Chapter 107 The Battle of New York (Part 1)
The medical room of the Helicarrier was very quiet.
Coulson lay on the bed, covered with a white sheet. Steve, Tony, Thor, and Natasha stood around him, nobody speaking.
Nick Fury walked in, his footsteps heavy. He walked to the bedside, stood for a moment, then pulled a stack of cards from his pocket and threw them onto the nearby table.
The cards were stained with dried, dark red blood.
"Phil's collection," Fury's voice was hoarse, "Captain America's signed cards. He always carried them, wanting to get your autograph, Steve."
Steve's eyes flickered, his lips pressed into a thin line.
"He believed in heroes." Fury's voice was not loud, but every word was like a nail, "He believed in you. He believed that when crisis came, you would step forward and stand in front of ordinary people."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone.
"He believed that until his death. Loki won; he made us quarrel, made us suspicious, and made the Avengers a joke."
Fury picked up a card, the bloodstain perfectly on the Captain's shield.
"Coulson died because he wanted to buy you time. He gambled his life on you uniting."
He put the card back on the table.
"Now, tell me, did he bet right?"
With that, Fury turned and left.
The medical room was deathly silent.
The mockery on Tony's face was gone, replaced by coldness. Steve clenched his fists, his nails digging into his flesh. Thor looked at Coulson's face, recalling the fallen heroes of Asgard.
"He's right," Steve spoke first, his voice very low, "We let him down."
"Then let's make it right." Tony said, "I'm going to make Loki realize that touching my people, touching my building, comes at a price."
"He is my brother," Thor tightened his grip on his hammer, "His crimes, I will end them."
"Loki's target is Stark Tower; he wants to use the arc reactor to activate the Tesseract." Steve spread out a map of New York, "We must stop him before he opens the portal."
"It's too late." Tony put on his Mark6 armor, his faceplate closing, "That's my turf, I'm going ahead."
With that, he flew directly out of the aircraft's rear hatch, becoming a streak of red and gold light.
"I can't wait either." Thor spun his hammer, nodded to Steve, "See you on the battlefield."
He also flew out of the hatch, swinging his hammer, chasing after them with lightning.
"Hey! You guys..." Steve called out helplessly.
"Don't worry about them, Captain." Chu Hang said, "You take the aircraft, bring Natasha, and get there as fast as you can. I'm faster than you."
"How are you getting there?"
"Taking a shortcut."
Chu Hang thought about his [Fixed-Point Teleportation], knowing he could arrive in the blink of an eye.
He watched all of this, feeling no ripples in his heart.
He knew Fury was putting on a show, that the cards were taken from Coulson's office by Fury and stained with blood.
But he didn't expose it. Because it was very useful.
He followed Fury out of the medical room and stopped him in an empty corridor.
"Fury."
Fury stopped, turned around, his single eye showing no emotion.
"Well done, a good speech." Chu Hang said.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't pretend." Chu Hang walked up to him, lowering his voice, "S.H.I.E.L.D. has a Project T.A.H.I.T.I. It uses Kreealien bodily fluids to resurrect the dead. The side effects are significant, but Coulson just died, his body is still warm, there's still time."
Fury's pupils suddenly constricted.
The muscles on his face froze, and for the first time, undisguised shock appeared in his single eye.
Project T.A.H.I.T.I. was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top secret, known to no more than five people. How did he know?
"Don't let him lie there too long." Chu Hang patted Fury's shoulder, as if instructing a small matter, "A good Agentshouldn't be wasted like this. Using the dead to boost morale, once is enough."
With that, Chu Hang turned and left.
Fury stood alone, a layer of cold sweat seeping from his back.
Who exactly was this man? What else did he know?
He took a deep breath, pulled out his communicator, and dialed an encrypted line.
"Activate the T.A.H.I.T.I. protocol. Yes, the person you're thinking of."
...Chu Hang closed his eyes, activating [Fixed-Point Teleportation].
He locked onto the coordinates of Stark Tower.
As soon as the spatial energy activated, he felt an unprecedented resistance.
The space above New York was like a pot of boiling water, filled with violent and chaotic energy. The power of the Tesseract was activating, acting like a giant jammer, completely disrupting his precise coordinates.
Forcing the teleportation, the best outcome would be falling into the Atlantic Ocean, the worst, being torn to shreds by spatial turbulence.
"Damn it." Chu Hang opened his eyes, frowning.
Loki, this guy, had inadvertently crippled one of his major weapons.
"What's wrong?" Nick, who had just finished his call and walked out, saw the troubled look on his face.
"Space is unstable, I can't stop Loki immediately." Chu Hang explained, "I'll have to fly over."
He walked to the hatch.
The next second, golden light erupted from his body.
[Twin Star Form]!
Dazzling cosmic energy enveloped him, lifting him into the air. He was like a small Sun.
"I'm going."
Before his words faded, a long golden contrail spewed from behind him, instantly breaking the sound barrier with a loud boom, and he flew towards New York.
His speed was more than double that of Tony's armor suit... In New York, at the top of Stark Tower.
Dr. Erik had already set up the device, and the Tesseractemitted a faint blue light from its core.
Loki, holding his scepter, stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking down at the city.
"It's almost time." He turned to Selvig.
Selvig's eyes were vacant, and he nodded mechanically.
Loki raised his scepter, its tip aimed at the Tesseract.
"Begin."
The scepter shot out a beam of energy.
Buzz—
The device lit up fiercely, and a thick blue pillar of light shot up into the sky, piercing through the clouds.
The sky, like a pane of glass, was shattered by the light pillar.
A black dot appeared, rapidly expanding into a swirling wormhole.
On the other side of the wormhole was dark space and a massive fleet.
People on the streets stopped, looking up at the strange phenomenon in the sky, their faces filled with confusion and fear.
At that moment, a red and gold figure whistled down, landing on the terrace of Stark Tower.
It was Iron Man.
He walked into the hall, seeing Loki holding a glass of wine, casually watching him.
"Help yourself." Loki gestured.
"Thanks." Tony walked to the bar, poured himself a glass, "Such a big commotion, aren't you afraid of being discovered?"
"I want to be discovered." Loki smiled, "I've brought peace. Your freedom is the greatest shackles."
"I see your army." Tony took a sip of wine, pointing to the wormhole in the sky, "Chitauri? Not familiar. But I guess they're not here for sightseeing."
"I will be the king of this Planet."
"Alright." Tony put down his glass, "But you have to get past us first. We are the Avengers."
As he spoke, he secretly put on the inductive bracelet on his wrist.
Loki smiled, walked up to Tony, and aimed the tip of his scepter at the arc reactor on his chest.
"You can't stop me."
He pressed hard.
Clink.
A crisp sound. The scepter's energy was deflected.
Loki was stunned.
"Looks like that trick doesn't work on everyone." Tonyshrugged.
Loki's face turned ashen; he grabbed Tony by the neck, lifted him, and then violently threw him out the window.
Tony fell through the air.
The bracelet on his wrist emitted a red light.
The distant Mark6 armor automatically disassembled, like a flock of red and gold birds, whistling towards him, accurately assembling onto his body in mid-air.
Engines ignited, Tony flipped over, flying back towards Stark Tower.
He hovered in the air, raising the energy cannons in both hands, aiming at Loki.
"One more thing."
As he was about to fire, a figure descended from the sky, crashing heavily into him.
