Chapter 002: The Ultimate Thanos

Hanyue and Yushu slept until the afternoon before crawling out of bed, their bodies limp and devoid of strength, showing how much Wang Bo had exhausted them the night before.

The two women didn't regain their energy until that evening.

Wang Bo took them, along with Yin Ruiji, to stroll through the night market.

Though the night of Luoyang, the divine capital, lacked the dazzling lights and bustling traffic of a modern city, it was steeped in ancient charm, with dragons dancing amid the crowd, offering a unique flavor.

Wang Bo had visited several ancient eras and had a clear understanding of the Tang Dynasty's nights.

At this hour, ordinary people might still be working or already asleep.

But the wealthy were different; as long as Luoyang had no curfew, they had plenty of places to enjoy themselves.

The most typical were the pleasure quarters.

These places could be called a man's paradise; anyone with a bit of money loved to frequent them.

Not to mention nobles and idle rich youths.

By day, these people appeared respectable, but once night fell and they entered the pleasure quarters, they let loose and indulged.

Besides these, there were some special places where revelry could last from night till dawn.

Thus, ancient nights were not as lonely as one might imagine.

But these nightlife activities belonged only to the wealthy or privileged; those without money could only stay home with their wives and children by the warm stove.

Wang Bo, Hanyue, Yushu, and Yin Ruiji arrived at a theater, found a good seat, and sat down, sipping wine while enjoying songs and dances.

After they had their fill of fun, he took the three women back to the Wang residence.

For several days in a row, Wang Bo stayed here with the women.

But good times didn't last long; after a few days, Wang Bo received a prompt.

[Host, you should undertake a new mission.]

Wang Bo rolled his eyes but didn't refuse, since it wasn't something he could reject. So he asked, "What's the new mission?"

[The new mission is that the host must go to the Marvel world and stop someone from destroying the world.]

The Marvel world? Wang Bo's heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help asking, "Who? So powerful they can destroy the Marvel world?"

[It is Thanos.]

"Thanos?" Wang Bo was stunned. "Thanos would destroy the Marvel world? No, that's not right. Thanos shouldn't be that kind of person."

Wang Bo remembered that Thanos had always strived to save the universe, even wiping out half of all life in the Marvel universe for that goal. In a sense, though Thanos was an enemy of humanity and all living beings, his actions weren't necessarily bad for the universe itself.

At least in some ways, Thanos's deeds prolonged the universe's life.

But now, the cheat was telling Wang Bo that Thanos no longer intended to prolong the universe's life but to destroy it.

That didn't make sense.

"What went wrong?" Wang Bo couldn't help asking.

[The Thanos of the Marvel world has been influenced by the thoughts of another Ultimate Thanos, thus conceiving the idea of destroying the world.]

Huh, Ultimate Thanos?

Wang Bo was baffled. What the hell was this Ultimate Thanos? He had never heard of it.

[Ultimate Thanos is the ultimate form of Thanos from some world. This Thanos is terrifying; he not only defeated deities like Death, Infinity, and Eternity, absorbing their power, but even the Living Tribunal fell to this Ultimate Thanos.]

Holy shit, that fierce?

Wang Bo was startled. The five major deities of the Marvel world—Eternity, Infinity, Death, Oblivion, and Galactus—except for the last one, who was rather embarrassing and often died, the other four all maintained high prestige.

Especially the goddess Death, who was Thanos's beloved.

And she died at the hands of this Ultimate Thanos?

This Ultimate Thanos was too insane; he killed his wife to prove his dao.

And the Living Tribunal, one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel world, even above the five major deities, had also lost. That was too terrifying.

"What happened to this Ultimate Thanos in the end? Was he destroyed by the One Above All?" Wang Bo said.

[No, he defeated the One Above All.]

Wang Bo was stunned.

Hey, hey, hey, you've got to be kidding. That's the One Above All, the OAA. Though OAA rarely appeared, everyone who knew Marvel knew that OAA was the God of the Marvel world.

Thanos was just a Titan; how could he defeat OAA?

This Ultimate Thanos was that terrifying?

[In short, though Ultimate Thanos was destroyed, the battle affected the Marvel multiverse. The Thanos of the Marvel world you once visited was influenced by Ultimate Thanos, changing from saving the universe to destroying it. So I need you to enter this universe, stop Thanos from destroying the world, and eliminate him.]

Wang Bo rubbed his temples. This was a lot of information.

Since Ultimate Thanos could even defeat the One Above All, he must have been godlike. So who could have destroyed this Ultimate Thanos?

It seemed the multiverse was deeper than he thought.

Wang Bo asked cautiously, "Are you sure that the Thanos I'm going to eliminate is only influenced in thought, not in power?"

Ultimate Thanos could defeat even OAA, showing his immense strength.

Perhaps a single thought from him could erase Wang Bo.

If the Thanos Wang Bo had to eliminate had absorbed even a thousandth or ten-thousandth of this Ultimate Thanos's power, it would be enough to thrash the current Wang Bo.

So Wang Bo had to clarify this point.

[I can assure you, it's an influence on thought, not on power.]

Wang Bo said, "Oh," thinking that if so, he could still fight.

Though the Thanos from the movie plot was powerful, Wang Bo was no weakling now. He might not be able to beat a fully-gauntleted Thanos, but if Thanos didn't have the full gauntlet, Wang Bo believed he was not inferior.

"Alright, I'll take this mission." After understanding the situation, Wang Bo said decisively.

[Good, pack up, and we'll set off immediately.]

Wang Bo didn't refuse, but before leaving, he took out a dimensional gate, placed it in a bedroom of his mansion, and connected it to the Middle-earth continent.

That night, Wang Bo entered the Marvel world. He had been here once before, and his identity then was none other than Justin Hammer, the archenemy of Iron Man Tony Stark.

So this time, when he entered this world, he was still Justin Hammer.

Nothing had changed.

Wang Bo remembered that the last time he left the Marvel universe, he was at Knowhere, where he had just made a deal with the Collector.