American comics: Praising the sun, starting from Gotham!

The mages have given up on thinking and attacking.

All eyes were focused on the metal Chinese knot in the center of the hall.

That thing devoured the core of the temple right before their eyes.

Then it was tied in a knot.

"..."

The bearded mage leading the group opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but unsure what to say.

What else can he do?

attack?

They have exhausted all methods.

Escape? That black monster is still guarding the door.

There is only one path left.

The bearded monk took a deep breath.

He took a few steps forward alone, trembling.

He tried to make his voice sound respectful enough and non-threatening enough.

He bowed slightly to the carnivorous plant that was contentedly stretching out its metallic leaves.

"Whose messenger are you, Your Excellency?"

"We are the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj, disciples of the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme."

Black Gold has just had a hearty meal and now needs quiet time to digest its food.

Humans are so annoying.

It impatiently shook its flower bud, and then let out a low roar at the bearded mage!

"roar--!"

(Leave me alone! I'm going to take a nap!)

Its roar echoed through the hall. But because the Sun Ring's translation function wasn't activated, the roar was simply a threat to the mages' ears.

The bearded monk was so frightened by the roar that he took several steps back.

What is it saying?

"A young mage asked nervously.

"I have no idea!"

"But it sounds like it's not entirely satisfied!"

"What should we do then, Master? Should we continue communicating?"

"Of course! It didn't show any aggression during our previous attacks, so we should be able to communicate with it."

"Use body language! Show us our utmost sincerity!"

As he spoke, he actually led the dozen or so mages behind him to kneel down on one knee in front of Black Gold, who just wanted to take a nap!

"..."

As Black Gold looked at the group of humans who were suddenly making strange gestures towards it, a question mark made of metallic folds appeared on the flower bud.

?

Is there something wrong with this group of people?

Meanwhile, in the Ximu Realm.

"Little Flower, look!"

"These monks are so polite! What are they doing? Offering New Year's greetings?!"

"You still have the mood to laugh?"

The sunflower frowned, its two leaves tapping on the control panel of the light screen.

"There's a bug."

"BUG? What BUG? It was working perfectly fine just now!"

"Take a look for yourself; it's the merit calculation system in the backend."

Sunflower brought out another light screen and pushed it in front of Xiu En.

Xiu En curiously leaned closer.

On the interface specifically used to calculate the merits and karma of the divine messengers, the gold data bar representing merits and the blue data bar representing basic workload were colliding!

[Event Summary: Operation to clear out the London Temple.]

[Executor: Black Gold Carnivorous Flower / Lucerne.]

[Behavioral Analysis: Target unit Lucerne, devour 37 sinful souls.]

[Merit Calculation Module Determination: The devoured targets are all sinners. This action meets the standards for accumulating good deeds and should be counted as [Merit], rewarding you with 37 Little Sun Charging Packs.]

[Workload settlement module determination: The targets consumed were all fanatics designated for the task. This behavior meets the work completion standard and should be counted towards the basic KPI, rewarding credit points and energy points.]

[Logical conflict!!!]

The same action cannot be simultaneously judged as both merit and work! The system cannot allocate rewards accordingly!

If this is judged as merit, the KPI for this task will be zero. If it is judged as work, no additional merit rewards will be given for this action!

A series of exclamation marks almost filled the entire screen!

"Well……"

Looking at the settlement screen, Xiu En understood where the problem lay.

His system is like a simple HR software.

If an employee does a good deed, such as helping an elderly woman cross the street, the software will calculate their merit.

Once this employee completes the tasks assigned by the boss, such as writing a report, the software will calculate his salary.

But now, a problem arises.

What if the boss's task was to help a hundred elderly women cross the street?

So how exactly should this salary and that bonus be calculated?

Should it be counted as two portions? Or just one portion?

The original system only calculated merit points and didn't have this conflict, but when a new calculation method was copied and added, the conflict arose.

"That little flower?"

Xiu En awkwardly touched his nose, giving up on thinking about it and trying to get rid of this thorny problem.

"You see, this involves complex quantification of merit and value assessment. You are the only Chief Technology Officer and Chief Product Manager at Ximujie. I think it's more professional for you to handle this issue."

"snort."

On her sunflower-like face, she wore an expression that said, "I knew you'd say that."

But she still operated it very quickly.

A new V3.1 version requirements document was created at lightning speed.

[Request Topic: Solution to the Paradox of Merit]

[Initial Concept: Establish an event-based priority mechanism. For tasks that constitute charitable acts, the task assessment will be given the highest priority. After completing the task and receiving the basic KPI reward, a second merit assessment and reward will be conducted based on the additional positive impact of the action (such as saving the surviving mages of the temple in this instance).]

[Note: This solution requires a more sophisticated causal chain tracing algorithm.]

【as well as……】

Ivy typed the last line and highlighted it in bold red.

