Chapter 75 Leisure Time!
In that slightly crowded underground rehearsal room in Brooklyn, the old ventilation fan was still emitting a monotonous whirring sound.
Gwen's long recollection finally came to an end. She stopped telling the story, picked up the mineral water bottle beside her, took a small sip, and her eyes were still somewhat distant.
Having just been immersed in those memories filled with sweat, dust, and mud made her feel in a trance as if that heavy sense of security had wrapped her tightly once again.
The listeners were clearly very dissatisfied with this abrupt ending.
"Just this? What about afterwards? Is it gone? I haven't heard enough yet!"
Jane supported her knees with both hands, leaning forward, her eyes wide open, her face full of the eagerness to continue gossiping.
"It was not easy to hear that guy finally figure things out, taking the initiative to pull your hand and say he wanted to take you home, and then what? What happened after you two went back to that rundown shack that didn't even have a bed?"
Gwen's emotions, which had just been immersed in being moved, were instantly smashed to pieces by this straightforward gossip.
She put down the water bottle, rolled her eyes in annoyance, but an uncontrolled layer of suspicious blush bloomed on her face.
"What's so interesting about what happened afterwards."
She pouted, her eyes subconsciously looking elsewhere, trying to hide her awkwardness.
"It's nothing more than hugging and embracing every day, kissing and acting spoiled, sticking together shamelessly whenever there's free time, like Siamese twins... Saying things like this, just thinking about it makes me feel so awkward, alright."
These words, carrying a bit of disgust but clearly frantically showing off their romance, directly detonated the atmosphere in the rehearsal room.
Jane exaggeratedly made a backward-leaning motion, disdainfully returning an even more vivid eye-roll.
"Ew, you tigress actually know how to feel awkward? This spring-form appearance of yours right now is what's truly awkward, okay? Who is usually the one acting all high and mighty on stage?"
Being exposed to her face, Gwen's already somewhat burning cheeks completely turned red, and even the few small ear studs at her earlobes appeared brighter.
She was indeed a bit embarrassed. After all, admitting to her good friends that she was a clingy love-brain in private was far removed from her usual cool and sassy persona.
She cleared her throat, pretending to be calm as she waved her hand:
"Oh, let's not worry about these minor details of past things. Anyway, the hardest days have passed, and since the story is told, let's leave it at that."
As she spoke, she was already nimbly packing her backpack.
She shoved her phone into her pocket, glanced at the time, and righteously continued the second half of her sentence:
"It's getting late, too lazy to chat nonsense with you guys here, I'm going home to kiss Yu."
As soon as these words came out, a neat, long-drawn-out chorus of "Boo——" immediately sounded throughout the rehearsal room. Mary Jane even laughed and grabbed an empty paper cup, throwing it towards her.
Facing such a massive uproar, even the habitually self-willed Ghost Spider couldn't handle it.
She randomly grabbed the shoulder strap of her backpack, and amidst the laughter, she flushed red and darted out of the rehearsal room like she was fleeing.
Meanwhile, at the other end of Westchester County in New York.
The cool night breeze brushed across the meticulously trimmed large lawn in front of the X-Mansion.
Arthur had just stepped across that orange-sparking Sling Ring Portal, and the scene before him instantly switched from his slightly cramped apartment to this grand and tranquil estate.
He showed no novelty or vigilance, just casually glanced at the old Baroque architectural facade of the academy's main building.
Then, with both hands tucked into his pants pockets, he walked forward with leisurely steps.
Without walking many steps, two figures appeared on the wide stone path ahead.
The elderly man at the head sat upright in a high-tech wheelchair, his crisp dark suit without a single wrinkle.
That iconic bald head shimmered slightly under the streetlamp.
And pushing the wheelchair behind him was a large, strong man covered all over with dense blue fluff, with a pair of black-framed glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, staring at Arthur with a gaze full of inquiry and vigilance.
This was precisely Professor X Charles and Beast Hank.
Facing these two heavyweight bigshots in the MutantWorld, Arthur didn't even pause, directly raising one hand, his tone as relaxed as if he had run into an old neighbor on the street.
"Hello there, Professor."
Charles looked at the Asian youth who had suddenly appeared in the academy's territory and whose entrance method was extremely bizarre, his face still maintaining that kind, World-wise smile, showing no anger caused by the territory being invaded.
"Hello, child." Charles nodded slightly, his voice gentle and steady, "After experiencing that little interlude just now, we have finally officially met."
"Alright, Professor. Our time is very precious, and I have no interest in appreciating the night view here."
Arthur completely didn't want to beat around the bush with these old foxes who liked to speak in riddles.
He had already dealt with the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director today, and had plucked out Hulk's teeth by force; now he just wanted to finish up quickly and go home.
He walked two steps closer, directly cutting to the chase with a straightforward tone:
"Calling me all the way over here isn't it just to figure out my background and see what my stance is? You guys basically have two paths here, whether to choose your peace faction that talks about universal love all day, or go choose Magneto, that reactionary who wreaks havoc everywhere, right?"
Facing this straightforward questioning without any groundwork, Beast Hank behind him frowned, his massive body tightening slightly.
But Charles's expression did not undergo any change, as if he had long anticipated that this young man would not play according to common sense.
"Child, you are indeed very smart and see things very thoroughly." Charles's gaze fixed on Arthur, those deep eyes seeming to be able to embrace everything, "But I had you come today not to make you choose between the two sides. This period of observation has made me feel that a person like you who possesses peculiar powers and acts without any scruples will absolutely never be bound by either side's dogmas. Therefore, I will not force you to join us."
He paused slightly, his gaze becoming serious, slowly speaking out the sole demand of this trip:
"I simply sincerely hope that when you walk in this World, do not agree to Magneto's extreme requests, and do not become a sharp blade in his hands."
After listening, Arthur neatly and cleanly nodded, agreeing without any burden.
"You can rest one hundred percent assured about this, Professor. I already said, I won't join any of your teams to be a thug. Because compared to risking my life for some illusory ideals, I am a person who prefers to live a carefree life."
Hearing this satisfactory reply, Charles revealed a relaxed smile.
Just as the conversation seemed to be ending smoothly, Arthur suddenly leaned forward, breaking the social distance that had just been established.
He touched his chin, his eyes revealing an unconcealed curiosity, and asked in a low voice:
"Actually, since we ran into each other today, I also have a personal question on my end, and I'd like to ask you, this Mutant authority, to answer it."
Charles patiently made a gesture of invitation.
Arthur turned back to glance at the quiet academy, then turned his head back to stare at Charles, tossing out a question sufficient to make ordinary people completely baffled:
"This World we are currently in, is it the old timeline or the new timeline? To put it simply, will there still be that tragic future where sentinel robots fly all over the sky and slaughter Mutants almost to extinction?"
As soon as this question came out, even Charles, who had always been unfazed, saw his pupils suddenly contract.
In those eyes of his that always carried a gentle smile, a rare flash of shock and scrutiny crossed. He took a deep look at Arthur, as if re-evaluating the degree of danger this young man posed.
But this shock only maintained for two seconds.
Soon, he restored that kind appearance, except his tone had a bit more solemnity:
"If judged by those specific events you described... What we are currently in indeed belongs to the new timeline that Logan tried his utmost to change. Those terrible things you mentioned did not happen."
"Oh, it really is like this."
Arthur nodded in sudden realization. He calculated slightly in his heart; since it was a changed timeline, the messy troubles involved in the future should be fewer, at least he wouldn't have to worry about a big purple iron man flying over his head when he went out one day.
Following closely, he had a sudden whim, and another question that he cared deeply about popped into his head, so he once again straightforwardly asked:
"Also, Professor, when you were chatting with me just now... could you read my thoughts?"
Charles did not get angry because of this somewhat offensive question.
He shook his head slightly, and his tone also carried a rare sense of incomprehension:
"Cannot. From the moment you appeared, my consciousness tried to conduct routine probing, but I completely failed to perceive your surface consciousness. When my mental power contacted your brain, it was like encountering a thick and completely impenetrable wall, and it was completely isolated outside."
Hearing this definite reply, Arthur secretly let out a long sigh of relief. The corners of his mouth turned up imperceptibly.
