Marvel: I, Homelander, Do Whatever I Want
Chapter 81: How Can You Be a Superhero Without Money.
In a dim room, several people who shouldn't have appeared in the Fantastic Four World were holding a meeting.
One of the men wearing sunglasses said:
"According to my investigation during this period, there are a total of five people with superpowers in this World, respectively—"
"Invisible Woman Susan Stone, Mr. Fantastic ReedRichards, the Thing Benjamin Grimm, Human Torch JohnnyStone."
"And... Superman Eros Pierce."
"Superman? The one in DC Comics? Are you serious, Scott?" questioned a man who was both muscular and short.
"Logan, I'm not joking, his nickname really is Superman." Cyclops Scott Summers shrugged, "But we should be thankful his name is Eros Pierce, not Karl-El."
"Alright." Wolverine Logan nodded.
"Scott, you missed two points." Beast Henry McCoy put down the data after reading it,
"The first four people got their superpowers the same way, by being exposed to a solar storm in space."
"And there is another person who was exposed to the solar storm with them, Viktor Doom."
"As for the last one, Superman Eros Pierce, his source of superpowers is different from the other five, and it's unclear if there is a superhuman organization behind him."
Facing Beast's inquiry, Cyclops explained: "There is too little data on him, as if he appeared out of thin air in this World."
Appeared out of thin air in this World?
Hearing Cyclops's words, the few people in the room froze for a moment, and their expressions became a bit strange.
"What do you guys say, could it be..." someone whispered.
"Impossible, right? Could our detection have missed a World?"
Thinking of this possibility, the people in the room all became nervous.
"Don't scare yourselves; maybe the superhumans of this World like to hide themselves, and he just wasn't exposed to the public eye before."
Wolverine took a puff of his cigar and stepped forward to stop the others from guessing wildly.
Beast had a different opinion: "To be safe, we should still contact Professor and let them test it again."
If there was another World around them and they didn't notice, the only thing waiting for them was the collision and destruction of the two Worlds.
No one present could afford this consequence.
"Let's make two preparations. I'll go find this Supermanand check out his background," said a woman next to him who looked like an Avatar.
"Raven, do you want me to go with you? This guy dares to give himself the nickname Superman, so his abilities probably aren't simple," Wolverine worried.
"No need. Maybe he's like Eric Lansell, and his ability is confidence?"
Mentioning the hedgehog man, the room instantly filled with a cheerful atmosphere, followed by incomprehensible words like Omega Mutant, whose ability is confidence, and whose side effect is growing spikes on the body.
...
Over New York.
Sensing a heat source rapidly approaching from behind, Eros glanced back and frowned slightly.
Why was this brother-in-law so unobservant? Didn't he see that he was going on a date with his sister? Why follow along and act like a lightbulb?
"Susan, hold on tighter, I'm going to accelerate."
"What's wrong?" Susan tightened her arms and asked.
Yeah, today the two were having an authentic flight, and the wind was very strong.
"Someone is tracking us." Eros deliberately lowered his voice, creating a tense atmosphere.
"Ah." Susan froze for a moment, then reacted—they were flying in the sky right now, who could track them?
Glancing back, Susan understood instantly; it was her good-for-nothing younger brother.
"Can we shake off Johnny?"
Johnny wouldn't commit incest, and neither would Susan.
She certainly didn't want Johnny to see her wet look later during training.
"No problem, but you have to hold on tighter, otherwise I'm afraid you'll be thrown off."
"Alright." Susan responded shyly, silently holding on tighter.
Feeling Susan hanging on him like an octopus, entrusting her heavy conscience to him, Eros felt relieved to sprint.
Crack!
He picked up speed, instantly exceeding the speed of sound: 1 Mach, 1.5 Mach...
Stuck at a speed slightly faster than Johnny's but impossible to shake off, Eros deliberately led Johnny on a merry chase.
He was wrong; this brother-in-law was very sensible and knew how to assist him.
He hoped Johnny could last a bit longer, preferably like a certain old popsicle, lasting a whole day.
Johnny stated that although he couldn't last a whole day, a dozen hours or so was no problem.
Looking at the black dot neither too far nor too close ahead, he chuckled, feeling a sense of successful mischief.
"Did we shake off Johnny?" Susan asked bashfully. She also realized that the two's posture at this moment was too intimate, and she wanted to pull a little distance apart, but the oncoming gale gave her a reason not to do so.
"Not yet, Johnny is following very closely."
"Are your hands tired?"
Eros had a sudden realization and twisted his body in the air to change his posture.
Susan went from hanging on him to pressing on top of him.
This time Susan's conscience was completely pressed against Eros, what a heavy responsibility.
Eros felt a surge of respect.
"No..." Susan blushed red.
Now it was good; not only could Eros feel her advantages, but she could also feel Eros's strengths, truly vast and resourceful.
Susan suddenly panicked a bit. She didn't dare look at Eros, burying her face in Eros's shoulder and looking down at New York through Eros's collarbone.
From this perspective, the full view of New York instantly came into view, people looked smaller than an ant, and the World suddenly became empty and vast.
Suddenly, Susan felt a bump.
The next instant, her World was occupied by a sharp-angled, wildly confident, energetic face full of male hormones.
"Susan, have you ever tried kissing in the sky?"
"What did you say?" Susan didn't know whether it was the hot wind blowing or something else, but anyway her cheeks were a bit burning, and the wind couldn't cool them down.
Noticing that the eyes of the person in his arms were shy rather than resistant, Eros bit right down on those vibrant, mouth-watering red lips.
Susan offered token resistance, but soon opened her defenses.
Eros suddenly recited a poem.
Departing Baidi City in the Morning (Tang Dynasty, Li Bai)
Leaving Baidi in the morning amid colored clouds, returning to Jiangling a thousand li away in a single day.
With monkeys gibbering incessantly on both banks, the light boat has already sped past ten thousand mountains.
Susan listened with brilliant colors in her eyes, appreciating the profoundness of Chinese culture.
...
"No, bro, were you leading me on a chase before?" Looking at the black dot ahead that suddenly accelerated and disappeared into the horizon in just the blink of an eye, Johnny's forehead broke out in dark lines.
Before, he always felt that a little faster and he could catch up, or at least hang on behind and ruin Eros's good deed, and he was even quite smug about it.
Now it seemed Eros was just toying with him.
Why didn't he use this speed earlier if he had it, wasting his time!
Chapter 82 Mystique: "Watch me disguise myself as Invisible Woman and trick him into training superpowers together."
Early morning.
Susan's apartment.
Eros had originally wanted to sleep in until high noon, but unfortunately, Susan had left early to return to the Baxter Building.
Ever since that last time of traveling a thousand miles in a single day, Eros and Susan's relationship had rapidly heated up.
Although not being able to try it again made Eros very disappointed.
But now, at night, they often sneaked out of the Baxter Building and returned to Susan's apartment to do loving things.
As for why they had to sneak around?
Previously, the four of them had agreed that before finding a solution, they would all stay in the Baxter Building and not run around.
Emotionally, Susan accepted the fact that she had become a person with superpowers, and even enjoyed it somewhat.
But rationally, she still supported Reed's experiment to eliminate their superpowers.
At least she had to understand it from a scientific perspective.
Therefore, on the surface, she still had to live in the Baxter Building.
