"Me? You want to know who I am?" Huang Wen's lips curled into a sharp, mocking grin that didn't reach his eyes. "I am Anubis, the weight on the scales. I've come to audit your souls for the mountain of sins you've left behind in these dunes."
With a casual flick of his wrist, the heavy metallic clicks of handguns rang out—not from the men's hands, but from the air. The pistols, along with the rifles hidden under the truck seats, tore themselves free and hovered in a deadly halo around Huang Wen.
The guide's face went from pale to a sickly translucent white. He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing rhythmically. "Impossible... the legends say Anubis retired. He handed the Underworld to Osiris. He doesn't judge anymore!"
Huang Wen raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. "Oh? A graverobber who actually reads the lore? That's a first."
He didn't give them a second chance to argue theology. With a subtle push of his telekinetic intent, the very ground beneath the three hired thugs began to liquefy. The sand didn't just shift; it swirled like a hungry whirlpool. They screamed, clawing at the air, but the desert was an obedient servant to Huang Wen's will. Within seconds, the screaming stopped as the sand packed itself tight over their heads, leaving nothing but a smooth, undisturbed patch of earth.
This was the true beauty of telekinesis when pushed to a high level. It wasn't just 'moving things.' It was an interface with reality. If your mental strength was high enough, you didn't need a specific 'earth-bending' power; you simply told the atoms where to go, and they went.
Huang Wen turned his gaze back to the guide, who was now hyperventilating. "Now, about those pyramids..."
He didn't wait for a verbal answer. Huang Wen's eyes flashed with a deep, hypnotic violet light. The guide's pupils blown wide, his resistance crumbling like a sandcastle in a storm.
"I... I've heard stories," the guide droned, his voice flat and robotic. "Legends passed down in the backrooms of Cairo. Most are fairy tales to lure in fools. The cost to dig is too high, and the government usually seizes the gold before we can melt it. We stopped looking for stone... we started looking for wallets."
"Think of the locations," Huang Wen commanded. "Show me the maps in your head."
Beside him, Belle watched with a somber expression. She could sense the lingering spirits of the 131 victims the guide had mentioned earlier. These men hadn't just been thieves; they were predators who had turned the cradle of civilization into a slaughterhouse.
As the images of three specific, remote desert coordinates flickered through the guide's mind, Huang Wen processed them instantly. Once the last bit of information was extracted, Huang Wen didn't hesitate. A final wave of his hand, and the guide joined his companions beneath the sand. It wasn't just an execution; it was a burial for the innocent tourists whose bones were likely bleaching just a few feet away.
"Let's get out of here," Huang Wen said, turning toward the pickup truck.
He raised a palm, and the 'Icy Blazing Palm' technique manifested in a way he'd been practicing lately. Instead of a blast of destruction, he balanced the temperatures perfectly, creating a high-pressure stream of pure, purified water. The water surged through the truck's interior, scouring away the scent of cheap tobacco, sweat, and the lingering 'stink' of the previous occupants' souls.
His divine power had only ticked up by 0.3 lately, a frustratingly slow crawl, but his finesse was skyrocketing. He was no longer a sledgehammer; he was becoming a scalpel.
They set off, the old truck roaring across the dunes. Belle was initially fascinated by the mechanical vibration of the vehicle—it was worlds away from a horse-drawn carriage. But as the horizon remained a monotonous line of beige and orange, her excitement faded into a quiet meditation.
They hit the first two sites by midnight. Nothing. Just salt flats and buried limestone that looked like foundations but led nowhere.
But as they approached the third coordinate—a valley that felt strangely 'quiet' to his senses—Huang Wen's heart skipped a beat.
Deep underground, a presence was radiating a pressure that made the air feel heavy, like being at the bottom of the ocean. It was a consciousness so vast and ancient that it felt less like a person and more like a tectonic plate.
Silly Girl, scan the depths. Give me a reading, Huang Wen thought.
