After the repatriation ceremony, Lynn sensed something was wrong.
He was sunbathing on the terrace of the SSC base as usual, holding a cup of coffee made by Natasha, leaning lazily against the deck chair, looking completely at ease with the world around him.
But just as he was dozing off with his eyes half-closed, a very subtle ripple in the air made him suddenly open his eyes.
That wasn't an energy fluctuation; it was more like something more fundamental and essential.
It's like a drumhead that was originally flat and taut, which was gently tapped from the side and produced an almost imperceptible buzzing sound.
Lynn put down her coffee cup, stood up, closed her eyes, and slowly began to let her senses unfold.
In an instant, the entire Earth, the entire Solar System, and even the entire universe's spatial structure were reflected in his perception. His perception pierced through the atmosphere, traversed interstellar space, and finally touched the thin membrane that enveloped the entire universe—the cosmic barrier.
The barrier that should have been smooth, dense, and seamless was now covered with fine cracks.
It's like a phone screen that's been dropped; it's not broken yet, but the cracks have already spread.
Lynn frowned.
Although Strange's out-of-control spell was eventually stopped and all the people and things that had traveled through time were sent back, the damage the spell had caused to the barrier had not been fully healed.
The largest spacetime rift has disappeared, but the "stress" it generated when it tore through the barrier has spread to the boundary of the entire universe, making the barrier much more fragile.
It's like you punched a hole in a wall. Even if you patched the hole, the overall structure of the wall is no longer the same.
What's more troublesome is that these vulnerable areas will develop micro-wormholes at random times and locations.
The duration could be only a few seconds, or it could be several minutes. It could appear on the streets of New York, or it could appear under the ice sheet of Antarctica. On the other side of the wormhole lies a random parallel universe.
Most of the time, the wormhole is too small for anything to happen. But occasionally, something will fall in from the other side.
It could be a person, an animal, or even a supervillain from some universe.
There is no crisis of collision between multiple universes, but this kind of "leaking" time travel will continue to occur for a long time to come.
Lynn withdrew his senses, opened his eyes, and the languor on his face disappeared somewhat.
He wasn't panicked; this level of problem was still under his control. But he needed to let the right people know about the current situation.
After all, he was responsible for half of this mess.
Manhattan, the Sanctum.
Strange was browsing through an ancient magical tome in the library, while the King was organizing a list of recent magical supplies beside him. After the repatriation ceremony, the Sanctum Sanctorum returned to its usual tranquility, Strange finally had some time to sit down and read.
But this calm did not last long.
A colorful portal suddenly opened in the center of the library, and Lynn walked out, still holding the unfinished cup of coffee in his hand.
Lynn cut to the chase, " Strange, do you have time? There's something I need to talk to you about."
Strange looked up, saw it was Lynn, and raised an eyebrow slightly.
Strange closed the book and stood up.
"What is it?"
Lynn didn't explain further, turned around and reopened the portal, "Come with me to a place, you'll see when we get there."
Strange hesitated for a moment, but ultimately followed. Wong wanted to come along, but Lynn waved him off. "No need, just the two of us."
On the other side of the portal was a void.
There is no up, down, left, or right; no heaven, earth, or stars; only endless darkness and distant, faintly visible dimensional barriers, like stained glass. A chaotic, unformed energy permeates the air—the "gaps" between dimensions.
Strange's expression changed the moment he stepped in.
He is the Sorcerer Supreme, and his perception of dimensional barriers is more acute than anyone else's.
He noticed the fine cracks almost immediately, as well as the fact that the barrier as a whole was thinning.
"This is..." Strange's voice was a little hoarse. He reached out and gently touched the nearby barrier. The sensation from his fingertips told him that the spatial structure here was at least 30% more fragile than normal.
"The aftereffects of that previous spell."
Lynn leaned against a dimensional fragment beside him, took a sip of coffee, and said, "The rift has healed, but the stress has spread. The walls of the entire universe have become brittle, like a wall that has been loosened by a tremor."
"How serious is it?" Strange's voice turned somber.
"There is no crisis of collision between multiple universes."
Then, changing the subject, "But over the next period of time—perhaps months, perhaps years—microscopic wormholes will appear intermittently and at unpredictable locations on the barrier. The other side of each wormhole is a random parallel universe; most of the time nothing happens, but occasionally, something will fall from the other side."
"Things?"
"People, animals, objects—anything is possible. It could be an ordinary person from another universe, a supervillain from another universe, or a superhero. Just like before, but on a much smaller scale, at most one or two at a time, and the time and place of their appearance are completely random."
Strange fell silent.
If he had been more cautious, if he hadn't been so confident he could control the spell, if he had stopped to reassess when Peter made the request instead of immediately agreeing...
Strange's voice was low, tinged with self-reproach. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have cast that spell so hastily."
Lynn waved his hand, "It's not entirely your fault. Peter is also responsible. That kid was too eager to grow up, and his subconscious obsession interfered with the anchor point of the spell. The two of you, one too confident, the other too impatient, together created this mess."
He paused, looking at Strange: "But now is not the time for assigning blame. What's done is done; the focus is on how to deal with it."
Can it be repaired?
Strange asked, "I mean, the barrier. Is there any way to speed up its healing?"
"No." Lynn shook her head, her tone calm. "The cosmic barrier has its own repair mechanism; it will heal slowly, just like a skin wound scabbed over on its own. But this process cannot be artificially accelerated; applying more magical ointment won't help. Forcible intervention may cause even greater damage."
"So what can we do?"
"Monitoring and response."
Lynn held up two fingers. "First, you need to establish a monitoring system to locate any micro-wormholes that appear immediately. Second, if anything falls through the wormhole, deal with it promptly. Calm ordinary people down and find an opportunity to send them back; if it's a dangerous individual, it depends on the situation."
