Marvel: The Alchemist Just Wants a Peaceful Life

He wanted poverty to never catch up with him; Stephen had had enough of this irregular lifestyle.

For this, Stephen had to endure the ridiculous bullying of the school's group of muscle-bound, drug-laden apes who bullied him, desperately absorbing all the knowledge he could, just to escape this suffocating place.

Fortunately, Stephen's parents were quite open-minded. Having lived through the golden age of the United States, although they didn't fully understand Stephen's ideals, they chose to fully support their son's ideas.

Even more fortunately, Stephen met a good teacher who also came from the Golden Age and possessed the true character of a teacher.

With the teacher's unwavering dedication and the full support of his parents, Stephen succeeded.

With outstanding grades, his ambition, and his own hard work, he entered university with student loans that were practically exorbitant interest rates, and chose medical school, which was known as a "class leap," as his stepping stone.

There probably won't be another student in the entire medical school who works harder than Stephen.

Having witnessed the coldness and warmth of human nature at the bottom of society, Stephen was known throughout the medical school as an exceptionally hard-working individual. He didn't smoke, didn't drink, and even cut off all his entertainment activities, all in order to master this skill that could change his life.

No teacher dislikes a hardworking child, especially one who is also very intelligent.

When Stephen graduated first in his class, he successfully obtained a letter of recommendation from his professor, which enabled him to enter a well-known hospital in New York and even throughout the United States.

New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

When Stephen stepped into the hospital with hope in his heart, the feeling of upward mobility filled him with immense excitement.

However, Stephen soon realized something was wrong: had he achieved upward social mobility?

Yes, without a doubt, but it was just jumping from one hell to another, from that chaotic hell to a hell called 'decency'.

Stephen sadly discovers that what he thought was a class leap has never actually escaped the perspective of a so-called 'service provider'. He carries so many loans and the expectations of his family and teachers, and what he gets in return is nothing more than an illusion that looks 'decent' but is actually no different from his original life.

Stephen was unwilling to accept it. He had given it his all, yet he still couldn't fulfill his ambition.

More importantly, Stephen discovers that the only weapon he can use now is his prized medical skills.

Stephen, who once dreamed of using his medical skills to defy fate and save all living beings, died. The Stephen who survived practiced his surgical skills desperately and used them as the key to enter the door of the 'servant'.

Stephen succeeded, or rather, he thought he had succeeded.

His outstanding skills brought him a life of luxury, making him the pride of his parents, former teachers, and even his former school.

In such a cold and cruel environment, Christine Palmer, the night shift nurse, was almost the only glimmer of humanity that Stephen retained for himself.

At Christine's request, he would help her see some patients he would normally disdain, patients who would not bring him any benefit, and he would occasionally accompany this kind nurse to provide free medical care to some poor people.

Christine was almost the only thing that made him feel like he was still a human being.

If nothing unexpected happens, Stephen's future should continue like this: he will marry Christine and use his medical skills to accumulate the capital to become a 'servant'.

Until that day...

A car accident in the rain, a simple accident, destroyed Stephen's hands, and also destroyed the life he had carefully woven and maintained, called 'decent,' based on his medical skills.

If given a choice, Stephen swore he would never drive that sports car on that rainy night again, and might not even leave the house.

But life never gives Stephen a choice.

He survived, but the student loans, living costs, and medical bills that followed were like three mountains, instantly turning his once respectable life into a mess.

Stephen lost everything and had to move out of that luxurious penthouse and into an ordinary apartment.

His luxury goods had to be sold at a price disproportionately low to what he had purchased, just to salvage his crumbling life.

Stephen had considered saving up money to use his skills to perform a complete surgery on his hands and save his life from collapse, but reality gave him a resounding slap in the face.

He once earned his current life through his unique surgical skills, but the moment he lost those skills, they almost immediately betrayed him.

The hospital that once regarded him as a source of pride ignored his rich experience and fired him without even bothering to discuss it with him.

Stephen's life became even more miserable after losing his job.

He moved out of that decent apartment once again and returned to the chaotic neighborhood he never wanted to go back to.

