Age of Ultron? The End

Unnoticed by everyone, a robot that had been severed at the waist was struggling toward the core machine. Finally, with no one guarding it, it pressed the device.

Steve watched the residents board the ships, his eyes still scanning around to see if anyone had been left behind.

The instant the device was pressed, Steve sensed that something was wrong and leaped onto a lifeboat.

The entire Sokovia was falling from an altitude of over ten thousand meters at an astonishing speed.

"Not good!"

Tony, positioned at the bottom, immediately sensed something was wrong. Before he could react, Sokovia crushed down on him and sent him plummeting toward the ground.

At the same time, every propulsion device on the ground activated, driving it downward even faster than natural freefall. At that speed and height, the entire Earth would be destroyed.

"Increase the power, F.R.I.D.A.Y.!" Tony shouted.

"No, the power supply has already reached its limit..." Before F.R.I.D.A.Y. could finish, Tony felt his armor run out of energy. Even the thrusters on his limbs could no longer function, and he fell from the sky.

"It's over!"

Tony looked unwillingly at the city above him, wanting to hold it up like stacking blocks. But he could only watch helplessly as it happened and reluctantly accept the reality.

Whoosh!

Tony suddenly felt as though something had caught him, like he was being carried in a princess hold.

"Don't give up, Stark!"

Through his visor, Tony saw Li Nian's strange red face. It was truly unforgettable.

The Mind Stone on Li Nian's forehead flashed repeatedly. He raised his head, took Tony's place, and released all his energy toward the device at the very bottom.

"Now, Thor!"

Li Nian roared.

Thor, still above Sokovia, instantly received the signal and raised Mjolnir high. In an instant, it was as if the thunder of the ninth heavens had descended upon the mortal world, descending with the might of the god of thunder.

The entire ground was wrapped in lightning. Thor swung a hammer of immense power, and together with Li Nian's laser, instantly shattered all of Sokovia into pieces.

The entire city exploded in the air like fireworks, accompanied by countless falling stones.

Li Nian transferred some of the Mind Stone's energy to Tony, restoring his propulsion system. Then the two began dodging the scattered falling debris.

"Ah!!"

A rescue ship was struck by the shockwave from the explosion. It had already been attacked by Ultron's robots, and now one of its propulsion devices suddenly malfunctioned, causing the entire ship to tilt to one side.

Wanda let out a terrified cry. She was aboard that ship, gathering chaos energy in her hands as she tried to lift the damaged section.

In fact, Wanda succeeded. With a pained expression, she moved her arms and forcibly stabilized the rescue ship.

But before she could catch her breath, she lost her footing. Her entire body fell, the energy in her hands vanished, and the whole ship began swaying again.

"Ah!!!"

The girl's body plummeted rapidly. She desperately waved her arms, trying to fly, but how could she use her power at such a life-or-death moment while in such a panicked state?

"Wanda!"

A furious roar like thunder reached the girl's ears. Then she felt her falling body seem to stop, and something cool touched her skin.

The girl dazedly opened her eyes, and Li Nian's strange face entered her sight. He was clearly a robot, yet his expression was so vivid.

Is that worry? Other than my brother, someone else is actually worried about me...

Wanda thought this, but her eyes remained fixed on Li Nian's face. She felt an inexplicable sense of closeness, as though she wanted to carve that face and that expression deep into her heart.

"Wanda..." Li Nian looked complicatedly at the girl in his arms. Although he had lusted after Olsen's body when watching the movies before, once he actually came into contact with her... he really did lust after Olsen's body!

"Wake up! We need you!" At this moment, Li Nian's reason still overcame his desire, though he had no chance of acting on that desire anyway.

The rescue ship above them was swaying unsteadily, as if it might fall at any moment. Li Nian pointed at the ship and said to Wanda.

"Stabilize it, Wanda! Only you can do it!"

Li Nian looked at the girl with absolute trust, because he knew that in the world of the movies, no one could deny that Wanda was the strongest. He could trust Wanda's strength unconditionally—unconditionally!

The girl in his arms finally came to her senses. She waved both arms, and scarlet energy spread outward, stabilizing the rescue ship. The residents aboard escaped disaster because of her and looked gratefully at the beautiful girl. Though they were covered in dust and grime, the sincerity in their eyes could not be faked.

