Chapter Summaries

Jiang Xiang unlocked Fortune Exchange, becoming a small-time fortune merchant, then met with Tony Stark, who wanted him to join a team dealing with superhuman incidents. Jiang Xiang declined and challenged Tony to consider who the team would serve, leaving Tony to rethink his plans.

• Jiang Xiang read the Fortune Exchange function description and used some of his fortune to obtain an Avatar with perfect concealment.
• Tony Stark showed Jiang Xiang records of unusual incidents and explained that superhuman activity was increasing.
• Tony asked Jiang Xiang to join a team he planned to form to respond to superhuman incidents.
• Jiang Xiang refused, questioning how Tony's team would respond to pressure from governments, agencies, corporations, and the public.
• Tony saw Jiang Xiang off and sat thinking through the questions, while unexpected events approached.

Tony investigated the reports linking Anson’s arrest to him and discovered Obadiah was behind the leak, while learning from Krillin about Langya and the Crane School. Obadiah recruited Sowo, an insect-controlling superhuman, and headed toward his plan to seize Stark Tower.

• Tony asked JARVIS to buy the media outlets reporting on Anson’s arrest and trace their sources, then learned Obadiah had orchestrated the news with Tien Shinhan involved.
• Tony asked Krillin about Tien Shinhan and the Crane School, and Krillin explained that Langya allowed supernatural factions to join if they had not colluded with the forces it suppressed.
• Krillin told Tony that the Crane School had once been involved in assassination, fraud, and swindling, leaving Tony confused about its place in Langya.
• Obadiah visited Sowo with Andrew and Tien Shinhan, offered him a million a month, and hired him after Sowo demonstrated his insect-controlling power.
• Obadiah looked toward Stark Tower and imagined taking control of it, while Sowo concealed additional abilities he had gained after insects entered his body.

Tony and Obadiah’s confrontation erupted into a gun battle on the streets of New York, where Tien Shinhan and Krillin fought Obadiah’s allies. After Tien defeated Sowo and Krillin blasted him, Tony learned Obadiah had been controlled, but Obadiah died after revealing that Howard had not died.

• Obadiah attacked Tony with armed bodyguards, grenades, and an RPG while Tien Shinhan and Krillin began fighting.
• Tony used his newly built Car Suit to survive the rocket blast and charged through Obadiah’s bodyguards as they fired on the street.
• Tien Shinhan used his ki to destroy the bugs controlling Obadiah and the bodyguards, then beat Sowo down.
• Krillin fired a Kamehameha at Sowo, while Tony realized Obadiah had been controlled by the bugs.
• Obadiah admitted he might have been wrong and told Tony that Howard had not died before collapsing.

After Obadiah’s attack exposed Tony Stark’s Iron Man armor and the power of Tien Shinhan and Krillin, the incident drew scrutiny from governments and rival organizations. S.H.I.E.L.D. faced a growing loss of authority, while Tony began investigating who had enabled Obadiah.

• Coulson questioned Tony about the attack, and Tony blamed Sowo without revealing that Obadiah had intended to kill him.
• Jiang Xiang stomped a camouflaged bug while he and Gwen Stacy watched the aftermath, and he collected emotional value from the chaos.
• The supernatural response force’s reports spread beyond S.H.I.E.L.D., and Rumlow secretly reported Tony’s armor to his superior.
• Tony asked JARVIS to compile information on businesses and organizations as he worried about Obadiah’s connections and possible follow-up attacks.
• Pierce told Nick Fury that the military and several states were restricting S.H.I.E.L.D.’s authority, putting the agency’s future in doubt.

Nick Fury considered how S.H.I.E.L.D. could respond to the rise of supernatural teams, while Jiang Xiang opened several boxes and learned that Coulson was returning to Freddy. The chapter ended with Jiang Xiang expecting S.H.I.E.L.D. to enter Freddy’s building.

• Pierce urged Nick Fury to present a respectable team, but Nick Fury worried other agencies would take his recruits.
• Nick Fury rejected calling in Captain Marvel and Goose, distrusted the Skrulls, and discussed Freddy’s method for ordinary people to face the Uncanny with Coulson.
• Coulson reported the extensive damage caused by Krillin and Tien Shinhan’s New York fight, then volunteered to carry out Nick Fury’s plan.
• Jiang Xiang spent emotional value to open boxes and received a hospital scene card, an Op-Op Fruit, a Grim Reaper’s Messenger card, a SpongeBob SquarePants incarnation card, a Talent Stone, Kayako’s Front Door, and a Husky’s Chew Stick.
• Jiang Xiang received word that Coulson had gone to see Freddy again and concluded that S.H.I.E.L.D. was ready to enter the building.

