My family runs an adventurer's guild.

This is just as absurd as the Qing Dynasty under the rule of Empress Dowager Cixi having to rely on a mob like the Boxers to protect the country!

Admittedly, like the heroes and valiant figures of ancient history, they were often the very cause of disaster and destruction. The superheroes of the Marvel universe are no exception, not entirely innocent. But... how can laws that govern the weak be designed for the extraordinary and powerful?!

This is a cold but inviolable social rule.

Therefore, just as the early Japanese samurai, who were driven like cattle by the imperial court, eventually established the Shogunate and kicked the imperial court aside, the superheroes of the Marvel universe, after repeatedly encountering injustice, will probably also regard ordinary people as ants and become indifferent to disasters.

In comparison, letting superheroes wield power might be a better option for ordinary people!

"Oh well, the real world is too troublesome. I'd better go back to sleep!" Dr. Banner thought to himself, and then shut his mouth tightly.

After eating, Dr. Banner returned to his specially designed VIP sleep pod, beginning his blissful sleep of at least twenty-two hours, sometimes up to twenty-four, each day. But the exhausted Tony Stark, on the other hand, seemed less fortunate…

"...Mr. Stark, you're still awake, aren't you? I'm sorry, Professor Pym has come looking for you here..."

Chapter 300: How to Save the Wasp?

Dr. Hank Pym, one of the top ten most intelligent and brilliant scientists in the Marvel universe, once worked in the research department of S.H.I.E.L.D. before starting his own Pym Corporation. He is famous for inventing "Pym Particles," which can enlarge or shrink objects at will and change their mass.

—Not only can it shrink people to the size of ants, but it can also shrink tanks into keychains, so you can wear them anytime to show off.

Then, just as scholars in the pre-Qin era were often equally skilled in martial arts, even a supposedly weak Confucian scholar could pick up a dagger and kill a wild boar, a considerable number of genius scientists in the Marvel universe are not the kind of weak scholars who can't even kill a chicken. Instead, they are high-IQ martial arts fighters who can blast monsters, crush street fighters, and occasionally "make friends with" beautiful female villains through fists.

(There are scientists who can't fight, but they are mainly female scientists, such as Helen Zhao and Maya Hansen.)

Therefore, Dr. Hank Pym is not only an outstanding scientist under S.H.I.E.L.D., but also the first generation of Ant-Man warriors during the Cold War. His wife Janet is the equally famous original Wasp, making them a veteran early superhero couple.

During the Cold War, the couple repeatedly shrunk to the size of ants and rode flying ants into battle, reportedly achieving many feats.

However, everything in the world has flaws, and the seemingly magical Pym particles are no exception.

First, without a specially designed Ant-Man suit, Pym Particles cannot perfectly shrink or enlarge a person, potentially turning the user into a mangled mess. Second, even with Dr. Pym's specially designed Ant-Man suit, frequent shrinking and enlarging could negatively impact the user's memory and mental state. Finally, misuse of Pym Particles carries the risk of causing the user to fall into the quantum realm and disappear forever.

If Pym particles are overused and the user is shrunk to the subatomic level, it will lead to an uncontrollable, infinitely collapsing shrinkage, eventually throwing the user into another dimension—the quantum realm, which exists between time and space, from which there is no return.

Dr. Hank Pym's wife, Janet, the original Wasp, shrunk herself to the subatomic level during a missile interception operation at the end of the Cold War in order to destroy a long-range missile launched by terrorists. As a result, she fell into the quantum realm and was never heard from again.

For Dr. Pym, this was a lifelong pain. For many years, he had been racking his brains trying to find a way to rescue his wife from the quantum realm, where the concepts of time and space were blurred, but he had worked hard for many years without success.

Back then, Howard Stark, Iron Man's father, also wanted to obtain the formula for the Pym Particles before his death. However, Dr. Pym, due to his wife's disappearance, became extremely obsessed with the idea that these particles were very dangerous and would endanger the world if they fell into the wrong hands. Therefore, he resolutely refused to build an Ant-Man army for S.H.I.E.L.D., and even broke with Howard Stark and left S.H.I.E.L.D. He tried to raise money to start his own company, but he lacked Tony Stark's abilities and liked to embezzle funds for research, resulting in continuous losses. As a result, after losing the abundant resources of S.H.I.E.L.D., Dr. Pym's research progress became even slower.

Therefore, although Dr. Pym is considered Tony Stark's elder, he doesn't have a good relationship with the Stark family. Because of a falling out with Tony's father, Dr. Pym and Tony don't have much contact.

