient One then drew another ribbon next to the first:
"Is the future of the world you saw, also a constantly extending straight line. They appear to intersect, but in reality, they will never converge."
"But at this moment, in your world, you… appeared."
Ancient One said, gently tapping the green timeline that represented Kevin's world.
"Your existence causes your future to become uncertain. The more you alter your respective destinies, the more unpredictable the future direction of this timeline becomes, and this timeline belonging to you will not proceed along its original path."
As Ancient One spoke, the green timeline originally representing Kevin's world began to deviate from its intended path.
It began to sway up and down, and at a certain moment, it collided with a parallel line below that it was not supposed to intersect.
"And so." Ancient One pointed to the intersection of the two world lines, "You met each other."
After Ancient One finished speaking, her finger continued to slide, and several different green ribbons began to extend. All the ribbons were almost parallel and would not intersect, but only one was different.
That was the timeline representing Kevin's world; it was like a wild horse, darting back and forth between different world lines, thereby causing fluctuations in more world lines.
Ancient One continued:
"And in the future, it will collide with even more world lines."
"What impact will this have on my universe?"
Kevin understood what Ancient One was saying and the reason for the interaction with other world lines.
But what he wanted to know now was whether this would affect his world.
Kevin thought Ancient One would know, after all, in his mind, she was almost Omnipotent and Omniscient.
But who would have thought that Ancient One would simply shrug her hands very frankly:
"I don't know."
"?"
"Don't look at me like that. I might be able to know the future of my world, but I cannot know the future of your world. Perhaps what you are experiencing now will not have too much impact on you, but it is also possible…
"The mutual collision between different parallel universes will create increasingly large chain reactions, until one day, the chain collapses, leading to the collapse between parallel universes."
"The worst outcome is the end of the world?"
"It's the end of all universes."
"…But it's also possible that it won't turn into the worst outcome, isn't it?"
"Perhaps, but even in the best-case scenario, more and more people will discover the existence of parallel universes, thus initiating your parallel universe war."
Just like the 'Kang Dynasty' in the Marvel World.
Will the The Boys world evolve into a 'Kevin Dynasty' in the future?
But apart from the current transmigrated Kevin, all the other Kevins are that brainless The Deep, so how could it evolve into a 'Kevin Dynasty'?
Kevin frowned, thinking for a long time.
But Ancient One said at this moment:
"If you really want to find a solution, then why not seek out those who have more research on these matters?"
"…Time Variance Authority?"
"No, I mean… you can actually try it yourself."
Ancient One smiled, as if her scheme had succeeded, and placed the Eye of Agamotto from her neck onto the coffee table, pushing it towards Kevin.
Kevin: "…"
Ancient One smiled:
"Give it a try, it doesn't cost anything."
Kevin stared at the Eye of Agamotto that Ancient One had placed before him, then looked at Ancient One's kind and benevolent smile. Kevin was silent for a moment, then asked:
"…If I don't deal with this matter in a short time, there shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"Not for now, but what the future holds depends on the degree to which you alter your destinies. The more frequent and significant the changes to destiny, the more often your world will intersect with other worlds."
"At the fastest… how long until something happens?"
"In the short term… you shouldn't have to worry within two or three months, but if the time exceeds one year, you will need to pay attention."
Ancient One, based on her 'experience', estimated the approximate time.
Then she smiled at Kevin again:
"So, do you want to try it yourself?"
She handed the Eye of Agamotto to Kevin with increasing anticipation.
But Kevin then unhesitatingly opened a portal:
"I have something else to do; I won't disturb you."
With that, Kevin entered the portal and left the New York Sanctum.
Now that he knew what he wanted to know and confirmed that the The Boys world would not be in danger in the short term, Kevin naturally prepared to return to the The Boys world.
However, before returning to the The Boys world, he always had to find a way to replenish the skill points he had spent, so that it wouldn't be a loss.
And the way to replenish skill points was actually very simple.
Just find a random villain and kill them.
As for who this unlucky villain was, it entirely depended on who Kevin thought of at the time.
...
After killing a few obscure villains in the Marvel World and gathering six skill points, Hughie's side was basically finished.
Although the process was painful, Hughie did gain superpowers.
Just like in the original plot, Hughie's superpower was still teleportation, and it was still teleportation without clothes.
He also possessed physical qualities and regenerative abilities similar to Annie's.
The teleportation ability was fine, but the latter was not something every Supe possessed.
Although in the three seasons of the main story, it seemed that most superpowers were proficient in physical specialization, whether it was strength, speed, defense, or regenerative ability, they all seemed to far exceed ordinary people.
But just by looking at Gen V, one can see that only a minority of people possess physical specialization.
Most Supes' bodies are actually not much different from ordinary people.
The spin-off protagonist Marie could cut her own skin with just a small knife.
Cate herself, apart from controlling others' minds and altering their memories, was not much different from others in terms of physical quality.
Even most Supes who were modified later in life had physical qualities comparable to ordinary people.
So, don't think that the abilities Hughie gained are very basic; in fact, with his current physique alone, he can already surpass most Supes.
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