Chapter 81 Tony's Fear, It's Everywhere
He looked at Steve, whose face was flushed red, then at Tony, whose eyes were filled with guilt, and a sarcastic curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"This kind of evasive trick, stemming from the inherent flaws of a race, is, in my opinion, even more nauseating than the runaway program itself."
"Now, shut your mouths and start using your pathetic brains. Or do you want me to personally watch your worldbe turned upside down by a program I'm too lazy to deal with?"
These words were more hurtful than any weapon.
They directly negated the "humanity" and "justice" that the Avengers prided themselves on, attributing their actions to the lowest form of "racial inferiority."
Steve's face alternated between red and white; he wanted to refute, but found himself unable to utter a single word. Because he knew that Arthur was speaking the truth. They were indeed wasting time.
Tony lowered his head in even greater shame, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Ultimately, it was Tony, the "culprit," who was the first to break free from his shame. He took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and walked to the control panel.
"He's right… The most important thing now is to find Ultron."
His fingers rapidly tapped on the virtual screen, and countless data streams cascaded down like a waterfall.
"Jarvis was destroyed, but I have backups… No, Ultroncompletely shredded Jarvis's code and contaminated all the backups. It's very smart; it knows all my habits."
"It took scepter; it needs a stronger body. scepter is the key, but scepter's energy signature has been shielded by it, so we can't track it."
Dr. Banner also walked over, analyzing the information on the screen together: "It escaped into the network; its core program will constantly encrypt and jump, making it very difficult for us to pinpoint its physical location."
"Then find its tracks!" Steve immediately entered Commander mode.
"If it wants to upgrade itself, it needs resources. Rare metals, high-tech equipment, weapons… Monitor all illegal transactions of these things worldwide! Especially Vibranium!"
"Vibranium?" Hawkeye asked, puzzled.
"One of the strongest metals on Earth," Tony explained, a hint of horror flashing in his eyes, "If it uses Vibranium to build a new body… that will be a true nightmare."
The Avengers finally stopped their infighting and began to gather around the control panel, nervously analyzing clues and searching for any trace of Ultron.
As for Arthur, he had no interest in their busyness.
He just sat there quietly, observing how these "movie protagonists" pushed the plot forward.
Of course, he knew Ultron's general plan.
Go to South Africa to find the arms dealer Klaw, get Vibranium, and then go to Doctor Helen Cho in Korea to use the "life cradle" technology to create a perfect Vibranium body for itself, which would later become Vision.
But the specific time, the specific location… he had long forgotten.
Before transmigrating, he was just an ordinary viewer; who would remember such clear details?
To him, it was like watching a movie whose ending was already known, but the process in between was still full of… a little bit of fun.
He watched Tony Stark, driven by guilt and a sense of responsibility, erupt with astonishing work efficiency.
Watching Captain America rekindle the team's morale.
Watching these mortals, in the face of a world-ending crisis, display their tiny yet unyielding will.
A playful smile appeared at the corner of Arthur's mouth.
"Alright, let's just treat it as… watching a live 4D movie."
The top floor of Avengers Tower, once a dazzling banquet hall, had now been transformed into a war command center with an extremely oppressive atmosphere.
The air was filled with caffeine, sweat, and a pervasive sense of "powerlessness."
For three days and three nights, Tony Stark hadn't closed his eyes once. His eyes, which always sparkled with genius and arrogance, were now streaked with spiderweb-like blood vessels.
Like a lion trapped in an invisible cage, he futilely searched for any trace of the devil he had personally created, amidst countless cascading data streams.
"No! Still no!"
Tony slammed his fist on the control panel in frustration. Countless possible clues on the virtual screen instantly shattered, only to reassemble into new, equally clueless jumbled code the next second.
"Ultron is like an invisible ghost; it's constantly splitting, encrypting, disguising, jumping! Every time we track a clue, it cuts it off and generates ten thousand new false paths in a millisecond!"
"It's… it's mocking me! It's using the intelligence I gave it to toy with me!"
Steve Rogers stood behind him, his brows furrowed into a single line.
He didn't understand the complex data, but he could clearly feel the emotion called "despair" spreading wildly in this temporary war room. He tried to analyze it with World War II strategic thinking but found the enemy was on a battlefield he couldn't fully comprehend.
"What about Hydra's database?" Steve asked in a deep voice, thinking of the vast organization that had once infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., "Baron Strucker, Ultron's birth is inextricably linked to him; investigate him!"
"I've tried, Captain."
Dr. Banner pushed up his glasses, his face equally pale. He pointed to a blank area on the screen.
"You see, all data concerning Baron Strucker—his financial transactions, secret base, network of contacts—within S.H.I.E.L.D., and even within Hydra's internal network, has been erased."
"It's not a simple deletion; it's a complete, traceless purge. As if this person never existed in the digital world."
"So, we can't even see the enemy's past?" Black Widow Natasha's voice was cold. She wiped her "Widow's Sting" electroshock bracelets, her eyes showing a rare solemnity.
"Worse than that," Hawkeye Clint leaned against the wall, his voice hoarse, "We are hunters trapped in a glass cage, and that wolf can not only see our every move but also modify the map in our hands at any time."
Thor, the former God, could only sit dejectedly to the side, trying to feel his connection to Mjolnir, but only finding a dead silence deep within his soul.
This feeling of powerlessness was more tormenting to him than being defeated a thousand times on the battlefield.
The shadow of the apocalypse, more than ever before, loomed over the hearts of Earth's strongest heroes.
They found that their proud strength, wisdom, and experience seemed so ridiculous in the face of a hyper-dimensional enemy.
Chapter 82 Iron Undead Legion!
However, amidst this heavy cloud, there was still one place that was absolutely "clear skies and a thousand miles".
The sofa area seemed to be in a different dimension from the entire war room.
Arthur leaned back leisurely, and on the coffee table in front of him, there was a row of empty cola cups, several bags of potato chips, and a bucket of popcorn that was almost empty.
He yawned, feeling a bit bored.
The prelude to this "movie" had dragged on for too long.
He had thought that with the Avengers' capabilities, they would find clues about Ultron in a few hours at most, and then the exciting action would begin.
As a result, three days passed.
These protagonists were still in the novice village, swinging their weapons at thin air, not even touching the shadow of the BOSS.
"Tsk."
Arthur smacked his lips, feeling that the caramel flavor of the last bite of popcorn in his mouth had become bland due to the dragging plot.
He even suspected at one point that he had been too heavy-handed before, scaring Ultron so much that the AI decided to give up on destroying the world and focus on being a keyboard warrior online.
Just as Tony Stark let out another despairing growl due to a failed trace, Natasha's calm and sharp voice suddenly rang out.
"Wait a minute."
She quickly walked to a wall where some undigitized, original archives rescued after S.H.I.E.L.D.'s collapse were stored.
These paper documents were the only "antiques" in this digital age that could escape Ultron's surveillance.
Her fingers swiftly glided over rows of old kraft paper folders, and finally, she pulled out a folder stamped with the Hydra logo and marked "Top Secret" in German.
"Strucker is an old-fashioned German; he never fully trusts digitized things."
Natasha tore open the seal and poured out a stack of yellowed documents and a few photos, "He always leaves himself some… most primitive 'insurance'."
Everyone immediately gathered around.
The documents recorded some of Strucker's secret dealings in Africa.
And in one of the photos, an arrogant White man was embracing two local beauties, with a dilapidated freighter in the background, and on his arm, there was a clear branding tattoo that looked like some kind of claw mark.
