Stranded in the Shi’ar

Alex felt as though he had had a dream—a long, long dream. In it, he had traveled through time and space to the Marvel Universe, where he had met Captain America, fallen in love with the White Queen, and fought Red Skull, Sebastian Shaw, and Mandarin for a long, long time.

Even more astonishingly, that Marvel Universe had many Hollywood superstars from the 1940s. What made him smile even in his dreams was that Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, and Vivien Leigh—three women of unparalleled beauty—had all fallen for him. Whenever Alex thought of it, he could not help wanting to sink back into the dream.

Unfortunately, dreams had to end eventually.

Alex woke up. The moment he regained consciousness, pain like countless ants tearing at his body surged through his nerves like a tidal wave, nearly making him pass out again.

At last, when the tidal pain gradually subsided, Alex was finally able to open his eyes.

As he looked around, Alex suddenly realized how unfamiliar his surroundings were. This was not his tiny, less-than-ten-square-meter doghouse, but a place as splendid and dazzling as an imperial palace.

While he was still wondering about it, a figure ran in from outside. The light footsteps and occasional silvery laughter made Alex pause. After thinking for a moment, he lay back down, closed his eyes, and waited in silence.

Before long, the footsteps stopped beside the bed, followed by a crisp voice that seemed to be saying something.

Yet Alex could not understand a single word. It was neither familiar Chinese nor English—at any rate, it was not any language Alex had ever heard on Earth!

Where am I? Shocked, Alex instinctively extended his Psionic Power and used telepathy.

Just as Alex thought he was being absurd, a strange voice sounded beside his ear. "It’s been half a month already. Why haven’t you woken up yet?"

This is…?! Alex froze slightly, his mind completely crashing and refusing to process it.

After a long while, Alex gradually came to his senses, and reality slowly overlapped with the dream. This is telepathy! I wasn’t dreaming—I really came to the Marvel Universe!

Once he confirmed that his previous experiences had not been a dream, Alex became fully alert. He did not spare the person beside his bed a thought, as his mind replayed what had happened before.

The Savage Land’s ecosystem had been devastated and was about to collapse. To preserve the Floating Giant Island and over a million mutants, he had used the Tesseract’s power to take the Floating Giant Island through the Savage Land’s dome and escape.

Because he had overused the Tesseract’s energy, the Energy Toxin planted by the Black Queen could no longer be suppressed and began invading his body. At the last moment, he had activated Teleportation and brought the Floating Giant Island out to sea…

And then what? How did I end up here? Where is this place? His memories stopped there. The next thing he remembered was waking up just now. No matter how hard Alex racked his brain, he could not recall even the slightest trace of the intervening half month, as though someone had forcibly erased it.

Thinking of this, Alex suddenly remembered The Watcher. His expression darkened, and a trace of resentment rose within him. Could it be him again?

But after thinking it over, Alex dismissed the idea. Ever since he had frightened The Watcher away, The Watcher had never shown himself again. He truly seemed to have no intention of interfering in Earth’s affairs anymore. There was no reason for him to suddenly appear at a time like this.

As Alex was thinking, that unknown language sounded beside his ear again, this time carrying a faint hint of anxiety. At the same time, Alex felt a slightly cool little hand gently caress his face. It was very tender.

What’s wrong? Puzzled, Alex used telepathy again and learned that his emotions had shown on his face just now. His expression had become somewhat ferocious and frightened the young woman.

A young woman—yes, the person standing beside Alex’s bed was indeed a young woman. Of course, she could not really be considered young; she was already twenty-five years old. It was just that among her people, that age still made her a young woman.

From searching the young woman’s memories through telepathy, Alex learned that he was currently on a planet called Planet Feather, the Shi’ar homeworld, which belonged to the Shi’ar Empire. The Shi’ar Empire was a newly risen interstellar empire in the universe, formed from tens of thousands of alien races, while the Shi’ar were the rulers and those in power over the entire empire.

What surprised Alex was that this young woman had an extraordinary background. Her name was Lilandra. She was Shi’ar and a member of the Shi’ar Empire’s royal family. If nothing went wrong, she would even become the Empress of the Shi’ar Empire!

Empress or empress, it has nothing to do with me! Skimming over that information at high speed, Alex continued probing Lilandra’s memories, hoping to find even the faintest clue about Earth.

Alex did not want to stay in this Shi’ar Empire or whatever it was. He wanted to go home—to Earth!

But what drove Alex to despair was that Earth did not exist anywhere in Lilandra’s limited memories!

How is that possible? She must be too young and simply doesn’t know about the outside world yet! Alex immediately stopped using telepathy and comforted himself with that thought, though only he knew how much he believed it.

Just as Alex was feeling unsettled, another voice sounded beside his ear. Unlike Lilandra’s clear, pure voice, the newcomer’s voice was cold and carried a faint pressure.

"Since you’re awake, stop pretending to sleep!"

Alex jolted awake. With a sharp movement, he sprang from the bed and stared warily at the woman who had appeared out of nowhere.

The woman looked somewhat like Lilandra, so they appeared to be related. However, unlike Lilandra, she had a pair of wings growing from her back. Her graceful, curvaceous body was clad in form-fitting armor, making her look even more alluring. A huge horned helmet covered her head; despite looking rather mismatched, it somehow added a touch of imposing majesty.

Forgot to mention that the Shi’ar were a cold-blooded humanoid race evolved from avian descendants. Since the feather crests on their heads happened to grow where human hair did, the Shi’ar looked very much like humans. However, at times, ancestral traits would reappear, and some Shi’ar possessed wings and the ability to fly.

Clearly, the woman before him was one of those throwbacks.

"You’re awake!" While Alex warily studied the woman who had suddenly appeared, Lilandra beside the bed looked at him with immense excitement. Her little face flushed as she cried out, and the triangular feather crest atop her head trembled gently, making her look especially adorable.

Alex paused, then turned toward Lilandra and smiled gently. From Lilandra’s memories, Alex already knew that she had cared for him throughout the past half month. She had also saved him half a month ago and had even used the royal family’s resources to drive the Energy Toxin from his body. For that alone, Alex felt boundless goodwill toward Lilandra and naturally would not show her a cold face.

Unexpected, unexpected—I never thought it would be delayed until now. My attendance bonus! Sob…

I’ll try my best to get the second update out, but it will probably be sometime in the latter half of the night.

P.S. This book is entering a new arc. I hope everyone will continue to support it!