New York Sanctum
Xiao Han's figure landed silently on the rooftop of the Sanctum, the Time Stone hovering in his palm, radiating a faint, eerie green glow.
He gently pushed open the skylight and leapt inside.
The Ancient One was standing in the center of the hall, her back to him, as if she had foreseen his arrival long ago.
"You keep your promises," she said, her voice as calm as still water.
Xiao Han stepped forward and handed her the Time Stone. "Returning it to its rightful owner."
The Ancient One took the stone, her fingertips brushing the Eye of Agamotto. Green light blossomed, and the stone floated into place, slowly embedding itself within the artifact.
She lifted her gaze toward Xiao Han, eyes carrying a hint of curiosity. "You changed their future."
"I just helped out a little," Xiao Han shrugged. "Thanos no longer exists."
The Ancient One lifted a brow. "You killed him?"
"A snap of the fingers." Xiao Han spoke lightly.
The Ancient One remained silent for a moment, then unexpectedly smiled. "Interesting. The timeline shifts because of you, yet the balance of the universe remains undisturbed."
She paused. "Perhaps that is why the other version of me chose to trust you."
"But all of this is only temporary. You will have plenty to deal with later."
Xiao Han didn't comment on that. Instead, he asked, "Where is Strange right now?"
"Still working as a surgeon," the Ancient One said, her gaze drifting toward the window.
"It will be a long time before he becomes Sorcerer Supreme."
"That's good." Xiao Han nodded. "At least this time, he won't have to suffer so much."
The Ancient One looked at him. "What do you plan to do next?"
Xiao Han's lips curled. "Go home."
He raised his hand; golden energy flowed at his fingertips, and a portal slowly opened.
On the other side was the familiar New York skyline—his own universe.
"Master Ancient One," he said before stepping through, "if you have time, come visit my side."
The Ancient One smiled faintly. "I will."
The portal closed, and Xiao Han's figure vanished completely.
The Ancient One stood where she was, gently brushing the Eye of Agamotto, murmuring quietly, "Perhaps… we really do need a Superman."
Earth-Universe
New York
Xiao Han's figure appeared inside the laboratory of Stark Tower.
Tony Stark was hunched over his nanotech armor, adjusting components. When he heard the sound, he jerked up so quickly the tool in his hand almost fell again.
"Holy—! How many times is this now? Xiao, can you not appear out of nowhere every damn time?!" Tony's eyes widened.
"You vanish for three days and I thought you'd run off with a magazine cover model."
Xiao Han chuckled. "Went to another universe for a stroll. Resolved a little issue while I was at it."
Tony eyed him suspiciously. "What issue?"
"Thanos."
Tony's expression became even more confused. "Yeah, I'm not even gonna pretend I understood that."
Xiao Han walked over to the workbench, casually picked up a cup of coffee—though it had gone cold—and took a sip. "Details don't matter. What about you? How's the armor coming along?"
Tony opened his mouth, clearly wanting to bombard him with questions, but eventually just rubbed his temples. "Forget it. You're always like this anyway. The nanotech suit is basically done, but the power core still needs optimization."
Xiao Han set the cup down, reached into his system space, and tossed Tony a chunk of raw vibranium. "Try this."
Tony caught it quickly. The moment he looked down, his eyes lit up. "Vibranium?! Where did you get this?"
"Wakanda," Xiao Han said casually. "Borrowed some."
Tony's mouth twitched. "Borrowed? You sure it wasn't stolen?"
Xiao Han held out his hands innocently. "It's not like they'll run out."
Tony rolled his eyes, but the properties of the vibranium quickly pulled him in. He became absorbed, excitedly studying it. "With this, I can upgrade the suit… but it's still not enough. Whatever, let me examine it first."
Watching Tony fall into research mania, Xiao Han chuckled and turned toward the floor-to-ceiling window.
Outside, the night sky of New York shone with countless stars. The city lights flowed like a river of galaxies.
His super-hearing captured the distant wail of sirens, the chatter of pedestrians, even the rumble of the subway deep underground.
