Spacetime Force

S.H.I.E.L.D., Triskelion, underground secure vault.

Zhang Yang stood among the items that housed over half of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s "0-8-4" objects, along with some other special things.

"The Tesseract you requested is inside."

Coulson felt as though he were floating when he spoke. He truly had not expected Zhang Yang to be so young, yet already be the Sorcerer Supreme who presided over a holy land of magic.

The last time they met, Zhang Yang had still been an apprentice at Kamar-Taj, right?

How long had it even been? And he had already become the Sorcerer Supreme?

Honestly, if this had not come from Nick Fury himself, Coulson never would have believed it.

Thinking back to how he had submitted Zhang Yang's request to Nick Fury with doubts still lingering in his mind, he had assumed it would simply disappear without a trace and the matter would end there.

Yet Nick Fury had called him immediately and ordered Coulson to meet every one of Zhang Yang's needs.

Hearing that, Coulson had genuinely felt like he was seeing a ghost.

That man, who trusted no one at all, would actually treat a young man like this?

It was far too surreal!

A jumble of thoughts flashed through Coulson's mind, but his hands did not slow. He went to a spot, pulled down a briefcase, entered the password, and opened it.

An azure glow seeped through the seams of the case, and a peculiar energy instantly filled the entire room.

Even standing beneath that glow, Coulson felt his heart pound with fear, terrified that one careless mistake would get him killed.

It was not that he was timid. Since the Tesseract had fallen into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands nearly seventy years ago, no fewer than a hundred agents had died because of it!

He had no desire to become the next one.

"Careful, that thing can't—"

Coulson suddenly saw Zhang Yang reaching out to touch the Tesseract and instinctively warned him. Before he could finish, though, he saw the Tesseract's light vanish completely in Zhang Yang's hand, leaving it as ordinary as a crystal model.

Well, damn. Was the Tesseract the type to bully the weak and fear the strong too?

Coulson felt a huge rant rising in his chest... You were this obedient, so how were all those agents who died by your hand supposed to rest in peace?!

"It's real."

Zhang Yang toyed with the Tesseract in his hand, his mind swirling with thoughts. Nick handed this over so easily?

With his personality, forget handing over the Tesseract—he would find it difficult even to let someone look at it.

The title of Sorcerer Supreme shouldn't carry that much weight. He wouldn't be this accommodating...

But the Tesseract is real... What is that black-hearted egghead planning?

After thinking for a long while, Zhang Yang finally admitted one thing.

He was just an ordinary person. There was no way he could outmaneuver these old foxes who had been scheming for centuries.

All he could do was increase his strength until he became powerful enough to disregard any conspiracy or scheme.

For now, his only option was to respond to whatever came his way.

His spiritual power passed through the Tesseract's protective layer and entered its interior. After imprinting his spiritual mark within it, he gently set the Tesseract down.

"You aren't taking it with you?"

Coulson had already prepared himself for Zhang Yang to take the Tesseract away, yet Zhang Yang had truly only looked at it before putting it down.

Though that look... had lasted rather long.

"There is no need."

Zhang Yang shook his head. "I only came to confirm whether the Tesseract was secure. Nothing more."

"Then... shall I put it away?"

Coulson asked cautiously. After receiving Zhang Yang's confirmation, he closed the case, scrambled the password, and returned it to its original place.

When he turned around, he found that Zhang Yang had already opened a Portal and stepped through it.

After waving to him, Zhang Yang's Portal closed.

"A remarkable method."

Coulson sincerely marveled before leaving. In the elevator, he made a call.

Coulson: "He's gone."

Nick Fury: "Gone? He didn't take the item?"

Coulson: "No."

Nick: "I see... Classify today's matter. Raise its secrecy level to the highest."

Coulson: "The highest? Level ten?"

Nick: "Yes. Send me a copy of the recording when you're done."

Coulson: "Understood."

After the call ended, Coulson went upstairs to handle what Nick had instructed.

What he failed to notice was that the elevator's surveillance camera followed the direction in which he left.

World Security Council.

Alexander Pierce watched Coulson's departing figure and slowly set down the document in his hand.

Zhang Yang's photograph was clearly printed on it.

After returning to his little shop, Zhang Yang did not say goodbye to Mrs. Chen because it was too late. Instead, he directly used the Portal he had left in the shop to return to Kamar-Taj.

Within his own sanctum, he noticed that after inscribing a second dimensional space, an azure point of light had appeared inside his Dimension Heart.

It intertwined with the green point of light he had gained after inscribing the Time Stone.

It was beautiful and dreamlike.

The duration of his Dimension Body had increased to five minutes. With time and space intertwined, he had also gained a new ability.

Spacetime Force.

Through this power, he could travel to other timelines in the truest sense. He could also exist independently of time itself. Compared to Dimensional Demon Gods, which could only disregard time within their own dimensions, Zhang Yang could ignore the time of all dimensions until this power ran out.

Using this power, Zhang Yang opened a Portal.

Unlike the crude Portals that normally flickered with sparks, this door had a frame formed from azure spatial energy and a door panel formed from green temporal energy.

There was a knob on the door panel, and beneath it were countless markings representing time.

The knob began to turn with Zhang Yang's thoughts. Every slight turn depleted a portion of the Spacetime Force.

Just as the Spacetime Force was about to run out, Zhang Yang stopped. After hesitating for a moment, he pushed open the door.

"Rat-a-tat..."

Boom!

The moment he opened a small crack, gunfire and artillery fire came through the gap.

When Zhang Yang fully pushed the door open, a battlefield lay before him.

Clearly, the appearance of the Spacetime Gate had affected the entire battle in this area. Both sides stopped firing and stared blankly at Zhang Yang beyond the door.

Crack!

No one knew whose gun had gone off, but a bullet shot precisely through the Spacetime Gate toward Zhang Yang's forehead.

Naturally, that bullet could not harm Zhang Yang. Fifty centimeters from his forehead, it lost all kinetic and potential energy and dropped to the ground.

As though a switch had been flipped, gunfire erupted at once, and bullets rained toward Zhang Yang like a violent storm.

Speechless.

Zhang Yang was utterly speechless.

He had been caught up in a completely undeserved disaster.

Facing those bullets, Zhang Yang merely cast a glance, and immense magical power froze them all in midair.

Then, a mental storm swept through the area.

Nearly everyone present rolled their eyes back and collapsed to the ground.

The reason it was nearly everyone was because two people had not passed out.

One wore a blue-and-red costume, held a submachine gun, and sped toward him on a motorcycle.

The other was a Black man lying on the ground, his gaze fixed firmly on the door that was about to close.