Chapter 113: Sins Rampant, What Is A Hero? [14k]
The breathing in the hall was heavy.
“Are you okay? Do you need me to call an ambulance for you?” Ian thought Doctor Strange’s physical quality wasn’t great. Who knew if this guy had secretly taken drugs while he was a doctor.
Actually, he hadn’t added anything too excessive to the contract. It was just that he had removed the perk of being able to learn magic from him for free. Is it really too much to ask for payment in magic power as tuition for learning magic?
New followers and followers who had previously defected.
Of course, there needed to be some distinction.
Ian hadn’t even asked Doctor Strange to help him support other followers.
He had always been kind.
“I just want to hang myself and restart.”
Doctor Strange, Stephen Strange, slumped in the armchair, a wisp of thin magic power flickering between his fingers, like an oil lamp about to extinguish.
He was reminiscing about his lost magic power.
“You’ve got a perfect hand from the start. Trust me, following Lord Evil God will surely lead to an unlimited future. Who knows, you might even become a Demon God of dimensions later on.”
“No, it should be that when you stomp your foot, other Demon Gods will have to kneel and call you Lord Strange. After all, as my follower, you represent my face when you go out.” Ian’s magic power had surged, and he was already envisioning the future. However, his joy might not resonate with Doctor Strange’s sorrow.
“Your promise reminds me of Louis XVI’s promise.” Doctor Strange looked up, his eyes filled with distrust. He even secretly wanted to use slang to vent his frustration.
However, Ian didn’t care about the curses from his followers.
He was an Evil God of the new era.
“A blank check? Don’t worry, even if Lord Evil God’s head is chopped off by someone else, Lord Evil God can grow another corpse… no, a body.”
Ian corrected his overly immersed statement in time.
This situation could be blamed on Madison’s performance magic.
“No, as a newly awakened Evil God, can you even understand this kind of brain teaser instantly?” Doctor Strange’s expression was one of great astonishment. He was probing whether Ian’s origin was as he suspected.
“Super Brain.”
Ian didn’t deny it.
He just silently poked his temples.
The air fell silent for a second.
No one applauded for him.
Doctor Strange sighed, looking down at his hands, which were beginning to tremble again, “No matter how beautifully you describe it, I still think it’s a false promise from an Evil God.”
“Look at me now, I have less than half my magic power left, and it’s even difficult to maintain my body’s normal functions.” The origin story of why he started learning magic still seemed to exist. This might also be why, among the several superheroes Ian encountered, only Doctor Strange’s situation was relatively normal.
Although Teacher Tony claimed not to care, he seemed to have liked this man quite a bit when he was in charge of inputting information, and didn’t even let Doctor Strange lose all his fingers.
“As the saying goes, the more you lose, the more I gain, and the more I gain, the stronger your backing becomes. So, rounding down, it’s actually equivalent to you not getting weaker.”
“We are a whole, obeying the law of conservation of energy.” Ian looked at Doctor Strange’s trembling hands and brought up his personal panel, ready to give Doctor Strange some Evil God shock.
“You can interpret the conservation of energy like that?”
Doctor Strange was clearly taken aback for a moment.
Then, he stared at Ian with a very strange look, “I’ve heard this kind of rhetoric from you before. It’s how the U.S. military used to fool people when they stationed troops in other countries.”
It could only be said that some paths might have truly been paved by America.
“It seems I’m also considered an old New York standard American?” Ian said with emotion, thinking that the U.S. military had become a time assassin, stealing his development ideas from past timelines.
A world with the extraordinary.
Who could say for sure?
If it can’t be said for sure, then Lord Evil God is right.
“I shouldn’t have been so smart back then. Why did I return to Kamar-Taj? If I hadn’t returned to Kamar-Taj, I wouldn’t have accidentally signed such a contract with you.”
“If I hadn’t signed this contract, my magic power wouldn’t have been lost. If my magic power hadn’t been lost, I wouldn’t be here listening to you spin tales.”
Doctor Strange supported his forehead with his trembling hand.
His tone was wistful and melancholic.
“What tales? Go quickly and check the abilities your god has shared with you.” Ian had figured out the new skill and directly used 【 Share 】 to lend a skill to Doctor Strange.
【 Self-Healing Tide 】
He was even afraid that Doctor Strange wouldn’t understand, so he kindly helped Doctor Strange activate the ability. Those who have been Evil Gods know that controlling a follower’s body is basic operating procedure.
“Hiss~”
It was only for a moment of being controlled.
Doctor Strange felt his body begin to change. His body emitted a green light, which moved like a living creature, flowing through every corner of his body.
“This… is not magic.”
Doctor Strange’s pupils contracted sharply. His magic power flowed within his body but could not resist this unfamiliar healing power. It acted like a special rule.
“I’m regaining my health?!”
Realizing what had happened, Doctor Strange’s eyes widened. He felt his hands, which even magic could hardly heal, now displaying miracles from an Evil God.
The neural re-linking was so rapid. He instinctively looked down at his hands – those hands that had suffered nerve damage, muscle atrophy, and were almost incapable of any fine manipulation due to a car accident, now seemed to have returned to their peak state as if they had never been injured, feeling as light as ever.
