Kathmandu's Wi-Fi Password

Nepal, Kathmandu

This was a completely different world from the steel jungle of New York.

The narrow streets were packed with hurried pedestrians, motorcycles piled high with cargo, and cows strolling leisurely. The air was thick with pungent spices, burning sandalwood incense, and dust. Noise rose and fell like the unique heartbeat of this ancient city.

"Cough, cough..."

Gwen Stacy tugged down the hood of her sweatshirt, trying to hide her overly conspicuous blonde hair. Somewhat uncomfortable, she waved a hand to disperse the dust drifting before her.

"So this is the 'holy land of magic' you were looking for?"

Gwen glanced at a street vendor hawking secondhand radios and could not help complaining, "This looks more like a distribution hub for used electronics. I doubt they even have 4G here."

"Don't be fooled by appearances, Gwen."

Jiang Li wore a casual outdoor jacket and carried a simple pack, looking like an ordinary tourist who had come to climb mountains. Yet his eyes precisely searched the chaotic crowd for the flow of a certain kind of energy.

"The greatest secrets are often hidden in the noisiest places. Just like the most dangerous viruses often disguise themselves as system updates."

Suddenly, Gwen's body flickered violently.

"Bzzz—!"

Like a malfunctioning holographic projection, her figure suffered severe color separation and ghosting in that instant, as though she had been covered in a mass of garbled code.

"Ugh!" Gwen clutched her chest in pain. It was a tearing sensation at the cellular level, as though her body were being ripped apart between two universes. "It's happening again... It hurts even more this time."

"The Omnitrix detected it." Jiang Li immediately supported her and checked the watch's readings. A red warning flashed. "Your quantum signature is being violently rejected by this universe. That's why we had to come here."

Technology could heal broken legs and repair hearts, but a problem involving the "nature of existence" and the "rules of the Multiverse" required the help of that bald big shot.

"Follow me."

Jiang Li led Gwen through the crowded Thamel District and turned into an unremarkable alley.

As they went deeper, the clamor seemed to gradually fade behind them, and the world became quiet.

At the end of the alley stood an inconspicuous wooden door. Its frame was old, without any special markings, looking like the entrance to an ordinary residence.

But Jiang Li knew that beyond this door lay Earth's magical line of defense.

"This is it?" Gwen raised a brow. Her Spider-Sense gave no warning at all. "Doesn't even look sturdier than my garage."

Jiang Li said nothing. He simply stepped forward and knocked gently three times.

No one answered.

"Maybe nobody's home? Or maybe we should look it up on Google Maps..." Gwen had just started to take out her phone.

"Creak—"

The wooden door slowly opened.

A middle-aged man in a dark crimson robe stood behind it, his skin dark and his gaze resolute. He did not look at the visitors directly, but swept his scrutinizing eyes over them before finally stopping on the Omnitrix around Jiang Li's wrist.

Carl Mordo.

"A consultant for Stark Industries, a hero of the Avengers." Mordo's voice was low and powerful. He clearly was not ignorant of the outside world. "And... a lost traveler from another land."

"Looks like our reputation has reached the Himalayas." Jiang Li smiled in greeting. "We came to see the Sorcerer Supreme. To treat an illness, and to learn."

Mordo was silent for two seconds before stepping aside.

"The Sorcerer Supreme is waiting for you."

The moment they crossed the threshold, the world changed.

The small, dilapidated courtyard vanished, replaced by a vast, tranquil, ancient hall. Thin streams of smoke curled from incense burners, while in the distance, sorcerers dressed in training robes practiced some sort of glowing geometric spell formation.

All the noise had been shut outside the walls. It was so quiet here that they could hear their heartbeats.

At the center of the hall stood a simple wooden table.

A bald woman in plain monk's robes sat there, holding a cup of steaming tea.

The Ancient One.

She did not possess Ultron's world-destroying aura. Instead, she looked like a gentle elder from next door. But the Omnitrix on Jiang Li's wrist was vibrating frantically—it was warning him of "high-dimensional energy that could not be analyzed."

"Please sit, Mr. Jiang Li, Miss Stacy."

The Ancient One raised a hand, and two teacups flew through the air before them, precisely catching the tea poured from the teapot. "This is Darjeeling black tea, with a little honey."

"You know us?" Gwen was somewhat surprised. Before she could sit down, her body flickered in a burst of brilliant colors again.

"Through the mist of time, I saw a few ripples."

