Chapter 176 The Way Back to the Marvel Universe
Chu Hang seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, attaching a wisp of his consciousness to the fused Void Energy, like a top-tier spy, silently following that arm and infiltrating the Anti-Monitor's projection.
His consciousness passed through the arm and entered the center of the black mist.
Before him was absolute chaos.
There was no up, down, left, or right; no passage of time; all known physical concepts and laws did not exist here. There was only endless void, and... at the deepest part of the void, that unimaginably vast core of consciousness.
It was a massive sphere, its surface flowing with billions of incomprehensible runes. Chu Hang knew that each rune represented a Universe that had been devoured and erased by it.
He couldn't count how many runes there were; they were densely packed, covering the entire surface of the sphere, exuding an aura of deathly silence and ultimate end.
Just by approaching, Chu Hang's consciousness clone began to become unstable. The surrounding Void Energy was frantically suppressing and assimilating him.
But he did not resist; instead, he completely let go of all defenses, allowing that power to invade his consciousness clone.
Then, in the instant before being completely assimilated, he detonated himself.
This was a conceptual self-erasure.
Chu Hang's consciousness clone, carrying the seven Law Powers he had comprehended, exploded with a roar on the surface of the Anti-Monitor's projection's core, forming a miniature Law Black Hole.
The black hole frantically devoured the surrounding void matter, forcefully tearing open a crack, thinner than a strand of hair, on the core's perfectly flawless surface.
This crack was insignificant, but for a projection made of pure consciousness, it was a fatal wound.
Its core began to become unstable. The countless runes on the sphere's surface began to flicker wildly, like light bulbs with poor connections, and then extinguished one by one.
Outside, the giant black mist trembled violently. The arm that was still touching Chu Hang instantly disintegrated, turning into countless black fragments that dissipated into the void.
Chu Hang suddenly opened his eyes, a trace of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. That conscious self-detonation just now caused a significant backlash to his main body. The foundation of his Law of Spirit was weakened by at least thirty percent, and it would likely be difficult to recover in a short time.
But, it was worth it.
He raised his left hand, and the dark trident rotated once in his palm before he gripped it firmly. The tip of the tridentpointed distantly at the center of the black mist, and the five remaining complete Law Powers within his body erupted simultaneously.
Space, Power, Time, Reality, Death.
The five powers converged and compressed within the trident, finally forming a pure light of termination at the tip, a color that could not be described.
As the beam of light shot out, the space around it automatically folded inward, and time seemed to stand still for it. It ignored distance, directly penetrating layers of black mist, precisely hitting the crack on the core.
"Roar—"
The Anti-Monitor's projection let out an unwilling roar. The sound waves shattered all meteorites within a hundred thousand kilometers, and even a large section of the distant Nebula was forcefully blown away.
The black mist began to collapse. It wasn't disappearing, but rather being forced to compress inward frantically, shrinking from five hundred meters tall to one hundred meters, and then from one hundred meters to ten meters.
Finally, the entire projection was compressed into a fist-sized black crystal, quietly suspended in the void.
The surface of the crystal was covered with spiderweb-like cracks, and a consciousness still seemed to be struggling inside, but it had already lost all threat, merely a trapped beast's struggle.
Chu Hang reached out and used the Space Law to draw the crystal into his palm. It felt icy cold to the touch, like holding a piece of absolute zero profound ice.
The crystal vibrated violently in his hand, trying to break free. But Chu Hang's Law Domain had already firmly trapped it, rendering it immobile.
He turned his head and looked behind him.
Ganthet was still suspended a thousand meters away, staring blankly at this scene with his wide blue eyes. The expression on the little blue man's face went from shock to disbelief, finally turning into deep reverence.
After a long while, Ganthet finally found his voice and spoke hoarsely:
"You... did it."
Chu Hang did not respond. He lowered his head, examining the black crystal in his palm, feeling the immense energy contained within it, enough to destroy a civilization. This was a core fragment of the Anti-Monitor's projection; although it had lost its vitality, its energy essence was still extremely high.
If he could find time to absorb it, his Law of Death would definitely advance a great deal, and he might even glimpse the threshold of a higher level.
But he didn't dare now. His physical condition was too poor, his right arm had not fully recovered, and his Law of Spirit was also severely damaged. Rashly absorbing energy of this level would only result in him exploding.
With a thought, he put the crystal into the Flerken's spatial stomach pouch, temporarily sealing it with spatial power.
Ganthet slowly floated in front of Chu Hang.
The little blue man's face was still pale, but his eyes had regained their usual clarity and depth. He raised his right hand, and the dark green ring, symbolizing his status as a Guardian, quietly slipped from his fingertip, hovering between the two of them.
"This is my promise." Ganthet's tone was extremely solemn. "You completed the mission, and even... far exceeded my expectations. This ring now belongs to you."
Chu Hang reached out, and the ring obediently fell into his palm. It felt warm and smooth, like a living jade. He could clearly feel the immense will energy contained within it, as heavy as mountains; that was the crystallization of will accumulated by Ganthet as a Guardian of the Universeover billions of years.
A faint green light appeared on the ring's surface, and a stream of information directly flooded his mind. He immediately understood how to use this ring—it stored an extremely vast amount of energy, and Ganthet had already granted it the highest authority; there was no need for an oath, nor for connecting to the Central Battery; he could draw upon its power anytime, anywhere.
Chu Hang put away the ring without immediately wearing it. He looked at Ganthet and asked the doubt in his heart: "Why did the Anti-Monitor target this place?"
Ganthet was silent for a moment, then finally shook his head. "I don't know. Its behavioral logic is beyond our comprehension. Perhaps it just randomly chose a weak point, or perhaps... there is something special about this area that we don't know."
He paused, then added with a solemn expression, "But one thing is certain: what you just destroyed was merely an insignificant projection. Its true body still exists in the void layer of the Multiverse. If it truly wants to enter this Universe, then it will eventually come again."
Chu Hang did not reply. He turned around and looked at the spatial rift that still existed.
After the Anti-Monitor's projection was destroyed, the rift did not close immediately, but began to slowly shrink under the self-repair of the Universe's laws. The black flames burning at the edges had extinguished, leaving only a circle of dark red energy halo.