It was Thor.
"Don't hurt him! He's my brother!" Thor shouted, knocking Tony back into the building.
"I was just about to teach him a lesson!" Tony was disoriented from the impact.
The two Avengers wrestled in front of Loki.
Loki watched them, a triumphant smile on his face.
He turned and looked at the sky.
From the giant wormhole, the first wave of Chitauri had already poured out.
Huge battleships resembling metal whales, and countless Soldiers riding flying chariots.
They let out piercing shrieks, unleashing a barrage of cannon fire towards Manhattan.
Chapter 108 The Battle of New York (Part Two)
The top floor of Stark Tower was a mess.
Tony and Thor, like two bulls, wrestled with each other. The light from energy cannons and Thor's Hammerflashed wildly, smashing the surrounding walls and furniture to pieces.
Outside, Manhattan had become a sea of fire. Chitauriartillery rained down from the sky, a continuous roar of screams and explosions.
Loki stood nearby, holding a glass of wine, a morbid smile on his face, admiring his masterpiece.
Just then, a huge bang drowned out all the noise on the battlefield.
A golden light shattered the remaining French windows and hovered in the center of the hall. As the light faded, Chu Hang appeared. He was enveloped in a layer of flowing golden energy, his eyes frighteningly bright.
He glanced at the hellish city outside, then at the two people still wrestling on the ground, his brows tightly furrowed.
"You two idiots, have you made enough of a fuss?"
The voice wasn't loud, but Tony and Thor both stopped. They looked up and saw Chu Hang hovering in mid-air; his aura instinctively made them feel pressure.
"There's a war outside, and you two are playing wrestling in here?" Chu Hang's voice was full of disdain. "Is this how Asgardians teach their heirs? Or is infighting the Stark family tradition?"
Tony's face immediately turned red. He got up from the ground and brushed off the dust.
Thor also stood up, holding his hammer, his expression a bit awkward.
"He..." Thor tried to explain.
"I don't want to hear it." Chu Hang interrupted him, his gaze shifting to Loki.
The smile on Loki's face was gone. This man had punched and blown up the Destroyer in New Mexico. He felt something similar to Odin emanating from Chu Hang.
"Mortal, you..." Loki instinctively tried to speak.
Chu Hang didn't give him a chance.
He raised his right hand, pointed it towards Loki, and gently clenched it.
[Spatial Cage]
After Chu Hang acquired the Ninth Realm's Greatest Mage, his Space Control became increasingly mature, evolving into many techniques.
The space around Loki instantly twisted, the air rippled like water, and then solidified. A transparent cube appeared out of thin air, trapping him perfectly inside.
Loki's face changed drastically. He raised his scepter and smashed it against the transparent wall.
Clang!
The scepter was repelled by an invisible force, making his hand tingle. He used magic power to impact it, and illusions to confuse it, but the cube was like an absolute prison, isolating everything. All his power felt like it was hitting cotton.
"What is this?" Loki shouted in horror.
"Just a cage." Chu Hang slowly descended and walked to the cube, watching Loki, who was thrashing inside like a trapped beast. "Aren't you a god? In a cage, you look like a pet."
He extended a finger and lightly tapped the outer wall of the cube.
The cube rapidly shrank, becoming a palm-sized small cube, floating in the air. Inside, Loki's figure was compressed into a blurry speck, still struggling in vain.
Chu Hang waved his hand, and the small cube flew to a corner, sticking to the wall, motionless.
"Alright, the fly is dealt with." He turned around and looked at Tony and Thor.
Tony opened his mouth, wanting to ask what kind of technology that was, but seeing Chu Hang's face, which clearly said 'don't bother me,' he swallowed his words.
Thor, on the other hand, had a complex expression, feeling a hint of pity for Loki's fate and awe at Chu Hang's power.
"My brother, he..."
Just then, a quinjet roared in, hovering outside the building.
The hatch opened, and Steve Rogers was the first to jump out, shield in hand.
Natasha followed closely, a gun in each hand.
Finally, Hawkeye Clint Barton, with his quiver on his back and sharp eyes, had broken free from Loki's control.
"What's the situation?" Steve asked in a deep voice, looking at the devastated hall and the continuous gunfire outside.
"It's bad," Tony replied. "The portal is open, and alien troops are pouring in. We need to find a way to close it."
"Where's Loki?" Natasha asked.
Chu Hang pointed to the small cube on the wall.
Everyone looked over, bewildered.
"He's quiet now. But he's fine," Chu Hang said simply, glancing at Thor. "Hawkeye, find a vantage point. You'll need a clear view."
"Understood." Barton didn't hesitate, turning and running towards a higher part of the building.
"Natasha, you and Captain are responsible for the ground, evacuating civilians, and establishing a defensive line," Chu Hang continued to order.
"Tony, your armor suit is agile, so you're responsible for air support and clearing out the small fry."
"Thor, you're strong and tough, so follow Captain and smash wherever needed."
He clearly assigned everyone their roles.
Steve looked at him, nodded, and added, "Everyone listen, the primary mission is to hold the line and protect civilians. Until we find a way to close the portal, we absolutely cannot let them break through Fifth Avenue."
He looked at Chu Hang: "What about you?"
Chu Hang looked up at the Chitauri Leviathan battleship, which was soaring through the buildings like a giant whale in the sky.
"I'm responsible for clearing out the big ones, and also," he pointed to the wormhole in the sky, "finding a way to close that door."
"Good." Steve didn't ask further. "Everyone, move out!"
The Avengers immediately dispersed.
Steve and Natasha rushed downstairs. The streets were already in chaos, cars crashed together, and people screamed and scattered. Chitauri Soldiers rode flying motorcycles, sweeping the crowd with energy guns, just like hunting.
Steve jumped onto a bus, threw his shield, and knocked over three flying motorcycles.
"Hold this position! Cover the civilian evacuation!" he shouted to the arriving Police.
Natasha slid into cover, her two guns firing simultaneously, precisely taking down several Chitauri Soldiers who were about to open fire on a family.
Thor summoned lightning, jumped off the building, flattened a group of enemies with one hammer strike, and then rushed to the other side to help Steve relieve pressure.
Tony flew out of the building, beginning to attack the flying vehicles with energy cannons and missiles, drawing lines of fire in the sky.
Only Chu Hang remained in the hall.
He took a deep breath, and the golden light around his body surged again.
The next second, he shot up like a cannonball, straight towards the rampaging Leviathan beast.
The Leviathan spotted him, opened its huge metallic mouth, and let out a deafening roar. The cannons on both sides of its body began to charge, and dozens of energy beams shot towards Chu Hang.
Chu Hang's speed didn't slow down at all; the space around his body twisted slightly, and all the beams grazed past him, hitting the tall buildings behind and blasting out several large holes.
He flew towards the giant beast, drawing a straight golden trajectory in the air.
Just as the two were about to collide, he raised his right hand, spread his five fingers, and, facing forward, sharply swiped downward.
[Spatial Cutting]
A subtle, almost invisible black crack, like a lightning bolt, shot from his fingertip, instantly slicing through the Leviathan's massive body.
There was no sound, no explosion.
The Leviathan's roar abruptly stopped. Its colossal body paused in mid-air for a second.
Then, from head to tail, an incredibly smooth cut appeared.
The entire giant battleship was neatly divided into two halves.
