If you gained superpowers, how would you live the rest of your life?
I believe many people share this dream, fantasizing about acquiring superpowers, dominating the world, surrounded by beautiful women, and living a life of extravagance.
Of course, this was once Li Yue's dream. Why "once"? Because a dream that has already come true is no longer a dream.
It happened a year ago, on a morning no different from any other. Li Yue, in a deep sleep, was awakened by the urge to urinate. Drowsily, he thought about quickly heading to the bathroom, resolving the issue, and then returning to bed for more sleep.
"Buzz!" It was like a fierce wind whistling past his ears, or perhaps a clap of thunder exploding in his mind. Li Yue's hazy brain instantly cleared. His blurry eyes opened, pupils contracting in an instant, his eyes wide with shock. He was horrified to discover that he was standing in his own bathroom, directly in front of his familiar toilet. Having "battled" on it countless times, he absolutely couldn't be mistaken.
"Wasn't I just sleeping in bed? How did I end up in the bathroom the moment I opened my eyes?" As he thought this, another "buzz" echoed in his mind. Li Yue was startled to find himself lying in bed, as if he had never moved.
Li Yue pinched himself. It hurt. He wasn't dreaming. Could it be? "I'm at my computer desk now." Li Yue tentatively thought to himself.
A faint sound rang in his mind again, and in the next instant, Li Yue found himself sitting at his computer desk, in front of his familiar computer, as if he had been there all along, never moving.
Li Yue looked back at the bed and saw an irregular, light blue energy fluctuation slowly dissipating on it, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
"Did I gain the same ability as the protagonist in the movie 'Jumper'?" Li Yue couldn't help but think this because he had watched "Jumper" the night before he went to sleep and understood the protagonist's abilities, which seemed similar to his current situation.
The movie roughly tells the story of the protagonist giving his crush a snow globe, which is then seen by a bully classmate who throws it onto a frozen river. The timid protagonist has no choice but to retrieve the snow globe from the frozen river. Unexpectedly, the ice-covered river can't withstand the pressure and suddenly breaks, causing the protagonist to fall into the water. In a moment of crisis, his teleportation ability activates, instantly transporting him to a library. After discovering his ability, the protagonist begins to live wildly, visiting famous landmarks around the world in a single day, even stealing from a bank vault, and sleeping on a pile of cash at night.
However, while the protagonist was living it up, he didn't know that a black man was hunting down people with teleportation abilities. He believed that such an ability should only belong to God, and humans should not possess it, as it would disrupt human order. Therefore, he and his organization had been hunting down those with teleportation abilities. Coincidentally, he detected the protagonist's ability during the bank robbery and began to hunt him. Ultimately, the protagonist and another ability-user cooperated to defeat the villainous black man and win the girl.
The movie didn't have a particularly outstanding plot, but the protagonist's superpower was still enviable, making people fantasize about how awesome they would become if they gained such an ability. However, when Li Yue discovered he truly had this power, he felt not only surprise but also a little fear. He was afraid that there might be organizations on Earth, just like in the movie, secretly hunting down people like him who had gained superpowers. The thought of returning home one day to find a group of burly men waiting for him in his house sent shivers down his spine.
Even if there were no super-powered individuals on Earth, and no organizations hunting them, the thought of his abilities being discovered filled him with dread—a group of people in white coats grinning at him. Even if his ability made him uncatchable, he still had family and friends. Moreover, while this superpower looked cool, it didn't have much destructive power; to put it bluntly, if he encountered danger, he could only run, without even the ability to fight back.
However, since things had come to this, excessive worry was useless. It was better to thoroughly master the superpower he had acquired, so he wouldn't be without self-preservation if danger came knocking. At the very least, he needed to be able to escape immediately.
Acting on his thoughts, he first tested his ability several times in the room, confirming that he had indeed gained this power and wasn't suffering from delusions. After that, Li Yue quickly washed up, got dressed, and headed straight for work.
A year later, in a remote, ancient forest, a figure flickered continuously among the trees. One moment they were in place, the next they appeared a hundred meters away in a blink, then returned to their original spot in another blink, only to disappear again. For a time, figures darted through the forest, a dazzling sight.
"Hoo~ hoo! Not bad, I lasted a few more minutes than last time. With high mental concentration, I can now push past an hour. It's almost evening, so this training session can probably end. Time to go back!" The figure stopped, took several deep breaths, checked the time on their wrist, muttered a sentence, and then vanished. The forest returned to its usual calm, as if nothing had happened!
Li Yue returned to his rented room, first washing up in the bathroom. Then his figure vanished from the bathroom and reappeared at the computer desk in the bedroom. First, he picked up his phone on the desk and ordered takeout. Li Yue never carried his phone during training because phones have GPS tracking. It wouldn't be good if his ability to traverse space was discovered.
