A sleepless night.
When Lin Huai opened his eyes again from meditation, the morning light of Malibu Beach was spilling over him through the floor-to-ceiling windows, bringing a hint of warmth.
The power of the [Seer] had completely integrated with him. The mental hangover from the promotion had vanished, replaced by an unprecedented clarity and transparency. In the past, when he borrowed that entity's power to activate Spirit Vision, the World was like looking through a layer of dirty frosted glass, everything blurred.
But now, that layer of glass was completely shattered. He could truly "see" the spiritual radiance representing life vitality burning like a flame on Tony's body, and for the first time, he could "see" clearly the thin spiritual light spots floating slowly like dust in the air. They were the background of this World's mystical side, flowing silently.
Beside him, Tony Stark's situation was the complete opposite. This wounded man hadn't closed his eyes almost all night. His body under the thick bandages was still aching slightly, but his spirit was extremely excited, his eyes shining with the light of a scientist who had made a new discovery.
He was directing several mechanical arms, holding various high-precision scanners, scanning Lin Huai from head to toe.
"Damn... besides normal vital signs, I've detected a faint energy fluctuation I've never seen before. It doesn't emit any radiation, nor does it obey the laws of thermodynamics; it's just there, as if out of thin air," Tony muttered, staring at a pile of garbled data on the screen.
Pepper was beside him, scolding him for not taking care of his body at all, her words filled with worry.
Seeing this, Lin Huai's heart stirred, and a thought full of ritualistic intent arose spontaneously.
He pulled out two specially-made blank cards from his pocket. The cards were made of silver, cold to the touch, and on the back was engraved an eerie pupil-less eye symbol, seemingly composed of countless twisted signs.
"Tony, these are for you and Pepper."
Lin Huai silently recited a prayer to The Fool above the gray fog in his heart, while simultaneously channeling his brand-new spirituality. That pure insight into "sacrifice" and "choice" obtained during his promotion flowed like a small stream, all of it guided and poured into the two blank cards.
Under the shocked gazes of Tony and Pepper, light and shadow intertwined on the surface of the two blank cards, and patterns actually emerged on their own.
On one card, a pair of Lovers embraced tightly under the starry sky. On the other, a man was hung upside down from a tree, his expression calm, with a halo of wisdom radiating from his head.
[VI. Lovers] and [XII. Hanged Man].
"These are gifts for you, blessings from The Fool."
Lin Huai's voice became ethereal, as if coming from far away. He closed his eyes and began to chant softly in the ancient and mysterious Hermes Language:
"The gold and red armor pierced the clouds for the first time,"
"You wrote a confession in the night sky with your palm flames."
"When the giant shadow of the iron Monster appeared,"
"You pushed her toward the end of the safety passage."
"Mixed with the metallic wail of the armor's transformation,"
"She returned, clutching the icy blue pillar of light."
"When the dome of Stark Industries collapsed with a bang,"
"The star crystal was born in the light of purification..."
As the mysterious and ancient Hermes Language echoed in the air, the two cards emitted a soft glow, and the patterns on them seemed to come alive, with light and shadow flowing. Tony could even feel a warm and gentle power seeping out from the cards, like an invisible hand, slowly smoothing his soul, which was extremely exhausted from pain and excitement.
When the last syllable fell, Lin Huai's singing stopped abruptly.
"...Thus, the choices of two lives leave kiss marks in each other's hearts."
He finished the final blessing with a smile and handed the two cards to Tony and Pepper... S.H.I.E.L.D., Trident Headquarters.
In a top-secret physics laboratory, the atmosphere was so oppressive it could be wrung out like water.
The air was filled with a mixture of caffeine and despair. The World's top brains were staring at a bullet recovered from the battlefield ruins, their faces ashen.
"It's impossible to analyze; its quantum state is constantly making irregular transitions, as if it's alive."
"All spectral analyses yield contradictory results; the data from one second is overturned the next."
"This thing, it doesn't make sense!!!" An old Professor with white hair tugged at his hair in frustration.
