Spider Group’s Visit

After weighing everything, the Guardians of the Galaxy finally decided to collectively call Li Congxin "Dad"—ahem, no, they decided to join the Avengers as a group.

Of course, these guys had only joined the Avengers in name. As the Guardians of the Galaxy, whose stage was the sea of stars, they had long been used to roaming freely outside. There was no way they would settle down on Earth’s tiny patch of land.

Considering the deep sisterly bond between Nebula and Gamora, Li Congxin directly let Nebula remain with the Guardians of the Galaxy. In accordance with their previous agreement, he also appointed Rocket Raccoon captain of the Congxin One spaceship.

Li Congxin did not care who had the final say in their little group. But as for where the ship should go, in his absence, Rocket Raccoon would have the final word.

That would also prevent a repeat of the previous incident, when Rocket and Star-Lord’s tempers left the ship unable to figure out where to go.

Li Congxin had handed Congxin One over to these guys with the intention of making full use of it. After all, in his hands, the spaceship had spent most of its time stuffed away like a matchbox. It was truly a waste of its potential.

Besides, Li Congxin needed someone experienced in space travel to act as his driver. What kind of boss drove himself?

As long as the driver could show up whenever needed, letting him familiarize himself with the vehicle’s performance in his spare time was only natural, wasn’t it?

Once they had received the benefits, they naturally had to do the work.

Li Congxin’s request to the Guardians of the Galaxy was simple: he did not care where they took Congxin One to roam, but they had to investigate two matters for him. One was the whereabouts of Dark Apostle Cassilis, and the other was to search for clues about the last piece of the Phoenix Force.

No matter how slim the chances of finding either target were, at least he had assigned the task and done everything he could.

If they could find them, all the better. Otherwise, he could only wait until the two of them eventually surfaced and deal with them in one fell swoop.

Using his spatial abilities, Li Congxin returned to Earth with Daisy. He decided to get some proper rest, and at the same time, properly comfort Hill and Ava, who had been neglected for more than a year.

Although going out to challenge the strongest individuals in the universe was serious business, there were times when dealing with women simply did not work that way.

Li Congxin spent a full ten days juggling both sides before finally explaining everything that needed explaining. His back and waist ached, his legs cramped, and he had racked his brains and exhausted his eloquence. At last, he managed to convince the two beautiful women, who had been filled with endless resentment, and put smiles back on their faces.

On the eleventh day, Li Congxin did not seek out anyone. Instead, he stayed alone in the office of Avengers Tower to rest.

This time, I really am going to get some proper rest.

After taking a hot shower, he had just planned to return to bed and comfortably enjoy an ordinary person’s sleep when an intense energy fluctuation suddenly came from the room’s wall.

What was going on?

Li Congxin froze. Driven by an instinctive desire to survive, he hurriedly put on his clothes. By then, the spatial energy fluctuation on the wall had reached its peak, forming a visible Spatial Vortex.

Immediately afterward, a long, beautiful leg wearing green ballet shoes and black tights stepped out of the Spatial Vortex. Behind that long leg came a slender arm wrapped in a white spider-web bodysuit, followed by the rest of the woman’s body.

The black-and-white bodysuit outlined an almost perfect, alluring figure. She wore a white hood that covered her entire head, while even her eyes were concealed behind two oversized white lenses, making it impossible to see so much as a single strand of hair on her from the outside. A white cowl was pulled over the top of her head as well, making her look distinctly unusual.

However, compared with these external features, it was the divine power hidden within her body that felt more familiar to Li Congxin.

Because it was his divine power.

"Gwen?" Li Congxin frowned in confusion as he looked at the young beauty who had crossed over from a Parallel Universe. He asked, "Doesn’t the universe you’re in still lack the technology to cross Parallel Universes? How did you suddenly end up here?"

In fact, Li Congxin had previously contacted the divine power remaining inside Gwen several times, so he had some understanding of her situation.

Following the principle that one had to keep stirring up trouble to gain Impression Points, the divine power Li Congxin had hidden inside Daisy had begun constantly urging her to make a big scene.

The identity of a Spider-Woman was simply too ordinary, and the commotion she could cause was limited. At most, becoming a household name in one city was already difficult enough. That did not fit the status of Li Congxin, a Multiversal Level big shot.

Thus, under the guidance of Li Congxin’s divine power, Daisy decisively abandoned her music career and began studying science and technology. In just half a month, she developed a simplified version of the Cosmic Cube’s new-energy reactor, becoming one of the top billionaires in that Parallel Universe. After that, she continued producing cutting-edge inventions, allowing this Spider-Woman to gain both fame and fortune while still in high school.

