Both start in hell: but their talents are multiplied a hundredfold.

Star-Lord's pupils suddenly dilated, as if someone had lit two torches in his eyes.

His brain was forcibly implanted with knowledge that did not belong to any intelligent being; that knowledge was poured onto his bare nerves like molten lead.

He saw the beginning and end of the universe unfold simultaneously, saw time as a snake twisted into a pretzel, and saw his own birth and death occur in the same instant.

He emitted a scream similar to that of a baby crying, drool dripped from the corners of his mouth, tears welled up from the corners of his eyes, and pale pink liquid gushed from his nasal cavity.

Gamora's situation is even worse.

As Thanos's adopted daughter, she underwent various psychological endurance training, which made her mental barrier ten times thicker than that of ordinary people.

But the barrier only held for four seconds. After four seconds, the aftershocks of the battle between the two luminous beings pierced her skull like a red-hot iron cone.

She began tearing at her armor, scratching bloody marks on her chest with her fingers, while repeatedly chanting prayers in Zehuberian.

That was the last oral tradition passed down before her people were wiped out.

Drax was the quietest one.

His brain structure is enviably simple. When information that exceeds the limits of human comprehension floods in, his brain chooses the most brute-force approach to processing it.

Drax shut down his advanced cognitive functions. He stared blankly at the light outside the porthole with his mouth agape, drool dripping from his chin to his chest, like a stone statue that had been hollowed out in an instant.

He can't understand anything, so there's no need for him to go crazy.

Rocket's genetically modified brain put him in the most dire situation.

The brain capacity of an ordinary raccoon is only about one-thirtieth that of a human, but the rocket's brain has been forcibly expanded to a level far exceeding that of humans through genetic engineering and mechanical implants.

This means that the torrent of knowledge released by those two luminous bodies found a huge, precise, and extremely sensitive container in his mind.

The knowledge poured into his brain like mercury into a sponge, and every neuron emitted a sharp, mournful cry.

Rocket screamed and clawed at his head, drawing blood as he cursed dozens of interstellar swear words, but each curse was cut off halfway through by a sob, turning into meaningless howls.

Groot is the quietest.

The bark of the tree was cracked with countless tiny lines, the branches were trembling violently, and the leaves went through the entire process of turning from emerald green to withered yellow and then to scorched black in just a few seconds.

But Groot did not roar; he simply used his vines to tightly bind all his companions, like a cable about to snap, maintaining the last vestige of physical order on the Milan.

In case his friends used the pain of self-harm to alleviate the madness brought on by knowledge beyond the reach of intelligent beings.

The Milan hovered in that flowing light, barely surviving amidst the deadly stream of energy rays.

but

Two luminous objects intertwined in the distance.

One emitted a pale silver light, while the other was enveloped in a warm silver halo.

The moment they collided, space shattered and reformed like glass.

With each collision, the fragmented knowledge becomes denser and more unbearable.

That knowledge contains the fundamental laws of the universe, the ultimate definition of life, and the original form of consciousness.

Each of these concepts is enough to permanently shatter the mind of a normal person.

Star-Lord huddled under the control panel, his hands covering his ears, tears and snot streaming down his face.

"Stop! Stop! Please stop!" he cried out like a three-year-old child.

Gamora had stopped tearing herself apart. She curled up in the corner, staring blankly at the ceiling, uttering monotonous, meaningless syllables.

That was an ancient spell she used to protect her last vestige of consciousness during her training on Thanos's ship, but now she had completely lost control and become a mechanical replica of a mental wreck.

Rocket's howl gradually weakened into a broken sob. His claws were buried in his scalp, and blood flowed down his ears, pooling into a thin stream on his neck.

His eyes were fixed on the golden light outside the porthole, his pupils reflecting some indescribable pattern, knowledge beyond the comprehension of intelligent beings was filling every neuron in his body.

Drax lay on the ground, limbs outstretched, foaming at the mouth.

The cracks in the bark of the Groot tree deepened, and the wood fibers broke one by one, making a soft crackling sound.

His vines still entangled everyone, but they were trembling, losing moisture, and turning into withered wood and vines.

The two luminous objects showed no sign of stopping.

Their battle was so widespread that even the void around the Milan was distorted into an irregular curved surface.

