Chapter 460: Assembling the Avengers
"The Quantum Realm?" Professor Hulk looked somewhat puzzled; he felt as if he had heard that term somewhere before.
Seeing the confused expressions on everyone's faces, Peter immediately gave a brief explanation of the Quantum Realm to the group.
"That sounds absolutely fantastical," Steve remarked, feeling it didn't seem very realistic.
Natasha nodded beside him. "Indeed. The Quantum Realm is just a hypothesis of yours; does it actually exist?"
"It exists. I just crawled out of that hellhole." At that moment, a voice came from the doorway.
The Avengers turned around, their eyes widening in shock. The newcomer was Scott Lang, also known as Ant-Man, who had been presumed dead.
Scott, currently wearing a plain blue shirt, strode into the hall and said, "The Quantum Realm definitely exists."
"Can I have one of those? I haven't eaten anything yet," Scott said, looking up at the sandwich in Professor Hulk's hand.
"Of course." Professor Hulk gave a smile and handed the sandwich to Scott.
Scott took a large bite, chewing as he spoke. "Listen, this is absolutely insane. As soon as I got out, I found out everyone had disappeared."
"Especially since I saw my own name in the cemetery..." Scott trailed off, not quite knowing what to say next.
"Take your time," Peter said, gesturing for Scott not to rush.
Scott hurriedly swallowed the bite in his mouth. Seeing this, Professor Hulk immediately pulled a bottle of water from his backpack and handed it to him.
"Thanks a lot, Hulk." Scott felt that this Hulk had changed immensely—he was much better than his previously short-tempered self.
The Avengers stood quietly in the hall, watching Scott eat his snack. Finally, after about five minutes, Scott's stomach was finally satisfied.
"Alright, I've successfully wasted five minutes of my life," Rhodey said, glancing at the time.
"Haven't we all," Rocket added.
"Whoa!" Scott looked at Rocket in surprise. "If you hadn't spoken, I'd have thought you were a mascot plushie."
"What? A mascot?" Rocket looked like he wanted to pull the gun from his waist and give Scott a piece of his mind.
Rhodey quickly restrained Rocket. "Don't be impulsive. There might be something wrong with his head. After all, he stayed in that Quantum Realm thing for five years; his brain hasn't exactly evolved."
"Hey! I was in the Quantum Realm for five years, but it's not like time was frozen for five years! Besides, in reality, I didn't actually spend five years in there," Scott said rather indignantly.
Rhodey shrugged. "Exactly, so you didn't evolve."
"Alright, Scott, keep going," Peter interrupted before Scott could continue his rebuttal. Things couldn't be delayed any further.
Scott nodded and then recounted his experience from five years ago to everyone.
"This is truly incredible." Steve felt his worldview being overturned once again.
"So that means we really do have one more chance to win." Natasha's eyes gradually brightened. Everyone! Everyone could come back!
Nebula listened to their discussion and frowned slightly. "But how do we use the Quantum Realm to achieve time travel?"
"By using Silas's time machine. I checked it—it just needs a completely new operating system and a connection to Scott's Quantum Realm machine."
"The time machine can help us pinpoint our location in time to prevent us from going too far into the past or the future. And the way to enter the Quantum Realm is... to become small enough!"
Peter quickly analyzed the current challenges they faced—specifically, how to become small enough to enter the Quantum Realm.
"Use this." Upon hearing this, Scott quickly pulled Pym Particles from his pocket. This was what he had relied on to shrink and enter the Quantum Realm.
Peter took the deep red Pym Particles and asked, "What is this?"
"Pym Particles. That old man Hank developed this stuff to change the distance between molecules. But he's gone now, and there are only a few Pym Particles left," Scott explained.
"A few? Exactly how many are left? Be specific." Peter needed a precise number.
"Uh... let me think." Scott scratched his head. Having to suddenly state exactly how many were left was difficult for him.
Peter looked at Scott and realized he didn't even know himself. He let out a sigh and said, "I need to research this stuff."
"But time travel is dangerous. If we change things in the present because of something in the past, wouldn't that be disastrous?" Professor Hulk said.
Professor Hulk was thinking ahead the most. Right now, half the population had been wiped out, but if the time travel plan failed and caused the previous timeline to shift, what would happen to this future?
"We don't have a choice, Professor Hulk," Peter said with a determined look in his eyes.
No matter what, Peter was going to implement this plan. He was not one to settle for the status quo, even though he was now married to Gwen.
"We need to come up with a plan," Professor Hulk said after a moment's pause.
Peter broke into a smile, shook the Pym Particles in his hand, and the two turned back to research the substance.
"I'm counting on you to call the others back, Cap!" Peter shouted from the lab entrance.
Steve nodded silently, then turned and said, "I'll leave Clint to you."
"Don't worry, I'll bring him back," Natasha said before turning and leaving.
Steve then took Rocket to Norway—that was where Thor was currently living, and it was also where the Asgardian refugees were making their home.
While the Avengers were busy with their tasks...
The Real World
"You certainly have an appetite..." Qiu Yu watched in stunned silence as Silas finished off the entire table of food.
She had thought there would be plenty of leftovers that she could take home to her parents so nothing would go to waste. She hadn't expected that while Silas didn't look very big, his appetite was actually quite monstrous. In less than half an hour, every plate on the table was clean.
"Sorry, I didn't eat breakfast this morning," Silas laughed, offering a lame excuse.
Qiu Yu nodded blankly. "Since you're done eating, I'll go pay the bill."
"No need, let me handle the money." Silas quickly moved to stop her. Before Qiu Yu could say anything, he hurried to the front desk and pulled out some money. "Keep the change."
"Uh... Sir, we don't accept US dollars here." The cashier at the front desk gave a slight twitch of the lips as she looked at the dollars in Silas's hand.
This foreigner was truly unique, trying to spend US dollars in China. Who knew if these bills were real or fake?
"You don't accept..." Silas was about to ask the clerk why they wouldn't take the money, but then he remembered—ah, right, this was China, not America.
"I'll do it." Qiu Yu slung her bag over her shoulder and hurried to Silas's side. She scanned a code with her phone and asked, "How much is it?"
"A total of 585," the clerk said after calculating the bill.
Beep!
"The money's been sent." After paying, Qiu Yu pulled Silas out of the restaurant.
Silas looked on with some surprise. He hadn't expected that in just two years of development, payments would rely entirely on mobile phones. Even in the high-tech world of Marvel, people still primarily paid with cash or swiped credit cards. It wasn't that they couldn't do it in Marvel, but rather that it simply hadn't been popularized.
"Alright, lunch is finished, so I should be going now," Qiu Yu said with a smile, turning to leave.
"Wait!" Silas hurriedly called out, catching up to her. "This is a check for one million US dollars. Please accept it."
"A check for a million dollars? Pfft—" Qiu Yu almost couldn't help but laugh. "Silas, honestly... I didn't think you foreigners loved to joke so much. But that was actually quite funny."
"This isn't a joke. This was for a project Qiu Feng participated in before he died. He was a computer science major and specifically solved several difficult problems for us, and this was the compensation agreed upon."
"But we didn't expect an accident to happen to Qiu Feng, which resulted in this payment never reaching him. This is actually one of the reasons I came to China."
"Since you are Qiu Feng's younger sister, I can just give this million dollars that belongs to him to you; that way, it's back with its rightful owner," Silas lied.
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