The audience finally left the theater after Li Yue's magic show ended. Li Yue remembered to thank Peter Parker and his family before saying goodbye.
After everything was said and done, Li Yue returned backstage and met Uncle John, who was accompanied by Barry.
"Mr. Li Yue, your magic performance is really wonderful. I am a prop master, so I know about magic tricks, but even I must admit that your performance was amazing. Especially that last magic; I have no idea how you did it at all. Can you tell me the trick?" Barry immediately rushed to Li Yue with his question. Iris also looked curious.
Li Yue's performance had deeply shocked Barry. As a magician himself, he knew the basic principles and the secrets of magic. However, Li Yue's magic eluded him. Especially since the two boxes he provided were completely normal.
"Sorry, Barry, but this is a secret."
Li Yue obviously can't answer Barry's question; would Barry even believe Li Yue if he said that he used supernatural abilities to perform the magic?
Seeing Li Yue's reluctance, Barry regretfully stopped pushing further.
"By the way, Uncle John, I think I would have to bother you tonight. I am currently homeless, after all," Li Yue said as the group left the theater.
"No problem, Li Yue; you have helped me a lot after all. You can pick any room in my house!" Uncle John approved with a smile.
Li Yue ended up living in Uncle John's house for a while. Uncle John's wife had passed away due to illness a few years ago, and they had not been blessed with any child. Uncle John was living alone in the house, so there was no problem for Li Yue to stay in there.
Li Yue and Uncle John sat together on the sofa, watching TV. There was no computer in Uncle John's house, which was understandable considering Uncle John's age. He would not have any need for a computer.
Li Yue's attention was not on the TV. Instead, he was thinking about the world that he had arrived in. He had met several people with strikingly familiar names today; it was still possible that it was merely a coincidence. But Li Yue cannot be sure. It seemed that he would have to let time tell the truth about this world.
"Tony Stark: the visionary, genius, patriot. As the son of the legendary weapon developer Howard Stark, he had stolen the spotlight from his young age with his extraordinary intelligence. He built his first circuit board at the age of seven, and his first engine at the age of six, graduating summa cum laude from MIT at the age of 17.
"After his parents passed away, Howard Stark's lifelong ally Obadiah Stane took over the Stark family enterprises until Tony Stark turned 21, whereupon the young heir returned to be the new CEO of Stark Industries. Tony brought his father's legacy to a new height with his smart weapons, advanced robotics, and satellite technologies. Now, Tony had established the standard of the weapon industry, protecting the freedom of the United States and her interest across the world."
The sound from the TV finally pierced Li Yue's thoughts, returning him to his senses. He finally understood what world he had entered when he saw a black man in an American military uniform receiving a trophy from a bald man.
"Hah, a peace award is given to an arms dealer. Hilarious."
Li Yue ignored Uncle John's indignant remarks; he was no longer in the mood to humor Uncle John's complaint.
The Marvel Universe is an extremely dangerous world. There were countless strong people here, and an endless amount of disasters. The alien invasion of New York, the Dark Lord Dormammu trying to devour Earth, and then a purple bald head dedicated to birth control of the universe. And that was only in the movies; there were many more characters that didn't get any spotlight in the movie, and who knows if there are other dangerous characters beyond that.
Li Yue's superpower was not weak, but it was nothing compared to the powers that clashed in this world. Moreover, while Li Yue's superpower afforded him impregnable defense and guaranteed escape, his offensive ability was very low. Li Yue was confident that his physical fitness was comparable to or even surpassed Captain America, but with Captain America's combat experience, his chance would be fifty-fifty at best.
But no matter how hard Li Yue thought about it, he had already arrived in the Marvel universe. He had no idea how he had arrived here, much less how to return.
Fortunately, he had arrived before Tony had become Iron Man, but the moment was coming fast. With the time that he had left, Li Yue could only depend on his own strength in this dangerous world.
"As long as I have the strength to do it, I'll make sure Thanos won't snap his finger without my permission," Li Yue resolved himself.
At the same time...
Tony was still playing dice when his good friend Colonel Rhodes found him. Tony was always swarmed by beautiful women in public places such as this, but it didn't take much to push through to get to him.
Rhodes had come to hand the peace award trophy that was addressed to Tony, but Tony casually handed it to a beautiful woman beside him.
Rhodes was one of Tony's few friends, so he already knew about Tony's attitude and ignored the callous act. He simply reminded Tony about the weapon demonstration the next day before leaving.
Tony prepared to return to his seaside villa not long after that, but a beautiful reporter stopped him before he got to his sports car.
It bears mentioning that Tony was also a genius in picking up women. He was able to bring the reporter to his home and his bed with only a few sentences.
The next day, at the headquarters of Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division—later renamed as SHIELD...
Nick Fury and Maria Hill were watching a video in the director's office. It was footage of Li Yue's magic show the previous night.
Nick Fury sat silently for quite some time after the video finished playing. They had watched the video five times. Nick Fury didn't replay the video this time and instead turned to Hill. "Tell me about this video and this person. With as much detail as possible."
"Yes, sir. The video came from a vacationing special agent. The technical department checked the video and found no evidence of fraud. The magician in the video is called 'Li Yue;' he claims to be from China, but we have no information on him. We only knew that he was brought to the theater by the owner, John. He replaced the original magician, whose mother was seriously ill and could not make it for the show. Thus, the performance in the video."
Hill noticed that Nick Fury didn't comment on her explanation, instead staring at the man in the video.
Hill paused for a moment before continuing, "The magic tricks early in the video were relatively easy to explain; they were simple deceptions. But there is no reasonable way to explain the magic at the end of the video. Our staff consulted world-class magicians, but none of them could come up with a reasonable explanation. Someone suggested that there might be a mechanism under the stage, but our agents found nothing when they checked the theater that night. We only found smaller mechanisms for the magic tricks earlier in the video. Nothing abnormal was found in the boxes or the stage."
"Is it possible that he used a body double?" Nick Fury suddenly asked.
"We can't find any information before his appearance yesterday; it was as if he just suddenly appeared. Even if he had a twin brother, it still doesn't explain how he had disappeared and reappeared without alerting anyone around him," Hill replied.
"Keep an eye on him; find an opportunity to get Coulson to meet him. Keep it down low, and don't provoke him," Nick Furry ordered Hill.
Suddenly, a series of knocks came from the office's door.
"Come in," Nick Fury said.
"Director, Tony Stark is missing." Entering the room with the bad news was Coulson, the agent that Nick Fury had just mentioned.