He rapidly reviewed in his heart: It looks like after activating the initial state of the Twelve Talismans from Sorcerer Ancient One, these otherworldly powers are indeed overbearing.
Horse Talisman.
It was clear that not only could it heal any physical injury, but even external invasive mental probes were automatically recognized by it as a harmful abnormal state, immediately establishing a wall of absolute defense.
Now that the biggest hidden danger had been eliminated, there was no need to worry about anyone seeing through his trump cards and memories as a transmigrator in the future.
"Fine, I've got my answer."
Arthur clapped his hands with satisfaction, then gave a dashing wave.
"Since you don't want to recruit me and I have nothing else to do, let's call it a day here. I need to rush home, see ya."
Before his voice even trailed off, and before Charles and Hank could make any reaction, ripples formed in the space behind Arthur as he opened a Portal.
And on the other side of the door was her home..
Stepping through the Portal, he vanished straight out of thin air right in front of the two men, leaving not a trace behind.
Pushing his wheelchair and looking at the empty lawn, Hank wore a look of complete incomprehension.
Adjusting his glasses, he asked in a muffled voice, "Professor, you expended your mental power to lock onto his location, and had us come out specifically to wait for him—did you call him over just to say these two meaningless sentences?"
Charles looked at the spot where Arthur had vanished, slowly shaking his head as the smile at the corner of his mouth deepened.
"Hank, you're wrong, this isn't meaningless. I called him here mainly to see for myself what kind of person this young man who could easily break the rules truly is."
He patted the armrest of his wheelchair and came to a firm conclusion with a steady tone,
"This brief contact has proven my speculation. Clearly, to his very bones, he is a complete individualist belonging to the free faction."
"He doesn't care about so-called factions, only his own life. Such a person will never be restricted by any organization, including S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Mutant Brotherhood."
"As long as this is confirmed, I can completely rest easy."
Charles turned his wheelchair around, signaling Hank to head back,
"I no longer have to worry about him being sweet-talked by Eric's extreme rhetoric and thus turning into a disaster that destroys the World. That's enough."
On the other side, having completed his itinerary for the entire day, Arthur finally used the Portal to return directly to his apartment—which, though small, was cozy enough.
He casually tore off his jacket, tossed it onto the single sofa nearby, and then collapsed stiffly into the comfortable long sofa as if all his strength had been drained.
"Sigh——"
He stared at the yellowish ceiling and let out a long sigh,
"What kind of nonsense is this. There hasn't been a moment of peace since I stepped out today. I just finished dealing with a belly-full-of-bad-intentions black Egghead, and in the blink of an eye, I run into a bunch of old men who love probing others all day long. Why are they all piled up with this kind of people? They're really too hard to deal with."
Just as he was grumbling and relaxing his muscles, the sound of a key turning came from the apartment door.
Immediately after, that figure with short pink hair pushed open the door and walked in.
It was Gwen. She was still wearing that oversized dark gray hoodie from earlier in the day, paired with stone-washed blue ripped jeans.
Clearly, she had run all the way back, and her breathing was slightly uneven.
As soon as she entered, before even putting down her backpack, Gwen walked straight toward Arthur lying on the sofa.
Without any hesitation, like a lazy cat that had finally finished inspecting its territory and returned to its cozy nest, she straddled the sofa and lazily collapsed onto it.
She pressed most of her body's weight onto Arthur, her hands naturally wrapping around Arthur's waist.
That head with pink-gold gradient hair skillfully found the most comfortable angle against Arthur's broad chest, then rubbed against it uninhibitedly like a child, letting out a satisfied soft sigh.
Feeling the warmth and softness carrying a faint laundry detergent scent coming from his chest, Arthur didn't feel any abruptness at all; instead, he very skillfully raised an arm to embrace her slender back.
This shedding of all defenses, this unreserved reliance and intimacy—this was the truest and most normal reaction for Gwen Stacy as a person when facing Arthur.
The superhero in a tight suit punishing evil outside, or the cool girl beating out thrilling rhythms behind the drum set—those were merely the armor she used to cope with the World.
Whereas in this tiny rented apartment, on this sofa, she was merely a little girl in need of a sense of security.
Gwen lay quietly on his chest for a moment, then slowly raised her head.
Those eyes that usually always shimmered with sharp blue light were now staring intently at Arthur's face.
As she watched, she suddenly let out a chuckle and smiled foolishly.
There was not a trace of her usual elusive tsundere in that smile, only full purity and happiness.
Arthur was completely baffled by her baffling laughter. He casually stroked the bridge of her straight nose and couldn't help asking,
"What's wrong? Did you go out and bang on the drums a few times, and bang your head silly, girl?"
Gwen didn't mind his teasing. She still maintained that foolish smile, answering with a voice carrying a slightly clingy and soft nasal tone,
"It's nothing. Just that earlier in the rehearsal room, I reminisced with Jane and the others about the things we experienced back at that construction site and dilapidated house."
Her chin rested on Arthur's collarbone, her gaze turning extremely soft, and her tone even carried a heartfelt sentiment,
"I suddenly felt... that for the two of us to struggle out of that penniless mire and make it all the way to a point where we can lie here with peace of mind, it really wasn't easy at all."
Hearing these words, the smile on Arthur's face receded slightly.
He quietly looked at the person lying on top of him, his thoughts drifting a bit further away along with those words.
He thought carefully along with Gwen's words; it truly hadn't been easy. Thinking back to when they first met, before going to Kamar-Taj to activate the talismans, and before realizing that such heaven-defying power was hidden within his body, he had lived every day in extreme insecurity.
At that time, he was merely an illegal immigrant who had to meticulously calculate what to eat tomorrow and possessed no respectable identity.
Facing Gwen's passionate and persistent love, although he had grasped it tightly, deep down in his heart he had always carried an indescribable sense of inferiority.
He was always afraid that his own weakness would drag her down, and afraid that he couldn't give her the life she wanted.
But now, everything was different.
After all the tossing and turning over the past few days, not only did he now possess the power to walk sideways through this city.
Moreover, imperceptibly, he had forcefully turned that genius Tony from Stark Industries and that calculating Furyfrom S.H.I.E.L.D. into his own take-as-he-pleased 'money vault' and resource bank.
Even if he encountered such a thorny and big trouble like the Hulk today, he could effortlessly push it out for Fury to take the blame and clean up the mess.
That survival pressure and inferiority belonging to him had been completely shattered by these hard currencies.
Therefore, to Arthur, this home had now turned into an absolutely safe fortress.
The only thing he needed to do now was to honestly stay here, cuddle without any worries with the silly girl in his arms who was willing to endure hardships with him, and live the life they wanted.
Pulling himself back from his memories, Arthur glanced at Gwen, who was still lying on his chest with her eyes full of him.
A sudden surge of playfulness rose within him, and he worked his jaw joints. Then he reached out a hand, deliberately pinching the soft flesh beneath his chin and squeezing it back forcefully, manually making a very comical 'double chin' expression in front of Gwen, trying to ruin the slightly heavy atmosphere just now.
Looking at this deliberate ugly-making expression of his, Gwen curled her lips in disdain.
However, those blue eyes of hers that had just been feeling emotional immediately filled with bright, cheerful amusement.
Unceremoniously, she extended a slender, fair finger, pressed it against Arthur's pretentious double chin, and gave it a hard poke, forcefully poking his prank right back.
As this intimate little action ended, Gwen didn't withdraw her hand; instead, she smoothly slid it upward along his chin.
Lifting her upper body slightly, under the gaze of those pitch-black, profound eyes, she leaned forward quite naturally and imprinted a gentle, completely unalloyed kiss near Arthur's lightly stubbled lips.
This kiss carried no desire whatsoever, only the purest attachment.
Parting as soon as they touched, Gwen looked into his eyes and spoke in a voice so soft that only the two of them could hear, yet extraordinarily firm,
"I love you."
The comical expression on Arthur's face completely vanished, replaced by a tenderness strong enough to melt all coldness.
He tightened the arm wrapped around Gwen's back, pressing her even closer against his chest.
Lowering his head, he rested his chin gently atop her shampoo-scented hair crown, like a miser confirming that he possessed the most precious wealth in the entire Universe.
In this quiet night, he gave the most profound response.
