Things Remain, People Change

Alex’s shout drew quite a few people’s attention, but when they turned to look, there was already no sign of anyone.

"Where is this?" Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings, Alex was stunned, his face slightly pale.

Alex activated Teleportation according to the memories in his mind, but instead of the bustling Floating Giant Island he had expected, he appeared amid broken walls and ruins. Weeds as tall as a person nearly swallowed him whole.

With a trace of panic, Alex willed it, and immense Psionic Power instantly blanketed the entire island.

Compared to the Floating Giant Island in his memories, this island was clearly much, much larger. Yet what surprised Alex was that there was not a single person on the vast island, not even half a living creature, aside from the wild grass covering the ground.

"What exactly happened?" Looking at the images from his telepathy, Alex grew increasingly tense and expanded his Psionic Power again, beginning to search the entire Earth.

Just then, a figure appeared out of thin air, his gleaming bald head especially conspicuous.

"Otu!" The moment Alex saw him, his face flushed red and blazing fury ignited in his eyes.

The newcomer was none other than The Watcher Otu, who had once tried to imprison Alex.

Looking at Alex, whom he had not seen for thirty years, Otu wore a complicated expression. The disgust and resentment from before were gone, replaced by a measure of wistfulness and reminiscence.

When Alex vanished all those years ago, Otu had watched from the side and had not intervened to save him. To Otu, Alex had been a cancer on Earth, and leaving Earth had been for the best. But everything that had happened over the past thirty years had made Otu begin to doubt himself. Perhaps Alex had been right back then: "The universe is chaotic, and so am I. But I am conscious. I cannot change the universe’s state of chaos, but I can guide it toward a positive direction."

At that thought, Otu coughed lightly and took the initiative to greet him. "Welcome back, Alex!"

Alex had already been about to attack Otu when he suddenly heard those words. He froze on the spot and stared blankly at Otu, as though unable to believe his own ears.

"There is plenty of time. Why don’t we find somewhere and have a proper talk?" Seeing Alex’s stunned expression, Otu’s face reddened slightly. With both hands tucked into his broad sleeves, he spoke slowly.

Alex found it even stranger. He sized Otu up for a long while before demanding threateningly, "What exactly do you want, Otu?!" Alex had never thought well of Otu. To him, Otu’s behavior was no different from a fox paying respects to a hen.

"I mean no harm." Otu shook his head and sighed before continuing, "A great many things have happened over the past thirty years…"

"Tell me, what exactly happened?" Before Otu could finish, Alex impatiently cut him off. Pointing around them, his expression twisted as he demanded, "What happened here? How did it become like this?!"

Otu fell silent for a long time. Then he let out a deep sigh and slowly said, "It is a long story. Come with me, and I will tell you everything in detail." Without waiting for Alex to nod, Otu rose directly into the air and vanished beyond the horizon in an instant.

Alex had wanted to ignore Otu. He had telepathy, so even without Otu telling him, he could learn everything himself. But just as Alex was about to do so, Otu’s voice came again, carrying only one sentence.

"Some things are better explained by me, after all, I am The Watcher."

"Fuck!" Alex cursed under his breath and swiftly chased after Otu, disappearing into the horizon.

Before long, Alex followed Otu away from Earth and arrived directly on the far side of the Moon.

To Alex’s surprise, there was an enormous, luxurious palace on the far side of the Moon. Judging by Otu’s perfectly natural manner, this should have been where he usually lived.

"You really know how to live it up." Alex teased him, though his eyes kept surveying the surroundings, surprise faintly visible on his face. The palace was more extravagant than he could have imagined. Not only that, it was filled with all kinds of advanced technology, space technology far beyond Earth’s civilization.

"The Kree built it long ago. It fell into disuse over time." Otu glanced at Alex and, after thinking for a moment, decided to explain. "When I came to Earth, I had nowhere to stay, so I found this place and used it as a resting spot."

Alex was utterly astonished. He had never imagined that the Kree had entered Earth’s vicinity so early, much less built such a magnificent palace on the Moon.

Otu happened to turn around and did not notice Alex’s expression. He simply led Alex toward the interior of the palace.

Alex promptly composed himself, caught up with Otu, and asked impatiently, "Now you can tell me, right?"

"I have quite a bit of information here. You should take a look first." Unhurried, Otu led Alex into a sealed hall. As far as the eye could see, countless holographic screens filled the enormous chamber, each one recording different people and events.

At first glance, the holographic screens dazzled Alex’s eyes. It took him a while to make them out before he turned to Otu, his gaze filled with surprise. "You recorded all of this?"

Otu nodded. After searching for a while, he picked out several dozen screens from the jumble and personally brought them before Alex. "Look at these, and you will understand everything." After a slight pause, he added, "If you have any questions, ask me afterward."

Alex could no longer contain the excitement in his heart. The moment Otu finished speaking, he immediately opened one of the holographic screens and began watching carefully.

Otu’s records were extremely brief, and the footage on the holographic screens had clearly been edited together from many small incidents. The people and times appearing in them varied. Yet although the records were concise, they accurately struck at the heart of the matter. Each holographic screen documented an extraordinary major event, from beginning to end, without a single error or omission.

There were several dozen holographic screens, each with at least three hours of footage. Watching them all would take who knew how long. Alex did not watch them frame by frame. He fast-forwarded through them, merely gaining a general understanding of what had happened.

Even so, it took Alex nearly a full day to finish watching everything. When the final holographic screen went dark, his face turned livid. He wanted to fly into a rage, yet had nowhere to vent it, so he could only bottle it up inside and roar unwillingly, "How did it come to this?!" His furious voice was full of disbelief, along with indescribable disappointment and pain.

Hearing Alex’s words, Otu opened his mouth, trying to offer an explanation. But after deliberating for a long while, it finally became nothing more than a sigh. "I don’t know either."

"Go on being a coward forever!" Alex shot Otu a vicious glare, threw out those words, then turned and activated Teleportation, vanishing directly from the Moon.

When he appeared again, Alex had returned to Earth.

I watched the new Fantastic Four movie today. I only have one thing to say: I have no idea what it was about!