Chapter Summaries

Su Ming explained the Mystery Principle and sought Squirrel Girl’s comedy and the Squirrel Dimension’s unusual properties to help him reach the Mystery level and surpass the Omniverse’s limits. He left the plan as a risky possibility, while Deadpool suggested Spider-Man might be better suited to the comedic part.

• Deathstroke appeared in the dining hall and teased Deadpool, who tried to blame Spider-Man for mocking him.
• Su Ming gave Jessica a shark tooth and revealed that he had come for Squirrel Girl rather than Deadpool.
• Su Ming explained how Mystery Principles involved explanations people believed to make the incomprehensible understandable.
• Su Ming said he planned to use Squirrel Girl’s comedy, the Squirrel Dimension, and the pyramid’s Mystery Force to try to reach the Mystery level.
• Deadpool questioned whether comedic powers could help and suggested Spider-Man might be funny enough, while Peter objected with his mouth pulled shut.

Deathstroke took Squirrel Girl to Vanaheim to have Ratatoskr bring them into the Squirrel Dimension. Ratatoskr began the reverse summoning, and Deathstroke and Doreen were pulled through a small tear in space.

• Deathstroke told Deadpool to watch over the 40K Universe while he left with Squirrel Girl.
• Deathstroke and Squirrel Girl traveled to Vanaheim and found Ratatoskr in the palace garden.
• Ratatoskr and Squirrel Girl traded insults, but Ratatoskr agreed to help after Deathstroke gave it a shark-material gift.
• Ratatoskr entered the Squirrel Dimension and began the reverse summoning ritual.
• A spatial opening appeared, and Deathstroke and Squirrel Girl were pulled into the Squirrel Dimension.

Su Ming brought Squirrel Girl to the Squirrel Dimension to recruit squirrels for a search for Mystery, while Ratatoskr returned home after helping them arrive. He left Doreen to devise a funny way for the squirrels to follow a scent, though she was unsure how to proceed.

• Su Ming thanked Ratatoskr for bringing them to the Squirrel Dimension and promised to tell it when Yggdrasil was replanted.
• Ratatoskr accepted bags of pine nuts and a cellphone from Su Ming, then returned home through a tear in space.
• Squirrel Girl greeted the gathered squirrels, and Su Ming supplied them with a mountain of nuts before asking Doreen to put them to work.
• Su Ming told Doreen to have the squirrels remember a scent and search in its direction to find Mystery.
• Doreen wondered how to make the task funny and suggested organizing a circus.

Su Ming waited as Squirrel Girl directed the squirrels to build a circus in the Squirrel Dimension. Elsewhere, the Crown emerged from the black mist and annihilated Multiverse 2, leaving the Hand of the Void and its world erased.

• Su Ming wondered about the route to Mystery and watched Squirrel Girl organize the squirrels while he waited for her plan to work.
• The squirrels gnawed down trees and began building the circus under Doreen’s direction.
• Black mist spread over Multiverse 2, where the Evil Thought Nobles sensed the approaching threat.
• The Giant Black Shadow rose from a flesh-covered Earth and charged at the Crown as it descended from the mist.
• The Crown overwhelmed the Giant Black Shadow and erased Multiverse 2 before disappearing into the void.

Lex Luthor and Brainiac witnessed CAAT erase Multiverse 2 and tried to decide how to respond without exposing themselves. Dream of a Thousand Cats brought the news to Deathstroke, who learned that the attack had struck Multiverse 2 after CAAT failed to find Multiverse 1.

• Luthor questioned Brainiac about the attack, but Brainiac could not explain how all matter in Multiverse 2 had vanished.
• Luthor and Brainiac reviewed and saved the footage, and Brainiac began to contact Deathstroke.
• Luthor stopped Brainiac from sending a signal that might reveal their location and told him to take the Fortress of Doom to the Omega Universe while he slept.
• Dream of a Thousand Cats arrived at Deathstroke's squirrel construction site and urgently reported that CAAT had destroyed Multiverse 2.
• Dream of a Thousand Cats said CAAT had been targeting Multiverse 1 but had struck the nearest multiverse when it could not find it.

Su Ming learned from Kitty that CAAT had destroyed Multiverse 2 and likely killed the Hand of the Void, and he discussed his plan to reach the Mystery level. He suspected CAAT was heading for Multiverse 1 and asked Kitty what crown Luthor had seen.

• Kitty told Su Ming that Luthor had entered the Dreaming and asked her to pass on his report of a terrifying being feeding.
• Su Ming explained that he planned to use a comedic farce to raise his role in the universe and reach the Mystery level, while Kitty suggested higher realms as a route.
• Kitty reported that the Hand of the Void had vanished after confronting CAAT in Multiverse 2.
• Su Ming concluded that CAAT might be reacting to his actions and could be heading for Multiverse 1.
• Kitty asked Su Ming to find her somewhere safe to sleep, and he asked what the crown had looked like to Luthor.