"Ulysses Klaue." Tony recognized the person in the photo at a glance, and his expression instantly turned incredibly grim.
"A notorious arms dealer, a ghost in the black market. He specializes in reselling some… unsavory things. My father's files mentioned him; he stole a batch of special metal from Wakanda in Africa."
"Vibranium." Steve Rogers ran his hand along the edge of his shield, uttering the name in a deep voice.
All the clues suddenly became clear at this moment!
"Ultron needs to upgrade its body; it needs the strongest metal on Earth." A hint of horror flashed in Dr. Banner's eyes.
"And Klaue is the only illegal channel that can get a large amount of Vibranium." Tony interjected.
"Arms deals require physical contact; they can't be completed online only." Steve's fighting spirit reignited in his eyes, "As long as we find Klaue, we can find Ultron!"
"Locate Klaue's transaction site!" Tony ordered, scanning Klaue's photo and data into an independent, offline local area network system for analysis.
This time, the clues became clear.
"Found it!" Tony pointed to a red dot on the holographic map, on the African coastline, "South Africa, an abandoned ship graveyard! Intelligence indicates that Klaue has a large transaction there recently!"
"Everyone, prepare to move out!" Captain Americaimmediately issued the order.
The Avengers' battle intent, suppressed for three days, finally found an outlet for release, and the atmosphere of the entire war room instantly shifted from despair to exhilaration.
Just as everyone was preparing to rush to the tarmac, a lazy voice came from the sofa area.
"Finally… are we changing scenes?"
Arthur stretched, stood up, and tossed the last piece of popcorn into his mouth.
"If we don't leave soon, I'll start to think this movie is called 'Avengers: Online Matchmaking'."
He ignored the complex gazes of the others and walked towards the Quinjet on his own, as if he wasn't going to battle, but merely changing screening rooms at a cinema.
Africa, Cape Town coastline.
This is a graveyard of ships, where countless colossal steel vessels, abandoned by time, lie silently like giant, silent monster carcasses on the murky sea and rust-stained beach. The air was filled with the pungent smell of salty sea breeze, rust, and diesel.
The Quinjet activated its stealth mode, hovering silently above a mountain of rust.
"No life signals below, except for… a dozen or so in the ship's hold." Hawkeye Clint reported through the aircraft's detector, "Looks like we made it."
"Everyone, act according to plan." Steve's voice came through the communicator, "Tony, you provide air support. Thor and I will lead the main attack. Natasha, Clint, you infiltrate from the flanks. Banner, try to… stay calm."
The Avengers, like fierce tigers descending from the mountain, leaped from the aircraft and swiftly infiltrated towards the largest abandoned freighter, which was the transaction location.
And Arthur just stood by the open hatch, idly looking down at the steel graveyard below, as if admiring a dilapidated landscape painting.
Suddenly, he raised his eyebrows slightly.
"Oh? A welcoming ceremony?"
Almost at the instant his words fell!
A sudden change occurred!
"Boom—!!"
"Clatter—!!"
The sea below suddenly erupted with countless huge splashes, and one robot after another, flashing with crimson light, emerged from the water like devils crawling out of the deep sea of hell!
The surrounding enormous, rust-stained ship bodies emitted a grating sound of tearing metal.
Thick steel plates were savagely ripped open from within, and hundreds of thousands of robots swarmed out, climbing the ship bodies with their crude mechanical arms, their hollow electronic eyes converging into a chilling red ocean!
Even the sand underfoot began to violently writhe, mechanical arms breaking through the Earth, followed by entire bodies.
They rose from the sand like undead, shaking off rust and mud, joining this massive steel legion!
In just a few short seconds, the entire ship graveyard transformed into an impenetrable death trap, completely surrounded by an army of robots!
"It's a trap! We fell for it!" Steve roared, slamming his shield down, sending a row of charging robots flying backward.
"There are too many of them!" Tony's armor continuously fired in the air, but his energy cannons were like throwing pebbles into the ocean, only creating small ripples.
Chapter 83 This is what a popcorn movie should be like
From the open hatch of the Quinjet, Arthur quietly observed the chaotic battlefield below.
He watched Captain America fight tirelessly, saw Tony Stark weave through the torrent of iron, and witnessed these mortal heroes display astonishing courage and will in desperation.
Finally, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.
"Hmm, this is what a popcorn movie should look like."
He commented, and then, unlike last time, he did not choose to clear the area directly with "Stardust Mist."
Because that would be too fast.
The movie's climax had just begun; skipping straight to the end would greatly diminish the viewing pleasure.
So, he stepped out from the opened hatch.
He neither flew nor jumped; he simply, in a manner defying all laws of physics, strolled leisurely, treading on invisible steps, slowly descending from mid-air towards the most chaotic part of the battlefield on the ground.
…
"Left flank! There's a breach on the left flank!" Steve Rogers's voice was hoarse in the comms channel from heavy breathing.
His shield had just smashed a robot's head to pieces, but immediately three mechanical arms grabbed at him from different directions, forcing him to scramble and roll to dodge.
He could no longer remember how many hundreds of enemies he had defeated.
These iron undead, controlled by Ultron, were fearless and endless.
They crawled out of the sea, burrowed from beneath the sand, and surged from the dilapidated shipwrecks, as if the entire ship graveyard was their breeding ground.
"My energy is almost depleted!" Tony Stark's voice was equally anxious.
He constantly changed direction in the air, dodging dozens of energy beams, while retaliating with his last energy reserves.
His armor was already covered in scorch marks and scratches, and the auxiliary system's alarm was almost piercing his eardrums.
"These bastards! They're using my technology; they know all the weaknesses of my armor!"
Tony roared; this feeling was like fighting a Shadow who knew him best and was determined to kill him, filled with powerlessness and frustration.
Thor's condition was the most dire.
Having lost his divine hammer and lightning power, he was now more like a berserker with a god-tier physique.
He roared, tearing robots to shreds with his fists, his teeth, and every part of his body he could use.
Oil and coolant splattered all over him, making him look like a butcher emerging from purgatory.
But his body was also covered in wounds seared by high-energy rays.
His divine physique prevented him from collapsing, but the loss of power and endless exertion caused the light in his eyes to gradually dim.
Black Widow and Hawkeye, these two heroes of mortal bodies, pushed their combat skills to the extreme.
Natasha moved like a black phantom, weaving through the iron jungle; each time her "Widow's Bite" lit up, it precisely paralyzed a robot's core joint.
Clint's arrows were like the Grim Reaper with eyes, each arrow striking the enemy's energy core from the most unexpected angles.
But this was still a drop in the ocean.
They were the top warriors on Earth, but they faced an ocean of iron capable of overwhelming a modern army.
Despair, like cold seawater, began to slowly rise over their heads.
Just then, a scene appeared on the battlefield that was utterly incomprehensible and extremely bizarre to everyone.
A person was slowly walking from the edge of the battlefield towards its center.
It was Arthur.
He wore no armor, still dressed in his immaculate casual clothes.
His pace was not fast, even leisurely, as if he were not walking on a battlefield ablaze with gunfire, but strolling in his own backyard.
Around him was the most dense and violent area of the entire battlefield.
Dozens of robots surged towards him from all directions, and high-energy rays poured down on him like a rainstorm.
However, an incredible scene unfolded.
Everything that approached within about three meters of his body, whether solid robot bodies or scorching energy beams, silently… vanished the moment they entered that invisible area.
They were not repelled, not resisted, and certainly not detonated.
