"Goodbye... Strange."
The members of the Illuminati stared at the man kneeling on the ground, their faces heavy with sorrow. Black Bolt opened his mouth gently, controlling a sound wave that could destroy a street and compressing it into the smallest possible range.
Such a concentrated attack produced a terrifying impact.
Strange's eyes were empty. He knelt on the ground, his head lowered, his gaze cast down, as if he were trying to atone for his sins.
The sound wave struck Strange easily. First his head vanished, then his skin, then his entire body, muscles, and finally even his skeleton disappeared from the world without a trace.
Not even ash was left behind. Strange died cleanly.
The members of the Illuminati, especially Black Bolt, fell silent. They stood quietly, lowering their heads as if paying tribute to this heroic man.
"Come on, Reed. Earth can't be without its guardians for too long." Captain Marvel, Maria Rambeau, said to Mister Fantastic.
"Strange will always live in our hearts..." Captain Carter's face was full of sadness. She could hardly believe that her comrade had left her again. She thought of Steve, that thin man whose body had always been plagued by illness. Tuberculosis and asthma had often tormented him, making him suffer in ways words could hardly describe.
But that thin body had carried a heavy will. He had devoted himself to serving his country, joining the army, using his mind, and sacrificing himself for others... Carter had never seen so many virtues gathered in one person, and gradually... she had fallen in love with that small, frail man. The two had shared their first kiss in her office.
Captain Carter recalled every moment with Steve in her mind—his bravery, his wisdom, his decisiveness, his... sacrifice...
Carter did not dare remember any further. The sadness on her face slowly faded, replaced by a resolute expression. Confidence and responsibility rose naturally within her. Just seeing her made people feel that she was reliable.
Reed held Strange's blue cloak in both hands and stared at it in concentration. Only after Professor X softly reminded him from the side did he calm down.
"Do not be too saddened by the death of your companion. Birth, aging, sickness, and death... these are the laws of nature. No one can break them. Some lives are simply longer or shorter than others." Professor X smiled kindly as he sat in his small yellow hoverchair. "I have also lost many comrades. Some died on the battlefield, and some died during missions... But I have never forgotten them. Every night, it feels as if I see them again, standing beside me and looking at the school gates together..."
"Strange died for us, for Earth. His death was noble."
Professor X's expression gradually became serious.
"He accelerated the destruction of a universe and saved the lives of this one... perhaps vanishing from this world together with the Darkhold... Strange's death had meaning." Reed calmed his emotions. Rationality once again suppressed sentiment and regained the upper hand.
"All right. We've said goodbye. This is still a battlefield, and remnants of Thanos's forces remain on Earth. Our first priority is to return quickly. Balder and the others may not be able to handle it alone."
As soon as Reed finished speaking, he held his left wrist with his right hand and activated a device. In an instant, a teleportation channel appeared in front of them.
As the smartest man in the world, Reed's intelligence was indeed higher than Tony Stark's in some areas. Tony had failed to successfully develop Ultron, but Reed had succeeded. The cosmic channel Tony had failed to research had been completed by Reed. Tony had failed to protect Earth, causing half of all life in the universe to be slaughtered. Reed had succeeded again.
The Illuminati had taken the initiative to fight Thanos on Titan and impaled him to death on a rock. Their strength was indeed something the Avengers could not match, not to mention that Earth had more than six heroes.
The Fantastic Four, the X-Men, S.H.I.E.L.D., Asgard...
The combat power of this universe was higher than that of the Avengers' world.
Unfortunately, they did not possess the protection of protagonists and became stepping stones on Wanda's path to madness.
Just as they were preparing to leave, a huge blue vortex suddenly appeared in the sky above Titan. Crimson power and blue lightning flashed violently, and an evil aura spread from within it.
The members of the Illuminati were instantly shocked. They raised their heads and looked at the torn sky in disbelief. They were not unfamiliar with this kind of aura. Strange had only just used the Darkhold, and the aura on his body had been... exactly the same as this one. No, not similar. Exactly the same!
"Is the Darkhold from another universe about to appear? Or..." Reed's scalp went numb. He had just killed Strange, and now another Strange seemed ready to bring the Darkhold with him, break through the barrier of the universe, and arrive in this world.