After Tony captured the Dark Elves' spaceship and mass-produced replicas, S.H.I.E.L.D., who were cooperating with him on the construction, once again tried to obtain Pym Particles from Dr. Pym under the guise of the greater good of humanity's future, claiming that they would be used to build spaceships, space stations, and lunar bases—after all, the cost of transporting things from the ground into space was simply too high.

Even with the Dark Elves' spaceships, the energy required to power their engines is still very expensive. However, if the parts and sections are first shrunk down using Pym Particles and then launched into space, then a single rocket could transport an entire spaceship, the Yamato!

However, Dr. Pym bluntly turned away the lobbyist, which greatly worsened Tony's impression of the old man after he learned about it.

—For humanity's grand ambition of venturing into space, I even contributed the Dark Elf spaceships I had captured, and I used the Reality Stone to its fullest extent. I spent countless brain cells on Mars, magically mining and handcrafting spaceships, finally managing to gather enough transport ships and equipment. Then, through a combination of fighting and appeasement against the Inhumans, I finally gained initial control of the Moon and Mars, establishing a bridgehead for humanity's advance into space...

You old miser, how can you keep even this outdated technology from the Cold War era decades ago to yourself and refuse to share it with others?

However, with the Reality Stone, the Time Stone, and Dark Elf space technology in hand, and the possibility of acquiring some secondhand space technology from Xandar, Pym Particles weren't essential for humanity's spacefaring endeavors. Therefore, Tony didn't dwell on the matter further.

—Without Butcher Zhang, does that mean we can't eat mixed-hair pigs?

However, at this very moment, Professor Pym, steeling himself, personally brought samples of Pym Particles and the Ant-Man suit to Tony to plead for leniency.

The reason is simple. During an internal meeting about space exploration, someone casually mentioned Pym Particles and the Wasp who disappeared in the Quantum Realm. Tony, who was present, curled his lip and said disdainfully, "...From a scientific point of view, retrieving someone from the Quantum Realm is indeed very difficult, and I don't have a good way to do it. But if we use magic, it's incredibly simple..."

—The speaker may not have meant anything by it, but the listener took it to heart… Not long after the meeting ended, a certain “enthusiastic person” quietly passed on these words to Dr. Pym.

Upon hearing this, the white-haired Dr. Pym felt his head explode with a "buzz," and immediately swallowed all his previous harsh words of refusal. He then took out his treasured Pym Particles and Ant-Man suit, intending to use them to exchange for a way to save his wife.

After all, for Dr. Pym at this moment, no principles, face, or hidden worries were as important as his wife, the Wasp.

Over the years, Dr. Pym has driven himself almost mad in his efforts to get his wife, the Wasp, out of the Quantum Realm so he can see her one last time before he dies. But he's always stuck on a few major hurdles, always seeming to be one or two steps away from success.

Now that he suddenly learns that there is a shortcut to rescuing his wife, Wasp, he naturally doesn't care about anything else.

Author's message

P.S.: This book is nearing its end, and I'm considering how to wrap it up, so I haven't been updating as much these past few days. Please forgive me.

Chapter 301, Iron Man Tony Never Respects His Seniors

Of course, as a highly respected senior scientist, Dr. Pym still possessed some of the reserve and arrogance typical of intellectuals.

Considering his past falling out with Howard Stark, which caused quite a stir, and his recent refusal of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s request to purchase Pym Particle production technology (because he didn't trust the government patent office, Dr. Pym didn't submit any materials or apply for a patent for Pym Particles, just like Coca-Cola), Tony Stark probably has a very bad impression of him now. If he rashly goes to him, he doesn't know how he will be ridiculed and mocked.

Therefore, Dr. Pym did not go to Tony Stark (Iron Man) at first, but instead went to Xavier's School of Magic and Wizardry, where he became Captain America, Steve Rogers.

As the universally recognized "righteous man of God," Captain America listened patiently to Dr. Pym's explanation, then shrugged, indicating he was at a loss.

—There's no way to save him, let's try finding Tony!

According to Captain America, while Kamar-Taj's spatial magic is profound, it generally only allows entry into places the caster has been before, or at least places they have a clear understanding of and are very familiar with, such as coordinates. He doesn't even understand what the Quantum Realm is, so how could he open a portal? Let alone find the Wasp within such a vast Quantum Realm and extract her from it.

Anyway, with Captain America's level of magic skills after only one year of learning, it's really impossible for him to do something so outrageous.