"I love you too."
Chapter 76 Chapter Keywords: Zod, Trask, HYDRA
Deep inside Earth, at an unknown depth underground, inside a fully sealed secret Base.
Bright shadowless lamps beat down on the cold concrete floor.
In the open central area, a huge semi-finished sentinel robot was standing tall.
A large group of people wearing white lab coats and black combat uniforms were surrounding this huge metallic body, and the atmosphere was somewhat oppressive.
Not far away by the wall, an ordinary metal chair was placed.
A short, mustache-wearing fellow was sitting on the chair.
His current appearance looked very down-and-out; not only was his head full of withered white hair, but the wrinkles on his face were also frighteningly deep.
He was none other than Dr. Trask, who had single-handedly led the Sentinel Program back then.
Although he was forcibly locked in this dark, miserable place, surrounded by fully armed HYDRA guards, this old man's stubborn temper had not been worn down in the slightest.
"I said it! I no longer have the energy to do any molecular self-adaptive technology now!"
Trask sat on the chair, roaring irritably while waving his arms vigorously, as if driving away some disgusting flies.
"You guys don't need to waste time on me either! I have already seen through it. I am already in my seventies now, and I simply don't have the energy to research these exhausting projects!"
This bout of shouting seemed to be too much for his already aging body to handle.
Trask suddenly opened his mouth, taking several heavy gasps of rough breath, and then coughed violently.
He clenched his trembling fists and rubbed hard against his chest, taking a long time to catch his breath smoothly.
"People get old, and some things are simply beyond one's control."
His voice lowered, and he smoothly leaned backward, resting the full weight of his body against the hard back of the chair.
He stared blankly at the grayish-white ceiling, his tone full of resigned despair.
"The Sentinel Program, that was from how many years ago. Having gone through so many changes, I no longer want to mess with these damned things."
He even closed his eyes, muttering as if pronouncing a death sentence:
"You guys better give up quickly, stop forcing me anymore, beat me to death and I really can't do it anymore."
Just at this moment, among the crowd surrounding the robot, a man with a slicked-back hairstyle who looked like the leader of this bunch stepped out.
The leather shoes stepped on the metal grid floor, making a crisp sound.
The leader walked up to Trask, bowed slightly in a very gentlemanly manner, with a half-smile expression on his face.
"Dr. Trask, don't speak so definitively. Actually, I personally admire this rebellious spirit in you, but have you calmed down to think carefully? If your hard work hadn't been in vain back then, if the Sentinel Program had successfully succeeded smoothly, what kind of glorious future should you be enjoying right now?"
While speaking, the leader walked around Trask's chair, continuing with a bewitching voice:
"As long as the plan succeeds, you can completely rely on that massive Sentinel legion to stride directly toward the peak of your life. You can righteously use the noble reason of protecting all mankind from Mutant harm to rake in money wildly."
"And on the outside, you can logically become the only savior of humanity against Mutants. On the inside, as long as you grasp this power, you can definitely stand at the absolute peak of power in the entire society. That is gaining both fame and fortune in the true sense."
Speaking of this, the leader suddenly stopped, leaned close to Trask again, his tone becoming sharp and piercing:
"But what about it? Everything became a bubble. It was all because of that shapeshifting Mystique, because of that claw-bearing Wolverine, and because of that Magnetowho threw iron chunks everywhere. Just because of that bunch of Mutants meddling in, everything was smashed. Not only is your future gone, but you yourself were locked in prison and suffered endlessly."
The leader stared into Trask's eyes and asked word by word: "Having all this taken away, don't you hate it at all?"
Hearing this sentence, a flash of uncontrollable resentment suddenly swept through Trask's previously lifeless eyes.
This fire was real; just as the leader said, his future should have been bright, a great person written into history, but in the end, he was reduced to a prisoner. Who could bear this if it happened to them?
But this flash of fire only lasted for two seconds; soon, that intense resentment completely vanished.
Trask lowered his head to look at his withered hands covered in age spots.
He certainly wanted revenge, but he was already in his seventies, panting just walking, and his organs were failing.
If he really made up his mind to take revenge, did he still have the energy to drag this disabled body and lead a team?
To take ten thousand steps back, did his own body, which could breathe its last at any moment, even have the life to live until the day he saw his successful revenge?
Seeming to see through Trask's internal struggle and concerns at a glance, the temporary leader suddenly laughed.
"You can rest assured about this. Time is not a problem for us."
The leader straightened his body and threw out his trump card with an extremely affirmative tone:
"As long as you nod and are willing to continue wholeheartedly contributing to the unfinished Sentinel Program, we HYDRA definitely have a way to immediately help you prolong your life and even return to a fraction of your youthful energy."
Hearing this, Trask was indeed somewhat tempted.
But when he briefly ran the concept of prolonging life—something that only existed in fantasy novels—through his mind, reason regained the upper hand.
As a top scientist, he knew better than anyone that humanity's current medical technology simply did not possess such heaven-defying and fate-changing capabilities.
He looked at the leader suspiciously and mocked ruthlessly:
"Are your brains sick? Are you HYDRA people really that amazing? Without even breaking through Earth's technology, you are here making empty promises to guarantee longevity for me?"
That HYDRA temporary leader was not angry at all; instead of explaining, he raised his hands with great confidence and clapped heavily twice.
Not long after the crisp clapping sound fell, the muffled sound of a password door opening rang out.
Immediately following, a neat yet heavily weighted sound of footsteps came from the corridor outside the door.
A figure strode in through the door. This person was not wearing Earthling clothes, but was wearing a high-tech alien armor full of exotic industrial feel, and even his posture while walking carried a sense of all-defying arrogance.
He casually glanced at the people gathered in the room and said in an icy voice: "Looks like the atmosphere here is quite lively."
The temporary leader immediately turned around, raised his hand to point at the newcomer, and introduced him to Trask with a somewhat respectful tone:
"Please allow me to introduce him to you. This is General Zod, who was once the highest general of the great Kryptonian civilization."
"The alien spaceship he is currently riding is parked right outside Earth's atmosphere. The Kryptonian technology he holds in his hands, let alone just prolonging your life, can even easily elevate Earthling humanity's existing technology by several cross-era levels."
The leader smoothly added the final big-picture statement:
"Currently, the great General Zod is carrying out a very deep alliance cooperation with us HYDRA. Our ultimate plan is to conquer the entire Earth and rule all humanity."
Standing aside, Zod's facial muscles twitched slightly upon hearing this last sentence, and he directly let out a short sneer.
He felt it was extremely ridiculous in his heart. What he valued was merely the deeply rooted intelligence network of a parasitic organization like HYDRA on Earth; he purely needed them to act as errand-running pawns for his subsequent plundering plans.
As for ruling all humanity? What a bullshit joke. His only purpose of coming to Earth was to kill and annihilate all humanity, and directly use the terraforming engine to completely turn this place into a second new Krypton for Kryptonians to reproduce.
He couldn't be bothered to share the truth with these humans. Zod directly strode up to Trask, looking down condescendingly at this worthless old man.
"Old gentleman. As long as you are willing to nod and agree, I can casually let you live a few decades longer on this lousy Planet."
Zod did not hide his arrogance at all, "But the premise is that you must be able to complete what I want you to build."
After the reprimand, Zod immediately turned his head, staring fixedly at that HYDRA temporary leader, and directly extended his armor-covered palm, demanding in a commanding tone:
"Stop talking nonsense, where is the thing I want?"
The temporary leader snapped his fingers very submissively.
A subordinate standing beside the leader immediately took the order. He quickly squatted down, lifted a heavily encrypted and locked thick briefcase from beside his feet, and then placed the box flat on the equipment table aside.
The subordinate quickly entered the password and snapped open the latch. With a crisp "click" sound, the lid of the briefcase was flipped open.
Inside quietly lay a stone as big as half an adult's head.
And most strikingly, this stone's whole body was constantly radiating extremely dazzling and intense green light outward.
When this strange luster shone out and sprinkled into the entire room at that moment,
Zod, who was overbearing in the previous second, suddenly turned pale in face.
He acutely felt that inside his incomparably powerful body, all cells and genes at this moment seemed to encounter a natural enemy, and began to be completely suppressed by an irresistible sense of weakness.
