Marvel: The Alchemist Just Wants a Peaceful Life

"I don't think you're qualified to talk to me about this. Besides, those autographed photos of the Big Three and the mustachioed guy are genuine! How about it? If you're willing to take my place, I can give you everything in this room."

Chapter 685 The Life Story of Gu Yi

"Damn!"

Faced with the Ancient One's countless attempts to recruit him, Sherlock's response was exceptionally smooth, just as it had been when he responded to the Ancient One's recruitment attempts, which had already reached four figures.

Hearing Sherlock's predictable answer, the Ancient One sighed helplessly.

Honestly, if Sherlock were willing to take over Kamar-Taj and become her successor, given Stephen's personality, it would be a miracle if the Ancient One could even get him to find Kamar-Taj.

After all, Stephen was just the tallest of the short Ancient Ones, a choice made out of necessity.

Seeing that Sherlock rejected her as always, Gu Yi could only look at Sherlock with a hint of resentment and ask him in an annoyed tone.

"Then what are you doing here? You can't have just come here to watch Stephen make a fool of himself, can you?"

Upon hearing the Ancient One's words, Sherlock almost immediately realized that the Ancient One had definitely used the Time Stone to observe Stephen's future, and had probably even seen the classic scene of the Negotiator's birth.

Having realized this, Sherlock was too lazy to play along with the Ancient One any longer. Instead, he looked directly in the Ancient One's direction, shrugged, and said to her in a relaxed tone.

"That's undeniably part of the reason, my dear Gu Yi, but more importantly, I came here to prevent you from dying because special effects are too expensive."

Upon hearing Sherlock's words, the corner of the Ancient One's mouth twitched involuntarily.

It's as if the Ancient One knew that Gandalf, the Flower Girl, or the Seafood Trio were real people who existed in comics, movies, anime, or TV series.

No one can guarantee that the stories that happen on Earth won't be stories from other planets or other universes. Who knows, you might even be the protagonist or an important supporting character in the story.

Despite the logic behind it, Sherlock's statement that he "died because special effects were too expensive" was still something the Ancient One couldn't quite accept.

"First of all, magic is like that and has nothing to do with special effects, and not all magic has fancy special effects."

Secondly, Sherlock, don't tell me you don't know what the magic at Kamar-Taj is all about, and don't tell me you don't know what I'm thinking.

In response to the Ancient One's words, Sherlock shrugged calmly before rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"I understand! Do you think the 007 bosses are all thinking about retirement? I get it."

"I understand, but what I can't understand is why you're so eager to die. You could just fake your death and escape; you haven't experienced all the wonderful things on Earth. Why go to space to suffer the torment of being homeless?"

Upon hearing Sherlock's words, the Ancient One gave a cold laugh. She didn't argue with Sherlock about the matter of cattle and horses, nor did she argue with Sherlock about why she wanted to use death to abandon her physical body. She simply said to Sherlock in a calm tone.

"If you can find something that interests me, then I'll fake my death and stay on Earth as you want, how about that?"

Faced with the Ancient One's provocative words, Sherlock's competitive spirit was instantly ignited, and after thinking for a moment, he immediately spoke to the Ancient One.

"Why don't you try making a movie like Odin? It'd be nice to experience all the different aspects of life, wouldn't it?"

After hearing Sherlock's suggestion, the Ancient One simply pointed to a cardboard box next to the workbench in her secret base.

When Sherlock opened the cardboard box with some doubt, he felt a little uneasy.

The box contained almost all the major film festival awards and art-related trophies from around the world, including Oscars, Golden Bears, Palmes d'Ors, Globe Awards, and so on. The quantity was enormous, and most importantly, these trophies were all quite worn and old.

With a hint of curiosity, Sherlock took out the Oscar trophy and looked at its inscription.

A second Oscar? Holy crap? Are you serious?

Sherlock looked at the trophy in his hand with an incredulous expression, then turned to look at the Ancient One who stood calmly in place.

In response to Sherlock's surprise, the Ancient One simply said to him calmly.

"That's right. The first one was immature and received too much attention, so I participated in the second one."

His flat tone made it sound like he was just talking about what to eat today, completely devoid of any emotional fluctuation. Moreover, judging from the poorly maintained state of the trophies inside the box, Gu Yi really didn't care.

Sherlock's lips twitched slightly, and he slammed the box shut in his hands with a hint of annoyance. "Damn it, if art doesn't work, let's go for sports."

