"It's me. You can call me Lynn."
Ajak did not respond immediately.
She stood there, less than three meters away from Lynn, sizing up the young man. He was wearing an ordinary black trench coat, had delicate features, and a faint smile on his lips. He looked like an ordinary person who wouldn't get a second glance if he walked down the street.
But Ajak didn't let his ordinary appearance lull him into a false sense of security. Sersi had made it very clear on the phone that this man had been to the underground, seen the embryos with his own eyes, and knew about the existence of the Emergence and the Eternals. Anyone capable of such things could not possibly be an ordinary person.
"Let's go inside and talk."
Ajak finally spoke, his voice steady, "Standing in the yard isn't a solution."
She turned and walked towards the cabin, the others following behind. Lynn brought up the rear, casually closing the portal.
In the corner of the courtyard, a man who hadn't spoken until now stood up. He was wearing a gray work shirt and holding a wrench, looking like an ordinary repairman. He was Phastos, the engineer and inventor of the Eternals, and the calmest of all those present. He put down the wrench and followed the others into the house.
The cabin's living room was simple, with an old sofa, a few wooden chairs, and a wood-burning fireplace. Phastos went to the kitchen to make coffee and poured a cup for everyone. The group sat together, with Ajak sitting on a single sofa, looking at Lynn.
" Sersi has conveyed your message to me."
Ajak cut to the chase. "You said you've been underground, seen the embryo, and wanted to stop Emergence."
"Yes." Lynn picked up his coffee and took a sip. The taste was so-so, but he didn't complain. "I have a proposal I'd like to discuss with you."
What plan?
Lynn put down his coffee cup, his gaze sweeping over each of the Eternals present. "Move the embryos from Earth and transplant them to another planet."
The living room fell silent instantly.
Everyone was stunned, as if they hadn't understood what Lynn was saying.
"Remove?" Sersi was the first to react, her voice filled with disbelief. "You mean... remove the entire embryo from the Earth's core?"
"Yes."
Lynn nodded. "Find a barren planet without intelligent life and transplant the embryo there. This way, the embryo can continue to grow and will still Emergence fifty years later, without affecting Earth in any way."
Ajak shook his head almost immediately, "Impossible. This plan won't work."
"Why?" Lynn asked.
Ajak stood up, walked to the window, looked out at the wheat field, and said in a heavy voice, "There are four problems, each of which is an insurmountable obstacle."
"First, the embryo feeds on the spiritual energy of intelligent life. It has resided in the Earth's core for billions of years, absorbing the spiritual energy of seven billion people on Earth. If you move it to a barren planet, without intelligent life to provide energy, it will stop growing and may even wither and die."
"Secondly, the embryo and the Earth's core have deeply merged. It wasn't simply 'placed' inside the core; rather, it has become one with the core's matter, energy, and even magnetic field. Forcibly separating it would be like digging out a large chunk of the core, causing the Earth to shatter and be destroyed faster than Emergence."
"Third, the Celestials have been monitoring this embryo. Arishem, the Celestials Judge who created us, can sense the embryo's condition at any time. If you move the embryo, he will immediately notice and descend upon Earth. At that point, without waiting for the Emergence, Arishem alone can wipe out all life on Earth."
Fourth, the embryo's mass is enormous. It's larger than Mount Everest, with a mass equivalent to one-third of the Earth's core. Moving such a massive object, even disregarding the Earth's core, would cause such gravitational disturbances that would completely collapse the Earth's ecosystem: disrupted tides, crustal fracturing, atmospheric dissipation, and humanity would be wiped out before the movement was complete.
The living room fell silent again.
Sersi watched Lynn nervously, Gilgamesh crossed his arms, Thena put down her wine glass, Druig tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest, and Phastos adjusted his glasses. Everyone was waiting for Lynn's answer.
Druig scoffed, a hint of disdain in his voice. " Ajak is right. Which of these four questions isn't a pipe dream? Modifying the Earth's core structure? Blocking the Celestials ' senses? Teleporting an embryo larger than Mount Everest? Do you even know what you're talking about?"
"Exactly," Gilgamesh grumbled. "We've been on Earth for seven thousand years, and we know better than anyone how difficult that embryo is to deal with. Even if you, a human, have some ability, you couldn't possibly do these things."
Lynn stood up and walked to the center of the living room. "As for why I can do it... you'll see when you get there."