This extreme physiological rejection made him immediately knit his brows tightly, instinctively stepping back half a step, and roaring loudly with a somewhat stuffy voice:
"Get it away from me quickly! I extremely hate this disgusting thing!"
Seeing this, the subordinate was startled and shook, hastily fumbling to stuff that Kryptonite back into the protective box and snapping the box lid shut tightly.
As the green light was isolated, Zod only then felt that the oxygen supply in his lungs had returned to normal. He heavily exhaled a breath of foul air, and only then felt much better.
Trask sat on the chair, taking in this whole series of thrilling changes right before his eyes.
He was truly somewhat surprised this time.
This organization named HYDRA, which had long been declared collapsed by the outside World, actually hooked up with aliens in secret.
And even the glowing magical alien stone was taken out, which simply exceeded the limit of his cognition.
Facing this solid corroboration, Trask felt his heart start beating wildly out of control.
At this moment, whether it was the longevity promised by the leader or the heart of revenge that had already been ignited by a few words, his heart was completely moved.
However, he was naturally suspicious. To prevent himself from being fooled as cannon fodder by these people, he still decided to keep his guard up.
"Fine. I believe you."
Trask gripped his thighs with both hands, forcefully straightened his body, stared fixedly at the leader, and asked, "Since you want to do something big, you HYDRAmust have some specific action plan, right? Don't boastfully tell me that you just kidnapped me here, yet haven't even thought of a single specific plan to advance it?"
Facing this final interrogation, the HYDRA leader not only didn't panic, but instead smiled slightly with great composure.
"Dr. Trask, do you think that's possible?" The leader patted the dust off his hands, his tone full of the organization's unique conceit, "The biggest reliance for why we HYDRAhave been able to endure and survive to this day is a precise plan that is always a step ahead."
He turned his head, looked at the Kryptonian general who had recovered his senses, and said: "The next things are very easy to handle, and don't even require mobilizing a large army at all. It only requires General Zod to step forward slightly and make a minor move to solve the problem."
After hearing this, Zod let out a cold hum, slightly raised his chin, looked sideways at the other party, and said: "Oh? Need me to personally make a move? On this backward lousy Planet, tell me, how do you need me to make a move?"
The temporary leader did not answer, but walked straight to the large screen beside the console that occupied a full half of the wall. He tapped quickly on the keyboard a few times, exporting a pre-saved file onto the screen.
The screen flashed, and a panoramic overhead surveillance image appeared. In the image was precisely the bustling lawn of the Mutant X-Mansion where Charles was located.
The leader moved the mouse, and the image instantly zoomed in and tightly focused on a woman. It was precisely Mystique, who possessed blue scaly skin.
"This is very simple. It only requires General Zod to use your unrivaled speed, make a personal trip, and capture this person."
The leader pointed at Mystique on the screen, his eyes gradually becoming fanatical, "No matter what method you use, bring her to justice immediately. Then bring her back, and get her directly into our current Base located a thousand meters underground."
The leader looked at the two shocked people and continued to explain:
"Don't think this is very simple. This place has an extremely massive amount of thick rock layers, coupled with the coverage of various natural terrains on the surface; these directly constitute the first layer of physical barrier protecting us."
"What's even more amazing is that in the most sensitive core area inside this Base, we spent a lot of money to use a large amount of special shielding metal, completely making and wrapping it into an insulated house. This is our second layer of barrier."
He clenched his fists with extreme confidence: "With this layer of metal protection, it can very effectively and completely shield the mental power of that Charles who has been probing with his brain up above. There is no need to worry at all that he will come looking for us."
The leader walked to Trask's side and threw out the ultimate goal:
"At that time, as long as the person is in place, all technical personnel inside our HYDRA will obey your command entirely. Inside this fully sealed iron box, we will help Professor Trask race against time to disassemble Mystique. We will study her genes and bone marrow thoroughly, peeling back the cocoon layer by layer, to make a more powerful sentinel robot."
Afterwards, he glanced at the box holding the stone and then glanced at Zod:
"When everything is completed, the last step is to add the Kryptonite shown just now. Arm the Sentinel with it, specifically used to counter that tricky Kryptoniancompatriot you mentioned. This is the killer move."
The leader took a deep breath and made the final conclusion.
"Everyone, what has been said above is the first round of the plan promoted by HYDRA. As long as this plan can be perfectly concluded step by step, we will immediately start the second round of the plan to rule the World."
As the words fell, the Base's workshop was so quiet that the buzzing of the exhaust fan could be heard.
At this moment, Trask sat on the chair; having heard this complete plan, his entire person was completely dumbfounded.
His already degenerated brain was running frantically, but it couldn't process this crazy information no matter what.
What the hell is digging through the entire Earth's surface to establish a Base a thousand meters underground? What is directly taking the core area of the entire Base and making it entirely out of special shielding metal just to prevent one person's brainwaves?
Disassembling a female Mutant to do experiments was shocking enough, and in the end, they actually had to mix in an alien green stone that could suppress Kryptonians?
Just how huge of a heaven-shaking conspiracy were these lunatics plotting?
Chapter 77 Tony: I treat you as a brother, yet you are thinking of another man"
As the night grew deeper, inside that not-so-large yet lively apartment in Brooklyn, the warm yellow light softly spread across the living room carpet.
Arthur leaned comfortably against the spacious fabric sofa, his chest rising and falling slightly.
Yet in his arms, Gwen, the Spider-Woman who always wore a cool expression outside and beat others black and blue, was currently curled up tightly like a completely defenceless cat, her head resting securely against Arthur's heart.
Arthur lowered his head slightly, looking at that pink-and-gold gradient short hair, and stretched out his hand to stroke it absentmindedly.
His fingertips passed through her soft hair strands, his movements as light as smoothing the fur of a real cat.
Gwen rubbed herself comfortably further into his arms, her throat even emitting an extremely faint, spoiled-like murmuring sound, her arms tightly wrapping around Arthur's waist as if afraid this brief peace would grow wings and fly away.
On this night that had just calmed the frantic rampage of Hulk and casually resolved Mystique's transformation probing, such everyday tenderness that required no mobilization of any abilities or calculation of any plots seemed even more precious than gold.
However, this brief tranquility did not last long.
As if some eerie Murphy's Law was at work, the atmosphere in the living room was forcibly shattered by three completely different forces in the exact same second.
The first to make a move was the special black communicator bearing the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo that Arthur had casually tossed on the coffee table.
That gadget suddenly vibrated wildly like it had epilepsy, the screen flashing with a blinding red light representing the highest-level call.
Almost at the same moment, the smartphone Arthur kept in his pants pocket also cried out and rang, its unique exclusive ringtone indicating that the caller was a certain billionaire who had just been shoved onto the operating table.
That was not all; the most absurd part was that in front of the living room, which had been empty save for the TV cabinet, the air suddenly twisted violently.
Accompanied by a "zzz" sound like a blade cutting glass, a Portal with its edges constantly spurting golden sparks formed out of thin air in a circle.
Behind the sparking door stood the Sorcerer Ancient Onedraped in bright yellow monk robes.
Her hands were casually crossed in front of her chest, a signature, all-knowing gentle smile hanging on her face.
Arthur stopped his hand that was stroking the hair, completely stunned on the sofa.
He looked at the frantically vibrating S.H.I.E.L.D. exclusive device on the tabletop, then touched his phone vibrating so hard in his pocket that his thigh went numb, and finally fixed his gaze on the face of that Sorcerer Supremeopposite the Portal.
Arthur cursed inwardly: "Damn it, did these people discuss it in a chat group to count down three numbers together to find me?"
Without the slightest hesitation, his first reaction was to free up one hand to grab the S.H.I.E.L.D. communicator on the coffee table, his fingers precisely pressing the reject button.
This lousy machine went dark and silent directly.
Anyway, that one-eyed Agent boss Nick Fury never looked for him with anything good in mind.
Either to clean up a mess or to take the fall, relying on the strength he had previously demonstrated and his extremely high honorary rank privileges that were practically equivalent to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cheat codes, Arthurdidn't take this Agent King's urgent call seriously at all, planning to leave him hanging for a while first.
After pressing the hang-up button, Arthur smoothly pulled out his still-ringing phone, swiping his fingertips to answer the call.