“Damn the Ancient One! Didn’t he say my hands could never be healed, that it was my absolute destiny?” Doctor Strange could even feel that his fatty liver was gone.
“Gulp~”
He suddenly felt that believing in an Evil God wasn’t so bad. After all, he used to be a doctor who only cared about making money and had no emotions. His profession might be quite relevant.
“This is the grace of an Evil God.”
Doctor Strange felt he had been completely corrupted. There was no other way; his original intention for learning magic was to heal his hands.
If he had known earlier that believing in an Evil God could heal him.
He would have definitely dug out the sleeping Evil God at the first opportunity.
“Not only that, I can make you fly too.” Ian was also experimenting with his 【 Share 】 skill. The next moment, Doctor Strange flew directly to the ceiling.
“I have a cloak! I don’t need to fly myself!”
Doctor Strange was startled and flailed his hands in the air. Of course, after adapting, Doctor Strange began to ascend and descend, having great fun.
The law of “it smells good” might be the eternal and unchanging melody of the Myriad Worlds.
“Does your cloak have a bio-electric field? No!”
Ian answered his own question.
Without waiting for Doctor Strange to understand what a bio-electric field was, while observing Doctor Strange, he was also organizing information. He discovered that although he had shared the ability to fly with Doctor Strange.
However.
He had not lost or weakened the effect of this skill. The so-called borrowing would only cause Ian to bear double the physical exertion when using the skill.
This also meant that Ian could not share abilities with every follower long-term.
“It’s just that I’m still too weak now. If I had panel stats in the six or even seven figures, this little price would be almost negligible.”
Ian mused.
Feeling an increasing hunger in his stomach.
He quickly canceled the sharing of all abilities.
“Splat~”
Doctor Strange fell directly from the sky, landing on the ground in a starfish position. He didn’t cry out in pain or yell; he just lay there, feeling his re-born hands.
After a long while.
“My magic power… why has it decreased a little again?” Doctor Strange slowly raised his head, his tone and expression very strange. His gaze drifted towards the Evil God not far away.
“Look closely at the contract, Doctor, look closely! This is the rental fee for abilities, charged by usage time. No deception, I’m not like those Demon Gods who lend power for free.” Ian emphasized his conscience. Anyone who has played games knows the difference between pay-to-play and free-to-play games.
“……”
Doctor Strange felt like he was being drained dry.
He felt a sense of disorientation.
Was he really a mage?
This was clearly a magic production machine for an Evil God!
“Drained, drained, I have only a few drops of magic power left.” Doctor Strange said with a melancholic tone. After Ian kicked him a couple of times, he finally remembered that he should get up from the ground.
“Actually, I also offer magic loans, calculated annually, with a repayment of thirteen for every ten borrowed.” Ian’s mind was filled with magic, with nowhere to apply it, so he decided to exercise his capitalist spirit.
Lord Evil God had now added most of his skills to the 【 Sharing List 】. Doctor Strange could sense this, but he didn’t dare to borrow these abilities.
“Do you think I can repay such a loan? Cultivating magic power is much harder than earning money.” Doctor Strange threw his body back into the comfortable rocking chair.
Hearing this.
Ian chuckled softly.
He was prepared.
“Don’t rush! When I develop the 【 Devour 】 ability and share it with you, you can go out and eat magic monsters!” Ian was not the type of traditional usury demon god.
He would provide win-win opportunities for his followers.
Everyone winning together is true victory.
“You even know what abilities you can develop? Or do you get to develop whatever abilities you want?” Doctor Strange couldn’t help but swallow hard upon hearing this.
This was much more terrifying than the fake Evil Gods mentioned in fairy tales, television, and movies.
“This matter is very complicated, it’s related to self-awareness. You wouldn’t understand if I told you.” Ian took the opportunity to admonish his system, hoping that the system clinging to him wouldn’t disappoint his wait.
Some boys, when desperate with hunger, might even gnaw on their systems – he silently threatened the system in his heart, realizing he was becoming increasingly skilled at threatening others.
【9:17】
The countdown did not speed up because of this.
However, he figured the system must have gotten the hint.
“You just said… contributing abilities to you… does that mean you have other followers on Earth besides me?” Doctor Strange suddenly realized this later.
Ian smiled.
“Actually, there is another god who is also my follower. Now you know how lucky you are to be sitting at the same table with a god.” Ian used a respectful title to address Thor.
Wasn’t this also a way of elevating himself?
“So, I’m not the big boss under your command?” Doctor Strange was adapting to his role quite quickly; he was already considering his own vested interests.
Seeing this.
“It’s okay, you also have the opportunity to become a big boss.”
Ian quickly said to encourage him, demonstrating true democracy and freedom, “Whoever contributes the most automatically becomes the big boss. There is no class solidification in Lord Evil God’s church.”
It could be seen.
The Young Evil God truly valued his path to becoming a Demon God.
“……”
Doctor Strange didn’t know how to comment. He felt this was more proper than many legitimate churches he knew of, and it even gave him an urge to strive and persevere.
“The second boss isn’t bad either.”
Doctor Strange muttered softly, engaging in some self-consolation.