"How long will it take for it to close completely?" Chu Hang asked.
"Three to five days," Ganthet replied. "The rift will heal naturally, provided there is no further external interference."
Chu Hang nodded. He activated his super hearing, carefully scanning a range of several million kilometers around. Apart from the three green lantern rings in the distance, there were no other signs of life. The galaxies swallowed by the Void Energy had not even left a trace of debris.
He looked at the chilling darkness deep within the rift, and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
Time Variance Authority.
Could the principle of the teleportation device that threw him from the Marvel Universe to the DC Universe be similar to this rift? Both were passages connecting different multiverses, one stable and controllable, the other chaotic and disorderly.
If... if he could thoroughly analyze the spatial structure of this rift, would he be able to find a way back to the Marvel Universe?
Thinking of this, he once again deployed the Space Law, carefully probing the dissipating energy patterns at the edges of the rift.
This time, it was for learning and recording.
The essence of the rift was a spacetime weak point between two Universes. After being torn open by an external force, it formed a temporary passage.
The Anti-Monitor's projection was the energy source maintaining the passage. Now that the energy source was gone, the passage lost its support and began to slowly close under the Universe's own restorative power.
But during the healing process, a large number of spatial fragments, recording the coordinate information of the two Universes, would remain at the edges of the rift.
These fragments were the keys to connecting the Multiverse.
Chu Hang extended his left hand, carefully drawing a fragment from the edge of the rift with the Space Law. The fragment was only the size of a fingernail, semi-transparent, with a faint golden light flowing on its surface, and chaotic and distorted physical constants inside.
He placed the fragment into his spatial stomach pouch, alongside the black crystal.
Ganthet watched his actions without stopping him. The little blue man, who had lived for billions of years, was extremely intelligent and immediately understood Chu Hang's intention.
"You want to return to your Universe." Ganthet used a declarative sentence.
Chu Hang nodded, his gaze profound.
"I don't have much time left."
Ganthet nodded in understanding and presented the green lantern ring he had promised.
Chapter 177 Return
Chu Hang returned to Earth, landing on the roof of an abandoned factory in the suburbs of Metropolis.
He sat down cross-legged, took out the fingernail-sized spatial fragment from his spatial stomach, and placed it in his palm. Pale golden light flowed across the fragment's surface, and twisted energy patterns, recording coordinate information between two Universes, were visible inside.
He closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the fragment.
Under his guidance, the Space Law began to analyze the information within the fragment. The chaotic energy patterns gradually became clear, like a complex map, marking countless paths from the DC Universe to other Universes.
One of them radiated a familiar aura.
That was the Marvel Universe's coordinates.
Chu Hang opened his eyes and took a deep breath. He raised his right hand; the black void power pattern had been completely suppressed by the Law of Death, no longer spreading, but it could not be eliminated either. This would be a permanent scar, constantly reminding him not to easily touch power beyond his comprehension.
He took out the green lantern ring Ganthet had given him and put it on the middle finger of his left hand. The ring automatically adjusted its size, clinging to his skin, then lit up with a faint green light. Massive willpower energy surged into his body, merging with his Law of Strength, restoring his power to its peak state.
Preparations were complete.
Chu Hang stood up and slashed the air in front of him with his hand. The Space Law surged, tearing open a two-meter-high rift before him. Golden flames burned at the edges of the rift, and inside was a deep darkness, where starlight could vaguely be seen twinkling.
But as soon as the rift formed, it began to shake violently. The Universe's Law automatically repaired this loophole that shouldn't exist, trying to forcibly close it.
Chu Hang extended his right hand and pressed it against the edge of the rift. The Law of Death surged out, forming a circle of black runes around the rift, temporarily stabilizing its structure. Then he raised his left hand, and the green lantern ring erupted with dazzling light, its willpower energy transforming into countless fine threads that extended inward from the rift's edge, fixing the entire passage framework like a spider web.
It's still not enough.
He mobilized the Law of Strength to create a gravity well deep within the rift, serving as an anchor for the passage. He then used the Law of Time to adjust the flow of time inside the passage to match the outside, preventing temporal disorientation during the crossing.
The rift finally stabilized.
But this was only the first step. The real difficulty lay in precisely locating the Marvel Universe's coordinates and resisting the repulsion of the Multiverse's Law during the crossing.
Chu Hang pressed the spatial fragment into the center of the rift. The fragment instantly melted, transforming into countless golden threads that intertwined inside the rift, forming a complex navigation net.
The navigation net activated, beginning to search for the Marvel Universe's coordinates.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
The navigation net suddenly vibrated violently, and a powerful repulsive force surged from deep within the rift, almost tearing the entire passage apart. Chu Hang's expression darkened, and he immediately unleashed his Law Domain, forcibly suppressing the repulsive force.
The Multiverse's Law was stopping him.
Chu Hang gritted his teeth, mobilizing all the Law of Strength within his body.
The Space Law constructed three protective walls at the edge of the passage, the Law of Strength decomposed the repulsive force into countless tiny fragments, the Law of Time slowed down the impact speed of the fragments, and the Law of Reality attempted to distort the very concept of repulsion, making it less intense.
But it was still not enough.
The intensity of the repulsive force exceeded his estimation. This was not merely physical power, but the Multiverse's instinctive resistance to an outsider. Just as the human immune system attacks invading viruses, the Multiverse's Law was trying to expel him, this foreign object.
Cracks began to appear inside the passage. One-third of the golden navigation net broke, and the black Death runes were gradually dissipating. If he didn't find a solution soon, the passage would completely collapse within ten seconds.
Chu Hang took a deep breath and made a decision.
He released the suppression on the void power.
The black patterns on his right arm instantly came alive, spreading upwards like snakes along his arm, covering half his chest in a blink of an eye. Intense pain struck, but Chu Hang didn't even frown.
He guided the void power, letting it flow according to his will, towards the depths of the rift.
Wherever the void power passed, the Multiverse's repulsive reaction immediately weakened. Because the void itself is part of the Multiverse, the primordial state before the birth of all Universes. It does not belong to any specific Universe, and therefore would not be repelled.
Chu Hang seized this opportunity, taking a sudden step forward, and rushed into the rift.
