Wong: Hahahahaha

Lin Xu was speechless.

Since Thanos had been taken away, Cull Obsidian, that honest kid, had released every biological weapon aboard Sanctuary II to avenge his father, including the Leviathans, Stari giant apes, Outriders, and the rest.

But with Thanos gone, Thor was no longer playing dead, Tony had woken up, and Captain America's hand didn't hurt anymore. Every one of them was raring to go.

They couldn't beat Thanos, but couldn't they beat these guys?

Planning to slack off, Lin Xu found a can of cola in the ruins and prepared to take it easy.

Then Ebony Maw knelt before him with the severed heads of Cull Obsidian, Proxima Midnight, and Corvus Glaive.

"My lord, your most faithful servant presents you with the heads of your enemies!"

Well, damn. Thanos wasn't even dead yet. And he was speaking fucking Chinese...

"You..."

"This humble one is Ebony Maw!"

"Where did you learn Chinese?"

"In answer to my lord, three years ago—oh, no, twelve years ago in this universe, to be precise—when that Frost Giant came to borrow troops from Thanos, I spent two days learning the vast majority of Earth's languages."

"Then how did you know what my native language was?"

"...You just said... fuck..."

"...You really got the essence of it..."

Seeing Lin Xu's expression relax, Ebony Maw relaxed as well.

As a psychic Metahuman, he had felt as though he had seen his natural predator when he saw the tiger wreathed in white flames. He had no doubt that if those tiger eyes had been looking at him, he might already be dead.

So when Thanos was taken away by that unknown powerhouse, Ebony Maw had already planned his escape. He took advantage of Corvus Glaive letting his guard down to seize control of the Peerless Blade and kill all three of them in an instant.

Corvus Glaive: Have you considered the possibility that I wasn't all that loyal to Thanos either...?

"My lord, these are the three of their weapons."

Ebony Maw crooked a finger, bringing forth Thanos's Tyrant's Butcher Blade, Corvus Glaive's Peerless Blade, and Proxima Midnight's Solar Poison Ray.

"What about the big guy's?"

"There's nothing worth saying about Cull Obsidian's. His axe has nothing going for it except its weight. It isn't even as tough as the shield Thanos just chopped apart."

"All right, tell me about these three."

Lin Xu studied the three weapons with interest. He had read the comics, but he had forgotten almost everything. He only remembered that the Black Order were pretty strong and their weapons were awesome too, but they had all been nerfed to varying degrees in the movies. The five had even been reduced to four...

"The Tyrant's Butcher Blade is made entirely of uru metal. It can cleave through anything and break anything, but since the corresponding Runes were never carved into it, sufficiently powerful magic can destroy it. If you wish to use it, my lord, you can ask the one with the axe up there. He's an Asgardian..."

"Actually, I'm an Asgardian too."

Ebony Maw: ...

"Forgive this humble one for speaking out of turn!"

Ebony Maw hurriedly put on an apologetic smile and slapped his own face a few times.

Lin Xu: What fucking dynasty did you study when you were learning Chinese?

"All right, go on!"

"The Solar Poison Ray was Proxima Midnight's weapon. The weapon itself isn't powerful; it's the crystal core in the spearhead that is. It was made from compressed stellar flares and can emit rays carrying lethal radiation. The vast majority of living beings in the universe cannot withstand it."

"The Peerless Blade is a piece of magical material that has never been still. For some unknown reason, spatial magic is attached to it. The entire blade travels between reality and nothingness over twenty thousand times a second. This property allows it to cut through anything with ease, including the shield up there, and even atoms..."

Sure enough, the movies and comics really were different. Lin Xu remembered that in the comics, Corvus Glaive could bind his soul to his weapon. As long as the weapon remained intact, Corvus Glaive would not die.

Now all it had left was its sharpness.

But Lin Xu wasn't disappointed. Instead, he grew even more curious. What kind of spatial magic material traveled between nothingness and reality twenty thousand times a second? Was it really that awesome?

But this wasn't the time to study it.

Lin Xu casually handed the Solar Poison Ray to Ebony Maw and pulled the Tyrant's Butcher Blade and the Peerless Blade over to his side. Only then did he look at Wong and Strange, who were walking toward him from nearby.

"Wong, what's going on?"

"Exactly what you see."

"Who is he?"

"Venerable Ancient One sent him here."

"He's Asian too. Could he be a variant of you from another universe? But how come he's so much more handsome than you?"

"If you keep your mouth shut, nobody will think you're mute!"

Lin Xu: ...As expected of one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's three biggest trash talkers.

"Ahem. Hello, mage from another universe. I'm Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme of this universe."

Lin Xu looked at Strange's outstretched hand, then at the speechless Wong. He had seized the title as soon as he got back? That fast?

"Zhu Qizhen, you... ahem. Hello, Strange. I'm Christo Palmer!"

"Pfft, hahaha!" Two jokes in one sentence—even Wong, who had a low threshold for laughter, couldn't hold it in.

"Christo?" Strange had little recollection of the Ming emperor who had reclaimed his throne as soon as he returned, but he had heard Palmer, as well as Christo, which was extremely similar to Christine!

"That's right, exactly who you're thinking of. Christine is my own little sister, with a different father and a different mother!"

"Hahahaha!" Once again, Wong couldn't hold it in.

"Impossible. If she were your own little sister, how could I not kno—" Halfway through, Strange finally caught on. What the hell did he mean, a different father and a different mother...?

Then he stared fixedly at Lin Xu with his horse face.

Wong: "Hahahahaha!"

Thor, who had been tearing apart the warship while keeping an eye on Lin Xu, swooped down.

"Uncle, do I have an aunt too?"

That one question left Lin Xu speechless. This honest kid.

"Is your hearing really that good?"

"Oh, in my Asgardian language classes, I also took lip-reading as an elective."

"Tree language, flying horse language, and now lip-reading. What kind of nonsense have you been studying? You'd be better off studying military strategy and statecraft with that time..."

"Ah, Father said the same thing to me. You really are brothers."

"Get lost!!!"

"Sure thing!"

As Thor flew away, the scene fell silent, leaving only Wong snickering to himself.

Strange shot Wong a sideways glance, then turned to Lin Xu and asked gravely, "So what exactly is going on?"

"Ahem, you saw fourteen million possible futures, right?"

"That's right~ and there was only one way to win."

"Then do you remember how Scott got out of the Quantum Realm?"

"Of course. A rat born in June 2022."

"Which means it was only a year old. Poor Jerry!"

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. When I came over, I accidentally stepped on it and killed it..."

Strange: ...

"And then?"

"First this happened, then that... and finally, Mephisto took Thanos away. And I don't know why, but Mephisto also cursed out 'your' Kamar-Taj. What he said was really nasty!"

Wong: "Hahaha... wait, what do you mean, 'your' Kamar-Taj? Aren't you one of us? Huh? Strange, where are you going?"