"Did he sense Strange's death and come here for revenge?"
Reed was horrified. Captain Carter quickly raised her shield, and Maria immediately entered binary mode. A tiny gap appeared between Black Bolt's closed lips, his voice held in his throat, ready to erupt at any moment.
Swish!
Boom!
A figure suddenly fell out of the vortex, immediately putting the Illuminati on high alert. They stared silently at the motionless figure. If he moved even slightly, Black Bolt was prepared to blast him to death with a breath.
"Professor..." Captain Carter glanced at Professor X, signaling him to use his abilities to detect the unknown person.
"No!" Professor X hurriedly stopped her. "I can sense the evil aura on his body. Recklessly touching his mind may cause unexpected consequences."
"Go and take a look!" Maria flew into the sky, fully armed. She was one of the most powerful members of the Illuminati, comparable to Black Bolt. However, Black Bolt's physical body was ultimately not as strong as hers, and she could escape even if something unexpected happened.
Maria climbed up the hillside and finally saw the figure in the deep pit. Her pupils suddenly shrank, and she shouted, "Come here quickly! Come here quickly!"
Reed and Carter knew from her voice that there was no immediate danger, so they jogged up the hillside.
Poor Professor X was unable to go up himself, but he did not need to. He communicated with Carter and directly linked with her mind, using her eyes to see the scene before them.
"Oh my God... this is too tragic." Carter could not help frowning. The strange "person" in front of her was lying in the deep pit. One arm was missing, one foot was gone, and exposed wires were tangled outside his body. Most of the red shell on his face had disappeared, making him look like the liquid robot from Terminator.
"Alien?" Reed asked doubtfully.
"I've roamed the universe for twenty years, and I've never seen an alien like this." Maria's voice was solemn.
"Is it possible that silicon-based life truly exists in the universe?" Reed's scientific interest was instantly aroused. His eyes sparkled, and the greed in his gaze was beyond words. He could hardly wait to immediately dissect the unknown life-form before him.
"That's not the key." Captain Carter put away her shield, strapped it to her back, gently raised one hand, and pointed at the figure's chest and forehead. "Are those Infinity Stones?!"
Carter counted them and realized that this man actually had three Infinity Stones embedded in his body. According to their colors, she could clearly identify which Stones they were.
"Power, Space, Mind... What is this guy's background? He actually collected three Infinity Stones!" Maria's eyes were full of shock. "Take him away and seize the Stones. He can't be allowed to possess three Stones by himself. That will bring disaster."
"No!" Professor X stopped Maria. "Taking the Stones directly may cause him to die. We also don't know if the Infinity Stones in his body will start a riot."
The old Professor X's expression was very solemn. In this universe, the Illuminati had collected almost every Infinity Stone and placed them with those most capable of guarding them.
The Time Stone was in Strange's hands. The Space Stone had been taken back to Asgard by Balder. The Mind Stone and Power Stone were currently in the hands of the Illuminati. The Reality Stone was said to be in the Collector's possession, while the Soul Stone... was missing.
The three Stones in front of them clearly did not belong to this universe. They were confident that as long as the Stones were hidden in their headquarters, even if Thanos himself led an army, he would not be able to take them away from Earth.
Guardians of the Stones for another universe?
Such an idea appeared in several of their minds at the same time.
"What's with the injuries on his body... and the aura of the Darkhold? Could he have been defeated by Strange in that universe and ended up here?"
Reed's mind ran wildly. Although he had the highest IQ in the world, that was limited to intelligence. In tactics, emotional awareness, and psychological warfare... Reed was almost an idiot. Otherwise, he would not have gotten his teammate killed instantly with a single sentence. Black Bolt had died right beside him. Didn't Reed know what level of opponent they were facing? He had still rushed forward foolishly, and in the end... had been shredded like noodles.
"Take him back first. When he wakes up, we'll know what happened in his universe." Professor X felt strange looking at this unfamiliar thing before him. After gaining three Infinity Stones, were humans still human? After fusing with a machine body, was this life-form still human?