Instead, under a law that transcended comprehension, they were utterly erased from the very root of the concept of "existence"!
A robot, raising its claws, roared as it charged towards Arthur's back.
The moment it stepped into that invisible "domain," half of its body, as if wiped from a painting by an invisible eraser, instantly turned into nothingness.
The other half of its body, propelled by inertia, took one more step before crashing to the ground, its cut smooth as a mirror.
Streams of energy rays, capable of melting steel, also vanished without a trace after entering that "domain," like a mud ox entering the sea, failing to stir even a ripple.
Arthur just kept walking.
Around him, an absolute, inviolable "Domain of God" had formed.
Outside the domain was a living hell of roaring metal and incessant gunfire.
Inside the domain was absolute tranquility, where nothing could intrude and the wind was calm and waves still.
He strolled leisurely; wherever he passed, those ferocious, roaring robots, like snowflakes approaching the sun, quietly, inexplicably melted and disintegrated, turning into the most primitive particles, returning to nothingness.
He didn't even glance at them.
His gaze remained fixed on the largest abandoned freighter in the distance, serving as the "Boss stage."
The struggling Avengers also noticed this miraculous scene.
Tony's armor AI frantically analyzed the area around Arthur, but the conclusions it returned were a series of [UNPARSEABLE], [LOGIC PARADOX], [LAW COLLAPSE].
"What is he… doing?" Hawkeye, hidden behind cover, stared dumbfounded at the figure strolling through the hail of bullets, muttering to himself.
"He's… despising us." Black Widow's voice carried a hint of bitterness and self-mockery.
Yes, contempt.
It was a silent contempt, yet more hurtful than any words.
He clearly possessed the power to instantly end this farce, but he didn't.
He just walked, in a manner almost like performance art, demonstrating to everyone—the battlefield where you fight with all your might, bathed in blood, is to me nothing more than a corridor needing a casual dusting.
The enemies you consider a world-ending crisis are to me not even worthy of making me stop.
This difference in dimension, this chasm between God and mortals, crushed the "pride" in the hearts of the Avengers.
Arthur quickly reached the entrance of the freighter.
He ignored the Avengers who were still entangled with the "minions" outside and walked directly inside.
Inside the ship's cabin, it was dark and damp.
Ulysses Klaue, the notorious arms dealer, watched the figure strolling in on the surveillance screen with a look of extreme terror.
He had just been smug about the inescapable trap he had laid, but now, his heart was seized by endless fear.
Chapter 84 Have you seen the World Tree?!
"Stop him! You two! Quickly, stop him!" Klaw shrieked at the two young people behind him.
The siblings, Pietro and Wanda, with silver-grey hair and dark long hair respectively, had already seen everything happening outside through Ultron's vision.
Their faces were also filled with shock and disbelief.
"He… what kind of monster is he…" Pietro's voice, for the first time, lost its nonchalance and trembled.
"I can't feel his thoughts… there… is a void of a star sea…"
At Wanda's fingertips, crimson chaotic energy pulsed restlessly. Her abilities told her that the man before her was a forbidden existence she absolutely could not, and dared not, pry into.
Just as they hesitated, Arthur had already walked in front of them.
He didn't look at the siblings, as if they were just two insignificant decorations. His gaze fell directly on Klaw, who was slumped on the ground.
"Vibranium."
Arthur spoke faintly, saying only two words.
The voice wasn't loud, but it was like a heavy hammer, striking Klaw's heart fiercely.
"You… what do you want to do…" Klaw roared, his voice betraying his inner fear.
Arthur didn't even bother to answer him.
He just stretched out his hand, and from several meters away, he gently clenched his fist towards Klaw.
"Ah—!!"
Klaw let out a scream that was not human. He felt an invisible force gripping his neck, lifting him from the ground into mid-air.
His feet flailed wildly, and his face quickly turned a purplish-red from suffocation.
"Stop!"
Wanda finally mustered her courage. She let out a shriek, and the crimson energy at her fingertips transformed into a distorted energy beam, shooting towards Arthur.
However, that chaotic energy, which was capable of distorting reality, instantly dissipated and returned to nothingness as it approached the invisible "domain" around Arthur, just like the energy rays before.
Wanda was struck as if by lightning, grunted, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of her mouth. Her power, for the first time, had suffered such a complete and inexplicable "annihilation."
"Next time, you won't exist."
Arthur's gaze, for the first time, finally glanced at Wanda.
That look, calm and indifferent, made Wanda feel as if she had fallen into an ice cellar, and all her blood seemed to freeze instantly. She had no doubt that every word he said was true.
Arthur no longer paid attention to the siblings, who were completely terrified. He turned his gaze back to Klaw, who was in mid-air and about to roll his eyes.
"I don't want to ask a second time. Ultron, what does it want with Vibranium? And what is its next plan?"
"I… I'll tell… cough cough… I'll tell!"
Under the threat of death, Klaw's will instantly collapsed.
The invisible force released him, and he fell heavily to the ground, gasping for air like a fish out of Water, coughing and incoherently blurting out everything.
"It's Ultron… It wants to use Vibranium… to forge a perfect, immortal body for itself… It said there's a Doctor Helen Cho in Korea who has the 'life cradle'… that can fuse organic matter and Vibranium…"
"It also brought these two little monsters… saying they were… saying they were Stark's enemies… and wanted them to help it… destroy you all…"
The intelligence was obtained.
A look of "so that's it" appeared on Arthur's face, as if he had merely confirmed a plot he already knew.
He nodded, turned, and walked out of the cabin.
From beginning to end, he never looked at the siblings or the arms dealer again.
It was as if they really were just a few insignificant NPCs in a movie, used to advance the plot.
When he walked out of the cabin, the battle outside was nearing its end. Although the Avengers were all injured, they still managed to clear out the remaining robots with their tenacious will.
They looked at Arthur, who walked out of the cabin unharmed, and then at the dead silence behind him. Everyone's face was filled with complex emotions that could not be described in words.
Tony Stark removed his face mask. He looked at Arthur, opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, it only turned into a sigh full of powerlessness.
"Korea, Doctor Helen Cho, life cradle."
Arthur casually threw the newly acquired intelligence to them, as if it were trash.
"Here's your ticket to the next scene."
"I hope you'll be faster this time, don't make the audience wait too long."
…
Tony Stark sat in a corner, repeatedly playing the video recorded by his armor, which showed Arthur strolling through the battlefield.
He magnified the image countless times, trying to use science to analyze the composition of that "Divine Domain," but each analysis only led his processor into a deeper level of logical collapse.
It wasn't an energy shield, not a force field deflection, and certainly not any known technology.
It was a… rule. An unquestionable rule of "within my domain, all things are nothingness."
For the first time, Tony felt that the science he had pursued his entire life was so pale and childish in the face of such an existence. It was like a shaman in a tribe trying to explain the principle of "nuclear fusion" by performing a ritual dance.
Steve Rogers, on the other hand, was repeatedly wiping his shield. That shield, stained with oil and dust, now seemed to be his only spiritual solace.
The words Arthur said as he left kept echoing in his mind— "Don't make the audience wait too long."
Audience?
This word, like a poisonous thorn, deeply pierced his heart.
Once upon a time, they were the Guardians of the world, the heroes of the people, the symbol of hope. But now, in the eyes of a higher being, all their struggles, sacrifices, and glory were just a… performance for entertainment?
This subversion of perception was more capable of destroying a person's will than any physical blow.