The cut was as smooth as a mirror, with the complex internal mechanical structures and biological tissues clearly visible.
The two halves of the wreckage, propelled by inertia, continued to fly for several hundred meters before crashing helplessly to the ground, triggering two massive explosions and a towering cloud of smoke.
On the ground, Steve, who was directing the Police to establish a defensive line, saw this scene and paused his movements.
In the air, Tony, who was dogfighting with several flying vehicles, also saw it through his helmet's screen.
"Jarvis, what was that?"
"Sir, unable to analyze. It appears to be some form of spatial displacement or dimensional cutting, beyond the scope of current physics."
Tony fell silent.
In the sky, Chu Hang hovered in place, his face a little pale.
He could feel that this strike had consumed nearly one-twentieth of the Universe energy within him.
This move was incredibly powerful, but its consumption was equally astonishing. Fortunately, his recovery ability was also strong, so this consumption was not a problem.
He could clearly feel that as his understanding of Space Control deepened, the consumption would fall exponentially.
He looked up at the wormhole that was still continuously spewing out enemies.
"However, this kind of scene is still more suitable for Twin Star Form to harvest."
Chapter 109 The Battle of New York (Part 3)
Another Leviathan was split in half and crashed onto the street.
Two huge metal wrecks, trailing fire and thick smoke, slammed into two office buildings. The glass curtain walls collapsed like a waterfall, and fragments of reinforced concrete rained down, hitting the streets below, igniting a new round of explosions and screams.
Chu Hang hovered in the air, feeling his internal energy diminish once more.
Life Origin was rapidly replenishing, but its speed couldn't keep up.
He looked up, and two more identical behemoths emerged from the wormhole, followed by a dense swarm of flying craft, like locusts pouring out of hell.
They were endless.
He had to close the gate.
A movie scene flashed through his mind. Loki's scepter was the key to closing the gate.
And the activation device should be on the top floor of Stark Tower, operated by the controlled Dr. Selvig.
He transformed into a golden light and returned to the terrace.
The spot was empty, with only shattered glass and overturned drinks.
There was no device, and no Dr. Selvig.
Chu Hang rushed into the building, searching through several offices on the top floor.
Still nothing.
"Damn it."
He cursed.
He had captured Loki too quickly, and the plot had changed. He was used to following a map, but now the map was gone.
No choice, he had to find it himself.
He closed his eyes, his perception fully spread out.
Spatial Perception.
The energy fluctuations of the entire New York formed a three-dimensional map in his mind. Countless light points representing life scurried in panic, mixed with the cold energy signals of the Chitauri Soldiers.
He filtered out these noises, focusing on finding the energy source of the Tesseract.
However, his mind was a chaotic mess.
The wormhole in the sky was itself a huge spatial energy source, like a black Sun, with strong gravity that distorted everything around it.
The Tesseract was of the same origin, like a candle lit next to the Sun, its light completely overshadowed.
He could only vaguely sense that the item was in this building.
Where exactly, he didn't know.
A classic case of 'the darkest place is under the lamp.'
The battle on the ground had gone insane.
"Captain, three o'clock direction, subway entrance! A team is trying to flank you!"
On a half-finished building, Hawkeye knelt, his left arm muscles taut like iron, calmly reporting. One of his eyes peered through the scope, while the other scanned the entire block, like a true hunter.
Before he finished speaking, an arrow had already flown out.
The arrow stuck into the subway entrance ceiling, not exploding, but emitting a high-frequency sound wave inaudible to human ears. The dozen or so Chitauri Soldiers who had just rushed out all clutched their heads, their bodies stiff, their movements halted.
"Nice work!" Steve's voice came through the comms, accompanied by heavy breathing.
He seized the opportunity, his shield flying out of his hand, ricocheting off walls and pillars with a "clang, clang, clang," like a deadly pinball, knocking all the enemy team to the ground. When the shield flew back into his hand, its edge was already stained with green alien blood.
"Don't get distracted!" Natasha's voice rang out.
She dodged a barrage of energy cannon fire with a slide, hot debris grazing her cheek, leaving a streak of blood. She rose with the momentum, firing her twin pistols in quick succession, riddling an enemy attempting to ambush Steve from behind.
She had no superpowers, relying solely on skill and courage to dance through the hail of bullets, every breath potentially her last. The bullets in her magazines were rapidly diminishing, and she didn't know how much longer she could hold on.
On the other side, Thor was a human lightning bolt.
He summoned thunder, electrifying a newly landed Leviathan until it smoked all over, its armor shell charred black. Then he flew over and smashed its head with his hammer. Green fluid and shattered metal splattered everywhere.
"There are too many of these things!" Thor roared into the comms. He had just dealt with one, and two more were already descending from the sky.
A hammer blow could clear an area, but the next second, more enemies poured out of the wormhole, filling the void, endlessly. He felt his arm starting to ache, each swing of the hammer heavier than the last.
"My missiles are almost gone too!" Tony's voice was breathless, "My parties never had this many people!"
He flew his battle suit wildly between buildings, with a dozen flying craft chasing him from behind, laser beams grazing his armor, leaving red-hot streaks.
"Sir, right thruster thirty percent damaged, energy remaining twenty-two percent, recommend withdrawal for replenishment." Jarvis's voice calmly reported the bad news.
"Shut up, Jarvis, now's not the time!" Tony cursed, making a sharp turn to dodge a volley of energy blasts, then fired a repulsor blast from his palm, blowing up a pursuing craft. He felt like a can being chased by a pack of dogs, its shell being gnawed away bit by bit.
The entire battlefield was a meat grinder. Even the powerful Avengers were starting to tire.
Chu Hang listened to the voices on the comms channel, knowing he couldn't wait any longer.
He connected to Thor's channel.
"Thor! Stop smashing! Get back to Stark Tower!"
"What?" Thor smashed an enemy into a wall, half its body embedded, "Now? The ground is about to fall!"
"Just go when I tell you to!" Chu Hang's voice was unquestionable, "Your brother, I've got him locked in a cube on the top floor, stuck to the wall. Go get him out and ask him where he hid the Tesseract. Use any method you can, pry his mouth open!"
"...I understand." Thor didn't waste any more words, agreeing. He glanced at Steve, who was still fighting hard, let out a roar, and swung his hammer, flying towards Stark Tower.
After arranging for Thor, Chu Hang hovered in the air, looking at the giant wormhole.
Waiting for Thor to get the answer, then finding the device, then closing the gate... it was too slow.
How many more people would die in New York in the meantime?
There had to be a faster way.
He scoured his memories, movie clips he had watched before his transmigration flashed by like slides.
Iron Man, Captain America, Thor... Avengers... Guardians of the Galaxy!
A scene he had long forgotten popped into his mind.
A raccoon-like creature, carrying a gun bigger than itself, was complaining frantically.
"...Those stupid Chitauri, their entire army is commanded by one mothership. As long as you blow up their mothership, all the Soldiers will instantly shut down..."
Mothership!
Yes, the mothership!
Chu Hang's eyes lit up.
This was striking at the root. Closing the gate was just treating the symptoms; taking out the one who opened it was addressing the cause.
He looked up, focusing on the bottomless wormhole.
On the other side was the Chitauri fleet, their mothership.
This plan was insane.
One person, charging into the enemy's lair.
But he was the only one who could do it.