At the same time, his other hand gently patted the shoulder of Gwen, who was still somewhat dazed in his arms, and wrapping his arm around her waist, he stood up, walked forward without hesitation, and led the still somewhat bewildered Gwen directly into that golden Portal.
The two arrived inside a meditation room in Kamar-Taj.
The Ancient One smiled as she watched them walk in, her gaze sweeping over Arthur's hand holding the phone that was currently in a call. She didn't speak, but instead very considerately extended a finger and gently pointed at Arthur's phone.
The meaning could not be more obvious: You handle your worldly phone call first, I can wait.
Arthur nodded gratefully towards the Ancient One, then directly raised the phone to his ear, taking the lead to break the silence.
"Hey, Stark, is there something you want, calling me in the middle of the night?"
Tony Stark's voice immediately came from the other end of the phone.
The previous undisguised weakness, or the fatigue carrying a sense of breaking-the-pot-since-it's-already-cracked, had completely vanished.
The voice now reaching Arthur's ears was full of vigor and light-toned, even carrying an excitement and arrogance like a rebirth, and his condition sounded exceptionally good.
"First, I must correct you, my poor friend, my name is not Stark. Second..."
Tony paused on the other end of the phone, and in the background sound one could even hear the crisp clinking of wine glasses, his tone filled with undisguised admiration.
"The Dr. Stephen Strange you went through all kinds of trouble to find has indeed quite formidable hands. That micromanagement surgery where even a one-millimeter tremor of his fingers would slice my heart directly to pieces, he actually managed to pull it off successfully."
Hearing this, Arthur couldn't help laughing out loud, his tone full of matter-of-factness.
"Of course, would I lie to you? Who are we to each other? You're my brother."
"Right, right, right, right! You're also my brother, and after tonight, definitely like real brothers!"
Tony on the other end of the phone laughed even louder, and then shifted the topic, his tone full of suppressed invitation.
"I say, friend, are you free right now? I'm now completely free from that heavy Ark Reactor on my chest. You can't imagine how refreshed I feel all over right now, even my breathing is smooth. No more nonsense, I want to treat you to a good meal, right now."
Hearing that someone was treating to a meal, Arthur's eyes instinctively lit up.
He was just about to casually agree, but the corner of his eye caught sight of the Sorcerer Ancient One standing quietly to the side, lowering her eyebrows as if brewing tea.
Arthur swallowed back the words that were at the tip of his tongue.
He knew very well the style of conduct of this Sorcerer Supreme of Kamar-Taj.
This big shot who monitored the multiverse and various dimensional invasion crises year round, unless some major change occurred or there was an extremely important matter, would absolutely not personally open a Portal in the middle of the night and run to his apartment living room to find him.
Weighing things slightly, he had no choice but to stall on the other end of the phone first:
"Sorry, ha, I might have to eat this meal a bit later. My teacher came to find me, and it looks like there's some private business to discuss. Once we finish chatting here in a while, I'll head over to your place for a free meal."
Tony on the other end of the phone was obviously somewhat surprised, even raising his speaking voice by an octave.
"You guy actually have a teacher? What does she teach you? Teaching you how to punch straight through several walls against that shield-wielding antique?"
However, Tony did not continue to probe deeply into this question; since Arthur had serious business, he said very decisively:
"Fine, suit yourself then. Anyway, I also need to have someone prepare the ingredients, come straight over to find me once you're done talking over there."
Having said that, he cheerfully hung up the phone.
Arthur tucked his phone back into his pocket, and only then pulled Gwen to walk over to that low table.
He looked towards the Ancient One, his expression restraining somewhat, and asked: "Teacher Ancient One, descending suddenly in the middle of the night, is there something the matter?"
The Ancient One did not answer directly, but instead held the teapot and poured steaming hot tea into the teacup, then pointed at the chair beside the table.
Arthur held Gwen's hand as they walked over, and the two sat down side by side.
Although Gwen did not know what level of existence this bald-headed sorcerer wearing yellow robes in front of her was, she could guess a few things from Arthur's relatively respectful attitude.
She obediently sat by Arthur's side without saying a word, only tightly holding his hand.
Once the two were seated, the Ancient One put down the teapot, looked calmly at Arthur, and the very first sentence she spoke made the air in the room seem to freeze for a second.
"Because of you, I can no longer see the future at all."
The Ancient One's voice was very calm, without any meaning of blame, just like stating an extremely ordinary natural phenomenon.
"In the past, I could see the trajectory of countless timelines through the Eye of Agamotto. But now, in my observation, as long as it involves futures where you exist, they are all in a state of chaos."
"That feeling is just like a giant ball of yarn tangled together in a chaotic manner, which cannot be sorted out no matter what, nor unraveled."
Arthur frowned without replying, waiting for her to continue speaking.
"As the Guardian of this dimension, my duties have actually been fading away at a speed I can perceive from the very moment you crossed over and appeared here."
The Ancient One picked up the teacup in front of her and took a gentle sip, as if savoring that trace of bitterness.
"Looking at that unpredictable chaos, I am wondering whether I should end my duties of these past few hundreds of years early. Perhaps handing this impenetrable future entirely over to you, a variable, to handle as early as possible is the most correct choice to conform to the laws."
Hearing this, Arthur's body, which had been leaning back on the chair, lurched forward abruptly, and he raised his hand to hastily cut off her subsequent words.
"Teacher, please stop right there! Don't say things like that!"
Arthur's tone was somewhat urgent; he knew all too well what was going on inside the head of this sorcerer who had lived for who knows how many years. While other people feared death, this big shot had lived enough and kept trying every trick in the book to find an opportunity to retire and die.
Arthur took a deep breath, unmercifully puncturing a certain absurd possibility, and said bluntly
"I really don't want to see you, a Sorcerer Supreme as powerful as you who has protected Earth for most of your life, end up finishing yourself off in such a bizarre way, especially falling to your death right on the street. Not only is this way of dying completely lacking in dignity, but it's also truly absurd, Master!"
Although Arthur knew very well in his heart that the cause of death in that plot was mainly because Ancient One was already tired and wanted to take the opportunity to wash her hands of everything and pass away, if a character capable of arm-wrestling with dimensional demons were to simply and crudely fall to the ground and die like that, no matter from which angle one looked at it, it would be too hard to convince the public.
Hearing Arthur's uninhibited and even somewhat blasphemous words, Ancient One did not get angry.
Instead, she let out a very light chuckle, her smile carrying a sense of detachment from worldly affairs and relief.
"A long time ago, I had already made full preparations for my departure. To me, life and death have long been a door that can be pushed open at any time."
Ancient One looked calmly at Arthur. "As for when it will finally end, in the timeline without you before, I knew very well when that moment would arrive. But now I have completely lost track of it."
"Perhaps that door will be pushed open in the very next moment, perhaps it will seamlessly overlap with the original timeline due to some fortuitous coincidence, or perhaps, because of this chaos, it will become much further away than imagined."
Seeing her impervious and unconcerned attitude toward death, Arthur could not help raising his hand again to make a stopping gesture, interrupting once more:
"Master, is this because you've spent too much time alone, your emotions suddenly broke through the dam, and you ran over in the middle of the night to emo with me?"
As soon as these words came out, the conversation, originally filled with Zen and a philosophical atmosphere, instantly stalled.
In Ancient One's deep and wise eyes, a rare trace of confusion flashed by.
Although she was well-versed in ancient and modern knowledge and knew countless magic tomes, she clearly had no concept of buzzwords like "emo," which did not exist in the current World and carried a strong modern internet abstract flavor.
She tilted her head slightly, as if searching her mind to see in which obscure language family this vocabulary was recorded.
Looking at Ancient One's slightly stunned expression, Arthur abruptly slapped his own forehead, secretly cursing himself for having a fast mouth.
He hurriedly put on a smiling face, trying to round the words back:
"Sorry, sorry, I was tainted by abstract culture back in my hometown for too long. Just now my brain spasmed and I blurted it out, never expecting that you haven't been exposed to this word. Anyway, it's not a good word, so you can just forget it, haha, just pretend I said nothing about that syllable just now."
