Return

A week later,

"Are you really planning to go back? This spatial connection point is still somewhat unstable. Mistakes are bound to happen." Otto and Li Nian stood beside a massive device, located precisely where Li Nian had crossed over last year.

"Yeah, I've been here too long. It's time to go back." Li Nian nodded, recalling the Avengers. "They're comrades who fought beside me through life and death. Even though I've spent more time with you, that is where my home is."

Li Nian silently thought, This was only his home in this world.

He missed his original home dearly—the home he had before crossing into Marvel—but he also knew that, barring a miracle, he would probably never be able to return there in this lifetime.

Everything here has come to an end. It's time for me to go back too.

After the battle at the Brooklyn Bridge, the entire structure had been nearly destroyed. Flint was arrested on the spot. Before being shoved into the police car, Flint turned to look at Li Nian and Otto, his eyes carrying a trace of regret.

"I'm sorry... I didn't choose to trust you. I'm sorry."

After apologizing, Flint followed the police into the car. As he looked out the window, this man who had disregarded all consequences would ultimately face justice. No one knew what sentence awaited him. He might spend the rest of his life in prison, be sentenced to death, or perhaps be hidden away and experimented on like a lab rat.

"Wait!" Li Nian hesitated for a moment before stepping forward and knocking on the car window.

"Hm?" Flint looked at Li Nian in confusion and saw him take out a phone and quietly play a video.

"Daddy!"

"Penny!" The moment Flint heard his daughter's voice, he anxiously looked toward the screen, pressing his face against the car window.

"Two uncles came to our house today. They brought this really big, really comfy bed. It was cold and nice, and they had me lie in it."

"And then... then it was so comfortable that I fell asleep... When I woke up, Mommy hugged me and cried. She said I was better and didn't need to take medicine anymore."

"Daddy, did you hear that? I'm better! I can go to school now! I can play with Mommy!"

Penny's childish, cheerful laughter rang out from the video. Flint's eyes reddened. A hardened man who never easily spoke of the injuries and pain he suffered finally shed tears.

"Daddy, when are you coming back? Mommy and I both miss you!"

"Penny... Penny..." Flint finally broke down sobbing at the screen. His words were muffled and unclear, but Li Nian knew exactly what he was saying.

"Thank you... Thank you..."

"Flint," Li Nian said to him through the car window.

"I'll hire a lawyer to defend you and do my best to make sure you walk out of prison alive. But you may still have to spend a few more years in there."

Flint said nothing, but his bloodshot eyes were enough to reveal how he felt.

Li Nian watched Flint being taken away by the police, his heart filled with complicated emotions, yet there was nothing he could do.

That was how society worked. If you had no money, no power, and no capable relatives or friends, then you were nothing more than a lowly citizen. Your life was worth less than the dogs owned by the rich.

Some might say that no matter what, he should not have committed a crime. But in truth, no one cared about a penniless man. Such cases existed even in Eastern countries, let alone in a nation so thoroughly controlled by capitalists.

Never urge kindness upon others when you have not endured their suffering.

Li Nian slowly walked over to Eddie's shriveled body. The man before him was completely different from the muscular monster he had been half an hour ago.

Eddie had been hypnotized into sleep by the Mind Stone. His body had nearly been hollowed out by Venom's greed, every organ on the verge of failure. Even if no one did anything to him, he would not live much longer.

Looking at Eddie's emaciated body, Li Nian felt no sympathy for someone rotten to the core. His miserable end was no more than what he deserved. Li Nian only wanted the ring on his hand—the strange ring gleaming with black light.

"Why didn't Peter come see me off? I've helped him take care of Aunt May plenty of times."

"Then don't blame him. Peter is a very busy man now." Otto smiled. "Ever since the battle at the Brooklyn Bridge, Spider-Man has gained a whole new wave of rabid fans. Whenever Peter goes out as Spider-Man, he gets surrounded by crowds of fans. Some of the more capable ones have even tracked down the areas Peter frequents and wait there every day. He barely dares to leave the house now."

"And Harry. Even though they cleared up the misunderstanding, he still holds a grudge against Peter. He sent people to secretly watch Peter near his house. They don't do anything, just stare at him. Peter has to keep his curtains drawn even when he's at home."

"Can you imagine having two huge bodyguards in black suits watching you wherever you go? Watching you work, date, or even buy things at the store? That's what Peter is dealing with now."

Li Nian laughed when he heard that. Harry was really something, using such a method to mess with Peter's head. Still, he understood. It let Harry enjoy himself without hurting his friend. If it were Li Nian, he would probably dig through the other guy's browser history until he hit rock bottom.

"That symbiote... what are you planning to do with it?"

"Of course I'm taking it back," Li Nian said decisively. "That thing is too dangerous. I need to bring it back and study it with our technology."

What Li Nian was actually thinking was that if Venom could appear on Earth, then this universe must also have a symbiote planet. Perhaps they had already sent symbiotes to life-bearing planets throughout the universe.

If Venom were left alone, it might find some way to notify the symbiote planet and lead to Earth being invaded by symbiotes.

After all, this world had no Avengers. Peter, Otto, and Harry would only be crushed.

Li Nian discreetly glanced at the black ring on his hand. This thing was also one of the main culprits behind the coyotes' mutation. The other was Strange.

When the spacetime distortion occurred, one of Strange's arms had been annihilated and severed. The black magic runes on it leaked out, and this universe's spacetime passage just happened to be unstable. Some of the black magic runes were transported into this world, where they happened to be encountered by those coyotes.

"But how did this thing get here? Do the Infinity Stones have a way to connect two multiverses? The Source Wall isn't cheap junk. Don't tell me the DC universe is full of counterfeit products."

The ring on Li Nian's hand was the Black Lantern Ring from the DC universe, representing death and despair!

The Black Lantern Ring usually attached itself only to corpses, gaining power by devouring colored light energy and the lives of the living. It was an extremely evil weapon.

Eddie had likely been able to wear it because Venom had kept him in a near-death state of organ failure for so long. As for Li Nian, perhaps it was because this body was not human, or because he had already experienced death once.

Li Nian could feel the depleted power within the Black Lantern Ring. Ever since he put it on, the Mind Stone's warnings had not stopped. It had even become unwilling to release energy now, leaving Li Nian helpless. Without the Mind Stone's assistance, his combat power had been severely reduced.

"A lousy rock has a temper too. Once I pry you off, I'll use you as a paperweight!"

Li Nian muttered under his breath.

"Are you ready?" Doctor Otto stood before the control console and asked reluctantly. "Are you really not staying here?"

Li Nian silently shook his head. Although he had spent the longest time in this world, he still had more important things to do.

"I think you and Stark would have plenty to talk about if you ever got the chance."

Li Nian said his final farewell to Doctor Otto.

Amid the crackling of electricity, a spacetime vortex appeared behind Li Nian.

Li Nian took one last look at this world—the familiar sky, free of excessive pollution, and the birds flying past.

"If I ever get the chance, I really want to retire here..."