Hank Pym

Outside the Quantum Realm, in the living room of Li Congxin's home.

Hope and a small white-haired old man had been searching everywhere for traces of Li Congxin when a burst of light suddenly flickered in midair above the sofa. Around the center of the gathering light, space itself seemed to twist irregularly.

The next moment, a tiny figure wearing the Ant-Man Suit appeared in their field of vision, then returned to normal size within a single breath.

By copying the Second-Generation Ant-Man, Li Congxin had finally succeeded in escaping from the Quantum Realm!

After glancing at the familiar furnishings in the room and then at Hope and the old man before him, Li Congxin finally let out a sigh of relief. Immediately afterward, he lost what little strength he had left. His vision went black, his body went limp, and he fell straight off the sofa.

Quick on the draw, Hope caught Li Congxin and opened his mask, only to see a handsome face completely stained red with blood.

"Clark! How did you manage to get yourself into this state, Clark!?"

Li Congxin did not answer, because by then he had already passed out completely.

When Li Congxin woke up again, all he saw was white.

White walls, white sheets, a white blanket, white curtains, white furnishings... From the nearly uniform color scheme before him, Li Congxin guessed that he was lying in a hospital bed.

"You're awake!"

Suddenly, a voice tinged with delight reached his ears. He turned his head and saw Hope and a small white-haired old man entering through the open door.

Seeing Hope again, Li Congxin immediately felt his anger rising.

I nearly died because of you, you know?

Li Congxin frowned slightly and made no attempt to hide his displeasure. "I need a reasonable explanation about that suit. Don't tell me it was just an ordinary costume. There's no way a masquerade ball costume should have landed me in the hospital!"

Hope could not help feeling aggrieved when she heard this. She had not wanted things to turn out this way either!

"That was the Ant-Man Suit, the invention I'm most proud of in my entire life." The old man was steadier and spoke for Hope at the right moment. "First, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Hank Pym, and I'm Hope's father. I was the one who instructed her to approach you and put the Ant-Man Suit in your hands."

"Why?"

Li Congxin loudly challenged him. When he saw the old man appear alongside Hope, he had already guessed the other man's identity, so he was not surprised to hear the answer. What he did not understand was what, exactly, this super-genius could possibly want from him.

Could the existence of the system have been exposed?

That's even more impossible!

Ever since the ambush in the alley, Li Congxin had kept a portable music player on him. It contained the few background tracks that had played when the system activated. Other people could hear those songs as well, but what kind of wild imagination would it take to connect them to the truth about the system?

"Calm down. It's a long story." Hank Pym smiled faintly before continuing. "The hospital's examination showed that roughly thirty percent of the capillaries in your body had suffered damage of varying degrees. You'll need to rest for a while before you can recover. During that time, you should get plenty of rest."

After saying this, Old Pi gave Hope a meaningful look, and the two of them prepared to leave the ward.

At that moment, they suddenly heard Li Congxin calmly say a name from the hospital bed: "Janet Van Dyne."

At the sound of that name, the father and daughter stiffened simultaneously. Then they turned around in unison. Hope asked nervously, "Clark, what did you just say?"

"Janet Van Dyne." Li Congxin repeated the name. "That name shares your surname. I think it might be very important to you, but my memories are extremely disordered right now. If you want to know more, you'd better tell me about the 'long story' Uncle Hank mentioned first and let me sort things out properly."

Hope turned her gaze toward Old Pi. He shook his head slightly at Li Congxin. "Clark, believe me, I wasn't deliberately trying to hide anything from you. It's just that, given your current condition, you really need to rest. So..."

At that moment, the ward door was pushed open again, and a nurse walked in. "The patient's latest examination report is ready. Congratulations. His recovery rate is far beyond our expectations. Most of the damaged capillaries have already recovered. If he continues recovering at this rate, he can be discharged tomorrow."

Old Pi immediately took the examination report from the nurse. After studying it carefully for a moment, a knowing smile curled at the corners of his lips. "It seems you really aren't an ordinary person. At this recovery rate, you're at least twice as fast as a normal person. Even Captain America in his prime probably didn't have your physical health."

What's going on?

By then, the young nurse had already left the ward. Li Congxin knew this was certainly the result of exercising under the Calories BUFF, so he was not particularly surprised. He merely said calmly, "Then my body should be recovered enough to support a heartfelt conversation now, right?"

"All right!"

Old Pi pulled over a stool and sat beside Li Congxin's bed. Then he said to Hope, "You've been unable to let go of what happened to your mother all these years. It's time you learned the truth."

With that, Old Pi began recounting his experiences to the two of them.

The story had to begin with the Pym Particles—the source of the Ant-Man Suit's ability to change size, and a magnificent invention capable of altering the size and structure of matter.

Detailed introduction: omitted.

It was worth mentioning that the Ant-Man Suit could shrink a person down to the subatomic level. In other words, it could make someone smaller than an atom. Once one entered the subatomic level, time and space ceased to have any meaning. That was the Quantum Realm Li Congxin had entered earlier.

During a previous mission, Old Pi had needed to shrink himself to the subatomic level to destroy the internal structure of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. However, his regulator had been severely damaged and stopped working properly.

At that moment, his wife had resolutely disabled the regulator and shrunk herself to the subatomic level to destroy the missile. She never returned.

After that, Old Pi devoted himself to researching the Quantum Realm, but he never made much progress until Li Congxin appeared.

Although years of research had failed to yield any definitive conclusions about the Quantum Realm, Old Pi was one of the smartest people in the Marvel Universe and had still managed to make some contact with the Quantum Realm's energy. During a previous test, he unexpectedly detected fluctuations of Quantum Realm energy in reality. He followed those fluctuations all the way to their source and ultimately found Li Congxin.

This also explained why Old Pi and Hope had sought out Li Congxin.

After hearing Old Pi's explanation, Li Congxin could not help frowning as he asked, "So you're saying that my body has always been carrying energy unique to the Quantum Realm?"

Thanks to book friend Lei Lan for the 2,000 Qidian coins!

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