And at this moment.
Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang.
Doctor Strange was startled.
“I didn’t order takeout.”
He stared blankly at the door.
“Liar! You just don’t want to share with your god!” Ian got up to open the door. He might have truly misjudged Doctor Strange; the visitor outside wasn’t holding takeout pizza – it was a tall woman, her black hair cascading like a waterfall, wearing a pair of rimless gold-rimmed glasses, her face cold and her eyes sharp.
The door of the New York Sanctum opened, and a cold wind swept a few withered leaves into the hall.
“Who are you looking for?”
Ian asked first.
The woman frowned.
“The Ultimate Invincible God of the Universe · Final Arbiter · Emperor of All Laws, Ian Divine?” Her voice was also frigid, like the winter wind, constantly appraising Ian from head to toe.
“It’s me.”
Ian stood at the door.
He blinked.
His mind raced.
“My father issued his oracle and told me to come find you to become my teacher.” The woman seemed to have little trust in Ian’s youthful appearance. She took out a stack of manuscripts from her embrace and handed them to Ian.
Oracle.
Become a teacher.
These were the two keywords.
In an instant, everything was clear to Ian.
“Is your dad Odin?” Ian’s expression held a hint of astonishment, but he still took the manuscripts. He would immediately become energetic when discussing creation with someone.
“Mhm.”
The woman nodded.
She spoke sparingly.
She was Hela, the Goddess of Death from Asgard.
“But your younger brother Thor said he was Odin’s only child.” Ian was greatly shocked as he flipped through the still-warm manuscripts. The other party was actually creating a highly restricted comic.
On the manuscript.
The content that greeted him.
Was all the surging of the sea.
“My comics are bestsellers across the Nine Realms. That pedantic old man refused to acknowledge me as his child, for fear I would corrupt his new heir. It’s probably not hard to understand.”
Hela’s tone held a hint of mockery towards family.
A familiar story.
A different core.
Ian once again felt the shock from the new Marvel. Of course, other people’s affairs had nothing to do with him. He simply began to flip through Hela’s manuscripts.
“You two are two of a kind, elder sister shouldn’t criticize younger brother.”
Ian showcased his sharp critique.
Upon hearing this.
Hela was not angered, only frowned, her eyes full of distrust towards Ian, “Do you, at your age, understand my art?”
Her words were a direct challenge to Ian.
“You can doubt my strength, or even that I haven’t fully developed, though that’s not the case. But you cannot doubt my omnipotent talent in literary creation.”
Ian’s passion for literary creation was that devout; he would even sacrifice his reputation in other areas, showing he was truly a writer who loved writing.
“Your basic skill is good, the lines are smooth, and the details are rich. It’s evident you have some ability, but this style of drawing large buns right from the start is too direct.”
“And too realistic,” Ian finished looking through the entire manuscript. He had already made his judgment, “This is why your imagination is restrained.”
“You need to go out more. Then you’ll discover that a ‘large bun’ doesn’t just have to be a large bun; it can also be a large basketball, or even several large basketballs.”
“The universe is vast, and there are all sorts of wonders.”
“Also, you must remember that art is not just for displaying strength and violence. It also needs elements of emotion, growth, and self-discovery.”
“Don’t always throw balls so directly at the reader. Too many balls will make the reader dizzy. You should only throw them when appropriate. Sometimes, a little subtlety can evoke more resonance.”
“The best adult comics should be like the uniform you’re wearing now—though it looks tight-fitting, all viewers will imagine it being torn apart.”
Ian didn’t care if he offended Hela; he was genuinely using her as a metaphor. “Playing hard to get is the most alluring state.”
“Of course, we don’t have to be limited to humans. I heard Mjolnir was once your toy? You should include that; it’s something that could truly shock readers.”
Ian earnestly explained to Hela how to draw adult comics. His final advice caused Hela’s eyes, usually cold, to tremble intensely.
It was evident.
She truly felt the shock of a creation master.
“You, as a teacher, are acceptable.”
After a long silence, Hela finally acknowledged Ian, her tone carrying a hint of respect. As her words fell, Ian’s system immediately provided a new round of feedback.
【You have gained massive 【Leader 】Experience. 】
【Leader Profession has been upgraded 】
【Leader Profession has been upgraded 】
……
【Leader LV7〔43/640〕】
Another round of upgrades.
Naturally, this meant another follower was added. Hela seemed to sense something, closed her eyes, felt the contract’s content, and her expression shifted slightly.
However.
“So that’s how it is.”
This eldest daughter of Asgard did not shout like her younger brother.
Her emotional control was excellent.
“You will see my new work soon.” Hela seemed to understand something, looked up at the sky, and then looked deeply at Ian again.
“Just pray to me directly then.”
Ian, as if afraid others wouldn’t know he had his own prayer, reminded Hela. Hela nodded and disappeared into the bustling crowd on the street.
“I haven’t seen a ‘send-child Guanyin,’ but a ‘send-child Odin’… well, I haven’t seen that either.” Ian, having gained a lot, happily turned and walked back into the Sanctum Sanctorum hall.
He shook his head.
