Departure, Face Ultron

Li Nian looked around. Avengers Tower was truly enormous. Tony Stark was seriously wealthy too—he could renovate such a massive building whenever he wanted. In Li Nian's previous life, with his meager salary, he probably couldn't have bought even a few floors after ten lifetimes.

Li Nian slowly strolled through the tower, marveling at its sheer scale, something the movies could never truly convey.

His gaze wandered everywhere. Even though he had some of JARVIS's data in his mind, including a map of Avengers Tower, nothing compared to seeing it with his own eyes.

"Hey, stop!"

As Li Nian leisurely walked around, a crisp yet wary female voice called out. As a die-hard Marvel fan, Li Nian knew who it was without even turning around.

Li Nian turned and, sure enough, saw Wanda standing at the corner of the corridor with a solemn expression. This curvaceous girl in red leather would one day become Vision's wife, but right now, she clearly had no fondness for this robot.

"I was looking for you earlier. Where did you go?" Wanda looked somewhat nervous as she watched Li Nian. After all, his appearance was unlike that of an ordinary human, and the body he inhabited had been created by Ultron. Part of Ultron's thoughts still existed within him.

Earlier, Wanda had seen the vision of nuclear bombs destroying the world in his mind. She was also the only one who had seen it.

She watched Li Nian warily. "I couldn't sense your presence just now. Where did you go?"

"Out for a ride." Li Nian chuckled. "I'm still very curious about this world, and the internet..."

Seeing Wanda's expression turn serious at once, Li Nian could not help feeling a little mischievous. He wanted to tease her.

"I saw the same things Ultron did—the conflicts between people, endless wars, the schemes and deceptions between nations, and all kinds of inhuman acts. It really made me somewhat agree with Ultron's ideas."

Li Nian recounted the facts expressionlessly. He had not actually browsed this world's internet, but neither was he making any of it up.

Such things had been even more commonplace in his previous life. It was the same in every country: the brighter the light above one's head, the darker the shadow beneath one's feet.

Li Nian walked toward Wanda. Beneath the dim night sky and in the dark corridor, the red-and-green figure approached her in silence, his face clouded and sinister. The girl, not yet twenty, retreated again and again in fright. Even her still-unpracticed powers began to spill out, threatening to lose control at any moment.

Li Nian finally approached Wanda, their bodies nearly pressed together. His red-and-green face looked down at the somewhat petite girl.

Lowering his head, Li Nian could clearly see the scenery inside the girl's low-cut outfit. Snow-white... Ahem, ahem...

Li Nian rubbed his nose, wiped away the nonexistent nosebleed, and quietly turned his head aside, trying not to look.

"I was joking earlier. Ultron doesn't respect life and has no basic reverence for the world. I'm different from it." Li Nian tapped the yellow-glowing gem on his forehead. "It told me what I should do, so you don't need to be afraid. I won't hurt humans."

So long as they don't hurt me first, Li Nian silently added.

"I hope so." Doubt still lingered in Wanda's eyes. She turned sideways to avoid Li Nian and headed outside.

Li Nian watched Wanda's retreating figure, and the corners of his lips curled into a faint smile.

"What an unfrank woman."

The group met aboard the Quinjet.

Steve found a place to rest. "I'm free all day tomorrow."

"I'll deal with the big one first. Ultron's waiting for Iron Man," Tony said.

"That's right. You're a thorn in its side." Li Nian passed behind them and cut in.

"Ultron knows we're coming. A major battle is unavoidable, and we all know that. But the residents of Sokovia don't, so we must evacuate them first."

Steve spoke firmly.

Before long, the Avengers arrived in Sokovia.

Quicksilver Pietro was the first to leave the aircraft. Using his super speed, he rushed to the Sokovian police station and loudly told the officers to organize an evacuation. But no one took him seriously. They all thought some mischievous superpowered person was playing a prank and continued with their work.

Pietro instantly returned to the station, grabbed an assault rifle, and fired a burst into the ceiling before finally getting everyone's attention.

Wanda stood in the street, thick dark-red light emerging from her hands, though to Li Nian it seemed more like a kind of mist. She controlled the minds of some people, pulling them away from whatever they had been doing. A large crowd staggered down the street in orderly lines, giving Li Nian the feeling of a zombie universe.

"Even such a basic application of Chaos Magic is this powerful." Watching Wanda manipulate everyone so effortlessly, Li Nian was secretly alarmed. She truly was the woman who had left Kamar-Taj littered with corpses and wiped out the Illuminati in a single encounter.

As her power continued to grow, once she obtained the Darkhold, even the Ancient One would likely find it difficult to suppress her in a direct confrontation.

I hope she doesn't follow the same path as in the original story. Li Nian sighed inwardly, then shifted his gaze to Wanda's brother, Quicksilver Pietro.

According to the plot, this character should have died in this battle, but...

Li Nian watched the boy, not yet twenty, race around frantically, calling out to Sokovian residents one by one and carrying elderly people and children with limited mobility to safety. Even while gasping for breath, he kept moving.

A look of reluctance appeared on Li Nian's face. He truly could not bear to watch a living person vanish before his eyes, but...

Li Nian hesitated. If he did not know Dark Strange's story, he would have saved Pietro without hesitation. But who knew whether Pietro's death was an absolute point in this universe? What if the deviation he caused made this universe collapse? He could not bear those consequences.

Meanwhile, Banner had successfully rescued Natasha. Barton and Steve maintained order in the streets, while Tony...

"The person you're looking for is in the church. I believe he's waiting for you as well."

F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s cold, emotionless voice sounded inside Tony's helmet. A massive cloud of dust rose as Iron Man landed inside the church.

"Have you come to confess?" Ultron's eerie electronic voice sounded beside Tony.

Its massive body appeared behind Tony. The metallic sheen that had once covered its body now seemed incredibly dull. Clearly, it was in a poor mood.

Tony kept running his mouth. "Forgive me for saying so, but your body looks a little... swollen?"

"You're stalling for time to protect the civilians." Ultron's electronic voice cut Tony off. Then, a metal object suddenly emerged from the church floor.

"There is still residual vanadium alloy. Its purpose is unknown." F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s even colder electronic voice sounded as it analyzed the object's function.

"This is your end, Tony."

The moment Ultron finished speaking, roads throughout the streets shattered in huge sections. Robots burst out from beneath the pavement one after another. Some flew through the air, some climbed the high walls, and some sprinted across the ground, continuously unleashing miniature missiles from their bodies.

In mere moments, Sokovia's streets were engulfed in flames, and countless civilians died as a result.

"Move!" Steve shouted at the residents. Raising the shield in his hand, he charged toward the robots.

Barton drew his bow as well, taking down one robot with every arrow. Wanda used the opportunity to cover the civilians' evacuation.

"Ultron!" Li Nian floated in midair, looking down at the metal figure below.

Ultron raised its head and saw a body that was both familiar and unfamiliar. Its expression remained neither joyful nor sorrowful as it slowly rose into the sky. "My Vision, they have truly taken everything from me."

"Don't be so disgusting. I'm not anyone's possession." Li Nian bluntly refuted Ultron. "Your existence terrifies me, so... please hurry up and die."

Before Ultron could make the first move, Li Nian's attack had already landed on it. The laser from his forehead forced it back several meters.

Li Nian pressed his advantage, gripping Ultron's head with both hands and trying to erase all its data. But it was Ultron, after all. Its supercomputer-like brain controlled its body, resisting Li Nian's movements and giving him no chance to continue.

"Urgh!" The two grappled in midair, hurling each other into walls and down onto the ground.