Feel the Power of Shockwaves!

The Kree were an absolutely rational, dystopian civilization controlled by a supercomputer life-form called the "Supreme Intelligence."

Although the Kree Empire was one of the most powerful civilizations in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it had basically no artistic sense whatsoever, as everything before them demonstrated.

Without a doubt, this underground city had been built by the Kree, or by ancient Earthlings under Kree control. The entire city consisted of countless concentric circles and straight lines, utterly devoid of any artistic touch. Every line was perfectly horizontal or vertical, precise to the extreme.

Rather than a city, it was more like a fortress—a massive underground fortress, somewhat similar to the city-states of ancient Greece.

Fitz’s three-dimensional map was extremely accurate. Following the guidance from his memories, Old Wang quickly found the temple.

Six towering, ancient stone gates supported the ceiling, like Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, steeped in mystery.

At the very center stood a cylindrical stone platform that was not particularly tall. A beam of light shone from some unknown place and, through a series of ingenious mechanisms, ultimately fell from the ceiling onto the platform.

"Go in, Skye. I’ll stand guard outside."

Old Wang’s eyes were full of encouragement. "Place the Obelisk on the platform, and welcome the future that belongs to you."

Old Wang disliked using the word "fate." He did not believe fate truly existed. It was impossible for everything to have been arranged at the moment of the Big Bang—otherwise, how could parallel universes and endless timelines be explained?

The future of any person, even of the entire universe, could change because of any insignificant alteration. Quantum mechanics made this very clear:

God played dice too. Not everything formed an absolutely rational chain of cause and effect. Chaos truly existed.

Matter determined consciousness, but consciousness also exerted a reactive force upon matter.

We created our own future.

"You’re not coming in with me? I… I’m a little scared." Skye held the Obelisk, hesitating to move forward.

"Terrigen Mist only works on abnormal people like you. If normal people like me come into contact with it, we’ll die."

Though he was confident that he could use True Qi to isolate the Terrigen Mist, what if something went wrong?

Old Wang had no interest in courting death. Smiling, he said, "Don’t be afraid. Even if you die, I can revive you—the fully intact kind, with 100% health instead of 99.9%. You know what I mean."

"…Perv Wang, you’re the abnormal one!"

Skye burst out laughing and actually felt a little more at ease as she walked into the temple.

The moment she reached the stone platform, the Obelisk suddenly grew hot. Its silver-white surface turned gold-red, and the patterns on it became clearly visible.

A wondrous force came over her.

Skye loosened her grip, and the Obelisk automatically rose into the air before landing on the stone platform.

There was no high-tech equipment around, and Old Wang could not detect anything even with his spiritual senses. All he could say was that Kree technology truly surpassed humanity’s by far, while his own level was still far too low.

If it had been Fitz or Tony Stark, perhaps they could have figured something out.

Suddenly,

The ground began to tremble faintly. The six stone gates moved along tracks in the floor, about to close.

"Wang!" Skye cried out.

"Don’t be afraid. I’ll wait for you outside."

Old Wang wore a gentle smile, which reassured Skye somewhat.

Her large eyes remained fixed on the Obelisk as she waited patiently.

After roughly a dozen seconds, the six gates shut completely, turning the stone chamber into a sealed room.

The beam of light from above shone upon the golden Obelisk, and the Obelisk began to change.

Its irregular surface, which neither Hydra nor S.H.I.E.L.D. had been able to open no matter what they tried, finally reacted.

Its outer shell peeled away, exposing slender pale-blue crystal pillars.

At first, there was only one.

It grew and branched at a speed visible to the naked eye, quickly becoming dozens of pillars that gathered together into a crystal cluster filled with scientific beauty. Within its simple structure seemed to lie knowledge that could drive mathematicians, physicists, and chemists mad.

And then?

Skye tried to move closer for a better look.

A not particularly powerful force pushed her back, stirring up dust across the floor.

Within that dust, pale-blue mist also seeped from the crystal and entered her skin.