At this point, Stephen was even somewhat desperate, and even planned to work as an ordinary doctor in a community hospital to make a living, using his intelligence to invest some money in the financial system to maintain a peaceful life for the rest of his days, and if he was lucky, he might even be able to get the money for his rebirth surgery.

Unfortunately, his 'investment' seemed to be targeted by a sniper, making his already precarious life even worse.

Meanwhile, reality didn't let Stephen off the hook either, making him even more desperate. Two burly men broke into his home in the middle of the night and took away his meager savings.

Stephen did consider fighting back; he tried, but the two men beat him as if he were a child. His trembling hands were no match for the big-breasted, big-butt robber.

They could only watch helplessly as this man, as strong as Captain America, along with a Batman-like figure with a small mustache, stole their pitiful fortune.

This made Stephen feel utterly hopeless, and he even had suicidal thoughts.

Fortunately, the light of the past, Christine Palmer, a kind night shift nurse, brought Stephen hope once again. A former patient of Christine's, a patient who had been declared by modern medicine to be paralyzed from the waist down for life, was now able to be active on the street basketball court.

This 'miracle' rekindled Stephen's hope.

He found the miracle and obtained a new miracle from its mouth, a miracle called Kamar-Taj.

Chapter 696 The Negotiator's Early Life (Part 2)

As a product of science education, to be honest, although Stephen learned about the miracle called 'Karmar-Taj', it was merely a 'hope' that Stephen held in his heart.

After all, he wasn't sure if that 'miracle,' which was on the other side of the world and required sincerity to work, would respond to him, or even if his hands could be healed by that miracle.

However, having hope gives one the motivation to live. Before embarking on another journey to find that miracle, Stephen decided to gamble once more using the modern medicine he knew.

Stephen has even decided to take on some relatively dangerous gangster jobs because of this.

After all, while his own hands might not be able to perform delicate tasks like surgery, they were more than capable of providing guidance. Moreover, the reward offered by the gang was exactly what Stephen, who was currently struggling financially, craved.

Unfortunately, Stephen's plan was soon shattered by reality once again.

He was robbed again!

The same two men appeared at his house once again: the one with the mustache wearing a Batman mask, and the other a robber wearing a Captain America mask, whose physique was almost identical to Captain America's.

Honestly, after his first act of resistance, Stephen now felt absolutely no desire to resist the burly man with chest muscles big enough to crush someone.

He could never forget the image of this man holding his collar with one hand, as if he were holding a helpless kitten.

What infuriated Stephen even more was that the damn mustachioed man with the Batman mask, after thoroughly searching his house, actually gave a mocking look at the hundreds of dollars that had been found.

"This poor bastard doesn't look like he's made any money. Heh, how do you manage to survive when you're this poor?"

Even as he left, Batman threw him a bundle of money and threatened him menacingly.

"Don't let me see you in this neighborhood again! Doctor, this is my territory!"

After saying that, he left with the burly man who hadn't said a word. After the two left, Stephen crawled over and picked up the money. Adding it to his savings of a few hundred dollars, he had just made up $2000.

I took out my phone, whose screen was already cracked, and checked. The cheapest flight to Kathmandu, the land of miracles, was $1653.

Stephen contacted the airline and booked the ticket almost without hesitation.

After paying for his plane ticket, Stephen embarked on his journey in search of a miracle with only $347 left.

It wasn't that Stephen was so desperate that he could only believe in that illusory 'miracle' anymore, but rather that Stephen no longer dared to stay in the United States. Stephen, who had risen from the bottom, knew exactly what the unique gangs in the United States were like.

He knew very well that if he continued with the original plan, neither of the two robbers would let him go, whether it was practicing medicine or making a living.

Usually, people who are targeted by gangsters don't end up well. Whether it's dying a violent death or something else, it's something Stephen absolutely doesn't want to see.

What Stephen had no idea was that after his plane took off, in the airport parking lot, 'Batman' Tony and 'Captain Tall' would be unusually silent, having put away their phones.