Half an hour later, the takeout arrived. After dinner, he turned on his computer and played games for a few hours. Since gaining his superpower, Li Yue's mental strength had greatly increased over the past year of training. This manifested as time seeming to slow down when Li Yue focused his mind; in reality, his own thoughts sped up. In this state, playing games was incredibly easy. Furthermore, Li Yue's physical fitness also improved, as if he had practiced the "Golden Bell Shield" and "Iron Cloth Shirt." Not only did his strength become greater, but a knife wouldn't even draw blood on his skin, leaving only a white mark. This differed somewhat from how it was portrayed in the movie, but thinking about it, it made sense; instantaneous spatial teleportation must involve immense pressure, and without strong physical fitness, how could one possibly withstand it?
"It's already 10 o'clock without realizing it. Yesterday, I rewatched 'Avengers 4.' Iron Man sacrificed himself to snap his fingers and save the universe, and Black Widow died on Vormir to obtain the Soul Stone. Even now, thinking about it is hard to accept. Dog director, give me back Iron Man, give me back Black Widow!" No matter how many times Li Yue watched it, he still found it hard to accept. Ten years of Marvel, ten years of youth. The original Avengers had made their curtain call, and his own youth had ended. From now on, it would be hard work, earning money to support his family.
"But that's all about ordinary people. I already have superpowers now. The life of an ordinary person is getting further and further away from me. I wonder what my future life will be like, but Li Yue feels it won't be too ordinary; it will definitely be very exciting." Li Yue sighed inwardly. He had a premonition that his current peaceful life was about to be broken. Ever since he gained his abilities a year ago, he knew his life would definitely not be calm. The current peace was merely the calm before the storm.
However, Li Yue was not afraid, because in one year, he had honed his abilities to perfection. By concentrating, he could teleport more than a dozen times in one second and could maintain continuous teleportation for an hour. He believed that at such a speed, even someone with a gun couldn't hit him while he was teleporting. His escape ability was practically invincible.
The superpower Li Yue acquired was the same as in the movie: he could only teleport to places he had been or places he could see with his eyes, and also to locations in photographs. Li Yue once tested this by teleporting to the North Pole using a photo. The aurora was incredibly beautiful, and the polar bears were adorable, but it was just too damn cold. Li Yue, who caught a cold for several days after returning, declared he would never go to the North Pole again.
As for offense, Li Yue had also developed a few abilities. There was the one shown in the movie: frequently teleporting forward to build up momentum, then delivering a punch that could unleash double the force. There was also teleporting to a location and bringing back heavy objects to strike people. Li Yue had tested that he could teleport with objects weighing up to about 50 tons within a ten-meter radius, which was quite similar to what was shown in the movie. However, Li Yue thought the best offensive method was to teleport someone to high altitudes and let them experience what freefall was like.
Getting back to the main topic, "Yesterday I rewatched 'Avengers 4,' so today I'll rewatch the beginning of Marvel, 'Iron Man 1.'" Li Yue thought to himself. For the past year, Li Yue had trained his superpowers during the day, and before going to bed at night, he would watch movies or TV shows, specifically seeking out those with superpowers. As for why, it wasn't hard to understand given what happened when Li Yue gained his superpower. In one year, Li Yue watched "Man of Steel" dozens of times. Unfortunately, after gaining his teleportation ability, no matter how many movies Li Yue watched, he never again gained another superpower. However, no matter how small the chance, Li Yue would persevere. As for why he watched Iron Man, Li Yue just wanted to say, isn't "money power" a superpower?
"Iron Man 1" had already begun to play, starting with Tony Stark being kidnapped by terrorists, then building the bulky Mark I prototype in a cave and escaping. It ended with Tony Stark's declaration, "I am Iron Man," at the press conference.
"No matter how many times I watch it, Tony Stark's test flight in the Mark II still excites me. His genuine smile is the most infectious, like a child finding his most beloved toy. After that, I rarely saw him smile genuinely in his armor, until the very end, risking his life to snap his fingers. If I had the chance to fight alongside him, I would be very happy!"
"What am I thinking? The movie's over, it's time to sleep." Li Yue turned off his computer. With a thought, his body vanished from the computer desk and reappeared lying on his bed.
"Having superpowers is so convenient!" With this sigh, Li Yue drifted into slumber. However, what he didn't know was that as he fell asleep, wisps of blue energy slowly appeared around his body, gradually coiling around him to form an oval blue sphere of light. Time slowly passed. An hour later, the blue energy had become incredibly dazzling, and ripples spread through the surrounding space. Then, the brilliant blue light suddenly contracted, gradually dimming until it vanished, taking Li Yue with it.