Simultaneous traversal: All Abyss difficulty.

Chapter 354 Long Live the Hydra?
Stephen Fang pushed open the door to Strange's dormitory. Moonlight streamed through the stained glass windows of the corridor, casting long, winding rune marks on the stone bricks.

He followed his senses through the corridor and pushed open a wooden door carved with the mark of Seraphim.

Gu Yi was sitting cross-legged in front of the tea table, where two cups of tea were steaming.

"I didn't invite you here," Gu Yi said without even looking up, while continuing to brew tea.

“I thought your ‘everything has a cause and effect’ was an implication that I should come to you in the middle of the night, like in Journey to the West.” Stephen Fang sat down opposite him casually, his Sharingan standing out conspicuously in the dark room.

The Ancient One lightly touched the teacup with her fingertip, and as the ripples spread, the scene of the Battle of New York appeared: "If I really wanted to see you, I would just pull you away from Captain Marvel's fist."

"That's so embarrassing." He picked up his teacup and drank it all in one gulp. "So? You're praising me for beating up Carol so well?"

"Your spatial magic techniques are very clever, even faster than mine."

“Sorcerer Supreme, I am here to learn Kamar-Taj magic, not to have a friendly exchange meeting.”

Ancient One nodded slightly. "Alright then, I won't ask any more questions. So, you want to learn magic? But it seems to me that you've already learned Asgardian magic, at least your spatial magic has an Asgardian influence."

Stephen Fang poured another cup of tea. "But it's still half-baked. I need intensive magic training."

“Oh?” The Ancient One looked at Stephen Fang seriously. “Your abilities seem to allow you to protect yourself without any problems. At least I haven’t ‘seen’ any footage of your death in the future.”

“Only by standing tall can one see far, Master.” Stephen Fang bowed slightly. “You may not be standing tall enough, so you cannot see far enough.”

The Ancient One couldn't see that far ahead, because she could only see the fate of Stephen Fang in the Marvel universe; she couldn't see the fate of Fang Yu in other worlds.

“Alright.” The Ancient One sighed. “I hope you don’t get lost in the fog of pursuing power. It’s not good for you or me, or for the world.”

Stephen Fang nodded. "Understood, Master."

Gu Yi stood up and said, "Come see me again in a week. Right now, I need to do some necessary things."

Stephen Fang knew that the Ancient One was preparing to entrust her son to Strange, so he bowed and said, "See you in a week."

At the seaside villa, neon lights cast dappled shadows on everyone's faces.

Tony Stark mechanically shoveled whiskey down his throat, fragments of his nanotech armor still embedded in the coffee table. He stared at the swirling amber liquid in his glass and suddenly sneered, "Jarvis, play 'Victory March'."

The AI ​​assistant was silent for two seconds, then AC/DC's "Back in Black" started playing.

"Ha! How fitting!" Thor smashed open a beer crate with a hammer, foam splashing onto his beard. "The atmosphere of the 'victory celebration' in the courtyard is more oppressive than a funeral in Asgard."

In the corner, Peter Parker fiddled with the cracked screen of his phone, Aunt May's missed call was stuck on the number "27". He mechanically stuffed a cold slice of pizza into his mouth, his throat aching from the craving.

Bruce Banner's exposed arm was wrapped in a blood-soaked bandage as he stared at the news footage looping on the television—a shot of the enraged Hulk throwing a school bus at the police was circled in red, with the headline "Monster or Hero?"

"Hey! How about we play a game?" Tony Stark suddenly jumped onto the dining table like a madman. "Let's take turns telling the one thing we fucking regretted most during the Civil War!"

Dead silence.

Tony suddenly slammed his glass against the wall: "I don't even know if avenging my parents is right or wrong! Can anyone tell me?!"

Thor crushed the soda can: "A man's actions are never regrettable!"

Spider-Man's voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz: "Uncle Ben said... With great power comes great power..." He suddenly covered his mouth and rushed into the bathroom, the sound of gagging being drowned out by the roar of the faucet.

Banner finally looked up, his eyes bloodshot behind his glasses: "I don't want Hulk out again." The television suddenly switched to a new scene: in the ruins, a girl clutching a Stars and Stripes flag cried out, "Why do heroes have to fight?"

As footage of the "Manhattan incident" spread wildly across global media, public opinion among governments and NGOs worldwide erupted in outrage.

The UN Security Council held an emergency closed-door meeting. The representatives of the five permanent members of the Security Council watched the satellite images with solemn expressions—a thousand-meter-tall wooden Buddha, cracked continental plates, Captain Marvel exiled in space… These forces, far beyond the scope of modern military understanding, made everyone present feel uneasy, as if they had a bone stuck in their throat and thorns in their backs.

"This isn't a superhero, this is a walking nuclear bomb!" The representative of the nation that surrendered first slammed his fist on the table. "A global regulatory system must be established!"

“Agreed.” The representative from the gay nation adjusted his glasses. “But the problem is, who’s going to oversee that giant Buddha that casts a shadow over three city blocks? Or that old white woman who ruined Manhattan?”

The dragon representative reached out to the eagle, "Why don't you guys do it?"

The American representative gritted his teeth and said, "What?! Why aren't you guys coming?"

Before the dragon representative could refuse, the Indian representative outside the door shouted, "I'll do it! I'll do it!"

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council collectively shouted angrily, "No seats!"

Meanwhile, at the New Mexico branch of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick Fury's one eye stared at the draft of the "Superpowered Person Registration Act" jointly submitted by various countries in the holographic projection, his mouth twitching.

The draft requires all superpowered individuals engaging in public activities to report their abilities to international organizations and be subject to 24-hour satellite monitoring; it even proposes implanting nanotrackers into heroes who reach the S rank.

“Are these bureaucrats out of their minds…” Fury gritted his teeth in anger, “Which satellite are they planning to use to keep an eye on Stephen Fang? The Hubble Telescope?”

Maria Hill whispered beside her, "Bai Palace is demanding a 'compromise' from us within a week, or they will send a special unit to 'take over' the Avengers."

"Special Department?" Fury thought he'd heard the funniest joke of the century. "Those pot-bellied guys don't think superheroes will listen to them, do they?"

Wakanda, Royal Council Chamber.

Suri, Black Panther's sister, looked at the official letter from the United Nations, then glanced at Black Panther, who was being treated in the hospital ward, and frowned: "Wakanda will never accept external forces monitoring its warriors!"

The top floor of a building on Wall Street.

Representatives of the remnants of Hydra are plotting through encrypted channels.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” A key member tapped his fingertips on the table. “We can push through legislation to put ‘regulatory power’ in our own hands… for example, have ‘Snake.H.I.E.L.D.’ execute it.”

A Hydra scientist excitedly pulled up the data: "Based on analysis of battlefield wreckage, Stephen Fang's cell samples may have unlimited evolutionary potential! If the bill passes, we can forcibly obtain his DNA under the pretext of 'security checks'!"

Suddenly, there was a knock on the conference room door.

The representatives immediately put on a friendly and approachable expression and looked towards the door.

But the people who appeared at the door immediately made the Hydra followers hurriedly get up. Those who could draw their guns did so, while those who couldn't simply cover their heads.

The person who arrived was none other than Stephen Fang, whom they had been longing for!

But Stephen Fang's first words left these people completely dumbfounded!

"hail hydra!"

(End of this chapter)