Seeing Ancient One's gaze return to calmness, Arthurimmediately cleared his throat, pretending as if no minor episode had happened, forcibly pulling the topic back on track, and continued:
"Taking a step back, even if you really feel tired and don't want to do this anymore, if all else fails, before you plan to recklessly wash your hands of it all, at least drag that guy Stephen Strange up the mountain to cultivate him!"
Arthur counted on his fingers for her:
"After all, according to the fate of this Universe, he is destined to be the future Sorcerer Supreme. If you just pat your butt and leave right now, wouldn't there be no one left to bite the bullet, inherit your mantle, and block those alien giant bugs every day?"
In fact, Ancient One knew it clearly in her heart. She had indeed considered earlier what it would be like if she handed the burden over to Arthur.
But given the willful personality Arthur currently displayed—one that extremely resisted being kidnapped by responsibilities—if she really forced him to be her successor, he would definitely drop his load and run away the very second day after being elected; there was zero suspense about this matter.
In the end, going in circles, the heavy burden of guarding the dimensions would still have to be placed on Strange, who was still serving as an attending physician in a hospital bed.
"Actually, this matter is easy to handle."
Seeing Ancient One's silence, Arthur immediately threw out his chips:
"When Tony had his surgery earlier, in order to force that guy to go under the knife quickly, I thoroughly demonstrated our set of Portal-opening magic over at that Strange's place."
"As long as he has seen those things beyond reason, his extremely arrogant scientist mindset has already cracked. I figure that as long as I move my lips a bit and throw out some unbelievable bait, it will be very easy to trick him over to our Kamar-Taj to climb stairs."
Hearing Arthur's all-encompassing, bandit-style recruitment campaign, Ancient One shook her head slightly.
"Forget it. The fruit obtained by force is bitter after all."
Ancient One picked up the lukewarm tea and drank it in one gulp.
"Let things develop naturally. Under the giant wheel of fate, what is meant to come will surely come; he will have his own opportunity to set foot on this path."
Since the words had already reached this point, Arthurshrugged. Anyway, this person was his teacher, so he might as well listen to her arrangements; not interfering would just save him trouble.
After ending this somewhat heavy topic that felt like final arrangements, Arthur stood up and bid farewell to Ancient One. Ancient One only nodded slightly, closed her eyes, and continued sitting quietly in meditation.
Arthur directly raised his hand to draw a circle in the air. After a burst of sparks flashed, he led Gwen through the Portal, directly targeting Stark's luxury seaside residence.
Stepping through the light door, what came into view was that huge and luxurious living room.
At this moment, that technical madman Tony Stark, who in the past was always wearing mecha or wrinkled work clothes, was wearing a sophisticated and comfortable high-end custom casual suit, standing beside the wide marble island counter.
He was joyfully instructing his personal assistant and confidante, Pepper Potts, to place plates of breathtakingly exquisite food all over the tabletop.
In this imperceptibly passing time, the night had grown so deep that it could be said to be a bit too late even for a midnight snack; if one insisted on calling this dinner right now, it would seem too far-fetched and several hours too early.
Hearing the sizzling sound of the Portal opening, Tonyimmediately turned around. Seeing Arthur holding Gwen's hand and stepping out of the sparks completely unharmed, the smile on Tony's face bloomed instantly.
"Oh! Look who's here!"
Tony directly dropped the dinner plate, strode over, opened his arms, and shouted in an exaggerated tone:
"My good brother, the man who can always bring me a huge'surprise', you've finally come!"
Arthur let go of Gwen's hand, smiled, stepped forward, and gave a solid hug to this high-spirited billionaire.
When the two released their hug and stepped back half a step to open up a distance, Arthur's sharp gaze naturally fell upon the position of Tony's chest.
Although separated by the thin shirt fabric, Arthur knew that was where the reactor used to be placed.
On that patch of skin, there currently remained a slender scar just sutured today by Strange as the lead surgeon, still bearing fresh surgical traces.
Without even saying hello, Arthur directly and unceremoniously raised his right hand.
With a slight shift of his mind, one of the Twelve Talismansemitted a faint resonance.
He directly invoked the Horse Talisman, then waved it gently, patting this invisible force directly onto Tony's chest.
It was merely the time of a single breath.
That power instantly permeated to the base of the skin. Tony immediately felt a warm sensation coming from the incision on his chest that had previously still ached dully and been tightly strained.
Following closely, the sutured mark was completely smoothed out at a speed visible to the naked eye. All wounds, severed tissues, and the redness and swelling left behind by the surgery vanished without a trace instantly, so smooth that not even a trace of a new scar was left behind.
Tony blankly lowered his head to look at his chest, which had completely recovered as before, to the point where not even a shred of discomfort could be found.
He stiffly raised his head again, looked at Arthur standing before him with a relaxed expression, and finally fixed his gaze dead-set on the hand that Arthur had just used to wield the Horse Talisman's power, which was still suspended in mid-air.
Tony opened his mouth, and his tongue spun around several times in his mouth. That mouth which usually could shred people to pieces stalled for a full dozen seconds, and finally, in disbelief, he squeezed out a question:
"You... you guy clearly have such an outrageous instant healing ability! Why didn't you just use it to help me get those damn shrapnel near my heart and lungs out before?! And I went and did that time-wasting surgery?!"
Facing the billionaire's exasperated soul-searching interrogation, Arthur didn't even blink an eye.
He very naturally withdrew his hand, walked over to Tony, and patted him on the shoulder of his expensive custom shirt earnestly, just like comforting an irritable brother.
"Alright, alright, don't get so hot-headed."
A matter-of-fact smile hung on the corner of Arthur's mouth, and he casually spouted nonsense in an extremely punchable tone:
"Just think, if I had made a move earlier and completely cured you directly with this ability, how could I farm screen time in the story for that renowned Dr. Stephen Strange? He has to show his hand first, right?"
Hearing this utterly baffling heresy, Tony's face, which had just been red with anger, froze instantly.
Facing Arthur's innocent expression that seemed to be written all over with "I am doing this for the greater good," he very clearly displayed a face full of profound question marks.
Chapter 78: Heading Straight into the Main Plot Soon
Inside the living room of Tony Stark's huge and luxuriously decorated seaside Villa, the wide marble kitchen island was covered with top-tier dishes that looked enticing.
This place had just witnessed a miraculous wound healing that exceeded scientific understanding, but now, the air was not filled with awe for supernatural powers, but rather an infuriatingly thick, sweet atmosphere.
Arthur leaned back comfortably against the backrest of the high-end leather bar stool, holding a pair of silver cutlery in his hand.
Gwen sat by his side, that dark gray oversized hoodie still draped loosely over her body, her body slightly turned, her arm intimately pressed against Arthur's arm.
The cold, aloof aura that kept strangers at a distance in the rehearsal room and on the streets had long since vanished in this room.
Arthur casually used a fork to pick up a small piece of perfectly prepared top-grade Wagyu beef, flipped his wrist, and steadily delivered it to Gwen's lips.
Not only did Gwen not refuse, but she naturally raised her head slightly, opened her mouth to bite off the piece of meat, and smoothly brushed gently against the back of Arthur's hand, her eyes carrying a hint of tender sweetness that would only reveal itself in front of Arthur.
Tony sat opposite the kitchen island, holding a glass of red wine, looking exceptionally irritable overall.
He stared at the two people opposite him feeding each other as if no one else was around, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help twitching several times.
As the owner of this mansion, and the host who had just paid all the expenses for this midnight snack, he suddenly felt that sitting here was as redundant as a one-hundred-percent pure giant light bulb.
He forcedly averted his gaze and turned to look to his left. Sitting over there was Dr. Yinsen.
This kind and elderly surgeon was meditating with eyes focused on the nose, wearing that pair of old-fashioned glasses, and using cutlery to very attentively and slowly deal with a portion of vegetable salad on his plate. Having experienced life and Death, the elderly had long lost interest in the hormone-exploding passion of young people.
For him, being able to safely and soundly sit here and eat was better than anything else, and he didn't care at all about the pink bubbles floating across the table.
Tony looked at Yinsen's wrinkled face, and imagined the picture of himself and Yinsen feeding each other, causing his stomach to churn for no reason.