Since the signing fee wasn’t added in time, Ian’s total magic power remained the same as the several dozen wells, but its natural growth rate far surpassed the previous speed.
“Among the Asgardians, women become more charming with age.” Ian mused slightly, catching Doctor Strange, who had been eavesdropping behind a pillar.
“The Odin you’re talking about… is it the Odin I know?” Doctor Strange was truly shocked. He hadn’t expected Ian’s claims about divine followers to be true.
More than just one.
The King of Gods even sent another one!
What is this?
A proton?
For a moment, Doctor Strange’s “Sherlock Holmes” brain had made many deductions. He couldn’t help but suspect this was proof that King of Gods Odin couldn’t defeat this Evil God in front of him.
“Yes, it’s him. I think I understand the reason now.” Ian was the truly clear-headed one in the human world, but he didn’t tell Doctor Strange the truth that most Asgardians didn’t die of old age but from being over-powered by divine energy. He feared that Doctor Strange, whose magic power had dropped to a very low level, would become inferior.
Master Ian cared about his followers’ psychological health.
He had his own gentleness.
It’s just that Doctor Strange didn’t seem to feel it much.
“So, I’m the third-in-command now? I, the Sorcerer Supreme, have been reduced to being the third-in-command of an Evil God?” Doctor Strange was quite adapting to his current role.
He even had a premonition that he might soon be reduced to fourth-in-command.
“If you don’t improve your emotional intelligence, you’ll have to clean restrooms—I’ll build ten thousand restrooms for you to clean.” Ian, not receiving praise, was quite dejected.
“Can I extract magic power from an Evil God’s restroom?” Good heavens, Doctor Strange’s thought process was truly peculiar. It was evident he really cared about his lost magic power.
“……”
Ian was rarely rendered speechless. He suspected that if he nodded, Doctor Strange would genuinely go and search his restrooms, attempting to extract the magic power he excreted.
“Go out more. I suspect you have a deeper level of repression than my Second Brother, Xuan Ya.” Ian kindly advised, but received a suspicious gaze from Doctor Strange, who seemed to remember something.
“Speaking of the outside world, what exactly did you do?” Doctor Strange’s sudden question caught Ian off guard. Did this guy discover Ian’s cameo as the ‘Creator’?
“I haven’t started doing anything yet.”
Ian answered truthfully, probing slightly.
“Heh.”
Doctor Strange put on a look of seeing through everything.
“Evil Gods’ words cannot be trusted, not even a comma. That’s what you taught me.” With that, he rummaged through a cabinet and pulled out a pile of newspapers under Ian’s bewildered gaze.
“According to my investigation, the crime rate in New York has risen abnormally in the past two days. Not just New York, but major cities worldwide are experiencing extremely severe crimes.”
“Robbery, theft, even murder… Is this unrelated to your revival? I don’t believe it!” Doctor Strange shoved the pile of newspapers in front of Ian.
He asked and answered himself with a tone of certainty.
“No? I’m the scapegoat? Any sin that occurs is thrown at me? This has nothing to do with me. Don’t pin every crime on me.”
Ian suddenly felt empathy with DC’s Lucifer.
Doctor Strange remained unconvinced.
“Your words should be taken in reverse—so, it is related to you after all.” He had his own views on Ian and hadn’t yet figured out the pattern that Ian sometimes told the truth.
“You’re slandering me.”
Ian rolled his eyes, a beginner’s version that couldn’t be seen through the pupils.
“You say it’s slander, so taken in reverse, it means you’re praising me…” Before Doctor Strange could finish his confident statement, Ian kicked him under the table.
“You’re turning things upside down! How dare you speak to your God like that?” Ian felt Doctor Strange should go for further training with the Minotaur Demon. One kick wasn’t enough, so he followed up with two, three… fifty or sixty kicks. Doctor Strange, with shoe prints all over his rear, dodged and ran around the room pursued by the Evil God.
“I surrender!”
He still loved surrendering.
Lacking the tenacity a Sorcerer Supreme should have.
“Where did you get this data? With your sick mind, you shouldn’t have been able to discover these details?” Ian asked suspiciously while wiping his shoes.
Even with a shoe print on his face, Doctor Strange puffed out his chest proudly upon hearing this, “Do you think I bought all these mystery novels for nothing?”
“Don’t underestimate my talent. I’ve always had potential as a detective.” He tried to correct Ian’s wrong impression of him, but his pride didn’t last long.
“Rustle~”
The sound of something being activated. Before Doctor Strange could rush over, a blue light flashed, and the holographic image of the intelligent lifeform Tony Stark appeared on the desk.
“Doctor, there’s been another bank robbery in the city. You might need to help out.” Holographic Teacher Tony looked at Doctor Strange, who had rushed in front of him.
At this moment.
Doctor Strange was very embarrassed.
And Ian naturally understood where Doctor Strange got his data from.
“It seems you’ve learned this skill from me.” Ian expressed his genuine admiration. Indeed, this era was one where everyone sought external brains.
“I also offered help!”
Doctor Strange turned back, attempting to quibble.
However.
All he received in response was Ian’s incessant “heh heh”—the little boy pulled out half of his mobile phone and played a three-hour recording of him “heh heh”-ing at Madison earlier.
