Rebirth

New York, Queens.

In an abandoned factory in a remote location, a group of dark-skinned, hip-hop-dressed punks were punching and kicking a pitiful guy lying on the ground.

"Trying to play hero? Take a look at yourself! You think you can stand against us?!"

The gang leader shouted arrogantly. The corner of his eye was swollen and bruised; clearly, someone had punched him.

"You really don't know your place. We work for Boss Frank's gang—even the cops don't dare mess with us! And you actually dared to fight us?!"

The punks throwing punches chimed in with wild laughter. Boss Frank D'Amico, the man they spoke of, was said to be a drug lord on the West Coast with terrifying influence. These punks were merely low-level lackeys under him.

"I kindly offered to let you join us, Sean, but you didn't appreciate it. What an idiot!"

The gang leader spat on the ground. Sean had earned their resentment by refusing to sell drugs for them, so they had blocked his path, dragged him here, and beaten him viciously.

"What? Still not convinced?"

The youth called Sean glared with wide eyes. His black hair clung to his forehead, his face was covered in blood, and several punks held down his limbs so tightly that he could not move at all.

"Looks like we need to make you suffer a little more and show you that we're not people to mess with!"

The gang leader gave a strange laugh, raised his foot, and viciously kicked Sean in the head, grinding him beneath his shoe!

With each kick, the stubborn youth's breathing grew weaker and weaker. Gradually, he stopped moving, and the light faded from his eyes like a dying flame.

"Boss... this kid doesn't seem to be moving anymore." Before long, a Black man with a nose ring spoke quietly.

The gang leader froze. The youth's face was bruised and swollen, completely smeared with blood. His body lay utterly still, as though he had lost his life.

"Fuck! He was that weak? Forget it, let's go..."

The gang leader desperately tried to hide his panic. He made it sound impressive, claiming to work for some drug lord on the West Coast, but he was really just a minor lackey. As long as the police did not catch him, it was fine—but murder was a whole different matter. Those damned cops would send him to prison.

The punks fled in a panic, even forgetting to dispose of the body. In the long-abandoned, deserted factory, only the youth named Sean remained on the floor. That young body, once full of life, gradually turned cold.

The sun sank below the horizon, and night slowly covered the city.

A streak of white light suddenly cut across the night-veiled sky. Like an enormous ball of lightning, it spun and radiated a halo. As if controlled by some mysterious force, it shot straight toward the abandoned factory, circled the area several times as though locking onto its target, then plunged into the youth's body.

"Ugh..."

The cold body lying on the ground suddenly twitched, releasing a weak groan. His eyes flew open, brilliant white light flickering within his pupils.

"Where is this?"

The youth who should have been dead slowly sat up. His muddled mind gradually cleared as some force sorted through his chaotic thoughts, making those complicated, fragmented memories increasingly distinct.

"Sean Sipes, parents died in an accident... Captain America, Stark Industries, Peter Parker... What the hell is all this nonsense?!"

The bloodied youth frowned. Within the memories of this body's former owner, he seemed to have found something strange, giving him a vague sense of foreboding.

"Damn it! Don't tell me I ended up in that world where freaks are everywhere and overpowered bastards are a dime a dozen?!"

Sean cursed. Thinking it over carefully, it really was possible. He had been at home playing a virtual character fighting game. After clearing the final stage, a flash of white light had appeared on his computer screen, and then he had been reborn in this unlucky bastard named Sean.

"What a headache. Any random world would have been better than this one. Mutants, Superheroes, evil villains, Extraterrestrial Life, Exotic Gods... this is practically a hell-level starting difficulty!"

Sean could not help complaining. If this was truly the world he suspected it was, then as an ordinary person, wanting to live peacefully here was nothing more than wishful thinking.

Leaving aside the supervillains who wanted to destroy the world at every turn, even if he was unlucky enough to stumble into a fight or civil war between Superheroes, he could become some unfortunate bystander caught in the crossfire. After all, ordinary people like him would not even get a chance to show their faces. At best, he would appear as one of the casualties listed in a newspaper obituary.

"This is way too unlucky."

While he was wallowing in frustration, Sean discovered something interesting. A ball of white light floated in his mind. Through its hazy glow, he saw a familiar interface. Countless virtual characters appeared in a list. Some were grayed out, indicating they could not be selected, while others flashed with multicolored light. When his consciousness reached toward them, all sorts of data appeared clearly on his retina.

"Heaven never seals off every path. Life's ups and downs really are full of surprises."

A delighted smile appeared on Sean's face. The virtual interface in his mind was the very virtual character fighting game he had played. It collected classic characters from comics and movies, allowing players to accumulate victory points through continuous battles and exchange them for powerful equipment unique to each character. Strangely enough, before he crossed over, the final boss had happened to be a comic character from this world. He had not even claimed the final reward before somehow ending up here.

"Dear player, you have unclaimed victory rewards. Would you like to collect them?"

A clear line of text appeared.

Sean was overjoyed and immediately nodded. This was exactly what he needed right now.

The ball of white light flashed continuously as one powerful reward after another spun past. Sean stared wide-eyed, his heart tense with both anticipation and fear.

"Mark Armor (Upgradeable, convertible model), the outstanding creation of Iron Man Tony Stark..."

"Super Soldier Serum, brings all aspects of the human body to their limits. It produces different effects depending on the user. Its only successful subject was Captain America..."

"Vibranium Armor, forged from an indestructible powerful metal, capable of absorbing massive damage..."

Sean watched all kinds of rewards originating from this world pass before his eyes, his emotions rising and falling like a roller coaster. Perhaps because he had crossed into this world, much of the powerful equipment and weaponry from other worlds was grayed out and could not yet be unlocked.

"Why not just give me the Infinity Stones?" the reincarnated transmigrator fantasized.

Ding!

With a crisp chime, the white light finally stopped flashing and settled on a vial of potion. The liquid inside radiated a golden glow, shining with astonishing brilliance as it flowed, as though it contained incomparably powerful energy.

"Star Potion (Incomplete)."

Sean was stunned. After all that spinning, he had received a golden potion that did not even have an item description?

He forcibly suppressed the urge to start cursing and took the golden potion from the game inventory. A gentle glow condensed in his palm, filling it with warmth. Staring at the final reward, Sean hesitated for a moment, then raised his head and drank it in one gulp.

Since he had arrived in a world filled with danger at every moment, he could not let go of any opportunity to make himself stronger. He no longer wanted to be an ordinary person. Those powerful heroes with extraordinary abilities could fly through the sky and burrow through the earth, save the world, and bask in the attention of millions...

Sean did not want to be one of the billions looking up at them. When danger descended upon him and enemies appeared before his eyes, he could not simply wait for those Superheroes to save him.

"Ah!!!"

The instant he drank the golden potion, intense pain drowned his consciousness. His entire body seemed to shatter in an instant. His blood vessels, nerves, even every single cell, were crushed by overwhelming power. His mouth opened as wide as it could, yet he could not make even the slightest sound.

Golden light, like flames, surged from Sean's eyes. An unimaginable energy slowly flowed and gathered, completely seeping into his body and transforming this frail, slender human form.

Night had fallen completely. Inside the abandoned factory, the human youth underwent an unprecedented transformation.