The surrounding scenery instantly changed.
He entered a long, narrow space-time tunnel. The tunnel walls were covered with countless images, each representing a different Universe. In some Universes, technology was highly advanced, with spaceships traversing the star sea. In others, magic ran rampant, and giant dragons soared in the sky. And in some Universes, only a void remained, completely silent.
Chu Hang ignored these. He stared at the familiar light spot at the end of the tunnel, accelerating desperately.
But the Multiverse's Law did not give up.
The tunnel began to twist, and the images on the walls shattered, turning into countless chaotic energy currents that furiously impacted his body. Each current carried fragments of the Law from different Universes; they conflicted, cancelled each other out, and exploded, creating a chaotic energy storm within the tunnel.
Chu Hang's Law Domain swayed precariously in the storm. He gritted his teeth, using the green lantern ring to unleash a willpower shield, blocking most of the impact. But still, a considerable amount of energy broke through the defense, striking his body.
His skin began to tear. Blood splattered, forming red beads that floated behind him in the zero-gravity environment.
His left shoulder was grazed by a spatial fragment, leaving a wound deep enough to expose bone. His right leg was hit by a power current, his knee instantly dislocated, and the sound of bones shattering could be heard.
But he didn't stop.
Because the tunnel had already begun to collapse. From the entrance, the entire tunnel collapsed forward like dominoes, and the speed of the collapse was faster than his go ahead speed.
Chu Hang spun around abruptly, seeing the tunnel behind him disintegrating at a visible rate. Space cracks, like gaping maws, devoured everything. They were less than a hundred meters from him and accelerating.
He had no choice.
Chu Hang mobilized all the Law of Strength within his body, injecting them all into his legs. Kryptonian Physiology, Godly Physique, super soldier serum, Healing Factor—four constitutions erupted simultaneously, his muscles swelled to their limit, and veins bulged beneath his skin like steel rods.
He stomped hard in the void.
Space was dented by a huge depression, and the recoil propelled him forward, his speed instantly breaking ten times the speed of light. The surrounding scenery blurred into streaks of light, and the light spot at the end of the tunnel rapidly expanded.
But the collapse was also accelerating.
Chu Hang could clearly feel the destructive force behind him pulling at his back. His clothes were torn first, then his skin, and his flesh was peeled away layer by layer, revealing stark white bones.
The Healing Factor worked frantically, new flesh growing only to be immediately torn away again. This repetitive destruction and regeneration caused his consciousness to blur.
Cannot stop.
Stopping means Death.
Chu Hang bit his tongue, using the intense pain to keep himself awake. He extended his right hand, and the dark trident appeared out of thin air in his palm. He used his last ounce of strength to hurl the trident forward.
The trident transformed into a black light, rushing towards the end of the tunnel even faster than him. The tip of the halberd, carrying the power of the Law of Death, tore open an opening in the light spot.
Chu Hang seized this critical moment, stomping the void again, and shot into the opening like a cannonball.
A moment of dizziness.
Then a violent impact.
He felt himself crashing through something hard, his body continuing forward due to inertia, smashing through countless unknown obstacles, and finally slamming heavily onto a cold, hard surface.
Crunch.
Three vertebrae were broken.
His left arm was completely shattered.
His right leg was dislocated from the hip.
His skull had a long crack, and blood gushed from the crack, quickly forming a small puddle on the ground.
But he was alive.
Chu Hang lay on the ground, gasping for breath. The Healing Factor began its work; broken bones reconnected with creaking sounds, and shattered internal organs repaired themselves with peristalsis. This process was extremely painful, but he was used to it.
Due to his powerful physique, the Healing Factor's repair was not as fast as it initially was. It took a full minute for him to regain his ability to move.
Chu Hang propped himself up with the dark trident and looked around.
This was a ruin.
No, to be precise, it was an abandoned city.
More than half of the skyscrapers had collapsed, and the debris of reinforced concrete piled up like mountains. Weeds grew rampant on the streets, some already over a meter tall. Cars by the roadside were rusted, and some were even completely covered by vines, their original shapes only discernible from their outlines.
The sky was gloomy, as if it was about to rain, but it constantly held back. The air was filled with a mixture of decay and mold, making it very uncomfortable.
The most eerie thing was that there wasn't a single person in the entire city.
Chu Hang activated his super hearing, scanning a hundred-kilometer radius.
Chu Hang activated his super hearing, scanning a hundred-kilometer radius.
There were heartbeats, but the number was only half of what it used to be.
He frowned, expanding the range to scan the entire North American continent.
The result made his heart sink.
Life signals were almost half less than before he left. Not just humans, but animals, plants, all living things, were reduced by half.
Thanos succeeded.
He snapped that finger.
Chu Hang took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart. He looked up at the sky.
The Sun's position was a bit further west than he remembered, indicating a change in season. He then looked at the weeds and vines on the street; this level of growth would require at least several years.
Three years? Five years?
He needed to confirm the exact time.
Chu Hang used the Space Law to teleport into the nearest relatively intact building. This was a convenience store; the glass door was long shattered, and the goods on the shelves had been looted, leaving only packaging bags and empty bottles on the floor.
He found a dust-covered computer behind the checkout counter. He pressed the power button, but there was no response. The power was out.
Chu Hang extended a finger, activating the computer with a faint current. The screen flickered a few times, finally lighting up. He clicked on the system time.
October 15, 2023.
He left in 2018.
A full five years.
Chu Hang turned off the computer and walked out of the convenience store. He looked up at the distant skyline, where New York's most bustling Manhattan should have been, but now he could only see a few isolated skyscrapers; the rest were either collapsed or covered by vegetation, like a scene from some apocalypse game.
He closed his eyes, scanning the globe with the Law of Spirit.
The Avengers Base was still there, but the energy fluctuations were very weak, indicating not many people were inside. Asgard's aura had disappeared, replaced by the faint divine power fluctuations of a small fishing village on the coast of Norway. Wakanda's energy shield was still active, but much dimmer than before.
Tony Stark's life signal was in a lakeside cabin outside New York.
Steve Rogers was at a community center in Washington.
Natasha Romanoff was at the Avengers Base.
Clint Barton's signal was in Tokyo, Japan, surrounded by a large number of corpses, suggesting he was engaged in some kind of personal revenge.
