Chapter 140: The Transmigrated Thanos of Universe 199999, the Impending Arrival of Du Wa
The minds of intelligent people certainly work fast.
"Our universe's designation is 199999? Then what's the designation for this universe?" Tony asked.
Du Wa smiled faintly. "It doesn't have a designation for now, but it will soon enough."
"Because of you?"
"Of course. If it weren't for me, the existence of this universe would be meaningless to the Multiverse as a whole, destined only to become the background for one disaster after another. And you wouldn't have come here," Du Wa said.
"That's quite an unconventional declaration. You single-handedly earned a universe its designation… although I still don't fully understand the difference between having one and not."
Tony and Banner began brainstorming, racking their brains to process the enormous amount of information they had just received.
To be honest, they weren't too concerned about things like universe designations.
Unless one was a powerful individual who had accumulated a certain amount of strength and begun to roam the Multiverse, a designation held no practical meaning for those who would live and die within a single universe.
What truly made them anxious was how Du Wa would ultimately deal with them. Kill them directly? That might be the best outcome, as it would at least guarantee the safety and independence of Universe 199999. But from the look of things, that was impossible. The most likely event was that Du Wa would stuff Xenomorphs inside their bodies, then, after wining and dining them, send them back to Universe 199999.
One only had to look at this world, teeming with powerful individuals, yet still having countless Xenomorphs scattered across the globe, charging fearlessly into every major event.
One could only imagine what kind of scene would unfold if these creatures made it to Earth 199999.
If they were just the kind of Xenomorphs from the movies and comics on Earth 199999, it wouldn't be a big deal. Any superhero with decent means could use various weapons and explosives to eliminate them.
Unfortunately, these Xenomorphs had multiple branches that had taken different evolutionary paths. Furthermore, behind all the Xenomorphs was a Deity whose upper limit of strength was impossible to assess. He could absolutely unleash a terrifying storm on Earth 199999.
Tony made up his mind. He could not bring these terrifying creatures back to his world. If he did, the entire world would spiral out of control, and a true God manipulating everything would appear above humanity for the first time in history.
"Go back with the Xenomorphs. I will erase the traces you've left on the temporal plane. Besides myself and a few others, no one will know of your arrival. And besides me, no one will be able to cross back into your world."
As expected, Tony's greatest fear came to pass. He watched Du Wa stand up and say those words.
His and Banner's hearts sank to rock bottom. What should they do? Rise up on the spot and fight Du Wa to the death? Or, like in some hero movies, take Du Wa hostage? That was completely hopeless.
Turn and flee? Even less possible. They were captured even when they traveled through time to get here, so where could they possibly escape?
"I am not negotiating with you; I am informing you of the outcome. As the bell-ringers who have opened the gate for communication between two universes, you have the right to know. And I happen to be someone who is very willing to share information with guys I see potential in."
Du Wa clapped his hands. "All the people in your world who have suffered misfortune will, before long, surely thank you for your great contribution."
"Thank us for becoming Xenomorphs, for becoming your vassals? Thank us for letting the entire world fall?" Tony shook his head repeatedly. The very thought of that scene was enough to drive him mad.
"You should try looking at the problem from a different angle. For instance, the things you're agonizing over aren't problems at all in my eyes. You were supposed to make great sacrifices just to restore the world to its original state. If you ask for my help, you won't have to worry so much."
Du Wa maintained his smile. "All tragedies will be rewritten, and all beautiful moments will be frozen in time forever. Displaced families will once again be filled with children and grandchildren. The regrets and farewells of your entire lives will not occur. What do you think of such a story? I have the ability to write a better ending for your already shattered one."
At the same time, Du Wa glanced at Tony. In the next second, Tony's face turned pale, and he clutched his chest in pain, trembling as he fell to the ground.
Du Wa said flatly, "Perhaps you've grown accustomed to playing the game of mortals standing equal to gods. After all, your universe is very weak, and the line between man and god isn't so vast. But here, you must learn to show respect to a being far beyond you. At least, that's how it is until you possess the strength to oppose me."
Tony struggled in agony. The numerous nanobots on his body should have activated immediately to ensure his various bodily functions.
But unfortunately, under Du Wa's precise, overwhelming pressure, these nanobots couldn't move an inch.
Banner's entire face turned even greener. He lowered his head and, after a long moment, managed to choke out, "It seems we have no choice. From the moment we arrived in this world, everything has been arranged by you. You possess not only terrifying strength and influence but also frightening wisdom and vision."
"Yes, that's right. It's time for you to go back. Take the two people from Stark Tower with you."
…
This universe's Tony was also studying Captain America and Scott from Universe 199999, constantly grilling them with all sorts of questions.
He had even collected their cells for analysis but found nothing that caught his eye.
"This is just awful. You're even more mediocre than I expected. Look, even you, Captain America, your shield is actually made of something like Vibranium, without a single trace of Adamantium."
Tony was extremely disappointed; he hadn't found any research content of value.
A shield made entirely of Vibranium? To put it bluntly, Tony had ten thousand ways to smash that thing to bits.
If it were the real shield, the Proto-Adamantium shield made from Vibranium and a bunch of other miscellaneous rare metals through some unknown process, possessing both the hardness of Adamantium and the energy-absorbing and reflecting functions of Vibranium, then it would be truly indestructible. It would be difficult to damage the shield without Skyfather-level power.
This could be seen to some extent from Lady Deathstrike. Her skeleton was made of Beta Adamantium. Besides her self-healing ability, it was far inferior to Proto-Adamantium in all other aspects. Even so, Lady Deathstrike could still use tenacious tactics to hold off a Skyfather-level enemy, achieving a stalemate for a short period.
