After Ian disappeared from the Marvel Universe, time continued to flow, and the chaotic void turbulence within the black hole continued to rage. The disintegrated wreckage of the ship drifted in all directions.
Captain America, Steve Rogers, and Gwen Stacy were thrown into a place of absolute nothingness. There was no concept of up, down, left, or right; no light, no sound—only endless darkness and occasional flickering, strange seeds suspended like stars.
"I'm actually still alive?" When Gwen slowly opened her eyes, she found herself floating in an infinite void. There was no horizon, no sky, no light, and no shadow. Only endless emptiness and silence.
She blinked, trying to clear her head, but her body felt weightless, drifting in the intangible space. Not far away, Cap had his eyes closed as if he were asleep. His shield was eerily suspended beside him, held in place by some invisible force as if anchored to the spot.
"Captain? Wake up!"
Gwen swam over and patted his face. No response.
She pinched the philtrum under Steve's nose, but still, there was no movement. Gwen frowned, thought for a moment, then suddenly raised her foot and kicked Steve in his vitals without hesitation. However, she controlled her strength perfectly.
It was painful, but not destructive. Just enough to stimulate the brain.
"Thud!"
"AOW—!!!"
It was a medical miracle. The previously unconscious Cap instantly arched his body, clutching his vitals, his face contorting in agony. He rolled around holding his crotch, eyes wide, staring at Gwen in disbelief.
"Are... are you a demon?!" If there were any air in this void, Steve surely would have sucked it all dry.
"This place is completely unknown and dangerous. I couldn't wake you up at all," Gwen responded apologetically.
Steve's face had turned the color of pig liver.
"The reason you couldn't wake me is that I was playing dead! Didn't you learn common sense? If you end up in the territory of a dangerous creature, you play dead to survive. Most predators won't eat a corpse that looks dead!"
Steve possessed a sort of "Solomon's Wisdom." Perhaps he had spent too much time as an armchair hunter; he actually believed this absurd bit of folk trivia.
"..."
Gwen rolled her eyes in silence. "Stop being crazy. Anyway, you have that medicine from the Purple Sweet Potato guy, don't you?"
She watched as Cap's face suddenly changed. He began searching his surroundings frantically until he found the leather case given by Thanos. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, looking so moved by the recovery that he almost hugged the case and called it his "precious."
"Here."
Gwen silently handed the shield—whose "love" had clearly vanished—back to Cap. Cap simply perched his iconic gear on his head like a hat, keeping both hands free for Thanos's exquisite medicine case.
"Where are we?" Steve surveyed the surroundings, his brow furrowed with extreme tension.
"I was about to ask that too." Gwen sighed, looking around. In the void, glowing "seeds" were suspended, appearing like frozen stars floating quietly.
Occasionally, blurred images would flash across the surface of a seed. Gwen leaned in close to one and suddenly saw a scene that made her hair stand on end: herself, falling from a great height toward a concrete ground below.
"What... what is this?" Gwen took a sharp step back.
Cap was attracted by another seed. He stared at the images inside and suddenly broke into a creepy, smitten smile.
"Wow... I have a wife?" The images Steve saw could only be seen by him—just as Gwen was the only one who could see herself falling from a skyscraper and breaking her spine in those floating seeds.
"I'm so romantic! I actually betrayed the whole world for my wife!" Cap pointed excitedly at the images. In them, he was dressed in civilian clothes, standing next to a very beautiful woman with short hair.
She was the kind of beauty Steve only saw on those "adult service" flyers—the kind of "expense" he wouldn't even dare dream of in his daily life. In the images, the woman wore a matching wedding ring, and the two were walking on a beach discussing their future.
Their smiles were brilliant.
Steve recounted this scene to Gwen as if bragging, but to Gwen, it sounded somewhat nonsensical.
"What do you mean, 'love across time and space,' or 'betraying the entire universe and your friends for love'? Can you actually be proud of that? Do you have some kind of deviation in your understanding of romance? Ian was right, you really are a mental patient," Gwen commented, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes.
Cap retorted indignantly, "The reason I have a reclusive personality is precisely because I don't have a wife! Look at the me in those pictures; I smile so warmly and cheerfully when I have a wife!"
He nodded with conviction. "This must be the intersection of parallel universes. The me in the other world must have received a massive pension, otherwise, he couldn't afford a wife... Damn it, why hasn't Hydra come to recruit me yet!"
