Bridal Chamber

Tang Tianqi played a Marvel game and drifted off to sleep in a haze.

Amidst the haze, he seemed to hear a mouse "click" once.

Opening his eyes again, he suddenly saw Black Widow wearing a white wedding gown, smiling at him. Enhanced by the wedding dress, she looked even more peerlessly gorgeous, carrying an air of saintly holiness amidst her charm.

Looking around, he found himself in a grand cathedral.

The pews below were packed with people, mostly Westerners, with only the occasional one or two Eastern faces.

A solemn voice rang out from the altar: "Ms. Natasha, do you take this man to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?"

Black Widow nodded gently: "I do."

The priest continued: "Mr. Tang Tianqi, do you take this woman to be your wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?"

Tang Tianqi wore a blank expression. What was going on here?

Was he dreaming?

It seemed he had played too many Marvel games; what you think about by day, you dream about by night.

Apocalypse had always felt that the most pitiable person in Marvel was Black Widow.

Black Widow's real name was Natasha Romanoff. According to comic book lore, she should have been born in the Soviet Union in 1928, making her only eight years younger than Captain America.

Her body had been modified by the infamous espionage organization Red Room, greatly slowing down her aging process, which was why her appearance remained unchanged well into the twenty-first century decades later.

However, in the Black Widow movie, it was explicitly stated that she was born in the 1980s, possessing a normal human lifespan.

As for her other experiences, they were largely similar.

Subjected to brutal training by the Red Room since childhood, with ruthless methods, she had a notorious reputation in the intelligence world.

Yet she was exceptionally beautiful, catching men completely off guard; one careless move, and they would lose their lives to her charms.

Much like the most venomous spider in the spider world, which ate the male spider after mating—the "Black Widow."

With such a vicious nickname, surely no normal woman would like it.

Of course, compared to so many cruel experiences, Natasha naturally did not care about an ugly nickname.

What was even more fatal was that, to prevent female operatives under their command from being subverted by enemies using honey traps, the Red Room had removed her uterus, leaving her permanently infertile.

After all, women possessed a natural maternal instinct, and if she bore a child, she would likely turn traitor for the sake of her child and husband.

Consequently, whether within the Red Room organization or later after joining S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers, Black Widow was relegated to nothing more than a glamorous enforcer, devoid of any personal happiness.

Among the various superheroes in the Avengers, she and Hawkeye had the lowest combat power.

Both were mortals without superpowers, representing the upper limit of ordinary humans and the lower limit of superheroes!

Faced with endless supervillains and alien formidable foes, the male superheroes burned with passion, shouting, "The good part is coming..."

Only she would reveal an imperceptible glimmer of fear and loneliness in her eyes, saying, "I... I don't see what's so good about it."

Pity that in the world of superheroes, no one heard her words, and no one cared.

Until the very end, in Avengers: Endgame, to secure the Soul Stone for the greater good, she and Hawkeye raced each other to jump off the cliff.

Hawkeye had a wife, children, and attachments, whereas she did not, and so she won...

At her funeral, those mourning her included comrades, colleagues, and friends, but conspicuously absent were any lovers or offspring.

One could say that while Black Widow appeared peerlessly gorgeous and the center of attention, she was in truth the loneliest and most pitiful of all.

"Ahem, Mr. Tang Tianqi, do you take this woman?" the priest reminded.

Black Widow also wore a puzzled expression.

Tang Tianqi collected himself and said, "I do. I do, a ten-thousand-fold yes."

"I, Tang Tianqi, swear to the universe to guard you with my life, so that you are no longer lonely and never suffer harm from any enemy. Furthermore, no matter how cruel reality may be, I am willing to overcome all difficulties together, to bear children and raise them to grow."

Black Widow's heart trembled. Tang Tianqi's few sentences struck right at the soft underbelly of her soul!

At that moment, Black Widow felt a trace of panic in her heart. Could he know her origins? Did he deliberately say these things to counter-seduce her?

According to intelligence, that shouldn't be the case; the man's background was very simple.

Besides, even if he were an enemy spy, it was impossible for him to know the desires deep within her heart.

Not even S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury knew, how could he possibly know?!

Black Widow's life was desolate and destitute; she didn't even know who her biological parents were, learning only from the lips of a Red Room general that they were already dead, unable even to find their graves.

People in their line of work could not have families, could not have friends, and could not bear children.

The red faith once instilled in her had also collapsed with the fall of the Soviet Union.

Not knowing where she came from or where she was headed left her wandering and helpless, suffering from an extreme lack of a sense of belonging.

It was only after defecting from the Red Room that she finally found some stability in S.H.I.E.L.D.

And her reason for finding stability was very simple; Black Widow had repeatedly said to the other superheroes: This is my home, and you are like my family.

The deepest desire in her heart was simply to have a home where she could anchor her drifting life.

Sadly, her profession dictated that she could not build a family like ordinary people.

She even feared that the man she fell in love with might return home only to find a corpse.

"Now, in the name of God, I pronounce you husband and wife!" the priest said.

"Clap, clap, clap, clap..." A wave of cheerful applause rang out across the venue.

Seeing that Tang Tianqi still looked somewhat dazed, the priest had no choice but to remind him again: "Now, you may kiss your bride."

Then... the two shared a long kiss that almost left them breathless...

Amidst this dreamlike, illusory happiness, Tang Tianqi stiffly toasted the guests.

But Black Widow had not forgotten her mission.

The person currently accepting a toast from the two was a Westerner with blue eyes, a hawk nose, and eyes sharp as lightning.

Even though he was attending a wedding, he remained extremely vigilant.

He only drank the wine handed to him by his own subordinates, refusing to touch the food and drinks on the banquet tables at all.

Even the wine bottles and glasses were brought by himself, completely clashing with the style used at the wedding, looking exceptionally expensive just by appearance.

Pity for him, the one he encountered was Black Widow!

As they clinked glasses for the toast, the lace on Black Widow's wedding dress fluttered slightly, briefly obstructing the line of sight toward the wine glass.

A trace of imperceptible powder drifted from beneath Black Widow's fingernails into the other man's wine glass.

Swallowed down together with the wedding blessing from Hawkeye's elder.

Black Widow had executed countless missions in her life, some righteous and some unjust, and even some accidental kills, yet she had never once gone soft.

This time, she suddenly felt a bit flustered, uncontrollably casting a careful glance toward Apocalypse.

If this "husband" of hers found out she was using him, she wondered what his reaction would be?

Next came the bridal chamber!

This night was very warm.

Apocalypse possessed great stamina...

Black Widow's stamina went without saying, exceptionally good...

Afterwards, the bed proved quite sturdy as well; a night passed, and it did not collapse...

The next day, Tang Tianqi awoke groggily.

Seeing the Western-style bedroom and the lingering memories in his mind, he finally confirmed that he was not dreaming, but had transmigrated!