American comics: Praising the sun, starting from Gotham!

Loki turned to the side and extended his arm in a gesture of invitation.

"Of course, it is a great honor for TVA to have such distinguished guests as you and such professional consultants as Mr. Wayne to visit our backstage area."

"Please follow me, but I must warn you, the backstage area of ​​TVA is not as well-organized as the front."

Shuen followed without a care, his interest clearly not in the paperwork. He was thinking about how to divert Loki's attention so that Bruce could better infiltrate the backstage area.

As he walked, he looked at Möbius with great interest, making the latter feel uncomfortable under his gaze.

"Hmm, hey, Mr. Otter."

"What otter? It's Möbius!"

Mobius corrected Shuen listlessly.

"Okay, Mr. Otter, no problem, Mr. Otter."

Xiu En readily accepts kindness and follows good advice.

"How are the benefits here? Do you pay for the five social insurances and one housing fund? Is there time off in lieu of overtime or triple pay? I see that the workload here is quite heavy, I hope you don't die from overwork."

Möbius opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything for a long time.

"We have no concept of death. It is the highest honor for us to serve the Holy Timeline."

"So that means unpaid labor?"

Sunflower peeked out from over Xiu's shoulder and summarized.

"Tsk tsk, even our orphanage volunteers get afternoon tea and cookies. Your treatment is even worse than illegal labor."

"No! We have rations and shelter."

Möbius tried to explain, but his voice grew softer and softer.

Shuen turned to look at Loki, who was leading the way, and suddenly seemed to have thought of some crucial question.

"Don't tell me yet, let me guess."

Xiu En held up one finger.

What do you eat at TVA's cafeteria on Thursdays?

Loki paused upon hearing this.

"Oh? It seems you're not only the protagonist of the story, but also a discerning connoisseur of fine food?"

Just as Shuen was drawing attention and engaging in this pointless conversation with Loki, a stream of data quietly separated from Bruce's projection behind them and spread out silently.

Alfred was also helping Bruce analyze the situation, and his gentle and steady voice echoed in Bruce's mind.

"Thirty-seven degrees to the left front, the third pipe, that's one of the main data backbones. But the firewall structure here is quite peculiar."

"It's time, Afu."

Bruce responded calmly.

"Its encryption method is itself a continuously looping, locked history. It cannot be cracked by conventional means."

"Perhaps, how about trying a different species?"

Ivy's voice broke in. A golden-green vine, thinner than a hair, quietly emerged from under Xiu's collar, ignoring the physical walls and plunging directly into the data pipes.

"These wood-grain decorations are made of real wood."

"And it's in very poor condition; the core is almost dried out. Let me water it."

A massive amount of plant pheromones surged in along the vines, as if TVA's ancient and rigid system had been injected with a foreign virus.

On countless data nodes, meaningless gibberish with sunflower icons began to appear out of thin air.

The lights in the entire TVA headquarters began to flicker for no apparent reason, causing many employees to look up.

"Oh, it seems our wiring is getting a bit old."

Loki glanced at the flashing lights overhead.

"After all, it's an antique that's been used for centuries. Mr. Wayne, do you think there's anything about our wiring that needs improvement?"

He glanced meaningfully at Bruce, like a novice seeking advice from a professional.

"The structure is too redundant and the energy utilization rate is low."

Bruce gave a professional evaluation without any expression. At the same time, the green channel that Ivy had forcibly opened in his mind had completely exposed the backend of the TVA database to him.

"I'm coming in."

Bruce said to Shum on the Mind Channel.

"The data volume is too large, and we are currently filtering it. Hmm, we found it: the original archives about the Sacred Timeline."

On the screen, historical truths that had been sealed away at the deepest levels were revealed in a grotesque manner.

The so-called sacred timeline is nothing more than a safe passage personally set up by a benevolent variant of Kang known as the "Survivor" to prevent the emergence of other, more evil versions of himself. All of TVA's work, the so-called maintenance of time stability, is nothing more than executing one person's will to eliminate all branches that could give rise to Kang.

