Not the End

"Zhang?! How are you here? No, wait—how am I here? I remember I... yeah, we were fighting President X. I should be dead. Are you dead too?"

Pietro struggled to speak, his super-speed brain nearly exploding from the fragmented memories flooding in. The sheer volume of information left him no room to process his current state.

"Alright, calm down. I'm not dead, and you're not dead. Take a breath, okay? We're not somewhere safe yet." Zhang Ye swallowed the food in his mouth and grabbed another slice of pizza.

"We... aren't dead?" Pietro blinked. "How is that possible? No one escapes from President X. No one. What the hell happened?"

Seeing Pietro's extreme agitation, Zhang Ye knew he wouldn't get to finish his meal without a proper explanation. So he spoke up.

"It's not that big a deal. President X still can't fully control Scarlet Witch's power. Sure, he could use it to massacre every prisoner in the Mutant Prison, but his grasp on Chaos Magic is pretty crude.

After I killed him, the Chaos Magic and psychic energy tore a rift in reality. The whole Military Factory got warped into some twisted mirror world—time and space there were in total chaos. Any door you opened led to a random place.

That messed up the minds of everyone who died or survived in there. They turned into these half-dead creatures. I can't really describe what that state looks like, but think of them as walking corpses—they attack anything living on instinct.

Still, it gave me a good chance. I grabbed you and ran before the Military Factory's space got torn apart. But honestly, you were way too badly hurt. I had to point a gun at another soldier who escaped and make him patch you up."

Zhang Ye paused, then looked at Pietro.

"I'll admit his medical skills were crap, but there was no way to get you to a hospital. He said your leg might heal crooked. I don't know medicine, so I can't confirm that. Later, he tried to ambush me, so I shot him. Even if you wanted to settle the score, you can't."

"Hold on, hold on." Pietro couldn't help interrupting. His eyes went wide, fixed on Zhang Ye, his voice trembling. "What did you just say? You killed President X? How?!"

"Oh, yeah."

Zhang Ye shrugged, then pulled out his pistol. "With this. Remember? You stole it for me—my first gun. The one that took out Nick Fury."

"No, that's not what I mean. I'm asking how you did it. That's President X! The Avengers tangled with him for years and never succeeded. How?!"

"Honestly? I don't know." Zhang Ye looked away, staring at the road ahead. "Maybe he saw something interesting in my head and got lost in it. Then I shot him. From another angle, I kind of get it."

"That's it?" Pietro couldn't believe it.

"That's it." Zhang Ye nodded.

"What did you expect? That I'd have a last-minute power-up, unlock some insane strength, or suddenly discover I'm a mutant with godlike abilities? Then we'd fight three hundred rounds to a draw, and right as we both unleash our final moves, he'd have a change of heart, realize his mistakes, and let me kill him in one shot?"

"Uh..." Pietro felt like he had a lot to say but no words to say it.

"It's that simple, Pietro. We're not comic book characters who need big spectacles and flashy fights to draw an audience. We're just people living in this miserable world. You, me, President X—no difference."

"But... that's too simple." Pietro muttered, still not understanding how the man who terrorized the whole country could be taken down so easily.

"Simple? I don't think so. Maybe in this world, I'm the only one who could kill President X like that." Zhang Ye said flatly, his voice devoid of emotion.

Hearing that, Pietro froze for a moment, then edged closer to the car door.

"Hey! I saw that. Don't tell me you're scared of me now." Zhang Ye rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Heh... no. Just been sitting too long, needed to shift." Pietro forced a stiff smile. Only then did he look down at his injured thigh.

Two wooden boards were strapped to it, wrapped in layer after layer of gauze. The once-white bandages were soaked through with blood, now dried into dark, crusty stains.

Noticing Pietro's gaze, Zhang Ye spoke. "You're in bad shape. That guy said your leg was snapped clean off by brute force. The pain alone could kill a man. Normally, there's no fixing that—amputation at best. But your ability saved you."

"Yeah, my super-speed metabolism lets me heal way faster than normal people."

"True, but if a bone's broken, that doesn't help much. Your ability speeds up recovery, but it won't put the bone back in place. So I had that soldier reset your leg. Otherwise, it'd heal into a crooked mess."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. We're brothers." Zhang Ye smiled. "You sure you don't want any? I remember you burn through a lot of energy. If Nick Fury's Safe House didn't have glucose, I'd worry you'd starve to death before waking up."

At that, Pietro finally took the pizza and started wolfing it down. His table manners were awful—only one hand to work with—but no one cared.

"Where to next?" Pietro asked between bites.

"The address you gave me—forgot already? 1407 Graymalkin Lane, New York Suburbs. Honestly, if I'd known Professor X was in the Mutant Secret Prison, we wouldn't have needed to come all this way. We could've done the job right in New York."

Zhang Ye grumbled, but he wasn't really angry. Sure, he'd run into all kinds of bizarre crap along the way, but at least it was over. This whole mess would just become an interesting memory in his life.

(This book is signed with Chuangshi. The results aren't great—maybe it's too slow-paced, not the typical power fantasy.)

(I got eliminated in the first round of PK recommendations. The editor told me to prepare for publication. I'm pretty bummed about it.)

(Maybe it fits the theme I'm writing about—pretty hopeless. But I'll keep going.)

(Also, thanks to the readers on Qidian and other sites. I hope you'll keep supporting me. I believe gold always shines—it just hasn't caught enough eyes yet.)