“……”
Doctor Strange was extremely ashamed and angry.
“It’s you, you’re definitely sabotaging me on purpose. Just because I’m a magician and you’re a technological creation, you can’t stand me.” He tried to accuse holographic Tony.
“This place is full of your surveillance cameras. Damn it, why did I agree to let you install them!” Doctor Strange’s expression was remorseful, and his accusation didn’t seem unreasonable.
Holographic Tony didn’t refute him either.
“Good afternoon, Ian.”
The intelligent lifeform, who had never truly lived, looked at the boy in the hall.
“New Teacher Tony, good afternoon. Look, I brought you a gift too.” Ian picked up the box of charcoal-grilled octopus and held it up to holographic Tony’s equipment.
Holographic Tony had yet to respond.
Doctor Strange spoke up first.
“Didn’t you say this was a gift for me?” He was actually quite hungry. After all, Ian’s “Evil God power” had consumed a lot of his stored fat while repairing his body.
“Tsk tsk, you should get your brain replaced somewhere.”
Seeing this.
Ian immediately pulled Doctor Strange aside.
“My foolish follower, New Teacher Tony is clearly a robot. He can’t actually eat anything. When he refuses, won’t this box of octopus still be yours in the end?”
Ian tried to lower his voice and speak softly.
He was trying to teach Doctor Strange how to maximize his resources.
“Huh? It can be like that?”
Doctor Strange was once again shocked by the Evil God and began to humbly seek guidance.
Not far away.
New Teacher Tony’s expression was quite speechless.
“Kid, just a friendly reminder, there are thirty-four recording devices in this house, each worth fifty thousand.” He waved at Ian and Doctor Strange to remind them.
He also showed off that his broadcasting equipment was equally expensive.
Ian pretended not to hear.
He was still teaching his follower.
Just thirty-four listening devices.
Still inferior to his Uncle Bruce.
Ian wondered what New Teacher Tony was showing off about.
“I’m not rushing you, but if you continue to discuss unplugging me there, the bank robbers will have already deposited the money into another bank.”
New Teacher Tony’s shout finally caught Ian’s attention.
“Are these robbers a bit crazy?” Ian had heard of many ways to fence stolen goods after robbing a bank, but at this moment, he was dumbfounded and his horizons were broadened.
In the hall of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
A faint scent of sandalwood and the lingering warmth of magic permeated the air.
New Teacher Tony turned to look at Ian.
“Yes, it’s like these robbers simply don’t know how to plan their crimes. In fact, in the two days prior, such severe criminal behavior had never occurred in all of New York.”
“The same is true worldwide.”
His perfectly rational voice spoke softly, “I’ve detected some causal contradictions regarding sin. Historically, humans should have extensive experience with crime.”
“However, all crimes seemed to have stopped a few days ago. Afterwards, people seemed to have undergone some cognitive modification, and most people acted as if they had lived for many years without committing crimes.”
“No one knows how to commit a crime, and no one wants to commit a crime, as if a machine has been reset to factory settings.” New Teacher Tony’s gaze was fixed on Ian.
He could calculate that all of this was related to Ian.
“That’s because this world was only born a few days ago. The past is just its background; the present is its reality.” Ian had no intention or plan to conceal this matter.
“What do you mean?”
Doctor Strange was completely bewildered upon hearing this.
“You’re saying my decades of life are fake? What a joke!” He clearly didn’t believe Ian’s statement, as the memories in his mind felt so real.
Regarding this.
Ian pondered for a moment.
He quickly sorted out his thoughts.
“Your memories are not false. I’m starting to understand now. There was no true reset; that snap of the fingers probably just created a new future.”
“You are still you, but at a certain moment, your souls were actually sealed away for a long time, and only now have they been placed into new vessels.”
From New Teacher Tony’s information, Ian had already figured out what was wrong. He realized that his snap of the fingers had likely only reset the rules and operations of this world.
As for time.
Although it had indeed rewound to a more distant era.
However.
The people living in this era had not truly experienced the development of this world. Their memories came from another past that had not suffered a cataclysm.
Of course.
That past.
In fact, it completely overlapped with the current era’s background, so everyone found no anomalies in their memories because Teacher Tony had replicated an identical world for them.
It was like taking a group of dolls out of their original sandbox and placing them into another. The dolls, whose power had been cut off mid-process, certainly wouldn’t notice anything amiss.
A flawless plan.
However.
Clearly, a problem had arisen, leading to the contradiction and fragmentation that New Teacher Tony detected. The issue was that when Tony Stark unsealed the “entangled souls” from different parallel universes, the separated souls were too pure. Even though the memories were unchanged, the souls of the people were exceptionally clean.
The good and evil witnessed, the good and bad experienced, the pain and joy endured, would originally leave a mark deep within a person’s soul and shape their choices, beliefs, and moral boundaries.
However.
In this New World.
For the souls resettled here, all such traces have been completely erased. This is why in the New World, so many people seem like naive innocents, and even superheroes have lost their way—their souls carry no residual warmth of sin, nor scars of struggle.
They have been “cleansed” far too thoroughly!
In other words.