"How about it? The backstage scenery is much more interesting than the fabricated stories on stage, isn't it?"

Loki's voice rang in everyone's ears.

He clearly knew what Bruce was doing, and it was all done with his tacit approval.

Bruce's projected form paused for a moment. Were they fighting against someone's selfish desires?

However, Xiu En's focus shifted to another direction.

"In other words..."

"Are all of us, including those from the previous parties, just characters in a script forcibly created by this guy called the Survivor to keep his own brats from causing trouble?"

"A good summary."

Loki snapped his fingers approvingly.

"I don't like others dictating my menu."

"Don't rush, my dear leading man, this is just the appetizer."

Loki's smile turned dangerous.

"The real main course is in the deeper part."

Guided by him, Bruce continued to descend, hacking into the deepest part of the database, a red folder marked as an absolute no-go zone.

It was a series of surveillance videos playing on a loop. In the footage, there was a man dressed in purple-green armor, one after another, sitting on thrones of different styles, discussing how to conquer, how to destroy, and how to bring all timelines under their rule.

This is the "Kang's Council".

They ruthlessly rank universes, determining their worthiness to conquer. They wage wars, regarding the survivors as their greatest enemies and traitors. Their ultimate goal is to become the sole ruler of all existence, all time, and all space.

"See? As expected, you won't understand just by me talking; I need to show you the data."

"This is our true enemy. A tyrannical army composed of an endless multitude of self-centered individuals. Compared to this, doesn't the pruning work in TVA seem rather gentle?"

The scene on the screen changed again, showing countless menacing warships, far surpassing the technology of the current era, forming a fleet that blotted out the sky, silently floating in the cracks of the multiverse, as if ready to descend at any moment.

Xiu En stared at the densely packed fleet and countless identical Kangs on the holographic screen.

He turned his head to look at Loki beside him.

"We can't handle this."

Shuen's tone surprised even Bruce, who was standing next to him. His gaze swept over the fleet that obscured the entire multiverse.

"This isn't a problem that can be solved by a fight. You've come to us, so we must have a solution, right?"

"certainly."

Loki stroked the glowing gem on his scepter.

"I never put on a show I'm not confident about. Directly confronting the entire Council of Kang is like a drop of water falling into the desert, even for you. They hold the power of time and have an endless supply of troops, capable of erasing you from existence in any moment when you are weak."

Möbius's face grew even paler.

"A multiverse war? Is it about to begin again?"

"The war has never stopped, Möbius; it's just been locked in a box we can't see."

"And now, the box is about to be opened."

"Get to the point, Loki."

Hugh interrupted the increasingly heavy atmosphere between them.

"What's your solution to break this deadlock?"

"Cut off the source."

Loki extended two fingers and made a cutting motion in the air.

"It's like dealing with those lousy, clichéd scripts on stage. Since the beginning of the story is already terrible, why don't we just go to the author who wrote the first line and have him tear up the script and rewrite it?"

"author?"

"That's right."

"The one who created TVA, created this set of nonsensical rules, the one who grew tired of the eternal war and hid at the end of time, enjoying a lonely peace."

"He single-handedly created the Sacred Timeline, this enormous prison, and he also threw all those who might threaten him into the Void to be fed as pets."

"He is the cause, and the Council of Kang is the effect. As long as he remains on that throne, this doomed cycle of destruction will never end."

"So, your plan is to take him out?"

Shuen asked very directly, but after thinking about it, he felt something was wrong. If this Loki was the God of Story in the TV series, then Kang should have already died.

"No, no, no."

Loki shook his finger.

"A respectable author should be given the right to choose. For example, should he retire gracefully, handing the stage over to us, the more energetic newcomers, or be pelted off the stage with rotten tomatoes by an angry audience?"

I like rotten tomatoes.

Sunflower Ivy suddenly added.

"So, what's your decision? Will you continue playing your destined tragic roles on this collapsing stage, or will you come backstage with me to meet the great director?"

"Lead the way."

Bruce said.

"I knew you'd agree. After all, what could be more interesting than uncovering the ultimate mystery of the universe?"

