Ten Rings

Qin Yi pulled the tear-streaked Morgan into his arms, ruffled the seven-year-old girl's hair, then looked doubtfully at Pepper, who was crying as well.

Feeling that something was wrong, Qin Yi hurriedly asked,

"Pepper, where are Tony, Uncle, and Aunt Maria?"

At Qin Yi's words, Morgan and Pepper cried even harder. Qin Yi helplessly watched the big and small pair bawling loudly,

then hurriedly spread his psychic power across the entire Howard Estate and searched.

There was no trace of Uncle Howard, Aunt Maria, or Tony.

Then, in the image conveyed by his psychic power, two gravestones stood in the backyard. Qin Yi's body swayed.

His mind went blank with a boom. Holding the crying little girl, Qin Yi slowly patted Morgan's back. Before long, she fell asleep in his arms.

After laying Morgan on the sofa and covering her with a blanket, Qin Yi asked Pepper what had happened recently.

Only then did Qin Yi learn from Pepper that he had been gone for two years.

In the first few days after he disappeared, Uncle Howard and Maria had fallen ill.

Qin Yi ran a hand over the familiar furniture.

Memories of every little moment he had shared with Aunt Maria over the past sixteen years surfaced before his eyes.

"Are you hungry, Little Qin?"

"Try this. Auntie just made some Chinese food."

"Bring the girl you like home someday. Auntie will help you take a look at her."

The tears falling from his eyes told Qin Yi again and again that this was not a dream. It was real.

Qin Yi blamed himself.

It's all my fault. If I hadn't left, you wouldn't have passed away so soon.

Qin Yi stared blankly for a long time before remembering something.

Their life force had drained far too quickly back then. There had to be something wrong. Once he rescued Tony, he would look for other clues.

If that failed, he could only go to that god of rules representing "Death" and snatch their souls back, even if he might not be able to defeat those rule gods.

Qin Yi could no longer worry about that much.

He quietly listened as Pepper told him about everything that had happened recently.

But—

What made Qin Yi feel even more that something was wrong was that Tony had actually been kidnapped. Could this be the universe correcting itself again?

Judging by the appearance of the terrorists Pepper had described, they should be members of the Ten Rings.

But it was strange that Bucky, who had taken the Heart-Shaped Herb and possessed a Wakandan Vibranium suit, had been kidnapped alongside him. Moreover, the suitcase Tony had brought to Afghanistan should have contained the portable Mark 5.

How could two people with such extraordinary combat strength have been kidnapped by a group of terrorists armed with guns?

Unless—

It was that guy who had lived for thousands of years. A figure surfaced in Qin Yi's mind.

"Pepper, don't worry. I'll go see Uncle and Aunt Maria, then head to Afghanistan to look for them."

In the backyard of Howard Estate,

Qin Yi knelt before the graves of Howard and Maria.

He remained silent for a moment.

Then he vanished before Pepper's eyes along with a spatial vortex.

Pepper took a deep breath. Tony, Qin has gone to save you.

At a Ten Rings base somewhere in Afghanistan,

The injuries on Tony and Bucky's bodies had mostly healed. A man stood before them, speaking for a long time.

The two did not quite understand what the man meant. Tony casually glanced once more at the ten silver rings around the man's forearms.

Those things had effortlessly knocked out both him and Bucky.

The man continued speaking to himself.

"Stark, you have truly given me a great surprise. Originally, I only wanted you to help manufacture some conventional weapons to equip the Ten Rings' members. But this armor of yours has given me another idea.

"Stark, look at this world, filled with war and chaos. Don't you think the world should not be this way?

"We can work together and build a peaceful world, one without war or oppression."

Tony and Bucky exchanged a glance as they watched the man before them gradually grow frenzied.

During the three months they had been kidnapped and imprisoned, Tony finally understood why Qin Yi had been so disgusted by Stark Industries' weapons.

Whenever he saw these terrorists using Stark Industries weapons to slaughter civilians, Tony wished he could return immediately and shut down the weapons manufacturing division.

What made Tony suspicious was that he had never signed an agreement to sell weapons to Afghanistan in recent years. Who had done it?

Tony's thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.

He stared blankly at the suddenly appearing spatial vortex. From far within it came a teasing voice.

"So this is what you've amounted to after living for thousands of years?"

Wenwu, standing nearby, was also startled by the sudden vortex and failed to react for a moment.

He looked up at the figure stepping out of the vortex, a question rising in his heart. Why was it him, Stark's younger brother?

Qin Yi turned to glance at Tony and Bucky's resentful expressions, then shrugged.

"You two look pretty miserable."

Wenwu did not attack immediately.

He was not sure whether Qin Yi's combat strength was as formidable as his elusive methods.

He smiled and spoke to Qin Yi.

"I truly did not expect Mr. Qin Yi to be a superpowered individual as well. If you are willing to join us, I will be even more confident."

Qin Yi stared curiously at Wenwu.

He could not understand these people who had lived for thousands of years. Were ideas like ruling the world really so enticing to them?

In his previous life,

As an utterly ordinary person, Qin Yi's dream had been to own a home of his own.

It was not as though he had never had grand dreams, but as he grew older, life had weighed him down until he could barely lift his head, much less dream.

After dying unexpectedly, meeting that scammer System 89757, and arriving in the Marvel world seventeen years ago,

At first, Qin Yi had thought only of becoming stronger, so that after the future fifty-percent-chance snap, he would not have to gamble on whether he could survive.

As his strength grew, the side effects of Fairy Force meant that for at least one-third of his time over the years, Qin Yi had been eating to suppress that damned hunger.

Although the fact that he could eat endlessly without getting full or even gaining weight might make others envious,

When he went to the Zombie Universe,

Qin Yi had been curious on one hand about just how strong he had become, and on the other, worried that the zombie virus might spread to this universe.

After his hunger level exceeded 80%, Qin Yi no longer wanted to fight anyone.

He mostly moved between Kamar-Taj and Howard Estate, occasionally going to the academy to study with a group of elderly professors devoted to technological research.

Until two years ago,

Qin Yi traveled to another universe to deal with a witch who might pose a threat to little Wanda's safety.

Unexpectedly, Qin Yi, who had tried to talk his way out of fighting, failed to persuade the Scarlet Witch of that universe.

The witch suddenly unleashed an inexplicable burst of energy.

Sensing a threat to his life, Qin Yi had no choice but to devour the energy within the witch.

His hunger level broke past 100%, transforming him into a terrifying vortex that devoured that already shattered universe completely.

Fortunately, Qin Yi still had his cheat ability. That scammer System 89757 resolved his hunger problem.

Now that the shackle of hunger had been removed from him, Qin Yi only wanted to retrieve Uncle Howard and Aunt Maria's souls, marry little Wanda, and lie on the balcony basking in the sun.

Meanwhile,

Wenwu could not quite figure out Qin Yi's attitude toward his invitation.

All he saw was Qin Yi staring at him curiously for several minutes, as though he were pondering something.

A thought rose in Wenwu's heart. He spread his arms, intending to control the Ten Rings and smash them toward Qin Yi.

However,

Something was not quite right. The Ten Rings, which had accompanied him for thousands of years, did not move at all on his arms.

Then Qin Yi, standing opposite him, casually waved a hand.

Wenwu watched with a conflicted expression as the Ten Rings that had accompanied him for thousands of years flew from his arms toward Qin Yi as though trying to please him.

This feeling was already somewhat wrong.