Wanda's signal... Chu Hang froze.
He couldn't find Wanda's signal.
It wasn't blocked, it wasn't too far away, it simply didn't exist. It was as if she had vanished from this World.
Chu Hang's hand clenched tightly around the dark trident, his knuckles white from the force.
He remembered Thanos's snap.
Randomly erasing half of all life in the Universe.
Wanda... was in that half.
Chapter 178 The Idea of Time Travel
Chu Hang stood in the ruins, looking at the reflection of the dark trident in his hand.
His face, pale with uncleaned blood at the corner of his mouth, was reflected in the tip of the trident.
Wanda was gone.
This fact was like a nail hammered into his brain, impossible to pull out. But he knew, now was not the time for sadness and anger.
As a transmigrator who knew the future, he knew better than anyone that these five years were just a long halftime break. The real decisive battle had not yet arrived.
And to start that decisive battle, he needed a key person.
Chu Hang put away the trident, closed his eyes, and his super hearing swept across the entire North American continent like an invisible radar. He filtered out countless noises, focusing on searching for that unique energy frequency — Tony Stark, the arc reactor.
Soon, he locked onto the target.
A lakeside cabin in northern New York state, about eighty kilometers from here. The energy fluctuation was very faint and stable, indicating that Tony was not wearing his armor, but merely maintaining the most basic power supply for his heart.
That was the place.
Chu Hang raised his hand and tore open a spatial rift in front of him. On the other side of the rift was a tranquil lake, with sunlight sparkling on the water. A two-story wooden cabin stood by the shore, with smoke rising from its chimney.
It was a very warm scene, completely out of place in this desolate World.
Chu Hang stepped through, appearing on the lawn in front of the cabin. The rift closed silently behind him.
An open book lay on the rocking chair on the porch, and a man's voice, along with a child's laughter, came from inside the house. Everything was exactly as it was in the plot he remembered.
He walked onto the porch and knocked three times on the door.
The sounds inside the house abruptly stopped.
A few seconds later, the door opened.
Tony Stark stood at the doorway, holding a frying pan, his expression much more haggard than five years ago. He was wearing an old T-shirt and jeans, his beard unkempt, and his eyes, once sparkling with confidence and pride, now held only calm and an unfathomable weariness.
The moment he saw Chu Hang, Tony froze.
With a clang, the frying pan slipped from his hand and fell to the floor.
"Chu Hang?" Tony's voice was hoarse and dry, filled with disbelief, "You... you're alive?"
Chu Hang nodded: "Alive."
Tony stared at him intensely, as if to confirm this wasn't an illusion. He suddenly turned, habitually shouting: "Jarvis, scan and confirm identity!"
The air was silent.
Tony paused, then gave a bitter smile and shook his head, "I forgot... Jarvis is gone, Friday is gone too."
He bent down to pick up the frying pan, not even looking at the mess on the floor, and stepped aside: "Come in."
Chu Hang followed him into the house. The living room and kitchen were connected, decorated very cozily, with several childish drawings hanging on the wall.
"Morgan, go play upstairs for a bit," Tony called towards the staircase.
A little girl of four or five peeked her head out from the stairs, her big eyes curiously examining Chu Hang: "Dad, who is this uncle?"
"An old friend of Dad's," Tony forced a somewhat stiff smile, "Go on, Dad will make you new breakfast later."
The little girl nodded obediently and pattered up the stairs.
Tony tossed the frying pan into the sink, took a bottle of beer from the fridge, twisted it open, and took a big gulp.
"What do you want to know?" He leaned against the counter, looking at Chu Hang with those tired eyes, "What happened in these five years? Or do you want to know Thanos's whereabouts?"
"Everything," Chu Hang sat on the sofa and replied calmly.
Tony took another big drink, remained silent for a moment, then began to tell his story.
After the snap, there were very few survivors. Peter Parkerturned to dust in his arms, and Doctor Strange only left behind a single phrase, "This is the only way," before disappearing.
Later, Carol Danvers appeared, and they found the Planetwhere Thanos was.
"We thought there would be a fierce battle, a battle of revenge," Tony's voice held a hint of self-mockery, "But we lost again, completely and utterly."
He told Chu Hang that the Thanos they found was a monster who had failed in his attempt to control the power of the Infinity Stones.
Thanos had become stronger and crazier.
"He said he tried to fully integrate the power of the six gems into himself, but that creative power almost tore him to shreds. To survive, he could only use the power of the gems to destroy the gems themselves," Tony's fists unconsciously clenched, "The power of the Space Lawdissipated into the Universe. Then he started rambling, saying that the balance of the Universe was just the beginning, and he had... a grander goal.
It felt very wrong, Chu Hang. The way he looked at us, it was like looking at a bunch of insects. Then, he left, and we couldn't even stop him."
The Avengers returned to Earth with a second devastating defeat and utter despair.
Without a target for revenge, without Hope for reversal, the alliance fell apart.
"Steve went to organize some support group, Natashaguarded the empty Base, Thor built a new Asgard in Norway and drank his days away, getting fat beyond recognition. Banner merged himself with Hulk, becoming a celebrity. Clint... he went crazy, becoming a Ronin across the World, slaughtering criminals he deemed unworthy to live."
Tony turned around, looking at the lake outside the window, "And I, I chose to quit. I married Pepper, and we had Morgan. I'm here planting vegetables, fishing... I gave up, Chu Hang. Because there was no Hope left. The gemswere destroyed, and we didn't even know where the enemy was."
Chu Hang listened quietly. He knew most of this information, but hearing it from Tony's mouth, the heavy sense of despair still washed over him.
"You gave up," Chu Hang stated.
"Yes, I gave up," Tony's expression didn't change, "I'm just a mortal. I can't build a machine that can reverse the Space Law. The story is over."
"What if there's a way?" Chu Hang slowly began.
Tony heard this and, as if he'd heard a huge joke, twitched the corner of his mouth: "What way? Did you find another set of Infinity Stones?"
"No," Chu Hang looked at him, saying each word clearly, "Time travel."
Tony's smile froze on his face. He frowned: "What? What nonsense are you talking about? Time travel? That's something from science fiction. Do you want to build a DeLorean car?"