"So this is Terrigen Mist?"

Remembering Old Wang’s teachings, Skye knew exactly what would happen next.

She lowered her head and saw a strange black substance appearing on her hand. It was hard and dense, yet not heavy.

The black substance seemed alive as it slowly crawled up her arm, then over her chest and back, covering her entire body before finally reaching her head.

In less than ten seconds, her entire body was sealed inside the black substance, turning her into a stone statue.

Head held high, chest out, looking up at a forty-five-degree angle to the left, arms stretched to either side, feet slightly apart—curved in all the right places.

Darkness filled Skye’s vision.

She seemed to hear the sound of rushing currents, yet she did not know that the Obelisk had already transformed into gas and vanished, beyond the explanation of Earth’s technology, almost mythical.

All her bodily functions seemed to have stopped.

She did not need to breathe, and even her heartbeat was faint, yet her vital signs remained. Most importantly, she could still think and sense everything outside.

Lonely, isolated, and desolate, yet not hopeless.

It was not a painful process. She had no idea what was happening to her body.

According to Old Wang, the genes in her body that had been altered by the Kree were being activated by the Terrigen Mist, transforming her entire body.

This transformation was random, like Schrödinger’s cat. Until everything was over, no one knew the answer.

Maybe she would turn into a dog. Maybe her head would grow full of spikes. Maybe she would never be able to speak again. Maybe angel-like wings would grow from her back.

Maybe nothing would happen at all.

Skye did not know what awaited her.

But she believed Old Wang.

Since Old Wang had told her to come, he definitely would not harm her.

Time passed, second by second.

Suddenly,

Skye heard the sound of rock breaking.

Cracks appeared in the black substance, growing larger and spreading across her entire body.

A wondrous power rose from within her.

Her limbs stretched involuntarily.

Invisible ripples surged from her body. In an instant, the black substance shattered completely, turning into countless tiny stones that blasted outward like bullets.

"I succeeded?"

Skye looked at her hands, then her legs and feet, then touched her entire body.

It did not seem like anything had changed?

The vibrations continued.

First, cracks appeared in the stone platform, then in the six stone gates.

Even in places she could not see, more than half the underground city was affected by invisible ripples. Shockwaves of different frequencies caused varying degrees of cracking and collapse.

"What’s happening?"

Skye did not understand, but instinctively felt that it was connected to her.

Large amounts of dirt and gravel fell from above.

Skye looked up and saw cracks spreading across the massive rocks overhead. They could collapse at any moment.

And around her, cracks had even appeared in the six stone gates.

"Am I going to be buried alive?"

Skye was frightened and hurriedly called out, "Wang!"

The moment the words left her mouth, a thunderous crash rang out.

She turned and saw one of the stone gates explode into countless fragments.

Through the billowing dust, Old Wang walked in.

"You had an entire Obelisk to yourself instead of sharing it with Skirts Raina. Looks like your ability was activated even more thoroughly than I expected."

Old Wang wrapped an arm around Skye’s waist. His abundant True Qi formed a layer of Golden Bell around them, protecting them within.

Feeling the vibrations coming from Skye’s body—small in amplitude but extremely high in frequency—he could tell that, with her emotions in turmoil, she was completely unable to control her power. She would need time to get used to it.

The sounds of collapse came from every direction, and Old Wang sighed.

Just as he had guessed.

Having already cultivated Qi, Skye’s physical constitution was far stronger than in the television series. She could withstand higher-frequency vibrations, so the shockwaves she was unconsciously producing now were also far more powerful.

Big waves, big boobs, plenty of both.

This underground city, which had existed for who knew how many thousands or tens of thousands of years, had probably reached the end of its history. Before Skye’s shockwaves, it would fulfill its mission and make its perfect exit.

Skye’s shockwaves had destroyed the blockage at the nearby sea entrance.

Raging seawater was flooding in, ready to submerge the entire city.

"Let’s go."

Old Wang once again "exchanged" for Teleportation.

The two of them vanished.