Old Man, Farewell on Your Journey!

Li Congxin withdrew his gaze from the giant projection in the base hall, turned, and walked out of the base building. He breathed in the cool air outside. It was winter once again.

Today was November 12, 2018. From early that morning, Li Congxin had felt that something was unusual about the day, as if some terrible event was about to happen. Yet when he tried to understand the cause of this feeling and investigate what was happening, even with his current state of near-omniscience and omnipotence, he could not find the slightest clue.

In short, this feeling was terrible. It was as if the entire Marvel Multiverse had sunk into an inexplicable atmosphere of grief.

However, only someone at Li Congxin’s level could sense this sorrowful atmosphere.

"Clark." A familiar, hoarse voice came from beside him. It was Ghost Rider, Damon Macready. He had originally addressed Li Congxin respectfully as "Mr. Clark," but after Li Congxin’s vehement objections, he had started calling him by his name instead. After all, Li Congxin had considered himself Mindy’s brother for so many years, and he had even wanted to call Ghost Rider "Uncle."

After greeting him, Ghost Rider continued, "Your strength now seems to have improved quite a bit compared to when we met in the Mutant Universe."

Li Congxin gently shook his head. "If you’re talking about the method I used to kill Mephistopheles, I could have done that easily even before."

In fact, not long after they returned from the Mutant Universe, Mephistopheles had come knocking, foolishly trying to use his abilities to bewitch Ghost Rider into killing Mindy with his own hands. As a demon from Hell, he could not stand to see others reunited in happiness. All kinds of tragedies were what he enjoyed most.

For someone who had sought his own death, Li Congxin had said nothing. He had simply snapped his fingers and erased him.

"It’s different." Damon spoke seriously. "When I saw you before, I had a premonition that you couldn’t kill me, even if your strength far surpassed mine. But ever since you grew stronger again, every time I see you, I feel a tremor originating from my soul. Even the Spirit of Vengeance within me can’t resist any of your commands."

This was not merely an impression. It was the truth.

To explain this, one had to start with the divine position of the God of Vengeance.

In fact, Li Congxin was not the first God of Vengeance in the Marvel Universe. Long ago, there had been a deity born alongside the Marvel Multiverse. She was Nemesis, Goddess of Vengeance!

No one knew exactly how powerful she was, but Li Congxin felt that she was at least stronger than him. Somehow, however, that immensely powerful goddess had lost her will to live and ended her life through a method that was almost indistinguishable from suicide. The six Infinity Stones were the source energy that split off after her suicide.

Li Congxin had learned this knowledge from the scattered inheritance of Nemesis, Goddess of Vengeance, after refining the last Mind Stone.

The Spirit of Vengeance within Ghost Rider had originally been no more than a wisp of divine power that had scattered from the Goddess of Vengeance after her fragmentation. It had eventually fallen into Mephistopheles’ hands. However, he had been completely unable to control that wisp of divine power. He had later thought to add some of his own essence to it, and thus one Ghost Rider after another had come into existence.

Li Congxin smiled faintly and was just about to say something when he suddenly noticed that Damon had abruptly stopped moving.

It was not only him. Everything around them had fallen still in an instant. The once-boisterous world had become utterly silent!

The tangible trees, the intangible wind…

At that moment, everything had stopped, as if someone had pressed the pause button on a television screen. All things had returned to stillness.

With a movement of his mind, Li Congxin immediately sensed something. In the next moment, he had already left Avengers Tower and arrived on a street in New York City that was not particularly bustling.

Standing before him was a white-haired old man pushing a cold-drink cart. The old man smiled and nodded at him.

This street and this cold-drink cart were precisely where Li Congxin had first encountered the Cosmic Source Will. Twenty years had passed in the blink of an eye. The young man who had once jogged along this street had grown into a powerful existence standing between the Multiversal Level and the Omniversal Level.

Or perhaps an existence between those two levels was what was known as the Super Cosmic Level?

"Kid." The old man casually picked up a bottle of mineral water from the cart and handed it to Li Congxin. "I didn’t expect you to grow to this point in just twenty short years. If I leave this universe in your hands, I can rest easy."

Li Congxin could not help frowning when he heard this. "Putting it that way will give people a very bad feeling."

The old man shook his head. "This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s something that beings who reach a certain level of strength may not even be able to do themselves. Take the Living Tribunal, for example. Unless someone else kills him, he has no right to choose death himself. But I can. Nemesis, Goddess of Vengeance, also accomplished this through special means back then, though her method was too much of a loophole."

In other words, beings at the so-called Super Cosmic Level occupied a special state of existence. They could not actively end their own lives. But beings at the Omniversal Level could?

But that made sense. If one could not even commit suicide, how could one claim to be omnipotent?

At that moment, the old man spoke again. "Child, I know you possess a kind heart, and you also have the ability to protect this universe. I’m handing this universe over to you now. I hope that after I leave, you’ll protect it well for me. And one more thing…"

The old man reached out and forcefully tapped Li Congxin on the chest. "Remember, your God-Tier BGM System is your true foundation. You must remember this. Remember it firmly!"

"All right, that’s enough for today. I should be leaving too. From now on, the universe belongs to you young people…" After saying this, the old man pushed his cold-drink cart past Li Congxin and walked away step by step. With every step, his figure became more illusory and transparent, until after thirty-eight steps, he had completely vanished from Li Congxin’s sight and perception.

Everything around him remained frozen. Li Congxin knew that the old man had left it to him to restore the flow of time.

Facing the direction in which the old man had vanished, Li Congxin casually twisted open the bottle of mineral water the old man had left him and took a sip. Then, as if lifting something immensely heavy with effortless care, he slowly raised his right hand and gently snapped his fingers. The flow of time returned to normal.

At the same time, a beautiful, soothing melody appeared out of thin air and resounded in every corner of the entire Marvel Multiverse.

The dark sky hung low,

The bright stars followed close,

Little firefly, little firefly,

Whom are you missing?

The stars in the sky shed tears,

The roses on the ground withered,

Cold wind blows, cold wind blows,

As long as I have you beside me.

The fireflies fly, the flowers sleep,

Only pairs upon pairs are beautiful,

I fear neither the darkness nor the night, only a broken heart,

No matter how tired,

No matter east, west, north, or south…

Old Man, farewell on your journey!