Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
In the Anti-World, Colin opened his eyes to the sound of howling winds.
Boom!
However, before he could react, intense flames and an explosion engulfed his body as Ultron's missile accurately struck him.
Amidst the massive impact of the explosion, Colin plummeted like a weightless airplane, piercing through the clouds and crashing heavily into the sea, splashing a large amount of water and creating ripples.
"Target trace lost… Target trace lost…"
Controlling the flame jet propulsion device on its back, Ultron descended to the sea's surface.
Ultron rotated its mechanical eye, which glowed with a crimson light, continuously scanning the sparkling, rippling sea below.
"Target destroyed! Attack mode, end!"
A few seconds later, after confirming there were no signs of the suspected target.
Ultron retracted the dangerous red light from its eyes, and its activated weapon bays closed, returning to their normal state.
"Lock released…"
Withdrawing the offensive weapons on its body, Ultron blasted enormous flames from its back with a tremendous engine roar, circling away from the sea.
"Cough, cough, cough…"
A few minutes after it left, accompanied by several violent coughs.
Colin, who should have died from the missile attack, was now flailing and surfacing.
"Fortunately, I prepared beforehand…"
Spitting out the salty seawater, Colin gasped for air, feeling fortunate.
The process of returning to the Anti-World was more dangerous than he had anticipated, giving him almost no time to react. The moment Colin opened his eyes, the missile had already hit his body.
If he hadn't successfully unlocked Superman's [Invulnerability] in the Main World beforehand.
Perhaps the scorched remains of Colin would be floating on the sea right now. No, that's not right; with the power of that missile, there might not even be a corpse left, simply reduced to ash.
After calming his emotions, he controlled his body to swim towards the shore.
At the same time, Colin shifted his gaze to the text.
[Contacted a Twisted Time Node, collected a small amount of Time Shards (x2)]
[Bronze Mark (3/100)]
[Faith (783/10000)]
Undoubtedly, this 'contact' with Ultron I also generated [Time Shards].
However, if he had a choice, Colin would rather such contact not happen.
After all, compared to casually shaking hands and chatting with Strange, or interviewing Mister Hyde and others to obtain fragments, the process of obtaining these two Time Shards from Ultron was far too dangerous.
The cost-effectiveness was too poor.
Shaking his head and pulling his gaze away from the [Time Shards (Ultron)] on the text, Colin swam towards the coastline, pondering his recent attack.
For Colin, this attack was completely an unprovoked disaster.
Firstly, he had no idea why Ultron attacked him.
The opponent suddenly appeared in the air, without any explanation or warning, and directly fired missiles at him while he was using [Invisibility].
The entire process was illogical.
"So, what did I do to attract Ultron's attack?"
Recalling his peaceful days before, the only unusual thing seemed to be the act of flying.
"This means that by displaying his [Flight] Power and flying into the air, I attracted Ultron's attack…"
He had been careless, thinking that he wouldn't be discovered under the cover of his [Invisibility] Power.
"But why?"
"It was just [Flight]. If I remember correctly, Songbird, a member of the Thunderbolts I interviewed before, also possesses this Power. Why didn't her flying in the air attract Ultron's lock-on and attack?"
"Or is it that Ultron's attacks are only directed at specific targets, and I just happened to become one of them?"
One after another, doubts flashed through Colin's mind.
He recalled how Ultron appeared earlier. Undoubtedly, the opponent had not awakened artificial intelligence, which meant this Ultron was controlled.
"So who controlled Ultron to launch the attack?"
Floating in the sea, Colin looked up at the azure sky above. Sunlight filtered through the clouds, shining on his face with a hint of warmth.
Other than that, it seemed no different from the sky in his memory.
…
By the time Colin swam ashore, the sky by the sea had already darkened.
From a certain resort villa by the sea, he 'borrowed' some clothes, replacing the tattered rags on his body.
Colin began to hurry back, following his memory.
The previous attack made him much more cautious, even using his [Invisibility] Power to walk home.
The entire journey passed calmly and peacefully, with no further accidents or bothersome encounters with unobservant people.
Hoo~
Climbing the stairs, he reached his apartment.
Standing in front of his door, Colin couldn't help but let out a long breath, his figure subtly fading from [Invisibility] mode.
The journey had felt extraordinarily long to him. By the time he reached his doorstep and relaxed, all the previously forgotten fatigue caught up with him, both mentally and physically. At this moment, Colin felt like his head was throbbing as if he had stayed up for a week straight. Perhaps the next second he closed his eyes, he would simply fall asleep.
He forced himself to stay awake and put his hand on the doorknob.
Click!
With a slight twisting sound, the tightly shut door was forcibly twisted open by Colin.
His original key had long since been reduced to ash from Ultron's attack, and he currently had no energy to go find the landlord for another one.
So he simply twisted the door open and went inside first.
Pushing the door open, he entered the room.
"Do you think you can escape Ultron's pursuit like this, Mr. Collin Roper?"
Before Colin could make any move, a hoarse voice suddenly echoed from within the room.
Following that, a blurry figure was seen standing motionless in the shadows by the room's window, speaking.
"Who are you?"
Turning his head to the source of the voice, Colin asked with a solemn expression, feeling speechless inside.
So, is the [Invisibility] Power I unlocked fake?
How can everyone find me?
"…"
After a brief silence, a man dressed in a black trench coat, completely wrapped up, stepped out of the shadows and said.
"Howard Stark, leader of the Dark Avengers…"
Howard Stark?!
Looking at the man who stepped out of the shadows, and the name he uttered, Colin's face showed a mix of shock and bewilderment.
If he remembered correctly, the Stark family had tragically perished in the 1990s, including Howard Stark himself, the founder of Stark Industries.
This was a news report Colin had seen when he first transmigrated.
(The Flight plot has been revised starting from Chapter 31. Readers who haven't seen it can take another look. Also, please continue to support the new book~)
(end of chapter)