Freddy brought Coulson, Victor, and five agents to the Uncanny Building, where they learned that gaining supernatural abilities required taking an Uncanny entity into their bodies at the risk of their lives. The building’s attendant assigned them jobs worth eighty-seven points, leaving the group to begin work inside.

• Coulson consulted Nick Fury and agreed to let Freddy summon the Uncanny Building so S.H.I.E.L.D. could enter first.
• Freddy transported Coulson, Victor, and five agents to a farm in New York’s Eastern Suburbs, where the towering building had appeared.
• Freddy explained that people gained powers by controlling an Uncanny entity, but doing so started a countdown on their lives.
• Freddy led the group into the building’s bright lobby and told the attendant to give them jobs.
• The attendant handed Coulson several job sheets and said completing them would earn eighty-seven points.

A strange building appeared in New York, drawing a military response that turned deadly when an investigating squad was wiped out. As Nick Fury watched the standoff, S.H.I.E.L.D. reported that strange yellow objects had appeared along the West Coast.

• Patel arrived with police at the newly appeared building, and S.H.I.E.L.D., the military, and other forces soon surrounded it.
• Nick Fury confronted General Robert, who refused to share his plans and ordered a squad to investigate the building.
• The squad was wiped out, and its bodies suddenly appeared at the entrance.
• Nick Fury received word from S.H.I.E.L.D. that many yellow objects, believed to be sponges, had appeared along the West Coast.

Coulson entered Room 332 to complete a cleaning commission and learned that collecting the supplies weakened the building’s protection over him. Outside, government agencies and New York business leaders gathered near the uncanny building as the agents carried out their separate commissions.

• Coulson entered the gloomy Room 332 and found that his commission required him to clean the room.
• Coulson collected cleaning supplies and read a warning that the building’s protection would weaken once he had them.
• Coulson began cleaning, while Victor followed Freddy’s advice and the other agents pursued their own approaches to their commissions.
• Nick Fury left the building’s vicinity after Police, CIA, and political representatives arrived and reported no further unusual activity.
• Tony Stark arrived with Krillin and Happy, while Justin Hammer came with bodyguards and stayed far from the building.
• New York officials tried to negotiate with the corporate leaders, who wanted to inspect the building.

Jiang Xiang sent a SpongeBob clone to the West Coast, where its yellow solid matter spread across the coast. After Nick Fury brought in Old Man and Ah Xing to investigate, Ah Xing suspected the substance belonged to an ancient force called the navy and identified it as the work of the Sponge General.

• Jiang Xiang sent a SpongeBob clone to the West Coast while he returned to training.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. reported that yellow solid matter was spreading across more than ten kilometers of coastline, and Nick Fury arrived to investigate.
• Nick Fury called Old Man and Ah Xing for help, bargaining with both to get them to the site.
• Old Man said he did not recognize the substance, while Ah Xing suspected it was connected to the navy.
• Ah Xing explained that ancient supernatural forces and beings still existed, then identified the substance as the work of the Sponge General.

The Navy began removing the yellow coastal growth, which turned out to be sponge-like and dangerous when a soldier was injured by touching it. As the growth spread rapidly, Colonel John ordered the fleet to begin burning it while preserving samples.

• Nick Fury asked headquarters to coordinate jurisdiction and evacuate nearby residents, but the Coast Guard rejected S.H.I.E.L.D.'s request to take over.
• Colonel John received orders to remove the yellow material and requested Marine Corps assistance with the cleanup.
• Ah Xing suspected the material was the Sponge General from the Navy legends, while the fleet began collecting it.
• A sponge tore through a soldier's glove and sucked skin from his finger, leaving him in severe pain.
• Colonel John ordered the fleet to burn the spreading sponges and keep a few samples for experiments.

The fleet’s attempt to burn the sponge revealed Sponge General, a giant being that turned ships into doughnuts and ate the fleet’s weapons. Meanwhile, Coulson finished cleaning the room’s entrance and received forty Points, with half allocated to Freddy.