Loki winked at Shum, as if they were old friends.

Shuon stepped forward and stood beside Loki.

He ignored Xiu En's eye roll and made another light swipe in the air in front of him.

But this time, what appeared was a rift torn open, leading to endless darkness. At the edge of the rift was a violent, distorted storm of time, within which countless fragments of shattered timelines spun rapidly like glass.

"Hold on tight, everyone." For the first time, Loki's smile turned slightly serious. "There are no seatbelts on the road ahead."

Several people stepped into the crevice.

Time loses its meaning here; the past, present, and future are intertwined in a chaotic mess.

They can see dinosaurs roaming the wreckage of interstellar warships, and the top of pyramids connecting to holographic GG signs of cyberpunk cities. Countless worlds, either extinct or yet to be born, are transformed into ever-changing landscapes here.

I don't know how much time has passed.

They arrived at a void.

Beneath their feet lay a colossal rock floating in endless darkness. Atop the rock stood a solitary, ancient castle. And at the castle's highest point, floor-to-ceiling windows, like those of an observatory, sat a blurry figure.

This is the silent place at the end of time.

The group stepped onto the stone steps leading to the castle.

The castle gates opened by themselves with a gentle push.

Inside the castle.

A warm fire burned in the fireplace.

At the round table in the center of the hall, a man dressed in a dark purple silk robe and sporting a neat goatee was pouring tea for himself, his back to them.

He looked like a slightly neurotic university professor.

"You've arrived."

"It's about 74 years, 5 months, and 3 days earlier than I expected. Did Loki take a shortcut?"

He turned around, his eyes seeming to hold the stars and dust of the entire universe. He looked at Xiu En and his group, a strangely warm smile on his face.

"Please sit down, please sit down! Don't be shy, the tea is freshly brewed and has a rich flavor."

He pointed to the empty seats across the table, as if he were entertaining some old friends he hadn't seen in a long time.

"This must be Mr. Wayne. I've read your analysis report; it's brilliant!"

His gaze fell on Xiu En, and his eyes lit up for a moment.

"You smell so warm, full of the scent of beginnings. Nice to meet you. My name is Nathaniel Richards, or you may call me The Remainer, or Kang."

He extended his hand warmly, a smile even bordering on obsequious, as he waited to shake hands with the guest.

But Shuen had no sympathy for such indiscriminate killing of innocent people. He merely glanced at the hand hovering in mid-air, showing no intention of responding. He walked to the castle's French windows and began to talk to the sunflowers. This kind of conversation, which looked like it was all a trap, was best left to Bruce.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows lies eternal darkness, with only the occasional fragment of a broken timeline flashing by like a firefly.

Xiu En faced this ultimate nothingness. The sunflower leaf on his shoulder seemed much more vibrant; it faced Xiu En, its two leaves on its hips, as if conducting a serious family meeting.

As Xiu En turned around, Bruce took a half step forward, subtly blocking the gap between the survivor and Xiu En, nodded slightly, and calmly focused his gaze on the man who called himself Kang.

Shuen and the sunflower on his shoulder began to converse through a spiritual connection.

"It looks like our honeymoon will have to be postponed a bit."

"snort!"

Ivy tapped his forehead lightly with her leaf.

"Isn't this a work requirement?"

Xiu En's voice sounded a little aggrieved.

"Look, if we don't solve these guys' problems, how can we go out and have fun in peace? What if we're eating barbecue on some planet and suddenly a purple or green Kang jumps out and tries to cut our timeline? That would be so annoying."

"Excuse."

"It's true."

"And look, so many Kangs mean so many different kinds of armor and equipment, so this business trip is really cost-effective. I'll collect some top-quality materials and have Afu make you a few brand-new flowerpots, guaranteeing that each one is a unique limited edition."

Ivy was silent for a moment, seemingly seriously considering the feasibility of using flowerpots.

"Then I want one made from Infinity Stone powder!"

"Deal!" Xiu En agreed immediately, without even considering whether the Infinity Stones could actually be ground into powder.

Welcome to the boundless fantasy continent, the entrance is here: