One After Another

Li Nian floated in midair, his gaze locked firmly on the monster, confusion written across his face.

Could it really be that I caused some uncontrollable change in this world? Li Nian felt that possibility was very likely. The explosion of the Infinity Stones could bring him into this universe, so it was also possible that it had brought other uncontrollable things here.

At the time, several universes had already overlapped spatially. If there happened to be a monster in one of those overlapping universes that occupied the same position as Li Nian, then it was not impossible for it to have been brought here as well.

The Infinity Stones contained the power of time and space.

Li Nian wore a grave expression as he considered how to deal with the monster, when he suddenly sensed movement beneath him. Looking down, he saw a red, vein-covered arm shoot up from below and seize his calf.

"What?!" Before Li Nian could react, the suddenly appearing monster slammed him wildly against the ground, three times to the left and three times to the right. It even lifted him up to inspect him before pressing him back to the ground, its thick, sharp fists raining down on Li Nian's face until he was dazed.

Li Nian understood instantly. It had used its unique bodily mechanism to shed its skin. That mass of high-temperature flesh from before had actually been an empty shell; its real body had long since burrowed underground, waiting for the right moment.

Whoosh!

A thin strand of webbing stuck to the monster's descending fist and pulled hard.

"Mr. Li! I'm here to save you!"

Peter, dressed in his Spider-Man suit, hurried to the scene. He and Mary Jane had been enjoying Mexican barbecue when they unexpectedly heard that a monster was wreaking havoc in the streets and had been taken away by Li Nian.

After hearing that, Peter had left Mary Jane behind and rushed over. He had arrived just in time to see Li Nian getting brutally beaten.

Peter flew forward and kicked it more than ten meters away. "Mr. Li, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Li Nian rubbed his throbbing head. "This monster has gained intelligence, and it has an extremely powerful ability to evolve. Can you imagine that ten minutes ago, it was still an egg with tentacles?"

"That thing has nothing to do with an egg, no matter how you look at it." Peter stared at the enormous, completely unscathed creature before him, his voice trembling slightly.

The monster rose to its feet. Its two thick arms were fully two-thirds of its body length, and it stood more than half a head taller than Peter. Its head had changed from a sphere into something more canine. There were no fangs in its sharp, narrow mouth; instead, it was filled with crimson eyeballs that rolled about as they stared at the two men.

"Mr. Li... why do I feel like... like it wants to eat both of us..." Peter was somewhat afraid. He was naturally interested in unknown creatures like this, but something so strange and dangerous inevitably stirred up fear as well.

"Don't look away!" Li Nian said sternly. "That thing's intelligence is no lower than an ordinary person's."

A wave of panic rose in Li Nian's heart. This monster had evolved three times in such a short period! If there was more than one of them, then Earth would face an unprecedented crisis.

"We have to kill it!" Li Nian's eyes turned fierce as he charged forward first. Lasers continuously struck its hard torso, while Peter nimbly attacked from the side, punching and kicking the monster's body, leaving dent after dent. But they quickly returned to normal.

This ability was simply too overpowered. Their repeated attacks only made it angrier.

"Mr. Li! Did you notice? Its body seems to be getting smaller!" Peter used his webbing to bind the monster into a cocoon. Tough strands wrapped around it layer by layer. The monster struggled violently and roared, but for the moment, it could not break free.

"And its body temperature is getting lower and lower," Li Nian said thoughtfully. "Every time it recovers from an injury, it consumes its own energy. This seems to be irreversible."

"Its body seems to have reached a limit. There is no room left for evolution."

"Roar!" The monster broke through Peter's webbing. Its crimson eyeballs all turned toward Peter, and it charged straight at him. Its sharp claws reached Peter in an instant, determined to tear this annoying guy to pieces.

Ping!

Li Nian used his body to block the attack for Peter, and it did not leave a single mark on him.

"Now that we know its abilities, this is much easier." Li Nian threw a punch into the monster's jaw. "Cut off as many of its limbs as possible. Once separated from the main body, they immediately lose their vitality."

"Honestly, I've never done anything this gross before." Peter swung through the trees, constantly firing webbing from his hands to disrupt its movements. Li Nian increased his output, cutting a bone-deep gash into the monster's arm. "Peter!"

"Coming!" Peter dropped from a tree and grabbed that arm. Li Nian seized the monster's body as well, allowing it to clamp its jaws down on him without moving an inch.

"Aah!" Peter tore off the monster's left arm with all his strength, pulling so hard that he nearly fell to the ground himself.

"Roar!" The monster howled in agony. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Li Nian phased his body and thrust his head into the monster's body, then...

A flash of golden light swept through it. The Mind Stone's energy exploded within the monster, instantly blasting red-black flesh and blood in every direction. A large portion splattered onto Peter, disgusting him so badly that he nearly vomited. He pinched his nose and did not dare move.

"Great, now Aunt May is going to scold me again."

Li Nian did not find it disgusting. After all, he had no sense of smell, and his metal body could be wiped clean easily. Looking at the monster, now broken into several pieces, he saw that most of its body was still wriggling. The pieces that lay close together seemed to sprout countless tiny hands, tangling together as they tried to restore themselves.

Li Nian kicked away a chunk of flesh, ignoring the monster's wails. The monster, which had originally been three meters tall, was now less than two meters in size. Half its body had vanished, and several of its crimson eyeballs had burst.

The scattered chunks of flesh gradually stopped moving, and even the main body's struggles grew weaker and weaker.

"Just as expected, its regenerative power comes at the cost of its own life force and stamina. The stronger the recovery, the greater its own depletion."

Li Nian stepped on the monster's still-struggling head. Though his face carried a smile, his eyes concealed deep solemnity and hope. He had seen hope of returning home!

"Peter! Let's go! Take its corpse to Otto for some research."

Neither of them had any storage equipment, and neither knew magic, so they could only carry the monster's corpse as they flew over the city.

"I remember this street wasn't attacked, was it...?"

Peter crouched atop a skyscraper, staring uneasily at the wrecked street below as he spoke in confusion.

Li Nian stopped as well. He also remembered that this street had not been attacked by the monster. How could it be... Could Sandman have appeared ahead of time?

"Mr. Li, look! It's Dr. Otto!" Peter suddenly shouted, pointing in one direction.

Li Nian focused his gaze. Four metallic tentacles suddenly extended from behind a wall, followed by Dr. Otto himself. He had several new wounds on his body, and even the sunglasses he always wore were nowhere to be seen. Bloody chunks of black flesh were mixed among his tentacles...

"Dr. Otto!" Peter leaped down from the skyscraper and asked Otto nervously, "What happened? Why is this place..."

"A monster." Otto took a deep breath, tugging at the corner of his mouth. Li Nian could see the bruises on his face and the bloodstains on his chest. Clearly, after they had left, Dr. Otto had gone through a bloody battle as well.

"This thing... suddenly appeared in the street and began destroying everything. I hadn't planned to get involved, but it attacked very close to my laboratory."

Only then did Peter and Li Nian notice that Otto's tentacles had impaled a bloody corpse. Red veins spread across its entire body, like a skinned dog.