The End of Superheroes

## Chapter 1: The End of Superheroes

"If this is a nightmare, I'd better wake up soon."

Zhang Ye walked along Spadina Avenue in New York, like a living corpse.

The dazzling sunlight shone on Zhang Ye, but it couldn't dispel the gloom in his heart. Even in the most bustling street in all of New York, Zhang Ye felt nothing.

It was as if everything was out of sync with him.

Zhang Ye wasn't from this world, and he had forgotten how he came to this world. It was like waking up from a hangover, opening his eyes to find himself inexplicably here, lying with a group of homeless people.

He had been in this world for a month, and as he gathered more and more information, Zhang Ye's heart sank further and further. He tightened his grip on his shoulder bag, as if the contents could bring him some sense of security. Judging by its style, it was an outdated item, but for Zhang Ye, it contained all his worldly possessions.

The bag was scavenged, and so were the things inside.

When Zhang Ye first arrived in this world, he was actually very excited. Transmigration was something that only existed in novels or anime. To experience it firsthand was enough to put him ahead of 99.9999% of the people in his previous life.

Especially when Zhang Ye saw 'Stark' in the newspaper, he became even more excited.

Stark. Zhang Ye, who had seen many Marvel works, was very familiar with this surname. Tony Stark, Iron Man. No one else in the world would have this surname and be on the front page of New York's largest newspaper except for him.

But...

Zhang Ye's eyes moved down, and the headline that came into view made his breath catch for a second.

[Splinter Group Avengers Annihilated! Terrorist Organization Leader Tony Stark Killed!]

'What?'

Zhang Ye's eyelids twitched uncontrollably, and his hands holding the newspaper trembled slightly. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

The Avengers were a splinter group? Tony Stark had become a terrorist?

And he was dead?

Zhang Ye didn't have time to think. He continued reading, trying to find more clues.

The incident took place in California, many days ago. With the last Quinjet of the Avengers being hit head-on by a Patriot Missile, the splinter group 'Avengers' was virtually non-existent.

The Quinjet was carrying the Avengers' veterans. They were exposed while evacuating their base, which made them all die in this attack.

Tony Stark, originally a scientific genius with hundreds of billions of dollars, created a suit of armor made of metal after being injured by a grenade from the National Guard. He went by the name Iron Man and gathered a group of separatist elements, creating the terrorist organization 'Avengers' to resist the current American President, President X.

It was reported that the people in the Avengers were all 'highly skilled'. They were extremely talented in various fields, including Archbishop Stephen Strange, the scientist couple Hank and Pym, Thor who claimed to be the reincarnation of the God of Thunder, etc.

But now, this organization that attempted to overthrow President X's authoritarian rule had long since perished. What remained was the cleanup work.

Four days later, Zhang Ye saw the execution of Clint Barton, codenamed 'Hawkeye', on the street.

He was betrayed on the run, exposing his identity. Even though he had excellent fighting skills and was very strong, he would eventually run out of strength when facing the endless stream of soldiers.

Pong!

With a gunshot, Clint Barton, kneeling on the street, was shot in the head, and he was still wearing the purple uniform that represented his identity.

Blood flowed, and the surrounding onlookers exclaimed. They were excited to see such a wonderful scene. After all, this was the Avenger who had been a headache for President X for a long time. Such people were rare, let alone at an execution site.

As for why these 'Avengers' risked their lives to start a revolution and overthrow President X, it didn't matter to the people around them. They didn't care. Anyway, it was just a topic of conversation after dinner for them.

But Zhang Ye, standing in the crowd watching all this, didn't think so.

'Why? What happened to this world?'

'Why did Professor X, the founder of the X-Men, become an extreme ruler?'

'Why didn't Iron Man's armor lock onto the Patriot Missile that was fired at them?'

'Why doesn't Doctor Strange know magic?'

'Why was Thor waving that useless hammer and blown up by a missile?'

Zhang Ye stared at Hawkeye's body, his heart unable to calm down for a long time. He felt that everything was so strange and frightening. At this moment, he didn't even care about the nausea he felt when he saw a dead person for the first time.

"What kind of world have I come to?"

In the following days, Zhang Ye continued to wander, and according to the memories of his previous life, he began to look for clues in this broken world.

Since he was an undocumented immigrant and had no money, he could only join the ranks of scavengers to avoid starving to death. But this identity had some advantages, because there were many pieces of information in the scavenger team that many people in this world didn't know.

For example, the previous attack on the Avengers was due to the betrayal of former Avengers member 'Scarlet Witch'. In order to protect herself, this woman betrayed the organization and told President X a lot of information and bases of the Avengers.

Tony Stark probably never imagined that the mastermind behind the annihilation of the Avengers would be from within, right?

The starlet known as 'Enchantress' killed her producer, Namor, because he was a playboy and cheated on her. This matter made it to the tabloids that night, and it was also something the scavengers talked about with relish.

It turned out that Washington D.C. had now become an ungoverned area with no administration. It was full of various gangs, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was the most chaotic place in the world.

Zhang Ye was originally planning to go and take a look, but several scavengers stopped him and told Zhang Ye that it was 'hell', even more terrifying than real hell. If he didn't want to die in gang conflicts or be eaten by those mutant monsters, it was best to stay away from there and never go there in his life, not even think about it.

This was a world comparable to a nightmare. All the superheroes and supervillains in Zhang Ye's memory had changed their appearances. They had become the most painful ending chapter. Those methods that originally enabled them to obtain superpowers were the culprits that led them to this point.

Like a curse, in this world, all superpowered people had no good end, and even those aliens were no exception.

Zhang Ye hadn't forgotten that last night, a scavenger told him a story about the 'Kree Star Army being blasted into space junk by nuclear bombs'.

The memories ended, and Zhang Ye's footsteps also stopped. He stopped in front of a house.

The door of the house was labeled 'Recycling Pending Auction'. Zhang Ye paused, took out two wires from his bag, poked them into the door lock, and after fiddling with them a little, the door opened.

For houses like this, seized and awaiting auction, no one really cares for them until they're sold. This creates an opportunity for scavengers; after all, who wants to sleep on the streets when there's a house available?

The previous owner of this house was a man named Ben Parker. His poor nephew messed up a chemistry experiment, and after being bitten by a radioactive spider, the nephew contracted a terrible disease that led to the family's ruin, and ultimately, his body was left to rot in the streets.

Opening the door, Zhang Ye quickly entered the room, discreetly glancing around while closing it to make sure no one was following. Once satisfied, they locked the door.

"You're back. What did you find?"

As soon as the door was shut, a figure instantly appeared beside Zhang Ye. It happened so fast, Zhang Ye didn't even see how he did it. But Zhang Ye didn't look surprised; clearly, this wasn't the first time.

"I told you, don't use your super speed so casually," Zhang Ye said, pushing the person away and heading towards the living room without looking back.

"I'm just so bored. You're always gone for days at a time. And I'm just staying in this house; it's not like anyone will find me."

Hearing this, Zhang Ye turned around, looking directly at the silver-haired man in front of them, and said, "Is that so? Have you forgotten how you got caught last time? Pietro, what do you want to lose this time, your left leg or your right? Isn't your remaining left hand enough of a reminder?"