He had the energy of Twin Star Form, the defense of Godly Physique and Adaptive Armor, and the S-RankHealing Factor as a backup.
Even if he couldn't win, he could tear open space and escape back.
It was worth doing.
He opened the all-channel communication.
"Everyone, the plan has changed."
"What change?" Steve's voice came through, with a violent explosion in the background. He had just dragged a civilian out of a burning car.
"I'm going to the other side of the portal." Chu Hang's tone was calm.
The channel was silent for a second.
"The other side?" Tony was the first to exclaim, "Are you crazy? That's the enemy's lair! Are you going there alone to die?"
"That's a one-way ticket, Chu Hang!" Steve was also anxious, "We don't know what it's like over there, you might not come back!"
"Their army is a networked system." Chu Hang explained simply, "I'm going to pull their main plug. If I succeed, all these things in front of you will turn into scrap metal."
"How do you guarantee..."
"I can't guarantee it." Chu Hang interrupted Steve, "But this is the fastest way right now. Your mission is to hold this place until I return, don't let New York turn into ruins."
He paused.
"If I don't come back, tell Thor to find a way to smash that door."
With that, he cut off communication.
He no longer hesitated, his entire body's golden energy suddenly ignited, like a small Sun.
He glanced at the city below, the people struggling in the war, and his teammates fighting alongside him.
Then, he looked up, his gaze fixed on the dark wormhole.
Chapter 110 The Battle of New York (Final)
Chu Hang no longer looked at the ground.
He plunged into the black hole in the sky like a retrograde meteor.
The wormhole was not a good place.
Space was chaotic, like a pot of boiling asphalt, viscous and violent.
There was no up, down, left, or right, no gravity, only distorted light and spatial cracks that could appear at any moment.
A piece of armor debris, detached from a nearby battleship, was accelerated by the chaotic gravity here; its power was no less than a cannonball, capable of tearing a human body in half if it grazed them.
Any flesh-and-blood body entering would not last even a second, being crushed into the most basic particles.
But around Chu Hang's body, space was forcibly smoothed by a stronger will, forming an invisible membrane.
Spatial Curvature Barrier
All fatal debris and energy turbulence that crashed into him were smoothly deflected by this distorted force field the moment they approached his body, as if hitting a perfectly smooth bar of soap.
He was like a fish swimming upstream in a waterfall, charging straight towards the center of the storm, towards that dazzling exit… the ground.
The battle had reached its worst point, on the verge of collapse.
"Left flank! The left flank needs support!" Steve's voice roared in the comms channel.
He slammed his shield into the face of a Chitauri Soldier, then drew the pistol from his waist and emptied the entire magazine at the surging enemies.
Bullet casings clattered to the ground as he barely managed to force back the enemies swarming up the bank steps.
He leaned against a broken stone pillar, breathing heavily, covered in dust and someone else's blood. The super Soldier's stamina was rapidly depleting; he felt his lungs were like a broken bellows.
"I'm out of ammo!" Natasha, hiding behind a burnt-out police car, threw her two empty Glocks to the ground and drew her last weapon—a dagger—from the sheath on her thigh.
She peeked out; outside, enemies surged like a tide, blue energy beams sparking off her cover. She knew she could only last another minute at most.
"Jarvis, how much power is left?" Tony frantically weaved through buildings in his battle suit, dozens of pursuing aircraft hot on his heels.
"Seventeen percent, sir. The missile system on the right arm is offline, and the left leg thruster is severely damaged. I do not recommend high-intensity maneuvers."
"Understood." Tony gritted his teeth, executed a near-stall dive, narrowly dodging a volley of gunfire, and fired a palm cannon. The energy beam was noticeably thinner and less powerful than before.
He looked at the constantly refreshing red alerts on his battle suit's retinal interface, feeling a sense of uncertainty for the first time.
That guy named Chen, was he really capable? Was he just bragging?
...Chu Hang burst out of the wormhole.
Before him was the cold, silent Universe, and a fleet so vast it was despair-inducing.
Countless battleships, like a swarm of metallic locusts, densely surrounded the wormhole exit, blocking it completely. Their hulls glowed with a cold, dark purple sheen under the faint light of a distant star.
At the very center of the fleet was an unusually ugly, mountain-sized, beetle-shaped mothership.
It was the nest of this swarm of locusts, the core of the entire command network.
Chu Hang's appearance was like a drop of cold Water falling into a pot of boiling oil.
The entire fleet was instantly activated.
The muzzles of all battleships slowly began to turn, and the eerie blue energy glow converged at their muzzles, all aimed at him, the insignificant intruder.
A piercing alarm of energy fluctuations exploded sharply in Chu Hang's perception.
He didn't move.
He just floated silently in the void, like a golden statue.
Adaptive Armor was rapidly analyzing the energy frequencies in the surrounding space; an invisible layer of armor quickly formed, adjusted, and optimized on his body, specifically targeting Chitauri energy weapons.
The next second, the Chitauri fleet opened Fire.
Tens of thousands of eerie blue energy beams shot from all directions simultaneously, forming an impenetrable net of Death, intending to utterly vaporize him.
Chu Hang slowly raised his hand.
Golden energy converged in his palm, compressed to the size of a pinprick of light.
He didn't throw the energy out, but gently pressed it forward.
The pinpoint of light silently expanded before him, transforming into a giant, slowly rotating golden vortex.
The center of the vortex was as deep as night, as if it could swallow everything.
Space · Deflection
That net of Death, capable of destroying a small planet, plunged into the golden vortex without even a ripple, disappearing without a trace.
Immediately after, behind the entire Chitauri fleet, another identical golden vortex appeared out of thin air. It was like a giant vomiting mouth, spitting out those tens of thousands of energy beams, completely intact, slamming them into the unsuspecting rear of the battleships.
For a moment, the latter half of the Chitauri fleet descended into chaos. Countless battleships were hit by their own gunfire; explosions flared up and down in the silent Universe, like a string of lit firecrackers.
Inside the mothership, the Commander let out a silent, furious roar.
The battleship cluster in front began to frantically change formation, preparing for a second, more ferocious saturation strike.
Chu Hang didn't give them another chance.
His gaze had already locked onto that beetle-like mothership.
He slowly raised his hands, palms facing each other. This time, the cosmic energy within him was no longer released outwards, but collapsed and condensed inwards at an terrifying speed.
The light grew brighter and brighter, finally forming a slender golden spear of light between his palms, seemingly capable of piercing the entire Universe.
Twin Star Form · Sky Piercer
He thrust his palms forward fiercely.
The spear of light shot out silently.
Wherever it passed, space was forcibly torn open into a slender black crack, proof that even space itself could not withstand its energy.
A Chitauri cruiser blocking the spear's path was instantly pierced as if made of paper. There was no explosion, no flame; it simply began to rapidly disintegrate from the point of penetration, turning into the most basic cosmic dust within seconds.
The spear of light did not slow down in the slightest, shooting straight towards the distant mothership.
The mothership's thick energy shield abruptly lit up, attempting to resist this fatal blow.
It was useless.
The spear of light cut through the shield as easily as a red-hot knife through butter, plunging deep into the mothership's massive hull.
A second of silence.
Then, at the center of the mothership, a giant, pure White ball of light erupted.
The ball of light expanded madly at superluminal speed, devouring everything around it.