Susan had to take these things into consideration, but Erosdidn't care; he slept until he woke up naturally, washed up, and then leisurely flew toward the Baxter Building.
On the way, seeing a young black man who had just come out of a bar and wanted to take a shortcut, he didn't forget to give him a hand.
"Target Superman has appeared and is heading toward the Baxter Building."
"Repeat, target Superman has appeared and is heading toward the Baxter Building."
"Received, you guys help me stall Invisible Woman Susan."
Inside the Baxter Building, a woman dressed as a waitperson was hiding in the restroom, constantly communicating with her companion on the walkie-talkie.
Soon, the walkie-talkie came back with a response: "People have already been arranged to block Invisible Woman Susan."
Ever since she could skillfully control force fields, turn invisible without taking off her clothes, and no longer needed to worry about being cornered, Susan could go out with peace of mind again.
Of course, she dressed up a bit, wearing a duck-tongue cap and a face mask.
That way, basically no one could recognize her.
But today was an exception.
Looking at the microphone shoved to her mouth and the reporters' questions, Susan was somewhat stunned.
"Hello, Invisible Woman Susan, what are your thoughts on your rumored boyfriend Superman Eros being accused of racism by the New York Star?"
"Also, your team has no minorities; is this a coincidence, or are you squeezing out minorities?"
"You mistress of this racist, look at what your lover has done?!"
Keeping some distance from the reporters and gathering her composure, Susan said seriously: "What happened? Can someone tell me what's going on?"
At this time, a reporter handed over a newspaper.
Susan took the newspaper and opened it; the cover was a photo of Eros throwing an armed young black man into the air with one hand.
At the edge of the image, there were also two White children looking at Eros with faces full of admiration.
Susan wanted to take a closer look at the newspaper's contents and finally figured out what was going on.
Roughly speaking, a young black man attempted to rob two White children with a gun, and it happened to be run into and stopped by Eros.
This matter was very ordinary, but what wasn't normal was the writer's commentary:
"As far as I know, he is a good black man, a good neighbor, and even a good cellmate who has long kept company with prisoners."
"Other than rape, zero-dollar shopping, and armed acquisition of some living expenses from passersby, he doesn't have any major flaws."
"I believe that once he saves enough money to buy a large Villa and lives a wealthy life, he will definitely never do this again, because there's no need."
"By then, perhaps he will even help other poor people!"
"I really don't understand why, when he was working hard on his startup, Superman had to take his life."
"Could it be because of his skin color?"
Looking at the thunderous remarks in the newspaper, Susan felt speechless. She corrected the reporters' statements: "This is not racism; this is doing a righteous deed and fighting crime."
However, the reporters were relentless, even intentionally distorting Susan's words: "Are you saying this black man deserved it?"
Susan was so angered that she took continuous deep breaths. She grabbed the microphone, ready to argue it out thoroughly with this reporter.
Baxter Building, restroom.
"Target Invisible Woman has been stalled."
"Repeat, target Invisible Woman has been stalled."
"Alright, I know." Saying this, the waitperson turned off the communicator and put it away.
The target she was going to approach next went by the moniker Superman and might have extraordinary insight, so she had to be careful.
A ripple of blue waves surged across the surface of the waitperson's body, sweeping across her entire body from head to toe.
The next second, the original waitperson disappeared, replaced by "Susan," who was being entangled by reporters outside.
Without a doubt, this woman dressed as a waitperson was the Mutant Mystique.
Mystique Raven made a few expressions in front of the mirror, making sure her demeanor was similar to the Susanshe had observed, before stepping out of the restroom.
She had been lurking in the Baxter Building for several days, constantly looking for an opportunity to collect Eros's superpower data and trying to approach Eros.
She had even thought about seduction.
But unfortunately, among the original waitpersons of the Baxter Building, none were top-tier beauties, leaving Mystique with no materials to work with.
Fortunately, by a twist of fate, she learned that Eros had gone out with Susan to train superpowers a few days ago.
Thus, Mystique came up with this idea: disguising herself as Invisible Woman Susan and using the pretext of going out to train superpowers to probe Eros's bottom line.
After transforming into Susan's appearance, Mystique took the elevator directly to the top floor.
This was where Reed conducted experiments and lived, and it was not open to ordinary staff. It was also Mystique's first time coming up here.
But it didn't matter; they had long ago obtained the structural diagram of the top floor of the Baxter Building through other means.
Familiar with the path, Mystique arrived at the living room and immediately saw Eros sitting on the sofa playing World of Warcraft with Johnny.
Eros actually preferred League of Legends, which came out later; he had grown up playing League of Legends in his past life.
But unfortunately, whether in the Fantastic Four Universeor his original Universe, the game League of Legends had not yet been born.
Seeing "Susan" come in, after finishing a game, Johnnyraised an eyebrow at Eros and tactfully left.
Although ever since that trip to traveling a thousand miles in a single day, Susan had always kept her distance from Eros in the Baxter Building, how could this possibly be hidden from Johnny, who grew up with Susan since childhood?
"Eros, can you take me to train superpowers?" After Johnnyleft, before Eros could speak, Invisible Woman spoke up first.
"Uh, of course no problem."
Eros looked at "Susan"; he felt that today's Susan was a bit strange—she looked polite, but also seemed to have a bit more unfamiliarity.
But that shouldn't be the case; he remembered he had performed very well last night, beating the other party to a pulp.
Could it be...
Looking at "Susan" in front of him, a guess rose in Eros's heart.
The so-called training superpowers was actually not training superpowers.
It was that Susan wanted to experience traveling a thousand miles in a single day once more, but her skin was too thin to say it directly.
That was why she seemed a bit awkward.
Believing he had figured it out, Eros walked over to the balcony and opened his arms toward "Susan": "Come on, Susan."
Chapter 83: How on Earth Do You Train Your Superpowers Like This
Mystique looked at Eros with open arms on the balcony, feeling somewhat dumbfounded.
Of course she understood what that gesture meant.
Yet according to their investigation, Invisible Woman Susan's ex-boyfriend was Reed, and she was currently the assistant to Victor von Doom, being pursued by him.
Invisible Woman Susan and Superman Eros should have only known each other for a dozen days or so, and they already got together like this?
And you two are always like this when going out?
Seeing "Susan" standing there foolishly, Eros thought she was worried about being seen and spoke up to remind her:
"Reed and Ben are in the lab, and Johnny went back to his room. Rest assured, no one will see us."
Fuck!
Mystique cursed inwardly. The files indicated that Invisible Woman Susan Stone was a conservative girl, but clearly, the files were wrong.
But what should she do now?
Mystique hesitated.
She came here to figure out Eros's bottom line and ensure the plan could be executed smoothly without being disturbed.
If she exposed her identity now, not only would she fail to acquire the desired information, but the past few days would also be wasted.
Their time was running out, as the two Worlds were rapidly approaching each other.
If they got too close, even if the plan was executed smoothly by then, it might damage their World.
Having made up her mind, Mystique slowly stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Eros's waist.
Susan is really strange today.
Eros muttered internally; she wouldn't hold on tightly like this, but it didn't matter, they could adjust after taking flight.
Wrapping his arms back around "Susan", he soared straight up into the sky.
Sure enough, the next instant "Susan" consciously adjusted her posture, though she still seemed somewhat distant, basically hanging onto him purely by arm strength.
Eros wasn't in a hurry either. He was very patient and could wait for "Susan" to mentally prepare herself first.
