Reincarnation World

Time rewound to one month ago.

Fu Qinghai was not from Qinghai; it was just that his grandfather had once worked in the countryside there. Perhaps the experience as an educated youth gave him a special affection for that highland land, which led him to name his grandson Fu Qinghai.

As an ordinary corporate drone who spent his days at work researching how to slack off more efficiently, Fu Qinghai never imagined that something like sudden death would happen to him.

Yet, he had transmigrated.

He must have transmigrated. In any case, this boundless space filled with white light was beyond Fu Qinghai's comprehension. He did not consider possibilities like reality shows or pranks, because when he looked down and found he couldn't see his feet or even his own body, he became convinced he had transmigrated.

"Floating" in this boundless space filled with soft white light, Fu Qinghai asked with his thoughts:

"Where am I? Who kidnapped me?"

No one answered.

Suddenly, a piece of information appeared abruptly in Fu Qinghai's mind.

Name: Fu Qinghai (Real Name)
Reincarnator ID: 60731920
Race: Human (Earthling)
Height: 183cm
Weight: 70kg
Abilities: None
Reincarnation Equipment: None
Assimilation Points: 0
World Anchor: X1
Reincarnation Lives: X3

Fu Qinghai stopped asking questions and carefully pondered this information.

Although he didn't understand many of the terms, looking at this familiar style, it seemed to be an infinite-style world?

"Did I transmigrate into an infinite-style world?"

[Reincarnation begins!]

The information in his mind appeared once again.

Before Fu Qinghai could figure it out, a suction force dragged his consciousness into a vortex that had appeared out of thin air.

His consciousness plunged into darkness.

"Clang... clang... clang..."

It was the sound of tracks clattering outside the window that roused Fu Qinghai from his stupor.

"Ugh..." Fu Qinghai rubbed his head, frowned, and sat up from the bed. He saw a light rail train passing by outside the window, then began to examine the furnishings in the room.

A shabby, messy little motel room, presumably.

On the nightstand lay an old newspaper, a few cigarette butts, and an empty liquor bottle.

And a social security ID card.

Fu Qinghai picked up the blue and white patterned social security ID card, which read:

Albert Fu, 078-XX-XXXX.

So my name is "Albert Fu," a Chinese-American, and this string of numbers is probably the social security number, similar to an ID number, Fu Qinghai thought silently.

[Welcome to the Main Reincarnation World, Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999 Universe) - SSS-Rank]

That familiar message appeared out of thin air in his mind again.

[You have obtained a new identity, automatically loading skill: English Proficiency]

[Before beginning your adventure in the Reincarnation World, you have received an exclusive gift pack for new Reincarnators--1 opportunity to freely choose your main faction]

[Please choose]

[A. Avengers faction storyline, B. Loki faction storyline, C. Dark Elves faction storyline, D. Do not choose]

From this prompt and the date on the newspaper on the nightstand, it could be roughly inferred that it was the second half of 2013 in the MCU, the timeline of the movie Thor: The Dark World.

Fu Qinghai sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his chin as he pondered. In his past life, while slacking off at work, he had read quite a few infinite-style novels. Although he hadn't figured out which version this was, it didn't stop him from thinking about his current situation.

The main plot of Thor: The Dark World took place in the mythical world, the home of the Norse gods—Asgard—while the secondary plot took place in England. New York was not where the plot occurred.

And now, Fu Qinghai was in New York.

As a Reincarnator, should he participate in the main storyline? Fu Qinghai wondered.

But the more pressing issue facing Fu Qinghai now was not how to participate in the main plot of Thor 2, but rather—

As an ordinary human from Earth, how could he possibly get involved in a mythical alien war between Thor and the Dark Elves?

On the other hand, let alone an astronomer, Fu Qinghai wasn't even an astronomy enthusiast.

He couldn't even squeeze into the inner circle of Thor's girlfriend, Jane Foster.

Even if he did manage to squeeze in, he'd likely just be a background extra or cannon fodder.

"Even if I do squeeze in... I'd still be an outsider," Fu Qinghai sighed.

[Please make your selection as soon as possible.] The voice in his mind prompted him again.

"I choose A: Avengers faction storyline."

Without a doubt, after confirming that he was just an ordinary person from Earth with no ability to rewrite the plot, Fu Qinghai naturally chose the side that won in the original story.

