New York Sanctum
Xiao Han's figure silently landed on the Sanctum roof, the Time Stone levitating in his palm, emitting a faint green light.
He gently pushed open the skylight and leaped inside.
The Ancient One was standing in the center of the hall, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated his arrival.
"You are true to your word." Her voice was as calm as Water.
Xiao Han walked forward and handed her the Time Stone: "Returning it to its rightful owner."
The Ancient One took the Stone, her fingertip lightly touching the eye of agamotto. Green light bloomed, and the Stone floated, slowly embedding itself within.
She looked up at Xiao Han, a hint of inquiry in her eyes: "You changed their future."
"Just a little help." Xiao Han shrugged, "Thanos no longer exists."
The Ancient One raised an eyebrow slightly: "You killed him?"
"Just a snap of the fingers." Xiao Han's tone was light.
The Ancient One was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled: "Interesting. The timeline changed because of You, but the balance of the Universe was not affected."
She paused, "Perhaps, that is why another me was willing to trust You."
"However, all this is only temporary. You will be busy in the future."
Xiao Han neither confirmed nor denied, instead asking: "Where is Strange now?"
"Still working as his Doctor." The Ancient One's gaze turned to the window.
"There is still a long way to go before he becomes the Sorcerer Supreme."
"That's good." Xiao Han nodded, "At least this time, he doesn't have to go through that pain."
The Ancient One looked at him: "What do You plan to do next?"
Xiao Han's lips curved slightly: "Go home."
He raised his hand, golden energy flowing at his fingertips, and a portal slowly unfolded.
On the other side of the door was the familiar New York skyline, his own Universe.
"Ancient One," he said, looking back before stepping into the portal, "If there's a chance, come visit me."
The Ancient One smiled slightly: "I will."
The portal closed, and Xiao Han's figure completely disappeared.
The Ancient One stood there, her fingertip lightly stroking the eye of agamotto, murmuring to herself: "Perhaps, we really need a Superman."
Earth-169278 Universe
New York
Xiao Han's figure appeared in the laboratory of Stark Tower.
Tony Stark was engrossed in debugging the nano-suit, heard the movement, and suddenly looked up, the tool in his hand nearly falling to the ground again.
"Damn it! How many times is this, Xiao? Can You stop being so unpredictable?!" Tony's eyes widened.
"Haven't seen You in three days, I thought You were attracted by some cover girl."
Xiao Han chuckled: "Went for a stroll in another Universe, and incidentally solved a little trouble."
Tony stared at him suspiciously: "What trouble?"
"Thanos."
Tony's expression became even more puzzled: "Okay, I don't understand either."
Xiao Han walked to the workbench, casually picked up a cup of coffee, although it was already cold, and took a sip: "Details don't matter. What about You, how is the suit development going?"
Tony opened his mouth, seemingly with countless questions to ask, but ultimately just rubbed his temples: "Forget it, You are always like this anyway. The nano-suit is basically complete, but the energy core still needs optimization."
Xiao Han put down the coffee cup, took out a piece of raw Vibranium ore from the System space, and threw it to Tony: "Look at this."
Tony quickly caught it, looked down, and his eyes immediately lit up: "Vibranium?! Where did You get this?"
"Wakanda." Xiao Han's tone was casual, "Borrowed a little."
Tony's mouth twitched: "Borrowed? Are You sure You didn't steal it?"
Xiao Han spread his hands innocently: "They can't use it all anyway."
Tony rolled his eyes, but was quickly attracted by the properties of Vibranium and started tinkering excitedly: "With this, the suit can indeed be upgraded, but it's a bit too little. However, let me study it first."
Xiao Han looked at Tony, who was immersed in research frenzy, smiled, and turned to the floor-to-ceiling window.
Outside the window, the New York night sky was dotted with stars, and the city lights were like a flowing galaxy.
His super hearing captured the distant wail of sirens, people's conversations, and even the vibration of the underground train tracks.
Everything was so familiar, yet full of infinite possibilities.
[System Prompt: Host's current growth points: 15000 points. Do You want to enter the System Store to redeem rewards?]