This guy was still thinking about defecting to Hydra to collect a high pension. Gwen couldn't take it anymore and shot him a glare.
"Can you focus? We need to find a way out!" Gwen was arguably the most mentally healthy person in Ian's social circle.
At this, Cap reined himself in a bit, but soon asked worriedly, "We won't be trapped here until we die, will we? Where's Thor? Where's Ian? They promised employee protection!"
He thought of the contract he had signed.
"You believe the words of a Nepotism-God and a Evil God? Your life is truly something else." Gwen's tone held a hint of amusement.
Cap lowered his head in dejection. "I just hope they keep their promise and give me a glorious funeral... though they might be trapped here just like us." This guy was still muttering about compensation, retirement funds, and "to hell with S.H.I.E.L.D."
Gwen, however, only wanted to find an exit. She swam through the void. Cap hurriedly followed.
The two moved between the seeds, occasionally seeing scenes that made their hearts skip a beat. Sometimes it was Steve standing in the center of a battlefield with countless fallen enemies behind him; sometimes it was Gwen and Thor drinking together in the halls of Asgard.
Once, Steve saw himself wearing black robes, standing beside Thanos with an eerie smile.
"... This is too weird," Steve muttered.
"Yeah." Gwen nodded, her expression thoughtful. "These seeds... they are like shards of fate."
"Whatever the case, we have to find a way out. I've only been collecting my pension for a few years; dying now would be a huge loss." Steve started worrying about his meager savings again.
"The problem is, how?" Gwen sighed helplessly. "There are no directions here, and no exit."
The atmosphere became somber for a moment. Just as the two fell into silence, a deep, mysterious male voice suddenly echoed in the void.
"There is always a way out."
Cap froze, then looked at Gwen in surprise. "Are you using a voice changer?"
His words made Gwen's eyes twitch. "Use your brain, Captain. I didn't say anything!" Gwen looked around warily, trying to find the source of the voice, but even with her regained spider-powers, she found nothing as far as her vision could reach.
"Hiss! I knew there must be a terrifying existence in this kind of lair!" Cap took a while to realize something was wrong. He immediately raised his shield, entering a combat stance.
"There's nothing! Damn it, what is this place..."
Gwen tried to use her Quantum Web to probe the world, but those threads, woven from illusion and reality, could not reach an end. Her webbing also couldn't touch the suspended seeds. Just then, a green directional arrow suddenly appeared in front of them.
The arrow pointed in a specific direction, seemingly guiding them forward.
Steve stared at the arrow and let his imagination run wild again: "This might be guiding us directly into the mouth of some creature."
He was much braver than Thor, but his persecution complex was clearly severe.
"Let's go. We don't have any other path anyway," Gwen decided immediately after a moment of thought.
There was no better choice for Gwen and Steve, so they naturally followed the seemingly friendly arrow. As they followed the guidance, a new arrow would refresh ahead of them after a certain distance.
It was like a guide. The two walked through the void for what felt like a long time, yet also just a brief moment. Their perception of time became increasingly faint—not a good sign.
Finally, they saw an end ahead—a dazzling light, like a crack torn into the void.
"An exit!" Steve shouted excitedly, quickening his pace.
Gwen stood still, looking back the way they came, the mysterious male voice echoing in her mind. "Is that you? Tony?" she whispered.
There was no response.
Steve stopped before the light and urged her, "Hurry up! Tony was already buried on Titan. Is your brain broken? Or is there a mysterious creature in the dark tampering with your memories?"
Who knew how many novels this guy had read at home; his theories about encountering monsters came one after another.
"I wasn't talking about that Tony, I... sigh, where's Ian? You and I are on completely different wavelengths."
Gwen took a deep breath and stepped forward. The moment she entered the light, it expanded violently, completely swallowing her and Steve.
Blinding white light enveloped them. When they opened their eyes again, they were in a desolate city. The sky was grey, and the air smelled of dust and metal.
This was a desolate apocalyptic city. The city was in ruins.
The streets were filled with collapsed buildings and wrecked vehicles. In the distance were rows of destroyed skyscrapers. This world looked as though it had suffered through a doomsday disaster.
"This is not good!" Steve Rogers stood at the edge of a broken highway, gazing at the ruins of the barren city. His pupils trembled slightly.