There was no sound, no Impact, only a pure, destructive White that could erase all color and existence.
The mothership's massive body was completely vaporized from within, then exploded, turning into countless burning fragments that scattered in all directions.
The chain reaction had begun.
That invisible command network, connecting all Soldiers and battleships, was severed... New York.
Before Steve, a Chitauri Soldier about to swing its weapon suddenly froze. The blue light flowing on its body instantly extinguished, and it fell forward stiffly, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
Then came the second, the third.
As if someone had flipped a master switch, all Chitauri Soldiers still active on the streets lost their life signs at the same time, collapsing to the ground.
In the sky, the circling and strafing aircraft all had their engines cut out, falling like rain with a clatter.
The Leviathan beast, its mouth agape to bite Thor, also lost all power. Its massive body, under the force of inertia, crashed helplessly between two tall buildings, getting firmly stuck, becoming a twisted tomb of steel.
The entire battlefield, in just a few seconds, transformed from a hell of raging gunfire into a silent graveyard.
"...It's over?" Natasha leaned against the burnt police car, looking at the eerie scene, asking softly with disbelief.
Steve looked up at the black hole in the sky that was still slowly rotating.
"He did it," he said in a voice only he could hear.
High in the sky, in Tony's battle suit, Jarvis's voice calmly sounded: "Sir, all hostile target life signals have disappeared."
Tony stared at the aircraft falling like flies, stunned for a few seconds.
"That lunatic…" he muttered, "He really did it."
He immediately turned around, flew at full speed to below the wormhole, and hovered in the air, waiting.
One second, two seconds… ten seconds.
Nothing came out of the wormhole.
The golden Shadow did not emerge.
"Hey! Chen! Get out when you're done!" Tony shouted into the communicator, a hint of urgency in his voice that he himself didn't notice.
His heart began to sink, little by little.
The top terrace of Stark Tower.
In the corner, Dr. Erik Selvig's body suddenly jolted, his cloudy eyes instantly clearing.
With Loki imprisoned by Chu Hang in a spatial cage, the influence of the Mind Stone also disappeared.
He looked at the ruins and smoke filling the city outside the window, an expression of extreme fear and regret on his face.
"What… what have I done…"
He suddenly remembered something and scrambled towards the humming device.
"I can shut it down!!" he yelled at Thor, who was holding Loki's energy cube with a bewildered expression.
He rapidly operated the control panel, inputting a series of complex commands.
In the sky, the edges of the giant wormhole began to flicker violently, then rapidly contracted inwards at a visible speed.
"No! Wait!" Tony saw this and panicked, "Chen isn't out yet!"
He frantically yelled into the communicator: "Who's closing it? Stop! Stop it now!"
But no one responded to him.
The wormhole was closing faster and faster.
"Jarvis! Give me all power!" Tony's voice was trembling, "Go in! Bring him back!"
"Sir, that's too dangerous! Your energy is not enough to support your return!"
"Execute order!"
The mark vi armor's thrusters spewed the brightest tail flames, like an arrow released from a bowstring, shooting straight towards the rapidly closing entrance.
"Chen! You bastard! Come back!" Tony roared in the cockpit.
The other end of the wormhole.
Chu Hang felt the spatial aisle rapidly weakening the moment the mothership exploded.
He looked back; the distant blue hole was rapidly shrinking.
His heart suddenly sank.
He pushed Twin Star Form to its limit, transforming into a golden comet tearing through the darkness, rushing towards the exit at the fastest speed he could achieve.
He saw it.
He saw the blue sky on the other side of the hole.
He saw the red and gold steel figure rushing towards him, heedless of everything.
He even heard Tony's final roar in the comms channel.
He stretched out his hand, as if just a little faster, he could grasp that piece of sky.
Almost.
Just a little more.
Chapter 111 The Aftermath of the War [End of Volume]
The Universe is cold.
An absolute, soul-freezing cold.
Chu Hang floated in the darkness, surrounded by the metallic debris left after the mothership's explosion, like a silent graveyard. He had been drifting here for an unknown amount of time; time had lost its meaning.
He wasn't dead.
The [Adaptive Armor] on his body automatically switched to life-support mode the moment the wormholeclosed, acting like a second skin, isolating him from the vacuum and deadly cosmic rays. The [Twin Star Form] energy within him was his only heat source, an unquenchable furnace continuously providing warmth to maintain his body temperature.
He was just trapped.
He tried to sense the direction of Earth, but it was too far. Compared to the vast scale of the Universe, Earth was just an insignificant speck of dust among billions of stars. His [Space Control] range, no matter how large, couldn't cover such a distance.
Fly back directly? Don't be ridiculous. Even if he could fly at the speed of light, reaching the nearest galaxy would take years, let alone finding the Milky Way Galaxy, then the Solar System, and finally Earth. By the time he flew back, the people on Earth would likely have gone through several generations.
"Damn it."
Chu Hang cursed in his mind. This was the first time since his transmigration that he felt truly powerless. Not that he couldn't fight, but that there was nowhere to fight.
He wasn't an omnipotent god; he was just an ordinary person who had gained immense power.
And now, he had been thrown into an unfamiliar place without even a map.
He forced himself to calm down. Panic wouldn't solve any problems.
He closed his eyes, sinking all his senses into his understanding of space. Since he couldn't fly back, he could only take a shortcut.
[Space Control]
His consciousness, like an invisible net, stretched infinitely outwards, to feel the "texture" of this cosmic space.
Most of space was smooth and tough, like a taut canvas.
Tearing a hole in such a place to return to Earth would require an astronomical amount of energy, draining him instantly.
But he knew that the Universe's "canvas" wasn't equally strong everywhere.
In certain places, due to the gravity of massive celestial bodies or the remnants of ancient wars, space would become fragile, creating folds, like the creases left on a crumpled piece of paper.
These folds were natural spatial shortcuts, the Universe's highways.
What he needed to do was find the nearest fold and jump into it.
As for where that path led... he could only rely on luck.
He retracted all outward-projected energy, becoming like an ordinary space rock, floating silently, dedicating his entire mind to sensing space, like the most patient fisherman, waiting for that invisible fish to bite... New York.
Stark Tower rooftop.
Tony Stark, piloting his armor suit, hovered like a statue where the wormhole had disappeared.
The armor suit's energy alarm kept blaring, but he couldn't hear it.
His eyes were fixed on the empty sky, as if in the next second, that golden figure would burst out from there and laughingly say to him, "Hey, Stark, I'm back."
But there was nothing.
"He... can't come back?" Natasha's voice sounded in the comms channel, tinged with uncertainty.
No one answered.
Everyone looked up at the sky.
Silence.
"No." Tony's voice was hoarse, as if abraded by sandpaper, "He will come back."
He finished speaking, sharply changed direction, and the armor suit, like a meteorite, slammed heavily onto the chaotic street, making the ground shake.
He opened his faceplate, his face pale, his eyes filled with a complex mix of anger, regret, and bewilderment.
Steve Rogers walked over, his uniform torn in several places, his face covered in dust.
"Tony, we..."
"Don't talk to me." Tony interrupted him roughly. He stepped out of the armor suit, stumbled, and almost fell.
He looked at the Chitauri corpses and burning car wreckage scattered everywhere, a heavy feeling in his chest.