Of course, a true Skyfather had countless ways to deal with Lady Deathstrike. Whether it was ripping space open to throw her far away or simply tossing her into the vacuum of space or into the Sun, all were solutions.
Even if they didn't fight her and just focused on shaking her off with super speed, she wouldn't be able to keep up.
"I really don't know why Du Wa would be interested in you… or perhaps he's interested in your world? No matter how weak a world is, it's still a complete universe. Maybe there are completely different discoveries to be made."
Tony received a message from Du Wa and immediately let them go.
And so, the four members of the Time-Traveling Squad met once again. Only this time, they had lost their initial high spirits, replaced by gloomy and uncertain expressions.
"Did you get the Time Stone? Tony, you look younger than me."
"Someone treated me to a spa. The upkeep was quite successful. What about you? Did you get the Space Stone?"
The four of them looked grim as they stared at each other, finally falling into a long silence.
"Let me summarize: not only did our operation fail to get a single Infinity Stone, but we also gave away our universe's coordinates and got us targeted by some terrifying entity."
Tony felt a tightness in his chest, suspecting that the Xenomorph inside him was starting to replace his heart.
"Even if we had gotten this universe's Infinity Stones and brought them back to ours, they probably would have been useless."
"That's right. The Stark of this universe told me the same thing."
The group exchanged information, their faces full of sorrow. They were all certain of one thing now: failing to get the Infinity Stones wasn't the scary part. The scary part was that they would have to bring the Xenomorphs back to their world.
Because they had no choice. All four of them had been forcibly implanted with Xenomorphs, and not ordinary ones at that.
"Looking at it from another angle, maybe it's not a bad thing… I know I might get punched for saying this, but Du Wa did protect this world with his actions, right? I looked into it carefully. The ordinary people of this world worship Du Wa to an extreme degree. They all desire to receive a Xenomorph parasite from Du Wa to become superhumans, thereby escaping the cycle of life, sickness, and death, and enjoying the peace and comfort that Du Wa has created," Scott said cautiously after a moment of hesitation.
Tony snapped with uncharacteristic anger, "Aha, you think this is great? The 'beauty' you speak of is predicated on your life and death being controlled by Du Wa. The future of your world will no longer be decided by humanity, but by Du Wa. One person deciding the fate of all humanity?"
"But from another perspective, Du Wa is also human. Although he's mixed up with Xenomorphs, he's still human, isn't he? So it's still a human's actions deciding humanity's fate."
"Let a God of Xenomorphs from a parallel universe, wearing human skin, decide the fate of the humans in our universe? All our efforts shouldn't lead to this, to bringing in a monster from another world." Tony was in a very, very bad mood.
He could clearly feel his body being eroded and controlled by Du Wa. The words he spoke were also being heard by Du Wa.
On this planet, and even in this universe, there were countless people like him, their every word and action monitored and manipulated by Du Wa.
Right now, he could still distinguish when he was his true self and when he was expressing himself under Du Wa's control.
But if he dared to think further, what about in a few years? By then, would a terrifying reality emerge? All individuals parasitized by Xenomorphs would eventually achieve a convergence of thought and body, forever unable to distinguish between their own will and Du Wa's manipulations.
This was entirely possible. It was a future that Tony had calculated as highly likely.
The four of them could only, in silence and even despair, open the space-time tunnel and return to Universe 199999.
Avengers Compound.
The other squads had also returned one by one, all having gotten what they wanted. The only regret was that Black Widow, Natasha, was dead.
A life for a life, a soul for the Soul Stone.
Hawkeye held the Soul Stone, weeping bitterly and muttering things like, "It should have been me who jumped."
Most of the others wore sorrowful expressions, knowing that what had happened was irreversible.
Only Tony's group of four, while looking grave, did not show that same extreme sadness. If even damn time could be messed with, was it really impossible to pull someone back from the dead?
"What's wrong with you guys? Why the long faces? Tony, what happened to your face? Did you do what Scott did before, loop time for yourself and get your youth back? What about the Space Stone and the Time Stone?" War Machine Rhodey asked probingly.
At the very back of the crowd, Nebula stood with her head down, silent, observing these people with a venomous gaze.
Seeing that they had neither the Time Stone nor the Space Stone, a complex emotion of relief and regret flickered across her face.
"There were some… accidents, guys. Our plan was a failure… I guess?"
"It didn't affect history, did it? As long as it didn't, we can just try again."
"We need to discuss this at length. It seems you guys weren't affected… but now is really not a good time for time travel."
Captain America spoke hesitantly, which only confused the others more.
After confirming that these people had no plans for further time travel, Nebula completely lost her patience. She had no interest in listening to these humans from the future summarize their failures.
*It's fine that they failed. As long as the technology is left behind, the great Thanos will take care of the rest,* Nebula thought to herself.
She dashed toward the control console and quickly tapped on it, inputting a time coordinate according to the Earthlings' concept of time.
"Nebula, what are you doing?!"
"She's activating the time machine… Damn it, she's pulling people from the past over!"
"That's not the Nebula we know, it's the Nebula from the past! I remember now, part of her head is mechanical. Maybe that's the issue."
The Avengers' eyes nearly burst with fury, but they could only watch helplessly as the Sanctuary II starship materialized out of time.
…
On the other side, Du Wa stretched. In reality, he no longer had any physical need for such a gesture, but as a human, he had retained some insignificant little habits.
"Not bad. It seems I should get ready as well."
Du Wa carefully perceived the changes on Earth 199999. There were some twists and turns, but the overall situation was not bad.
This time, with Du Wa's intervention, things had become different.
"What future Universe 199999 itself heads toward is actually not important. Whether or not I can achieve my goal is what's more important."
(end of chapter)