Did I Hear You Want to Crush the Arbitrators?

Deadpool lay sprawled on the cold metal floor of TVA like a stunned salted fish, the damn stun gun in his buttocks still crackling and causing him to twitch from time to time.

"Ouch... my chrysanthemum..." Deadpool groaned, his voice filled with exaggerated pain, "You bunch of perverts... do you know how sensitive that is?"

Two uniformed TVA agents dragged him along the long corridor with expressionless faces, Deadpool's head thumping against the floor.

"Hey! Easy peasy! This priceless head of mine contains—thump—the sexiest—brain in the Marvel Universe!"

The agents ignored him and dragged him straight into a suspended platform above a monitoring room, where they dumped him at the feet of a middle-aged man in a suit, like trash.

The man was elegantly sipping a cup of black tea, his blond hair meticulously combed, and a fake, gentle smile on his face.

"Tsk, that's too rough." He put down his teacup and said in a British accent, "How could you treat our Mr. Wilson like that?"

He wrinkled his nose, his gaze falling on the still-smoking stun gun on Deadpool's buttocks. "Hurry up, pull that... unsightly rod out."

"Wait! Be gentle! That place is sacred--ooh--!!!"

The stun gun was suddenly pulled out, and Deadpool jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, hopping around on the platform while clutching his butt.

"Fuck you! You hypocritical Englishman!" Deadpool yelled, pointing at the blond man's nose, nearly spitting into his tea. "Do you know how much that hurt?! And! In front of my dear Pajama Baby! I! Lost! My! Life!!"

In the middle of his rant, Deadpool suddenly stopped, turned around, and raised an eyebrow at the air with a lewd grin. "... But seriously, this kind of sudden, embarrassing play... hehe, it's actually pretty cool."

The blond man— Mr. Paradox —elegantly wiped the tea splattered on his sleeve, completely ignoring Deadpool's second half of his sentence.

"Mr. Wilson." He straightened his tie. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Mr. Paradox, one of the new managers of TVA. I've invited you here for no other reason than..."

He paused, then said calmly, "It's simply because you haven't spent enough time in your original world."

Deadpool tilted his head. "Huh?"

"The 'anchor' of your world has died prematurely." Mr. Paradox took a sip of his black tea. "According to the original plan, your world would have been destroyed precisely in a few thousand years. But now..." He put down his teacup, his eyes sharpening, "Because you've been stuck in another timeline for so long, this destruction process has deviated a little..."

Deadpool's eyepatch widened, then he suddenly slapped his thigh. "I get it!" He straightened up abruptly (ignoring his still-aching butt), pointed at Mr. Paradox, and said in a powerful voice, "You want me to save my world! Right?! Wow! Wade Wilson, the savior of the Multiverse! This script is fucking amazing! It's going to be a box office smash!"

Mr. Paradox's lips twitched slightly.

He raised his fist and coughed lightly a few times. "Ahem, Mr. Wilson, I think you've misunderstood."

Deadpool, still lost in his fantasy of becoming a superhero who saves the world, is interrupted by Mr. Paradox.

He looked at Mr. Paradox, puzzled. "Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding? How could there be a misunderstanding? You know, I'm an 'outstanding graduate' of the 'Arbitrators'! Oh!! I see!"

Deadpool slammed his left fist on his right palm, looking like he knew everything. "You're worried I can't carry the box office by myself? No problem, Chen Tian and I are good friends. How about I bring his whole team over?"

Deadpool suddenly turned to the invisible wall, gesturing wildly. "Hey! Ladies and gentlemen! Look at this lineup! 2B from the game, Bayonetta, Super Saiyan Goku, and Saitama from One-Punch Man! Isn't this crossover amazing? If the box office doesn't break 10 billion, I'll eat an electric baton on live stream!"

Mr. Paradox stared blankly at Deadpool raving at thin air, finally losing his temper. "Enough! Your world is doomed, it's going to be destroyed, and nobody can save it!"

Deadpool fell silent instantly, his eyepatch widening dramatically. "Wait... what did you say?"

Mr. Paradox pointed to the wall behind him made up of countless old televisions. One of the images was frozen on the moment Logan died—his chest and abdomen were pierced by a tree branch, and his blood stained the dust.

"See that? That Wolverine is the anchor of your world. He's dead, and your world is destined to perish."

Deadpool stared at the screen, remaining silent for an unusual five seconds.

"It can only be Logan?"

