1407 Graymalkin Lane

"How much longer until we get to New York?" Pietro asked, watching the scenery blur past the window. His initial nervousness had eased somewhat.

"A few more hours. I actually thought you'd be out for longer. I was already planning some physical methods of waking you up if you weren't up by the time we arrived."

"Heh heh heh." Pietro didn't need to guess that the so-called 'physical awakening' wouldn't be a gentle wake-up call. Luckily, he'd woken up just in time.

Seeing that Pietro had mostly calmed down, Zhang Ye continued, "We could have been in New York this morning, but someone leaked the news of President X's death. Now the whole American is in a state of war. I had no choice but to detour around the war zones and take the back roads to New York."

"War!?" Pietro was stunned.

"Yes, war. It started with gangs occupying cities and dividing territories, but it escalated into a nationwide free-for-all. Even state governments and military forces got involved. I heard a gang raided a military research base and discovered a military project codenamed 'Hulk'."

"What's Hulk?"

Zhang Ye sighed. "If you asked me, I'd tell you that in my memory, Hulk is an 'anti-hero' from another world. After being exposed to Gamma Rays, he possesses unparalleled and terrifying combat power, almost invincible. He started as a villain, then joined the Avengers..."

"But here, the terrifying Gamma Rays turned him into a monster, neither human nor demon. His body underwent disgusting mutations. Eventually, the military recovered him, and he lay in a lab until those gang members found him."

"How could it turn out like this?" Pietro murmured in disbelief, sighing.

"Who knows? After seeing the X-Men girls turned into bar hostesses and the Avengers become a rich kid leading a bunch of lunatics, I already expected this world to gradually head toward destruction."

As Zhang Ye spoke, it/its gaze shifted to a stack of file folders next to it/its calf.

Perhaps that was the source of everything, the beginning of this despairing world.

The Fantastic Four ushered in the age of heroes in this world. Although the Fantastic Four weren't Marvel's first superheroes, they were the first actual superhero team. They created this world of heroes, and they raised the curtain on superhero groups.

But here, they might be a crucial link in creating this tragic world.

Inside the file folders was a very old evening paper and some documents. It was a special interview with former astronaut Ben Grimm, in which he described the unknown details of that space disaster.

Years ago, he had participated in a manned space project. It was during that project that he met the brilliant scientist Reed Richards, as well as the siblings Susan and Jonathan.

Reed was fascinated by the space program. He couldn't wait to explore the mysteries of outer space. After all, Earth was too small for the universe, and everything in the universe was new and unknown to mankind.

He wanted to sail to the stars for an unparalleled great adventure—to observe cosmic energy fluctuations.

Although everything was ready, the spacecraft built at that time obviously couldn't support him in conducting such dangerous research. But Reed couldn't wait that long; he had prepared everything.

One night, Reed came to Ben's door, hoping that Ben could support his ideals, join his great experiment to observe cosmic energy, and serve as the pilot to complete this feat with him.

But Ben knew very well that the spacecraft wasn't stable enough at this time, and starting it rashly was too dangerous. As a researcher specializing in aerospace technology and satellite orbit technology, no one knew the dangers of this trip better than him. Once the machine broke down, even he couldn't guarantee whether he could bring the others back alive.

So Ben flatly rejected Reed's request, because it was completely playing with lives.

What happened afterward made Ben regret it immensely. Reed didn't give up because of Ben's refusal. Instead, he continued to act according to the plan. Perhaps he felt that even without a tech expert like Ben, they would be more than enough.

So, Reed took the siblings Susan and Jonathan, along with another guy named Doom, and flew into space. Soon, while observing cosmic energy, they were enveloped in a cosmic ray radiation storm.

Later, news of the space accident was transmitted back to the engineering team. People spent a lot of manpower and resources to search for their whereabouts. Next to the wreckage of their spacecraft, people saw Susan and Jonathan. One was burned into a mummy by terrifying heat, and the other had their cells altered by cosmic energy.

Susan's entire body could reflect light, allowing her to achieve optical invisibility at any time, but this light reflection blinded her and was completely uncontrollable.

Not long after the siblings' bodies were recovered, people found Doom's corpse again. Compared to the previous two, the radiation on Doom's body was even more terrifying. It was in a state of constant change, and the arrangement of all the substances in it was constantly and randomly changing, which made it constantly wander between minerals and living organisms.

And Reed was the last to be found. His body was stretched into a rubber band, twisted and lying on the snowy field. When people found him, he had become a bizarrely stretched skeleton.

Ben had always felt guilty about this space disaster. If, if he could have persuaded Reed to wait a little longer, if he had become the pilot of that space program, maybe...

Maybe the four of them would have become the real Fantastic Four according to the original script.

Zhang Ye sighed silently. And this world might not have become like this now. But it also understood that everything was already a foregone conclusion. There was no regret medicine in this world, nor would there be any regret medicine.

Time passed, and Zhang Ye and Pietro finally arrived at their destination.

1407 Graymalkin Lane, a private estate. In the distance, a historic castle came into view.

Fortunately, this was a suburb of New York and also private property. No one would come here for the time being; otherwise, this building would probably have been destroyed by those gangs long ago.

"No wonder this address sounds so familiar. It turns out this is Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters." Zhang Ye stopped the car and looked up at the exquisite castle.

"You know this place?" Pietro, sitting in President X's wheelchair, came to Zhang Ye's side.

"Sort of... know it. This should be the school founded by Professor X, specifically for Mutant children. Here, they can receive a better education. The teachers here are the first X-Men."

Zhang Ye explained, but it/its quickly sneered. "Originally, this was the place where Professor X dreamed of building a bridge between humans and Mutants. Now, it has become his treasure trove for collecting trophies. How ironic."

The two walked all the way to the gate. The combination lock on the door lit up quickly. It was a six-digit password.

"Leave it to me." Pietro pushed the wheelchair to the front of the combination lock. "I can test all the combinations of this combination lock."

"Okay."

Zhang Ye nodded. It/its wasn't very good at this kind of decryption work.

Pietro's fingers instantly clicked on the screen at a speed that was invisible to the naked eye, but his movements were very light, probably because he was afraid that his speed would be too fast and break the combination lock screen.

"Don't worry, just wait a little longer~"

There will be more updates tonight.