They have lost the most crucial “pollutants” from their growth process!
“As expected of me!”
Ian didn’t know if this was Teacher Tony’s deliberate action or an unavoidable result of separating the entangled souls; he only knew that his Super Intelligence helped him understand everything.
And some people clearly do not possess Super Intelligence.
“I still don’t understand what you’re saying. Isn’t the emergence of so much crime in this world because of your revival? That you are sin itself, or something like that?”
Doctor Strange was utterly bewildered.
He was still clinging to his unwavering view of the Evil God.
“Here’s something for you to eat, go spray your dung over there.” Ian shoved the roasted octopus at Doctor Strange, and he looked at the holographic Tony, indeed, New Teacher Tony could understand his meaning.
“An interesting hypothesis. If it’s true, then it proves my discovery isn’t wrong. Now, perhaps the sin gene hidden within human souls is simply starting to regrow.”
Teacher Tony mused.
“Or it’s possible that the things that brought sin to humanity weren’t eradicated by the Tony I knew, so they gradually awakened and started influencing humans again?”
Ian made a bold guess.
This was also inspired by Doctor Strange’s nonsensical rambling just now.
He was not that kind of Evil God.
It didn’t mean Marvel didn’t have that kind of Evil God.
“My information on the mystic side is not yet complete. Perhaps I can tell you the answer later.” New Teacher Tony gave a rather conservative response.
“Also, help me analyze how I should guide those Superhumans back to the right path. After all, if my guess is correct, they still possess the souls of heroes.”
Ian glanced back at Doctor Strange, who was eating like a foraging animal. He was already considered one of the more normal characters among the current Superheroes.
“After eating and drinking my fill! I need to go save people… and then charge them protection fees! As long as I save their lives, they’ll definitely come to me every month for fortune telling for the rest of their lives!”
“I will work hard for my luxurious coffin!”
Doctor Strange threw away his food box and stood up.
With his money-grubbing expression, perhaps he wasn’t that normal after all.
However.
He seemed somewhat more redeemable than other Superheroes. Just as Ian was making excuses for his follower, he saw Doctor Strange suddenly put his hand into his pocket.
He fumbled around in his pocket and pulled out something soft.
“??????”
Ian stared at the bloody appendix in Doctor Strange’s hand, his eyes wide. “I know you’re a doctor, but you don’t have to cut out your appendix, do you?”
He had certainly witnessed adult hypocrisy. Doctor Strange, who publicly declared himself an enemy of demons, turned out to be a hypocrite who said one thing and did another.
“You can’t expect me to cut open my own stomach every time I need to store something, can you?” Doctor Strange felt that the demon before him might enjoy seeing his followers suffer.
However.
“Is there a possibility that my magic isn’t used this way?” Ian’s expression was odd. He gestured with his hand, as if about to draw an anatomical diagram of the human body out of thin air for Doctor Strange.
“The appendix is connected to the intestines, the intestines to the stomach, the stomach to the esophagus, and the esophagus connects to the mouth.” Ian explained patiently, suspecting that Doctor Strange’s medical doctorate was largely unsubstantiated.
Of course.
Doctor Strange was also suspecting that there was something wrong with his brain.
“When you tell me to store things, I eat them and then throw them up?” Doctor Strange felt this was worse than getting his appendix removed. He really wasn’t suited to accompanying an Evil God.
“It’s clear you’ve learned very little magic.”
Ian sighed heavily.
He really didn’t want to deal with a madman swinging an appendix around.
“Learning little magic doesn’t stop me from going out to save suffering people. I’m going to be a hero now.” Saying that, Doctor Strange turned to look at the holographic Tony.
“Criminal coordinates?”
He put on a very professional demeanor.
“I haven’t rushed you because a group of rookie police officers have already handled the trouble.” Tony snapped his fingers, and the old television set in the Sanctum Sanctorum flickered to life.
Only then.
Five robbers wearing stocking masks were crammed in front of the bank counter.
They wanted to deposit money.
Each of them was carrying several large bags of money. However, because they forgot to remove their masks, these clumsy robbers were discovered, and the police quickly surrounded them.
“Without stockings, this is what happens.”
Ian offered a sharp critique.
The screen continued.
“Don’t move! NYPD!”
The sound of twenty pistols being cocked simultaneously silenced the entire bank lobby. A group of poorly trained police officers, some entering through the door, others climbing through windows.
They all aimed their guns at the robbers, looking incredibly tense.
The robbers were even more tense.
Looking left and right.
The excellent matchmaking system hadn’t provided these rookie robbers with a sufficient number of hostages. Four robbers grabbed hostages, and during the three minutes they spent pursuing hostages, the police didn’t even consider shooting them.
Both sides were a bit flustered.
Finally.
Four robbers took hostages, and the remaining unlucky robber could only aim his pistol at his own temples, intending to use himself as a hostage to deter the police.
“Bang~”
At this moment.
A police officer suddenly opened fire.
The robber fell to the ground in response.
Seeing that the other robbers were stunned and all gave up struggling and begged for mercy, the police officer who fired seemed to have just come to his senses, as if he didn’t understand why he had fired.
Of course.