"The gems are destroyed in the present, but at past points in time, they still exist," Chu Hang ignored his sarcasm and continued, "There is a place, a dimension, where the Space Law and time are completely different from what we know."
Tony's expression became serious. As a top scientist, he immediately understood what Chu Hang was referring to. "...The Quantum Realm," he murmured, a flicker of theoretical curiosity in his eyes.
"Exactly," Chu Hang nodded, "We can use it as a conduit, a backdoor that bypasses conventional spacetime, to go back to the past and borrow the Infinity Stones."
Tony's brain worked rapidly, and he immediately pointed out the paradox: "Impossible. The Quantum Realm is pure chaos, a subatomic storm without coordinates or direction. Entering it means getting lost. How do you pinpoint a specific point in time? This would require a... a spacetime locator, and such a thing simply doesn't exist!"
"That's why I came to you," Chu Hang's gaze was as sharp as a knife, "I need someone who can build a spacetime GPS, a genius who can turn this theory into reality. I need the Tony Stark who built the arc reactor with a pile of scrap metal in a cave."
Tony's breathing became rapid. This insane idea, like a spark, fell into the depths of his long-dead heart.
"This is too crazy..." He said it, but in those tired eyes, a long-lost light rekindled, the curiosity, skepticism, and desire for challenge belonging to a genius scientist.
"Wait," Tony immediately thought of another critical obstacle, "Even if your theory is feasible, and even if I can build it, how do we enter the Quantum Realm?"
"Pym Particles, Hank Pym's technology is needed," Chu Hang affirmed.
"Then go find him," Tony immediately said, even with a hint of impatience in his tone, "Although I don't like that old fossil, for this... crazy plan, I can go talk to him."
Chu Hang looked at him silently, and only after a few seconds did he slowly speak: "Tony... Hank Pym and his daughter Hope disappeared five years ago."
The glimmer of light on Tony's face instantly dimmed. He froze, this news like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the newly ignited spark. "What? They too... So, the formula is gone? What about the existing particles?"
"Without Pym Particles, everything is empty talk."
Tony looked at Chu Hang, this friend he hadn't seen in five years, who burst into his peaceful retirement with an extremely crazy plan and undeniable confidence, giving him a glimmer of Hope, only to extinguish it with his own hands.
"I understand the principles of Pym Particles, I can make them," Chu Hang gave Tony new Hope: "And the second Ant-Man is still alive, he should have some left, I will find him, and you must do your part."
He was silent for a long time, only his heavy breathing remaining in the room.
Finally, he slammed the half-empty beer bottle in his hand onto the counter.
"Morgan likes cheeseburgers," Tony suddenly said something irrelevant, then he looked up at Chu Hang, the fire in his eyes rekindling.
"Tell me your entire concept, every single detail. I want to see if there's anything in this World that Tony Stark can't do!"
Chapter 179 Hope for the Entire Universe
Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man.
According to Chu Hang's memory of the plot, Scott should have just returned from the Quantum Realm.
Five years ago, he entered the Quantum Realm to collect quantum energy, but the Snap caused the entire Hank Pymfamily to disappear, and no one could bring him back.
He was trapped in that chaotic subatomic World for five years, but for him, perhaps only five hours had passed.
Time dilation. One of the Quantum Realm's most bizarre characteristics.
Chu Hang stood on the lawn outside the cabin, closed his eyes, and activated his super hearing again.
This time he was not searching for the energy fluctuations of an arc reactor, but a more subtle spatial disturbance—the quantum trace left by Pym Particles during transit.
It was a very specific frequency, like space being folded and then unfolded at a certain point, leaving faint ripples.
The technology that took Hank Pym decades to master was, in Chu Hang's perception, like a firefly in the dark night: faint but clear.
After scanning the entire North American Continent, Chu Hang finally captured that unique fluctuation near an abandoned warehouse outside San Francisco.
That was the spot.
Chu Hang raised his hand, and a spatial rift opened before him.
On the other side of the rift was a desolate industrial area, filled with rusty containers and dilapidated factory buildings.
Sunlight streamed through broken windows, casting dappled shadows on the ground.
He stepped through, appearing in the open space outside the warehouse.
Not far away, an old-looking truck was parked on the side of the road.
The door was open, revealing a pile of messy equipment in the back.
Chu Hang recognized the items—the portable version of the Quantum Tunnel, Hank Pym's legacy.
A man wearing a gray hoodie was squatting next to the truck, holding his head in his hands, looking utterly confused.
His hair was messy, his face covered in stubble, and he gave off the air of someone who had just rolled out of bed.
Scott Lang.
Chu Hang took a few steps closer, and the sound of his footsteps startled the man.
Scott abruptly looked up. Seeing Chu Hang, he first froze, then instinctively took two steps back, adopting a defensive posture.
But his movements were weak and utterly unthreatening, making him look more like a startled vagrant.
"Who are you?" Scott asked warily, instinctively reaching for his waist where his Ant-Man suit controller should have been.
But he grasped at air, only then remembering that he had just emerged from the Quantum Realm and his suit was still in the truck.
Chu Hang stopped three meters away, not approaching further.
He looked Scott over. The man looked to be in poor mental shape, his eyes unfocused, his lips cracked, as if he had just endured a long nightmare.
"My name is Chu Hang," he introduced himself simply. "A consultant for the Avengers."
Scott's wariness did not ease; instead, it grew more pronounced.
He took another step back, leaning against the truck.
"The Avengers?" His voice held a hint of sarcasm. "I thought they disbanded."
"Disbanded, but not dead," Chu Hang replied calmly.
Scott stared at him for a few seconds, then shook his head with a wry smile.
"Alright, whoever you are, I don't have time to chat right now. I need to go find my daughter. She must be..."
His voice suddenly caught.
Chu Hang watched his expression shift from anxiousness to confusion, and then from confusion to fear.
"Wait a minute." Scott looked at the dilapidated surroundings, his voice beginning to tremble. "This place... why is it like this? I remember there should be a convenience store here, and... where's that gas station? Why did that building collapse?"
He spun around, frantically digging a phone out of the truck and pressing the power button.
The screen lit up, displaying the time and date.
October 15, 2023.