That bastard, that guy who always called him "Stark," that guy who was even more arrogant and more of a bastard than him, was just gone?
For this World he didn't care about at all?
"It's not your fault." Steve's voice was steady. He thought Tony was blaming himself.
"My fault?" Tony sounded as if he'd heard the greatest joke. He turned around, staring intently at Steve, "Of course it's not my fault! I was f***ing ready to rush in! It was you! It was S.H.I.E.L.D.! Who closed that door?"
His voice grew louder and louder, finally becoming a roar.
"He could have come back!"
Steve was silent. He didn't know how to answer. Tactically speaking, closing the door was the correct choice, to protect Earth. But he couldn't say such a cold remark to someone who had just lost a comrade.
"He's a hero." Steve could only say that in the end.
"Hero?" Tony sneered, his laugh full of mockery, "Don't use that word; you don't deserve it, and neither do I. He deserves it even less. He's just a lunatic, a lunatic with immense power who doesn't know how to use it! A walking nuclear weapon! He doesn't understand teamwork at all!"
"He saved all of us!" Steve's brow furrowed. He didn't like Tony's argument.
"Yes, he saved us, with his own life!" Tony's emotions were somewhat out of control, "But then what? We lost our strongest fighting force! A trump card that could flip the table! What if next time it's not just cannon fodder that a single mothership can solve? What if next time something comes that requires him to be on Earth to solve? Who will be responsible? You, Captain?"
"He's a Soldier, Tony." Steve's tone also became serious. "Soldiers on the battlefield will make sacrifices. This is our duty."
"Bullshit Soldier!" Tony pointed at the sky, "He's not one of us! He never was! He's an observer, an outsider! He doesn't care about this place at all! He's just playing a game he finds interesting! Now, he's gone too far!"
"You're wrong." Steve looked at Tony, his eyes unusually firm. "He cares. If he didn't care, he wouldn't have rushed in. He's not like you, Tony. You always want to control everything, but he, in the end, chose to trust us."
"Trust?" Tony found it even more ridiculous. "He trusted us to defend Earth in his absence? Or trusted us to rescue him? And what happened? We locked him out! This is the consequence of your so-called trust!"
Their argument made the recently eased atmosphere tense again.
Natasha and Hawkeye exchanged glances, both seeing the helplessness in each other's eyes.
Hawkeye silently checked the few remaining arrows in his quiver, while Natasha began to vigilantly observe her surroundings, assessing the political troubles.
Just then, several black quinjets landed nearby, and a group of men in black suits and sunglasses emerged from the aircraft. Leading them was a serious-faced Council member, his leather shoes crunching on the gravel, a sound utterly out of place with the atmosphere here.
"Mr. Stark, Captain Rogers." The man walked directly up to them, his tone formal and businesslike, like he was reading a cold report. "This area is now under the jurisdiction of the World Security Council. Thank you for your efforts, but the mission of the Avengers ends here."
They began to set up a cordon, disperse the crowds, and process the scene, as if this wasn't a battlefield, but an accident site that needed to be cleaned up.
Tony looked at their faces, his eyes filled with even deeper mockery.
He said nothing, turned, walked back to his armor suit, put it on, and then, without a word, shot into the sky, disappearing into the horizon.
Steve watched him leave, then looked at the men in suits who were taking over everything. Finally, his gaze fell upon the ruins and the weeping civilians.
He clenched his fists, his eyes showing a deep weariness and confusion.
They had won this war.
But it seemed everyone had lost... Asgard.
The Bifrost Bridge's light dissipated, and Thor, with Lokibound tightly in runic chains and carrying the metal box containing the Tesseract, appeared before Heimdall.
"Welcome back, Your Highness, the Prince." Heimdall's voice was as steady as ever.
"Heimdall, where is Father?" Thor's tone was urgent.
He handed Loki and the Tesseract to the guards and hurried towards the Golden Palace. The golden palace was still magnificent, but Thor's steps were unusually heavy; the smell of gunpowder from New York seemed to still linger in his nostrils.
On the throne, Odin sat quietly, as if he already knew everything.
Thor knelt on one knee and recounted everything that had happened on Earth, from Loki's invasion, to the Avengers' assembly, to the great battle in New York. Finally, he mentioned Chu Hang.
...He alone rushed into the wormhole, destroyed the enemy's mothership, but he did not return." Thor's voice was low, filled with respect and regret. "Father, he was a true warrior."
Odin was silent for a long time before slowly speaking: "A mortal, yet he wielded power unfamiliar even to the gods. His sacrifice bought valuable peace for Midgard. But he does not belong here, and his power does not belong to this World. His destiny is not within the threads of the Nine Realms."
"I implore you, Father." Thor looked up, his eyes firm. "Use Asgard's power to find him. We cannot abandon a hero who saved the Nine Realms."
Odin looked at his son, seeing growth and responsibility in his eyes.
He nodded: "Go ask Heimdall. If he still exists in this Universe, Heimdall's eyes will see him."
Thor immediately rose and rushed back to the Bifrost Bridge.
"Heimdall! Help me find him! That Earthling named Chu Hang!"
Heimdall's golden eyes slowly swept across the endless star sea. His gaze passed through burning stars, swept over sleeping nebulae; the stories unfolding in every corner of the Nine Realms flowed before his eyes.
He saw the Frost Giants of Jotunheim rebuilding their homes, saw the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim stirring in the shadows, saw the humans of Midgard clearing the debris of war.
He saw the past, he saw the present.
He looked for a very, very long time.
Finally, he slowly shook his head.
"I cannot see him, Your Highness, the Prince."
Thor's heart sank: "How is that possible? Your eyes can see through everything!"
"Yes." Heimdall's tone also carried a hint of confusion. "I can see every soul in the Nine Realms; their life light, no matter how faint, cannot escape my eyes. But his soul seems not to belong to the Nine Realms; I cannot pinpoint his location."
"Is there no other way?" Thor asked unwillingly.
"Unless he can call my name," Heimdall thought for a moment and said, "Only then can I find him and bring him to Asgard."
[End of Volume]
Chapter 112 Xandar
Chu Hang was still drifting in the Universe.
He didn't know how much time had passed; here, time had no meaning. The energy circulating within him was the only clock he could perceive.
Initially, he felt a bit restless, but he quickly calmed down.
He had survived the meat grinder of World War II, slept in glaciers for fifty years, and started from Zero in the unfamiliar World of the nineties.
Compared to those experiences, now was just a larger cage.
He extended his consciousness, like an invisible net, catching the faintest vibrations in Space.
Most of this Universe was smooth. He had tried several times to find a weak point. Once, he thought he had found one, but when he pursued it, he discovered it was gravitational waves left by a supernova explosion—violent and fleeting, completely unusable.
Another time, he touched the edge of a giant vortex, only to realize it was a rogue black hole, which scared him into quickly retreating. Jumping into that thing would be a one-way trip.
He became more patient.
Finally, just when he was about to believe he would drift forever, he felt it.
It wasn't the ripples of gravitational waves, nor the tearing of a black hole.
It was a continuous, regular, extremely faint 'tremble'.
Like an almost imperceptible wrinkle beneath a flat canvas.
It was stable, just there, like a dark river hidden in the cosmic background radiation.
Chu Hang's spirit lifted.
He found it.
He didn't rush over immediately but spent an entire day repeatedly confirming the area.