After all, a feat like returning to Jiangling from a thousand li away in a single day was thrilling even to someone as battle-hardened as him.
Let alone a rookie like Susan.
Although Mystique's view could only see the sky, she could vaguely feel that Eros was spinning around in circles, and she couldn't help asking aloud: "Eros, are we not there yet?"
Although Mystique was no chaste and virtuous woman.
The one she had always truly loved was Professor XCharles, yet she also dated Beast Hank, slept with Magneto, and had children with Red Devil.
But this didn't prevent her from being resistant to intimate contact with a stranger.
Thus, she couldn't help urging him aloud.
Yet in Eros's ears, this carried a completely different meaning.
"Susan" simply couldn't wait anymore and was too embarrassed to say it out loud.
"Yeah, we're not there yet. Your arms must be tired, right?"
Mystique recalled that Susan's file didn't list any physical enhancement abilities, so holding on for so long meant her arms should be tired, right?
She gave a response fitting Susan's identity: "It's a bit."
"Alright then, let's switch you to the top."
Eros's deadpan tone caught Mystique off guard, and she subconsciously said "Thank you".
The next second, a complete reversal.
Eros spun around in mid-air, changing it so that Mystiquewas on top and he was on the bottom.
Thud!
Mystique's conscience smashed heavily against Eros's chest, and only then did she understand what Eros meant.
Furthermore, with this posture, she didn't even have a proper excuse to leave Eros's embrace.
Damn it, the file had issues, and nobody told her that these two people trained their superpowers like this.
Clinging to Eros, Mystique found her breathing growing somewhat rapid.
Overlooking the rapidly passing America below, she realized just how vast America truly was.
Absolute World-class.
Thinking of her difficult life before, Mystique fell into a momentary daze.
If she had such a massive foundation, there was no telling how wonderful her days would be.
Charles, Erik, humans are truly too wicked!
High up in the sky, Mystique couldn't help shedding tears, like a waterfall plunging three thousand feet, as if the Milky Way were cascading from the highest heaven.
Eros taught "Susan" another line of poetry: "Success breeds a triumphant pace, seeing all Chang'an flowers in a single day."
He and "Susan" this time could also be considered to have seen all of New York's scenery in a single day.
Afterwards.
Eros brought "Susan" to land on an uninhabited barren island in the outer sea of New York.
He had originally planned to bring "Susan" straight back to the apartment to wash up, but unexpectedly she refused.
She still wanted to train!
Since that was the case, Eros could only accompany her to the very end.
By the seaside, Mystique turned her back to Eros to compose her emotions.
She felt like crying without tears right now.
How long had it been since she had to make a living under the stick and scratch out a survival in the cracks?
For the sake of this mission, making a small sacrifice was nothing, but this was simply too huge.
"The scenery here isn't bad, is it?" Looking at the churning sea and the rising and falling tides, Eros walked behind Mystique and said.
"Yeah, these waves are indeed not bad." Mystique pulled herself together and chimed in.
"No matter how wild this ocean is, it's not as wild as you; no matter how much seawater there is, it's not as much as you." Eros sighed with emotion.
Mystique gave Eros an eye-roll.
Whose hard work was all of this, anyway?
"Susan, actually you could try wearing a dress. With your figure, you should look great in one."
Eros circled around behind Mystique and embraced her. Susan usually exercised frequently, so her figure was very plump and resilient.
Feeling Eros's firm chest, Mystique closed her eyes.
She was wondering how to bring up asking Eros to demonstrate his superpowers.
But soon her delicate body tensed up again, trembling like she had been electrified.
You've got to be kidding me, again? Are you an animal?
Mystique had no other choice. She had made such a huge sacrifice, and she couldn't return empty-handed.
Thus, she could only face the sea with a blushing face, her beautiful hair blown messy by the sea breeze, biting her lips tightly: "Not daring to speak in a loud voice, for fear of startling the immortals in heaven."
With Riptide forging ahead, wave after wave of tide continuously crashed against the reefs on the shore, making flapping sounds.
Therefore, he proposed an idea: "Susan, can you show me the progress bar?"
"What progress bar?" Mystique looked completely dumbfounded.
"It's the belly-entering bar..." Eros lowered his voice and explained it in her ear.
"No way!" Mystique refused without even thinking.
She had merely transformed into Invisible Woman Susan's appearance, not truly possessing the other party's abilities.
Coincidentally, Eros proposed wanting to see her superpower, so she happened to steer the topic towards superpowers.
"Eros, you should also show me your superpower, otherwise... Hmph!"
Feeling "Susan" pressing forward step by step, Eros felt increasingly strange.
Susan was usually very conservative and could never do something like pressing forward step by step.
"Didn't I tell you already? My ability is Superman's ability, pretty much similar to Superman in DC movies."
Although there was still a slight gap right now, Erosbelieved that in the future there would be a hundred-million-fold gap.
Mystique pressed even harder: "Really? Show it to me."
Chapter 84: Can you tell me why you want to destroy this Planet?
"Hurry up, or else..." Mystique hummed twice in threat.
She felt she had grasped Eros's lifeline and could make him obey.
But how could Eros accept threats?
America has four major sports leagues: first is American football (NFL), second is baseball (MLB), third is basketball (NBA), and fourth is ice hockey (NHL).
Among them, Eros only liked basketball, and had once led Midtown High School to win the New York City PSAL Class AAAA championship.
And as the absolute core of the team, he was often double-teamed on the court, which allowed him to develop a skill.
Breaking the tight press with the ball.
He immediately activated the skill—a double-cast, breaking the tight press with both hands holding the ball.
Mystique held out for a while, but her defense eventually collapsed.
But in the end, Mystique still'sucked' Eros into submission and obtained his approximate data. She mumbled:
"Static strength of over fifty tons, supersonic speed, a body that can withstand ordinary firearms, and the ability to fly. Eros, you really are a little Superman."
Eros patted 'Susan's' head.
He had buried two traps in the data he gave her, reporting The Thing Ben's strength and the Human Torch's flight speed.
After The Thing Ben awakened his superpowers, his initial static strength was 5 tons. After growing during this period, it had already increased tenfold, to about 50 tons.
And Eros had wrestled with The Thing Ben, and his strength was a big cut above The Thing Ben's.
Besides, just a few days ago, Eros had taken Susan with him and completely outpaced the Human Torch.
Although Susan didn't have Eros's exact values, she should have known that Eros's strength exceeded The Thing Ben's, and his speed exceeded Human Torch Johnny's.
In summary, it was certain that the Susan in front of him was a fake.
But who on Earth was she?
After a brief thought, Eros gave up thinking; he already had a few suspects in mind.
Following her in a moment would in all probability yield the answer.
Afterward, Eros took 'Susan' back to Susan's apartment.
As soon as they entered the apartment, Mystique rushed to the bathroom to rinse her mouth.
"Susan, I still have some things to do, so I'm leaving first." Eros called out, and without waiting for her response, he flew out, disappearing into the sky in an instant.
Then, he quietly doubled back.
No sooner had Eros left than Mystique leaned over the sink and began to retch.
That bastard, talking about swallowing essence and drinking dew, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon.
Yet when she wanted him to drink the 'dew', he said something about even a fierce tiger not eating its own cubs.
After a quick cleanup, Mystique left Susan's apartment.
At the corner, her body rippled, and she transformed into someone else.