Not to mention, according to Reed's guess, this might be silicon-based life. Then its identity became even harder to define.
Reed and Maria looked at each other and nodded. Then Maria carried the strange man's body, Reed activated the portal, and the group was instantly teleported back.
Earth.
"Mom! Tommy broke the glass again!" Billy saw his naughty brother running around the house, breaking vases, cups, and other things. In the blink of an eye, a mess of inexplicable graffiti had appeared on Tommy's face. Billy angrily complained to their mother, as he always did.
"I didn't! The glass broke by itself!" Tommy shouted back without showing any weakness. But anyone with eyes could see it had been him, since shards of glass were still stuck to the soles of his shoes.
"You shouldn't learn from your uncle." The two mischievous children's faces were almost touching each other when a soft, gentle voice sounded, interrupting their confrontation.
"Tommy! Billy! Sit obediently on the sofa. Your favorite cartoon is about to start!" At that moment, a woman appeared on the stairs. Her slender, graceful body leaned lazily against the handrail. She wore a blue-and-yellow dress that wrapped around her full figure. Her long, pale-red hair was tied behind her head, and her slender white hand touched the railing as she slowly walked down.
"Tommy! Don't learn your uncle's bad habits!" Wanda had just finished her nap. Her two children were naughtier than each other. Billy was slightly better. He had inherited her abilities, so whenever he wanted to prank her, she could notice it instantly.
Tommy had inherited Pietro's extreme speed, but he had also inherited Pietro's strange talent for causing trouble all day long. Apart from running around the streets with his uncle, playing pranks, stealing ice cream and hot dogs, and earning complaints from the Illuminati every day, the two of them rarely calmed down.
Fortunately, Pietro had been in confinement these past few days. Otherwise, Tommy would have already run off somewhere to have fun.
Wanda felt a little jealous thinking about her brother. When Tommy saw him, he seemed closer to Pietro than to herself. She was obviously his mother, yet those two were like father and son.
"Mom..." Tommy lowered his head fearfully. If he had broken the glass and lied about it, his mother would definitely be angry.
"Tommy, you can't be this naughty. Your abilities are not for bullying others or playing pranks." Wanda knelt down and gently stroked Tommy's little hand. "But Uncle..."
"It's true that he also likes pranks, but his pranks don't bring trouble into other people's lives. And you only see him playing around. Have you forgotten how your uncle fights criminals?"
Wanda spoke softly and touched Billy's little hand with her other hand. Both children enjoyed their mother's tenderness. Being beside her felt as warm as sunlight.
"I was wrong..." Tommy lowered his head and said timidly.
"Good boy! Come here!" Wanda kissed both children hard on the forehead and smiled.
Suddenly, Wanda's eyes flashed red twice. A splitting headache struck her, and she knelt down while holding on to the armrest of the sofa. Scarlet demonic energy emerged from her body.
"Mom!"
"Mom!"
When Tommy and Billy saw their mother in pain, they quickly rushed over to take care of her. Billy could feel the extraordinary power in his mother's body, so strong it nearly made him unable to breathe. He was so frightened that tears welled up in his eyes, and his voice broke as he cried, "Mom... what's wrong with you, Mom..."
"Uh... mm!" Wanda endured the severe pain in her head, trying her best not to show her weakness and suffering in front of the two children. She wanted to leave them only with her smile and tenderness.
"Renzo... Renzo..." Wanda muttered a name indistinctly. Tommy and Billy had never heard that name before, but they could not think about it now. Their mother looked very pained, and her voice...
"Renzo!" Wanda's eyes suddenly turned scarlet, and a man's voice came out of her mouth—hoarse, rough, and gloomy.
"I'll find you... I've found you! Wait for me! Wait for me to come back!"
The man's voice poured steadily from Wanda's mouth, and vicious hatred almost condensed into substance, turning into scarlet power that erupted through the house. The blast knocked the two children away and sent them crashing into the furniture.
"I am going to kill you!"
After Wanda uttered those final words, she collapsed to the ground, and the scarlet energy around her dissipated.
"Mom..." Tommy and Billy cried out.
"Children..." Wanda looked at the two children crying like little kittens, unable to keep her eyes open, and fainted.
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