He used his Space perception to touch the 'texture' of that wrinkle; it was thin, narrow, but indeed a stable structure.
A naturally formed Space passage.
This was his only ticket.
Where did it lead? Heaven or hell? He didn't know, nor did he care. Any place with air, gravity, and living beings was better than this cold grave.
He mobilized the dormant energy within him, and golden light shone again, like a newborn Sun in the darkness.
Twin Star Form, activated.
Adaptive Armor, switched to High-Energy Impact Mode.
Space Control, locked onto the wrinkle's entrance.
"Let's gamble."
He told himself.
Then, like a loaded bullet, he transformed into a golden light and plunged into that invisible crack.
The feeling of passing through the Space wrinkle was a million times worse than he had imagined.
If a wormhole was boiling water, then this place was a meat grinder capable of crushing Planets.
His body was stretched in an instant, then flattened the next. Multicolored lights, like sharp knives, cut through his consciousness.
Countless chaotic images and sounds flooded his mind. Burning galaxies, nascent Planets, monsters devouring each other in the void. The images flashed by so quickly that it was impossible to distinguish reality from illusion.
For a god like Thor, in such a place, even his soul would be instantly torn apart.
But Chu Hang's consciousness was firmly protected by the Will Barrier. His body, under the dual protection of Space Control and Twin Star Form, was like an icebreaker tossed in a storm, swaying precariously but never breaking apart.
He gritted his teeth, all his will focused on one point—forward.
He didn't know how long he had been rushing.
Just as his energy was about to run out, a point of light suddenly appeared ahead.
The exit.
He used his last ounce of strength, like a drowning man grasping for a straw, and surged through.
"Boom!"
A golden fire meteor, trailing a long tail, tore through the azure sky of a Planet.
A violent sonic boom cloud exploded in the air.
On the ground, in a futuristic city, countless flying vehicles experienced a minor disruption.
Countless people looked up, astonished at the fiery light.
"Is it a meteor?"
"Look! It's decelerating!"
"My goodness, it looks like a person!"
Chu Hang burst out of the wrinkle, plunged into the atmosphere, and his entire body ignited.
He quickly adjusted his posture, the Adaptive Armor switched to heat insulation mode, and at the same time, he created a shockwave cone in front of him with a Spatial Curvature Barrier, dissipating most of the heat and impact.
The fire faded, revealing his body enveloped in golden energy.
He stabilized himself, hovering high in the sky, looking down at the city below.
Contrary to what he expected, there was no chaos or decay here; instead, it was full of order and beauty.
The buildings had smooth lines, and flying vehicles moved in an orderly fashion in layered lanes. The entire city was like a giant work of art.
Peace, prosperity.
He didn't want to cause trouble, so he chose an open area that looked like a public square and slowly descended.
"Bang!"
His feet landed. Although most of the impact was absorbed, the high-strength composite material ground beneath his feet still cracked like a spiderweb for over ten meters.
The surrounding civilians let out gasps of alarm, scattering in terror.
Piercing sirens immediately echoed throughout the city.
In less than ten seconds.
Three combat vessels, shaped like golden starbursts, flew in from three directions and hovered above his head.
Hatch doors opened, and twelve Soldiers in uniform golden suits, armed with energy rifles, descended with jetpacks, encircling him.
Their movements were precise and well-trained.
The commanding officer stepped forward, raised his weapon, and shouted a warning in a language Chu Hangdidn't understand.
Chu Hang didn't understand the words, but he could hear the vigilance and command in the tone.
He slowly raised his hands, indicating he had no ill intent.
But the golden flames that hadn't completely receded from his body clearly weren't very convincing.
"Repeat! Unidentified intruder! Immediately deactivate energy form and submit to inspection!" The officer warned again, and the Soldiers behind him had already aimed their guns at him.
Chu Hang frowned; the language barrier was indeed troublesome.
The officer seemed to lose patience and waved his arm.
A large net woven from blue energy shot out from one of the combat vessels, covering him from above.
Chu Hang didn't dodge.
He wanted to see the technological level here.
The energy net landed on him, quickly tightened, and emitted sizzling electrical sounds.
A voice came from the officer's helmet: "Target captured, energy intensity... Wait! What is he doing?"
Chu Hang merely shrugged slightly, and the golden energy on his body surged.
"Bang!"
The energy net, like an ordinary fishing net, was instantly torn apart, turning into specks of blue light and dissipating into the air.
All the Soldiers were stunned.
"Fire! Use Level 2 paralysis rays!" The officer immediately ordered.
Over a dozen yellow energy beams simultaneously shot towards Chu Hang.
Chu Hang was getting a bit impatient. The Space in front of him subtly warped, and the rays seemed to enter Water, their trajectories deflecting, all hitting the empty ground nearby, leaving only small scorched pits.
"Enough."
Chu Hang said softly.
His figure vanished from the spot.
The next second, he appeared behind the officer, one hand gently resting on his shoulder.
All the hairs on the officer's body stood on end. He tried to turn around but found his body pinned down as if by a great mountain, unable to move.
"Don't be nervous." Chu Hang's voice sounded in his ear.
As he spoke, he pulled off a watch-like device from the officer's wrist, put it on his own hand, and pressed a few buttons.
A light screen projected, displaying incomprehensible text. He casually tapped an icon that looked like "settings," then found the "language" option, scrolled through it, and quickly found the common language.
The device emitted a faint mechanical sound, and a soft electronic voice spoke: "Common language switched."
"Alright." Chu Hang released the officer, stepped back two paces, and shook the translator in his hand. "Now, we can talk. Tell me, where is this?"
The officer, still shaken, turned around, looking at the unharmed, despairingly powerful man, then at his own translator on Chu Hang's wrist, and swallowed hard.
"This... This is Xandar." He replied in a trembling voice, "The capital of the Nova Empire."
Xandar?
Nova Empire?
Chu Hang paused.
That name sounded a bit familiar.
His brain raced, matching the name with the movie plots in his mind.
A name jumped out.
Guardians of the Galaxy.
He suddenly remembered. Xandar, the headquarters of the Nova Corps, the target of Ronan the Accuser, and... the Cosmic Orb.
That thing containing the Power Stone!
He wasn't randomly thrown into a desolate place.
He was thrown to the starting point of another main storyline!
The way home, he had it!
The energy of the Power Stone and the Space energy of the Tesseract are both Infinity Stones.
As long as he got the Power Stone, he could use the resonance between the two to pinpoint Earth's location, then tear open Space and go back!
At worst, he could ask Star-Lord to take him back.
Chapter 113 First Encounter with Star-Lord
Chu Hang tossed the translator he was holding back to the officer.
"I'm not here to fight," he said in the newly learned common tongue, his voice even. "I'm a traveler whose spaceship had an accident and fell into a nearby space fold. I need a star map and energy supplies."
Of course, the officer didn't believe him. A traveler who could tear apart an energy net with his bare hands and make bullets curve? What kind of traveler was that fierce?
"You need to prove your intentions," the officer said cautiously, his hand never leaving the weapon at his waist.
"Prove it?" Chu Hang found it a bit amusing. He didn't want to waste time, but it seemed he couldn't avoid showing off a bit.
He didn't raise his hand or make any unnecessary movements; he just calmly looked at the twelve Soldiers in front of him.
