This Is Magic

New York’s nightscape was not yet as bustling as it would become in the future, but it had already begun to take shape. However, given the special circumstances, not many people were out and about in New York at night. The most common sights were soldiers and police officers maintaining public order.

Still, two people who looked rather strange were walking down the street. One male and one female, both young enough to seem like brother and sister, and both exceptionally good-looking. Yet strangely, none of the passing pedestrians or police officers seemed to notice them at all.

The two did not stop until they reached an extremely luxurious hotel. They were Josh and Natasha. Perhaps because of her age, Natasha lacked the ability she would later have to use her beauty to gather intelligence, so it had taken her several days to finally track down Howard. He was inside the hotel before them.

"Though it took some time, we found him in the end. But Natasha, you need to work harder. It took you three days just to find someone, and he’s a famous person at that."

"Damn it, that’s not my fault. My training supervisor told me that women should use their advantages, but I found that advice didn’t seem very reliable. What else was I supposed to do?"

Natasha truly felt helpless. The main reason really was that she was too young. Although she looked like a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girl, she was actually only thirteen. Put simply, it was a matter of bearing and physical development.

In every era, Americans seemed to favor blonde women with big breasts and curvy hips. Natasha clearly did not yet possess those advantages. Though she was beginning to develop and looked far better than Hermione, she could only attract perverts at her current stage.

"I took care of several perverts too, you know. Your attitude is seriously irritating."

"I’m not blaming you. Didn’t I tell you? Time flows differently on the Muya Continent than it does here. For now, the Muya Continent is still frozen in time, so don’t worry." Josh shrugged indifferently. Time was never the issue for him. The only question was how long he could live.

"Come on. Let’s go meet the renowned Mr. Howard Stark."

No longer dwelling on the matter, Josh took Natasha’s small hand. Their figures slowly turned transparent, then vanished into thin air. He had already obtained Howard’s exact location, and he even knew what Howard was doing, so all he needed to do was enter Howard’s room.

However, Josh and Natasha’s luck did not seem very good. Josh knew that whenever Howard came to this hotel, he was usually doing something mutually enjoyable with some beautiful girl from who knew where. Josh did not want to walk in at precisely that moment, so he deliberately arrived a little later.

But the result was not ideal. When Josh brought Natasha into Howard’s room using Phantom Shift, they happened to see the man thrusting away on top of a blonde woman.

"This is a little beyond expectations."

Josh showed no embarrassment whatsoever. He even stroked his chin and openly watched the man as though he were appreciating a performance, leaving Natasha utterly powerless. She was still underage. Although she had seen plenty of such things during her training, watching alongside another man still felt extremely strange.

"Have you never done it?"

"No. Even though I came from a feudal society, I never forced anyone. Besides, my circumstances weren’t very good back then, so I wasn’t in the mood. What about you? Have you?"

"Please, I’m only thirteen! How could I have?"

Neither of them made any attempt to keep their voices down, and Josh did not use any magic to block the sound. Howard immediately realized that two uninvited guests seemed to have appeared in his room. Though he had been fully focused on his thrusting, the voices behind him instantly disrupted his mood.

"Damn it, who are you people?"

Howard immediately climbed off the blonde beauty and grabbed a bath towel to wrap around himself. He could not understand who these two young people were or how they had entered his hotel room. This was no ordinary place!

Howard was staying in this hotel because he was negotiating weapons deals with certain military personnel. The military had arranged this place for him, so its security should have been beyond question. Yet something had gone wrong anyway. How could he not panic?

And what was this feudal society nonsense? Something that had died out decades ago—could the two of them be from some feudal country? Their conversation made Howard think of many possibilities. But soon, he noticed something even more terrifying: wasn’t the blonde woman he had invited far too calm?

When Howard looked back, cold sweat immediately poured down his back. The girl still wore an expression of intense enjoyment, as if savoring something, utterly unaware that anything was wrong. Howard swore he had never witnessed such a supernatural phenomenon before. It was more absurd than the birth of Captain America.

"There’s really no need to be like this, Mr. Stark. Weren’t you enjoying yourself just now? As for us, we simply came to discuss something with you."

Josh looked at Howard’s state with amusement. To be honest, he had seen this posture far too many times. Yet every time he saw characters who were so formidable in the stories staring at him with such shock or astonishment, he found it rather entertaining.