The Magical Phone's voice echoed in his mind, unusually grave. "Boss, the energy signature below is... astronomical. It far exceeds your current output capacity. And there's a problem. The bio-rhythms are accelerating. He's reaching the REM cycle of awakening. Apocalypse is about to open his eyes."
Suddenly, the ground groaned. A psychic shockwave rippled outward, invisible to the eye but devastating to the mind. Huang Wen felt his own perception get 'brushed aside' like a fly.
"Ugh!" Belle gasped, her face draining of color as she clutched her head. The mental backsplash of a god waking up was enough to shatter a normal person's mind.
Huang Wen's gaze sharpened into steel. He couldn't risk her being here. "Silly Girl, initiate Dream Butterfly Escape. Get Belle to the underground base. Now!"
"Wait, Huang Wen!" Belle grabbed his sleeve, her eyes wide with worry. "That thing... it's too strong. Don't go down there!"
"I'm not going to fight him, Belle. Not yet," Huang Wen grinned, though it was a strained expression. "I'm just going to give him a bit of a sedative. If things get hairy, I'll be right behind you. I promise."
Before she could argue, her form dissolved into shimmering specks of light, whisked away to the safety of the reinforced base back home.
Huang Wen stood alone in the desert, the wind howling around him. He could feel the 'God' below stirring. If Apocalypse woke up now, the world wasn't ready. The X-Men didn't exist yet, and the Avengers were still just a glimmer in Fury's eye.
System, I need a reason to do this, Huang Wen muttered inwardly. Issue a mission: Stop Apocalypse from awakening.
The response was instantaneous, the blue screen flickering in his vision with an intensity he hadn't seen before.
[Mission Generated: The Eternal Nap.][Objective: Prevent the awakening of En Sabah Nur (Apocalypse) for at least one full cycle.][Reward: One Legendary Item Draw.]
"Legendary?" Huang Wen's eyes nearly popped. The last time he got a legendary reward, he ended up with Silly Girl—a literal sentient super-AI. If he could snag another item of that caliber, his power level would hit a vertical climb.
"Silly Girl, I need everything you've got," Huang Wen roared, sitting cross-legged on the sand directly above the pyramid's apex. "Full power transmission! Don't hold back!"
"Understood, Boss! Synchronizing data-stream... full power output engaged!"
A pillar of pure energy seemed to slam into Huang Wen's spine. He activated the Indestructible Diamond Divine Art, turning his body into a perfect conduit. He didn't want to attack Apocalypse—that would be like poking a sleeping bear with a hot iron. It would wake him up instantly.
Instead, he channeled all that borrowed power into his Mental Illusion ability.
He dove into the psychic abyss, finding the frayed edges of Apocalypse's waking mind. He began to weave a tapestry. In this dream, Apocalypse had already won. He showed the ancient mutant a world where the 'strong' ruled, where millions of mutants bowed at his feet, chanting his name. It was a world of order, of perfection, exactly as Apocalypse envisioned it.
It was the ultimate psychic bait.
Deep below, the thrashing consciousness of the First Mutant slowed. The 'God' felt the warmth of his victory and decided that the real world couldn't possibly be better than this dream. He settled back into the cold stone, his mental signature deepening into a heavy, satisfied slumber.
[Ding! Mission Completed: The Eternal Nap.][Reward Issued: One Legendary Item Draw!]
Huang Wen slumped over, his forehead hitting the sand. He was drenched in sweat, his skin deathly pale. Even with Silly Girl's help and the Regeneration Dragon's vitality, the mental strain had been like trying to hold back an avalanche with a silk sheet.
He gasped for air, a weak laugh escaping his lips. "Damn... if Charles Xavier does this on a daily basis, no wonder the guy went bald. That was exhausting."
But as he looked at the glowing reward notification in his peripheral vision, the exhaustion began to lift, replaced by a surge of pure, adrenaline-fueled curiosity.