Four Types of Timelines

Kamar-Taj Library.

Lin Xu stepped inside, but did not find Lao Wang or Ancient One. Only Strange was sitting there alone, reading a book.

"Where's Wang? It's not mealtime yet, is it?"

"Meeting the girl's parents." Strange didn't even look up, completely absorbed in his magical knowledge. "Senior, are you married?"

Lin Xu waved his hand. "I'm only in my thirties, I haven't had enough fun yet, and love is poison."

Strange wanted to refute Lin Xu's words, but couldn't find a single reason to do so.

He was quite certain that he had been poisoned by Christine.

"Senior brother~"

"Put it down~"

"If, and I mean if... your loved one dies because of your mistake, would you do anything to save her?"

Hearing Strange's words, Lin Xu was taken aback. His beloved?

He's traveled through all this time, and it seems... he's never truly let anyone into his heart.

The world's divide is one aspect, but more importantly, aside from the fact that he didn't anticipate the Dark Strange, he knew almost everything that would happen before Avengers.

A sense of crisis made him afraid to let others into his heart.

He was afraid of losing...

However, if his parents in his previous life died unexpectedly because of his own mistakes, and then someone suddenly said that he could exchange his life for theirs, he would absolutely not hesitate.

"Senior brother, are you listening?"

"I can!"

Strange looked up and saw Lin Xu's extremely determined gaze. He smiled slightly and then lowered his head again.

Me too!

"Alright, that's all for later. What about Old Deng?"

"... The teacher is in a secret room."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xu immediately abandoned Strange and headed to the secret room.

After a long while, Strange belatedly raised his head and looked in the direction of the secret room with a puzzled expression.

What does "... what will happen later" mean?

Did you see the future, senior?

The door to the secret chamber opened, and Lin Xu saw a completely exhausted Ancient One, a rare sight indeed.

Why did you call me over in such a hurry?

Ancient One put down the Eye of Agamotto and rubbed her temples.

"Just now, I observed 50 million possible futures."

How so?

Ancient One held up one finger.

"Why are you cosplaying Strange? You won once, right?"

Ancient One shook his head, his fingers twitching as he did so. "I mean, not a single time."

Without saying a word, Lin Xu turned and left.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Where am I going? I'm running away! It's a dead end, why would I stay here?"

"Can't you just let me finish what I have to say...?"

Ancient One quickly stepped forward and pulled Lin Xu back.

"Of the more than 50 million futures I've observed, you're not one of them. You are the key!"

"I don't want to be the key." Lin Xu broke free from Ancient One's large hand, casually sat down on the ground, looking utterly dejected.

Tell me about the closest you can get to success in the future, and I'll see how to fill in the gaps.

Ancient One, disregarding her image as a superior being, quickly sat down next to Lin Xu and conjured up a cup of tea for him.

"I don't drink tea, but I'd like some iced cola, please!"

Ancient One didn't mind Lin Xu's behavior at all. He would have liked anything, even iced Celestials Marrow Liquid.

Actually, he wasn't telling the truth. He had just looked at the two possible futures of 50 million and won once, but that win still came at the cost of working overtime for 300 years.

Yes, compared to the initial 100% success rate of not retiring, now there's only a 50% success rate. I don't know what happened, but Strange has actually become stronger!

"Ahem, well, do you know how many types of timelines there are?"

"Uh, two kinds?"

"No, there are four types~"

Ancient One reached out his hand, and several patterns quickly appeared in the void.

"The first type Multiversal Timeline. Within the entire multidimensional framework, there are many such timelines. They are completely irregular and chaotic. Some are very strong, and some are very weak. They can be interfered with, altered, and pruned."

"The second type Fixed Timeline, which is the timeline in which Dark Strange is destined to be born. No matter how you change it, it will only create a new branch."

"The third type is the branch timeline we are on. The Branch Timeline Branch Timeline based on the Fixed Timeline. If the branch is destroyed, the established timeline remains. If the established timeline is destroyed, the branch ceases to exist."

"The fourth type Split Timeline. Unlike branching, splitting is generally done subjectively and requires immense power to divide the timeline in two."

"In the future I see, the Dark Strange timeline has been split in two, with one side choosing to abandon the resurrection of Christine..."

"Isn't this a good thing?"

"It's indeed a good thing. It's an opportunity. Dark Strange will definitely be born, but the destruction of the universe is not. We can defeat him at the moment when he is about to devour another version of himself. In this way, Dark Strange will indeed be born, and the universe will not be destroyed."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xu pondered for a while, then looked up at Ancient One: "You still haven't told me which of the futures you see is closest to success."

"... No..."

What do you mean by "nothing"?

"Strange from Split Timeline and the Branch Timelines, he devoured them all, without exception..."

"Goodbye!!" Lin Xu handed the half-finished iced cola back to Ancient One, got up, and walked towards the door.

This time, Ancient One didn't try to persuade him again. He just watched Lin Xu leave quietly. He believed that his judgment of people was correct; this kid was just stubborn on the outside but soft on the inside.

Sure enough, less than half a minute later, a head poked out from the front door.

"Ahem, well..."

"I saved some cola for you."

"No, I just wanted to ask when I'll get my Orb of Agamotto back?"

"... roll!"

"Fine, I'll get out!"

In Houston, Lin Xu climbed onto a rooftop to admire the afterglow of the sunset.

He recalled his conversation with Strange: were they going to give their all for a battle with an uncertain outcome?

The Quantum Locator is on me, and I still have Pym Particles. How wonderful it would be to travel to other worlds and not eat beef!

Anyway, I haven't made many friends over the years...

When the topic of friends came up, some images suddenly flashed through his mind: several times when members of Congress wanted to sanction him because of his Asian identity, there was always someone who stood in front of him.

To protect his safety, they even placed Mark V in his office and gave him Level 3 clearance, the same as JARVIS and F.R.I.D.A.Y., treating him the same way Rhodey...

Then he thought, what if he just left like this, and the time loop closed? Christine had clearly been taken away.

Loki once said that due to his unique characteristic, during the time he existed, no one but himself could...

Wait... Time is of the essence!!

Strange's forte is time magic, isn't it? What if we could find a way to bring him into this universe?

[Note: To read this chapter, please activate your super brain!]

[ --Kamar-Taj Publishing House.]