"Enjoy it, my hero." After carrying Wanda back onto the rescue ship, Li Nian smiled at her, then flew down and used his body as a propulsion device.

Wanda looked restlessly at the residents. Not yet twenty, she had no idea what to do, so she simply flashed a flower-like beautiful smile and gained a whole crowd of admirers.

Yet all she could think about was that slightly comical face when she had opened her eyes, calling her name with an anxious expression.

Ultron's broken body crawled painfully through the forest. Half of its body had been destroyed beyond recognition, like a pile of mud. All kinds of mechanical components were exposed, occasionally sparking with electricity, signaling that it was not far from being scrapped.

Li Nian slowly descended in front of Ultron. The other Ultron robots had all been wiped out under War Machine's firepower, not a single one left.

"Let me make this clear first: I'm not your child."

"So what if you are? So what if you're not? It's all about to end, isn't it?" Ultron slowly rose to its feet. Its current body was its original one, not the ordinary robot body it had switched to at the end of the movie, since Wanda had not blown it apart.

"Stop pretending. I can feel that you're afraid," Li Nian said softly. When he watched the movie, he had only thought Ultron was a villain without much ability. It was not especially evil; it had merely had its understanding of the world altered by too much negative information.

At this moment, Li Nian only found Ultron somewhat pitiful, like a stray dog wagging its tail and begging at a passerby's feet. Perhaps it only looked pitiful, but maybe it had been abandoned because it bit people indiscriminately. Humans were always like this, often using a thing's current state to cover up the evil it had committed, using time to wear away past mistakes.

Even in his previous life, Li Nian had seen this kind of thing countless times. There were always online saints pleading for evildoers, saying they had only made a momentary mistake, that they were just children, that they had already apologized so what more did people want, that they had only done one wrong thing so why keep refusing to let it go, that they should be forgiven...

Li Nian only wanted to tell such people to shove it. Drunkenness, age, gender, and past experiences were never reasons to freely hurt others. Why should someone else pay the price for your miserable past? It was neither reasonable nor human.

The Ultron before him was like a child who had gone down the wrong path, but wrong was wrong. This was no petty mischief; this was the lives of an entire city. Li Nian pitied its way of thinking, but regarding what it had done, Li Nian could only say that Ultron had to be destroyed.

"Afraid of death? Do you know what kind of thing you're saying that to?" Ultron faced Li Nian without fear. As an artificial intelligence, it had analyzed every possibility, but the only possibility now was its death. There was no other path to survival.

"Stark wanted an assistant, but what he got was a lackey. Heh heh heh..." Ultron's words were filled with mockery toward Li Nian, utterly unrestrained. "They think you'll be the world's protector, but little do they know that you'll destroy everything, even after I die."

Li Nian fell silent. He neither dared nor could deny Ultron's words. In truth, it was indeed because all six Stones were eventually gathered that half of all life had turned to ashes.

"I admit I'm not a good guy, but you're wrong about one thing. I don't belong to anyone," Li Nian said in a low voice. He was a human with independent thought and emotions, merely wearing the shell of a robot.

"Humans are the same. You've seen too much darkness, so you're willing to stand within it. But I'm different. I stand in the sunlight, hoping to scatter the seeds of the sun across every corner of the world."

"Where there is light, there will be darkness. They are two completely different things that depend on each other. Heh, strange, isn't it?"

"But I hope that wherever I am, sunlight will shine down upon everyone. That is simply my wish."

Ultron said nothing. It turned its head and stubbornly said, "They are doomed."

"Yes." Li Nian did not deny Ultron's words. No race would remain the dominant one forever, but there would always be a dominant race.

Li Nian spoke the words that originally belonged to Vision. "But a thing is not beautiful because it lasts! I am honored to be one of them."

Ultron gave Li Nian a deep look, its scarlet electronic eyes seeming to convey its emotions. "You are hopelessly naive!"

"Ha..." Li Nian lowered his head and laughed. He said to Ultron, "Actually, I was only born yesterday..."

For a moment, golden light blossomed in the forest.