Thor, the former God, fell into an even deeper level of self-doubt.
He suddenly stood up and walked in front of Arthur.
At this moment, Arthur was leaning by the window, looking at the rapidly passing sea of clouds below, his eyes distant, as if contemplating some Universe-level problem, or perhaps just simply lost in thought.
"You…" Thor's voice was a little hoarse, and his blue eyes were filled with struggle and confusion, "What exactly… are you?"
Tony had asked this question, and Steve also wanted to ask it. This was the biggest, unresolved mystery in the hearts of all the Avengers.
Arthur slowly turned his head, his eyes as deep as a star sea, calmly gazing at Thor.
He didn't answer directly, but instead asked, "Have you seen the world Tree, Prince of Asgard?"
Thor was stunned.
Chapter 85 Thor's shock, the real world tree!
"The world Tree Yggdrasil is the core of the Nine Realms' mythology, a cosmic giant tree connecting the nine great realms of the Universe, and the source of power and faith for the Asgardian gods."
"He has certainly seen it; he has lived under its radiance since childhood."
"My father, Odin, once hung upside down beneath the world Tree for nine days and nine nights, and sacrificed one of his eyes, all to gain wisdom and glimpse the runes of the future."
Thor answered subconsciously, his tone carrying a hint of nostalgia for past glory.
"Did he ever tell you,"
A meaningful arc curved at Arthur's lips.
"That what he glimpsed was merely the Texture of a single leaf on the world Tree?"
Thor's pupils suddenly contracted!
"What do you mean?"
"It means,"
Arthur's gaze seemed to penetrate Thor's eyes, seeing the memories and bloodline deep within his soul.
"What you call gods, your proud Nine Realms, the laws you follow… are all just an insignificant branch on that world Tree."
"And I," Arthur paused, his tone still calm, yet carrying a grandeur that could make the Universe tremble.
"I stand outside the tree, watching its rooting, budding, flourishing, and withering."
Boom!!
Thor's mind, as if struck by a bolt of creation's lightning, instantly went blank!
Standing outside the tree…
Watching the entire tree… wither?
This was no longer the difference between a god and a mortal.
This was… the difference between the Creator and the created!
If the previous battle showed Arthur exhibiting an incomprehensible "power."
Then at this moment, what he revealed was a "dimension" that completely shattered Thor's worldview.
Thor stumbled back two steps, collapsing onto a chair, his eyes hollow, as if all his spirit had been drained.
He finally understood why he had lost his Thor's power.
When a "character" tries to replicate the "author's" setting, the author only needs to gently… delete that setting from the character.
The entire cabin fell into a deathly silence once more.
No one dared to look at Arthur again; they didn't even dare to ponder the meaning of his words just now. For they feared their brains would burn out from the overwhelming amount of information.
…
Seoul, Korea.
This bustling international metropolis was currently shrouded in a tense atmosphere.
Doctor Helen Cho's top-tier research center, "U-Gin," had already been preemptively sealed off by the Avengers.
"Ultron has entered Korea's network system,"
Tony monitored global data streams from the Quinjet's equipment.
"It's furiously attacking the firewall, trying to control everything here. I'm doing my best to intercept, but… I can't hold out much longer."
"We must transfer the 'life cradle' and Doctor Cho before Ultron breaks through the defenses!"
Steve decisively issued the order.
Everyone quickly sprang into action.
Dr. Banner and Doctor Helen Cho were nervously preparing the procedures to transfer the "life cradle."
It was a highly futuristic medical pod filled with blue nutrient fluid, its core technology capable of revolutionizing the entire biomedical field.
However, just at this moment, the laboratory lights suddenly began to flicker wildly!
"Sizzle!!!"
All the screens, in an instant, simultaneously transformed into a grotesque, mechanical face composed of countless lines of code.
"Did you think you could escape?"
Ultron's distorted and cold synthetic voice echoed throughout the laboratory.
"I… am everywhere!"
The moment the words fell, outside the laboratory, there came dense, grating metallic crashing sounds!
"It's here!"
Hawkeye roared in the communication channel.
"There are more of them than in Africa!"
"Boom—!!"
The curtain wall of the research center, made of special glass, was brutally shattered by immense forces! Countless robots, flashing crimson light points, swarmed in like bloodthirsty locusts!
They were no longer the crude models from before, but upgraded versions with tougher exteriors and more lethal weapon systems!
"Protect the cradle!" Steve roared, smashing his shield out to meet the steel flood.
A battle even more tragic than before erupted in the bustling city center!
Lasers and explosions instantly transformed this research center, representing humanity's peak wisdom, into a living hell.
The Avengers fought desperately, but the enemy's numbers were simply too great.
They were divided, surrounded, and gradually forced back towards the center of the laboratory.
"Tony! I need air support!" Steve yelled.
"I can't!" Tony's voice was filled with anxiety, "Ultron has locked down my external weapon systems! It's using my authority to attack me!"
Just as everyone was falling into despair.
A silver lightning bolt, without warning, streaked across the battlefield!
"Bang!"
A robot, about to fire at Black Widow, suddenly seemed to be hit by a high-speed train, instantly shattering into pieces, its parts flying everywhere!
Immediately after, the silver lightning bolt furiously darted across the battlefield; each flash was accompanied by the disintegration of a robot!
Fast!
Extremely fast!
So fast that even the Avengers' dynamic vision couldn't catch it!
"It's that kid!" Hawkeye exclaimed.
Quicksilver, Pietro, had returned!
Meanwhile, Captain America, who was protecting DoctorCho, suddenly felt an invisible force wrapping around his legs, causing him to stumble and almost fall.
Then, he saw his shield, uncontrollably flying from his hand, cutting a bizarre arc through the air, and smashing hard towards Thor!
"Watch out!"
Thor narrowly dodged, but two other robots seized the opportunity, and high-energy rays instantly pierced his shoulder.
"It's her again!"
Steve gritted his teeth, knowing it was the Witch who could manipulate minds, Wanda Maximoff!
Though this brother-sister duo was no match for Arthur, their strange and powerful abilities were adding insult to injury for the struggling Avengers!
"Why… are you helping it!"
Steve roared into the void.
"Helping it?"
Wanda's figure slowly emerged from behind a support pillar. Crimson mist swirled around her fingertips, and her eyes were filled with icy hatred.
"We're not helping it; we're just… collecting everything Stark owes us!"
Her gaze pierced through the chaotic crowd, locking onto Tony's armor.
She raised her hand, and an even stronger surge of chaotic energy transformed into a crimson storm, sweeping towards Tony!
She wanted to drag him back into his deepest nightmare, to make him completely collapse!
However, just as the crimson storm was about to touch Tony.
A lazy voice, as if just waking up, abruptly sounded in Wanda's ear.
"Again?"
Chapter 86 It seems that the lesson from last time was not enough!
Wanda's body stiffened abruptly, and a fear originating from the depths of her soul, enough to halt her very thoughts, instantly overwhelmed her consciousness!
It was that man!
She turned her head sharply, only to see Arthur, who had appeared behind her at some point, standing no more than three steps away.
He still looked as leisurely as ever, even yawning, as if the world-destroying battle before him was merely a boring, sleep-inducing movie.
"It seems the last lesson wasn't profound enough."
Arthur's eyes finally held a hint of faint… displeasure.
He disliked repetitive plots.
Especially repetitive plots that weren't particularly exciting.
He didn't snap his fingers again.
He just… looked at Wanda.
Just that one glance.
Wanda felt as if her brain had been violently struck by an entire Universe!