Under the hazy sky, collapsed skyscrapers lay across the horizon like the skeletons of giants. Broken glass and exposed rebar glinted coldly. In the distance, several plumes of black smoke rose slowly, as if the city were still in its death throes.
"We might have been in the black hole for thousands of years..." His voice was dry, filled with his imaginative tone. "Earth... has become like this? Damn it! I missed it after all! I've let the evil politicians and capitalists off too easy!"
There was no need to ask what Steve was frustrated about. Everyone knew.
"Hmm?" Gwen didn't answer immediately. Her gaze moved past the ruins to the dark figures wandering in the distance—beings with hunched backs and staggering steps, their skin rotting, their eyes sunken, and senseless growls coming from their throats.
These creatures were zombies. The kind of zombies Gwen was very familiar with.
"No, this isn't thousands of years later. I remember this place," Gwen's voice was soft but exceptionally clear.
Steve turned his head sharply to look at her. "What?"
Before Gwen could explain, the roar of an engine suddenly came from the distance.
"Saturday! Kill them all!" A youthful but energetic female voice pierced the silence of the ruins.
The two looked toward the sound and saw a modified heavy combat vehicle crushing through piles of rubble. Its turret rotated, and fire erupted!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The shockwave of the explosions sent a dozen zombies flying, their severed limbs tracing parabolas in the air. The hatch at the top of the vehicle opened, and a little girl with twin tails popped out. She wore oversized goggles and held an energy cannon taller than herself, shouting excitedly:
"Yay! Home run!"
Steve was dumbfounded. "Is that... a child?"
Gwen's breathing quickened slightly, and memories flooded back like a tide—she had finally confirmed where she was. She and Ian had "witnessed" this place before.
"This is the Reality-Gap World..." She swallowed hard, realizing this was the pocket world Tony Stark had created for his daughter.
Perhaps the two of them coming to this place was a response from some destiny to Gwen's previous question.
...
In the void.
When Thor woke up in the void, he found himself floating in a state of chaos. Mjolnir was nowhere to be seen, and his golden hair drifted like seaweed in the zero-gravity environment.
"Father?! Gwen?! Ian?!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, but his voice was swallowed by the eerie space, leaving not even an echo.
Helpless, Thor could only reach out to summon Mjolnir back, then drifted aimlessly through the void searching. He was like a hamster thrown into a fishbowl, utterly terrified. After an unknown amount of time, two blurred shadows appeared in the distance—a tall figure in golden armor and a giant with ice-blue skin.
They were floating motionlessly. At this sight, Thor's eyes instantly welled up.
"Father!!!"
He dove forward, throwing himself at Odin, tears and snot smearing his face. "I finally found you! Are you okay?!"
As Thor called out hysterically, Odin's eyes remained tightly shut, showing no reaction. The Frost Giant beside him was also unconscious. Thor panicked. He grabbed Mjolnir and started pounding on Odin's chest.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"Wake up! Father! I'm giving you CPR!"
Lightning raged. Odin twitched continuously from the shocks. But he still didn't wake up.
Suddenly, the entire void vibrated violently! Countless dazzling beams of light erupted in the distance, shooting out in all directions like fireworks. Thor was blinded by the intense light, but he could vaguely see terrifying existences encased within those beams—Mephisto's grinning face. Fragments of Dormammu's Dark Dimension.
Even Kang the Conqueror, Shuma-Gorath, Chthon, Cyttorak, and other beings who had once made the multiverse tremble—as the seal of the void broke, countless imprisoned high-level entities shot out like meteors.
They fled to various parts of the universe. Each of these ancient and dangerous beings had once made the entire Marvel universe shudder.
Of course, Thor didn't recognize any of these figures. He only felt his soul instinctively tremble and shudder before those shadows; it felt as though merely looking at them was a burden he couldn't bear.
"Oh, no!"
Thor wasn't stupid; he realized the problem was likely beyond imagination. Just then, Odin and the Frost Giant opened their eyes simultaneously! Odin's expression shifted rapidly from confusion to wild joy, while the Frost Giant's face turned grim, as if he had swallowed a hedgehog.
"Father! You're awake!" Thor threw himself forward to give Odin a bear hug. "I'm so glad you're not..."
He didn't finish his sentence.
"Get away!"