"What about the Olympics? Even though he's a bit older, his physical condition should still be top-notch, right? Even if he can't run or anything like that, he could try skiing, or at the very least, he could dance!"

Upon hearing Sherlock's words, the Ancient One didn't even bother to respond to him this time, instead glancing at the bottom of the box filled with trophies.

Following the Ancient One's gaze, Sherlock opened another box.

Goodness, they have all kinds of medals, from the Olympics to medals from the recent square dance competition held in China!

Sherlock even found several "Grandma's Medals" for writing fanfiction about the rabbits!

No, how come I didn't know you, this heartless boiled egg, had such a rich extracurricular life?

No, with such a rich and fulfilling leisure life, isn't it a bit much to say that you're bored?

After taking a deep breath, Sherlock adjusted his mindset and listed four or five career plans in a row. Without exception, the Ancient One had achieved success in each of these industries.

Sherlock was utterly bewildered when he saw the several boxes of medals, certificates, and trophies he had unearthed.

Seriously, for the first time in his two lifetimes, Sherlock truly felt the overwhelming power of long-lived beings over short-lived ones. You have to understand that the Ancient One's several boxes of medals and certificates would probably represent a lifetime's worth of achievements for a normal person.

Looking at it this way, it's really hard to watch the scumbag boss in Demon Slayer, who, as a long-lived being, has turned into such a demonic creature. Calling him the scumbag boss is really not an understatement for him.

Seeing that all his ideas had been refuted by the Ancient One with facts, Sherlock sat on the ground, frowned, and thought for a while before deciding to take a different approach.

He pulled a bag of snacks from his four-dimensional pocket and tossed it to the Ancient One.

"Try these snacks brought back from space."

Hearing Sherlock's words, the Ancient One didn't think anything was wrong. She immediately tore open the packaging and started eating. The first few were fine, but when she ate the fifth one, the expression on the Ancient One's face froze.

Seeing that the Ancient One seemed to be frozen in place, Sherlock finally revealed a wicked grin.

"Babby Flavored Beans come in all sorts of weird flavors, and they're one of the best-selling snacks I've encountered in interstellar civilizations."

At this point, Sherlock paused slightly, his mischievous grin widening, before continuing.

"Moreover, given Stephen's personality, I think the mess you left behind is beyond his ability to resolve. And I happen to be someone who enjoys watching the drama unfold. So if you're not afraid that my perverse sense of humor will push things into an even more troublesome abyss, I suggest you just stay alive."

At least while you're alive, you can still clean up Stephen's messes a few times! Or stop him or me before things get out of control!

Chapter 686 Trading

If Sherlock's previous attempts to stop her death could be considered persuasion, then his final move was nothing short of a blatant threat. Most importantly, the Ancient One was actually intimidated by Sherlock!

Thanks to the power of the Time Stone, the Ancient One had seen almost every possible branch of the trouble Stephen would cause in the future, and among these eight-figure number of different futures, the best ones all shared a common characteristic.

Sherlock was not involved!

In any future that Sherlock is involved in, it's either incredibly abstract, to the point that the entire future is moving towards a bizarre, abstract style, or incredibly chaotic, to the point that the entire world is racing headlong towards even greater chaos.

It is no exaggeration to say that even now, the world is gradually becoming more abstract and chaotic.

In the Ancient One's observations of the future, the best timeline was actually the one where Sherlock took over as the Sorcerer Supreme, even though after Sherlock took over as the Sorcerer Supreme, the entire multiverse and Kamar-Taj had become so abstract that the Ancient One could hardly bear to look at them.

However, it cannot be denied that Earth is still safe. After all, in that timeline, Sherlock was wholeheartedly wreaking havoc on the multiverse, and even developed a consciousness substitution spell called 'Infinite Flow', which made the entire multiverse experience what the Fourth Calamity was like.

Of course, Sherlock was unaware of these things. Seeing the Ancient One's originally calm expression suddenly turn into one of discomfort as if she had swallowed a dead fly, Sherlock genuinely thought that the Ancient One had been frightened by his threat.

He immediately laughed and pointed to the snacks in the Ancient One's hand.

"You see, not everything in the universe, even between dimensions, is necessarily a good thing. We're all going to go there eventually anyway, so there's no need to rush, is there?"

Seeing that the Ancient One seemed to be wavering, Sherlock, after giving her the stick, decisively gave her a carrot as well, for fear that the Ancient One would change her mind.