• Nick Fury learned that the sponge’s underwater volume was increasing despite its shrinking surface coverage.
• Two ships approached the burning area to collect samples, but turned into doughnuts and spilled their crews into the sea.
• Sponge General rose from the water, ate the doughnuts and missiles as grilled sausages, and then began shrinking while calling for Gary.
• Ah Xing told Nick Fury that the sponge’s transformation ability was called Imagination and left after warning him not to provoke it.
• Coulson finished cleaning the living room entrance, earning forty Points and having half his Points and part of his recovered items allocated to Freddy.

Coulson examined the building’s redemption system and learned from Freddy how its uncanny items were acquired. After the attendant declared that all of Coulson’s people were out, Coulson and Victor left the building, where representatives from several organizations were waiting.

• Coulson used his points to browse the redemption system and saw fusion eligibility, Blessed Talisman Water, and Butterfly Soul for sale.
• Coulson wondered whether the building’s items had already entered the world, earning Jiang Xiang emotional value; Jiang Xiang sent an Avatar of Freddy to retrieve him.
• Coulson asked Freddy about Butterfly Soul, and Freddy explained that most uncanny entities in the redemption system came from commissions.
• The attendant told Coulson that all his people were out, leaving Coulson incredulous because only Victor had emerged with him.
• Freddy suggested that Coulson’s agency was divided, then disappeared as Coulson and Victor left the building.
• Coulson found military, police, Stark Industries, and Hammer Industries representatives waiting outside.

Nick Fury investigated the deaths of the agents who entered the building and uncovered signs of factions inside S.H.I.E.L.D. As Jiang Xiang prepared to travel to the Eastern Great Nation and Kamar-Taj, the Ancient One considered the sorcerers left at Kamar-Taj.

• After the yellow sponge repelled the United States Navy without showing aggression, the military suspended operations against it and the United States pulled back its forces abroad.
• Nick Fury investigated the seven agents who entered the building and found problems in the records of four of them.
• Nick Fury questioned Coulson, who reported that the agents had shown no unusual behavior during the mission.
• Coulson told Nick Fury that tests found ordinary materials in the broom and coin, though the broom resisted forces that should have broken it.
• Nick Fury prepared to contact Pierce, while Tony rushed work on the Mark Series.
• Jiang Xiang prepared to travel to the Eastern Great Nation and Kamar-Taj to seek a way past his cultivation plateau and place people around the world.

By the end of 2005, the Quetzalcoatl Priest and other mysterious beings had drawn government attention, while the rumor of seven wish-granting orbs fueled an international scramble. Jiang Xiang continued training at Kamar-Taj as Kaecilius grew increasingly resentful.

• General Ross reviewed reports on Sponge and the Quetzalcoatl Priest, whose superhuman abilities had caused heavy losses in the United States.
• Nick Fury and Coulson formed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s 084-1 Squad, while Tony Stark established a superhuman team with Krillin and Colonel Rhodes.
• Rumors spread that collecting seven orbs granted three wishes, and S.H.I.E.L.D. faced demands to confirm whether it held one.
• Bear Country, the United States, and the great eastern nation each obtained an orb, while two others surfaced and disappeared.
• Jiang Xiang trained at Kamar-Taj using dark magic, and Kaecilius's envy, jealousy, and resentment continued to grow.

Jiang Xiang discussed Kaecilius and the Wish Orb with the Ancient One before studying at Kamar-Taj’s library. Meanwhile, Banner trained with Zhang Fei and uncovered a six-star Dragon Ball, leaving them considering selling it.

• The Ancient One told Jiang Xiang that Kaecilius’s state of mind was his own trial and recognized the Wish Orb’s other-dimensional power.
• The Ancient One reviewed visions of gods appearing around the world while Jiang Xiang visited Wong’s library and decided to release the last Dragon Ball.
• Banner practiced controlling Hulk with Zhang Fei, who praised his progress and gave him a pair of pants.
• Banner struck a buried box while filling in the battle site and found a six-star Dragon Ball inside.
• Zhang Fei examined the Dragon Ball and suggested that he and Banner could sell it for a good price.

