A Mage's Probe and a Media Storm

Lin Xiu's enormous membrane wings trembled violently in the night wind, producing a rushing whoosh. Brooklyn's dazzling neon lights cast dreamlike, mottled patches across his mask, flickering with a visually striking intensity.

He landed steadily on the ventilation shaft of an abandoned subway station. The metal around the vent felt somewhat rough.

With a faint rustling sound, the nanoparticles flowed back into his spine like a babbling stream, revealing silver lining that gleamed coldly and stood out sharply in the darkness.

The moment his fingertips touched the cold, rough wall, the Oracle System's piercing alarm sounded through his earpiece. "Abnormal energy residue detected. Location: third ridge line of the chestplate."

He yanked off his helmet, and sweat from the back of his neck slid down his burning collarbone, slipping coolly into the gaps in his armor.

By the cold white light of his phone, he clearly saw a pale blue streak in the groove of his chestplate writhing like a living thing. Each tremor brought a faint crackle of electricity, scorching pale red marks onto his skin and making him frown slightly.

"Analysis module, activate," he said quietly to the air. The diamond pattern on his wrist guard lit with a ghostly blue glow, and nanoparticles gathered in his palm to form a miniature optical computer. Data streams surged through the two-man-high space like a galaxy, emitting a sound like the howl of deep space.

Just as the data stream formed an energy map of Mjolnir, Lin Xiu suddenly clutched his temple. A sticky force carrying the scent of pine was crawling up along his nerve endings, as though someone had stuffed a ball of waterlogged cotton into his head. A swelling pain throbbed in his skull.

The Oracle System's prompt became even shriller. "Nonphysical dimensional interference. Source: 1.2 kilometers southeast, elevation 20 meters."

The spire of the abandoned church was rimmed in silver by the moonlight, looking especially sacred in the tranquil night.

Icarus Vaughn's black mage robe snapped in the wind. His left hand rested on the yellowed pages of the Book of the Vishanti, while golden light flickered from the index finger of his right hand.

That mental probe had just struck something like a glass wall, and the rebounding force had left his wrist numb.

"Quantum Sentinel..." He narrowed his eyes. The pages flipped on their own to the chapter detailing the "Anti-Mental Force Field," its gilded runes brightening and dimming in the night, faintly exuding an air of mystery.

Lin Xiu's pupils contracted sharply. He grabbed the tactical backpack from the ground, and nanoparticles poured out like a swarm of bees, buzzing as they condensed into a translucent barrier behind him.

A metallic screech came from outside the vent—it was a S.H.I.E.L.D. tracking drone.

"Damn it." He cursed under his breath, then turned and plunged into the subway platform. His rubber boot heels beat out a frantic rhythm against the tracks, the sound echoing through the empty station.

The Oracle System was still shrieking. "Interference source is moving at 25 kilometers per hour. Electromagnetic disruption recommended."

Meanwhile, at a temporary medical station beneath Brooklyn Bridge, Kevin Blair's phone screen shone painfully bright, glaring in the dim surroundings.

He curled up in the shadow of an ambulance, his trembling fingers opening the video he had just recorded. In the footage, a figure in metal armor and Thor leaped at the same time. When the two forces collided, translucent ripples spread through the air, uncannily similar to the fluctuations created when The Ancient One cast a portal, accompanied by a deep roar of energy.

"My God..." His Adam's apple bobbed as he pressed the upload button until it sank inward. A line appeared in the title field: "New Variable in New York: Energy Resonance Between an Armored Man and Thor?"

Notifications exploded across social media like a bustling marketplace.

Kevin watched the likes surge from 1,000 to 50,000 as comments flooded in: "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret weapon?" "A new Stark Industries suit?" "Those energy fluctuations don't look like a technological product."

He pulled out his press badge and pinned it to his chest, taking two steps toward the bridge before suddenly stopping. When the armored man had leaped from the bridge deck, Kevin had captured the diamond pattern on his wrist guard—and it was completely different from Stark Industries' patented nanotech interface.