Maybe he could just ride the coattails to victory, right?

Choose Loki? Would Loki even want him? Besides, the great god Loki in the MCU was often in a state where he couldn't even protect himself.

Choose the Dark Elves? Why would a pure-blooded Earthling want to be a Dark Elf sympathizer? The Dark Elves were openly and blatantly racist.

As for the last option: D. Do not choose. That probably wouldn't be a good option either.

[Faction selection confirmed. Once the Reincarnator takes actions that successfully push the faction toward its expected ending, Assimilation Points will be awarded.]

Got it. So, I just need to work hard to help the good guys defeat the villains! Fu Qinghai understood instantly.

But this brought him back to the original problem—how could someone as weak as Fu Qinghai participate in the battles of superheroes?

By working hard and paying taxes to the state and federal governments as a roundabout way to defeat the villains?

That's way too roundabout.

[Please begin your reincarnation adventure.]

One step at a time. Let's find a place to get online first. Fu Qinghai stood up, packed his few belongings, paper money, and credit cards, and left the room.

Inside a dim, small internet cafe in Queens, New York, the faint glow of the screen illuminated Fu Qinghai's face.

It was a method many transmigrators would think of: making waves in the US stock market within the MCU.

For example, shorting Stark Industries before Tony Stark was kidnapped by the Ten Rings, and then going long on Stark Industries before Tony Stark returned and announced he was Iron Man.

Although the timeline had already reached 2012 and the Battle of New York was over, if he thought about it carefully, he could probably still find similar opportunities. The key problem was that the money in Fu Qinghai's hands wasn't even enough to survive until next month, let alone play the stock market.

Back in the day, Chen Daozai turned 20 dollars into 37 million, but I, Fu Qinghai... I don't even have enough for next month's burgers.

Better consider finding a job first. Retail investors can play the US stock market, but the destitute cannot.

Fu Qinghai browsed an advertisement he had stumbled upon for an internship at a project group under Stark Industries, and his eyes narrowed.

Hmm?

This is an opportunity!

As the most popular guy in the MCU (the most popular in the comic universe is Spider-Man), Tony Stark's company was naturally the birthplace of countless Marvel black technologies. If he could sneak into Stark Industries, he might find a chance to participate in the Iron Man storyline and further secure corresponding Assimilation Points.

Even without considering the storyline, Stark Industries was an endless treasure trove. What was inside?

There was the cold fusion reactor from the first Iron Man suit (the ARC Reactor), a powerful and clean energy source; various advanced and devastating micro-missile technologies; small propulsion technologies superior to modern jet turbofan engines and rocket propellant engines; and the Tesseract (Space Stone) isotope, which was the energy source for later Iron Man suits and a nearly infinite, powerful energy source. All of these...

As he thought about it, Fu Qinghai could almost feel himself drooling, his mind already fast-forwarding to the plot where he became the CEO of Stark Industries and married a wealthy New York socialite.

A tall building rises from the ground; glory can only be achieved by oneself. All of this had to start with becoming an intern at Stark Industries!

Decided! After carefully reviewing the specific requirements in the job advertisement, Fu Qinghai typed a familiar URL into the address bar; he needed to download a configurator.

Then, he entered the Deep Web.

He had to start by searching the Deep Web, trying to find a document forger who could provide fake credentials and accept offline cash transactions, since he didn't have any electronic currency.

As a newcomer, Fu Qinghai didn't have access to these gray-market channels and could only rely on the Deep Web.

This was the Deep Web, still a step away from the Dark Web. It wasn't criminal, so he didn't have to worry about the "FBI open the door" just yet.

The job posting only required undergraduates from the top ten US News universities, but Fu Qinghai decided to go for a heavy blow—an energy-oversaturated attack—by getting a Ph.D. degree to increase his chances of being hired.

Plan successful!

After fumbling around for a month, Fu Qinghai finally got what he wanted.

It had also cost him almost all of his savings.

In the taxi, Fu Qinghai straightened the collar of his newly tailored suit once more, thinking that if he messed this up, he might have to go begging on the streets or washing dishes at a Chinese restaurant.

"I won't be the first Reincarnator to starve to death, will I?" With this anxiety, Fu Qinghai stepped out of the taxi.