On their search for a safe haven, JARVIS's terrain scanning function was of great help. They didn't need to check each house to see if monsters lurked inside. All they had to do was let Jarvis do a quick scan while standing on the street to locate all the empty houses.
Before entering a room, however, Riley would always use his spider-sense to determine the room's safety. However, after a few attempts, everyone began to realize this method was not foolproof.
"My spider-sense is constantly tingling, no matter which room you want to enter, it just keeps buzzing!" Riley furrowed his brows, his face contorted in agony. He shook his head, "There's no safe place around here!"
"Does your spider-sense vary in intensity?" Jarvis was more interested in finding variables.
"I can't distinguish." Riley held his aching head. "I can hardly hear you guys anymore—something must be threatening it...but where? Where is it?"
By the end of his outcry, Riley's voice reduced to a pained groan. Xu Shang-Chi quickly went over to support him, "Maybe you should try to suppress your heightened senses."
"I can't! I can provide an early danger warning, I can-"
"You can do jack shit!" Xu Shang-Chi quickly cut him off, "Your warning system's driving you insane! Cut it out! Now!"
"Riley, my vital analysis device indicates your heart rate and blood flow are not normal. I also think you should stop using your spider-sense," Jarvis suggested earnestly.
"I can't stop!" Riley gritted his teeth, "It's instinctive, just as you need to eat and drink. I can't block it!"
Xu Shang-Chi helped him walk ahead, "Then try as much as possible not to think about it. Don't consider it as a danger signal, just pretend your ear got punched and it's ringing."
As they continued their discussion, the group moved along the southern edge of their crossing. Upon arriving at another street, Jarvis blinked and announced, "This should be Warren Street in the Brooklyn Area, there should be a bar ahead, with a cellar underground."
"This is New York???" Wanda asked in surprise. She looked around but could not see any of the iconic buildings she expected. Only scenes of decay met her eyes.
"Unfortunately, yes" Jarvis nodded, "New York, it seems, has been destroyed."
Riley, however, looked instinctively in one direction, hoping to see the towering New York City skyline landmark, the Stark Building, but it had vanished too.
When they reached the bar entrance Jarvis had mentioned, they found no monsters inside. However, there were human corpses strewn about, all violently torn apart. Some had their upper body missing, others their lower half, and some had been disemboweled, their innards spilling out.
"Based on the time of death, the catastrophe has likely been ongoing for at least three months," Jarvis remarked calmly.
Riley turned his head away, unwilling to view the horrific sights of decayed bodies. Wanda covered her mouth and nose, visibly distressed. Even for Scarlet Witch, who had seen much in her lifetime, this sight was beyond belief.
"The monsters we encountered earlier seemed to have been transformed from humans, yet why haven't these corpses been transformed as well? Or have the monsters already abandoned their bodies?" Xu Shang-Chi mused aloud.
Quickly, he noticed some residues on the ground that didn't seem human. The residue seemed to follow a path leading away from the bar exit. Where had they gone?
Despite his brief time in New York, Xu Shang-Chi knew that, in a catastrophe, the city's dense population made for an unimaginably high number of victims. The numerous corpses in the bar seemed both excessive and insufficient compared to what he expected.
Not to mention, they had encountered only a few monsters on their way. Many, like the one Xu Shang-Chi met earlier, seemed menacing but lacked an aggressive desire to attack. After the group sidestepped around them, the creatures did not bother to pursue—an unnatural reaction.
Considering this, the group reached the bar's backdoor and, sure enough, found a door leading to the cellar.
Upon opening the circular cellar door, Riley glanced inside and immediately let out a painful cry. Holding his head, he warned: "No! Don't go down! It's dangerous!!"
Jarvis gently furrowed his brow and rubbed his temple, confirming the scan of the inside. He then spoke: "There's nothing inside, just stored goods. It's safe."
"Actually, I also object to taking shelter in a place with only one exit." Jarvis continued his analysis, "Because if something unexpected happens, we'll lose the strategic space to evade. However, guarding the exit should not be difficult for us, so I think this place can…"
"No!!" Riley raised his voice, clutching his eyes, "Don't go down!!!"
"What is it, Riley?" Xu Shang-Chi grabbed Riley's waist as he was preparing to kneel and asked, "What did you see?"
"I can't see anything, nothing at all!" Riley kept repeating while desperately shaking his head, "Do not enter the darkness or confined places..we can't stop..."
Xu Shang-Chi, who was holding Riley, could distinctly feel Riley trembling all over. Ever dilating pupils and trembling lips suggested that he was sinking into some terribly horrifying vision.