[That Xiu En, who only knows how to make empty promises and shift blame, from now on... never mind, today's cookies will be halved! I'll take as many as you give me!!!]

The collapse of the temple's core was like tearing a wound in the barrier of the real dimension.

A dark force filled with greed and emptiness began to seep into the earth through that wound.

The sky grew even more gloomy.

In another Sanctuary far away in New York, the Ancient One opened his eyes.

She knew the stage was already set up.

It's time for the villains to make their official appearance.

"Strange".

The voice of the Ancient One echoed in the courtyard.

Strange, who was racking his brains over how to fix the cracked floor that had appeared when the two little ones came out, subconsciously turned around.

Then he saw Gu Yi extend his hand to him.

next second.

The whole world is spinning!

Reality is like a shattered mirror, broken into billions of irregular fragments, which then begin to fold, rotate, and recombine!

The bluestone slabs beneath my feet transformed into floating staircases. The distant skyscrapers twisted into pretzel shapes. The sky and the earth had switched places.

"Wow!"

Strange let out a scream.

When his vision finally regained its focus, he found himself and the Ancient One standing atop an upside-down Eiffel Tower.

And around them, the entire city of New York has become a surreal world made up of countless spinning gears and architectural fragments.

"Welcome to the Mirror Dimension, Dr. Strange."

"Nothing we do here will affect the real world."

"This is insane!"

Strange leaned against the tower's spire, his face deathly pale, looking as if he might vomit at any moment.

"Why did we come to this godforsaken place?!"

"Because some things can only be said here."

"Tell me, Doctor. Why did you come to Kamar-Taj?"

Gu Yi asked.

"To heal my hand!"

Without hesitation, Strange answered that this was his sole and original purpose for coming here.

"and then?"

"And then what? You go back to your world and continue being an all-powerful surgeon?"

"What's wrong with this?!"

Strange's tone carried a hint of annoyance at being hit where it hurt.

"I save lives with my own hands!"

"What you are saving is just one decaying shell after another."

Gu Yi interrupted him.

"And we, the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj, protect reality itself."

Gu Yi waved her hand gently.

The surrounding scenery changed once again.

They arrived in a void.

A holographic projection of the Earth appeared before them.

"This world is not as simple as it seems."

"Beyond our own dimension of reality, there exist countless other dimensions. Some are beautiful, but many more are filled with malice."

She tapped it lightly with her finger.

Around the Earth projection, clusters of energy emanating ominous red and black light appeared.

"These dark dimensions are constantly eyeing our world. They want to devour our reality and turn our world into part of their dark territory."

"And our mission is to protect the Earth and keep these threats from the multiverse at bay."

"What does that have to do with me?!"

"You are the Sorcerer Supreme! You, Mordo, and those people, you possess godlike power!"

"We will die too."

The Ancient One interrupted him again.

"Every mage who guards the temple, every Sorcerer Supreme, will eventually die on the battlefield protecting this world. No one is exempt."

"Then why...?"

Strange wanted to ask, "Then why are you still alive? You've been protecting this world for hundreds of years."

But he didn't ask the question.

Because he has already seen the answer.

"You're very smart, doctor."

"Yes. I've found a way to bypass death."

She raised her forehead.

A dark, shimmering rune appeared between her brows.

Strange was extremely familiar with the shape of the rune!

That was the mark belonging to the Dark Lord Dormammu, recorded in the forbidden dark magic book he had secretly read in the library!

"No! This is impossible!"

Strange stared at the rune, then stumbled backward in disbelief.

"Didn't you say that we can't draw power from the dark dimension?! You said it was forbidden! It was corruption!"

I lied.

"It was the Dark Dimension that granted me such a long life, allowing me to repeatedly repel those enemies who sought to devour our world."

"But this comes at a price."

She raised her hand, and beneath her skin, it looked as if black maggots were wriggling.

"Every time I use the power of darkness, my soul is corrupted a little deeper by that dimension."

"I am using the power of one devil to fight against other devils."

He was the mentor that Strange admired.

The Venerable Master who taught him to abandon selfish desires, to obey the laws of nature, and to always stand on the side of light.

He was the mentor that Strange admired.

The Venerable Master who taught him to abandon selfish desires, to obey the laws of nature, and to always stand on the side of light.

He's actually the biggest hypocrite ever!?

A fraudster who relies on what she calls the most evil and depraved dark forces to sustain her life!

This realization was even more revolutionary to him than discovering that magic was real!

"So everything was fake?"

"Everything you taught us—those tenets about laws, order, and protection? Was it all a joke?"

"No."

Gu Yi shook his head.

"The law is not wrong, Strange."

"I was wrong."

"I have betrayed everything I believed in."

"And now."

She raised her head and looked at the sky beyond the mirror dimension, a sky already polluted by the aura of darkness.

"The time to pay the price has come."

The Eye of Agamotto was handed to Strange.

"Let's go back to the real world."