Seriously, if they had known that playing the gangster would scare that unlucky guy away, they definitely wouldn't have played the robber from before.

Stephen originally thought that once he arrived in Kathmandu, his seemingly unlucky streak, which appeared to be a curse, would finally end under the influence of a 'miracle.' However, it was clear that this was just his own illusion.

Stephen's peaceful life lasted less than a day before he was struck by a devastating blow that very evening.

Two ruthless thugs, along with two rookies, broke into his house and robbed him!

If the two people I encountered in the US, who were either gangsters or robbers, were somewhat civilized, then the two people I met in Kathmandu on the other side of the world were complete thugs.

From childhood to adulthood, Stephens was the first person to have a gun barrel shoved into his mouth and the first person to be knocked unconscious by a gun butt; the whole process took less than ten minutes.

But those ten minutes left Stephen with a lifelong psychological trauma. He probably would never forget what it felt like when that cold metal tube was shoved into his mouth, the unique metallic taste mixed with the smell of gunpowder.

Having lost all his savings, Stephen was evicted by his landlord after only a month and became a homeless man in Kathmandu.

During the day, Stephen's life consisted of draping himself in a tattered blanket given to him by a kind person and constantly asking everyone he met about Kamar-Taj.

At night, Stephen would drag his tired and broken body to a dark corner and fall asleep while praying that he would see the sun rise the next day.

The good news is that during the nearly one month he was homeless, fate finally smiled upon this once arrogant but pitiful man, allowing him to get closer and closer to Kamar-Taj with the help of kind-hearted people.

And throughout the entire process, no one stepped forward to make things difficult for this poor man who was already penniless.

The bad news is that, due to this waste of time, Stephen's health has begun to deteriorate, and his previous medical knowledge clearly tells him that if things continue like this, he won't live much longer.

But the 'miracle' he had witnessed before sustained him in his search. At times, Stephen even thought it wouldn't be so bad if he died in this unknown corner of the world if he couldn't find Kamar-Taj.

Just as Stephen was about to reach his limit, a kind old man appeared.

Seeing Stephen's scarred and broken hands, and how he was like a walking corpse, they gave him a clear path and some food, which sustained him until he met the 'miracle' he had been searching for.

A black man wearing a hoodie and with a serious, old-fashioned look!

Both the black man's skin color and his clothes, which were clearly different from those of the locals, indicated that this person was extraordinary.

Stephen finally gained entry to Kamar-Taj, and followed the black man as he pushed open a seemingly ordinary door on the street that he had passed countless times before.

However, the room inside the door was not the dark and closed room of the Stephen phenomenon, but a place that looked incredibly bright and warm, even with a strong mystical atmosphere.

Kamar-Taj!

Like a vagrant, Stephen followed the black man named Mordo like a pilgrim, completely unaware of the extremely complex looks in the eyes of the four people who were fixed on him when he arrived.

Chapter 697 Gandalf's Style is Subverted

Ever since Sherlock displayed his morals in front of Wanda that night, Wanda has always looked at Sherlock with the same disdain she gives him, and even her gaze towards Gandalf carries a hint of disdain.

Well, if it's simply about forcing that poor, unlucky guy into a desperate situation and putting him through the test of entering Kamar-Taj, then the extremely skillful bandit plot orchestrated by the two isn't entirely incomprehensible.

But this is definitely not the reason why, after coercing and bribing Old Wang to leave, he took out an ice cream cone and put it on his head under the pretext of showing off how to summon a unicorn, and then decisively dragged Gandalf away by teleporting, leaving this little girl alone on the deserted streets of a foreign country!

Most importantly, it has an ice cream cone on its head!!!

Honestly, Wanda was furious with Sherlock's antics. If she hadn't carefully considered her options and realized she couldn't beat him, Sherlock would probably have been dead the very night she returned to Kamar-Taj.

Aside from Sherlock's childish prank on Wanda, Gandalf's magical instruction of Wanda after robbing the unfortunate Stephen was one of the reasons that Wanda temporarily abandoned her revenge against Sherlock.

After all, Wanda is genuinely too busy.