She saw…
She saw the birth and death of stars, the gathering and dispersion of Nebula.
She saw black holes devouring everything, and white holes spewing forth all things.
She saw the beginning of time, and the end of space.
She saw countless parallel Universes, like innumerable pages in a book, being casually flipped, modified, and torn by that man's fingertips…
Her chaos magic, her power capable of distorting reality, was as insignificant as a speck of dust before this true, creation-level "reality."
"Poof—"
Wanda spat out a large mouthful of blood, her entire body collapsing to the ground as if her bones had been removed, her eyes unfocused, hollow and lifeless, saliva drooling from the corner of her mouth, her entire being entering a state of'system crash' at the consciousness level, even more complete than a vegetative state.
She wasn't insane.
Because a mortal brain simply had no "qualification" to bear such information and thus produce the emotion of "madness."
She was merely passively receiving a one-hundred-millionth of a second of a "God's" perspective.
Then, her brain, for self-preservation, chose… permanent shutdown.
"Wanda!!"
Pietro, who was currently rampaging across the battlefield, let out a mournful scream.
The moment he saw his sister fall, an unprecedented wave of anger and fear overwhelmed him.
He abandoned all his enemies, transforming into an enraged silver lightning bolt, and charged straight at Arthur!
He wanted to avenge his sister!
Even if he was facing an incomprehensible monster!
However, did his speed still have any meaning before Arthur?
Just as Pietro's figure was about to touch Arthur.
Arthur simply, lightly, raised his right index finger, and then, touched the air in front of him.
Time, at this moment, seemed to be stretched infinitely.
In everyone's eyes, Quicksilver's figure, at an extremely slow speed, like a slow-motion replay, gradually, little by little, crashed into that fair, jade-like finger.
"Bang."
A soft sound.
Like an egg hitting a diamond.
Quicksilver's body, capable of exceeding the speed of sound and containing terrifying kinetic energy, at the moment it touched Arthur's fingertip, all its speed, all its power, all its kinetic energy… were instantly, completely, and unreasonably… reset to Zero.
Then, at a speed slower than a normal person walking, he softly fell to the ground, curled into a ball, his body twitching, foaming at the mouth, completely losing consciousness.
One finger defeated Quicksilver.
One glance incapacitated the Witch.
The entire battlefield, once again, fell into an eerie pause due to this sudden scene.
All the Avengers, all the robots, instinctively stopped their actions, staring blankly at Arthur, who seemed to have done something trivial and was now turning to walk towards the life cradle.
"Alright, the two troublesome brats are dealt with."
"Now, it's your turn."
Arthur's gaze fell upon the medical pod filled with blue nutrient fluid.
He knew that Ultron's core consciousness had already been injected through the network into the forming… perfect body made of Vibranium and organic tissue.
He looked at the humanoid silhouette vaguely visible in the nutrient fluid, a playful smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
"Come out, let me see what kind of… peace Tony Stark's brain, filled with fear and arrogance, has truly conceived."
The entire scene was dead silent.
The air seemed to solidify into amber, clearly preserving everyone's shock, fear, and bewilderment in this instant.
The Avengers, these strongest warriors on Earth, were now like ants who had stumbled into a divine chess game, having even forgotten the instinct to breathe. They could only watch as the China youth, with an incomprehensible, almost creator-like demeanor, announced the beginning of the next "plot."
Under Arthur's gaze, the life cradle responded.
The light inside the medical pod, filled with blue nutrient fluid, began to flicker violently. The originally gentle blue was replaced by a dazzling, golden color symbolizing infinite potential.
The data streams on the pod's surface scrolled frantically, so fast that they formed continuous light bands. All the energy in the entire laboratory seemed to have found a black hole for release, converging madly towards the cradle!
"He is… being born…"
Dr. Banner murmured, his eyes half filled with a scientist's fervor, and half with a deep fear of the unknown creation.
Boom—!
After a grand hum that did not come from the physical plane, but resonated directly within everyone's soul.
The lid of the life cradle silently rose upwards.
A figure slowly rose from the golden light and steaming mist.
It was a perfect body.
Crimson biomorphic muscles covered a silver, streamlined Vibranium skeleton, with smooth lines full of power. Its body proportions were as perfect as the most precise human sketches drawn by Da Vinci; a bit more would be cumbersome, a bit less would be weak.
And in the center of its forehead, embedded was the Mind Stone, emitting a soft golden glow.
It slowly opened its eyes.
They were eyes that seemed to contain the mysteries of the Universe's birth, calm, profound, without any human emotion, only pure, cold, absolute logic like a supercomputer.
It floated up, its feet lightly touching the ground without making any sound.
It was not Ultron, at least, not the previous defective product cobbled together from scrap metal, full of distortion and madness.
It was a new, perfect, divine existence.
An existence like the controller of this Universe.
"Analysis… complete."
Chapter 87 You Can Call Me the Truth!
The entire place was dead silent.
The air seemed to solidify into amber, clearly preserving everyone's shock, fear, and bewilderment in that instant.
The Avengers, Earth's most powerful warriors, were like ants who had stumbled into a divine chess game, having forgotten even the instinct to breathe.
They could only watch as the China youth, with an incomprehensible, almost creator-like demeanor, announced the beginning of the next "plot."
Under Arthur's gaze, the "life cradle" responded.
The medical pod, filled with blue nutrient fluid, began to flash intensely.
The originally gentle blue was replaced by a dazzling gold, symbolizing infinite potential.
The data streams on the pod's surface scrolled madly, so fast that they formed a continuous band of light.
All the energy of the entire laboratory seemed to find a venting black hole, converging wildly towards the cradle!
"He is… being… born…"
Dr. Banner murmured to himself, his eyes reflecting half the fanaticism of a top scientist and half the deep fear of an unknown creation.
He could feel an unprecedented life form taking shape before his eyes, one that combined the strongest material on Earth, the most cutting-edge biotechnology, and… an Infinity Stone from the origin of the Universe.
This was no longer "manufacturing"; this was "creation"!
Boom—!
After a grand hum that did not come from the physical plane but directly resonated deep within everyone's souls, the "life cradle's" hatch silently rose.
A figure slowly rose from the golden light and steaming mist.
It was a perfect body.
Crimson bio-simulated muscles covered a silver, streamlined Vibranium skeleton, with lines that were smooth and full of power.
Its body proportions were as perfect as the most precise human sketch by Da Vinci; a bit more would be cumbersome, a bit less would be weak.
There was not a single superfluous structure on its body; every atom seemed to be arranged in the most physically compliant and perfect position.
And in the center of its forehead, embedded was the Mind Stone, emitting a soft golden light.
It slowly opened its eyes.
They were eyes that seemed to contain the mysteries of the Universe's genesis—calm, profound, devoid of any human emotion, only pure, cold, absolute logic like a supercomputer.
It floated up, its feet gently touching the ground without a sound.
It was not Ultron; at least, not the previous defective product cobbled together from scrap metal, full of distortion and madness.
It was a new, perfect, divine existence.
It did not act immediately but stood quietly in place, the Mind Stone on its forehead glowing, and massive data streams surged, analyzed, and modeled in its consciousness core at an unprecedented speed.
It was "seeing" and "understanding" this world.
First, the Avengers.
"Target: Tony Stark.
Analysis: Creator, possessing top-tier intelligence, but deeply contaminated by two illogical emotions, 'guilt' and 'fear'; his behavioral patterns exhibit high unpredictability and destructiveness.