"So it's Mystique." Eros understood instantly upon seeing her superpower.
Mystique was indeed one of Eros's suspects. Her ability was cellular-level mimicry, allowing her to perfectly copy anyone's appearance.
It could be said that she was the dream sexual partner of every man.
With her, Jerusalem, the Flame Girl, and North of the Galaxy would no longer be dreams.
After a moment of excitement, Eros had a new doubt: why did Mystique appear in the Fantastic Four Universe?
Quietly following Mystique, Eros's doubt was soon resolved.
An unremarkable apartment in Manhattan.
When Mystique pushed the door open and entered, the several people in the room looked at her in unison.
"Did you get the intel?"
"Raven, are you okay?"
The former was spoken by Cyclops Scott, and the latter by Beast.
"I'm fine, I got the intel," Mystique said calmly.
Of course, she wouldn't bring up what happened with Erosopenly.
She was just open-minded, not promiscuous.
"According to the intel I extracted, the target has over 50 tons of Super Strength, supersonic flight speed, a steel body that can withstand bullets, and Heat Vision that can cut through steel and rock..."
As Mystique read out Eros's superpowers one by one, the expressions of the several people in the room became grave.
"Colossus's strength and defense, Pietro's speed, and Scott's ability... Looking at it this way, he indeed lives up to the name of Superman."
Actually, in terms of sheer numbers, the speed and strength Eros reported were slightly lower than Quicksilver Pietro's and Colossus's.
But to the few of them, it made no difference; both far exceeded their own.
(Quicksilver's speed setting and actual performance have a huge gap; his official setting is only at the supersonic level, but his peak performances reach a hundred times the speed of sound or even close to the speed of light.)
Despite saying this, the expressions of the several people in the room gradually relaxed.
Although the opponent was powerful, he was not an invincible adversary to them.
As long as they made good use of the terrain, the few of them could take him down.
If all else failed, they could also call upon Professor X or Magneto.
"Beast, build a device that can trap him as quickly as possible. Once we take down this Superman, we'll start installing the bomb. We don't have much time left."
Scott assigned tasks to each of the others, and their faces turned heavy in unison upon receiving their assignments.
"The others..."
High above in the sky, Eros suddenly understood.
So this was the crisis of this World that Sorcerer Ancient One had spoken of.
From their brief exchange, he deduced their intention: they wanted to install some kind of bomb to destroy the Earthbeneath their feet.
But why?
"Sorry to interrupt, but could you tell me why you want to destroy this Planet?"
Eros's smiling voice suddenly rang out in the quiet room, but anyone who wasn't a fool could hear the chill in his words.
Eros had killed quite a few people himself.
Afghanistan Terrorists, Nigerian thugs, Whitehall's Agents...
But even added all together, it was at most dozens or a hundred people.
Yet they wanted to destroy a Planet and kill billions of people.
This was completely on a different order of magnitude.
"What's going on? How did Superman find this place?" The X-Men in the room saw Eros, and their expressions changed drastically.
They had absolutely no intention of answering Eros and decisively launched an attack.
Wolverine rushed toward Eros, with Beast close behind, while Cyclops aimed in Eros's direction, about to take off his sunglasses.
As for Mystique and several other non-combatant X-Menmembers, they tacitly squeezed into the corner, lowering their presence while avoiding getting in the way of the main trio.
"Slow, too slow."
Eros shook his head. He didn't know why they thought they could take him down just by making good use of the terrain.
Not to mention Beast; in combat, he was an all-rounder against ordinary people, but against Eros, he didn't even qualify as mediocre.
Wolverine—although his Adamantium claws could pierce Eros's defense, and his Adamantium skeleton plus super healing factor could withstand Eros's attacks,
his speed and strength were far too inferior. Unless he could catch Eros off guard using an information gap, he was nothing but a toy.
Cyclops—his ability was similar to Eros's Heat Vision, but even more destructive.
But Eros wasn't a pseudo-warrior with little combat experience like Homelander; he wouldn't engage in a beam struggle with him.
Chapter 85: The Defeat of the X-Men
Combat is all about using one's strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses.
Knowing that his greatest advantage over the three opponents was speed, Eros naturally intended to play this advantage to the absolute limit.
And as everyone knows, in a team fight, you have to take out the marksman and the mage first.
Crouching slightly to build power, Eros burst forward with super speed in the next instant, vanishing from before Wolverine and Beast in the blink of an eye.
Not good!
Wolverine's heart leaped. Years of combat experience allowed him to instantly discern Eros's intentions, and he hurriedly shouted a warning.
"Scott, watch out!"
However, it was too slow.
Faced with Eros's speed, both Wolverine's reaction time and the speed of sound were far too slow.
Before Wolverine's warning could even arrive, Eros had already used his super speed to circle behind Cyclops, grabbing him by the back of the neck.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A quick three-hit combo. Before Scott could even control his glasses to release the restriction and launch an attack, Eros slammed him so hard his head spun, and he went straight to sleep.
And this was only because Eros held back; otherwise, he would have been shattered to pieces.
"Scott!"
"Cyclops!"
A chorus of startled cries rang out.
Only after Eros had taken out Cyclops, the marksman, and the dust had settled did Wolverine, Beast, and Mystique, who was hiding in the corner, barely manage to react.
Wolverine's face turned ashen.
Superman was far more powerful than expected; they had lost a major combatant in just a single exchange.
And judging by the speed the opponent had displayed, he could probably easily kill every member of the X-Menpresent besides himself.
He had to find a way to draw the opponent's aggro.
With a quick turn of his mind, Wolverine came up with a plan:
"You running-away wimp, you don't deserve the title of Superman at all. You're only fit to lick my dick and eat my shit."
Eros's gaze grew a few degrees colder.
He knew, of course, that Wolverine was intentionally using verbal provocation to try and anger him.
But that didn't stop him from getting angry.
Then let's hurt each other.
Looking at Wolverine, Eros said with a fake smile, "Wolverine Logan, do you want to know how your father felt when you killed him?"
"Fuck you!"
"I'm going to tear your filthy mouth apart!"
Wolverine roared and charged at Eros.
Witnessing his biological father kill his adoptive father as a child, and then being triggered to awaken his X-gene and kill his biological father, was a wound in Wolverine's life that would never heal.
Nearly two centuries had passed, and this scar had been buried in time. Normally, it seemed non-existent, but once touched, he realized it had already festered.
Just a gentle touch was enough to cause excruciating pain.
Wolverine swung his claws at Eros, but missed once again.
Eros dodged to the side, grabbed Wolverine's wrist, forced his arm to turn, and plunged his claws right into his own thigh.
"Aaargh—!"
Before Wolverine's cry of pain could even finish, Erosrepeated the trick, grabbing his other wrist and plunging his claws into his other thigh.
One, two, three, four, do it once more.
Every time Wolverine struggled to pull his claws out of his thigh, Eros would plunge them right back in.
Wolverine was stubborn too, wailing in pain while struggling desperately.
But the gap in their strength was simply too vast.
To Eros, Wolverine's struggles were no different from those of chickens, ducks, or geese waiting to be slaughtered.
There was some strength, but not much.
In fact, if he didn't have the immortality buff to back him up, Eros wouldn't have chosen to engage Wolverine in close combat.
Even though he was ninety-eight percent sure he could win a close-quarters fight against Wolverine, what if he accidentally got scratched by Wolverine's Adamantiumclaws?