The police themselves didn’t understand.
Someone understood.
“See! The robber who was killed was a street dude, Black Brother! He was about to commit suicide, a double buff, which directly triggered the skill that this rookie old cop in New York had engraved in his soul!”
Ian’s explanation was to corroborate his previous theory about soul transmigration.
However.
He still couldn’t get Doctor Strange to grasp anything.
“So, is it over?”
Doctor Strange put down his appendix. Just moments ago, he had pulled several guns out of his appendix, making it truly difficult to distinguish whether he was a mage or not.
“It’s not over. The speed at which evil breeds is far beyond my expectations—the first Superhuman crime has already occurred.” Holographic Tony switched the video feed again.
The television screen showed a view from a roadside surveillance camera.
A police car in front of the lens was flipped by some immense force, the screech of twisting metal piercing the air. From the smoke, a deformed figure slowly straightened up—the thing had the iconic triangular eye mask of Spider-Man, but the mask was more than half torn, revealing a twisted and distorted half-face beneath.
“Spider-Man?”
Ian was taken aback at first.
“No! It’s a Spider Monster! No wonder he went to dance at a strip club!”
Then he suddenly came to his senses.
“Gulp~”
Doctor Strange had never seen such a terrifying creature in his life.
He swallowed nervously.
The Spider Monster hunched over.
Eight glistening spider legs erupted from its spine, each tipped with viscous fluid, looking truly terrifying.
Its movements were both spider-like and human-like, sickeningly twisted. Suddenly, it lunged at a fallen woman, its dark spider legs piercing her shoulder like a dinner fork and lifting her into the air.
“Help! Someone, help me!”
The woman’s voice cut off abruptly.
“Give birth, give birth, you will give me many, many children, hahahaha.” The monster’s split jaw suddenly expanded to an incredible width, revealing layers of serrated fangs within. It lowered its head and bit into the woman’s skull, the sound of cracking bone mixed with chewing emanating from the surveillance speaker.
“What kind of monster is this?”
“What should we do! I don’t want to attack it! A pistol definitely won’t kill it!”
Behind the wreckage of a burning taxi, several police officers sat slumped on the ground. One young officer’s service weapon had fallen between his legs, and dark wet marks spread across his police pants.
It wasn’t just the civilians shivering.
These New York police officers were also shivering.
Just as everyone was at a loss.
A black and white figure suddenly swung in from the edge of the frame.
“What is that?”
A civilian exclaimed in surprise.
“A fearless Superhuman? Is she… going to be a hero?”
The police officers also looked up.
Under everyone’s gaze.
The black and white Spider-Man executed a beautiful mid-air spin, attempting to attack and hoping to prevent this disaster. As she swung, webs accurately shot towards the monster’s face.
However, this attack did very little damage; instead, it completely enraged the Spider Monster.
“Human! How dare you defile the great Celestial!” The Spider Monster let out a sharp burst of sound, and its metallic spider legs shot out at a speed barely visible to the naked eye.
“Bang~”
Unable to dodge, the black and white Spider-Man was sent flying like a baseball, crashing into a convenience store on the corner. Amidst the roar of collapsing shelves, a lock of long hair was revealed beneath the shattered white mask.
“Takeout girl?”
Doctor Strange’s eyeballs almost popped out.
“I knew it! I knew Gwen was up to something from the start!” Ian also slapped Doctor Strange’s thigh abruptly. After thinking for a moment, he turned and ran towards the door of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
“Are you going to save someone?”
Doctor Strange didn’t dare to follow.
“I’m going to save you all.”
Ian’s response quickly disappeared.
He shot up into the sky on the street under the stunned gaze of countless people.
…
The streets of Queens were burning.
On the shattered asphalt road, car wrecks twisted into blackened skeletons, gasoline leaking from fuel tanks flowed like burning crimson snakes in the cracks.
Smoke billowed and licked the sky.
Filtering the afternoon sun into a sickly yellow hue. Glass fragments emitted faint popping sounds in the high heat, as if the entire street were groaning in pain.
“Damn it! Why is my agility so bad? I was so powerful in my dreams.” Gwen Stacy lay on her back in the ruins of the convenience store, her white battle suit stained a dirty, ash-grey by blood and dust. She tried to push herself up, but a piercing pain shot through her left arm—it was a severely fractured injury.
“Hmm?”
Gwen was surprised by her ability to pinpoint this accurately.
But she had no time to linger. Not far away, the monster that called itself a “deity” was slowly approaching, its eight spider legs alternately digging into the ground with a grating sound.
“No one can save you.” The monster’s voice was like fingernails scraping a blackboard, with a nervous tremor. “Look at those people, they only have reverence for me, only fear!”
The Spider Monster seemed to relish this feeling.
Gwen, hearing this, shrank back continuously. She turned her head with difficulty. On the fire escapes lining the street, spectators were crowded, their phone cameras flashing in the smoke, yet not a single person dialed the emergency number. Closer by, several police officers huddled behind an overturned police car, their heads buried in their arms like startled ostriches.
“You should be like them too.” The monster leaned down, revealing half of Peter Parker’s face beneath its torn mask. “Submit to me, your great deity!”
