Hell's Kitchen

Happy times were always fleeting.

Chen Ji turned into a streak of white light and vanished before Sugar once again.

Tears welled up in Sugar's eyes.

She took a long time to recover.

At the same time.

The strange portrait hanging on the wall also formed a spatial vortex.

Chen Ji returned once more.

He tightly clutched half a Poisonous Living Grass in his hand, but the Weird Bald Crow corpses he had collected.

Had not returned to the real world with him.

"Strange creatures..."

"Can't come back with me?"

"Only plants can?"

Chen Ji silently analyzed the situation.

It seemed his plan to extract Pink Entries from strange creatures had failed!

However...

The half-stalk of Poisonous Living Grass, its leaves emerald green and surrounded by light, brought a delighted smile to his face.

Chen Ji would never lack potions again!

The next phase of his plan was to gather a large quantity of potions in the Weird World.

And continue studying potion-making!

Chen Ji opened the cupboard and carefully put away the half-stalk of Poisonous Living Grass.

Then, he sat down at his desk again and began reading a Book of Arcane Arts, Introduction to Time and Space.

Introduction to Time and Space.

As its name implied, it primarily described dimensional spaces, extra dimensions, and Earth Secret Realms in detail.

As early as the Prehistoric Mythological Era, Agamotto had already discovered the Multiverse.

Beneath the Multiverse were Single Universes.

A Single Universe also contained dimensional realms, Heaven, Hell, divine kingdoms, secret realms...

This was an advanced work following Universe Compendium.

The book even explicitly mentioned the concepts of parallel universes and multiversal variants!

Theoretically.

For however many parallel universes there were, that many variants could potentially exist!

Variants from other times and spaces were broadly similar and shared the same fate trajectory, yet their personalities, experiences, and even upbringing could differ as vastly as heaven and earth.

For example...

The superheroes in the Avengers and X-Men were merely characters portrayed by celebrities in the magicless universe of Chen Ji's previous life!

Once they stepped out of their roles and filming ended, they would live entirely different lives.

Variants from different times and spaces might even break through the Cosmic Barrier and arrive in Chen Ji's time and space!

Bringing unprecedented disasters and calamities.

Until...

An Incursion was triggered!

An Incursion.

This was a major event Earth-838 had experienced!

Two Earths, drawn together by Dreamwalking, began to approach each other irreversibly!

Either the two times and spaces perished together.

Or one world was sacrificed to preserve the other universe!

There was no other way.

"The time and space I'm in is very similar to Earth-838."

"Could an Incursion break out here too...?"

Chen Ji silently prayed.

An Incursion absolutely could not happen.

Otherwise, with the power he possessed, there would be nowhere for him to run or hide!

"Eh!"

"Wait."

"If I establish the Illuminati first, could I bring about a major turning point in fate?"

"And gain a massive amount of Luck Value from it?"

Chen Ji's eyes lit up.

He could not help feeling eager to act!

The Illuminati!

It was a secret alliance formed by the major powers of the universe.

Its purpose was to safeguard the peace and continued existence of the current universe.

Earth-838 had an Illuminati!

The leaders of every major power were members of the Illuminati.

Among them.

Were the two successive Sorcerers Supreme, Stephen Strange and Baron Carl Mordo!

If Stephen Strange could establish the Illuminati, then Chen Ji could do it too!

However...

Convincing the leaders of all the major powers to form the Illuminati would be harder than reaching the heavens.

He did not have sufficient prestige or strength.

Naturally, he could not serve as the Illuminati's leading figure!

"Much remains to be done."

"Maybe... I should consider selling Pink Entries instead!"

Chen Ji's gaze shifted.

He could extract talent entries from monster corpses.

All Pink Entries could not be upgraded, and the unified retail price for selling them to the Talent Recycling Shop was only 100 Luck Value.

In one word.

A total loss!

"I can extract talent entries from monster corpses..."

"Then the talent entries on supervillains..."

"Can I claim those for myself too?"

Chen Ji's eyes flickered.

Since transmigrating here, he had yet to harm anyone of his own kind.

However...

To verify his suspicion, he was willing to take the risk himself!

Before dawn.

The horizon began to pale.

Manhattan's West Side.

Was still shrouded in darkness.

This was a paradise for criminals, a breeding ground for drug dealers and gray-market businesses.

In the early years.

This district had been a slum where immigrants of every ethnicity and the working class put down roots. Racial conflicts and violent incidents had emerged endlessly over the past century, impossible to stamp out!

Calling it Hell would have been an understatement. It was Hell's Kitchen!

Therefore.

Manhattan's West Side was also known as 'Hell's Kitchen'!

Territories were fiercely divided here, gangs ran rampant, and dealings in money and sex were countless.

Even the New York police did not dare set foot in this district without cause.

They could only do their best to maintain surface-level stability.

To prevent major criminal cases from breaking out and embarrassing the Federal Government.

On the streets of Hell's Kitchen, even though dawn had only just arrived, scattered lackeys were already lazily emerging from apartment buildings.

A foul-smelling homeless man lay sprawled in the filthy water beside the road, long devoid of any sign of life.

The lackeys had long grown accustomed to such sights.

They felt no pity whatsoever, nor did they have any intention of collecting the body.

A moment later.

A young man in a hoodie, his head covered by its hood, walked up to the homeless man. A shrewd glint immediately flashed through his eyes.

[Name]: Jask

[Identity]: Homeless Man

[Entry]: Keen Sense of Smell (Pink).

[Keen Sense of Smell] (Pink): He had been born able to clearly distinguish the scents of all kinds of substances.

"Pink Entry!"

"Just as expected!"

"Pink Entries don't just drop from monsters."

"Humans are the same!"

Chen Ji was ecstatic inside.

He had originally planned to deal with a lackey himself.

Now, it seemed there was no need at all.

[Pink talent detected. Extract?]

A line of text appeared.

"Extract!"

Chen Ji nodded to himself.

In an instant.

A brilliant gleam flashed across the homeless man's corpse and surged directly into Chen Ji.

Since Pink Entries could not be upgraded.

Chen Ji did not bind it to his Entry Panel.

He immediately chose to sell it!

He sold it to the Talent Recycling Shop.

[Confirm sale of Entry [Keen Sense of Smell]?]

[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained 100 Luck Value.]

"Nice."

Chen Ji smiled with delight.

Now that he had confirmed human corpses could also drop Pink Entries.

Then where had the most corpses?

The answer was obvious.

A cemetery!

[Name]: Chen Ji

[Identity]: Guardian Mage

[Talents]: Academic Prodigy (Blue), Grandmaster (Blue), Self-Taught (Blue), Fortune After Misfortune (Blue), Crowd Favorite (Blue), X-Gene (Purple), Half a Move Ahead of Heaven (Black), Covetous Burden (Black).

[Luck Value]: 175.9

Looking at the Entry Panel, Chen Ji felt thoroughly satisfied.

Before long, he would save up 1,000 Luck Value to upgrade an entry or spin the Talent Draw Wheel!

Chen Ji went to a roadside newsstand and looked through a map of New York.

The nearest cemetery.

Was in the Bronx of New York City.

Woodlawn Cemetery.

It was one of the most famous cemeteries in the United States.

Many famous figures from around the world were buried there.

It seemed that Tony Stark's father, Howard Stark, was also buried in this cemetery.

"If I can extract Howard Stark's talent..."

"That would be an absolute jackpot!"

Chen Ji secretly looked forward to it.

Then, he set down the map of New York, shoved both hands into his pockets, and walked into a dark alley nearby.

A Mystic Portal opened out of thin air.

On the other side was the world-famous Woodlawn Cemetery.