Su Ming decided that moving the 40K Universe would risk revealing it to CAAT, while Adjutant had already begun stirring trouble in distant multiverses to distract it. He sent Dream of a Thousand Cats to Spider-Man and Deadpool for safekeeping before preparing to leave.

• Dream of a Thousand Cats told Su Ming that CAAT appeared to different observers as different kinds of crown, and warned that Multiverse 2 was close to their universe.
• Su Ming explained that moving the 40K Universe could expose its location despite TOAA's concealment, and said fleeing to Mystery was unrealistic.
• Dream suggested drawing CAAT's attention toward distant multiverses, and Deathstroke said Adjutant had already started that plan.
• Deathstroke arranged to send Dream somewhere safe before leaving, and Su Ming teleported the cat away.
• Dream landed with Spider-Man, where Deadpool claimed it had chosen his protection, but Spider-Man showed him Deathstroke's note asking him to care for Mimi.

Su Ming and his companions used Gwenpool’s mind and Squirrel Girl’s circus of squirrels to reach a higher level between comic panels. Su Ming awoke alone in a dark hospital corridor, cut off from the Adjutant and unsure whether he had reached Mystery or gone somewhere else.

• Gwenpool arrived after Harley’s lesson on dreams and the subconscious, and Su Ming explained that the squirrels would help lift him through the gaps between comic panels.
• Squirrel Girl joined the plan, and Su Ming said comedy and squirrels were necessary to make it work.
• Su Ming, Gwenpool, Squirrel Girl, and the squirrels entered Gwenpool’s mind, but the journey left Su Ming in a place that might have been beyond the Fourth Wall.
• Su Ming woke with Strangle and the Cloak of Levitation beside him, while the Adjutant could not communicate with him.
• Strangle identified the dark, red-lit corridor as a hospital hallway outside a morgue, and Su Ming tried to keep Little Sprout from making the place seem more frightening.

Su Ming explored an endless corridor in the Mystery, testing its walls and confirming that space and ordinary movement still applied there. He entered a room containing a strange golden machine with four empty grooves, but had not yet found its purpose or a clue to activate it.

• Su Ming tested a tiny pyramid-shaped object, but the corridor did not respond to it.
• Su Ming examined the corridor wall and found it unusually sturdy, then walked forward and confirmed that distance and gravity seemed familiar.
• Su Ming opened a pale green door and found a golden machine connected to a maze of metal pipes.
• Su Ming inspected the machine's four empty grooves and wondered whether the room contained a riddle, but he had not found a way to operate it.

Su Ming and Strangle explored what they believed was the World of Action, reasoning that its corridor and machine might be manifestations of abstract concepts. Su Ming tested the machine by turning its panel into a cooking surface and making an egg roll, leaving them with no clear answer about how to proceed.

• Su Ming concluded that the clues to the strange space were likely in the rooms beside the endless corridor, not at its far end.
• Su Ming and Strangle discussed whether they had entered the World of Action and whether the corridor and brass panel were abstract concepts appearing in familiar forms.
• Su Ming decided to operate the panel as a machine despite suspecting it was not one in essence.
• Su Ming cracked eggs into the panel's grooves, mixed in ingredients, and heated the mixture with his concept.
• Su Ming rolled the cooked mixture through the grooves, sprinkled crystals over it, and finished an egg roll.

Su Ming tested whether frying egg rolls could activate the machine, then discovered he could resize the corridor’s emergency exit signs by changing how he observed them. He fitted one resized sign into a groove and began preparing the remaining signs for the puzzle.

• Su Ming fried egg rolls in the machine’s grooves, but neither the cooking nor his stunt caused anything to happen.
• Su Ming and Strangle removed an emergency exit sign from the corridor and found it was slightly too large for a groove.
• Su Ming closed his eyes, cut off his perception, and reopened them to make the sign appear smaller.
• Su Ming explained that changing his observation altered the sign’s form, then fitted it into a groove.
• Strangle pried three more emergency exit signs from the corridor for Su Ming to resize.

Su Ming solved the first room’s puzzle by painting its red lights green, which sent him into a vast warehouse for the next trial. He found no machine among the endless crates and discovered that one crate contained another identical crate.

• Su Ming used the paint made from his blood to turn the four light boxes green.
• The machine activated, the room split and rotated, and Su Ming emerged in a huge warehouse.
• Su Ming took down a blinking red emergency-exit sign and searched for a machine among the crates.
• Su Ming opened a crate and found another identical crate inside it.

Su Ming and the Symbiote searched a vast warehouse of nested boxes for a way through The World of Action. Su Ming deduced that the puzzle required seeing the warehouse from a higher perspective, and the Symbiote realized he had found the solution.

• Su Ming examined two identical wooden boxes and found smaller boxes nested inside them.
• The Symbiote searched the warehouse for a panel that could accept emergency indicator lights but found no machine or panel.
• Su Ming considered the energy and strange visions affecting him, then listed the objects they had collected as clues.
• Su Ming used his puzzle-game experience to reason that the stage tested their way of seeing the world.
• Su Ming nested the boxes back together and returned them to their original position, prompting the Symbiote to recognize that he had solved the stage.