Nick Fury used the hunt for the Dragon Balls to expose Hydra's infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D., then left the Triskelion with Coulson's squad to see how the compromised agents would react. Meanwhile, Zhang Fei and Banner failed to sell the Six-Star Dragon Ball and headed toward a city to make money by punishing the wicked.

• Coulson told Nick Fury that the last Dragon Ball had appeared in footage showing Zhang Fei and Banner with the Six-Star Dragon Ball.
• A Hydra agent in the surveillance room passed the footage through a chain of agents to a Level Eight agent, while Nick Fury tracked their movements and ordered Coulson to watch everyone connected to the files.
• Nick Fury realized that a significant share of Triskelion personnel had ties to the mysterious organization, then left with Coulson and his personal Uncanny squad to test the infiltration.
• Zhang Fei returned from trying to sell the Six-Star Dragon Ball, reporting that shops offered only a few dozen to a few hundred dollars for it.
• Banner changed back from Hulk and joined Zhang Fei in heading toward a nearby city to punish the wicked and earn money.

Zhang Fei and Banner were ambushed by soldiers trying to seize the Pearl, and Hulk killed the squad before a Hydra sniper shot Banner and provoked Hulk’s return. At Kamar-Taj, Kaecilius learned that the seven Dragon Balls could grant any wish while the Ancient One secretly watched him.

• A major ordered a squad to retrieve the Pearl, and the captain led the soldiers to attack Zhang Fei and Banner with bombs.
• Zhang Fei and Banner survived the blast, and the captain ordered his soldiers to open fire as Banner approached them.
• Banner transformed into Hulk, who killed the squad after they shot at him and tried to escape.
• Banner changed into the leader’s trousers, but a Hydra sniper shot him in the head, causing Hulk to reappear.
• At Kamar-Taj, Wong recorded the Ancient One’s account of the Dragon Balls, and Kaecilius became excited when he learned they could grant any wish.
• The Ancient One watched Kaecilius through the Mirror Dimension Projection Spell.

The Ancient One took Jiang Xiang to the dimensional boundary and explained the threats facing Blue Star and why she could not remain Sorcerer Supreme forever. Before they returned, she sensed that Kaecilius had taken the Dragon Ball and was preparing to leave.

• The Ancient One told Jiang Xiang that his magical mastery was second only to hers and took him to see the enemies they faced.
• The Ancient One and Jiang Xiang left Kamar-Taj with Master Wong, who sealed the library before taking Wong to the Hong Kong Sanctum.
• The Ancient One brought Jiang Xiang to the dimensional boundary and showed him the quiet battlefield between realms.
• The Ancient One explained that Odin could not extend his life and that powerful forces had hindered her efforts to train many successors.
• The Ancient One sensed that Kaecilius had taken the Dragon Ball and was ready to leave.

Kaecilius and his followers struggled to find magic after leaving Kamar-Taj, then failed to contact the Vishanti Dimension. Mephisto approached them with an offer, while the Ancient One remained able to interfere from afar.

• Zhang Fei sensed people nearby, and Banner felt relieved that Hulk's rage remained suppressed.
• Kaecilius discovered that the Ancient One's arrays had absorbed most of Blue Star's free-floating magical energy, leaving him unable to teleport freely.
• Mephisto encountered Kaecilius and his followers, but they fled instead of confronting him, so he followed them secretly.
• Kaecilius rented a courtyard and drew circles to contact the Vishanti Dimension, but the Ancient One disrupted his attempt and sent him flying.
• Mephisto realized the group had failed to borrow energy and offered Kaecilius a deal.

Odin worried that Asgard was losing its advantage as Midgard changed, and considered sending Thor to Blue Star. Meanwhile, Kaecilius obtained Dark Dimension power and stole a Dragon Ball in the United States, leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. scrambling after the theft.

• During Asgard’s centennial military inspection, Odin wondered whether Asgard was still powerful and told Frigga that the timeline had grown unstable.
• Odin considered sending Thor to Blue Star to gain experience and make friends.
• Kaecilius took power from the Dark Dimension through a deal with Mephisto, while the Ancient One pulled Mephisto’s avatar into the Mirror Dimension.
• Kaecilius used a tracking spell to locate a Dragon Ball in the United States and stole it from a heavily guarded military base.
• Hill informed Nick Fury that the United States Dragon Ball had been stolen, and the command center later alerted him that an 084 item was missing.