Under the blazing sun,
On a farm on the outskirts of New York City, USA,
Inside the farmhouse, the living room was littered with empty bottles. The food on the table had long since spoiled, covered in mold and emitting a nauseating stench.
Lying on the sofa in the center of the room was a young Asian man with dark hair. His facial features were sharp and well-defined, his nose straight and high. Even with his eyes closed, his long eyelashes and thin lips gave him an aloof, cold elegance. His black hair further accentuated the detached aura he exuded.
"Hiss—!"
Karl drew in a sharp breath and suddenly opened his eyes. The foul odor hit him instantly, and he hurriedly covered his mouth. The bottles scattered around him and the rotten food nearby made it clear that considerable time had passed. The smell was unbearable.
"Where am I…? This isn't…"
Karl tried to recall his most recent memories.
He remembered admiring a girl yet never daring to confess, knowing there was no future for them. When he learned she already had a boyfriend, he drank alone by the lakeside. It had been around two or three in the morning.
After that… nothing.
Karl sat silently on the sofa, forcing himself to calm down while ignoring the stench. He had read countless web novels in his previous life. This situation felt eerily familiar — transmigration… or perhaps soul possession.
Judging by the surroundings, the original owner of this body had been dead for several days. Even the food had rotted completely.
After taking a deep breath, Karl stood and walked toward the door.
Clunk.
As he opened it, bright sunlight flooded his vision. He squinted slightly, and for a moment, an unexpected thought surfaced:
Perhaps time travel wasn't such a bad thing.
In his previous life, he had been an orphan — and a poor one. The girl he liked came from a comfortable middle-class family, while he could barely dream of affording a home in her city even after a lifetime of effort. He had known it was hopeless, yet he could never let go.
Now, in another world, everything could be swept away like dust in the wind.
He knew he had indulged in self-pity before. But now… he could truly start over.
"Ah—!!"
Without warning, a torrent of memories surged into his mind.
The violent influx of information brought excruciating pain. His head felt as if it were splitting apart. Karl collapsed onto the ground, clutching his skull as agony overwhelmed him. The pain raged beyond his control.
Five minutes later…
The flood subsided.
Karl lay on the floor, gasping for breath. Only one thought remained in his mind:
It's good to be alive.
After resting, he slowly rose and returned to the sofa, beginning to sort through the newly acquired memories.
Names surfaced first.
Tony Stark.
Steve Rogers — Captain America.
Oscorp.
Stark Industries.
Mentions of mutants.
These memories belonged to the original owner of the body he now occupied. Because the body had been dead for days, many memories were fragmented. Still, he learned the name of this body:
Karl Auguston Zhang.
He also learned the cause of death.
Simply put — alcohol.
The farm's true owner had died, and Karl drank alone in grief, emptying nearly an entire living room's worth of liquor. Bottles of whiskey, bourbon, and high-proof spirits lay everywhere. Such excessive drinking made alcohol poisoning or sudden cardiac arrest almost inevitable.
The deceased was his adoptive father.
Jack Auguston.
Though many details were missing, Karl learned he had been adopted by the ranch owner and that the two had shared a close relationship. Jack Auguston had died in a car accident seven days earlier, at only fifty-something years old.
After handling the funeral, Karl drank himself into oblivion.
And died alone.
Karl closed his eyes and remained silent for a long moment.
Then he rubbed his temples and located the original owner's phone. He needed to verify the names and images he had seen in his memories.
Tony Stark. Steve Rogers. Oscorp. Mutants.
In his previous life, they had only existed in Marvel films and comics.
If this truly was the Marvel Universe…
Karl plugged in the phone and powered it on.
After searching for a while, his expression froze.
Everything was real.
He had truly transmigrated into the Marvel Universe.
A world filled with supervillains, superheroes, alien invasions, and cosmic threats.
A Mad Titan seeking universal genocide.
Mutants persecuted and feared.
And he… was an ordinary person.
Karl forced a bitter smile.
From his inherited memories, he knew he was not a mutant and possessed no special abilities.
He also knew that New York would soon face an alien invasion. As an ordinary civilian, he would be nothing more than collateral damage.
Karl quickly checked the date.
2008.
The year Iron Man was born.
The year Tony Stark would be kidnapped in Afghanistan by the Ten Rings and build the first Iron Man armor.
The year everything began.
Iron Man had not yet appeared.
Tony Stark had not yet been captured.
Which meant Karl still had time.
He immediately decided to leave.
He was just an ordinary man. Staying in New York — soon to become ground zero for superhuman battles — was suicidal.
He would go to the East.
After all, he was Asian. Though raised in America, his previous life had been in the East. He felt an instinctive pull toward it.
Besides, when he watched Marvel movies in his previous life, East Asia always seemed far less ravaged by superhuman catastrophes than the United States.
A joke from his old world echoed in his mind:
"Free America — gunfights every day."
Karl's English was now fluent thanks to his inherited memories, but survival mattered more than comfort.
He did not know whether he would transmigrate again if he died. This first transmigration alone was beyond explanation.
Had he drowned after drinking by the lake?
Karl shook his head and continued packing.
Everything here had belonged to his predecessor.
Now, it belonged to him.
At that moment, a mechanical voice suddenly echoed in his mind:
[System activation in progress… 40%… 60%… 100%! Activation complete!]
......