A Proposal

As Fang Bie entered, he casually took two wooden steps from a nearby chest. While the two men behind him struggled to climb the one-meter-high threshold, he easily set the steps beside the house.

"Could this be the legendary magic? Making something appear out of thin air?" Yinsen asked, looking dazed.

"It's merely an application of the rules," Fang Bie said modestly. He had shown them a little trick, then took two bowls from a nearby chest and placed them in front of the men.

The bowls were filled with fresh water. It hadn't taken much effort; he had stored a block of water in a high corner of the room.

As the two men watched, he seemed to manipulate invisible objects, bringing out a hunk of meat half as tall as he was. Then he used a Stone Sword to carefully cut it into several pieces and stacked them in front of the men.

"I don't have much to offer you, so let's start with some roast mutton to tide you over!" Fang Bie said with a smile.

In truth, neither man was very hungry, so they paid little attention to the food he'd brought out. They were simply astonished by the endless range of his powerful abilities.

At this point, the Marvel Universe was still very peaceful. The strange people and bizarre events roaming the world had yet to appear.

So, to two scientists whose outlook was almost entirely based on materialism, his abilities were no different from magic. If they hadn't been in a fundamentally abnormal world—and hadn't already had time to prepare themselves mentally—they would probably have had their entire worldview shattered by now.

Even so, the two men were still hardly at ease. Like startled birds, they remained tense, their muscles practically coiled tight.

"Relax. I'm no devil. Just answer my questions like before, and I won't make things difficult for you," Fang Bie reassured them.

Tony Stark was a true elite. He quickly recovered from the shock and held out a hand.

"Hello, I'm Tony Stark, a traveler who arrived here by accident."

Fang Bie held out his own hand. "Fang Bie, a pioneer in this world."

He wasn't a Marvel fan, but he had watched those sci-fi movies inside and out, so he knew these characters fairly well.

If he didn't make use of them now, wouldn't all his gaming skill go to waste?

No matter how these two had come from the Marvel Universe to stand before him, they were practically ready-made tools—no, that was wrong. They were like-minded teammates.

Watching the two of them shake hands, Yinsen quickly held out his own. "Yinsen, a medical doctor living far from home."

"Hello. It's nice to meet you," Fang Bie said. "May I ask why you two came here?"

"We were attacked by terrorists and captured. They made us build missiles, and then we accidentally discovered that stone doorway of yours and crossed over here," Tony said. He had already regained his composure. Though he still looked rather battered, he once again carried the air of a business elite.

Fang Bie still seemed as laid-back as ever, but his ability to casually produce things had kept the two men sitting across from him from entertaining any foolish ideas.

"I see. So you're refugees. Does that mean you're still under threat from the enemy, with your lives hanging by a thread?" Fang Bie asked. He knew all about situations like theirs, but he still had to play his part.

"Yeah! They threatened to kill us if we can't build a Jericho Missile within half a month," Yinsen added.

"Even if you do build it, they'll probably kill you anyway. It's just a matter of when," Fang Bie said offhandedly. "Since neither of you has anywhere to go back to, why not rest here for a while? At least I won't kill you."

Tony and Yinsen nodded. From their earlier conversation, they'd realized that this young Chinese man in front of them didn't seem to want to hurt them.

This was Fang Bie's territory. If he truly wanted to harm them, it would be easy enough with his abilities. All he had to do was leave them alone, and they wouldn't survive a night filled with monsters roaming everywhere.

After spending some time on edge, the two men were starting to feel ravenous. They'd been given food in the cave, but the terrorists weren't exactly going to provide them with anything decent.

Keeping them from starving to death had already been an act of great mercy.

Watching the two men wolf down the mutton before them, Fang Bie realized it was already noon. He took another piece of mutton from his Backpack and ate it himself.

There was no denying that eating with others felt completely different from eating alone. Fang Bie even thought the meat in his hand tasted better than it had the night before.

Now that they were in an environment with hardly any danger, Tony and Yinsen finally let go of their tension and slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

Once Fang Bie saw that they had finished eating and drained the water from their bowls, he asked, "You came through that stone door outside, right?"

"That's right!" Tony nodded. Having eaten his fill, he had regained some of his wealthy-man composure and no longer looked so battered. "We found the door by accident and came here."

"Weren't you worried the people outside might come in after you? From what you've told me, things didn't seem to be going well for you out there," Fang Bie asked curiously.

That was actually one of his main concerns. If a squad of soldiers really came charging in, he wouldn't come out of it unscathed either.

Tony immediately pointed to the watch on the wrist of the man beside him. Fang Bie recognized it, of course, and turned to the two men again, waiting to hear what they had to say.

"After we entered this world, the watch stopped ticking. The other pocket watch I left outside the door stopped too. In other words, it seems time in our world has stopped here!" Tony explained.

Maybe your watch is just broken, Fang Bie thought to himself. But then he suddenly received a message from the void explaining the time-stopping phenomenon. Since he had an explanation, he let the matter drop.

"Stopped? Is that really possible?" Fang Bie asked, pretending to be curious. "So, are you planning to go back?"

"Of course!" Tony's expression turned complicated. "I'm going to send those sons of bitches to hell, then tear apart the traitor who exposed my whereabouts!"

"Tony, we haven't escaped yet," the bald Yinsen said. He was still carefully watching their surroundings. "Let's get out first, then think about revenge!"

"Right!" Tony's impassioned expression suddenly faded. He knew that things like this couldn't be done all at once.

Taking the opportunity, Fang Bie voiced his idea. "It sounds like things weren't going well for you over there. Since time has stopped on that side, staying here shouldn't interfere with your plans for getting paid. Why not stay here for a while?"

"Stay here?"

"For a while?"

The two men looked thoughtful. This seemed... like a pretty good proposal!