An alert from the underground network nearly made Lin Xiu drop his phone.

He crouched in the drainage channel of a subway tunnel, the damp stench of mold stabbing into his nostrils. Kevin's video link was displayed on the screen.

"Public exposure +37%. S.H.I.E.L.D. tracking priority elevated to red." The Oracle System's mechanical voice made his temples throb.

He tore off the nanotech patch at his collar and watched the particles reorganize in his palm. A new facial profile gradually took shape in the reflection—an aquiline nose and a beauty mark at the corner of the left eye. This was "mechanical engineer Alan White," an identity he had forged three days ago.

His phone suddenly vibrated.

Lin Xiu swiped open the screen. The sender of the encrypted private message was listed as "Unknown," and its content consisted of a single line: "You are not ordinary. Come to Kamar-Taj." His thumb rubbed across the screen as he felt nanoparticles surge beneath his skin, bringing a faint tingling itch.

The Oracle System suddenly displayed a warning. "Magical mark detected. Isolated in secure space." He looked up at the top of the tunnel, where a faint golden glow flickered in and out of sight like crushed starlight, radiating a weak luminescence.

Inside Kamar-Taj's library, Icarus knelt on one knee.

The Ancient One's robe billowed behind her like flames, making a rushing sound. Her fingertips hovered above a crystal ball, within which the scene of Lin Xiu looking up in the tunnel was replaying.

"He discovered the mark," Icarus said tensely. "The countermeasure program is more precise than expected."

"Time will sift out the impurities." The Ancient One's voice resonated through the still space like a morning bell. "The appearance of the Quantum Sentinel has disrupted the balance, but that may not be a bad thing." She turned and walked toward the windowsill, moonlight flowing through the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, making her appear especially gentle.

"Prepare a portal. Strange should learn that this era has more than one variable."

Lin Xiu wound through the tunnels, using the Oracle System to disrupt the tracking signal, and finally reached the third basement level of an old warehouse in Brooklyn.

His boot heels struck the Vibranium floor, producing hollow echoes.

He removed his newly forged glasses. The nanoparticles receded into his spine like an ebbing tide, revealing his original face.

The holographic projection on the wall lit up, displaying the analysis progress of that mysterious private message. The Oracle System was breaking down the magical characters one by one when a final line suddenly appeared: "The Ancient One Wandaag Rama - Map."

He looked down at his chestplate. At some point, the pale blue streak had stopped writhing. It now glimmered faintly with his heartbeat. At the same time, he recalled encountering a mysterious energy source during an earlier mission. Perhaps that was why the streak had appeared.

The Oracle System's prompt softened. "Immediate energy frequency calibration recommended. Resonance between the unknown energy and the armor core has reached 87%."

Lin Xiu walked to the console and pressed his fingertips against the energy regulator. The coolness of the metal seeped through his gloves, and he could hear a faint hum from within the armor, as though some sleeping beast were awakening.

A gust of wind suddenly blew through the ventilation ducts, carrying a barely perceptible scent of pine. He looked up at the ceiling, where a surveillance camera flickered with an eerie red light—not a standard S.H.I.E.L.D. frequency.

"The real trial..." He chuckled softly at the air and pressed the activation button on the console. "...has only just begun."

The underground facility's energy chamber slowly rose, and pale blue energy fluid washed over his chest with a hint of chill.

Through the glass of the sealed chamber, he saw the streak on his chestplate suddenly blaze with blinding light. Within that light, stars seemed to be collapsing and wormholes forming, accompanied by a powerful surge of energy.

The Oracle System's final prompt exploded in his mind. "Origin energy fluctuation detected. Recommendation..."

The alarm cut off abruptly.

Pale blue fragments floating in the energy fluid were reflected in Lin Xiu's pupils. Their shape was exactly identical to the facets of the Tesseract.