It spoke to Gwen.
“Never!”
Gwen was filled with fear, but her attitude remained resolute.
“Why not!” The Spider Monster was enraged again. Its spider legs lashed out, sending Gwen flying like a rag doll, crashing heavily beside the wreckage of a police car. The young police officer hiding behind the car screamed and crawled away. His police badge fell near Gwen’s hand—it was stained with some fresh blood.
“Shoot!”
Gwen, coughing up blood foam, grabbed the police badge and threw it at the Spider Monster.
Twenty meters away.
The monster was piercing another police officer’s chest with its spider leg, as easily as a child tearing open a candy wrapper, yet the other police officers dared not act due to fear.
They only dared to hide in a different location.
“Their behavior is the only rational response, for that is the natural law.” The monster licked the blood from its spider legs, its voice suddenly becoming unusually clear. “Food should have its own awareness. Facing a top-of-the-food-chain deity like me, you should wash your necks and wait to be eaten!”
The Spider Monster approached Gwen again.
And at this very moment.
Bang!
A gunshot tore through the smoke.
The monster stumbled.
Its enraged compound eyes turned towards the direction the bullet came from.
Gwen’s pupils contracted sharply.
“Dad?!”
She let out an exclamation.
Only to see.
Not far away.
Chief George Stacy stood beside a burning newsstand, his service revolver still smoking in the thick haze.
The right shoulder of his uniform was soaked with blood, yet he steadied his gun with his injured arm. However, no matter how he called for backup, neither bystanders nor police dared to attack the monster.
Their souls.
After the snap.
Not only was evil gone.
But something else was gone too.
“This is truly pathetic.”
The monster let out a baby’s crying laughter, and it shrieked as it crawled towards Gwen, its eyes greedy. “Superhuman genes are excellent. You and your daughter will bear children for me!”
“Natural law, survival of the fittest. My race will surely be the future of Earth…” Before his grand pronouncements were finished, its mutated forelimbs reached for Gwen.
The sky suddenly darkened.
Not with clouds—but a humanoid shadow rapidly growing larger.
“I know natural law. Small bugs eat grass, chicks eat bugs, people eat chickens—but there are no spiders eating people.” Ian smashed down on the monster’s head like a meteor.
While the spider monster was caught off guard.
Ian’s legs slammed it directly into the ground—this was a leg technique from the sky. A massive shockwave erupted in a ring, cracking and sinking the asphalt road within a ten-meter radius.
“Damn it! Let me go!”
The spider monster’s shattered head let out a pained wail.
And an enraged roar.
Its vocal cords were no longer human.
“You are weak, yet they dare not attack you. Why is that?”
Ian stood on the spider monster’s head, surveying the surroundings. The burning street was like discarded scrap paper, its charred edges curled, and sparks flickered in the cracks.
The boy’s gaze swept over every onlooker.
Captain America, with his model-like physique, stood on a billboard, his flawless uniform unstained. Yet, at this moment, he was as unmoving as a plastic mannequin, as if he had been one for a long time.
Very stiff.
Filled with aimlessness and hesitation. Thor also stood not far away, holding his hammer, lightning flickering and extinguishing between his knuckles, as if he was very unsure of his own strength. He was the god of thunder from Asgard, yet now he seemed to have never truly swung his war hammer, merely hesitating and trembling at the edge of the storm.
Further away.
Countless faces were crammed behind shattered shop windows.
They hid their forms, their pupils reflecting expressions of fear, dread, horror, and tension. Everyone seemed to be missing something—not a weapon, not strength, nor a miracle, but the most precious thing that humanity had forged over countless years of development.
It was ancient gold.
“It should not have been erased.”
He clearly perceived this.
Thus.
Ian bent down.
And grabbed the roaring spider monster.
The monster’s roar sounded as if it came from the depths of hell, filled with wildness and ferocity. But Ian’s eyes were as calm as water, as if he had seen through the essence of this chaos.
“What are you doing?”
Gwen tried to push herself up, but failed. Her white hood slipped off, and her golden long hair was matted with blood and ashes, making her look disheveled.
“If evil can be reawakened, then other things naturally can too—I am showing them what courage is.” Ian threw the spider monster high into the air.
As if darkness itself was cast upon a tribunal of light.
“If you cannot find your own meaning, then now… look at me, and I will set an example for you.” He turned and spoke to the silent heroes among the onlookers.
The monster ascended into the sky.
At its highest point, its eight compound eyes simultaneously reflected the tragic scene below: burning police cars, kneeling crowds, and the superhumans hiding behind their perfect uniforms.
“No!”
Golden light suddenly engulfed his world.
Staining the street.
It was the radiance of the sun.
Shattering the arrogant evil.
At the same time.
It ignited something within people’s hearts that was hotter and more ancient than the sun.
No one knows how the main melody of superheroes will revive in this new absurd world. Perhaps it will require a disaster, an alien invasion.
Or maybe a world-ending threat will occur again.
Things that have not yet happened can never have a conclusion.
However.
From another perspective.
The true answer.
Might not be a child clenching his fist, turning his inner sigh into thunder—the sound was so loud that the entire universe had to bow its head and listen.