Su Ming solved the second stage by flying high enough to recognize an EXIT sign formed by the warehouse’s cargo boxes, then activated it with green blood and entered a vivid abstract world. He recognized its blocky scenery as a painting once stored in Wilson Enterprises’ basement, but did not know why The World of Action had chosen it.

• Su Ming realized the nested boxes hinted that he needed to rise above them and view the warehouse from a great height.
• Su Ming painted the cargo-box pattern with his fluorescent green blood, revealed an EXIT sign, and activated it by closing and opening his eyes.
• Su Ming entered a brightly colored abstract space where his body and surroundings appeared as blocks of color.
• Strangle reminded Su Ming that he had taken the painting from a Vampire lair about fifty years earlier and stored it in Wilson Enterprises’ basement.
• Su Ming recognized the painting but wondered why The World of Action had selected it for the third stage.

Su Ming explored a surreal seaside world of shifting colors and humanoid figures, seeking an exit and information about CAAT. After one local vanished into the painted scenery, he questioned another resident about why nobody wanted to discuss CAAT.

• Su Ming and Strangle struggled to navigate the dazzling, chaotic seaside world and began hearing sounds from its sea, sky, and inhabitants.
• Su Ming approached a gentleman-shaped figure, greeted him, and asked about CAAT’s weakness.
• The figure said CAAT had no weakness, then flattened into the background like a sticker.
• Su Ming approached a lady-shaped figure at a café and asked why the locals seemed unwilling to talk about CAAT.

Su Ming explored the strange seaside painting, theorizing that its figures were projections of higher-level beings who withdrew from the scene after speaking to him. He dove beneath the sea to search for an exit and found a suspicious pencil outline where the Lighthouse should have been.

• Su Ming theorized that the painting's figures were manifestations of higher-level beings immersing themselves in the artwork, then waking and leaving their silhouettes behind.
• Su Ming and Strangle concluded that the figures offered no useful information and decided to search for an emergency exit.
• Su Ming left the café, went to the shore, and dove into the orange sea after doing radio calisthenics.
• Su Ming found a blank, fabric-like seabed beneath the painting and saw only darkness when he looked up.
• Strangle pointed out a suspicious pencil-line shape on the seabed where the Lighthouse stood in the painting.

Su Ming and Strangle encountered a hostile pencil-line monster beneath the sea while heading toward the lighthouse in The World of Action. They defeated it through coordinated attacks, leaving the way to the lighthouse open.

• Su Ming noticed a pencil-sketch lighthouse beneath the sea and started toward it with Strangle.
• Strangle warned Su Ming that a shark-like, tentacled Line Monster was approaching from behind.
• Su Ming attacked the monster with his Lightsaber, but its tough lines deflected his first strike.
• Strangle tangled the monster’s tentacles while Su Ming grabbed its head and drove his Lightsaber into its mouth.
• Su Ming stabbed the wounded monster repeatedly as Strangle constricted it until it stopped moving.

Su Ming defeated a living Line Monster in the mysterious world and discovered that its body was made of lines and stained him with a conceptual substance. He continued toward a lighthouse made of lines, suspecting that the world would develop through stages of line-based creation.

• Su Ming learned that the black substance from the Line Monster could not be absorbed by the Symbiotes and used Quantum to clean it from his armor.
• Su Ming tested the Pharos Triangle on the Line Monster's body and found it could break the creature's otherwise indestructible lines.
• Su Ming gave the broken line fragments to Strangle to file down and try to eat as they traveled.
• Su Ming and Strangle speculated that the living Line Monster hinted at a world populated by line-based beings and objects, and that oil painting might shape what came next.
• Su Ming reached the line lighthouse and prepared to investigate it.

Su Ming entered an invisible Lighthouse and discovered that crossing its threshold changed the interior into different versions. After inspecting several scenes, he realized the Lighthouse’s shifting rooms concealed a puzzle, though he had not yet solved it.

• Su Ming found the Lighthouse’s door by touch and entered a furnished, orderly room that vanished when he stepped back outside.
• Su Ming crossed the threshold again and found the Lighthouse transformed into a cramped maritime exhibition hall.
• Su Ming repeatedly stepped out and reentered, discovering a ruined version of the Lighthouse with a dead keeper’s skeleton and a revolver.
• Su Ming recognized that the changing interiors were part of a puzzle and said he knew where the trial’s riddle lay.

Su Ming searched the underwater Lighthouse for a light source and realized the exit clue had to be drawn onto its dusty glass. He created a glowing EXIT sign and prepared to enter what he believed was the final stage of The World of Action.

• Su Ming climbed through the Lighthouse, finding no useful clues on its first three floors.
• Su Ming reached the top floor and lit the oil in a copper basin, revealing a glass wall that seemed out of place.
• Su Ming concluded that the dusty glass was a canvas and drew a running figure, a doorframe, and the word EXIT on it.
• The drawing became a physical emergency exit sign, and the Lighthouse's mirror automatically focused its firelight onto it.
• Su Ming slapped the sign and said he was ready to move on to the fourth and final stage.