While the masters of Kamar-Taj are highly skilled in teleportation—capable of even reaching alien planets with careful preparation—they are complete laymen when it comes to quantum physics. Even a month of extra classes in high-energy physics and quantum physics wouldn't be enough to bring them to a basic level.

—You're asking a group of outstanding graduates from martial arts schools to study quantum physics? Isn't that even more outrageous than having a physical education teacher teach math?

Moreover, the masters are all very busy, each with their own multitude of tasks. Dr. Pym doesn't have that much influence; he can't possibly ask the Kamar-Taj Order to put aside all their affairs and make saving his wife, "The Wasp" Janet, their top priority.

As for the otherworldly sorcerers and non-human sorcerers in fantasy worlds… let's not even go there! Although the magic and divine arts of other worlds far surpass the incomplete and flawed "pseudo-Earth version" of magic from the Kamar-Taj sorcerer's secret order in most aspects such as safety, practicality, and convenience, teleportation is Kamar-Taj's number one weakness.

In Kamar-Taj, any qualified apprentice can draw circles to open portals. But in the Golden Dragon Kingdom, the entire nation has fewer than a hundred mages who can independently draw and activate teleportation spells… As for their understanding of quantum physics, these otherworldly beings are practically blank slates; they don't even know what the term means, and are even less knowledgeable than the masters of Kamar-Taj in Nepal—who at least know what a nuclear bomb is…

Therefore, in the known world, the only person who could possibly use magic to rescue the Wasp is Tony Stark, the current Sorcerer Supreme, a "hero of two worlds" who is proficient in both Earth and otherworldly magic and has also conducted extensive research on quantum science, and is protected by the seven gods.

In Captain America's words: Dr. Pym, you should give up your roundabout ways and go to Tony to apologize and suffer the injustice!

After being rebuffed by Captain America, the unconvinced Dr. Pym went to London to find T'Challa, the future Black Panther, only to return empty-handed again—T'Challa humbly stated that his magical abilities were far inferior to Captain America's. Next, the all-powerful Dr. Pym even managed to find Ferry, but Ferry could only helplessly admit that his teleportation skills were inferior to those of the masters at Kamar-Taj!

Well, there's no other way. Looks like I'll have to swallow my pride and go see Iron Man Tony Stark for his cold shoulder!

Left with no other option, Dr. Pym decided to give up and went to find Tony with Pym Particles and the Ant-Man suit.

To everyone's surprise, when Dr. Pym went to the Stark Industries headquarters in Manhattan, New York, he learned that Tony Stark had not been on Earth recently, but had gone to outer space to explore interstellar routes and visit alien civilizations.

As for when they'll be back? Even the Stark Industries staff don't know. After all, this is a space expedition to an alien civilization, comparable to Columbus discovering the New World! Let alone when they'll return, even if they never come back, disappearing into the vast universe, it seems quite normal…

—Looking at the survival rates of those early navigators during the Age of Exploration, most people would think that interstellar exploration should be about the same.

Dr. Pym was astonished to discover that Tony was now an incredibly busy man traveling all over the universe. To avoid missing Tony's return, Dr. Pym went to the Stark Industries building every day at the appointed time and didn't leave until closing time in the evening... He waited like this for a full month before Tony Stark finally returned from Xandar. However, after arriving on Earth, Tony didn't go back to the company at all, but instead went to the United Nations Headquarters.

Upon receiving the news, Dr. Pym had no choice but to go to the United Nations building again. After asking around, he learned that Tony had gotten into a big argument with someone at the UN and left on bad terms. Tony then opened a magical portal and went to the Temple of Sleep at Xavier's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to rest.

However, Dr. Pym couldn't open a magical portal, so in his desperation, he pulled a helicopter shrunk to size using Pym particles from his pocket and took off from the top of the United Nations building. He heard countless warnings along the way and even narrowly escaped being hit by anti-aircraft missiles... Finally, he arrived at his destination before Tony finished washing up and went into his sleep pod, intercepting the busy man...

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However, even after all this trouble, perhaps because of his self-righteous pride, when he met Tony just now, Dr. Pym still put on an elder's air, regarding the Pym Particles as a very important bargaining chip, and raised the threshold for cooperation very high.

However, Tony Stark never had the habit of respecting the elderly and didn't buy into his old-fashioned ways at all.

"...Huh? You refuse to disclose the formula for the Pym Particles to us? You only offer ready-made Pym Particles? You decide how many Pym Particles to provide each month? And every use of the Pym Particles must be under your personal supervision? Are you kidding me?!"