The Ancient One set down the teapot, her eyes seeming to see through everything in the world as they fell upon Gwen. "You are like a puzzle piece placed incorrectly, forcibly shoved into this painting. The universe is trying to... correct this mistake."

"That's why I came."

Jiang Li took a sip of tea and looked directly at the Ancient One. "My technology can defeat Ultron and crush meteors, but it can't solve a problem like quantum entanglement. I need your help."

"The Omnitrix."

The Ancient One suddenly spoke its name, her gaze falling on the watch. "A masterpiece of the Galvan. Azmuth, the First Thinker, truly was a genius. With technology, he touched the domain of the Creator."

Jiang Li's pupils contracted slightly. "You even know Azmuth?"

"A sorcerer's knowledge is not limited to Earth. We protect dimensions." The Ancient One smiled faintly. "But this watch is too powerful. It gave you the ability to alter life forms at will, yet it also gave you an illusion—that as long as you transform, you can solve every problem."

"That is the arrogance of the Galvan. Now it has become your arrogance as well."

"You wish to learn magic?" the Ancient One asked.

"I want to learn how to fight the unknown," Jiang Li said. "Ultron may be dead, but he saw something even more terrifying. To face that future, I can't afford any weaknesses."

"Technology and magic ultimately lead to the same destination."

The Ancient One stood and walked before Jiang Li. "But your cup is already full, filled with dependence on external things. If you want to put something new into it, you must first empty it."

"You mean I should take off the watch?" Jiang Li instinctively shielded the Omnitrix.

"No. I mean... open your eyes."

The Ancient One suddenly struck.

That seemingly slow palm carried an unavoidable trajectory, heading straight for Jiang Li's chest.

"Jiang!"

Gwen's Spider-Sense instantly went wild. She instinctively raised a hand and fired a strand of webbing, trying to bind the Ancient One's arm.

Yet the Ancient One merely turned her wrist lightly, and the webbing seemed to shoot into an endlessly looping space. It emerged directly from behind Gwen's own head and tied her up tightly.

At the same time, that palm gently pressed against Jiang Li's chest.

Jiang Li instinctively tried to transform, but the Omnitrix did not even have time to activate its failsafe mode!

Because this was neither a physical attack nor an energy attack.

It was an assault that stripped away the soul.

"Bang!"

Jiang Li felt his body suddenly become weightless, as though time had frozen.

The next second, he discovered in horror that he had "flown" away.

But when he turned back, he found his physical body still seated in the chair, eyes tightly shut, the unresponsive Omnitrix still on his wrist. His current self was a translucent spirit form!

His soul had left his body!

"Th-this... what principle is this?" Jiang Li looked at his transparent hands, and fear surged through him. "Where's my watch? Why didn't it react?"

"It is merely a machine. It protects your physical body. But your soul..."

The Ancient One's voice echoed beside his ears like a great bell, "...is still that of an ignorant mortal."

"You think you understand this world? You think the universe is merely a collection of matter?"

"Open your eye."

The Ancient One's finger touched the forehead of Jiang Li's spirit form.

"Boom!!!"

The world collapsed.

Jiang Li felt as though he had been thrown into a kaleidoscope. He passed through the veil of reality, fell into the Quantum Realm, then ascended in an instant to the Dark Dimension.

Countless hands grew from his fingers, and his eyes saw countless overlapping worlds. He saw Dormammu's immense dark face, saw countless versions of himself across parallel universes, and even saw, through the cracks of time, Ultron with six Stones coldly watching everything from the void.

Fear, insignificance, awe.

All his scientific common sense was shattered in that moment.

"Whew—!!"

Jiang Li sucked in a sharp breath, and his soul was violently pulled back into his body.

He fell from the chair, drenched in sweat. The dizziness was more intense than transforming a hundred times in a row, and his stomach churned violently.

"So this is... magic?" Jiang Li panted heavily, but the fear in his eyes had turned into fervor.

"This is the Multiverse." The Ancient One sat back down and lifted her teacup as though nothing had happened. "You still have much to learn."

Jiang Li shakily climbed to his feet and glanced at Gwen beside him, who wore the same shocked expression as she tore the webbing from herself.

He took a deep breath and bowed deeply to the Ancient One.

"I want to learn this."

He wiped away a bead of cold sweat and revealed a weak yet excited smile.

"And... what's the Wi-Fi password here? I may need to stay for quite some time."

A mysterious smile appeared at the corner of the Ancient One's lips.

"Shamballa."

She handed Mordo a note.

"Arrange rooms for them. It seems our library is about to become lively again."