Scott's phone slipped from his hand, fell to the ground, and the screen shattered.
He froze completely, his mouth open, unable to make a sound.
"Five years," Chu Hang spoke the cruel truth for him. "You were trapped in the Quantum Realm for five years."
"No... impossible," Scott murmured. "I just went in to collect some energy. Janet said two hours at most... I definitely only felt like five hours had passed..."
"The flow of time in the Quantum Realm is different from the real World," Chu Hang took a step closer. "You spent five hours in there, and five years passed outside.
The reason you were able to get out is because you were lucky; the Quantum Tunnel's automatic return protocol finally completed a random trigger after five years."
Scott looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "Cassie... my daughter, she is now..."
"Sixteen years old," Chu Hang's tone was flat. "If she survived."
This sentence was like a knife plunged directly into Scott's heart.
He lunged at Chu Hang, grabbing his collar. "What do you mean 'if'? What are you talking about?"
Chu Hang did not resist, merely looking at him quietly.
"Five years ago, Thanos snapped his fingers, and half the life in the Universe vanished.
Including Hank Pym, Janet van Dyne, and Hope."
Scott's hands released him.
He stumbled backward, hitting the truck, and slid down to sit on the ground.
"No... no..." His voice grew fainter.
Chu Hang crouched down, meeting his gaze. "But it was only half, Scott Lang. There is a fifty percent chance your daughter is still alive."
Scott looked up, a glimmer of Hope igniting in his eyes. "Do... do you have a way?"
"Time travel," Chu Hang stated concisely. "Using the Quantum Realm as a pathway, going back to the past, collecting the Infinity Stones, and reversing the result of the Snap."
Scott was stunned.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know what.
After several seconds, he finally managed to squeeze out a sentence.
"That sounds... insane."
Chu Hang stood up, not refuting Scott's doubt.
"Insane or not, you know better than anyone," he looked at Scott, who was still sitting on the ground. "You spent five years in the Quantum Realm, but only felt five hours pass.
That in itself proves that time can be distorted there."
Scott fell silent.
His brain was still trying to process the five-year information gap, but Chu Hang's words had hit a key point.
His experience in the Quantum Realm, that sense of temporal confusion, truly went beyond the scope of conventional physics.
"Even if you're right," Scott struggled to his feet, leaning on the truck door. "Even if the Quantum Realm can be used as a time machine conduit, how do we control it?
How do we pinpoint a specific moment in time? Hankspent decades researching Pym Particles, and he never achieved this."
"Tony Stark will solve that problem," there was no doubt in Chu Hang's tone. "He is currently developing a prototype for spatio-temporal positioning.
What I need is the remaining Pym Particles you have, and your firsthand experience with the Quantum Realm."
Scott subconsciously looked at the equipment in the truck.
Most of the instruments were damaged, but in a metal box, there were indeed several spare vials of Pym Particles.
The emergency supplies Hank had prepared for him might now be the only remaining samples in the World.
"I..." Scott hesitated. "I have to find Cassie first. I need to confirm she's alive."
"I understand," Chu Hang nodded, pulling a slip of paper from his pocket with an address written on it. "This is the coordinates for the Avengers Base.
After you confirm your daughter's situation, come find me here.
I'm taking the Pym Particles you have; they are one of the few remaining Hopes in the entire Universe."
As he spoke, Chu Hang waved his hand, and the metal box vanished.
Scott took the slip of paper, his fingers trembling slightly.
He looked at Chu Hang, trying to detect a hint of falsehood or madness on his face, but those eyes held only calmness and determination.
"What if Cassie vanished?" Scott's voice was quiet. "What if she was in that half too..."
"Then you should come even more," Chu Hang turned, preparing to leave. "Because that means you have even more reason to bring her back."
He raised his hand, and the spatial rift opened before him again.
The golden light illuminated Scott's pale face.
"One more thing," Chu Hang turned his head back. "In the Quantum Realm, did you see anything... unusual?"
Scott frowned, recalling the chaotic experience.
"Unusual? Everything in there is unusual. There was light everywhere, distorted space, and also..."
He suddenly stopped.
"Also what?" Chu Hang's gaze sharpened.
"A voice," Scott said uncertainly. "I think I heard a voice, just as I was about to get out.
It was very faint, like someone calling my name from far away. But there shouldn't have been anyone else in there..."
Chu Hang's pupils contracted slightly.
He thought of a possibility, one that hadn't appeared in the original plot, but might exist in this World that he had already changed.
Janet van Dyne.
She had spent thirty years in the Quantum Realm and had acquired certain abilities that ordinary people could not comprehend.
If she also vanished in the Snap, would her consciousness still remain in some corner of the Quantum Realm?
Chapter 180 Reunion at the Avengers Base
Scott Lang stood downstairs from an apartment building in San Francisco, clutching a piece of paper, but he didn't move.
He looked up at the window on the third floor, where the lights were on. Through a gap in the curtains, he saw a girl's figure moving around the room. She was about 1.65 meters tall, with a ponytail, wearing a school uniform jacket.
Cassie.
His daughter.
Five years ago, she was still an elementary school student; now she was a high school student.
Scott's throat tightened. He wanted to rush up, knock on the door, hug her, and tell her that her dad was back. But he didn't move, because he didn't know how to explain.
"Hi, Cassie, Dad was stuck in the Quantum Realm for five years, but I only felt like five hours had passed, so I still thought you were eleven."
This sounded like a joke.
He stood downstairs for ten minutes, and finally rang the doorbell.
The door was opened by Cassie's stepfather, Jim, an honest-looking middle-aged man. The moment he saw Scott, Jim froze, his hand still on the doorknob.
"Scott?" Jim's voice was full of disbelief, "You... how did you..."
"Dad?"
Cassie's voice came from the stairs. She rushed downstairs, stood behind Jim, and stared at Scott at the door with wide eyes.
After five years, she had grown taller, and her baby fat was gone, but her eyes were still the same as when she was little.
"Cassie." Scott's voice was hoarse.
Cassie didn't speak; she just rushed over and hugged him tightly. Her shoulders trembled, and tears quickly soaked Scott's clothes.
"I thought you disappeared too." Cassie's voice was muffled against his chest, "They all said you died, but I didn't believe it, I never believed it."