That image was too destructive, and he felt that if he really did that, he might as well just die directly on the operating table of that conceited Dr. Stephen Strange this afternoon.
To cleanse the visual pollution in his eyes, Tonyimmediately flung his gaze to the right.
The current helm of Stark Industries, Virginia Potts, was currently standing by the nearby bar counter, lowering her head to use the overhead light to intently flip through a stack of newly delivered internal documents.
Tony suddenly felt his throat felt a bit dry; he cleared his throat, put down his wine glass, and shouted in a deliberately lowered voice that he thought was very mature and charming.
"My Pepper, come over here."
Hearing the call, Potts stopped the pen in her hand. She raised her head, first glancing at Stark's pretentious expression, and then her gaze quietly slid over to Arthurand Gwen, who were still lovingly picking food for each other opposite.
As a personal assistant who had been by Tony's side for many years and had long figured out his little thoughts inside out, Potts naturally saw through what kind of madness her billionaire boss was suddenly acting out at a glance.
She casually placed the documents on the countertop, walked over with steady steps, and stopped by Tony's side.
In the few seconds while Potts approached, Arthur on the opposite side noticed Tony's movement.
Arthur stopped his hand movements, and smiled very slightly at Tony's face, which clearly carried a boastful meaning.
Following that, Arthur picked up a bright green, thin lettuce leaf wrapping roast meat. But he didn't hand it over with his hand; instead, he lowered his head, slightly opened his lips, and gently bit a portion of it between his lips.
He turned his head sideways, bringing his face close to Gwen by his side.
Gwen was originally chewing the food in her mouth in small bites, but out of the corner of her eye she caught Arthur's action, and with an extremely slight movement, she glanced at Stark and Potts staring at them from across.
A layer of light pink blush instantly appeared on that fair face.
Because of having experienced too many traumas of loss in the past, she had long left all her dignity and bottom line to the man beside her.
She couldn't care less about the gazes of strangers, shyly closed her bright blue eyes, raised her chin slightly, and met Arthur's lips.
Their lips gently touched in mid-air, the tips of Gwen's teeth accurately biting onto that half-piece of lettuce leaf exposed outside Arthur's lips, her teeth gently closing together to make a faint crisp sound, cutting the lettuce leaf in half from the middle.
Arthur took the opportunity to back away, smiling all over his face as he slightly raised his eyebrows at Tonyopposite, the provocative meaning almost overflowing from his eyes.
Tony had originally only wanted to put on a simple act, but after seeing Arthur's routine, that unyielding competitive spirit deep in his heart was instantly completely ignited.
He turned his head somewhat unwillingly, staring straight at Potts standing beside him.
Potts lowered her head to look at Tony, the corners of her mouth hooking into a faint, elusive professional smile.
Very cooperatively, she picked up the spare long skewer on the edge of Tony's plate, spearing a piece of mushroom drenched in sauce.
Afterwards, in Tony's instantly dilated pupils, Potts made the exact same movement. She lowered her head, her lips close to the skewer, firmly clamping that small piece of mushroom between her soft lips and teeth.
Watching Potts's face getting lower and lower, the flame in Tony's heart instantly surged high.
He had originally just wanted to call someone over to cooperate in getting him out of the awkward situation and recover some face, completely not expecting that this female assistant, who had always strictly separated public and private matters, was actually willing to follow this absurd pretext to play this utterly bottomless game with him.
Tony's heartbeat began to accelerate, and feeling somewhat secretly excited, he slightly raised his chin, staring straight at that mushroom close at hand, preparing to welcome the upcoming intimate contact.
Just when Tony's lips were less than two centimeters away from Potts.
With a very decisive movement, Potts took half a step back, her lips moving slightly as she neatly rolled the entire piece of mushroom into her mouth.
She chewed twice expressionlessly and swallowed it down.
Not even sparing an extra glance to the billionaire whose chin was still frozen in mid-air, she turned around, stepping in high heels, and walked back to her previous position with a steady pace, picking up her pen to continue checking that stack of complex data files.
The surroundings of the entire kitchen island were quiet for a few seconds.
Tony stood stunned in his original seat as if cast under a body-binding spell, his neck still maintaining that awkward slightly raised posture.
Until an irrepressibly muffled sound came from across, Tony stiffly turned his head.
He saw Arthur covering his mouth with his hand, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably, and that face trying hard to hold back a laugh looked extremely punchable.
Just now, Potts's neat and decisive feint directly shattered Stark's face into tiny pieces.
Tony clenched his back teeth and slowly lowered his head.
He picked up the knife and fork at hand, fiercely cut a large piece of roast meat with tendons and bones, directly stuffed it into his mouth, and stared fixedly at Arthur with his eyes.
His teeth rubbed and chewed forcefully, venting all his pent-up anger and embarrassment onto that unlucky piece of meat, as if what he was chewing in his mouth right now was not food at all, but the bones of Arthur who was watching him make a fool of himself.
This dinner party with a bit of gunpowder and awkward atmosphere did not last too long. After sweeping away most of the exquisite ingredients on the table, Arthur stood up and politely said goodbye to Tony and Yinsen.
Without needing unnecessary words, Arthur raised his right hand and swiped casually in the air. Accompanied by the cutting sound of sparks flying, a golden Portal leading to the Brooklyn apartment was directly torn open and formed beside the kitchen island.
Arthur took Gwen's hand and stepped across that door. As the light dissipated, the luxury belonging to the seaside Villa completely vanished, replaced by their small nest, which though not large, was filled with a familiar atmosphere.
Late night descended, and the two took off their coats stained with a slight smell of food, hanging them casually on the coat rack by the door. After a simple wash, they embraced each other and burrowed under the covers.
Early the next morning, the thin morning sunlight spilled onto the bed through the gaps in the light-filtering curtains.
The old mobile phone placed on the bedside table emitted a noisy alarm sound.
A slender hand reached out from under the covers, hitting the screen accurately to forcibly stop the noise. Rubbing her fluffy pink-gold short hair, Gwen yawned and lazily sat up.
The oversized pajamas hung loosely on her shoulders, revealing her fair collarbone.
She lowered her head, her gaze falling on the face of Arthurwho was still sleeping with his eyes closed beside her.
The boy's sleeping face was very quiet, and his chest showed almost no obvious rise and fall.
A mischievous gleam flashed in Gwen's azure blue eyes.
She leaned in closer and stretched out both hands.
Her left hand gently pinched Arthur's high-bridged nose, while several fingers of her right hand tightly pressed against Arthur's lips, completely sealing off those channels for air flow.
One second passed.
Two seconds passed.
One minute passed.
Two minutes passed.
Arthur still had his eyes closed, with no signs of pain or struggle on his expression, his entire body staying as still as a lifeless statue.
The corners of Gwen's mouth, which had originally been snickering, gradually drooped down, and a trace of genuine panic began to emerge in her eyes.
The string in her mind tightened instantly. Under normal circumstances, an ordinary person whose respiratory tract was blocked like this for more than two minutes should have struggled with hand and foot dancing long ago, and even those mutant monsters with physical strength superior to ordinary people would feel stuffy.
But Arthur didn't move at all.
A subtle panic instantly gripped Gwen's heart.
She hurriedly let go with both hands, her body leaning forward directly due to inertia, pressing her cheek firmly against Arthur's solid left chest.
She held her breath and concentrated fully on feeling the movement coming from that position.
When the steady, powerful, and very rhythmic heartbeat finally reached her ears, Gwen let out a long breath, and her tense shoulders finally relaxed completely.
Just as she was about to straighten her body up, a husky voice carrying a bit of morning laziness came from above her head.
"My silly girl, since you've already seen my messy and absurd abilities, is there a possibility that my body right now actually doesn't need to rely on this primitive breathing method to sustain life anymore."
Gwen raised her head, bumping right into Arthur's pair of smiling black eyes.
Only then did she suddenly remember that this man's physique had long since been transformed into something utterly reborn by those covert magic powers, and he could far from be measured by the standards used to judge normal human vital signs.
Realizing how foolish her earlier fuss-making behavior looked, Gwen unhappily frowned, her fair cheeks bulging high like an inflated pufferfish, trying to use this to express her dissatisfaction.
Watching this rare display of a little girl's mannerism from her, Arthur smiled, extended an index finger, and poked directly at that chubby side of her face.
