The Absurd Universe

When the light faded, the entire Magic Circle had burned through the floor, leaving a huge hole in the Sanctum's second story.

Ancient One's face was as pale as paper, and what looked like blood clung to the corner of her mouth.

The Ancient One had performed transfers across dimensions and universes before, but the universe Lin Yi and the others were headed to was different. It was so unusual that hidden eyes seemed to watch from every dark corner of it.

To activate the circle without alerting those watchers, the Ancient One had used some of Kamar-Taj's precious reserves. She had also been forced to draw heavily on the power of the Dark Dimension.

"Please don't let me down..." Ancient One panted. The enormous drain of energy left her dizzy, and she swayed, barely managing to stay on her feet. Countless seductive whispers seemed to sound in her ears.

The voices came from the endless Dark Dimension, their tones gleeful. Borrow a little more. Just a little more. You need power...

Meanwhile, Lin Yi, Strange, and Peter, wrapped in light, were enduring chaos and discomfort beyond words.

It was countless times more chaotic than traveling through the Quantum Realm. Lin Yi felt as though something kept pulling at both his soul and his body. Before his eyes was no stable passage like the one through the Quantum Realm, but a frenzy of flickering, shattered images.

Stardust was obliterated the instant it formed. Nebulae swirled together like spilled paint, while fragments of space-time scattered everywhere like broken glass.

"Mr. Lin Yi, Doctor Strange, I think I'm going to throw up..." Peter covered his mouth, in no mood to admire the strange sights around him.

Neither of the other two had any attention to spare for Peter. Fortunately, the agonizing journey did not last much longer.

The unbearable twisting sensation and the light gradually faded. Soon, their feet touched solid ground again, though their momentum sent them stumbling several steps before they regained their balance.

Strange gasped for breath. This had been far more intense than the Cosmic Whirlwind Big Bang the Ancient One had put him through when he first encountered Magic.

Peter had already found a trash can somewhere and was vomiting into it. Of the three, Lin Yi was in the best shape.

As the discomfort ebbed, a clamor rushed into their ears.

Voices, car horns, music from shops—all the noise of a bustling city washed over them.

The three stood in the middle of a busy street, surrounded by streams of people.

"Is this New York? It looks a little different."

It resembled the central New York streets Lin Yi remembered. The layout of the buildings was vaguely familiar, but the details were completely different.

"Is that Stark Tower?" Peter had finally stopped throwing up. He moved beside the other two and pointed in amazement at the futuristic skyscraper.

"And is that Mr. Rogers in the ad? What's he doing?"

"OMG, are those Aliens? Did Aliens invade this place too?"

Spider-Man was almost at a loss for words. What lay before him was too absurd.

Every so often, unmistakably alien beings appeared among the crowds. They strolled and shopped like everyone else, as though they had long since settled into life on Blue Star.

Outside the famous Marshall Hotel in the distance hung two enormous illuminated billboards, each nearly as wide as the building itself.

On one billboard, Captain America, Steve, wore his iconic stars-and-stripes combat suit. His expression was resolute, and in his hand he held a gaudily packaged bottle of... Steve Brand Kidney Tonic?!

But the most eye-catching thing in the district was what Peter had exclaimed over first: the skyscraper bearing the Stark logo. It rose straight into the clouds, its metal frame and glass curtain walls gleaming so brightly in the sun that they were hard to look at.

"Isn't this a bit much...?"

Strange nodded in complete agreement. The Banner he knew had always been a brilliant scientist. Now, in the form of the Hulk, he stood on the billboard beside Steve's, showing off an enormously muscular body with veins bulging everywhere.

And that was not all. Natasha was in the picture too, sitting atop Banner's head while holding a container of Hulk Brand Vitality Protein Powder half as tall as she was. It was a sight Strange could have done without...

Lin Yi clicked his tongue for a while before he could accept this universe's wildly different style.

A mechanical sound came from beside him. He turned and saw that Peter had put on the Nano Spider Suit.

"What are you doing?" Lin Yi frowned and spread out his senses, but detected no danger. Could Spider-Man's Danger Sense really be better than mine?

"Oh, I didn't bring a camera. The suit can take pictures..." Spider-Man explained.

Lin Yi quietly relaxed his tense nerves, unsure what to say to that...

"Send me a copy later."

Strange's mouth twitched. "Stop fooling around. We're not here on vacation. What do we do next?"

Lin Yi rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. "Let's find a computer or phone first. Getting online is the quickest way to learn about this world."

Strange nodded. That was the advantage of the internet: it held vast amounts of information about the world, ready to look up at any time.

"Then let's split up. You research this world's history, and I'll visit this world's Kamar-Taj."

"All right. Remember what the Ancient One said: don't blindly trust anyone or anything familiar. Contact me right away if anything happens!"

"Got it. Peter, come with me!" Strange grabbed Peter, who was still taking pictures, and pulled him into an alley.

"Huh? Why? My job is to stay with Mr. Lin Yi!"

"Enough. You're coming to Kamar-Taj with me!"

Their voices faded into the distance. Lin Yi looked away, then casually swept his gaze above the clouds, where ordinary people could not see.

Several drones hovered there, motionless, their cameras aimed precisely at him.

The corners of Lin Yi's mouth lifted slightly. Interesting. Someone noticed us as soon as we arrived?

He did not yet know who it was. The drones bore no markings, though he had his suspicions.

He decided to leave them alone for now. After sweeping the area with Super Vision, he headed straight for a large internet café.

Come on, then! Let me see what's so special about the only universe to survive the Cosmic Virus!

...An hour later, Lin Yi crouched outside the internet café, drinking canned coffee with a miserable look on his face.

He could hardly believe it himself: the internet in this universe's Blue Star had no historical records!

More precisely, it did have records, but the earliest dated back only seven years—as though this universe itself had existed for just seven years!

And everything recorded over those seven years concerned members of the Avengers.

There were stories about Stark Industries' latest inventions, gossip about various Avengers, and even news of an alien looking for a mate on the front page.

It had a bit of everything except the historical records Lin Yi wanted!