Li Yue, his eyes closed, suddenly "saw" a blue wormhole about the height of a person slowly approaching him. It was similar to the one that would suck him into another universe.
"What's going on? Where did it go? Did I see it wrong?" Li Yue opened his eyes in great excitement, but the wormhole that was glowing brightly just now had vanished.
"Wait, could it be...?" Li Yue closed his eyes again and used his mental power to investigate the area before him. He found the wormhole still quietly standing there.
"As I thought, I can only see it with my mental power," Li Yue realised, confirming the wormhole's presence only with his eyes closed.
"Now, let's see if I can leave this place through it," he thought. Eager to leave this oppressive void, he wasted no time.
...
Li Yue cautiously approached the wormhole step by step. Fortunately, nothing happened until he was within a meter of it, making him exhale in relief.
"This is it!" he thought, steeling himself. He extended his right hand towards the dark centre of the wormhole.
Whoosh!
Li Yue felt an irresistible suction force pulling him in. Almost instantly, he was sucked into the wormhole. However, he didn't experience the usual sensation of world-hopping.
Yet, his surroundings were no longer silent. Instead, they were incredibly noisy, with even car horns piercingly loud.
"Hey, are you going to move or not? Standing in the middle of the road, are you trying to get hit?" a frustrated voice called out.
Opening his eyes, Li Yue saw a car stopped just two meters away, its driver impatiently honking and yelling at him.
"Sorry!" Li Yue apologised, stepping aside. He was still in shock, wondering how he had suddenly ended up in the middle of a road.
"You should go to the hospital. You've been standing in the middle of the road for almost a minute, not responding to the horn. Is something wrong with you? You're young; don't give up on treatment," the driver said "helpfully" as he passed.
"Cough, you're the one who's sick," Li Yue muttered to himself, trying to make sense of his situation.
"Did I travel to another world? And it looks like a modern-day Chinese city," he thought, gathering his little information. The driver spoke Chinese, and the buildings' signs were also Chinese.
"I should figure out my exact location. I'll have Xiaodai hack into the network and find out," Li Yue decided.
...
"Xiaodai, help me—wait, where's Xiaodai?" Li Yue was horrified that Xiaodai, whom he had used to play background music for the Avengers, was now gone. His wrist was empty.
"What's going on?" Li Yue searched himself but found nothing. During this time, he hadn't noticed the sky rapidly darkening.
When he finally looked up, he saw the whole city had gone dark, as if the sun had set.
"What's happening? Why is it suddenly dark? It was noon just a moment ago," he wondered. He clearly remembered it being midday when the driver passed him.
Now, though, the sky was dark, and people on the street were equally bewildered. Cars stopped, and people got out to stare at the sky, some taking photos and videos with their phones.
Above, a massive, cloud-like object spread across the sky, its edges unseen.
...
Before Li Yue could react, the sky suddenly became blindingly bright.
Boom!
A blue beam, as wide as the city itself, descended, and the world went silent. Li Yue tried to disappear but couldn't; whether the beam was too fast or his powers were ineffective, he couldn't evade it.
In that instant, the world was obliterated.
Li Yue, unsure of what death felt like, thought he might be experiencing it.
"Mr. Li Yue, Li Yue..." a distant voice called out, growing nearer, repeating his name.
...
"Li Yue, how do you feel? Are you okay?" Clad in his armour, Tony Stark asked anxiously as Li Yue slowly opened his eyes after several seconds.
Captain America and the others looked at him with concern, waiting for him to confirm his well-being. Even those who had witnessed Li Yue snap his fingers once before couldn't help but worry for him now.
"Don't worry, I'm fine," Li Yue forced a smile, reassuring them. However, no one knew what he had just experienced.
Li Yue himself couldn't tell if what he had gone through was a hallucination or reality.
He decided to bury the experience deep within, knowing it would be futile to discuss it with the others.
Looking at the familiar and unfamiliar faces around him, all filled with respect and concern, Li Yue felt a strange sense of responsibility.
"No wonder everyone wants to be a hero. The trust, respect, and concern in their eyes make you feel the world's weight on your shoulders," he mused.
Among the crowd stood Doctor Strange, his gaze filled with disbelief and curiosity.
Since arriving through the portal, Strange had been out of sorts. Seeing Li Yue take on the role meant for Tony Stark, performing the snap left him even more skeptical.
"Did all those millions of outcomes mean nothing? Was this person so strong that he could handle the gauntlet without any signs of strain?" Strange wondered, baffled by Li Yue's resilience.
Meanwhile, Thanos's forces began to turn to ash, disappearing with the wind.
...