The knowledge that had been instilled into everyone's minds was still accumulating, pressing down on the consciousness of each of them.

Rocket's eyes began to roll back, Star-Lord's cries turned into silent convulsions, and Gamora's syllables broke into meaningless fragments.

Groot uttered the last complete sentence of his life.

"I...am...Groot..."

The sound was soft and slow, each syllable accompanied by the crackling sound of bark splitting. Vines hung limply from Groot's body, like withered branches stripped of their sinews.

The Milan floated quietly in that light, with only the occasional sound of Drax's fingernails scraping against the metal floor inside the cabin.

The two luminous beings are still fighting.

One of them slightly changed direction, and a warm golden light swept across the Milan, catching the crew's attention for a fleeting glimpse.

Then, the warm, golden light seemed to notice the tiny metallic dust suspended in the sea of ​​light.

He extended a wisp of consciousness and gently touched the hull of the Milan.

With just a touch, all the instruments inside the spaceship that were still running simultaneously reset to zero, and then lit up again at the same time.

Star-Lord felt something pass through his skull, soft and warm.

His pupils slowly focused from their dazed state, and his tears gradually stopped.

Gamora stopped uttering syllables and curled up in the corner, the bloody scratches on her chest from her own fingernails healing at a visible speed.

The prayer in Zehuberian stopped on the last syllable. She looked up, her pupils refocusing.

Rocket's claws loosened from his scalp, and the wound on his head scabbed over and fell off within seconds, revealing smooth new fur.

He was panting, looking at his blood-stained claws, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.

Drax stopped convulsing, slowly sat up, wiped the foam from his mouth, and blinked, as if he had just woken up from a long afternoon nap.

The withered leaves of Groot turned green again, and the dry vines were rehydrated, curling up softly and gently enveloping everyone once more.

The golden light merely swirled gently outside the Milan's porthole, and then space unfolded silently in front of the spaceship, like a piece of paper pierced by a finger.

The edge of the wormhole glowed with a pale golden light, and inside was a straight tunnel of light, at the end of which was a blue-green planet.

Star-Lord propped himself up on the control panel, his legs still weak. He glanced at the planet outside the porthole.

"This is the fucking Earth." His voice was hoarse, trembling with sobs.

"Are you sure?" Rocket's voice trembled.

"I'm sure." Star-Lord pointed to the familiar blue ocean and continental outline outside the porthole.

"This is my hometown."

Gamora leaned against the wall to stand up, looking at the planet with an indescribably complex expression.

"What's on that planet?" Drax asked.

Star-Lord paused for a moment, then said, "A lot, a lot."

The golden light flashed one last time, and then the edges of the wormhole began to close.

The Milan's engines automatically ignited just before the wormhole closed, and the spaceship was gently pushed out, sliding into Earth's gravitational field.

Outside the porthole were clouds over New York, and below, a scene of ravaged streets and a city ravaged by war were faintly visible.

Once the danger was over, Groot released everyone.

"Wait!" The rocket, having broken free, stared at the sensor screen.

"I detected a large number of high-energy reactions in this area, as well as residual biosignatures from the Chitauri."

"Chitauri?" Gamora's hand rested on her weapon again.

Star-Lord leaned against the bulkhead, took a deep breath, wiped the tears and snot from his face with the back of his hand, and then laughed.

"Alright," he said. "I'm going back to my hometown to visit relatives and see who's beating whom up while I'm at it."

"Let's do another superhero-style landing and drive the Chitauri away."

Groot peeked out from the corner with a new shoot and gently touched Star-Lord's shoulder.

"I am Groot."

"Thanks, bro." Star-Lord patted the branch and then turned to the control panel.

"Is the Milan still moving?"

"It's working." Rocket had already returned to his seat, his fingers flying across the control panel.

"But we need to find a place to land. The ship has structural damage, and it will fall apart if it bounces a few more times."

"I wonder if the civilization on this planet has any metals that meet the repair standards."

"We'll probably have to stay here for a while."

"If all else fails, we'll have to rob the Chitauri."

Gamora gazed out the porthole at the blue planet drawing ever closer and whispered, "Why is that golden thing helping us?"

Star-Lord and the others couldn't answer her.

The Milan pierced through the clouds and glided toward the city that had just experienced war.

Several months later.

