Li Nian's Carelessness (Bonus Chapter)

The Avengers spread out to clear the robot troops. Quicksilver was the first to reach the streets. Seeing the horde of robots wreaking havoc around him, Pietro rolled his neck and instantly pushed his speed to the limit. The civilians could only see a blue-white afterimage streak through the streets, and then the robots fell scattered across the ground, not one left with an intact body.

Elsewhere, Li Nian was still trying to erase Ultron from the network. He knew the chances of success were actually slim, but he still had to try. If he succeeded, there would be no floating city later.

Bang!

Li Nian's momentary distraction did not escape Ultron's notice. Seizing the chance, Ultron drove a headbutt into Li Nian's forehead. Two heads harder than iron collided with a metallic clang.

Li Nian was knocked away by the blow, his hands slipping from Ultron's head as his whole body floated in midair.

Ultron clutched its metal head. Though it had no expression, anyone could tell it was furious—utterly furious.

"Do you think this is enough to make me care?"

Ultron roared and flew toward Li Nian, grabbing him by the throat. Fortunately, Li Nian had been prepared. His body instantly turned intangible, and Ultron passed straight through him before it could react.

"You took my body!"

Ultron roared in fury, the madness in its eyes nearly swallowing it whole.

"You deserved it!" Li Nian mocked Ultron without mercy. The Mind Stone on his forehead flashed, then fired a dazzling yellow laser straight at Ultron, blasting its body into a stone wall.

"Your scheme ends here."

Li Nian floated in the air, looking down at the fallen Ultron. "You cannot destroy our world, just as you cannot take my body from me."

"But it can."

Ultron lay on the ground, speaking with a sinister look.

Li Nian froze for a moment before realizing what Ultron meant. He hurriedly turned to check the vanadium alloy device.

A common robot soldier had silently crept up to the machine. Li Nian had been fighting Ultron the entire time and had not even noticed how that robot soldier had gotten there.

"No!"

Knowing what was about to happen, Li Nian cried out in terror. The laser from his forehead instantly sliced the robot soldier in half.

But he was still one step too late.

Before dying, the robot soldier activated the device. At once, countless faint blue lights emerged from beneath the ground where Thor was, startling him into stopping to investigate.

The people on the ground suddenly discovered that the road beneath their feet was cracking apart, the fissures widening by the second. In the blink of an eye, the ground was divided into two sections. Seeing this, the people screamed in panic and scattered in all directions, not even caring when they ran out of their shoes.

Then something appeared that shocked everyone.

The city beneath their feet—Sokovia—was slowly rising into the air. Like a rocket launch on television, it carried the entire city and the people who had yet to evacuate into the sky.

"We're finished!"

Li Nian flew into the air and stared at the scene in disbelief. Countless chunks of rubble rained down, striking people near the fractured edges with broken stones and bricks, knocking them to the ground. Some fell directly into the fissures, never to move again... Misery was everywhere, so dreadful that Li Nian could barely bear to watch.

Having broken free from Li Nian's entanglement, Ultron flew directly above Sokovia and gazed upon the magnificent tragedy with a look of intoxication.

"Do you see it? What a beautiful sight. It was destined to happen. You rise, and you are bound to fall."

"You Avengers are my incomparably sharp sword. With your fall, the Earth itself will shatter."

"Erase me from the computer, fight me with my own flesh and blood—it is meaningless. When the dust settles, the only thing left in this world..."

"Will be metal!"

In the distance, Dr. Banner led Natasha out of the prison. In the midst of such an apocalyptic scene, the two of them actually began kissing passionately. Westerners really were so open.

As the kiss deepened, Natasha suddenly shoved Dr. Banner into the deep pit and looked rationally into the bottomless darkness.

"We need another person to finish the mission."

Then a huge green figure leaped onto the ground, grinning wickedly at Natasha.

Tony, clad in his red-and-gold Iron Man armor, flew away from Sokovia and scanned the floating city, searching for a way to press it back down, like fitting a puzzle back into the earth.

"The vanadium alloy core possesses intense magnetic force. The magnetic field is holding the rocks together. If it falls, countless people will die! If it rises to a certain altitude, the entire Earth will be destroyed!"

F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s emotionless voice sounded inside Tony's helmet as he watched Sokovia tear free from the ground with a grim expression.

Tony could not worry about that now. Since there was no way to push Sokovia back down, he would save people first.

At that moment, all the Avengers were hurriedly evacuating the crowd and rescuing residents trapped in various places. They also had to endure attacks from the robots, inevitably suffering some injuries.

"Damn Ultron!"

Li Nian had just flown near a building and brought out the residents trapped inside when the building collapsed right before his eyes. He had no idea how many lives had been buried beneath the rubble.

The sight made his eyes split with rage. He had never hated himself so much. He had been so close to stopping Ultron's plan. He possessed extraordinary power, yet he could not save everyone. Helplessly, he watched one tragic scene after another unfold before him, standing there in a daze.

"Vision? Vision!"

An urgent voice in his ear jolted him out of his stupor.

"If you can wake up from your robot daydream, I'd be very grateful!"

Tony's voice sounded in his ear. At that moment, Tony was rescuing residents trapped in a building, still talking as he worked.

"I failed. I couldn't stop Ultron..."

Li Nian said remorsefully.

"Don't live in the past." Tony set a family down safely and glanced in Li Nian's direction. "Be a realist. Get the residents to safety now instead of standing there like an old man fishing. The sun won't stop setting because of you."

Tony's words snapped Li Nian awake.

That's right. Since what had happened could not be undone, he should reduce the damage it caused as much as possible.

"Thank you, Stark."

Li Nian flew into the air, weaving between buildings in search of residents buried beneath the ruins. At the same time, the Mind Stone on his forehead continuously fired lasers, slicing apart every Ultron robot he saw.