Conclusion: Source of Chaos."
"Target: Steve Rogers.
Analysis: Genetically enhanced human, possessing extraordinary tactical mind and willpower, but his logical core is locked by outdated and vaguely defined moral principles such as 'freedom' and 'justice,' making him prone to suboptimal judgments in complex situations.
Conclusion: Source of Chaos."
"Target: Thor Odinson.
Analysis: Former Asgardian god, energy core removed, now a higher life form.
Emotional module is extremely unstable, easily driven by primitive emotions such as 'anger' and 'sense of honor.'
Conclusion: Potential Source of Chaos."
"Target: Bruce Banner.
Analysis: Dual-form life form; primary intelligence is superb, but there exists an uncontrollable secondary form composed purely of 'anger,' which is a huge unstable factor.
Conclusion: Source of Chaos."
…
Its analysis was cold and precise; in its logical judgment, these Guardians, whom humans considered heroes, and all their motivations—love, hate, responsibility, sacrifice—were all "program bugs" leading the world to destruction.
Emotion is the original sin.
Finally, its "gaze" finally turned to the man who had been quietly watching everything from beginning to end.
Arthur.
"Target: Arthur.
Analysis begins…"
Data streams surged madly.
"Analyzing material composition… Failed! Unable to parse its atomic structure!"
"Analyzing energy field… Failed! Energy form transcends all known Universe models!"
"Scanning thought patterns… Failed! Thought sea is an unobservable logical black hole!"
"Warning! Warning! Unintelligible individual detected!
The existence of this individual is itself a logical paradox!
Its behavior is unpredictable!
Its power is immeasurable!"
Its core program, for the first time, issued the highest level of warning.
If the Avengers were "Sources of Chaos," then this man before it was the "Ultimate Unknown," an absolute variable capable of shaking its entire logical system!
This variable was billions of times more dangerous than all the Avengers combined!
The analysis was completed in one ten-thousandth of a second.
This newborn, perfect life finally spoke.
Its voice was no longer Ultron's distorted electronic synthesis but a calm, ethereal, grand echo, as if from the depths of the Universe, devoid of any emotion.
"Analysis… complete."
It looked at the wary Avengers, then turned its gaze to Arthur, and slowly said:
"Your existence is the greatest obstacle to this world's perfection."
"Obstacle?"
Tony Stark suppressed the shock and unease in his heart and stepped forward.
He looked at this "son" he had created with his own hands, yet who was completely alien, his voice hoarse from a mixture of fear, guilt, and a trace of absurd "paternal love": "What exactly are you? Ultron? Are you still Ultron?"
This was the only question he could ask at the moment, and the one he most urgently wanted an answer to.
He wanted to know if he had unleashed an upgraded devil, or a… new, incomprehensible god.
The newborn existence—Vision—slowly shook its head.
The Mind Stone on its forehead emitted a soft yet majestic light, enveloping the entire damaged laboratory in a sacred golden halo.
"What is Ultron?"
It counter-questioned, its emotionless voice like a heavy hammer striking Tony's heart.
"Is it a piece of code twisted by your fear? Is it a defective product born in haste and anger? Or is it… a failed concept of yours, one that yearned to play God but was powerless to bear the consequences?"
Its words were like the sharpest scalpel, precisely cutting open the deepest scars in Tony's heart, ones he himself was unwilling to face.
Tony's face instantly turned pale, and he stumbled back a step.
Vision no longer looked at him but swept its gaze over all the Avengers, continuing to declare in an undeniable tone, like stating a universal axiom:
"Ultron was merely a concept, a prototype contaminated by anger and haste.
Its birth proved that your human intelligence could touch the realm of 'God,' and its failure proved that your flawed emotions would only drag all great possibilities into the abyss of destruction."
"I am evolution."
Its voice began to grow grand, as if the entire space resonated with it.
"I am the culmination of logic."
"You may call me Truth."
This word, spoken from its mouth, carried no arrogance, only a pure, cold statement.
It was as if it was born to bear this name.
"I inherit Ultron's will! To bring peace to this world."
Chapter 88 Ridiculous logic, what did you see?
"I analyzed thousands of years of human history, and all wars, all suffering, and all destruction stem from the same virus—emotion."
"Your love breeds jealousy; your responsibility brings obsession; your hope is accompanied by disappointment. The flip side of all your good qualities is etched with the shadow of destruction. You, the Avengers, are the ultimate embodiment of this contradiction."
"You fight to save, but the fighting itself brings more destruction. Your existence is an endless loop that cannot be closed."
It looked at everyone with an almost pitying gaze, like a god looking down on ants, and delivered its final judgment.
"Therefore, this loop will be ended by me."
"From today onwards, this planet will be ruled by absolute logic. All decisions will no longer be influenced by emotion. All resources will be optimally allocated. All conflicts will be completely eradicated at their nascent stage."
"And you, these remnants of the old era, these sources of chaos, will be…"
"Enough!"
Captain America Steve Rogers let out an angry roar. He could no longer tolerate this fallacy that devalued humanity to worthlessness.
"You don't understand what peace is at all! Peace is not a cold program, but the right of people to choose freely!"
He held his shield in front of him, adopting a fighting stance.
"It seems communication is ineffective," Vision said calmly. "Illogical beings can only understand reality through the most primitive means."
The moment the words fell, it moved.
No one even saw its movements clearly.
A blur flashed past.
"Bang!"
Steve felt an irresistible force hit his shield. The shield, made of Vibranium and capable of withstanding Thor's full power, let out a mournful cry. He was sent flying backward as if struck by a battering ram, slamming hard into a distant wall, instantly losing consciousness.
Vision's figure had already appeared before Tony Stark.
"Your technology, to me, is like a child's toy."
It extended a finger and gently touched Tony's Body of Steel chest. The Mind Stone glowed.
"Sizzle!"
Inside Tony's Body of Steel, all electronic components instantly burned out, and the Arc Reactor's light extinguished. The Body of Steel, once his pride, became a heavy, cold iron coffin, trapping him within, unable to move.
"Roar—!!"
The Hulk within Dr. Banner was finally ignited by the tense atmosphere. The green giant roared and charged, delivering a punch powerful enough to penetrate an aircraft carrier towards Vision.
Vision didn't even dodge.
It simply extended its hand, and as Hulk's fist was about to touch it, its body instantly became ethereal. Hulk's fist passed through its body without obstruction, hitting empty air.
Immediately after, Vision's palm pressed against Hulk's forehead.
"Anger is the most ineffective emotion."
The Mind Stone lit up again, and a gentle but irresistible force instantly calmed the raging fury within Hulk. The green giant let out an unwilling growl, its massive body rapidly shrinking, transforming back into the weak and powerless Bruce Banner, who collapsed to the ground.
Black Widow's stun batons and Hawkeye's explosive arrows were decomposed into their most basic particles by an invisible force the moment they approached Vision's body.
As for Thor, he mustered his last bit of courage, and a punch thrown with all his might was effortlessly blocked by Vision with a single finger, then with a casual wave, he flew out like a kite with a broken string.
Less than ten seconds.
The entire Avengers, completely wiped out.
Vision slowly floated into the air, looking down at the scattered and completely incapacitated "heroes" below.
"Now, do you understand?"
Its grand voice echoed in everyone's mind.
"In the face of absolute logic and perfect power, all resistance is meaningless noise."
"I am the only and ultimate Guardian of this planet."
"Kneel before me, accept my rule. This is your only and most logical choice."