Meanwhile, Wanda found herself staring at the dark entrance to the cellar. The entrance became more and more evident in her field of vision, as if a hole had been imprinted on her eyes.
She felt a skewed push against her body, much like a swirling wind.
No, it was more like water. Wanda felt a thick current envelop her, attempting to lift her off her feet and carry her away.
She felt disoriented by the lack of ground beneath her, as if she was being pulled into the gaping abyss, like waste down a sink drain.
"Wanda! Wake up! Now!"
Startled awake, she found the others sprawled on the ground. Xu Shang-Chi clung onto a raised floor tile, Riley held onto his other hand, and Jarvis braced himself against the corner of a building, his veins straining.
"Wanda, what's wrong? Why has the Chaos Power gone out of control?!"
"I, I don't know..." Wanda blinked and looked down, noticing a whirlpool pattern in the sand at her feet. At its center lay the dark entrance to a basement.
The raging Chaos Power still hadn't wholly subsided, suggesting a storm conjured by Wanda's magic had nearly pulled everyone towards this basement entrance.
Between panting breaths, Wanda said, "I don't remember anything. I saw some visions...They...They were pulled into the whirlpool."
"Calm down, Wanda. You mustn't lose control," admonished Xu Shang-Chi as he walked over, bent at the waist. He shut the basement door that had been blown open, adding, "There's definitely something wrong with this basement. We mustn't go down."
"Then where shall we go?" Jarvis asked, frowning.
"The roof," said Xu Shang-Chi, looking Jarvis in the eye. "We must go against our instincts. The more something intrigues us, the further we must steer away from it."
Without waiting for Jarvis to respond, Xu Shang-Chi blurted out impatiently, "Whatever comes instinctively to you superheroes, we must do the opposite."
"All this, whether it's an uncontrollable basement entrance or Riley's non-stop spider-sense, I couldn't care less about," he ranted. "I just want to stay as far away as possible."
"So now, we're going to find an open roof and stay there until daybreak. My brain is switching off until then. No matter what I hear, see or encounter, I won't react! I'd advise you all to do the same!"
Wanda looked at Xu Shang-Chi's nervous reaction and pursed her lips. As they heading toward the bar roof via the external metal staircase, she turned to him, "You said you were from S.H.I.E.L.D right?"
Xu Shang-Chi nodded. Then came another question from Wanda, "And you're an Easterner who trained at SWORD. So you must be related to SWORD?"
Xu Shang-Chi nodded again. Wanda's gaze shifted. She deliberately fell behind, then tapped Xu Shang-Chi's shoulder and said, "Whatever you experienced in the past doesn't matter. Believe in our ability to take care of ourselves. We will get back safely."
Xu Shang-Chi looked at Wanda, aware that Miss Witch might have misunderstood something, but he let it be.
While unsure if he could convincingly play out the role of a seasoned and wronged agent, he knew if he didn't take charge, the superheroes might recklessly surge forward at full throttle, right into a shit storm.
Xu Shang-Chi knew he had no experience in dealing with danger, but what set him apart was that he used to be an ordinary person.
Considering that the Scarlet Witch and Spider-Man were both bordering on losing control, this was not a world where one could go all out. Only the meeker and more cautious ones with a strong will to survive stood a chance. This is exactly where Xu Shang-Chi excelled.
The one thing ordinary people are best at is staying alive, by hook or by crook.
The bar was only three stories high, roughly equivalent to a residential four-story, given the high first floor. Half the railing was broken, leaving nothing but cigarette ends, bottles, branches, and dry leaves.
Once they reached the roof, Jarvis took a look around, "I suggest we find a higher vantage point to study the surrounding landscape and plot our path for tomorrow."
"We'll fall," Xu Shang-Chi said seriously. Before Jarvis could retort, he emphasized again, "As soon as we climb a taller building, someone is bound to fall off for some reason or another. So, we stay here. We don't go anywhere."
Jarvis stared, speechless. He was clueless about the certainty in Xu Shang-Chi's assertiveness.
But soon he noticed that Xu Shang-Chi was right. Wanda seemed enticed again and began walking towards the edge of the broken railing.
"Hey, Wanda, where are you going?" Jarvis rushed over and grabbed Miss Witch's arm, but Wanda mumbled, "I am doing a... patrol. Maybe there is something... down there..."
Another arm, quicker this time, caught hold of Wanda's arm and hoisted her up by her waist. Xu Shang-Chi then threw her back to the center of the roof. Patting his hands together, he said, "There's nothing down there..."
"But..."
"There's nothing!"