Human-Shaped Meteor

After gaining supernatural powers, the pressure that had constantly weighed on Zhang Ye’s heart eased considerably.

After traveling through so many worlds and personally witnessing countless superpowered beings capable of destroying the world, Zhang Ye had always felt immense pressure from being nothing more than an ordinary person.

Take the invasion by General Zod that he had experienced firsthand. Zhang Ye found it hard to imagine how he could have saved that universe if the Kryptonians had not possessed such a major weakness as kryptonite.

With his abilities, he could have died in the aftermath of any battle. Even Pietro could not guarantee getting him out safely, so the only outcome before him had been to keep running away.

Zhang Ye had run enough. He did not want to keep running, nor did he want to become a burden to the entire team. That was why he had been willing to spend seventeen years quietly improving himself.

Fortunately, the result was wonderful. Feeling the magical energy flowing around him, Zhang Ye gradually felt at ease.

This magical energy came from within this universe. Wizards could sense it and draw it toward themselves, but the magical energy drifting through the air was exceedingly weak, nowhere near comparable to that of the Magic Dimensions.

"Pietro, keep playing. John and I are going out for a walk. I haven’t been around human civilization for so long, so I really want to relax a little," Zhang Ye said, stretching lazily.

Originally, Zhang Ye had planned to try using magical energy to restore Pietro’s lost arm. With his current abilities, he could certainly do it, but he lacked the necessary spells and experience with regenerating severed limbs. Trying Black Magic recklessly could easily lead to an accident.

It would be absurd if he accidentally gave Pietro a demon arm, so Zhang Ye quickly abandoned that idea. He planned to get Pietro a mechanical prosthetic to make do with for now, then restore his arm once he was confident enough in the future.

"Where are you going? I’ll come with you," Kara said.

"Uh, no need. John and I are just taking a walk, and I’ll see if I can find a way to get Pietro a mechanical prosthetic." Zhang Ye waved casually, then pulled John out the door before Kara could say anything.

Seeing how obviously suspicious Zhang Ye was acting, Kara tilted her head skeptically. She glanced at Pietro in confusion, but he merely shrugged and went back to playing his game. Kara withdrew her gaze and activated her X-Ray Vision.

It was not that she did not trust Zhang Ye. She was simply curious. After spending so long in another world, he had just returned and was already leaving in such a hurry. There had to be some unspeakable secret involved.

Kara convinced herself by using "worrying about Zhang Ye’s safety" as an excuse, then cast her gaze into the distance in the direction Zhang Ye had gone. Since Zhang Ye and John had used teleportation magic the moment they left the house, Kara lost track of them instantly.

But something so minor could not stump a Kryptonian. Kara extended her five senses and followed Zhang Ye’s voice and heartbeat from memory, quickly locating him.

Kara’s gaze passed through walls, skyscrapers, and bustling crowds. Finally, her vision locked onto the entrance of a heavily secured bank.

Under John’s lead, Zhang Ye strode proudly through the bank’s entrance, while the security guard at the door seemed not to notice them at all and continued dozing.

Seeing this, Kara immediately withdrew her gaze. She knew what Zhang Ye was planning. Although she had been imprisoned for a long time, that did not stop her from understanding the importance of "currency," even if Zhang Ye’s method was a bit…

"What did you see?" Pietro asked curiously. Of course, he knew how terrifying Kara’s abilities were. During this time, Kara often used her powerful senses to learn about this world.

"Go play your game." Kara shot Pietro a glance, tossed out those words, and returned straight to her bedroom.

Leaving Pietro sitting before the computer, utterly bewildered.

After returning to her bedroom, Kara casually shut the door and picked up a superhero comic book again.

In this universe, superheroes had become a symbol, an emerging profession. Naturally, countless forms of invisible wealth had sprung up around them. The most prominent of these were undoubtedly the derivative works created around superheroes.

Every year, many companies spent huge sums to purchase superheroes’ likeness rights and adaptation rights, using them to create all kinds of products that attracted public attention and promoted consumption.

The heroes themselves were naturally happy with this arrangement. After all, not every superhero was a rich second-generation heir like Tony Stark. If someone could bring them extra income, they were naturally willing to accept it.

However, most superheroes donated that money, such as Spider-Man Peter Parker and Daredevil, attorney Matt, among others. Kara did not understand what they were thinking. They were clearly living such straitened lives themselves, yet they still refused to accept the money and improve their circumstances.

Using the superhero profession as a framework, large numbers of online games, figurines, toys, and even spin-off comics had been created. Kara’s favorite pastime was reading comics based on superheroes’ past experiences.

For her, reading those comics allowed her to better understand the superhero profession and more deeply experience some of the hardships heroes had to face.

Kara was not acting without reason. Ever since learning that her cousin had become a superhero in many parallel universes, she had become interested in the profession. At the same time, she wanted to see how these "peers," who were like her cousin, operated.

Of course, Kara understood that hearing was not as reliable as seeing. So while reading comics, whenever she encountered a superhero character who interested her, she would use her X-Ray Vision to cross countless obstacles and literally "see" what that person was doing at that moment.

This was not only to understand the differences between their real experiences and the comics, but also to satisfy Kara’s curiosity about that sort of person.

Over time, Kara developed the habit of using her X-Ray Vision to observe various superheroes late at night.

At first, her sole intention had been to better observe the superheroes of this world. But now, this activity had become an excellent way for Kara to unwind every night.

Especially after seeing that Zhang Ye and John had truly gone off to "relax" physically, Kara decided to look at someone else to calm herself down.

Just as Kara was considering whether to watch Daredevil brawl with gangsters tonight, or watch the X-Men’s teacher give the students an evening lesson—

A pink humanoid meteor abruptly entered her field of vision.