Chapter 30: Abandoned Timeline, Tear It Up!
Added 2025-03-25 17:22:05 +0000 UTCLuo Chen had no idea that the casual complaints he jotted down in his diary had been analyzed to such an extent. A few paragraphs had led to layers of deductions, uncovering truths he hadnât even considered.
If he knew, heâd realize that the heroes of this world were not to be underestimatedâthere were simply too many brilliant minds among them.
"Nata, your analysis makes a lot of sense," Nick Fury said, nodding in agreement.
"At first, I thought Luo Chen was just an ordinary person," he continued. "I even consulted top psychologists.
Based on the few details heâs revealed in his diary and observations of his daily behavior, I conducted a psychological assessment.
And the conclusion? He really does seem like a regular person. No professional training. Average mental resilience.
So his low profile might simply be because he is an ordinary person.
Or... it could be that the more he knows, the more afraid he becomes."
Even Tony Stark had managed to track down information on Luo Chen, so naturally, Nick Fury could too.
But he hadnât dared to dig too deepâhe didnât want to risk angering whatever power was behind this diary.
"Regardless, Nataâs analysis is reasonable.
The concept of timelines suggests that someoneâor somethingâis actively maintaining them," Fury said grimly.
"The real question is why.
What are the rules that determine which timelines survive and which are abandoned?
If we canât figure this out⊠we could be erased at any moment."
That thought made Nick Fury uneasy.
Without understanding the logic behind these timelines, there was no way to know whether their current timeline would be deemed useless and discarded like trash.
And even Luo Chen himself didnât seem to know the answer.
"There's one thing I still donât understand," Hawkeye Barton said, frowning. "If a timeline is abandoned⊠what happens to it?"
The room fell silent.
Everyone had been thinking the same thing.
If their timeline was abandoned, did that mean they would be erased?
Like garbageâdiscarded without a second thought?
Nick Fury clenched his jaw. "Whatever the answer is, I doubt itâs anything good."
For someone like him, who held power over life and death, the thought of being discarded was unbearable.
"This worldâŠ" Maria Hill muttered. "Just like Luo Chen said, itâs becoming more and more dangerous."
Everyone exchanged uneasy glances, still struggling to process the terrifying implications of the diary's latest update.
"Did Mr. Luo come to this conclusion because of our conversation?"
At home, Gwen had just finished helping her mother with the dishes when she checked her diary.
A new update had been posted.
She scanned through Luo Chenâs latest entry.
The purple sweet potato spirit snapping his fingers⊠that alone seemed like a nightmare.
But the idea of restarting or destroying the universe? That was something else entirely.
And then there was the zombie universe.
Just the thought of turning into a zombieâor watching her friends and family become mindless monstersâmade her chest tighten with anxiety.
In a world like this, having the power to protect oneself was becoming more and more important.
Luo Chen remained completely unaware of the shockwaves his diary had caused.
To him, it was just another journal entry.
He sighed.
Even the zombie universe wasnât a singular conceptâthere were multiple versions of it.
There was the comic book version of the zombie universe and the hypothetical zombie universe from the What If� series.
In the What IfâŠ? version, the zombies had lost all intelligence. Dangerous, sure, but at least they werenât scheming.
The comic book version, however?
That was a true nightmare.
In that universe, the zombies retained their intelligence but were driven by an uncontrollable hunger.
They consumed everything in their pathâentire planets, entire galaxies.
And they werenât just mindless monsters; they were strategic.
They developed advanced technology, built devices to travel between parallel universes, and went hunting for new worlds to devour.
It was grotesque. Terrifying. Disgusting.
Fortunately, Luo Chen was fairly certain that that version of the zombie universe wouldnât affect him.
He should be in the movie universe, not the comic universe.
But if the What If� zombie universe was real, that was an entirely different problem.
That universe was a branch of the movie universe, meaning it could affect his reality at any moment.
All it had taken was a single mistakeâHank Pymâs family had unknowingly brought back a quantum virus from the Quantum Realm.
And in doing so, they had doomed the entire planet.
Thankfully, there was still time.
As long as Tony Stark hadnât announced that he was Iron Man yet, the chain of events leading to the zombie outbreak hadnât begun.
But now that he thought about itâŠ
Tony Stark had been acting strangely lately.
He was unusually low-key.
For someone like Stark, who was always in the spotlightâwhether it was TV, newspapers, or the internetâhis absence was noticeable.
Normally, heâd be making headlines every dayâwhether it was his extravagant playboy antics, groundbreaking tech innovations, or some offhand golden quote.
But recently, he had vanished from the public eye.
"Did he already go to Afghanistan?" Luo Chen wondered.
Maybe the Stark Group was covering it up.
But if Tony Stark was really missing, it wouldnât stay a secret for long.
Luo Chen clenched his fist, feeling the power coursing through his body.
But it still wasnât enough.
Even with Kryptonian blood, he was only in the early stages of development.
"Still canât fly," he muttered. "And my speedâs not there yet either.
If I could fly, Iâd head straight to the eastern hemisphere and soak up the sun all day."
One day, when he could fly, heâd make sure to stay in constant sunlight.
That alone would boost his strength exponentially.
Right now, he was already stronger than Captain America.
But his real enemies werenât peak-level humans like Steve Rogers.
His opponents were monsters.
Demons from other dimensions.
Kang the Conqueror, who could manipulate time itself.
Luo Chen sighed.
Speaking of KangâŠ
When Kang first appeared, he was portrayed as this all-powerful being.
And yet, his downfall had been so⊠anticlimactic.
Then, when the timelines exploded, all the Kangs in Ant-Man 3 had been completely underwhelming.
Were these really supposed to be multiversal conquerors?
Were these the beings who could manipulate time, control the fate of endless realities, and rule over infinite universes?
It just didnât add up.