Scott closed his eyes and hugged his daughter tightly. "I'm sorry, Cassie, Dad is late."
He stayed at Cassie's house for three hours. Jim and Maggie thoughtfully gave the father and daughter space, and Scott explained his experiences of the past five years as simply as possible. He didn't mention the time difference in the Quantum Realm, only saying that he had been trapped in one place and had just found a way out.
Cassie asked many questions, but in the end, she just held Scott's hand and said, "It's good that you're back."
It was already nine o'clock at night when he left the apartment. Scott walked down the street and pulled the piece of paper from his pocket. He recognized the address on it; it was in the suburbs of northern New York State, nearly five thousand kilometers from San Francisco.
He returned to the abandoned warehouse, took out the metal box from the truck, which contained six neatly arranged vials of Pym Particles. Each vial was no more than ten milliliters, and the light blue liquid gently swirled in the glass tubes.
These might be the only remaining samples in the World.
Scott put the box into his backpack, then rummaged through the truck for the Ant-Man suit's control bracelet. He pressed the button, and the suit unfolded from a coin-sized disc, covering his body.
The red and black tight suit, the helmet, and the buttons on the belt.
Everything still worked.
He took a deep breath, started the truck, and drove towards the Avengers Base.
The Avengers Base was even more desolate than Scotthad imagined.
He drove the truck to the Base entrance, and what he saw through the window was dead silence. The once brightly lit building now had only a few scattered windows lit, the training ground was overgrown with weeds, and the quinjets on the tarmac were covered in thick dust.
It was like an abandoned tomb.
Scott got out of the car, carrying the backpack with the Pym Particles, and walked towards the main building entrance. The access control system was still working, but after scanning his iris, the screen only displayed one line of text: "Visitor access, please wait for confirmation."
He waited at the door for five minutes, and then the door finally opened.
Natasha Romanoff stood inside the door. Her hair was much longer than five years ago, tied in a loose ponytail. She wore a black jacket, held a cup of coffee, and her eyes were tired but still sharp.
"Scott Lang." Natasha looked him over, her tone calm, "Chu Hang said you would come, but I thought you'd be here sooner."
"I went to see my daughter." Scott answered honestly.
Natasha nodded and stepped aside from the doorway. "Follow me, they're waiting for you in the conference room."
Scott followed her into the Base. The corridors they passed were empty, and the Avengers logo hanging on the wall was somewhat faded. Their group photo from after the Battle of New York was still hanging there, but now it looked like a posthumous photograph.
"How many people are still here?" Scott asked.
"Me." Natasha replied briefly, "Rhodey comes over occasionally, and Okoye sometimes sends messages from Wakanda. Everyone else... is doing their own thing."
"What about Steve?"
"He's running his support group in Brooklyn, helping those who lost loved ones because of the snap to get out of the Shadow." Natasha's voice was devoid of emotion, "It's ironic, isn't it? We can't save those people, we can only teach them how to accept reality."
Scott didn't respond. He didn't know what to say.
They walked to the conference room door, and Natashapushed it open.
Three people were already waiting in the room.
Steve Rogers sat at one end of the long table. He had a beard, wore a dark blue sweater, and looked ten years older than five years ago. Seeing Scott enter, he stood up, giving a tired smile.
"Scott, it's good to see you alive."
Bruce Banner sat opposite Steve, but Scott almost didn't recognize him. Banner was now a green giant over two meters tall, but he was wearing a custom plaid shirt, glasses, and was swiping on a tablet with his thick fingers.
"Hey, Scott." Banner waved, his voice gentle, "Don't be nervous, I'm a perfect combination of Hulk and Bannernow. You can call me... Professor Hulk."
Scott was stunned for a moment, then nodded stiffly.
Chu Hang stood by the window, his back to them. He heard the door open, turned around, and his gaze fell on the backpack Scott was carrying.
"Did you bring the Pym Particles?" Chu Hang asked directly.
Scott hesitated, then took a metal box from his backpack and placed it on the table. "These are three vials, all the backups Hank left at the Ant-Man Base. Plus the three vials you took before, that makes six in total."
Banner immediately leaned over, carefully opening the box, his eyes lighting up. "Are these enough? If we're going to travel through time multiple times..."
"Not enough." Chu Hang interrupted Banner, "Six vials of particles can support at most six single-person round trips, and we need to collect six Infinity Stones, distributed at different points and locations in time."
Steve frowned. "Then what do we do?"
"Replicate." Chu Hang walked to the table, looking at the six vials of particles, "I provided the design principles of the Pym Particles, and with the Pym Particles I got last time, Tony Stark is currently researching reverse engineering, trying to decipher the molecular structure of the Pym Particles. If successful, we can mass-produce them."
Scott's expression changed. "Wait, Hank spent decades perfecting this formula, why does Tony Stark think he can replicate it in a few days?"
"Because he's Tony Stark." Natasha said faintly from the doorway, "And he has motivation now."
Just then, the conference room door was pushed open again.
Tony Stark walked in, holding a holographic projector. He was wearing an old T-shirt and jeans, his hair was messy, his eyes were bloodshot, but his gaze was unusually bright.
"Gentlemen, sorry I'm late." Tony placed the projector on the table and pressed a button. A complex 3D model immediately unfolded in the air, with countless data streams and formulas rotating around the model.
"What is this?" Steve asked.
"A spacetime GPS." Tony's voice held a hint of barely concealed excitement, "A navigation system for the Quantum Realm, capable of precisely locating any time and place we want to go. Theoretically, as long as we input the correct coordinates, we can travel through the timeline as freely as using a phone map."
Banner stood up, leaned closer to the holographic model, and used his thick fingers to gesture in the air, adjusting the view. His expression changed from surprise to admiration. "Tony, this algorithm... how did you think of using the Mobius strip model to stabilize the time anchor points?"
"Three AM inspiration," Tony shrugged. "Plus a mountain of coffee and a messy drawing from Morgan."
Scott was completely lost. He looked at the rapidly scrolling data, having no idea what it represented. "So... this thing actually works?"
Tony turned to him, a tired but confident smile on his face. "Theoretically, yes. But I need real-World data to verify it, and that's where you come in, Mr. Lang."