Paradox: Arms crossed, chin raised, nodding.

"No one else will do?"

The Paradox nodded once again.

Deadpool fell silent again, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Paradox's arrogant face and the image of Logan's death.

Suddenly, he launched an attack, headbutting Mr. Paradox hard on the bridge of his nose.

"Crack!" The sound of the nose breaking was crisp and pleasant.

"Ouch! My nose!" Mr. Paradox wailed, clutching his bleeding nose.

Deadpool seized the opportunity to snatch the tablet from Mr. Paradox's side, his fingers flying across the keyboard. "No one can replace him? Bullshit! I'll go to another world and kidnap a Wolverine!"

An orange-yellow portal opened before him, and Deadpool gave the middle finger to the writhing Mr. Paradox: "Watch how Daddy Wade saves the world!"

After saying that, he gracefully leaped into the portal, not forgetting to add insult to injury before leaving, "By the way, your black tea is awful! It's as garbage as Stargazing!"

Deadpool's figure, along with his sarcastic remark "red tea trash," vanished completely into the orange-yellow portal vortex.

The next second, the portal Oblivion completely with a "poof," leaving no trace, like a spark that had been extinguished.

The monitoring room was silent—except for Mr. Paradox's heavy, suppressed breathing as he tried to suppress his rage.

He clutched his bleeding nose, which was throbbing with pain. His meticulously styled blond hair hung messily over his forehead, and the front of his expensive suit was splattered with blood and the spilled tea from the earlier commotion.

The carefully cultivated British gentlemanly demeanor vanished, leaving only dishevelment and overwhelming anger.

He could feel the distinct fracture and displacement of his nasal bone, and every breath was accompanied by excruciating pain and a metallic, bloody smell.

"Ugh... Ah..." A roar, suppressed to the extreme, finally burst forth from deep within her throat.

"Wade Wilson!!!" Mr. Paradox jerked his head up, blood trickling from between his fingers down his chin, staining his white collar. His previously feignedly gentle face was now twisted and contorted with rage and pain, like a demon crawling out of hell, his eyes burning with a murderous rage. "You incurable, utterly shameless, filthy, red-skinned madman!!!"

Like a wounded Beast, he staggered to where Deadpool had disappeared, futilely swinging his fists as if trying to tear the air apart.

"My nose! My plan!" He then remembered the crucial piece of equipment that had been stolen—it was part of the management privileges!

"Action!!! All personnel on highest red alert!!!" Mr. Paradox roared hysterically into the intercom system in the corner of the room, his voice hoarse and distorted, completely devoid of his previous feigned elegance. "Get that pervert in the red underwear back! Immediately! Right now! At any cost!!! I'm going to stuff him into the Time Furnace and bake him for ten thousand years!!!"

A piercing alarm, loud enough to tear eardrums, instantly blared throughout the entire TVA headquarters!

The cold white light was replaced by flashing red light, and the entire space was filled with the tense atmosphere of war mobilization.

Whoosh!

The door to the monitoring room was suddenly pushed open!

Teams of fully armed TVA agents surged onto the platform like a black tide.

They were all clad in heavy energy armor covering their entire bodies, and wielded time weapons with even more ferocious designs and cannons that gleamed with a cold, eerie blue light, as well as powerful particle binding net launchers.

Their steps were perfectly synchronized, and the faces beneath their helmets were grim and devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

"Target: Wade Wilson!" Mr. Paradox pointed to the massive old television wall, where data streams were frantically refreshing, attempting to trace the residual energy of Deadpool's portal.

"He violated the core rules! He attempted to hijack and replace the anchor point! The coordinates are locked onto all possible timeline nodes leading to 'Wolverine's' unusual activity!"

Especially his original world's adjacent timeline! I'll dig him out even if it means digging three feet into the ground!

"Yes, sir, Mr. Paradox!" The lead armored commander's voice was like the scraping of metal, cold and ruthless.

"Take him alive! I want to do it myself..." Mr. Paradox covered his nose, his facial muscles twitching with rage, "... make him regret ever being born!" He stared at the pile of "crossover" images Deadpool had just been pointing at on the wall (2B, Bayonetta, Goku, Saitama), his eyes terrifyingly sinister, "And that damn 'Arbitrators'... if he dares to interfere, crush him too!"

A large number of heavily armed agents rushed towards the TVA's internal spatial control hub like arrows released from a bow. The heavy footsteps and the sound of armor clashing together formed a suffocating torrent.