In the corner, a young genius responsible for data modeling suddenly set down his terminal quietly after working for 72 consecutive hours.
He stood up, walked to the giant data whiteboard, and picked up a pen.
No screaming, no madness.
He just silently, with an almost pious posture, drew a perfect, inward-spiraling spiral on the whiteboard. Then, he dropped the pen and looked at the spiral, revealing a strange smile mixed with fear and relief.
"I see it... between 1 and 0, that twisted, living void."
After saying that, he fell straight back, unconscious. In his pupils, the afterimage of the spiral was still reflected.
The laboratory fell into a dead silence.
In the monitoring room, Nick Fury stared at the report, his face showing no expression. The conclusion of the report was just one sentence:
We are facing a field that the existing physical system cannot understand at all; it is recommended to stop all physical contact and analysis attempts.
Fury turned off the screen, a heaviness never seen before flashing in his lone eye.
He finally understood completely. He was facing a new kind of anomaly that could not be measured by scientific weapons. All his aircraft carriers, all his Agents, might be no different from a pile of scrap metal.
"Coulson, it seems we must take the initiative. Let's go and see how many cards this mysterious [Fortune Teller] still has in his hand."
...On the other side of the Earth, Nepal, Kamar-Taj.
Inside the Sanctum, incense smoke curled up.
Sorcerer Supreme Ancient One had just returned from a small-scale dimensional invasion. Wearing a simple yellow monk's robe, she brewed herself a cup of light tea as usual, observing the rushing river of time of Earth.
Suddenly, her hand holding the teacup paused slightly in mid-air, and her brow furrowed gently.
In her vision, the magnificent river of time composed of countless causal lines showed an extremely abnormal depression.
The river water there seemed to bypass an invisible, gigantic reef, actively splitting and flowing from both sides of this depression.
In that position, there was nothing.
And "nothing" itself was the greatest anomaly!
Ancient One's expression became serious. She activated the Eye of Agamotto hanging around her neck, and a faint emerald-green light lit up. Her gaze followed the altered river and began to trace back.
Soon, her gaze fixed on the night of the Battle of New York.
She saw the blue pillar of light that soared into the sky, purifying everything, and she also saw those two eerie arrows that tore through the night sky with pinpoint accuracy.
But when she tried to lock onto the core variable that had triggered all this...
A vast, viscous, grayish-white thick fog instantly shrouded her vision.
That fog was filled with the intent of fooling and concealment, as if mocking any attempt to pry into it.
Ancient One's gaze narrowed, and she immediately stopped any deeper exploration.
She knew that forcibly breaking through this layer of mist would be an extremely unwise provocation.
- As the Guardian of Earth, she knew there were countless great powers in the Universe, and many ancient existences with extremely high status who did not wish to be disturbed.
She could tell that the essence of this gray fog was not aggressive Darkness, but a pure, high-level concealment and deception.
"A passing... existence we cannot afford to provoke..." Ancient One put down her teacup and whispered to herself.
She deduced that some powerful neutral existence, or his Blessed One, happened to pass by Earth, completed a task of his own, and conveniently wiped away the traces, not wishing to be disturbed by anyone.
With her level, she could perceive the existence of this void. But her disciples, if they performed divination, would likely be directly fooled by this layer of gray fog due to insufficient ability, truly believing that nothing had happened there.
Thinking of this, Ancient One did not act rashly. She simply summoned a disciple.
"Mordo, pass the word to closely monitor all 'non-magical' abnormal events occurring in New York City recently."
"If the source is found, do not make contact; report to me immediately."
There was a light of wisdom in Ancient One's eyes. She made a decision: as long as the other party did not actively show malice, she would maintain distance and strengthen observation.
At this moment, the two most powerful protection systems on Earth—S.H.I.E.L.D., the end of science, and Kamar-Taj, the apex of the mystical—after that unknown confrontation, reached the same judgment regarding the center of the storm as if by agreement.
Monitor him, but do not contact him easily.