He swiped a few times on the projector, bringing up another set of data. "You spent five years in the Quantum Realm, even though it only felt like five hours to you. That means your body retains traces of time dilation at the subatomic level. I need to scan you, extract that data, and use it to calibrate the precision of the Spacetime GPS."
Scott instinctively took a step back. "Scan? How do you scan?"
"Relax, it won't hurt," Banner walked over, pulling a handheld scanner from his pocket. "It's just a quantum-level biological scan, ten minutes at most. Just stand still."
Scott looked at Banner, then at Tony, and finally at Chu Hang. Chu Hang nodded.
"Alright," Scott took a deep breath. "Let's do it."
Banner activated the scanner, and a pale blue beam shot out from the front of the device, slowly sweeping over Scott. Scott felt a slight tingling sensation, like countless fine needles tracing his skin.
"Relax, don't move," Banner stared at the scanner screen, his brow furrowing deeper. "This data... something's wrong."
Tony immediately walked over, looking at the dense waveform graphs on the screen. "What's wrong?"
"There are remnants of time distortion in his cells, but this frequency..." Banner zoomed in on a segment of the data. "Look here, there's an anomalous resonance wave. It doesn't belong to the regular time dilation of the Quantum Realm."
Chu Hang's gaze sharpened. He walked up beside Banner, staring at the abnormal waveform on the screen. It was an extremely faint signal, mixed in with countless normal data points; if they hadn't looked closely, they wouldn't have found it at all.
"Zoom in," Chu Hang said.
Banner complied, isolating and magnifying that waveform segment. When the signal was magnified to its limit, they saw a regular pulse.
"This is..." Tony narrowed his eyes. "This isn't a natural phenomenon. This is an artificial signal."
Scott was stunned. "What does that mean?"
Chu Hang didn't answer but asked, "Scott, what exactly was that voice you heard in the Quantum Realm?"
Scott struggled to remember. "I... I'm not sure. The voice was very faint, like someone calling my name from far away. But I thought it was a hallucination because there shouldn't have been anyone else in the Quantum Realm."
"Janet," Chu Hang stated the name directly. "Hank Pym's wife, Hope's mother. She spent thirty years in the Quantum Realm and gained certain special abilities. If she vanished during the Snap, her consciousness might still remain in the Quantum Realm."
A brief silence fell over the conference room.
Steve broke the silence. "Are you saying Janet is still alive? In some form?"
"Perhaps." Chu Hang looked at Tony. "Can this signal be traced?"
Tony stared at the screen, his fingers rapidly tapping on the holographic keyboard. After a few seconds, he shook his head. "The signal is too weak, and five years have passed; the residual resonance wave could dissipate at any moment. But if we enter the Quantum Realm again, we might be able to capture the source."
Natasha leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "So what's our plan? Go into the Quantum Realm first to look for a potentially existing consciousness, or start time travel immediately?"
"Both," Chu Hang turned to Tony. "How long until your Spacetime GPS is complete?"
Tony hesitated. "If I have a sample of Pym Particles, I can finish the reverse engineering and mass production within forty-eight hours. But the final calibration of the Spacetime GPS requires an actual test."
"Then we test it." Chu Hang looked at Scott. "Do you dare enter the Quantum Realm again?"
Scott's Adam's apple bobbed. He remembered that chaotic World, the twisted space, and that faint, ethereal voice.
"If this helps us succeed, then let's try it." His voice was soft but firm.
Tony walked to the window, his back to the others, hands shoved in his pockets. Outside the window was a desolate training field, with weeds swaying in the wind.
"We can test, but not now." He didn't turn around, his voice calm. "I need to complete the reverse engineering of the Pym Particles first to ensure we have enough fuel. One failed test wastes one vial of Particles, and we only have six."
Banner turned off the scanner and transferred the data to Tony's projector. "I agree with Tony's assessment. The Quantum Realm is too unstable; rushing into it is too risky. We need more thorough preparation."
Steve stood up and walked to the table, leaning his hands on the surface. He looked at the six vials of blue liquid, silent for a few seconds.
"Then what else do we need?" He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over everyone present. "Besides the Particles and the Spacetime GPS, what are we missing?"
"Manpower," Natasha walked away from the wall. "Even if we can locate the six gems, we need enough people to collect them. Right now, there are only six people in this room, and Scott just came out of the Quantum Realm; his condition is unstable."
Scott wanted to argue, but he knew Natasha was right. He was currently aching all over, his mind still retaining the chaotic feeling of the Quantum Realm, making him completely unfit for high-risk missions.
"Where is Clint?" Steve asked Natasha.
"Tokyo, or Mexico City, I'm not sure," Natasha's voice was cold. "He's a Ronin now, killing people he thinks don't deserve to live. I tried contacting him, but he won't answer the phone."
"What about Thor?"
"New Asgard, Norway," Banner chimed in. "But Rhodeywent there last month and said his condition is terrible. Drinking, playing video games, he's so fat he's almost unrecognizable."
Steve clenched his fist. Looking at this broken team, a wave of powerlessness washed over him.
During the Battle of New York, there were seven of them, eight including Chu Hang. Now, only six remained.
"There's also Carol," Chu Hang suddenly spoke. "Captain Marvel. She's dealing with crises on other Planets in the Universe. If we can reach her, she'll come back."
Natasha shook her head. "She left a beacon, but it's only for emergencies. And even if she comes back, it will take time."
"Then we give her time." Chu Hang walked to the table, looking at Tony's back. "Tony needs forty-eight hours to complete the reverse engineering. That's enough time for us to gather everyone. Steve, you go find Clint. Natasha, you go to Norway and bring Thor back. I will contact Carol."
Tony turned around, a sarcastic smile on his face. "You sound very used to giving orders, Chu Hang. This is the Avengers Base, not your private command center."
Chu Hang was not provoked. He looked at Tony, his tone calm. "Then you command, Tony Stark. Tell us what we should do."
Tony's smile froze on his face. He stared at Chu Hang for a few seconds, then shifted his gaze, looking back out the window.
"Forget it, you're right." His voice was weary. "I need to focus on sorting out the Particles; I don't have time for this. You guys go find people. Gather back here in two days."