"Just like before?"
Lynn smiled, "Just like before. Don't worry, there won't be another big scene like before. As long as no one on our side causes trouble, these rifts won't trigger a large-scale time-travel event."
He glanced at Strange, his gaze pointed.
Strange blushed slightly and cleared his throat. "I won't make the same mistake again."
"That would be best. The surveillance is your responsibility; you're the Sorcerer Supreme, these things are naturally your job. I'll talk to SSC and get them to cooperate with the surveillance as well. If anything happens, we'll coordinate a joint response."
"I understand."
Strange nodded, his expression regaining its usual composure. "I will establish a dimensional fluctuation early warning array. I will be notified immediately if a wormhole appears."
"That's good." Lynn reopened the portal. "Let's go back. Staying here too long is uncomfortable; the chaotic energy affects one's mood."
Lynn finished the last sip of coffee and casually tossed the empty cup into the dimensional rift.
The moment it touched that darkness, it was torn apart from the edges by an unseen force, peeled away layer by layer into tiny fragments of light, and scattered cleanly in the blink of an eye, leaving not a trace.
Strange stared at the void. "... You're using dimensional gaps as a trash can?"
"Anyway, it's already empty."
Strange glanced at the darkness one last time before turning and following.
The two stepped into the portal and returned to the Sanctum Sanctorum.
Strange stood in the library, watching Lynn's portal disappear, and remained silent for a long time.
Then he turned and walked to the deepest part of the bookshelf, and began to search for ancient books about dimensional monitoring and early warning.
This time, he won't let his guard down.
It was already noon when Lynn returned to the SSC base.
Instead of going directly to Tony, he first walked around the base and then stopped at the entrance of the training room.
In the training room, Little Peter is practicing his fighting skills against a punching bag.
He fought fiercely, each punch and kick carrying immense force. The sandbag shook violently, emitting dull thuds. His forehead was covered in sweat, and his breathing was somewhat rapid, but his movements did not slow down at all; on the contrary, they became faster and more ferocious.
Lynn leaned against the doorframe, looked for a while, and then said, "The sandbag didn't bother you, did it?"
Little Peter abruptly stopped what he was doing, turned around, and saw Lynn. The tension on his face eased slightly, but it was still clear that he was in a state of high tension.
Little Peter wiped his sweat. " Mr. Lynn? When did you get back?"
Lynn walked into the training room, casually pulled up a cushion and sat down. "Just arrived. How long have you been training?"
Little Peter said somewhat awkwardly.
"Not long, just... about two hours."
Lynn glanced at the three empty water bottles on the ground beside him, then at his soaked training clothes, but didn't expose him.
"Are you still thinking about what happened before?"
"No."
Little Peter was silent for a few seconds, then nodded, "... Actually, no."
"Yesterday at the coffee shop, I felt better. But when I woke up this morning, something felt off."
He looked at his hands. "Is this normal?"
Lynn sighed, "Here we go again. Didn't I tell you not to take on everything?"
But...
"No buts." Lynn interrupted him. "The spell was cast by Strange; he's the Sorcerer Supreme. He should be able to assess the risks of spells. You're just a sixteen-year-old kid. You don't understand magic. You didn't know your subconscious could interfere with spells. It's not your fault, at least not entirely. You're just a kid eager to improve yourself."
Little Peter lowered his head and remained silent.
Lynn shook her head as she looked at him.
This child is good at everything, except that he gets stuck on things too easily.
The same applies to Mysterio's situation, and also to the multiverse. Even though he's done a great job, even though he's solved all the problems in the shortest amount of time, he still feels it's not enough, that he should have done even better.
It's taut like a fully drawn string; if this continues, it'll snap sooner or later.
Lynn stood up, brushed the dust off his pants, and said, "Alright, stop practicing. Go take a shower and change your clothes. We're leaving this afternoon."
"Departure? Where to?" Little Peter paused for a moment.
Lynn said, "Team building. Tony has already arranged it, a weekend team building event for everyone at a holiday home in the lake district north. Everyone is going, including you."
Team building?
Little Peter looked bewildered, "But... there's still so much to do!"
What else?
Lynn raised an eyebrow. "The villains have all been sent back, the hidden dangers have been resolved, and others will handle the rest. What's your rush? If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up; it's not your turn, a kid, to shoulder the burden."
But...
"There is no 'but'."
Lynn's tone left no room for argument. "I already spoke with Tony before I came out, and Natasha agreed too. Banner, Hawkeye, Wanda, and Quicksilver are all going. If you're not going, you'll be stuck at the base eating instant noodles by yourself."
Little Peter opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but seeing Lynn's "You dare refuse, try it" expression, he swallowed his words.
"... Okay," he said softly.
Lynn nodded in satisfaction. "That's more like it. Go pack your things, we're leaving at two o'clock this afternoon."
2 PM, SSC base parking lot.
A black minivan and a white SUV were parked there, with a pickup truck behind them crammed with luggage and food. Tony, wearing a floral shirt and sunglasses, leaned against the minivan, holding an iced coffee, looking every bit the vacation tycoon.
"Oh, our busy person has finally arrived."
Tony saw Little Peter approaching and teased, "I thought you were going to spend the weekend with the punching bag."
Little Peter blushed slightly and didn't reply. He was carrying a backpack containing a few changes of clothes and a laptop.
Natasha smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "I'll keep your computer safe. Just relax, someone else will take care of the rest."
Little Peter nodded helplessly.
Everyone arrived quickly. Tony, Pepper, Natasha, Banner, Hawkeye, Wanda, Quicksilver, Lynn, and Little Peter., a total of nine people. The two cars were just the right size.
"Let's go!" Tony commanded, and the two vehicles drove out of the SSC base one after the other, heading towards the lake district north of New York.