Osborn City

In that battle years ago, the heroes had lost far too much.

Ant-Man Hank Pym had been among the last batch of superheroes to fall. In fact, by the time they rushed to reinforce the war zone, most of the heroes had already perished.

Moon Knight had been struck head-on by Electro’s lightning, while Khonshu had been banished to another world by magic. The entire New York battlefield had been left isolated and helpless, with only the street-level heroes and supervillains fighting to the death.

Daredevil, with his sensitive hearing, had nearly been deafened by sonic waves. After Punisher shot Electro in the head, he had been severely wounded in a sneak attack by the long-hidden Kraven the Hunter. She-Hulk and Spider-Man had desperately dragged the battle into a less crowded district, but Hulk’s arrival had only poured fuel on the fire.

Hulk, fully consumed by his rampage, could no longer distinguish good from evil. He began destroying everything regardless of friend or foe. His terrifying power crushed every superhero and supervillain present, and by then, none of it mattered anymore. The end of that era had become inevitable.

Washington D.C. When the White House had been shattered and reduced to rubble under Hydra’s artillery fire, the heroes’ defeat had already been sealed. Captain America lay helpless amid the ruins. He knew that the Avengers would never assemble again.

The ruins of war had become a snapshot of that time. Just looking at the scene left behind, Zhang Ye could imagine how brutal that battle had been.

Zhang Ye and the other two slowly drove along the highway, drawing ever closer to Pym Cross.

"My God, was this some giant from mythology?" Pietro gazed at the massive skeleton in the distance and could not help but marvel.

"His name was Hank Pym, a genuine human scientist. He once developed something called Pym Particles. This element could increase or decrease his body’s mass. What you’re looking at now is his remains after he grew larger," Zhang Ye explained casually.

"Hank Pym? Hank Pym from the Avengers? The one who was killed by a Patriot Missile?" Pietro froze for a moment. He remembered someone like that.

"That was him," Zhang Ye said. "But the difference between them is far too great. They aren’t comparable at all. Hank Pym from your world never developed Pym Particles. He didn’t even understand the Quantum Realm."

Zhang Ye withdrew his gaze. As he recalled the events surrounding the annihilation of the heroes, he spoke.

"The supervillains’ actions were actually predictable. Magneto and Absorbing Man were good examples. Plotting the deaths of those powerful heroes wasn’t easy. The villains had to gain help from others. To that end, they even formed alliances with Dormammu, Loki, and others.

"If Doctor Strange had not been so arrogant and ignored a crisis right before his eyes, if Hawkeye had been willing to listen to Mockingbird before setting out, if Wolverine had not been so reckless, if Loki had successfully broken through the Fantastic Four’s defenses and traveled back through time.

"Unfortunately, there were no ifs."

Zhang Ye shook his head, his expression somewhat grim.

The motorcycles passed Pym Cross. By then, Dr. Pym’s bones had completely oxidized, and even unknown plants had grown all over them. Countless birds had built nests there, seemingly treating the place as a "natural" paradise.

Kara and Pietro stared deeply at the sight, both profoundly shaken. Pietro had been born into a world without heroes. He longed for heroes to appear, and he longed to become one himself.

But he had never imagined that being a hero could be so dangerous. Everything that had happened in this world shattered his beautiful dream of heroes defeating villains.

As for Kara, she was worried about her younger brother. She knew how powerful Kryptonians were. By all rights, Earth should not have contained anything stronger than a Kryptonian, but when she saw the devastation here, doubt rose in her heart.

Since her cousin would become Superman, that meant he would have enemies of his own. And there was the so-called Justice League. If the Justice League’s enemies united, would the Earth where the Justice League lived become the next wasteland?

At that thought, Kara felt her heart skip a beat. Imagining Superman covered in wounds and lying amid the ruins, she could not help but breathe faster.

"Kara, are you all right?" Pietro asked with concern.

"I’m fine. It’s just… I thought of a few things." Kara took a deep breath and slowly calmed herself down.

Zhang Ye tilted his head slightly. He knew what Kara was thinking, but wisely chose not to continue the subject. In his memory, the Justice League had been wiped out more than once or twice.

Sometimes, the supervillains did not even need to unite. Just a few of them stirring up trouble were enough to plunge the world into chaos.

"Don’t think about that. Once we pass Pym Cross, New Babylon isn’t far away. We’ve entered Red Skull’s territory now. From here on, we need to be extremely careful with every move we make."

Zhang Ye and the others had only one goal on this trip: Osborn City, located on the border of Red Skull’s territory.

As the city’s name suggested, this area was under Osborn’s control. Compared with ordinary criminals who had neither money nor power, Osborn had contributed both funds and effort in that battle years ago. After helping wipe out the superheroes, he naturally gained Red Skull’s attention.

Osborn now held an entire city in his hands. After gathering numerous supervillains under his banner, he had managed the city in perfect order. For a time, it had even surpassed Red Skull’s Washington D.C. and become an economic hub.

However, the ordinary people living here were not as happy as one might imagine. Osborn’s mad rule had left the residents in misery, while harsh extrajudicial laws had stripped everyone of their freedom.

It could be said that Osborn had never regarded them as people from the very beginning. He treated them as beasts that only knew how to work, eat, and sleep. Perhaps their lives were somewhat safer here than outside, but in truth, this place was no different from the outside world.

Moreover, after a long period of emptiness, Osborn had descended into even more violent madness. He threw open the city’s gates and welcomed all manner of "superheroes" to challenge him at any time. At the same time, he intensified his oppression of the people, trying to draw the attention of those with heroic ideals.

During that time, countless people had attempted to challenge Osborn’s rule, but without exception, they were impaled on wooden stakes outside the city, used to proclaim Osborn’s power.