In comparison, acting as a marksman to keep his distance and wear him down with Heat Vision carried absolutely zero risk.
A marksman's lifeline is their damage output environment, which can also be described as crowd control and distance.
Take Cyclops as an example.
If he had maintained enough distance from Eros from the very beginning, or if someone in his team could have controlled Eros, his performance would never have been this poor.
He would have had a very good chance of forcing out Eros's double buffs.
But without sufficient distance and teammate crowd control, he could only be closed in on and instantly killed by Eros.
An unbalanced powerhouse like him had to rely on the power of a team to reach his full potential.
Eros was different.
Although Eros lacked crowd control, his flight ability and super speed could easily create a great damage output environment for him.
He would employ different strategies when facing different opponents.
Here, let's call out Homelander again—when facing different opponents, Homelander only knew how to use the exact same playstyle.
Back to the matter at hand.
Seeing Wolverine being repeatedly tortured, Beast rushed forward.
He lunged with all his might, trying to tackle Eros from the side to rescue Wolverine.
However, with a mid-air side kick from Eros, Beast was sent flying back the way he came at an even faster speed, slamming heavily into the wall, unable to get back up.
"Bro, you didn't think you had super healing too, did you?"
"Come at me if you've got the balls, you wimp!" Wolverinespat angrily upon seeing this, refusing to back down even in defeat.
Although Wolverine was at an absolute disadvantage on the field, he was not worried about himself.
To kill him, one either had to nullify his healing factor or instantly destroy his heart or brain.
But both of these were extremely difficult to achieve; his entire body of Adamantium skeleton could effectively protect his brain and heart.
Could Eros do it?
Looking at the still-struggling Wolverine, Eros grew a little impatient.
He hadn't dealt a lethal blow right away because he thought he could easily capture this X-Men team alive and then interrogate them for the information he wanted.
But Wolverine Logan was clearly not going to surrender, his physical fitness was a massive cut above the rest, and it would be hard to find any tools to bind him in a short amount of time.
In that case.
Eros looked into Wolverine's eyes.
Some say that the eyes are the windows to the soul.
That's a poetic way of putting it.
But it was very realistic; the eyes were indeed the windows to the brain.
They were also one of Wolverine's few weaknesses.
Seeing the red light condensing in Eros's eyes, Wolverinequickly reacted and hurriedly turned his head away.
In the next second,
Two beams of Heat Vision surged out, instantly slicing through the gap between Eros and Wolverine.
The air burned, radiating rolling waves of heat.
Wolverine felt the heatwave rushing at his face and shook his head frantically, trying to shield his eyes, his weak spot.
However, it was all in vain.
"Ahhh—!!!"
Wolverine's vision went black as he screamed in agony, bursting with an even more violent struggle than before.
His eyeballs had their structure destroyed by the high temperature almost the instant the Heat Vision swept across.
The only consolation was that the angle wasn't perfectly aligned, so it hadn't attacked his brain through the eyes, those windows to the soul.
But that was only a matter of time.
Just then, Beast managed to drag himself up from the ground. Seeing Wolverine's miserable state, he made a difficult decision.
"Stop! We surrender!"
The red light in Eros's eyes gradually faded: "Wouldn't it have been better if you did this from the start?"
With that, he grabbed Wolverine's head and slammed it hard against the ground several times.
Bang!!! Bang!!! Bang!!!
This time, the force was much heavier than the one used on Cyclops, causing the ground to crack and shatter.
Wolverine rolled his eyes and passed out as well.
Chapter 86: Fantastic Four Universe Destruction Countdown
After taking care of Wolverine, Eros looked at Beast, Mystique, and a few other small fry who were still conscious.
"Can we talk properly now?"
Beast nodded helplessly; at this moment, they were the fish on the chopping block.
"Very well, I ask, you answer."
Eros's crimson eyes swept over the few of them, and they immediately nodded repeatedly.
"Why do you want to destroy this Planet?"
The expression on Beast's face grew even more helpless, and he even lowered his head in shame under Eros's piercing gaze.
Not only Beast, but the other small fry reacted in the exact same way upon hearing this question.
Bang!
Eros grabbed Wolverine's head and gave him another strike to prevent him from waking up after healing: "Didn't you surrender? Surrendering should come with some sincerity."
Beast opened his mouth as if to speak, but stopped, ultimately letting out a long sigh and saying nothing.
Refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit!
A fierce glint flashed in Eros's eyes as he walked straight toward Beast, knocked him to the ground with a single punch, and then stepped on Beast's fingers, gradually applying force.
"I hope you have super self-healing like Wolverine."
The fingers are connected to the heart; Beast felt waves of piercing pain shooting from his fingertips, agonizing to the core, yet he still clenched his teeth and remained silent.
Mystique and the others turned their heads away unable to bear it.
One, two... Watching Beast's ten fingers turn into QR codes one by one, Beast shivered from the pain but still didn't open his mouth, causing Eros's brows to furrow.
It seemed he had to resort to some more methods.
Eros hit Wolverine a few more times, and then his figure vanished on the spot.
"This demon, he... he left?"
Someone whispered with a crying tone. Just as the words fell, Eros's voice rang out.
"No, I just went out to grab something. Also, don't call me a demon. Get it straight, you guys are the villains."
Eros returned shortly after leaving, with a few pairs of shackles and ropes in his hand.
While these were of little use to Beast and Wolverine, it was different for the other non-combat personnel.
Eros handcuffed them and flashed an evil smile as he threatened:
"Next, I will interrogate you separately. Only the person with the most accurate and complete answer will live; the others... can only beg for the Goddess of Death's favor amidst endless torment day in and day out."
The expressions of Beast and Mystique shifted, and they looked at each other.
They had the confidence to withstand Eros's torture, but what about the others?
Mystique watched as her teammates were taken away by Eros one by one, and she couldn't help questioning: "Aren't you Superman? You can't do this. What kind of Supermanis this cruel?"
Eros retorted: "Aren't you X-Men also superheroes? Where is there a superhero who wants to destroy someone else's World?"
As he spoke, Eros walked toward Mystique, grabbed her by the throat, and lifted her up with one hand.
Although he had a brief romantic fling with this woman and coveted Mystique's shapeshifting abilities, wanting to have such a lover,
but the moment he thought of the blood stained on her hands, which could indirectly kill billions of people, Eroslost interest entirely.
Though he often treated grunts like dirt, he wouldn't go as far as committing a massacre.
Noticing this scene, Beast's expression changed slightly, and he couldn't help saying: "Let Raven go! Take it out on me if you have anything against someone!"
Eros's gaze lingered between Mystique and Beast, revealing a meaningful smile.
These two seemed to have something going on.
No, to be precise, Beast had something going on for Mystique.
Since there was a ready-made breakthrough point, he would give it a try first.
In truth, Eros wasn't certain whether the other small fry could withstand the psychological pressure of the Prisoner's Dilemma.
Although they were small fry who didn't even deserve names in movies and TV shows, in reality, they were elites carefully selected out of tens of thousands.
To destroy a Planet, no matter how one thought about it, anyone who could participate in such a mission wouldn't be an ordinary person.
Eros carried Mystique in his arms and walked toward a small room.
"I thought we at least knew each other inside out. You should know that I'm actually a very easygoing person. Now it seems I need to deepen your understanding of me."