More agents, under the dispatcher's orders, rushed into the orange portals that opened instantly, their targets pointing directly at the various timeline points where Deadpool might escape.

Mr. Paradox stood there, his chest heaving violently, blood still dripping from his nose onto the metal floor.

The sense of control he had previously possessed was gone from his eyes, replaced only by a furious rage born of humiliation and boundless killing intent as he stared intently at the spot where Deadpool had vanished.

"Wade Wilson ...you can't escape..." He wiped the blood from his face, his smile twisted and cruel. "Your world is destined for destruction, and you...will watch your world be destroyed with your own eyes!!"

Mr. Paradox's distorted declaration still echoed in the cold air, and the sound of blood dripping from his nose could be clearly heard during the intervals between alarms.

His face, contorted with rage and pain, was turned toward the empty space where Deadpool had vanished, his eyes burning with a frenzied flame of vengeance.

However, in the very next heartbeat—

A voice, chillingly calm, like a steel needle, pierced through the piercing alarm and Paradox's own heavy breathing, striking precisely behind him:

"You just said you wanted to crush the Arbitrators?"

Mr. Paradox felt as if his blood had frozen instantly.

The raging anger was instantly extinguished by a bone-chilling cold, leaving only an intense fear that surged wildly up the spine.

He shuddered violently. The voice wasn't coming from a broadcast or a communicator; it was incredibly clear, like a whisper, from less than three meters behind him!

Like a rusty robot, his neck creaked as he turned his head with great difficulty, little by little.

The pupils contracted to the size of pinpoints in the next second!

In the central control room, which had been empty, a figure was now sitting steadily in the highest seat.

Chen Tian.

His casual attire looked somewhat out of place under the TVA lights.

One leg was casually bent and rested on the edge of the control panel that flashed with complex data, while the other leg hung down naturally, his posture as relaxed as if he were sitting on his own living room sofa.

The only thing that stood in stark contrast to this leisurely demeanor was the corner of his mouth peeking out from under his blindfold—the slight upturn was devoid of any warmth, only displaying an indifference and cold mockery as if looking down upon ants.

When did he get in? How did he get in? What about the heavy armored units outside? What about the alarm system? What about all the defense protocols?!

Mr. Paradox's mind went blank, leaving only an incomprehensible and immense terror.

"You... you..." Mr. Paradox gurgled in his throat, trying to squeeze out a few words—a question, a threat, or simply a plea for mercy?

He didn't know.

Chen Tian didn't even give him a chance to organize his thoughts.

"Ugh!" Mr. Paradox felt an irresistible, terrifying repulsive force, as if the entire universe were crushing down on him, suddenly Descent!

It's as if space itself strongly repels his existence!

Like a fly swatted flat by a giant hand, he was slammed face down onto the smooth, cold metal floor with a loud thud!

His cheek was pressed against the ground, and the excruciating pain from his broken nose made his vision go black. His carefully styled hair was disheveled and stuck to the blood and cold sweat flowing from his nose.

He couldn't move a single finger; he could only gasp for breath, each inhalation carrying the stench of blood and the cold metallic scent of the floor, his lungs aching from the pressure.

The expensive suit was now completely tattered, and he looked utterly pathetic.

Heavy footsteps sounded, neither hurried nor slow.

Chen Tian easily jumped off the control panel, his boots striking the metal floor with a crisp, rhythmic "tap, tap."

He slowly walked up to Mr. Paradox, who was being pinned to the ground.

A shadow fell.

Despite his best efforts, Mr. Paradox could only catch a glimpse of Chen Tian's boot tip stopping less than ten centimeters from his nose with the corner of his bloodshot eyes.

Then, Chen Tian bent down slightly.

The movements were elegant, yet carried a suffocating sense of oppression.

He turned his head and brought his ear closer to Mr. Paradox, as if listening to a friend's whisper in a bar.

However, every word he uttered carried a chilling coldness that could freeze one's soul:

"I haven't heard anyone dare to say that in a long time."

His voice remained calm, even carrying a hint of playful inquiry.

"You..."

"... Say it again?"

The piercing alarm seemed to be isolated in another dimension, and the only sounds in the monitoring room were Mr. Paradox's heavy, dying breaths and the sound of his heart pounding wildly in his chest, almost bursting open.

The invisible repulsive force did not weaken in the slightest; on the contrary, it was like a cold iron hoop, tightening more and more, squeezing even thought to the point of almost stopping.

