Ant-Man Suit

"Hehe, this is really interesting. Even the police mistook us for a couple. Do we really look that well-matched?"

As she drove Li Congxin home, Hope couldn't resist teasing the oriental boy sitting before her.

"By the way, how low is your threshold for amusement? It was just that little thing, yet you've been laughing the whole way!" Li Congxin finally couldn't hold back his protest. "And speaking of which, you've been paying special attention to me since the beginning today, then followed me after school. You went to such lengths, so I'm guessing you definitely didn't come looking for me just to spar, right?"

Only then did Hope clear her throat and rein in her laughter. "You noticed. I've always practiced combat, so I have to keep training to maintain my stamina. And I heard there's a wonderful place nearby called Martha's Fitness Club. The results of working out there are noticeably better than elsewhere."

"Unfortunately, that fitness club is already fully booked, which is why I came specifically to find you." Hope glanced at Li Congxin. "As you Easterners say, I'm here to go through the back door."

So that was what this was about.

Li Congxin also hoped more people with greater destiny weight would join his fitness club, as that would make it easier for him to collect Impression Points. He nodded readily. "No problem. I'll have someone arrange a membership for you later."

"Not just me. My father too." Hope continued, "I moved here from New Jersey with him, so you'll have to arrange two memberships for us."

The First-Generation Ant-Man?

Li Congxin nodded. "No problem."

"Oh, right. There's one more thing."

"There's more?" Li Congxin frowned unhappily. This girl seems to be getting a little too greedy.

Just then, Hope took an invitation from her pocket and placed it on the platform beneath the windshield in front of Li Congxin. "There's a charity Masquerade Ball tomorrow evening. It was originally an invitation for my father and me, but my dad isn't interested in that sort of occasion. How about you accompany me?"

Li Congxin didn't take the invitation. Instead, he directly refused. "I'm not interested either."

Hope gave a sly laugh. "This charity Masquerade Ball is being hosted by Tony Stark, the president of Stark Industries. There'll be countless handsome men and beautiful women, with elites from every walk of life gathering there. It'll be lots of fun!"

Tony Stark!

Li Congxin couldn't help freezing when he heard the name.

If someone asked who had the greatest destiny weight in the Marvel universe, then in the Marvel Main Universe and the Ultimate Universe, it was probably Little Spider, Peter Parker, the most popular of them all. But in this Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was more than ninety percent likely to be the future Iron Man, Tony Stark!

Tony Stark would basically allow him to test the upper limit of the Impression Points a single person could provide him at one time.

Besides, among the "elites from every walk of life" Hope had mentioned, there would certainly be some with considerable destiny weight as well. Taking the opportunity to farm some Impression Points wouldn't be a bad deal.

With that thought, Li Congxin finally picked up the invitation. "Where do I buy the outfit?"

By then, the car had already reached the building where Li Congxin lived. Hope smiled. "You don't need to buy it yourself. I've already prepared it for you. It's in the trunk. You're so strong that I shouldn't need to help carry it upstairs, right?"

Carrying the large box containing his party outfit home, Li Congxin couldn't contain his curiosity and immediately opened it to take a look.

He had thought it would just be a cosplay costume, but the clothes before him gave him a real shock!

A helmet made of an unknown metal, shaped like an anti-corrosion mask; a full set of red-and-black clothing made from equally unknown leather...

How was this a costume for a Masquerade Ball?

This was clearly the Ant-Man Suit!

It would have been a lie to say Li Congxin wasn't interested in this suit.

Although his God-Tier BGM System was a cheat, it was only equivalent to an accelerator. It could speed up the rate at which he accumulated power, but it couldn't directly provide power itself.

If he wanted to gain strength, he still had to find another way.

Over the past two months, Li Congxin had considered many ways to gain power, including the Ant-Man Suit.

In fact, the Ant-Man Suit ranked near the top of Li Congxin's plans!

The Marvel Cinematic Universe was relatively more peaceful than either the Main Universe or the Ultimate Universe, and considerably less chaotic. Many major events allowed one to choose whether to participate. If one didn't want to get involved, one could simply avoid them. For example, when the events of the first Avengers movie began, hiding outside New York would basically keep one out of trouble.

In Li Congxin's view, that wasn't cowardice. It was a question of whether there was any need.

At least for now, without any benefits involved, Li Congxin seriously lacked the motivation to risk life and limb for foreigners.

He could choose to avoid other disasters, but Thanos's snap was an obstacle he couldn't get around.

With a single snap, half of the universe's intelligent life would disappear at random.

Faced with such a threat, where could he hide to guarantee his safety?

The answer: the Quantum Realm!

According to Marvel's worldview, the Quantum Realm had already transcended the boundaries of time and space. It might not even count as part of this universe, but rather existed as another dimension, and was therefore unaffected by Thanos's snap.

At present, the First-Generation Ant-Man was the only person who knew how to enter and exit the Quantum Realm before the Sunset Snap.

Of course, although Li Congxin was interested in the Ant-Man Suit and didn't mind becoming the Second-Generation Ant-Man, he absolutely didn't want to become a puppet on Hank Pym's strings like the Second-Generation Ant-Man, Scott, in the original story!

Therefore, in principle, he had no intention of interacting with Old Pi and his daughter too early. At the very least, he would wait until he had the qualifications to speak with them as an equal before discussing anything else.

But now the Ant-Man Suit was right in front of him. Should he wear it or not? That was the question.

After hesitating for a moment, Li Congxin finally made up his mind.

Wear it!

Even if he didn't become the Second-Generation Ant-Man, putting on the suit and fooling around with it would still be pretty exhilarating, wouldn't it?

No reason not to wear it!

He removed his coat and the weights, then awkwardly put on the Ant-Man Suit before him.

Thinking of the Second-Generation Ant-Man's "sewer adventure" in the movie, Li Congxin first locked the door. Then he looked around the room, making sure there were no other dangers, before jumping onto the sofa. After moving his body around a little, his gaze fell on the red button at the base of his right thumb.

Here goes!

As Li Congxin pressed the red button with his right hand, he really did shrink with a whoosh. But before he could celebrate, the scene that followed made his smile freeze completely.

Li Congxin felt his body shrinking nonstop, while everything around him continued growing larger in proportion.

The sofa, the cushions, the fibers... Even the dust that had originally been invisible to the naked eye became as tall as mountains in the blink of an eye.

After that, the scenery around him underwent an earth-shaking transformation.

The colors around him became dazzlingly brilliant. Li Congxin felt as if he had entered a strange space resembling a kaleidoscope!