"Let me go! Let go!"
Mystique Raven tried to struggle, but the disparity in strength meant she couldn't resist Eros at all, and she was dragged into the small room by Eros right in front of Beast.
Beast watched with eyes splitting open from anger: "What do you want to do to Raven?"
"Do it!"
"No! Let me go!"
Mystique's struggling cries came from the small room, and at the same time, Eros's voice echoed out as well.
"Beast, this is your last chance. If you still don't speak, I'm going in."
Beast fell to his knees, covering his face in agony and weeping: "Let Raven go! I'll talk! I'll talk!"
"We destroyed this Planet out of compulsion; it was to save our World."
Saying this, Beast staggered and crawled toward the small room, pushing the door open to see Mystique inside with her mouth sealed by bandages, tossed onto the floor.
And all the sounds just now had entirely come from Eros's own mouth.
Beast instantly felt as if the sky had collapsed!
At this moment, Mystique also struggled silently: "Mmm-mmm~" (Don't say it, Hank! He's tricking you.)
Eros frowned. Since Beast had already barged in, there was no need to mimic Mystique's voice anymore, so he asked directly: "What is going on precisely?"
Beast hesitated for a moment, feeling some regret in his heart for his recklessness just now.
Seeing this, Eros threatened: "My patience is limited. That was fake just now, but this time it might just be real."
As he spoke, Eros walked toward Mystique on the ground and reached out to pull at her clothes.
Of course Eros wasn't depraved enough to stage a live adult show for others; he simply had an extremely strong possessiveness, and this was just an act put on for Beast to provoke him.
Perhaps because he had given up all hope and completely resigned himself to despair, Beast quickly yielded and confessed everything one by one:
"For reasons unknown, our World has frequently intersected with other Worlds these past few years."
"According to our assessments, if we don't promptly destroy the Earths of other Worlds, the Earths of the two Worlds will collide, and everyone will die when that happens."
Eros's brows furrowed even tighter.
Isn't this just the Trolley Problem?
Usually, when faced with the Trolley Problem, what is the best solution?
Eliminate the person who brought up the problem.
Eros asked: "Have you ever thought about finding the root cause of the crisis, or other solutions?"
Beast shook his head in agony: "We tried many methods, but none could stop the two Worlds from drawing closer. Destroying the Earth of one of the Worlds—that is the only way we found."
"According to your calculations, how much time is left before the two Worlds collide?"
"At most seventeen days."
So, was this the reason Ancient One sentenced this Worldto death?
If there was no external intervention, the Fantastic Four Universe would collide with the X-Men Universe and perish together.
Even with external intervention, at least one World would be completely destroyed.
Eros's brows furrowed deeply.
Chapter 87: Actually, I'm Not from This World Either
"What?! Our World is going to be destroyed in seventeen days?!"
Reed looked at Eros, who had dragged him out of the laboratory. Initially, he was somewhat impatient, but upon hearing this news, his expression changed drastically in an instant.
Johnny on the side still had a giggling and carefree look on his face. He laughed and said, "Eros, since when do you know how to make this kind of joke?"
Eros looked at Johnny and said with a calm expression, "Do I look like I'm joking?"
Johnny gradually wiped the smile off his face.
Reed looked at Eros and asked, "Eros, where did you get this news from? Is there any evidence?"
Eros motioned for Reed and the others to look at the group of X-Men he had brought back, and quickly explained the origin of the X-Men and the purpose of their arrival in this World.
Susan walked toward the group of X-Men and snatched back the medical kit she had just given them.
"You bunch of executioners don't deserve to use this."
This was something she had sympathized with earlier when she saw that everyone in the X-Men group was injured, so she gave it to them.
Reed also walked over and questioned Beast, looking at him, "Is this true? Tell me."
Beast nodded in shame.
The brows of the four—Reed, Susan, Johnny, and Ben—furrowed even tighter. Johnny and Ben even cursed in low voices, but no one asked the stupid question of 'Why don't you just destroy yourselves?'
After digesting the news, Reed asked again, "How did you observe the approach of other Universes?"
This time, Beast remained silent again.
Even if it wasn't intentional, they had in fact already become enemies with the Fantastic Four.
If his psychological flaw hadn't been caught by Eros, he wouldn't have confessed anything at all.
Susan took a deep breath and began her persuasion, "Listen, guys, we are not enemies. We can figure out a way to solve the problem together."
"I just heard Eros say that your team is named the X-Men, and you are the superheroes of your Universe."
"I think, as superheroes, you should be more willing to save rather than destroy, right?"
Susan's words had some effect, but not much.
Beast spoke, but didn't reveal too much, "I can only tell you that the two Planets will collide unless one side is destroyed."
"If you find other solutions, we can cooperate, but I won't tell you how to observe other Universes."
This problem seemed to have three choices.
Destroy together, destroy the other party, or destroy oneself.
But ordinary people wouldn't consider the third one.
Beast had to consider whether, if the other party observed their World, they would emulate them and blow up their Planet.
Johnny chimed in at this point, "I can see it now. You guys aren't thinking about how to cooperate to solve the problem at all; you're only thinking about sacrificing our World to preserve your World."
"If you ask me, a single loss is not as good as a mutual loss. Let's just drag it out like this and destroy together when the time comes."
Johnny seemed to be acting shamelessly, but in reality, he wanted to use this method to create psychological pressure on Beast.
However, Beast's expression remained calm, completely lacking the flustered look Johnny had anticipated.
What was going on? The other party's plan was exposed and stopped by Eros, so why weren't they afraid at all?
Johnny cast his gaze toward Eros, and Reed, Susan, and Ben gradually did the same.
Eros, who was the first to discover the crisis, had already become their pillar of strength.
Eros tapped on the table to attract everyone's attention, "Reed, do you have materials of sufficient strength in your laboratory? Lock a few of them up first."
As he spoke, Eros pointed at Wolverine and Cyclops, briefly explained their superpowers, and instructed:
"Especially those two. One needs to be secure enough; the other needs to have his hands and neck controlled so he can't touch his sunglasses or adjust his line of sight."
Reed nodded, called Ben to go back to the laboratory to get the materials, tied up the group of X-Men, and locked them in the storage room. Before leaving, he didn't forget to mention:
"Eros, when will the organization behind you come to take these people away?"
Eros was silent for a moment, let out a long sigh, swept his gaze across everyone, and slowly spoke, "Reed, Susan, Johnny, and Ben, things have come to this, and I won't hide it from you anymore."
"Actually, I'm not from this World either."
"What?!"
"How is that possible?!"
"As expected."
The four members of the Fantastic Four found Eros's statement hard to believe, while the group of X-Men came to a sudden realization.
When they first investigated Eros and found that they couldn't find any relevant information about him, they had already had suspicions.
At this moment, Eros's self-exposure completely confirmed their guess.
Wolverine muttered to himself, "No wonder he knows me so well. He must have encountered me from a parallel Universe."
The physical injuries Eros caused him had already been repaired by his super self-healing ability, but the psychological wounds Eros inflicted on him were still lingering in pain.
If Eros's understanding of them was because he had been secretly observing them for a long time,
But the matter of him accidentally killing his biological father when he was young was something even his closest companions didn't know, so how could Eros possibly know?
Either the other party possessed an ability similar to Professor X, or even stronger.
Or they had met a Wolverine variant from another Universe and learned about their own life background from the variant.