"Discuss something? I think you should have made an appointment first."

Howard muttered this, but he quickly noticed the disdainful expressions on Josh and Natasha’s faces and immediately understood that he had said something utterly pointless. Leaving aside whether he would have agreed to see them if they had actually made an appointment, why would people with such terrifying abilities need to make one?

"All right, what do you want to discuss? But could you at least let me put on some pants first?"

"Be my guest."

Josh shrugged and found a place to sit. Natasha remained standing beside him instead of sitting down, like a maid emphasizing Josh’s status. Josh found it amusing and simply pulled the foolish girl down to sit beside him.

"What do you want with me? But before that, may I ask a question? What kind of technology is this? Why does she seem completely unaware of your arrival? And how did you get in here?"

After putting on his pants, Howard began questioning them with great curiosity. To be honest, after his earlier panic, he had calmed down considerably. Now, he was deeply interested in how Josh had entered and how he had kept the blonde woman from noticing them. Perhaps it was some new technology.

"Oh, right. I haven’t asked for your name yet."

Josh did not mind revealing his information to Howard at all. "Just call me Josh. This is my friend Natasha. As for how we got up here, naturally, we came through Space Teleportation. Even now, we’re inside a Mirror Space. Of course, I prepared some images beforehand, making that girl think you were finished and taking a bath."

"Space Teleportation? Mirror Space?" Howard looked utterly incredulous. What country possessed such a level of scientific advancement that it could invent such incredible technology?

"I’m sorry, but these things are still only theoretical to me, Lord Josh. May I ask which country you’re from?"

A playful smile suddenly appeared on Josh’s face. Pointing at Natasha, he said, "She’s from Russia. Oh, no, it’s still the Soviet Union right now. As for me, I’m from the Augustus Empire."

"The Augustus Empire?" Howard looked completely bewildered. He knew both Russia and the Soviet Union—wasn’t that the country spanning Europe and Asia? But what the hell was the Augustus Empire? He knew Rome had an emperor named Augustus I, but he had never heard of a nation bearing that name.

"I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ve heard of that country. Where in Europe is it located?"

"Europe? No, it isn’t in Europe." Josh smiled and shook his head, then said something shocking with a casual expression. "The country I’m from isn’t on Earth. Or rather, it isn’t in this world at all."

Howard stared at Josh speechlessly, with no idea what he should say or how he was supposed to express his feelings. Everyone said he was a genius and a madman, but compared to these two people before him, he suddenly felt vastly outclassed.

"Are you joking?"

"Of course not. Why would I joke about something like that?"

Josh shrugged. At the same time, a ball of colored flame appeared before him. The flame seemed alive as it slowly shifted into various shapes in the air. In the end, it gradually condensed into a round fireball that floated there, looking exceptionally eerie.

"I assume you know the theory of parallel worlds. I don’t know who proposed it in this world, but scientists on the scientific side must have long since made similar guesses, right? For example, the same people in different worlds might reach different endings and destinies because of a single event."

"But that would still be parallel dimensions within the same universe. I come from another universe."

As Josh explained, the silver fireball in his hand exploded and transformed into various nebulae, eventually becoming a miniature simplified map of the universe. Then more fireballs appeared and burst apart, instantly turning Howard’s room into a simplified three-dimensional star map.

"You mean you come from a universe like that?" Howard looked at the strange flaming forms, then poked one with a pen. The pen was immediately burned away without even ashes remaining.

He no longer dared underestimate those flames. Turning to Josh, he hesitated before saying, "But the distances between universes are unimaginably vast, and there are many unstable things out there, such as black holes. I’ve heard those things can destroy the structure of space, can’t they?"

"That’s true, but if you use magic to navigate, it becomes easy. You can directly avoid those things."

"Magic?" Howard said almost obsessively. As a great scientist, he naturally shared a scientist’s common trait—the courage to understand and explore the unknown. And now, such a thing had appeared right before his eyes.

"All of this is magic?"

"Yes."

"What a magnificent thing."

PS1: I went traveling during the National Day holiday, so the chapters were posted automatically and I couldn’t reply to anything–

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PS3: I’m getting a featured recommendation next week. Should I update twice a day?

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