Requesting the Mind Stone?

"Strike and retreat instantly!" Xiao Hen watched the empty woodland before him with amusement. On the ground lay the redoubtable Red Skull Schmidt, who had just died once more—unfortunate Schmidt, killed twice by Xiao Hen.

Xiao Hen did not pay much attention to the departure of Strange and the other. That fellow was able to escape multiple times in the future, so he surely had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, and just in terms of time manipulation, he was perhaps even stronger than himself.

However, this world belongs to a past timeline. I wonder what would happen if I plundered all the Vibranium in this world? Xiao Hen thought while rubbing his chin. On second thought, though, the future Ultron plundered all the Vibranium and vanadium alloy in Wakanda to finally manufacture Vision. If he plundered the Vibranium of this timeline now, the future Ultron would have no Vibranium to manufacture Vision. In other words, even if he plundered the Vibranium now, when he returned to the future, the already-manufactured Seraphim might vanish, and then he would have to use the plundered Vibranium to manufacture one anew?

Was there anything more absurd than that?

Xiao Hen shook his head and flicked his figure, leaving this timeline right away.

Inside Stark Tower in the United States, a group of superheroes were discussing.

"That is the Mind Stone, possessing terrifying power. The thing previously embedded in Loki’s Scepter was this; you should all know!" Thor stood among the crowd and said in a deep voice, "It was snatched away by Ultron earlier, and almost manufactured a terrifying monster. Now, however, it has fallen into the hands of that mysterious fellow."

"Thor, that person named Xiao Hen shouldn’t be a bad guy, right?" Captain America said. "I don’t think he looks like one."

"Can you tell if someone is bad just by looking?" Black Widow glanced sideways at him and said.

"So what do we do now?" Tony sat to the side holding a cup of coffee, looking completely unhurried.

"Sir, Mr. Nick Fury has arrived and is already outside the door." The voice of Friday, Tony’s new smart butler, suddenly sounded in Tony’s earpiece.

"Oh, open the door. Nick is here, so leave this matter to him to handle!" Tony shrugged his shoulders and continued drinking his coffee.

"Gentlemen! I understand everything you’ve discussed!" As soon as Nick Fury walked in, he glanced over everyone present and said straightforwardly, "Leave this matter to me to handle. The most important thing now is to find the whereabouts of that person named Xiao Hen. I’ve tried many methods but failed to find any information on this person, so I can’t find where he’s currently living either. This is where I need your help."

A resolute glint appeared in Nick Fury’s single eye. He hadn’t expected that before Ultron was completely eliminated, yet another mysterious powerhouse would pop up. They still didn’t know what kind of person this mysterious powerhouse was; he seemed to have appeared out of thin air, with backgrounds and experiences utterly untraceable.

And he had indeed guessed right—Xiao Hen naturally had popped out of thin air.

"Find him? How do we find him? That guy is powerful; if he casually hides in some deep mountain forest, who could possibly find him?" Tony curled his lip and said.

"It shouldn’t come to that, right?" Captain America spoke up. "Take things and just hide? Unlikely!"

"That is the Mind Stone!" Thor, however, felt that this possibility existed. Among everyone present, only he understood the might of the Mind Stone best.

"Anyway, let’s all try to look for him. The moment you get any news, notify me immediately!" After saying this, Nick Fury left Stark Tower. Although S.H.I.E.L.D. had disbanded, he still acted as the liaison between the government and the superheroes of the Avengers. Furthermore, he had other matters to attend to; in this world, there were not only those evil forces but also mutant disturbances, and such issues all required him to handle them.

"What now?" Thor looked at Captain America. As the leader, he had to make the call.

"I feel that our main task right now is still Ultron. Even though those robots of his were wiped out by that Xiao, Ultron’s main body is hidden within the endless network. We need to find it and then completely eliminate it." What Captain America worried about was still that the threat of Ultron was greater—at least on the surface, Ultron’s threat was greater. From his appearance until now, Xiao Hen had not displayed a wicked side, and no cases of him doing bad things in the past could be found either. To Captain America, this meant he was not a bad guy, at least not until Xiao Hen did something that threatened human safety.

"Fine, leave this matter to me. Ultron was created by Banner and me; we are responsible for searching for the location of its main body and figuring out a way to lure it out." Tony put down his coffee cup and, speaking thus, looked at Dr. Banner, who nodded in assent.

"Then, looking for Xiao can be left to you, Romanoff?" Captain America looked at Black Widow.

"…Fine." Black Widow was silent for a moment before nodding in agreement. Searching for Xiao Hen was clearly not a good chore, but among everyone present, only she had previously engaged in intelligence work and still had some experience in this area; the others simply wouldn’t do.

"Rest assured, with government departments cooperating with you in the search, it should be a lot easier." Captain America comforted.

"Let’s hope so."

The protagonist of the superheroes’ discussion, Xiao Hen, was currently strolling through the streets of New York. Before long, he found a hotel to check into. As for things like an id, they were simply not a problem for him at all.

Inside the hotel room, Xiao Hen lay down on the bed, flipped his hand, and took out the Mind Stone. His Divine Sense probed into the stone, and he instantly felt a vast and boundless mind force link into his soul. This mind force was exceptionally mighty, impossible for mortals to control; only a formidable existence like him was able to master this power.

"This mind force is exceptionally strong. Relying on the Mind Stone, my mind and spirit will forever remain in a state of tranquility, with permanent mental clarity. The purity of my thought has even reached the level of a Main God Avatar, and I am immune to all mind control. And this is merely just a gem." Xiao Hen released the Mind Stone and took out the Space Stone instead. Holding both gems in his hands, he found that the Space Stone amplified his spatial power by several dozen times, similarly reaching the Main God Avatar’s level of utilizing spatial power.

"If all Six Great Gems are concentrated in my hands, that might would be unimaginable!" Putting the gems away, using the power of the gems at this moment only meant wielding a small fraction; wanting to fully utilize them still required the Infinity Gauntlet.

Two days later, an uninvited guest arrived at the hotel where Xiao Hen was staying. This person was none other than Nick Fury.

Xiao Hen had not concealed his tracks. In a place as conspicuous as New York, he was discovered that very afternoon. Nick Fury and the superheroes discussed this for a entire day, and today, Nick Fury had finally come directly.

"Mr. Xiao Hen, I hope you can hand over that body manufactured by Ultron to our government for safekeeping!"

Upon meeting, Nick Fury got straight to the point. Without exchanging polite pleasantries with Xiao Hen, he directly brought up the demand to request the Mind Stone.

Naturally it was the Mind Stone; asking for Vision’s body was merely supplementary. Since it was made of Vibranium, its value was not insignificant either, so if he could get it back together, that of course would be best.