Tony Stark, who had just been simmering with anger, immediately burst out cursing, "...Isn't this how you do a monopoly?"

Author's message

P.S.: The outline for the ending is complete, and it's expected to be finished in about one million words.

After finishing this book, I plan to write a preview for "The Warring States Chronicles" to test the waters and see how people react. If it's good, I'll make it the content for my third book. Then I'll take a few days off and start updating "Selfie Stick" from the latter half of this month.

Chapter 302, The Return of the Ancient One

"...But I still maintain that my Pym Particles really do need to be treated with such caution! Because they are too dangerous!"

Seeing Tony's furious expression, Dr. Pym remained unmoved. "...If this technology falls into the hands of an evil force, it could be used to create an army of Ant-Man, infiltrating secret laboratories, military bases, and warehouses of highly toxic and explosive materials, even Wall Street's supercomputers, to launch various unpredictable terrorist attacks at a microscopic level... I cannot allow my invention to become a weapon of evil! Allowing others to use it under my supervision is already my biggest concession! If you are still dissatisfied, then there's nothing I can do!"

Of course, I also know that such strict regulatory measures will cause a lot of inconvenience to users. Therefore, without violating my personal principles, as long as you can rescue my wife from the quantum realm, I guarantee to provide Pym particles at the lowest possible cost…”

"...Leaving aside the credibility of your guarantee, this isn't about the price at all! It's about the supply volume and the stability of the supply!"

Iron Man Tony slammed his fist on the table and stood up abruptly. "...Don't blame me for being blunt, Dr. Pym! If we've determined that a certain space project requires the use of Pym particles for convenient transportation, and based on that, we've developed a meticulous plan and mobilized hundreds of billions of dollars..."

As a result, your small workshop failed to produce enough Pym particles and couldn't keep up with demand, or you suddenly fell ill or even died, and the Pym particle program was lost... Ultimately, this led to the delay or even the collapse of the space program. Who should be held responsible for this?

Keep in mind that the cost of a single giant rocket is equivalent to that of a destroyer. Even if you confiscated all your possessions, you still couldn't afford to pay for it!

Besides, given your temperament, let alone whether you can afford to compensate, you probably consider providing Pym Particles as a favor and have never thought about compensation, right?

So please be realistic, Mr. Pym! Nobel initially invented dynamite for mining, but ultimately had to watch his invention become a deadly weapon! The vast majority of human technological progress was initially applied to military purposes! This isn't something pacifist ideology can change! If you really want to negotiate, please show some sincerity…”

However, Dr. Pym remained stubbornly defiant, "...That's no excuse, Mr. Stark! Nobel couldn't stop other factories from producing his new safe explosives, but my Pym Particles are different! No one else in the world can make them except me..."

"...Ha! No one but you can do it? That's no joke at all, Dr. Pym!"

Tony was so angry that he sneered, and pointed at the potted plant in the corner, "...[Triple Enhancement - Shrinking Technique]!"

The next moment, the large cactus bonsai, which was originally half a person tall, was shrunk to the size of a finger.

"...This, this...is this magic?" Pym's eyes widened, and he slowly shook his head: "...So easily..."

"...That's right, Dr. Pym, you're so out of touch. We're already living in a magical world..."

Tony shook his head and said, "...You seem to still believe that science can solve all problems, but in fact, in this world, anything is possible, and science is not the only path to truth. Even if the scientific path is temporarily blocked, there are other options such as magic."

So please don't take your Pym Particles too seriously, Dr. Pym! On humanity's journey to space, we can never have too many, but we can manage without them! In this amazing world, we have accomplished many things that science cannot yet do, using magic that science cannot explain.

Speaking of which, the reason you came to me for help to save your wife is because science can't save her, so you have to resort to magic, right? How come you're so confident that your Pym particle is irreplaceable? Alright! Since you still can't see the situation clearly, let's talk about it later! Anyway, your wife has already been in the quantum realm for decades, a few more years won't make a difference… I'm going to sleep now!

After listening to Tony's tirade, Dr. Pym's expression shifted dramatically, ranging from annoyance at being contradicted to bewilderment at having his values ​​shattered. But seeing Tony get up to rest, and with no idea when their next meeting would be, Dr. Pym finally grew anxious.