Xiao Han's mind moved, and the System interface unfolded before his eyes. He browsed through the dazzling array of items, his gaze finally stopping on [Doomsday Cell].
"800000 points... still a long way off." He murmured to himself.
But it doesn't matter, he has plenty of time.
Xiao Han turned and walked towards the workbench.
Tony was engrossed in adjusting the nanostructure in the holographic projection, his fingers quickly swiping through the data stream.
Suddenly, a stack of heavy metal documents was slapped onto the workbench in front of him with a 'Snap' sound, making his coffee cup wobble.
"What is this?" Tony frowned and looked up, finding Xiao Han standing by the table, a playful smile on his lips.
"A new toy for You." Xiao Han tapped the stack of documents, "More interesting than Vibranium."
Tony suspiciously flipped open the first page, his gaze sweeping over the dense formulas and 3D structural diagrams.
His finger suddenly stopped, his pupils slightly contracted.
"Wait... this is..." His voice was rarely tinged with shock.
The holographic projection automatically captured the document content and immediately displayed a complex energy model next to it.
A miniature Sun was confined within a magnetic field matrix, the scorching plasma burning stably within the force field, releasing pure and surging energy.
"Artificial Sun?"
Tony suddenly looked up, his eyes sharp as he stared at Xiao Han, "This technology doesn't exist on Earth at all! Spider-Man defeated a guy a year ago who was researching something similar."
"And You..." He pointed a finger at the projection, "Fuck! This is putting a Sun into a reactor?!"
Xiao Han shrugged: "Alien technology. A bit stronger than your little light bulb."
Tony grabbed the documents, flipped through them quickly, muttering to himself: "Magnetic confinement parameters, plasma turbulence suppression, this energy density."
He suddenly looked up, his eyes burning, "Where did You get this? Don't tell me it's your research!"
"Spoils from another Universe." Xiao Han interrupted him.
"The specific source is not important, what is important is..." He pointed to a line of equations at the end of the document.
"This thing can be built."
Tony took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
He put down the documents, propped his hands on the desk, lowered his head in silence for a few seconds, then suddenly grinned.
"Jarvis, clear all schedules for tonight."
"Sir, your scheduled dinner with Miss Pepper."
"Postpone. No, cancel." Tony didn't look up, his fingers already flying across the holographic keyboard.
"Tell her... uh, just say the end of the World is coming again, and I have to save Earth."
Xiao Han raised an eyebrow: "Using this excuse?"
"It works every time." Tony didn't look up, fully focused on bringing up the Stark Industries energy database.
"Wait."
Tony suddenly narrowed his eyes, "You wouldn't be thinking of using this artificial Sun..."
"To replace your Arc Reactor?" Xiao Han smiled.
"No, more direct than that." He tapped his chest.
"It can allow me to maintain energy supply when far from a Sun. And for You..."
Tony finished his sentence, a spark of madness flickering in his eyes: "Infinite energy. Real, clean, inexhaustible energy."
He suddenly stood up, "Jarvis, contact Rhodes, call up the Military's abandoned nuclear test site in Alamogordo, and tell them I want to rent it for a week!"
Xiao Han crossed his arms: "Not doing a small test first?"
"Small?" Tony scoffed, his finger drawing a ten-meter diameter spherical structure on the holographic diagram.
"This is small, the first-generation prototype, with enough power to light up the entire Manhattan." He paused, then suddenly frowned.
"However, confinement field stability is a problem. If the plasma leaks."
"Then it's not lighting up, but evaporating Manhattan." Xiao Han calmly added.
Tony glared at him: "That's not funny at all."
"I'm not joking." Xiao Han walked to the workbench, his fingers drawing a few golden trajectories in the projection.
"So the magnetic field generator needs to be improved. Use Vibranium as the base, and integrate the magic properties of uru metal."
"Make the force field self-healing!" Tony slapped the table hard.
"Genius! I'm starting to appreciate You more and more, Xiao! What kind of person are You? Are all aliens this outrageous?"