Mr. Paradox opened his mouth, but only made unintelligible "hoarse" sounds from his throat; fear clung to every nerve in his body like a poisonous vine.

Chen Tian stood there quietly, looking down at the air, listening intently. The air was thick with the smells of despair and blood, chilling to the bone.

Chen Tian maintained his "waiting" posture, listening intently for a few seconds.

The monitoring room was deathly silent, save for the chattering of Mr. Paradox's teeth and his own heavy, blood-tinged breathing. He struggled with all his might, but couldn't squeeze out a single syllable from that cosmic repulsive force. Fear gripped his throat, crushing any thought he might have had to argue.

Chen Tian's cold smile deepened, tinged with a knowing boredom. He slowly straightened up, no longer looking at Mr. Paradox lying on the ground like a rag doll, and casually swept his gaze across the monitoring room platform.

His gaze fell on a young Black woman in a suit and glasses, her face ashen, sitting in the corner— Mr. Paradox's assistant.

The assistant trembled so badly when he glanced at her that she almost collapsed to the ground.

"You," Chen Tian's voice was calm and even, "Bring me a chair."

The assistant jolted awake as if struck by lightning, frantically grabbing a metal-backed chair—the very same one Mr. Paradox had been leisurely sipping tea while waiting for Deadpool to arrive.

She dragged the chair next to Chen Tian, gripped the back of the chair with both hands, and was so nervous that her forehead was covered in sweat.

"Thank you." Chen Tian nodded slightly, his tone so polite it was chilling.

He sat down steadily.

Then, under the horrified gaze of his assistant, Chen Tian casually crossed his legs.

The sole of the boot simply and casually extended forward and firmly stepped on the back of Mr. Paradox's head as he lay on the ground!

The cold touch of the boot soles mixed with the sticky feeling of his own nosebleed on the floor sent a shiver through Mr. Paradox's body, and a sense of humiliation and unspeakable fear instantly overwhelmed him.

He felt like an insect pinned to a specimen board.

Chen Tian leaned back comfortably in his chair, one hand casually resting on the armrest, his posture relaxed.

"Originally," he began, his voice not loud, but clearly reaching Paradox's ears, "I was just here to join in the fun."

He paused, then lightly ground his foot on the back of Mr. Paradox's head, causing the latter to let out a suppressed groan of pain.

"After all, I know about the destruction thousands of years from now," Chen Tian said indifferently. "Deadpool won't care. By then, all the friends and lovers he cares about in his world will have long since returned to dust, dead beyond any doubt. An empty shell of a world without them will be destroyed, and that's it."

"And you," Chen Tian's gaze fell, his boots pressing harder into Mr. Paradox's face, burying it deeper in his own blood, "Wanting to use that so-called 'Time Controller' to prematurely detonate that world as your 'performance' for a promotion and raise..." He chuckled, a hint of mockery in his voice, "I don't care. After all, that's not my world. I can't be bothered with your TVA's internal squabbles."

The air froze.

Mr. Paradox listened to Chen Tian's all-seeing, God-like words, his heart felt as if it had been pierced by an ice pick!

How could he know?! This is a plan known to only a very few people!

"But," Chen Tian's voice suddenly turned cold, as if the air itself was about to freeze. He put down his crossed legs, leaned forward slightly, and applied even clearer, colder pressure with the foot that was pressing on Mr. Paradox's head.

He spoke extremely slowly, each word like a heavy hammer blow to Mr. Paradox's already collapsing nerves:

"Why you...?"

The force on the soles of their feet suddenly increased!

"Say it..."

Mr. Paradox felt as if his skull was groaning under the strain!

"Crush..."

The chilling killing intent was like a tangible Blade, pressed tightly against the skin!

"Arbitrators..."

"... Woolen cloth?"

The last word fell like a death knell.

Mr. Paradox, sprawled on the ground, had his last remaining eye, not crushed to the ground, wide open in utter terror and bewilderment, almost bursting open! He finally found a breath, and with his last ounce of strength, he forced out a few broken syllables from deep within his throat. "Guards... why...?"

He couldn't understand! Why! Why hadn't the TVA's heavy Military Police Force arrived yet! Why were the alarms still going off! Why didn't even those useless idiots below the platform go out and find the security team?!

How did Chen Tian manage to render the entire TVA's defenses virtually nonexistent?!

Chen Tian seemed to have been waiting for this question from him.

The foot that was stepping on his head rolled down gracefully and slowly with the sole of its boot.