Who knows which World's variant it was, actually telling such a thing to an outsider!
Leaving aside how Wolverine mentally complained about Eros, the members of the Fantastic Four were struck hard by this news.
Eros's abilities were the most comprehensive and powerful among them all, and today he was once again the first to discover the crisis.
They had just treated Eros as their backbone, only for Erosto turn around and tell them that Eros wasn't a person from their World.
Originally, they thought that when the sky fell, the tallest person would hold it up, but now the tallest one was about to run away, and they couldn't even blame the other party.
A moment later, Susan pulled herself together. She put on a forced smile and looked at Eros, "Eros, will you help us?"
Although Susan asked this, she didn't hold out much hope.
Eros was not a person from this Universe. Now that the ship was sinking, he had no obligation to sink into the deep sea along with this ship.
However, Eros nodded. He looked at the others and said solemnly, "Aside from destroying the other party's World, I will do my best with everything else."
Saying that, Eros glanced at the X-Men, "Of course, if matters are truly beyond saving and you insist on dragging the other party down with you to destruction, I won't stop you either."
The crisis of the Fantastic Four Universe and the X-MenUniverse might descend upon his own Universe one day.
Now that there was an opportunity to understand and accumulate experience, Eros wouldn't miss it...
Alright, having said so much, the most core reason was actually just one.
Eros wanted to save the World.
Actually, he didn't want to be a savior either. People died every minute and every second in this World. If he used his abilities to the fullest, Eros could indeed save many people.
But if he did that, how could he live his life?
Unlike Gwen, who became Spider-Woman after awakening her superpowers, wandering the streets of New York day in and day out doing heroic deeds, and turning her own life into a complete mess.
The very first thing Eros did after awakening his superpowers was to train to control his senses and filter out irrelevant information.
The main idea was out of sight, out of mind.
It was just that now the problem was placed right in front of him, and he had no choice but to face it.
Chapter 88: What Robbery Can Compete with the Speed of Stock Manipulation (Double Chapter)
"Thank you, Eros." Susan, Reed, Johnny, and The Thing Ben breathed a sigh of relief.
With only seventeen days left, they were still completely clueless about what the crisis was and the identity of the other party.
If Eros pulled away and left at this moment, they truly wouldn't know what to do.
Susan glanced at the group of X-Men. Since the other party was unwilling to say anything, there was no need to stay here and eavesdrop on their plan.
"Reed, you and Ben lock these people up properly, and then we can discuss together what to do next."
Reed and The Thing Ben nodded, agreed, and immediately took action, leading the group of X-Men to the laboratory to tie them up.
They strictly followed Eros's advice and executed it doubly.
Based on the X-Men's superpowers, Reed even added some binding designs conforming to dynamics and kinematics.
Moments later, Reed and The Thing Ben returned to the conference room for a meeting.
The first agenda item was whether to hand the group of X-Men over to the authorities.
"This is a crisis for all humanity. We should mobilize the strength of all humanity to solve it. I think we should hand them over to the White House."
"Seconded."
"That's right, I feel the same way."
It didn't take much time for everyone to unanimously agree to hand over the X-Men and seek help from official forces, but there were also problems.
Susan raised a question: "How can we make the White House and the United Nations believe our claims?"
Oil breeds U.S. troops, and America breeds cults.
On this land of America, there are numerous religions, and among them, many cults preach doomsday theories and then sell tickets to Noah's Ark to amass wealth.
If they directly took the X-Men to the White House, they would likely be regarded as a cult as well.
Or it would be interpreted that they wanted to seize the right to speak with the help of the crisis.
Or even that this crisis was fabricated or created by them.
Reed pondered for a moment and said: "So we must find evidence first. The fact that the other party could discover that the two Universes are about to collide shows that there must be some signs."
"Since the other party is unwilling to tell us the method, we will find it ourselves. As long as we compare recent and previous magnetic field responses and find anomalies..."
After saying a bunch of professional jargon, Reed paused and said somewhat sheepishly: "It's just that... this requires money to purchase a new batch of equipment, which might add up to over a hundred million."
Susan, The Thing Ben, and Johnny looked at each other in dismay.
If it were hundreds of thousands, they could pool it together and solve it, but over a hundred million...
Seeing the reactions of Susan and the others, Eros knew they were broke: "Reed, you contact the manufacturers first and have them rush the shipment. I'll handle the money matter."
Susan glanced at Eros and asked: "Where are you going to get the money?"
After Eros exposed himself as coming from another Universe, Susan figured out a lot.
First was Eros's identity. He might never have lied; he really was worth tens of billions and was a third-generation wealthy heir, with even more family assets.
But when Eros came to their Universe, apart from the few Franklins he carried with him, he had nothing else.
When he sponged off meals and drinks at the Baxter Building before, he was truly broke.
After signing with DC, casually wiring two million to Reed to pay the electricity bill was also because he truly didn't take money seriously.
"Of course, by going to rob."
Eros spoke with justified self-confidence, leaving Susanspeechless for a moment.
However, since it was already the end of the World, there really was no need to care about these minor details.
Susan glanced at her younger brother and suddenly spoke: "Johnny, you go. You can't help much here anyway."
They knew it was the end of the World, but ordinary people didn't.
In their view, the act of robbery was a last resort, but the outside World wouldn't understand.
Since they were going to be scolded, they would bear it themselves.
Johnny opened his mouth, wanting to refute Susan.
What did she mean that he was of no use staying here? He was their second strongest combat force, okay.
However, noticing Susan's gaze, Johnny still silently nodded in agreement.
Eros waved his hand in refusal: "No need, let me do it instead. Johnny isn't as experienced as me. I once robbed twenty billion in a single day."
Susan speechlessly glanced at Eros.
Why do you still look so proud? Is this anything to be proud of?
Susan suddenly reacted, her face full of shock: "No wait, twenty billion in a day? Did you rob the Federal Reserve?"
Eros smiled: "Not quite, I just applied a little trick on the stock market."
A question mark popped up over Susan's head, and she immediately reacted: "The money robbing you mentioned is stock trading?"
Eros rolled his eyes at Susan: "Otherwise what? How much cash is there in a bank? How can it compare to the stock market?"
Besides, retail investors are the ones playing the stock market; bro is doing stock manipulation.
Susan still had many questions.
For instance, given the background Eros revealed, if he wasn't lying, he indeed had the ability in his own World to accomplish the feat of wildly reaping twenty billion from the stock market in a single day.
But in their Universe, Eros was just an ordinary person with a little bit of superpowers; how could he manipulate the stock market?
But time was tight and the task was heavy. Since Eros said he had a way, they could only trust him. Pushing the funding issue aside, Susan asked:
"Reed, do you have any other difficulties?"
Reed shook his head. As long as there was equipment and financial support, he believed that he alone could find evidence that the two Worlds were about to collide.
Even finding the location of the other party's World, as well as the method to travel back and forth between the two Worlds.
The enemy can go there, and so can we.
Reed hadn't heard this ancient saying, but he understood the principle.
The X-Men could come to their Universe, so they could also go to the other party's Universe. Only in this way could an effective deterrent be formed to force the other party to cooperate, and furthermore...
Reed's expression became a bit heavier.
If they truly couldn't find a peaceful solution and had to choose between sacrificing others or themselves, let him bear the sins.
It was just that wanting to research a weapon capable of destroying a Planet in a short period of time felt extremely tricky even for a super genius like Reed.
