Six Thousand Five Hundred Years Ago

Earth, Canada National Park. Xiao Hen sat on a bench in the park, his head lowered in thought.

From Thanos’s tone, Xiao Hen could tell that because of his interference, Thanos would have to speed up his collection of the Infinity Stones. The Infinity War was about to arrive. Thanos would not forget Earth, where quite a few Infinity Stones were located. And because of Xiao Hen’s interference, Thanos would surely worry that Earth’s Infinity Stones would fall into his hands.

"Thanos doesn’t have the Space Stone. To reach Earth from so far away, even with methods like wormhole travel, he’ll need at least a year. One year. Getting the Time Stone within a year—that’s the next step of the plan."

Xiao Hen opened his eyes, rose to his feet, and left, returning to the Super String Space.

Using the clues provided by Xiao Hen’s original body and the aura on Strange, the Main God Avatar began to deduce and calculate the timeline where Strange was located.

Above the Divine Kingdom, the towering sun radiated a gentle glow of Divine Power. At its center, the Main God Avatar sat cross-legged, his hands slightly spread apart. Unknown runes drifted within his palms, continuously spinning as they delved deeper into their deductions based on that fragment of information. Xiao Hen’s consciousness immersed itself in the river of time and space, tracing Strange’s trail.

With the Time Stone, Strange could hide within different timelines. He should have been the hardest to track among all the stone bearers. But with the Main God Avatar taking action, the vast disparity in strength still made his trail traceable.

The river of time was boundless, stretching from the birth of the universe to its final end.

Starting from the current point in time of the Marvel World and moving backward—one year, two years, ten years, a hundred years—he could calculate as far as ten thousand years ago, but no further. Moving forward, he could calculate three thousand years ahead, but no further either. The reason was that the future was more changeable than the past, while the past was fixed.

Of course, that was only relative.

For example, when Xiao Hen had been in Captain America 1, he had smoothly killed Red Skull and obtained the Cosmic Cube. But when Xiao Hen had previously returned to the past, the Xiao Hen of that past had not been so fortunate. At that time, he had encountered his future self, while the current Xiao Hen had never encountered his future self at that point in time.

This showed that Xiao Hen’s own timeline had not changed, but the life path of the past Xiao Hen had already been altered.

From the river of time extending from the Marvel timeline, the Main God Avatar carried out a long deduction. Finally, three months later, the calculation produced a result.

Xiao Hen’s original body emerged from the Super String Space, carrying the time Divine Power condensed by the Main God Avatar. It activated instantly, and his figure vanished from this timeline.

Earth in the Marvel Universe, six thousand five hundred years ago, the European Continent.

At that time, most of the European Continent was still in a barbaric age. Only the areas near Egypt, Greece, and Central Asia were relatively prosperous.

Of course, that prosperity was only relative to that era.

The Mediterranean Sea region was equivalent to Asia’s Mesopotamian region, likewise one of humanity’s cradles and suitable for human habitation.

Xiao Hen descended, his feet landing upon the ancient earth. A strange look appeared on his face. Strange really knew how to pick a place, hiding in such an ancient era. There was no electricity, no lights, no modern facilities. Could he really get used to living here?

Xiao Hen did not rashly spread out his Divine Sense to investigate, lest he alert Strange. This time, he had come prepared. As long as he remained cautious, he would definitely capture Strange—so long as Strange did not escape before Xiao Hen found his hiding place.

Though he did not use his Divine Sense, his eyesight was astonishing. Even from high in the sky, he could clearly see tiny objects within a range of several hundred kilometers using only his eyes. After determining the direction, Xiao Hen began flying toward the human settlements of the European Continent in this era.

The buildings of this era were extremely simple—earthen walls covered with bundles of weeds to shield them from the rain. Ancient people truly lived in misery and hardship. Unfortunately, Xiao Hen was not a savior and had no interest in helping ancient humanity build a harmonious new society.

Walking along the ancient streets, Xiao Hen concealed his figure. His clothing was clearly different from that of this era. Not wanting to draw attention and let Strange discover him, he chose to remain invisible.

This was a small city, like a mountain village in an underdeveloped country in the twenty-first century. Passersby wore rough linen garments and hurried along, while burly men carrying swords occasionally passed by.

Xiao Hen had originally thought that even if the people of this era were no longer in the Stone Age, they should still have been only in the Bronze Age.

Yet these people wore iron tools, clearly indicating that civilization in this era had undergone some changes.

"Strange should know that rashly changing the past can cause unpredictable changes in the future. Yet he still did this?" Xiao Hen found it strange. If Strange had not done it, then Europe in this era had happened to develop to the point of using iron tools. Could there really be such a coincidence?

"Forget it. This timeline has nothing to do with me. The key is the Time Stone. Strange, where are you?" Xiao Hen surveyed his surroundings, his gaze seeming capable of piercing through everything.

Xiao Hen began searching for Strange, from the Mediterranean coast of the European Continent to Egypt at the junction of Europe and Africa. Egypt in this era was one of the most developed regions in Europe and Africa.

Not just there—even Asia and Africa were places Xiao Hen had searched.

Time passed quickly. Five months had already gone by, and just as Xiao Hen was becoming anxious, he finally found some clues.

Strange’s trail had appeared.

It was still North America. In this era, North America had yet to be set foot on by Europeans. There were only the native Indians and Aztecs.

Within an ancient rainforest somewhere in North America, there was a vast lake. Beside the lake stood a small wooden house, complete with a fence and vegetable fields. The surroundings were beautiful.

At this moment, Strange sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion inside the house. Before him sat another person—none other than Ancient One. The Ancient One of the future had already died while fighting her traitorous disciple Kassillius. The one who existed now was the Ancient One of the past.

"Master, can we really escape that person’s pursuit by hiding in this timeline?" Strange asked heavily.

"I don’t know. I cannot see any hope of victory for us from the future. No matter which timeline it is, we are not his opponents. How many times has it been? Our repeated attempts to assassinate him have all failed. Does the future still hold any hope?" Ancient One sighed.

"Master, was the future world truly destroyed by this person?" Strange asked curiously. Though he wielded the Time Stone, Ancient One had been its original owner. She understood time far better than he did.

"Time is something we actually understand very little about. In the future I saw, the entire world was destroyed by him. In the future I saw, you also died at his hands," Ancient One said calmly.

"I also died at his hands?" Strange found it strange. He had already escaped from "Xiao Hen" many times. Xiao Hen from different points in time had all failed to kill him. Even if the other party could travel through timelines as well, killing him was not so easy. He held the Time Stone and could travel to other timelines at any moment. Killing him would be difficult.

"Yes."

"When was I killed?" Strange asked.

"I don’t know." Ancient One shook her head. "I can’t see it clearly."

Seeing Ancient One close her eyes and say nothing more, Strange fell silent.

At that moment, outside the rainforest, a figure descended from the sky.