Echoes in Deep Space

The deathly silence on the terrace was scattered by the sea breeze, but the heaviness frozen across the Avengers' holographic images refused to fade. Xiao Han's offhanded "What does it have to do with me?" was like an ice pick driven into everyone's nerves.

The golden glow of the setting sun fell over him, making his indifference all the more glaring.

Nick Fury's holographic projection was the first to break the silence. The chill in his one eye nearly solidified. "Mr. Xiao, allowing an energy signal of this magnitude to be exposed in deep space is no different from lighting a bonfire in a dark forest! What it draws in may not be water, but rather..."

"Fire?" Xiao Han cut him off, sitting back down in the beach chair. He casually fished a strawberry crispy-shell cone from the cooler and slowly tore open the wrapper. "Then let it burn. As long as it doesn't reach my chair." He took a bite, and the crisp crack of the shell was especially distinct in the frozen atmosphere.

Tony sucked in a sharp breath, forcing down the roar in his throat before turning toward the hologram. "Fury! Doesn't your carrier array boast that it can detect the Milky Way sneezing? What the hell is that thing? Locate it! I need exact coordinates! Even a rough quadrant will do!"

Fury's holographic projection flickered slightly, urgent orders sounding in the background. "The signal structure is completely unfamiliar, Stark! It keeps jumping and shifting, as if it's..."

Alive! Its energy signature could not be matched to any known database! The only thing certain was that it was getting closer! Its speed... was beyond imagination! This was not conventional propulsion, more like... ripples produced by spatial folding!"

"Spatial folding?!" Banner cried out, his face turning deathly pale. "That means... it may possess jump technology beyond our comprehension! Distance may mean absolutely nothing to it!"

"Director Fury," Steve said steadily, with unquestionable resolve, "whatever it is, it has locked onto the energy sources of the Tesseract and the Scepter. We must move both items immediately! Spread out the risk! We can't keep them in the same basket, much less in densely populated areas!"

"Move them? Where?" Barton's voice was edged with agitation. "A S.H.I.E.L.D. secret base? Which base can withstand these two things going haywire again? Throw them into the Pacific Ocean trench? Into a volcano? Who can guarantee that won't trigger an even greater geological disaster?"

"Perhaps..." Natasha's gaze, sharp as a hawk's, turned once more toward the figure eating an ice cream cone in the beach chair.

"Mr. Xiao isn't entirely unconcerned? After all, if the source of that 'letting water flow' really does bring in a great fire..." She deliberately paused, her red lips curling into the faintest smile, her voice clear and even.

"...and it burns down the terrace where you sunbathe, or... melts all the ice cream in that cooler, that would be troublesome too, wouldn't it?" She struck precisely at his only "weak points"—sunshine and sweets.

Xiao Han paused while licking his ice cream. He lifted his eyelids, and there was no emotion in his dark eyes, though his gaze lingered on Natasha's face for half a second. He said nothing, merely took another bite of the cone.

Just then!

Bzzzz—!!!!

An incomparably shrill buzzing sound, as if it could pierce straight through the soul, exploded from nowhere without warning! It did not travel through the air, but acted directly on everyone's nervous system!

The holographic images twisted and flickered violently! Tony let out a muffled groan and clutched his ears in pain, despite the armor's soundproofing, his face contorting beneath the helmet!

The Avengers scattered across the world...

Steve gripped his temples, Banner curled up in agony, Barton staggered a step and crashed into a virtual pillar, and even Fury's holographic projection showed violent signal fluctuations!

"Alert! Unknown high-dimensional energy pulse!" Fury's voice came through in broken bursts amid the piercing buzz. "Carrier... shields... overloaded! The source... is at... the villa..."

Before he could finish!

In the direction of the villa, a savage column of intertwined deep blue and blazing gold energy burst forth like an ancient beast breaking free of its cage, violently punching through the soil above the underground laboratory and the villa's foundation!

Several meters of reinforced concrete tore apart and vaporized like paper! Blinding light instantly swallowed one corner of the villa as a violent energy shockwave expanded outward in a sphere!

Rumble—!!!

The terrifying roar of the explosion arrived a moment later!

Happy, standing at the terrace entrance, was violently hurled away by the shockwave and slammed heavily onto the beach! Tony's armor was shoved backward by the raging blast, plowing deep trenches through the sand! The terrace's tempered-glass railing was instantly covered in spiderweb cracks!

Dust and debris rained down from the sky! At the core of the energy pillar, a distorted "door" flickering with unstable deep blue and blazing golden light was being forcibly pried open above the villa's ruins! Violent torrents of energy spewed from it, tearing and twisting everything around it!

"No!!!" Tony's eyes went bloodshot as he watched part of his home get blown into the air!

At the center of the destructive energy storm, a figure abruptly appeared at the edge of the collapsing villa foundation, directly facing the violent energy door that was taking shape!

It was Xiao Han!

He had not even moved more than a few steps from the beach chair! He was still holding that half-eaten strawberry cone!

The sandstorm and flying rubble kicked up by the shockwave seemed to strike an invisible wall of sighs, stopping dead several meters around him before hovering in the air and vanishing!

When the violent energy currents swept toward him, they were like waves crashing into an absolutely smooth reef, instantly soothed and diverted. Even the cone in his hand did not tremble in the slightest!

He stood there, his gray hoodie completely still amid the energy storm, calmly watching the increasingly distinct "door" before him as it emitted ominous fluctuations.

"Tsk." He clicked his tongue softly, his brow barely furrowing—not because of the explosion or the energy, but because—

"There's too much dust." Looking at the smoke filling the sky, his tone carried the irritation of being disturbed. "And it got my ice cream dirty." He lowered his head, glanced at the speck of sand on the cone, and casually flicked it with perfect accuracy into the wreckage of the cooler overturned by the shockwave.

Then he raised his head, his gaze returning to the energy door that was about to fully take shape. That look no longer held his previous laziness and indifference, but a trace of pure annoyance at having his peace disturbed.

"A door?" He stared at the distorted light and shadow, his voice quiet yet clear enough to pierce the explosive roar and energy screech, carrying across the entire terrace and through the uninterrupted communications to every Avenger's ears. "Who gave you permission to open it at my front door?"