Accompanied by a soft "pfft" sound, the breath pent up in her mouth used to put up a front was instantly poked through and leaked out, and Gwen's cold and aloof face could no longer maintain its composure.
"Alright, alright, baby, don't be angry."
Arthur smoothly stroked her hair, running his fingers a couple of times through those disobediently sticking-up locks, deliberately softening his voice to coax her.
"Don't forget today is your high school's anniversary celebration. As a core member, you definitely can't be late."
"I promise you, today I will watch your band performance from below the whole time and absolutely won't be absent. Besides, if your performance on stage today is handsome enough, how about I calculate an extra reward for you when you come back tonight?"
Hearing the word "reward", Gwen's eyes widened abruptly, and the emotions of morning grogginess and embarrassment that she still carried were swept away, replaced by thinly veiled eagerness.
"You mean it."
Gwen immediately sat up straight, even her tone becoming much lighter.
"Then it's a deal. Today I'll definitely be able to beat the drums on stage louder than usual, just watch me perform well."
After this simple and daily banter, the two happily packed up and welcomed the new day facing the morning breeze of New York.
Arthur accompanied Gwen all the way to the vicinity of that public high school.
The two stopped at a secluded spot one street corner away from the main school gate, and after briefly discussing the topic of meeting up after school, Gwen tidied up the school bag on her back and walked quickly towards the direction of the gate.
With his hands in his pockets, Arthur casually swept his gaze across the bustling crowd of high school students in front of the school gate.
Just at this moment, in an open space leaning towards the side gate, he saw a young man carrying a school bag, walking slightly cringingly, and looking somewhat like a pushover.
That was Peter Parker. He was the newly-risen hero who had just awakened special abilities in this spacetime a few days ago, and was now bitterly taking over Gwen to deal with those street thugs.
Since they ran into each other, Arthur didn't pretend not to see him. He walked down the steps and shouted towards that side across a distance of a few steps.
"Hello there, what a coincidence, long time no see."
Hearing someone greeting him, Parker stopped in his tracks and turned his head.
Upon seeing it was Arthur, a distinctly somewhat confused expression appeared on his face. He quickly calculated the time in his mind; he seemed to have just met this seemingly unfathomable young man and that stern female Spider-Man the day before yesterday when they encountered the double Green Goblins.
The ending of that previous meeting at the restaurant had also become a complete mess because of monsters all over the ground. There was merely a span of twenty-four hours in between, what kind of "long time no see" was this?
Parker somewhat restrainedly grabbed the straps of his school bag and still very politely returned a greeting.
After a few simple, unnutritious pleasantries, everyone clearly had their own things to busy themselves with.
Parker was in a hurry to find classmates to discuss coursework, and Arthur didn't intend to waste time either, so the two casually found an excuse and went their separate ways.
Watching Parker disappear around the corner of the teaching building, Arthur found a slightly secluded bench and sat down.
He pulled the phone out of his pants pocket, flipped out the dedicated line number that he had ruthlessly hung up last night, and dialed it directly.
That was S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury's emergency contact line.
The phone was connected immediately after ringing for half a sound.
Before the other side could open, Arthur preemptively asked in a very relaxed tone: "What's up Officer, calling the dedicated line continuously in the middle of the night, is there any urgent matter."
The other end of the phone fell into a brief, dead silence.
Subsequently, the clear sound of teeth-grinding came out from the earpiece, accompanied by Fury's gloomy voice, which strongly suppressed immense anger, as if every word had been chewed over in his mouth once before being spat out.
"Good, very good. Mr. Lin, it truly is 'to each his own when disaster strikes'. When you encounter slightly complicated matters, you really dare to hang up my phone directly, not even bothering to find a perfunctory excuse, huh."
Facing the accusations of this intelligence boss who once relied on majesty to scare away countless big shots, Arthurjust shifted his body back against the bench's backrest, wearing a carefree look of a dead pig not fearing boiling water, and rolled his eyes at the air.
"What could happen."
Arthur's tone was casual, pushing his scoundrel-like style to the absolute extreme.
"Anyway, we already made it clear on the mothership that those ordinary small troubles don't need me to manage them."
"If it really were a world-destroying catastrophe, the outside would have already been in complete chaos."
"Since last night Manhattan was calm and quiet with no reaction outside, you looking for me in the middle of the night certainly wasn't any life-or-Death major event, so what's wrong with me hanging up your phone and going back to sleep."
This unreasonable yet somewhat realistic sophistry left Fury on the other end of the phone gasping for breath with a noticeable choke.
Arthur could even hear extremely loud deep breaths in the earpiece.
For a long while, that Director finally regained his rational train of thought, restoring his tone to the usual formulaic and solemn state.
"We just intercepted extremely critical information. The things we saw previously in those reports from Metropolishave become reality."
Fury's voice carried a hint of unprecedented seriousness.
"That alien fleet dormant in Earth's outer orbit broke away from concealment status a few hours ago and began advancing on a large scale with purpose."
"According to the preliminary trajectory estimated by the technical department, these things are estimated to rush directly into our atmosphere later today."
"Oh."
Arthur's expression didn't fluctuate much, only simply acknowledging it. Because he had long known that this matter would happen sooner or later, he then very casually followed up with a sentence.
"Then what, what do you want me to do? Want me to directly open a Portal into the Universe and help you instantly obliterate all the aliens in that fleet?"
If it were before today, facing unknown Universe-level dimensional strikes, Fury would definitely shamelessly beg Arthur to act. But Fury right now immediately vetoed this proposal.
"No. I don't need you to directly destroy them."
Fury refused very decisively on the phone, and then he explained the ins and outs of the matter to Arthur.
"I mean to say, although this sudden crisis is massive, it happens to give the Avengers, who are currently still in the polishing stage, an excellent opportunity to make their debut."
"It's also time for us to let this organization fight against foreign enemies, publicize their existence to the world, and stabilize public confidence. So when the war breaks out, try not to take the initiative on your side."
The other end of the phone paused for a moment, as if weighing the words to follow.
"Just treat it as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s bottom-line secret weapon that must never see the light of day. Let Stark and this group of people first gain experience when fighting these foreign monsters, and hone the team's terrible teamwork in actual combat."
"If no matter what damn thing is encountered, every time you rely on that kind of freakish strength to end all enemies, then how can this team still grow."
"Might as well just disband, change the name later, and directly call it 'Arthur and the pile of cheering drag-along pendants behind him'."
Hearing Fury's final metaphor carrying a hint of grievance, Arthur couldn't help but laugh out loud directly.
After all this fuss, it turns out that having personal ability that is too heaven-defying would also encounter the annoyance of being forced onto the ban bench so as not to affect teammates' leveling up.
This actually fits the old saying: a max-level main account can only watch the newbie village team go fight monsters and farm experience.
"Fine."
Arthur wasn't unhappy either, instead finding peace and quiet, and he agreed very readily.
"When the fight starts then, I'll just treat it as visiting a theme park, playing around on the side and watching the show."
"Once the situation deteriorates to the point where these few people are beaten to the point of not being able to take care of themselves, and things completely escape the control of those politicians on your Security Council, I'll take over the subsequent trouble."
Hearing Arthur compromise so readily, Fury's side let out a clear, relieved sigh of relief.
"That's good. I was still preparing a very long speech before. I'm also very glad that you can listen to the dissuasion and agree to watch from the sidelines so easily."
Fury's voice gained a trace of rare gentleness, "At least on this matter, you saved me too much unnecessary tongue and brainpower to guess your thoughts."
Having finished explaining matters, Fury decisively cut off the signal.
Arthur casually stuffed the already-darkened phone back into his pocket. He slowly raised his head, his gaze crossing the row of somewhat yellowing street trees opposite the bench, looking all the way toward that patch of New Yorksky so azure without a trace of a cloud.
Behind that seemingly calm and deep firmament. The prelude to the destruction of Metropolis. That stubborn General Zod and that Superman about to step down from the altar.
"Sigh."
Arthur sighed softly, the corners of his mouth hooking into an indescribable smile, and muttered in a low voice.
"I didn't expect those guys who can even cross comic book boundaries to meet face-to-face on our side's territory so soon."