“…Wait a minute.” Dr. Pym completely abandoned his pride and lowered his head deeply. “…I’m sorry! My attitude just now wasn’t right, but please give me another chance, please! As long as you can help me find Janet, I’m willing to agree to any of your conditions! Whether it’s the equation for the Pym Particle or anything else, anything I have, I’ll give it all to you! Please!”

For the highly respected Dr. Pym, it had been at least forty years since he had bowed to anyone, not even his superiors or senior colleagues at S.H.I.E.L.D. But now, to save his wife, he lowered his once proud head to his junior.

"...Tsk tsk, now that's how you ask for help! Before, with that sour look on your face, I thought you were a benefactor coming to give me a donation!" Tony scoffed, then sat back down. "...Alright, tell me the equation for the Pym Particles, and the details of your wife's disappearance..."

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Although Tony had previously made offhand remarks, belittling the Pym Particles to the point of being worthless, it was actually just a business tactic—he knew very well that the Pym Particles could indeed play an irreplaceable and important role in the recent advance into space.

After all, the shrinking spell can only shrink a warship to the size of a model at most; it can't shrink it further to the size of bacteria and viruses. More importantly, there are fewer than twenty magicians on the entire planet who are proficient in shrinking spells, and among all the humans on Earth, there is only one who can triple-enhance the shrinking spell, compressing it three times from a flour sack to a brick!

More importantly, magic must be cast by magicians at close range. Therefore, if shrinking magic is used for space transportation, then magicians must be stationed at the space station to "decompress" each batch of cargo that has been compressed by shrinking magic and restore it to its original state.

Pym particles, however, are a technological product—or rather, a cutting-edge technological product—that can be remotely controlled from space…

Therefore, if Pym particles are applied in space exploration, the size of a space station could be reduced to that of a microwave oven, significantly lowering the cost of launching into space. Conversely, the noise and disturbance caused when transporting space resources back to Earth and landing them could be minimized. Furthermore, in the manufacture of precision instruments, using Pym particles to enlarge miniature parts, then shrinking them after processing, could improve precision by several orders of magnitude.

In conclusion, when used properly, Pym particles can indeed give wings to the progress of human space exploration.

Tony felt a great sense of accomplishment at having managed to obtain the formula for the Pym Particle from Dr. Pym, thus accelerating Stark Industries' space program. The prospect of exploring the quantum realm also piqued Tony's interest, given his love of challenges.

However, once he started, he was shocked to find that even with magic, the task of saving lives was not easy.

Simply put, it's not difficult to bring out the Wasp using magic, but finding Janet the Wasp in the first place was not easy.

—It's important to understand that the quantum realm is actually an alternate dimension, or a microcosm. Searching for someone whose location is unknown within such a vast area, especially without precise maps and navigation, is extremely difficult, even with divination magic.

While Tony Stark received praise and blessings from seven otherworldly deities, he was conspicuously missing the favor of the goddess of fate. Therefore, although his prophetic magic was quite advanced, it was still insufficient to support such a large-scale search and navigation.

After all, no matter how talented he is or how much luck he has, he has only been learning magic for about a year, and his foundation is not solid enough.

As a result, before long, Tony, unable to come up with a solution, began to scratch his head in frustration, while Dr. Pym's expression gradually turned grim.

Fortunately, just when he was feeling frustrated and annoyed, help finally arrived—accompanied by crackling sparks, a circular portal quickly formed not far from Tony. Then, a bald Celtic white woman in a bright yellow monk's robe walked out with an air of nonchalance.

"...My successor! You look troubled! How is the world doing lately?"

She greeted him with a smile, while glancing down at the pile of drawings and sheets of paper covered in calculations that Tony had spread out on the coffee table. "...What are these?"

"...Master Ancient One! Your body has recovered?" Upon seeing this, Tony jumped for joy and exclaimed with delight.

—Although Master Gu Yi still had that calm and kind expression, her face no longer showed the undisguised fatigue and pain. Instead, she seemed to have been injected with chicken blood, becoming radiant and cheerful, with the joyful look of "a person in high spirits when happy."

"...Hmm, the problem of the dark space energy corroding my body has been resolved. As expected of a god, his skill in manipulating energy is truly unmatched by mortals! Moreover, the recovery time after casting the spell is much faster than I expected! Perhaps I should start believing in the god of sleep from now on!"

The Ancient One smiled and nodded, "...I feel like I've become a hundred years younger! Even though I was already an ancient relic a hundred years ago..."

"...Ah, that's wonderful. Congratulations on your recovery, Master! Things have been going quite well in Kamar-Taj and on Earth lately!"