The next second, the barrels of the energy rifles in the hands of the twelve Soldiers simultaneously glowed with a dazzling red light, as if they had been thrown into a furnace.
"Ah!"
"My gun!"
The searing pain made the Soldiers scream and drop their weapons. A dozen high-tech rifles fell to the ground, their barrels already melting and deforming like candles, emitting wisps of green smoke.
The entire process took less than two seconds, and Chu Hang didn't even blink.
The square was deathly silent.
The officer looked at the melting alloy on the ground, then at the unharmed Chu Hang, his face under the helmet already pale.
This silent, precise, individual attack method was more terrifying than any artillery fire.
He immediately reported everything that had happened here through the internal channel, using the highest emergency level.
Nova Corps Headquarters, Supreme Command Center.
Nova Prime Irani Rael was watching the real-time footage transmitted on the screen.
When she saw the rifles melt without warning, the battle-hardened Commander couldn't help but sit up straight.
"Has the energy reaction been analyzed?" she asked in a deep voice.
"Unable to analyze, Prime," a technician's voice trembled. "There are no energy fluctuations around him. It's like… like the Law of Physics itself was modified. We have no matches in our database."
Irani Rael fell silent.
She knew very well that an existence of this level either became a friend or a destructive enemy. And the Nova Empire, having just gone through a major war, could not afford to make such an enemy again.
"Grant his requests," she ordered, her tone decisive. "Give him the highest-permission star map and provide any resources he needs. Do not provoke him; let him leave as soon as possible. Classify his file as 'Unknown Threat,' highest security level."
"Yes, Prime!"
In the square, the officer received the order, and his gaze towards Chu Hang had changed from vigilance to awe.
"Sir, your requests have been approved. Please follow us; Nova Prime wishes to meet you personally."
Chu Hang nodded, preparing to follow them.
Suddenly, the entire city's alarm blared again. This time, the alarm was more urgent, indicating a higher threat level.
An urgent report came through the officer's communicator: "Report! A large-scale riot has occurred at the Kyln Prison! Class A criminals Peter Quill, Gamora, Rocket, Groot, along with 'Destroyer' Drax, have escaped! They stole a prisoner transport ship and are fleeing!"
The officer's face changed, and he suddenly looked at Chu Hang.
A stranger with god-like power had just arrived, and some of the Milky Way Galaxy's most notorious criminals had escaped from the most secure prison?
Could there be such a coincidence in the World?
"Sir," the officer's tone became vigilant again, "is this escape related to you?"
Chu Hang's good mood instantly vanished.
He hated this kind of trouble the most.
"No," he answered succinctly.
"We need you to stay here and cooperate with the investigation," the officer's tone was firm, clearly having received new orders.
Chu Hang smiled.
"I don't have time to play Police and robber with you."
He closed his eyes, and his powerful senses instantly spread out, like an invisible net covering the entire Planet's low-Earth orbit. He heard the sound of a distant spaceship, its engines roaring and clearly overloaded.
Found it.
"Never mind, I'm quite interested in these clowns too."
Before he finished speaking, his figure vanished from where he stood.
Leaving behind a group of Nova Corps Soldiers who looked at each other, not knowing what had happened… Inside a dilapidated prisoner transport ship, the atmosphere was chaotic.
"Hurry, hurry! Those Nova Corps lackeys are about to catch up!" A raccoon holding a large energy gun was fumbling with the control panel.
"I am Groot!" A tree-man next to him waved his arms.
"I know you're Groot! Shut up!" the raccoon roared.
In the pilot's seat, a man in a red leather jacket and headphones was flying the ship while swaying his legs to an old song.
"Hey, everyone, relax," Peter Quill whistled. "We're out, aren't we? That's what's most important."
"Quill!" A green-skinned woman, Gamora, looked at him with icy eyes. "If you don't speed up this junk ship, we'll be caught and dragged back immediately!"
"Shut up! You fools!" A shirtless, heavily red-tattooed strongman, Drax, roared, "Ronan isn't dead yet! I'm going to kill him!"
Just then, the spaceship shook violently.
It wasn't hit; it was as if it had crashed into an invisible wall, and everyone was thrown forward by inertia.
"What's going on?" Rocket shrieked.
"We… stopped," Quill looked at the rapidly receding stars outside the window, astonished to find the ship hovering in space in a bizarre way.
A voice, without warning, sounded in the cockpit.
"You're noisy."
Everyone turned sharply.
A man in Earth-style casual clothes, at some unknown point, was already standing behind them.
"Who are you?" Rocket was the first to react, raising his gun.
Drax also roared and charged forward.
The man merely raised his eyelids.
"Whirr—"
An invisible force instantly enveloped the entire cockpit.
[Space Control]
Yes, after experiencing wormhole traversal and Universal Space jumps, Chu Hang's [Space Control] had upgraded to intermediate level, which allowed him to comprehend new ways of utilizing the Law of Space.
The air, as if, had turned into solidified cement.
Rocket's gun-raising motion was frozen; he felt like he was sealed in amber, unable to move even a finger to pull the trigger.
Drax's charging posture also froze in mid-air, his expression twisted with anger and powerlessness. He felt like he hadn't hit a wall, but that the entire World was pressing in on him from all sides, his bones groaning.
Gamora tried to draw her blade, but found her arm as heavy as a thousand pounds.
Quill was pressed firmly into the pilot's seat, even moving his eyeballs became incredibly difficult.
Only the music in his headphones was still playing.
"...O-o-h Child, things are gonna get easier..."
Chu Hang, as if nothing had happened, walked slowly through the solidified space to Quill and observed him.
"Eighties style. Are you an Earthling?"
Quill's pupils contracted sharply.
"You…"
"I'm not interested in where you're going or who you're going to kill," Chu Hang interrupted him, his tone flat but carrying an undeniable sense of oppression. "I'm here only to tell you all, don't cause me trouble. Those idiots in the Nova Corps thought I was here to meet you."
He scanned the few people frozen in place.
"I just want to go home and experience different Planetary civilizations along the way. I won't interfere with your actions. I will return to Earth soon."
He also realized that instead of arguing with those so-called government higher-ups on Earth, it would be better to develop himself in the Universe.
He extended a finger and lightly tapped the control panel.
"Sizzle—"
The sturdy alloy control panel, like tofu, was cut open by his fingertip, leaving a deep gash. The cut was smooth as a mirror, even sparking with electricity.
This was to demonstrate his strength to them.
"Understood?"
Quill nodded with difficulty.
Chu Hang withdrew his power.
The air returned to normal.
Everyone instantly regained their freedom. Drax, due to his excessive momentum, slammed into the wall with a thud.
Rocket gasped for breath, looked down at his gun, and found a barely perceptible distortion on its body.
"Who exactly are you?" Quill asked, looking at the scratch on the control panel, still feeling lingering fear.
"An Earthling who wants to go home," Chu Hang turned and walked towards the hatch. "By the way, if you need help, I can assist, for a fee, of course."
With that, his figure vanished again.
Inside the spaceship, there was dead silence.
Only the old song was still playing.
"...things get brighter..."
"Just now… what was that?" Rocket stammered.
No one could answer him.
Quill turned off the music. He looked at the spot where Chu Hang had disappeared, and for the first time, a truly serious expression appeared in his eyes. He had met many tough characters in his life: interstellar pirates, bounty hunters, and even some strange creatures.
But none were like the man just now.