Shen Jue rubbed his lower back and stepped out of the wormhole obtained from the Tesseract, which is the Space Stone.

Death was powerful, far more powerful than Shen Jue had imagined.

As the manipulator and creator of life in the Marvel multiverse.

Love between intelligent beings is merely a small branch of His authority.

Over the past few months, Shen Jue has made a deal with the Goddess of Death in exchange for knowledge and qualities that transcend the Marvel multiverse.

The two constantly changed forms, and in a remote corner of this cinematic universe, they engaged in an epic battle.

The scope of this great war extended to several star systems.

Dozens of lifeless, desolate planets were transformed into the most basic particles in Shen Jue's great battle against death.

Even those few stars were completely extinguished in the cold, desolate void.

Despite Shen Jue's best efforts, he was no match for the Goddess of Death, the creator goddess of the Marvel multiverse.

He suffered defeat after defeat, until he had nowhere left to retreat, until he was completely defeated. After being told "mediocre" by the Goddess of Death, Shen Jue made a humiliating exit from the stage.

"What a disgrace!" Shen Jue cursed under his breath.

His little Shen Jue was invincible across multiple worlds, but unexpectedly suffered his first defeat in the Marvel multiverse.

"hateful!"

"Just wait, death!"

"I'm not afraid of you!"

Shen Jue took a deep breath and instantly accepted the fact that she had become the lover of death.

He was not afraid of the challenge of death, waiting for him to accumulate several more Shen Jue and acquire the knowledge contained in several Infinity Stones.

Shen Jue will definitely challenge the Goddess of Death again.

By then, Shen Jue will not be defeated so easily!

Months later, New York had completely changed.

The boundaries of Manhattan have become unusually clear.

Looking east from the Hudson River, the old city outline is still there, but only the outer edge remains.

Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx—the old apartment buildings, grocery stores, gas stations, and churches still look the same as they did a few months ago.

Lights shone from the windows, pedestrians strolled along the street corner, and the morning subway was still clanging along, as if nothing had happened.

The 24-hour Korean convenience store in Queens is still selling leftover kimbap, and the owner is still complaining to regular customers about how rents in New York have gone up again.

Children were playing basketball on the Bronx courts, and the chain-linked net made a familiar clattering sound.

But if you look across the East River, or from New Jersey toward Midtown Manhattan, you'll see something else entirely.

It was pure black.

A cluster of black metal buildings rose from the ruins of a city that had once been a battlefield, like some giant fungus that did not belong to Earth, forcibly pushing itself out of the urban fabric.

Those buildings had no windows, no facades, and none of the openings that human architecture should have.

Its surface is matte black metal, absorbing all the light that shines on it, with only a faint blue circuit luster occasionally flashing at the edges.

They are not individual buildings, but a series of giant structures connected one after another, stretching like a mountain range.

The tallest ones have pierced the clouds, their tops disappearing into the perennial low-hanging cloud cover. Ground monitoring data shows that their actual height is between 9,100 and 9,400 meters, close to 10,000 meters.

The tallest natural mountain in all of New York State looks like a step in front of it.

The exterior walls of those black buildings were covered with countless tiny specks of light.

If you look closely, you'll see that they are tens of millions of tiny honeycomb robots, completely black with a faint blue glow at their joints.

They flew along the building surface, as orderly as an ant colony.

Further out on the open ground, even more Hive robots emerged from underground tunnels, carrying metal materials extracted from who-knows-where, and merging into the towering black mountain range.

The buildings continue to grow taller.

Based on the rates observable from the ground, the outermost structures are increasing in height by about three to five meters per day, while the core structures have stabilized at over nine thousand meters. Hive robots are installing some kind of ring-shaped metal structure on their tops.

People in the old town occasionally look up.

Across the East River and the Hudson River, in the neighborhoods yet to be affected, they could see the massive black structure standing silently on the horizon.

On a clear day, the tallest clouds can cover half the sky.

At sunrise, their shadows can stretch into the heart of New Jersey.

Just outside this black building, Peter Parker, the bewildered neighbor of New York, is looking up at the black building, unsure of where to go.

"what?"

Shen Jue appeared beside Peter at that moment and gently patted Peter on the shoulder.

"Young man, you look lost."

"How about checking out Blackwatch?"

Shen Jue winked at Peter.