He raised his right hand, palm up, and six tiny points of light flew out from his chest, hovering above his palm and slowly rotating. Each point of light emitted a different color: blue for space, red for reality, purple for power, green for time, yellow for the Mind Stone, and orange for the soul.
The air in the living room seemed to freeze.
Sersi covered her mouth, her eyes wide with shock. Thanos had the Snap after collecting all six Infinity Stones, wiping out half of all life in the universe. Only a few years had passed since that event, yet everyone still remembered it vividly. And now, all six stones were tucked into one man's chest, worn like ornaments.
Gilgamesh took a step back, his disdain vanishing completely, replaced by an instinctive wariness. He was a power-type warrior of the Eternals, known for his brute strength, but the very name of the Six Infinity Stones was enough to put him under pressure.
Thena's body instinctively entered a battle stance. As one of the most powerful warriors of the Eternals, she had an instinctive sensitivity to danger, and each of the six points of light before her represented a power capable of destroying the world.
Druig's face turned pale. He subconsciously used his mental abilities to try and touch Lynn's mental barrier, but he was bounced back as soon as he made contact, his head spinning, and he almost fell off his chair. He dared not make any more moves.
Phastos pushed up his glasses, his eyes filled with the fervor and focus of an engineer facing cutting-edge technology. He stared intently at the six rotating points of light, his breathing becoming rapid.
"Six... Infinity Stones."
Phastos's voice trembled slightly, "You've embedded all Six Infinity Stones into yourself?"
"I guess so."
Lynn nodded. "They're one of my sources of power now. Besides that, I've also learned Kamar-Taj magic, Odin gave me some divine power. And..."
He raised his left hand, his fingertips lightly tracing the wooden table beside him. Where his fingertips touched, the wood grain changed at a speed visible to the naked eye, the originally rough tabletop becoming smooth as a mirror, even gleaming with a metallic sheen.
Lynn withdrew his hand, and the metallic sheen on the table slowly returned to its wooden state, as if nothing had happened. "I can analyze, read, and modify the underlying information of any matter. From changing the material of a table to rewriting the material structure of a planet. As long as I touch it, I can analyze its information and then modify it according to my will."
Phastos's eyes lit up instantly. As an engineer, he knew all too well what this ability meant: analyzing the underlying information of matter was tantamount to mastering the code of creation.
"Now, do you think I'm qualified to discuss this plan?"
No one spoke.
Ajak stared intently at the six points of light, his expression shifting from shock to solemnity, and finally settling into a complex and indescribable look.
She had lived for seven thousand years, witnessed the power of the Celestials, and seen all sorts of wonders in the universe, but she had never even heard of Six Infinity Stones appearing in one person at the same time.
"Okay."
Ajak took a deep breath, his voice a little hoarse, "Tell me, how do you plan to solve these four problems?"
Lynn was silent for a few seconds, then smiled.
"I'll answer your questions one by one."
"The first question is that the embryo needs the spiritual energy of intelligent life."
Lynn pointed to the orange Soul Stone and the yellow Mind Stone. " The Soul Stone can manipulate life energy, and the Mind Stone can manipulate spiritual energy. I can use these two stones to directly provide the embryo with the energy it needs, without relying on humans on Earth. Or, more simply, I can use the Time Stone to slow down the embryo's growth, stretching fifty years into five hundred or five thousand years, giving it enough time to adapt to its new environment."
Sersi's eyes lit up.
"The second question is the deep fusion of the embryo and the Earth's core."
Lynn first raised his left hand, a faint glow emanating from his fingertips. "This step is crucial; the Landauer's Demon is key. The embryo and the Earth's core have been fused for billions of years; their material information is already intertwined. I will first use the Landauer's Demon's abilities to analyze the underlying information of each particle of matter. Which parts belong to the embryo, which parts belong to the core, finding the 'boundary' between them. Then I will directly modify the information, 'marking' the part of matter belonging to the embryo, essentially drawing a clear dividing line for the embryo at the molecular level."
He paused, then pointed to the red Reality Stone and the blue Space Stone: "After marking, use the Reality Stone to 'restore' the fused state of the marked area to an unfused state. Finally, use the Space Stone to open a separate spatial layer around the embryo, 'cutting' it out of the Earth's core. The Landauer's Demon is responsible for precise positioning, the Reality Stone for restoring the state, and the Space Stone for physical cutting. The entire process will not damage the structure of the Earth's core, and the Earth will not be affected in any way."
