The night was deep, and the cold wind on the road was mixed with the smell of rust and engine oil as it blew across the Eastern Europe wilderness.
The jeep drove on the bumpy mountain road, its headlights illuminating a small patch of withered yellow grass that was rapidly receding ahead.
No one spoke in the car.
Lin Huai, Dr. Banner, Johnny Blaze, and the mother and son, Nadia and Danny, whom they had just rescued from the cultists, all wanted to leave this place as soon as possible and rush to Sokovia.
From what Tony said, the trouble he was facing was even harder to deal with than the Monster from just now.
"Are we on the wrong road?" Dr. Banner frowned, holding the steering wheel. He pointed to a crooked rock by the roadside painted with strange symbols. "I remember we passed this rock half an hour ago."
Johnny Blaze poked his head out from the back seat to take a look and urged, "Maybe all the rocks here look the same. Dr., drive faster, I hate this damn place."
Banner nodded and stepped on the gas.
Another twenty minutes passed.
"Fuck!" Johnny suddenly cursed, pointing sharply ahead. "That damn rock appeared again!"
The jeep came to a stop with a piercing screech of brakes.
Not far ahead, that crooked rock stood by the roadside as if mocking them.
Johnny's face darkened. He pushed open the car door and straddled his motorcycle. "I'll give it a try!"
He twisted the throttle hard, and the motorcycle let out a roar, rushing out like a Shadow.
However, ten minutes later, accompanied by the familiar sound of an engine, Johnny came circling back from the direction they had started, cursing as he stopped next to the jeep.
"Damn it! No matter which direction I drive, I always end up back here!"
Dr. Banner turned off the engine, jumped out of the car, and opened the hood to inspect it carefully. Fuel lines, electrical circuits, fuel... everything was normal. He checked the GPS again; the signal was full, and the map showed they were on a straight highway.
This was too abnormal.
"Roar—!"
Johnny lost his patience. He let out a roar, and his body was instantly engulfed by Hellfire, turning into a burning skeleton rider.
"I want to see what's playing tricks here!"
Ghost Rider rode his hell cycle, charging towards the empty space ahead. The burning chains in his hands swung, carrying the power to burn souls, and lashed out fiercely at the invisible barrier.
But the next scene was very strange.
The moment the Hellfire touched the air, it simply disappeared, as if it had never happened.
Lin Huai had been watching all of this in silence. He slowly closed his eyes and activated his Spirit Vision.
In his vision, the whole World changed.
The space around them was being arbitrarily distorted and folded by an invisible force. Every road they took, no matter where it led, ultimately looped back to the starting point.
This was the authority of theft and fraud.
Lin Huai's heart skipped a beat; he knew who had arrived.
"Where are you looking?"
A laughing voice suddenly sounded in Lin Huai's ear, and a warm breath almost blew onto his ear.
Lin Huai turned his head sharply, his pupils shrinking.
A young man wearing a crystal monocle, a black formal suit, and a top hat had stood beside him at some unknown time. He was playing with a gold coin in his hand, a mischievous smile hanging on the corner of his mouth.
The Angel of Time, Amon.
"It's you." Lin Huai's voice trembled slightly o((⊙﹏⊙))o..
"Of course it's me." Amon bowed slightly in a noble salute, his eyes behind the monocle looking at him with great interest. "A wonderful play has just ended; there must be an encore, right?"
"Roar!"
Hulk and Ghost Rider noticed the uninvited guest almost simultaneously. Feeling that terrifying aura, they immediately launched an attack.
Hulk's giant palm slapped over with the sound of wind, and Ghost Rider's Judgement chains whipped up hellish flames, lashing towards Amon's head.
But whether it was Hulk's attack or Ghost Rider's chains, they all silently vanished when they were within half a meter of Amon.
Amon didn't move at all, just looking at them with eyes like he was watching children play, the smile on his face deepening.
"What exactly do you want to do?" Lin Huai asked.
"Don't be nervous, I'm not interested in the trivial matters of your Mortal friends." Amon spread his hands. "I just want to see a play about human nature, a more exciting play."
His gaze bypassed Lin Huai and fell on the shivering mother and son in the jeep.
"The rules of the game are simple," Amon announced. "You can leave; in my theater, you are not an actor. But they must stay."
He pointed at Nadia and Danny.
"They are the protagonists of this grand play called Motherly Love and Redemption. As for the antagonist..." Amon's smile became even more brilliant. "I have already sent out the invitations. The Hell Lord Mephisto should be arriving soon, following the scent of bloodlines."
Lin Huai's heart sank to the bottom.
"It seems you have already made a decision." Amon seemed to see through his heart.
Lin Huai took a deep breath and no longer hesitated. He turned to look at Banner and Johnny, his expression solemn.
"Dr., Johnny, I must go back."
He solemnly entrusted them with the task of protecting the mother and son.
"But this place might be even more dangerous than Sokovia. Your enemy is not just Mephisto, but also that Lunatic who treats everything as a game." Lin Huai's voice was very low. "Protect them well, especially the child."
Dr. Banner looked at Lin Huai and nodded heavily. He understood Lin Huai's situation and knew that the situation on Tony's side could no longer be delayed.
The flames in Johnny's eye sockets flickered. He glared at the smiling Amon, finally squeezing out a single word through his teeth: "Fine."
Having received the promise, Lin Huai hesitated no more.
He mobilized the little spirituality left in his body and activated Flame Leap.
A ball of orange-red Fire ignited out of thin air. Lin Huai's figure quickly distorted and elongated within the flames before completely vanishing. In the spatial lockdown created by Amon, he forcibly walked out using another power—of course, this was because Amon did not continue to suppress him.
"Interesting, physical fooling counts as fooling too, right?" Amon looked at the place where Lin Huai had disappeared and adjusted his monocle.
As he spoke, several figures also wearing monocles appeared behind Amon.
"Let's have a show of hands to see who is voted out to go over there and join the fun, eh? Me? You avatars actually voted the main body out. Oh well, it's quite interesting too, isn't it?"
Banner's group looked at the Amons in front of them and the place where Lin Huai had disappeared, then turned back to look at Nadia, who was hugging her child tightly with a look of despair in the jeep, and the Monastery that was faintly visible in the night among the distant mountains.
"I hope everything goes smoothly."
...The moment he broke free from the spatial lockdown, Lin Huai immediately contacted Tony via an encrypted line.
"Tony, send a quinjet to pick me up. I'm sending you the coordinates. Now, immediately!"