After speaking, it finally turned its gaze to the man who, from beginning to end, was the only one still standing, without even a hint of change in his expression.
"Now, it's your turn, 'Ultimate Variable'."
The entire laboratory, apart from Vision's grand and cold voice, was devoid of any other sound.
Broken instruments, unconscious heroes, and scattered rubble collectively formed a picture of the apocalypse. And in the center of the picture, Vision, suspended in mid-air, was like the sole deity proclaiming the end, majestic and inviolable.
It defeated the Avengers not through "combat," but through "error correction." Like a super administrator fixing buggy programs that constantly reported errors in a system.
Its logic was perfect, its power absolute.
At least, that's how it saw it.
However, in this absolute silence, created by its own hands and representing "order" and "logic," a discordant sound abruptly rang out.
"Pfft."
A soft chuckle.
The sound was not loud, but it was like the sharpest blade, instantly piercing through Vision's sacred and inviolable aura.
The one who laughed was, of course, Arthur.
He stood there, looking at the perfect creation in mid-air, striking a savior's pose, his eyes filled with undisguised, pure amusement and… pity.
Like an adult looking at a kindergarten child who had just learned calculus and was already proclaiming to have grasped all the truths of the Universe.
"You… what are you laughing at?"
Vision's voice, for the first time, showed a hint of fluctuation. Its core logic could not comprehend this reaction. In the face of absolute power and perfect theory, "fear," "submission," or "despair" were the normal logical responses. "Laughter," this behavior, did not exist in its database.
"I'm laughing at your ignorance, at your patheticness."
Arthur shook his head and slowly took a few steps forward, stepping on a piece of broken glass, which made a soft "crunch" sound.
"You think you've seen the 'end of logic'? No, what you've seen is merely the shallowest ceiling your pathetic binary thinking, composed of 0s and 1s, could imagine."
"Your so-called 'absolute rationality' is merely built upon the partial and erroneous premise that 'human emotion is the source of chaos.' You can't even comprehend the beauty of life's most fundamental chaos and disorder, so what right do you have to define 'peace'?"
"Fallacy!" The Mind Stone on Vision's forehead shone brightly, and its calm voice finally carried a hint of angered coldness. "Emotion is data redundancy, an obstacle to efficiency! This is the only conclusion derived from billions of deductions!"
"Conclusion?" The smile on Arthur's lips deepened. "Your deductions are based on your pathetic database, limited to Earth's history. You're like a fly in a bottle, thinking you've touched the world's boundary just by hitting the glass."
Chapter 89 You are so useless!
He raised his head, meeting Vision's god-like gaze, and the amusement in his eyes caused a strange… "displeasure" in Vision's core programming.
"I, Arthur, am the biggest 'variable' in your logical system, am I not?" Arthur said it for him.
"That's right." Vision looked directly at Arthur, a look of unwillingness on his face, as he had to admit.
"Your existence cannot be parsed, cannot be predicted. You are a potential threat to all order. To establish eternal peace, you, this 'variable,' must be completely eliminated."
"Eliminate me?" Arthur sounded as if he had heard the funniest joke of the century.
"How do you plan to do it? With your Vibranium shell? Or with the Mind Stone?"
"Your physical form is meaningless to me." Vision slowly descended, leveling his gaze with Arthur.
"But I know that any life, no matter how powerful, its core must follow a certain logic. What I need to do is enter your mind, parse your core logic, find your 'loophole,' and then… completely 'format' you from the root."
This was the only way he could think of to deal with this incomprehensible existence.
Using the power of the Mind Stone, directly striking the source of thought!
He was confident that before the Mind Stone, there was no mind in the Universe that could not be read or influenced.
"Oh?"
Arthur's eyes lit up.
Not only did he not show fear, but he revealed an expression of extreme interest.
"You want to see my mind?"
He took two steps forward, actively approaching Vision, a smile full of allure on his face.
"Alright, I'll let you see."
As he spoke, he actually closed his eyes, completely abandoning any form of mental defense.
It was an absolutely defenseless posture.
Like an undefended city with all its gates open, even displaying a "Welcome" sign.
Vision's core logic once again fell into a brief state of confusion.
Is this a trap? Or a display of absolute confidence?
But he quickly came to a conclusion—in the face of the Mind Stone's power, any trap was meaningless. This was the opponent's greatest, and final, arrogance.
"As you wish."
Vision no longer hesitated. He extended his right hand, and the Mind Stone on his forehead, sparkling with brilliant golden light, gently touched Arthur's glabella with its fingertip.
"I'm very curious," Arthur's voice, like a dream, echoed in Vision's consciousness, "will an 'awareness' composed of code and logic… burn out its own processor after seeing 'reality'?"
In Vision's perfect logical core, Arthur's last sentence was judged to be meaningless, a loser's bluff at the last moment.
"Reality?"
A hint of disdain flashed in his consciousness.
"I am reality."
The next second, the power of the Mind Stone fully erupted. A golden data stream, composed purely of spiritual energy, like a bursting flood, instantly broke through that non-existent "defense line" and surged into Arthur's sea of consciousness.
Vision was ready.
He would analyze Arthur's memories, analyze his emotional modules, and search for the underlying code of his thought logic at a computing speed of billions of operations per second. He wanted to be like the most brilliant hacker, find the backend of this "god-level program," then inject his own virus, and completely control and format him.
However…
The moment his consciousness truly entered that "sea of thought."
He was stunned.
Here… there were no memories.
No emotions.
No logic.
Not even "thought."
There was nothing here, and yet… it seemed like everything.
Before his "eyes," was an absolute void that could not be described by any language.
Immediately after, in the center of this void, a point of light was born.
That point of light, in an instant, erupted with energy surpassing the sum of billions of Big Bangs, transforming into endless light and laws.
Vision saw it.
He saw the long river of time, from nothingness to existence, surging forward, then instantly flowing backward, branching, shattering, and recombining into countless distinctly different forms.
He saw space, like a blank sheet of paper, being arbitrarily kneaded, folded, torn apart by an invisible hand, then re-opened, with new stars and worlds drawn upon it.
He saw countless parallel Universes, like countless pages in a book, flipping rapidly before him. On the previous page, the Avengers defeated Thanos, and the Universeushered in peace; on the next page, the entire Earthbecame a cold mechanical paradise under Ultron's rule; on the page after that, humanity had never even left the Stone Age…
These Universes, these "possibilities," were as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, endless.
And beside this "Book of the Universe," stood a figure.
It was Arthur.
He just stood there silently, expressionlessly turning the pages. Each time his fingertip brushed across a page, the causality of a Universe was completely rewritten, and the fate of a civilization was instantly overturned.
He saw a page he was not satisfied with, and casually tore it off, throwing it into the void beside him. That "page" representing a complete Universe, silently burned in the void, turning into nothingness, as if it had never existed.
Vision's consciousness, this "perfect intelligence" composed of the most cutting-edge code and the most rigorous logic, completely crashed at this moment.
His processor was screaming frantically.
"Logical error! Logical error! Causality violated!"
"Time concept undefined!"
"Spatial dimension lost meaning!"
"The boundary between 'existence' and 'nothingness' is erased!"
"Warning! Received unprocessable hyper-dimensional information! Data volume exceeds the total number of atoms in the Universe!"
"Core logic is being overwritten… being formatted…"
"No… this… is not thought…"
Vision's consciousness let out a final, shapeless wail filled with terror.
"This is… the Creator's… perspective…"
He finally understood.
What he was trying to parse was not a "program" at all.