"Heh," Chen Tian let out a cold snort that was cryptic, tinged with a knowing boredom, "You're waiting for the guards?"

"They won't come, because Kang knows I'm here."

"Do you know why Kang knew I was here, and why he didn't even dare send the guards?"

"Because he's afraid of me."

Chen Tian chuckled, glancing disdainfully at the Paradox beneath his feet. "Are you afraid of me?"

Chen Tian's voice was like an ice pick, piercing through Mr. Paradox's last shred of hope.

The sensation of the boot sole grinding against Paradox's shattered nose and the back of his head, mixed with the oppressive feeling of absolute control, made Paradox feel as if his very soul was being frozen and pulverized.

He could clearly feel the skull groaning, and the smell of blood and a chilling fear filled all his senses.

He wanted to scream, to explain, to beg for mercy, to invoke the authority of TVA, even the prestige of Hong...

But all the words were stuck in his throat by that repulsive force, leaving only broken breaths and the frantic chattering of his teeth.

The two remaining eyes, not completely pressed to the floor, were bloodshot, their pupils dilated and blurred with extreme fear.

In this suffocating moment of despair--

"Sizzle--!"

A sharp, piercing sound of energy tearing apart, accompanied by a strong smell of cheap whiskey and sweat, suddenly exploded in the center of the monitoring room!

An orange-yellow portal suddenly opened.

"Bang! Thud!"

A figure dressed in a tattered yellow tight-fitting uniform, muscular but drunk as a rag doll, was roughly thrown out of the portal like a heavy sack, crashing heavily onto the cold metal floor and rolling twice.

"Ugh... who... who the hell... dared to touch me... hiccup..." Logan lay on the ground, cursing incoherently, his thick beard still stained with alcohol.

Immediately afterwards, Deadpool, hands on his hips, strode out of the portal with an exaggerated air, as if he had just won Oscar.

"Ding ding ding ding!" Deadpool roared at the top of his lungs, his voice booming in the silent room, "Look who brought the anchor point! Surprised? Unexpected? Want to kneel down and shout 'Wade Long live... Daddy Wade...'?"

He got stuck on his lines.

Deadpool's eyes, hidden behind his mask, were fixed on that incredibly impactful scene on the platform:

Mr. Paradox lay sprawled on the ground like a dead dog, his expensive suit stained with blood and dust, his body twitching slightly uncontrollably.

And the person sitting high above, in a chair, with one foot casually resting on the pathetic back of Mr. Paradox's head...

It's Chen Tian.

That man whose aura was so powerful that it froze the entire space.

Deadpool maintained his victorious pose with his hands on his hips and chest out, his mouth still in the "O" shape he used when shouting "Wan".

Chen Tian slightly turned his head, his gaze beneath the blindfold sweeping calmly over and landing on Deadpool. He didn't even remove his foot from Mr. Paradox's head.

"Thump!"

With lightning speed, Deadpool slammed his knees into the metal floor without hesitation!

The force was so great that one might even suspect his kneecap was broken (of course, it will regenerate anyway).

Using the momentum, he slid like a torpedo in a red and black bodysuit, sliding several meters along the smooth floor with perfect precision, before grabbing Chen Tian's leg that was stepping on Paradox's head!

"Chen Tian's father--!!!"

A heart-wrenching, aggrieved, and utterly shrill scream that sent chills down one's spine echoed through the monitoring room. The voice was so perfectly mimicked, it was exactly like that of an eight-year-old girl whose lollipop had been snatched away.

"He bullied me!!! Waaaaa!!! It's this old perverted man!"

Deadpool buried his face in Chen Tian's boots (ignoring the Paradox blood and dust that might be on them), pointed at Mr. Paradox lying on the ground like a rag doll, and cried out dramatically, "He shoved a stun gun into my ass! He had people drag me around and slam my head against it! He said my world was going to end! He wouldn't let me go save people! He even called me a red-skinned lunatic! He even called you bullshit! He said he'd crush the Arbitrators! Waaah... Daddy, you have to stand up for me!!"

He poured out all the "crimes" of the Paradox in one breath, crying and rubbing his face against Chen Tian's boots as if they were the only support and warmth in the world.

In the monitoring room, only Deadpool's exaggerated wailing echoed.

Mr. Paradox, lying on the ground, convulsed even more violently, whether from the excruciating pain, humiliation, or anger at Deadpool's incensing accusations, it was unclear.