Li Congxin’s divine power had already prepared a cosmic development plan for her next step, but it was still in the planning stage. After all, this undertaking was simply too large and had to be developed bit by bit.

Given that world’s technological level, crossing Parallel Universes was still absurd. Even with the guidance of Li Congxin’s divine power, it probably was not something that could be accomplished within ten years.

"I came here aboard a time-space traversal device developed by Doctor Octopus." Gwen’s words immediately left Li Congxin dumbfounded.

When had a second-rate villain like Doctor Octopus become so powerful?

Seeing the confusion on Li Congxin’s face, Gwen asked in surprise, "Can’t you communicate with your divine power mentally? Didn’t he tell you about this?"

Before Li Congxin could answer, the divine power hidden inside Gwen spoke first. "My connection with my original self has always been one-way. As a clone, I can’t contact him directly. He has to contact me first. And the last time he contacted me was two months ago."

Li Congxin could naturally hear what the divine-power clone said. He nodded, then produced a bottle of Xandar fruit juice as if by magic, opened it, and handed it to Gwen, gesturing for her not to rush and to explain slowly.

Gwen removed the hood covering her head. Her beautiful eyes studied Li Congxin for a long while before she finally said, "It seems Little Peter really wasn’t lying to me. Your looks really can crush anyone I’ve ever seen. Even knowing that you’re a philandering scumbag, I still can’t help wanting to…"

"Don’t let your imagination run wild!" Li Congxin hurriedly cut her off and said solemnly, "Tell me about Doctor Octopus instead."

His instincts told him that this matter definitely had something to do with that inexplicably capable Doctor Octopus—at the very least, Doctor Octopus was deeply involved.

Seeing Li Congxin sitting with his eyes fixed on his nose and his nose fixed on his heart, as though he were an old monk in meditation, Gwen suddenly realized that he was not as much of a scumbag as he claimed.

However, she also knew that business came first. She had no intention of continuing to tease Li Congxin. She calmly took a sip of the alien fruit juice and continued, "The Doctor Octopus I mentioned isn’t the Doctor Octopus from our world. He came from another Parallel Universe."

"He killed Peter Parker, the Spider-Man of that Parallel Universe, and took over his body. Because of that, he was influenced by Spider-Man and became a good person. Rather than calling him Doctor Octopus, it would be more accurate to say he’s a combination of Doctor Octopus and Peter Parker. He inherited Spider-Man’s ideals…"

Simply put, after Doctor Octopus became a good person, he began following Spider-Man’s example and fighting for justice. However, during an accident, he was swept into the year 2099 of their universe. There, he learned a great deal of future technology and used it to create a machine capable of traversing time and space. He had originally planned to return to his own timeline.

Then, with a cry of dismay, he went to the wrong place!

That was perfectly normal…

However, a mistake had led to another mistake. After crossing into the wrong place, he accidentally discovered Spider-Men who had been killed in other Parallel Universes. After investigating, he found that the mastermind behind everything was actually a mysterious force called the Inheritor Family. The two vampire clones who had previously attacked Gwen and Little Peter were members of the Inheritor Family. His name was Morlun.

After hearing this, Li Congxin nodded slightly and was just about to say something when he turned his head once again toward the Spatial Vortex Gwen had used to cross over. At that moment, seven or eight figures emerged from it in succession. Each wore spider combat gear, creating a spectacular scene reminiscent of the previous gathering of seven Spider-Men.

Looking at the huge crowd of Spider-Men before him, Li Congxin was just about to speak when another spatial fluctuation came from the wall on the other side. Then another seven or eight Spider-Men entered Li Congxin’s laboratory. Among them were two fairly familiar faces: Shadow Spider, dressed in black, and Spider-Ham.

Seeing a room full of spiders, Li Congxin could not help but smile bitterly. "It looks like your lineup this time is much more impressive than the last one."

Gwen shrugged helplessly. "We had no choice. This enemy is countless times more terrifying than Kingpin. If there aren’t enough of us, we simply won’t be able to fight them."

"In fact, the ones here now are only a small portion of our companions." At that moment, a Spider-Man with six steel arms growing from his back stepped forward and addressed Li Congxin first. "My name is Otto Gunther Octavius. I’m currently merged with Peter Parker. You can call me Doc Parker."