Odin kicked him away. Thor spun through the air like a struck bowling ball, finally hitting something soft.
Someone had pinned him down with a foot. Thor looked up. He met a pair of emerald eyes. The King of the Frost Giants was currently staring at him with a look of extreme disappointment.
Thor's back was instantly drenched in cold sweat. He was all too familiar with this look—every time he messed up, Odin would look at him with that exact expression.
"No... no way? Father, you and that guy..." Thor's voice trembled. He looked at Odin in the distance, then at the Loki in front of him, completely confused. He didn't know who to call "Dad."
Before the poor Prince of Asgard could sort out the relationships, a deafening roar echoed through the space.
"Odin" was still in a state of wild joy. "Loki" was already on high alert. However, due to some mysterious reasons, the expected disaster did not happen.
"My face! My hands! Why have I become like this!" Darkness surged like a tide, and a distorted figure coalesced in the void—it was Knull, the God of Darkness, but his current appearance was pathetic.
His originally majestic face looked like clay crumpled by a naughty child. When Knull roared, rainbow-colored bubbles actually came out of his mouth—judging by the ancient god's reaction, this was absolutely not the reality he wanted.
It wasn't just his appearance. What truly broke Knull was that upon returning to reality, he immediately discovered the most unacceptable thing. His surging, infinite power seemed to have been defiled by something unknown.
...
There are many unknowns in this world.
On the other side. The DC Universe.
For reasons unknown, after returning to the DC Universe, before Ian could even fiddle with his newly acquired [All-Black the Necrosword], a series of system prompts rang in his ear. The sounds were continuous, as if he had accidentally stumbled into an experience-point hive.
Perhaps it was related to the original drafts Ian had drawn, as they were constantly flipping and glowing. This wave of the Writer profession didn't just reach level ten.
[Writer EXP +177]
[Writer EXP +130]
[Writer EXP +144]
...
[Writer profession reached lv11!]
[Writer profession reached lv12!]
[Writer profession reached lv13!]
It had actually jumped to level thirteen, instantly becoming Ian's highest-level skill. Not only that, Ian noticed silent changes on his system panel that didn't come with a prompt.
[Name: Ian Kent]
[Basic Professions: Student lv8 (441/1280), Writer LV13 (7215/40960), Leader LV7 (112/640)]
[Transcendental Professions: Berserker LV9 (78/2560), Savage Tyrant lv11 (1457/10240), [Mutation Sovereign lv2 (1/20)], [Entropy-End Lord Lv11 (3357/10240)]]
[World Recognition: Key NPC (Active Period)]
[Talent Skills: Reverse Blood Furnace, Perfect Divinity, All-Life Feeding, Eternal Grace]
[General Skills: Holding the Pen to Paint the World, Mimetic Armor, Ian Kent Defense Art (Elite), Share, Learning (Elite)...]
[Professional Skills: Reverse Evolution Ray, Wrath of the Undying, Profane Elegy, World-Burning Pulse, Perfect Divine Body, Eternal Day Eye (Level 3), Absolute Levitation, Scornful Leap, Ultimate Hunger (Level 3)...]
Not only did Ian gain a brand-new general skill, [Holding the Pen to Paint the World], due to the rise of his [Writer] profession, but his World Recognition had also gained a glowing [Active Period] tag for some baffling reason.
It flickered brightly but didn't seem to bring any immediate change. Ian could only guess if it meant his "screen time" had increased or perhaps his "popularity." However, he never doubted his popularity would ever hit a low point.
"Pulling out that sword definitely caused some kind of change." Although Ian couldn't see the aftermath because he returned too quickly, he possessed Super-Wisdom; a little reasoning led to a highly probable conclusion.
Of course, no matter what happened in the Marvel Universe, Ian couldn't go back now. He would have to wait for another day before returning to verify. Now, the problem before Ian was the new skill he had acquired.
Upon looking, he was truly startled. He had always known the general skills tied to his basic professions were somewhat unreasonable, but he didn't expect the [Writer] profession—which originally had no skill—to birth one at the level 10 threshold. And it was the kind of unreasonable that surpassed all reason.
[Holding the Pen to Paint the World: What is reality? What is illusion? All can be defined. By writing text, you can "manifest" abstract concepts, fantasy settings, and fictional things into reality, affecting the real world or target individuals. You can also change the "definition" or "state" of a target through writing, thereby affecting its mode of existence. The more detailed the description, the stronger the effect, and the greater the consumption—Mental attribute is the key to the thickness of your writing power.]