"Wait."
Reed suddenly thought of a problem. Judging from their attire and communication equipment, the technology of the X-Men Universe and their Fantastic Four Universe should be about the same.
If all the World's nuclear bombs exploded together, it could annihilate surface life.
But to Earth itself, at most it would injure its surface skin, or even just its fur.
Then what did the X-Men originally plan to rely on to destroy Earth?
Reed's question stunned Eros and the others.
Eros picked up a piece of paper and wrote down an address: "I caught them here. Reed, go over and take a look now to see if you can find anything."
Reed took the paper and set off immediately.
He had a hunch that this question was very crucial.
Inside the laboratory.
The atmosphere was very oppressive.
Wolverine twisted his neck, glanced at Beast, and said with dissatisfaction: "Hank, didn't we already make up our minds when we came? How could you surrender."
Beast explained: "Do you expect me to watch you get killed with my own eyes?"
Wolverine sighed: "If my death can trade for our Worldgetting through this crisis, then my death is well-worth it."
"No matter what, you shouldn't have told the other party about the collision event. This will put our World under threat."
Beast smiled sheepishly.
Wolverine only heard him shout surrender and was then knocked out, thinking he leaked the news to preserve everyone.
Actually...
The others didn't know Beast leaked the news because of Mystique, but Mystique herself certainly wouldn't not know.
She took the blame upon herself: "It's all my fault. If I hadn't lured Superman over, it wouldn't have caused everyone to get caught."
With Mystique putting it this way, Wolverine didn't have much else to say. No matter what, Beast did it to protect everyone.
Besides, he had also seen Beast's wounds, second only to his own super self-healing.
"Don't say that, Raven. We must figure out Superman's origins so that we can..."
"Shut up! Logan!"
Hearing Logan was going to continue, Cyclops hurriedly spoke up to interrupt.
"Don't forget our current situation. The other party might be staring at us right behind the monitor."
Cyclops's words reminded everyone. Wolverine, Beast, and Mystique all shut their mouths and even stopped chatting idly.
"What a pity."
Inside the monitoring room, Human Torch looked at this scene and helplessly curled his lips.
Susan was right. Although he was the team's second strongest combat force, if Eros the outsider wasn't counted, he was even the team's strongest combat force.
But in the current situation, he really couldn't help much and could only come to the monitoring room to stare at the X-Men.
On one hand, to prevent the X-Men from breaking free and escaping, and on the other hand, to see if there were any unexpected gains.
Now it seemed there were indeed some unexpected gains.
Johnny downloaded the surveillance video, zipped it, and sent it to Reed.
Then he looked at the wristwatch in his hand to confirm the time, and sent another message note to Reed.
This watch was what he had bought from Eros for ten thousand dollars previously.
After buying it, he immediately went to find someone to appraise it.
The appraisal result exceeded Johnny's expectations. This watch wasn't high-end merchandise worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, but top-tier customized limited-edition merchandise!
He struck it big!
But afterwards, when Johnny found the master who made this watch, the other party stated that although this watch was identical to what he made with his own hands...
It wasn't made by him.
At that time, Johnny just felt the sky was falling; he had been cheated by Eros.
Although he wasn't cheated much—such a top-tier replica by a master could still sell for several thousand or tens of thousands of dollars—
But now... Johnny looked at the watch in his hand with satisfaction.
That master probably wouldn't dream in a million years that this watch was indeed made by him.
Just the him of a parallel Universe.
Inside another laboratory, Reed finished watching the video sent by Johnny.
Johnny's discovery was indeed useful, revealing that the other party paid special attention to the extraordinary beings of their World.
Perhaps, the extraordinary beings were related to this crisis?
A guess arose in Reed's heart.
Previously, Eros said that their abilities were endowed by the World.
Johnny had also said that perhaps they gained their abilities to fulfill a certain mission.
To this, Reed had always been unimpressed.
He was a firm materialist, and materialists stress seeking truth from facts.
Until the appearance of the X-Men and the arrival of the crisis.
Visitors from other Universes like the X-Men and Erosconfirmed the existence of the multiverse, and even Universes that were extremely similar.
Eros had also told them about his experiences and observations when traveling through the multiverse, stating that he had seen their figures on the Worldbubbles.
Although this sounded very unscientific, a firm materialist would not deny facts, but would only adjust their worldview following the facts.
Reed's worldview expanded; he believed that some mysterious power might truly exist in the multiverse.
It was precisely because of this power that superheroes were born, becoming the symbol of a Universe.
Reed looked at the strange device on the table.
This was what he found in the address given by Eros.
The required equipment hadn't arrived yet, so he could only study this first.
The appearance of this device looked utterly ordinary, just like a pot seen everywhere.
If someone had told Reed previously that this device could destroy Earth, Reed would only introduce an elementary school to the other party and tell them to go back and study some more.
Now... looking at this device, countless thoughts popped up in Reed's mind.
Perhaps, wanting to activate this device was related to superheroes—to be precise, related to the mysterious power that created superheroes?
Reed was startled by this guess of his own.
This kind of thought was equivalent to treating a certain individual or certain individuals as the center of the World, which was truly too unscientific.
But science was not the truth; it was the methodology for studying truth.
The performance of the X-Men, as well as Eros's experiences and observations when shuttling through the multiverse, were all corroborating that their Universe was indeed centered around a few of them as "superheroes".
This kind of thing was too absurd!
As a scientist, Reed had a strong acceptance capacity and could accept all kinds of conjectures, no matter how bizarre.
But this conjecture, and the various possibilities derived from this conjecture, still made his scalp tingle for a moment.
Pondering for a moment, Reed picked up the notebook beside him and wrote a letter to Eros.
Before manipulating the stock market and making a huge haul from it, Eros had to first solve the problem of starting capital.
He originally wanted to rely on Superman's identity to take out a loan from a bank, but as a result...
Eros pointed at himself and asked: "This is the World's strongest superhuman. Can he take out a loan?"
The bank general manager opposite shook his head: "I'm very sorry, Superman, no."
Eros slapped another document onto the table: "This is my contract with DC. Can I take a loan with this?"
The manager shook his head without even opening the contract: "Sorry, Superman, still no."
"Then this plus this?" Eros pointed at himself and the contract on the table.
The bank manager hesitated for a long time before saying with difficulty: "Yes, but we can only lend you 15% of what you requested."
"How much?" Eros slammed the table and stood up. How could this be less than thirty percent?
"Superman." The manager looked at Eros with a troubled face. "It's not just me; almost all banks dare not lend to you."
"Because if you want to default on your debt, we can't do a single thing to you."
At most, we'd send you an email; no one would even dare to go to your door to collect the debt.
This was Superman, the strongest superhuman. The Pentagon didn't even know if it could handle him.
Thinking for a moment, the bank manager said:
"Of course, if you are willing to become our company's spokesperson, I can help you contact the company headquarters, and the price will not be lower than that of a first-line star."
"Then forget it." Eros shook his head. Finance was not the same as selling toy merchandise.
No matter how expensive toy merchandise was, no matter how much it harvested leeks, it was still a legitimate business with mutual consent.
As for financial companies like banks, what they would do once they got authorization of his image was hard to say.
Matters having come to this, although Eros really didn't want to do that, he had no choice but to borrow a little from kind people.
Waiting for more chapters on WTR-Lab