Everything was familiar—yet filled with infinite possibility.
[System Prompt: Current Growth Points: —— Points. Would you like to enter the System Shop to redeem rewards?]
Xiao Han focused, and the system interface unfolded before him. He browsed through the vast array of items until his gaze stopped on [Doomsday Cells].
"These points… still far from enough," he murmured.
But that didn't matter. He had plenty of time.
Xiao Han turned and walked back to the workbench.
Tony was immersed in adjusting the nanostructure displayed in a hologram, fingers dancing rapidly across streams of data.
Suddenly—slam! A thick stack of metallic documents landed on the table in front of him, shaking his coffee cup.
"What's this?" Tony frowned, then noticed Xiao Han standing beside him with a faintly amused smile.
"Your new toy," Xiao Han tapped the stack. "More interesting than vibranium."
Tony flipped open the first page suspiciously—then froze mid-motion, pupils tightening.
"Wait… this is…" His voice wavered with rare shock.
The hologram automatically scanned the documents and expanded a complex energy model nearby.
A miniature star was contained within a magnetic matrix, searing plasma burning steadily within the force field, releasing pure, overwhelming energy.
"A… synthetic sun?"
Tony jerked his head up, eyes sharp. "This tech doesn't exist on Earth! A year ago that Spider-Man kid fought some scientist who worked on something similar."
"But this…" He jabbed a finger at the projection. "F—! You're telling me someone shoved a star into a reactor?!"
Xiao Han shrugged. "Alien tech. A little stronger than your little lightbulb."
Tony grabbed the documents, flipping rapidly through them, muttering nonstop: "Magnetic confinement parameters… plasma turbulence suppression… energy density—holy…"
He suddenly looked up, gaze burning. "Where did you get this? And don't tell me you made it."
"A trophy from another universe," Xiao Han cut in.
"The source isn't important. What matters is—" He pointed to a line of equations at the end.
"This thing can be built."
Tony took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
He set the documents down, braced both hands on the table, lowered his head for several seconds—
Then grinned widely.
"JARVIS, clear my schedule for tonight."
"Sir, you have a dinner planned with Miss Potts."
"Postpone it. No—cancel it." Tony didn't even look up, fingers already flying across the holographic keyboard.
"Tell her… uh… tell her the world is ending again and I need to save the planet."
Xiao Han raised a brow. "That excuse works?"
"It works every time," Tony said without looking away, fully focused as he pulled up Stark Industries' energy database.
"Wait."
Tony suddenly narrowed his eyes. "You're not planning to use this synthetic sun to…"
"Replace your Arc Reactor?" Xiao Han laughed.
"No. Something even more straightforward." He tapped his own chest.
"It'll let me maintain full power even far away from a real star. And for you…"
Tony finished his sentence, eyes blazing with manic excitement. "Infinite energy. Real, clean, inexhaustible energy."
He shot to his feet. "JARVIS, contact Rhodey and requisition that abandoned nuclear testing site in Alamogordo—we're renting it for a week!"
Xiao Han folded his arms. "Shouldn't you run a small-scale test first?"
"Small-scale?" Tony snorted, drawing a ten-meter-wide spherical structure in the hologram.
"This is small-scale. First-gen prototype. Power output enough to light up all of Manhattan." He paused, then frowned.
"But magnetic stability is a problem. If the plasma leaks—"
"Then it won't light Manhattan—it'll erase it," Xiao Han said calmly.
Tony glared. "That's not funny."
"I'm not joking." Xiao Han walked over and traced several golden lines through the projection.
"So the magnetic generator needs upgrades. Use vibranium as the base and fuse in Uru metal's magical properties."
"Give the force field self-repair capability!" Tony slammed the table.
"Genius! I'm starting to like you more and more, Xiao! Seriously—what are you? Are all aliens this insane?"
-------------------------
Fully Completed English PDF of this fan-fic on my Patreon shop if you want to support and own the full fan-fic in one go. Just grab the PDF and binge the entire story from start to finish!
Patreon.com/Ramzane