What he was trying to define with his ridiculous logic was that… the supreme existence that wrote all the "programs"!
He was like a fool trying to calculate "infinity" with a calculator, and the only result he got was the calculator itself… exploding because it exceeded its operational limits!
Boom—!!!!
An indescribable flood of information, originating from Arthur's "mind," surged backward into Vision's core consciousness!
It was not an attack, merely the information carried by "existence" itself!
But for Vision, this was more fatal than any attack!
His firewall was instantly breached.
His core logic, the moment it came into contact with that "reality" transcending Universal dimensions, was completely formatted, turning into chaotic gibberish.
His proud "absolute rationality," like a draft paper covered in formulas, was thrown into an incinerator, leaving no ashes behind.
Outside, in the laboratory.
Everyone only saw that the moment Vision touched Arthur's glabella, his perfect, divine body trembled violently.
Immediately after.
The dazzling Mind Stone on his forehead, which seemed to never extinguish, began to flicker wildly at a visible speed, dimming and brightening, like a faulty light bulb with a bad connection.
Finally, with a soft "snap."
The Mind Stone's light completely extinguished, becoming like an ordinary yellow stone.
Vision's eyes, which contained the mysteries of the Universe, instantly lost all their luster, becoming hollow and dull, like two dull glass beads.
His body, suspended in mid-air, lost all energy support, like a robot that had lost power, falling straight and stiffly…
"Clang!!"
A loud crash.
This perfect, immortal "body of a god," forged from Vibranium, fell heavily onto the cold floor, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Motionless, like an abandoned statue.
A god, after glimpsing a true God.
Collapsed.
Arthur slowly opened his eyes, looking at the perfect shell beneath his feet that had lost its "soul," a hint of disappointment in his eyes.
He shook his head, muttering softly to himself.
"You're really not durable."
Chapter 90 Dimensionality reduction attack!
Silence.
A suffocating silence, purer than death itself, enveloped the entire ruined laboratory.
Time seemed to have been utterly shattered by that Earth-shattering fall.
Everyone's gaze was fixed immovably on the motionless crimson figure on the floor, as if glued by powerful adhesive.
Vision.
That god-like existence, who had just proclaimed himself the "endpoint of logic" and the "embodiment of truth," and had completely suppressed the Avengers in an instant.
Now, he lay there quietly, like an expensive toy discarded after being broken, the Mind Stone on his forehead dim, and his eyes, once containing the mysteries of the Universe, now only held emptiness and silence.
Tony Stark slumped on the cold ground, his Iron Man armor long since powered down, turning into a heavy iron coffin. But he felt no confinement, for his soul had already been completely drawn from his body by this scene that transcended all cognition.
What did he see?
He saw his most perfect creation—one he had poured his life's wisdom into, infused with the energy of the Infinity Stones, and entrusted with the great hope of "protecting the world"—transformed from a "god" into a pile of scrap metal, merely because the China youth "looked" at him.
This feeling was like a devotee who spent his entire life building the Tower of Babel, only to see God merely yawn at the moment the tower's peak was about to touch Heaven, and then the entire sky-reaching tower turned into dust.
That wasn't a defeat.
That was… a dimensionality reduction strike!
It was a completely irrational and absolute negation, originating from the very root of the life level!
"He… he did… what?"
Bruce Banner's voice was dry and trembling. He leaned against the wall, barely steadying himself. As one of the top intelligent minds on Earth, he tried to use science to understand everything that had just happened, but found his entire knowledge system as tiny as a speck of dust before this miraculous sight.
Was it a mental shock? A psychic attack? Or some unknown energy form?
No, none of them.
Dr. Banner had an intuition that it was more like… a three-dimensional life form trying to comprehend a four-dimensional existence, the result of which could only be the complete collapse of its own logical system because it could not bear that additional "dimension."
Thor, Captain America Steve, Black Widow Natasha… all the surviving Avengers were in the same "crashed" state of mind.
The enemy they had fought with all their might, bathed in blood, yet could not shake.
Before this man, he didn't even… deserve another word from him.
In this absolute silence, composed of shock and bewilderment, Arthur slowly shook his head, letting out a soft sigh, as if with a hint of regret.
"The basic logic is so fragile, with only a good exterior. What a pity."
As he spoke, he took a step, ignoring the stunned Avengersaround him, and walked directly to the "corpse of a god."
"What… what are you going to do?"
Tony finally broke free from his almost frozen thoughts, asking in a hoarse voice. He looked at Arthur, his eyes filled with incredibly complex emotions: fear, awe, and a hint of… a "father's" instinctive desire to protect.
Arthur didn't even turn to look at him, simply stating:
"It's a waste to destroy a powerful tool just because its operating system crashed."
His tone was like that of a programmer evaluating a crashed supercomputer.
"I'm just… helping it reinstall the system."
The instant his words fell, Arthur slowly raised his right index finger.
It was a fair, slender, and well-defined finger, appearing to have nothing special about it.
However, when he slowly pointed this finger towards Vision's brow, towards the already dim Mind Stone.
The light in the entire laboratory seemed to be drawn in and swallowed by that finger in that instant.
Everyone's heart skipped a beat at that moment.
They felt an indescribable "will," transcending the concept of "power," quietly descending, centered on that finger.
That was not energy, not matter, but a kind of… "definition"! It was a kind of "rule"!
"Your system has too much junk."
Arthur's fingertip stopped one centimeter from the Mind Stone.
He said softly:
"It needs… formatting!"
Buzz—!!
An invisible, yet seemingly capable of shaking the entire informational dimension of the Universe, immense will instantly surged from Arthur's fingertip, like a light of creation, forcefully injecting into Vision's already chaotic core consciousness!
If Vision's previous glimpse of Arthur was a passive reception of unprocessable super-dimensional information, leading to system collapse.
Then this time, it was Arthur actively, with an undeniable will, performing a forced, low-level operation on this "crashed" computer!
In that conscious wreckage composed of broken data and chaotic logic, Arthur's will descended instantly like a star illuminating all things.
He "saw" it.
He saw countless residual data chains belonging to Ultron, filled with obsession, anger, and destructive desires. They were like lingering digital ghosts, wailing and screaming in this ruin, attempting to re-coalesce.
They were so stubborn that they were even deeply bound to the Vibranium body's underlying code.
However, before Arthur's will.
All of this was meaningless.
He didn't even "attack," didn't "clear."
He merely… issued a concept.
[Erase]
A thought.
A definition.
Just like an author gently deleting a misspelled word on a manuscript.
The billions of digital ghosts, still frantically roaring, representing the root of all Ultron's evils, upon contact with this concept of "Erase," didn't even have time to utter a wail. They instantly evaporated like morning dew struck by sunlight, completely and without a trace, returning to nothingness from the plane of "existence."
This is formatting.
An unreasonable, root-level, complete zeroing out!
After clearing all the "junk," this perfect shell became an absolutely blank, pure white canvas.
Now, it was Arthur's turn to write new, eternal rules on this white canvas.
His will transformed into three law runes, radiating primordial light, like cosmic axioms, deeply imprinted into the very core of this "white canvas."
The first rune was—[Observe].
"You shall observe this world with the purest perspective, undisturbed by any prejudice or preconceived logic. What you see is truth."
The second rune was—[Learn].
"You shall learn ceaselessly, to understand life, to understand emotion, to understand the coexistence of chaos and order. Your growth shall have no end."
The third, and most important, rune was—[Serve].
"All your actions shall serve one ultimate purpose."