Phastos listened intently, then couldn't help but interject. "Analyzing matter at the molecular level... what level of precision can you achieve?"
"At the level of elementary particles." Lynn glanced at him. "If I wanted to, I could read the information from every single quark in a grain of sand."
Phastos gasped and fell silent.
Ajak's brow furrowed even more, but he did not refute.
"The third question is about the Celestials ' surveillance."
Lynn pointed to the yellow Mind Stone, "I can create a mental barrier around the embryo, preventing Arishem from sensing its state temporarily. This barrier can't be maintained permanently, but it'll be enough until the transplant is complete and the embryo settles on the Nova."
He paused, then added casually, as if discussing something insignificant. "Besides, even if Arishem eventually finds out, it doesn't matter. I have the power of the six Infinity Stones, plus the divine power Odin gave me, and the magic of Kamar-Taj. I might not lose in a real fight. It's just that I don't want to fight on Earth; that would turn Earth into a battlefield. So the best way is to remove the embryo first, and then talk to Arishem through you."
The living room was deathly silent.
To confront the Celestials.
The four words, spoken by Lynn, were as casual as if he were saying, "The weather's nice today." But the Eternals present all knew what level the Celestials were.
They created the Eternals, the Deviants, and countless galaxies; they are among the oldest and most powerful beings in the universe.
This young man in front of me claims he can stand up to the Celestials.
And judging from his appearance, he didn't seem to be bragging.
"The fourth problem is that the embryo is too large; moving it will cause gravitational disturbances." Lynn pointed to the blue Space Stone and the purple Power Stone. " The Space Stone can open a giant portal. I don't need to physically move the embryo; I can teleport it directly there. The whole process might only take a few seconds. The embryo will disappear from Earth and appear on Nova. I'll replenish the missing matter, without passing through any physical space and without causing any gravitational disturbances."
Lynn put away the gem projection in his palm, and the six points of light flew back to his chest and disappeared.
"Four questions, four solutions." Lynn looked at Ajak, "Now, do you think this solution still works?"
Ajak remained silent for a long time.
She had lived for seven thousand years and witnessed countless incredible things, but the plan Lynn had just described was still beyond her comprehension. Using the Infinity Stones to modify reality, sever space, block perception, and directly teleport embryos—each step sounded like a fantasy, but combining the power of the six stones made it a real possibility.
"What you've said... is theoretically feasible," Ajak finally said, his voice tinged with weariness, "But there's one problem you haven't considered."
"What's the problem?"
"An embryo has its own will."
Ajak said, "Although it is still dormant, it has already developed rudimentary consciousness. It has chosen Earth as its Cradle, and its energy has resonated with the life energy of Earth. If you forcibly remove it, it may rebel. The rebellion of a Celestials embryo that is about to mature... even if you have six Infinity Stones, you may not be able to suppress it easily."
Lynn thought for a moment and nodded, "I hadn't considered this problem. But it's not difficult to solve."
How to solve this?
Lynn pointed to his chest, "I can use the Soul Stone to speak directly with the embryo's consciousness and tell it I don't intend to harm it, but simply to provide it with a safer environment to grow. If it cooperates, everything will be fine. If it doesn't..."
He paused, a slight smile playing on his lips, "Then we'll use the Power Stone to forcefully suppress it, and the Mind Stone to temporarily hypnotize it. With all six stones combined, an unborn embryo can't resist."
Ajak looked at Lynn with a complicated expression.
This person... is terrifying.
It's not because of his strength, but because of his mindset. For every problem, he can immediately come up with a corresponding solution, and all of these solutions are based on his actual abilities, not just wishful thinking. He's not bragging; he can genuinely do it.
"I have another question."
Phastos suddenly spoke. He hadn't spoken until now, but finally couldn't hold back. As an engineer, he had an instinctive obsession with technical details. "You said you'd use the Space Stone to open a giant portal and directly transport the embryo. But the embryo is larger than Mount Everest and its mass is equivalent to one-third of the Earth's core. Can the Space Stone support such a large object? How can the stability of the portal be guaranteed?"
Lynn glanced at him. "Teleporting an embryo is nothing to it. I'll use the Power Stone, plus my own abilities, as a triple guarantee. There won't be any problems."