It must be said that this skill was indeed overpowered. It was like a mighty power and authority that could anchor the direction of fate. Aside from the mental energy cost, it was powerful in every aspect—even details of "past events" could be altered during writing. It could even make fictional things appear briefly in reality through text.
If his mental energy was sufficient to pay the price, Ian could even write logical paradoxes to create reality bugs.
"I get it! I totally get it! I'm a Sequence 1 'Author' of the Visionary pathway! Once this skill evolves further, I'll be a Visionary, achieving true 'Words are Law'—the power of 'I Think, Therefore It Is'!"
Ian was incredibly excited. It was confirmed that general skills were all conceptual. He now wanted to know if his other basic professions and this Writer profession could awaken or evolve existing skills if their levels went higher.
"Truly my system's best accessory! I'm very satisfied with this skill!" Ian flipped up from his "living massage bed"—woven from three hundred and sixty-five demon arms—with an excited kip-up.
The arms on the bed immediately and diligently handed him his slippers—a pair of screaming leather shoes that would bite the wearer's heels. Very effective for removing dead skin.
"Thanks, boys~" Ian stepped into them casually. The shoes couldn't bite through his skin and immediately emitted "Ow-woo, ow-woo" sounds of protest. Ian took it as cries of joy. He searched around. The guest room's furnishings were full of the "cozy" style unique to Hell.
The walls were made of wailing souls, with a pained face bulging out every three seconds to moan "Save me." The chandelier consisted of three suspended, still-rotating demon heads. Their eye sockets burned with ghostly blue flames for illumination. Ian pinched a blood vessel hanging outside, and they automatically lit up.
The room became brightly lit by ghostly fire. Ian hummed a discordant tune as he walked to the desk carved from human bone.
"I have to try the new skill—'Holding the Pen to Paint the World'!" Ian excitedly pulled a quill from the drawer. The tip flickered with ominous black light. He spread out a sheet of human-skin parchment he found and prepared to change the eerie blood moon over Hell into his own smiling face, so all life in Hell could bathe in the "loving radiance of Master Ian."
However, just as Ian's quill touched the paper...
"I don't think you can do that just yet." A lazy and elegant mature female voice suddenly sounded from behind him. "Even with that interesting magic book of yours." The woman's voice was close, as if speaking right into Ian's ear.
Ian spun around. In a corner of the guest room stood a woman of noble temperament. She wore a dark black gown that flowed like molten lava. Her skin was so pale it was almost transparent, but her lips were as red as blood. Her eyes were the purest black, with what looked like stars dancing deep within her pupils.
"Hmm?" Ian blinked. "Are you a maid in this hellish kingdom? Just in time, I'm a bit hungry. Can you get me something to eat?"
He politely reached into his pocket to give a tip—however, she didn't seem interested in preparing food for him.
"It seems you don't just share God's love for being a writer," the woman laughed softly, her voice as gentle as poison coated in honey. "You also share his personality of having no hands or feet and loving to boss others around."
"I think I already know why he likes you so much. You're the younger version of him."
At these words, Ian's hand froze mid-air. The woman's voice was gentle, but the disdain in her words invited terrifying contemplation.
"Hiss~" The boy's Super-Wisdom was triggered. His brain worked at high speeds. The next moment, he took a sharp breath, realizing there were truly few people in the DC universe who would dare insult God like that. "You... no, You couldn't possibly be... Lucifer's mom?!"
It was a logical guess. As far as Ian knew, Lucifer's mother—God's wife—was currently imprisoned in Hell by God.
"Who would be crazy enough to marry God?" The woman maintained a perfect smile, her fingertips gently stroking a book on the shelf titled *The Complete Guide to Hellish Cooking*. The pages suddenly turned on their own, stopping at a recipe labeled "How to Cook God." The page was filled with profanity.
"As for Lucifer?" The woman tilted her head as if recalling a distant relative. "Let me think... he should probably call me Auntie."
Her voice wasn't loud, but it struck Ian's heart like a heavy hammer, making his vitals tremble. He finally realized what he had encountered.
After a moment.
"Actually, since I was a kid, I've always wanted an auntie..."
***
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