Upon hearing Sherlock's words, the Ancient One's mind kept replaying the troubles Sherlock had caused with Stephen, and the fourth catastrophe in the multiverse created by the Sorcerer Supreme version of Sherlock. For a moment, the Ancient One actually felt that Sherlock's words made a lot of sense.

If I hadn't kept an eye on those two idiots and helped clean up their messes, they could have really messed up the world!

"Alright, I have to say, you have a point. We've waited this long, so a little longer won't hurt."

At this point, the Ancient One's face returned to its sage-like expression before she continued speaking to Sherlock.

"But all I can guarantee is that I can clean up your mess and that bastard Stephen's mess before I die of natural causes. And don't expect me to step in for everything. After all, I'll be considered retired after Stephen takes over my position."

"make a deal!"

Sherlock agreed without the slightest hesitation, as if afraid that the Ancient One, his powerful backer, might change her mind again.

After all, the Ancient One was the first and most familiar 'plot character' Sherlock encountered after his time travel. If she had really just died from a fall like in the movies, Sherlock probably wouldn't have been able to get over it in his own mind.

As for why the person who should have known her the earliest and even interacted the most frequently reduced their contact after Sherlock began to 'enter the story', the reason is quite simple.

Damn it, this guy always wants to be my slave!

If it weren't for the fact that Stephen's fate as a chosen corporate slave hadn't started turning, Sherlock would never have stepped into Kamar-Taj alone like this. Sherlock always felt that if he were to step into Kamar-Taj alone like this, that heartless boiled egg would definitely trick him into becoming the Sorcerer Supreme in no time.

What Sherlock didn't know was that in the timeline where he took over Kamar-Taj, the Ancient One actually took advantage of Sherlock's solo entry into Kamar-Taj to forcefully abdicate, directly making Sherlock the Sorcerer Supreme.

As for the battles that occurred more than once because the secret was discovered, there were more battles when Sherlock and his friends wanted to have the Ancient One's fortune told.

The Ancient One's usual approach is to first beat him up, then rewind time to before Sherlock came to her, follow Sherlock to the place before he came to her, casually change something to distract Sherlock and make him give up on coming to her for divination.

It can only be said that the Ancient One really went to great lengths to maintain her persona.

Seeing Sherlock's smug expression, as if he had gotten a great deal, Gu Yi felt inexplicably annoyed. After thinking for a moment, she continued speaking to Sherlock.

"You arrange the fake death. I won't be responsible if anything goes wrong. At worst, I'll just die for real."

"No problem, in exchange, I'd like some of your collection!"

Sherlock agreed without hesitation, but his eyes were fixed on some of the Ancient One's collection. It has to be said that if you live long enough, you can have all sorts of good things. Sherlock looked at the Ancient One's collection with great envy.

Seeing Sherlock's envious look, the Ancient One smiled. After all, for someone who was about to embark on the great adventure of death, giving her collection to Sherlock wasn't out of the question. However, it was clear that the Ancient One didn't want Sherlock to have an easy time.

"Sure, but Stephen will be taught by you! As long as you agree, you can have whatever you want from these things."

Upon hearing the Ancient One's words, Sherlock's eyes widened, and he pointed at himself in disbelief, looking at the Ancient One with a face full of questions.

Me? Go teach Stephen?

You're asking me, an alchemist, to teach the future Sorcerer Supreme? No, is that right?

Faced with Sherlock's puzzled look, the Ancient One did not compromise in the slightest. Instead, she looked at Sherlock with a determined expression, as if to say that if Sherlock did not agree, she would rather burn these collections than give them to him.

Faced with the Ancient One's stubborn and unyielding attitude, Sherlock was completely exasperated. After thinking for a while, Sherlock practically gritted his teeth and presented his conditions.

"Okay! As long as you're not afraid I'll teach you wrong!"

"Of course I'm not afraid, after all, I also have hostages! You can let that little girl who just joined the Avengers and uses chaos magic come to me to learn chaos magic."

Although I'm not exactly an expert in chaos magic, I can still guide the little girl through the basics. It's much better than letting her figure it out on her own, isn't it?

Although the Ancient One's words seem noble and righteous, and appear to be a way to prevent Sherlock from slacking off by exchanging protons, the benefits Sherlock actually gains far outweigh what he pays.

Seeing the Ancient One's "kind" suggestion, Sherlock was momentarily hesitant to agree.