The Ancient One had lied.
That was Hong Fei's firm conclusion. He suspected her indulgence toward him stemmed from this timeline's inevitable destruction—perhaps she hoped to use him for salvation, or simply as an escape route. If this world truly was doomed, what would trigger its end?
Could anything prevent it? Or should he just grab whoever he could and flee? As for the Time Variance Authority, the Sacred Timeline, and that Kang the Conqueror nonsense—those were problems he'd face eventually whether he liked it or not. Meet force with force, water with earth. Simple as that.
Even if the entire universe was destined to blink out of existence, he still had to live earnestly right now. Wallowing in despair made him no better than a salted fish hanging on a line, waiting to dry. The only thing that pissed him off was how little he actually knew.
Pushing the thoughts aside, Hong Fei arrived at his next destination.
India.
He hadn't wanted to come. But following his principle of saving lives (and making money where possible), here he was. The moment he appeared above the city, he spotted fighter jets already arrayed across the sky in formation.
At the sight of the White Dragon, the jets scattered, pilots waving excitedly from their cockpits. Hong Fei banked sharply away. He was flying just fine—no need for a mid-air collision. Crashing would be bad enough, but getting scammed afterward? Unthinkable.
His gaze dropped, locking onto his target below. The dragon's massive body twisted, plunging earthward—
Then golden light erupted from the ground. A radiant beam lanced upward, coalescing into a shimmering figure mid-air. Another local god of faith.
Hong Fei abruptly lost all interest in divine slaughter. Right now, he just wanted to turn tail and leave. Not my fault if I can't save you—blame your god for interfering. Don't come crying to me later.
But the locals denied him even that excuse.
A sea of people packed the streets below, pointing at the luminous apparition with faces twisted in outrage. Their collective shouts formed a deafening cacophony. Had Hong Fei known their languages, he'd have heard:
"The hell are you doing here?!"
"Piss off!"
"I don't care which god you are—get the fuck out!"
"Jets! Bomb this idiot to ashes!"
The translations weren't precise, but the sentiment was clear. Now that they understood what the White Dragon's presence meant, nobody gave a damn about miraculous manifestations.
The mildly religious immediately thought of Egypt's Sun God Ra—they had no desire to become nuclear ghosts. The zealots, once they pushed past their fear of death, recalled the Archangel Michael's fate in Paris.
Even if they weren't afraid to die, nobody wanted to watch their deity get torn apart and devoured by the Dragon King.
The uproar from below seemed to give the glowing divine figure pause. At that exact moment, the fighter jets—previously avoiding Hong Fei—wheeled in perfect unison, locking onto the radiant intruder.
Missiles streaked through the air like fireworks on New Year's Eve, each one homing in on the not-yet-fully-manifested deity. Explosions ripped through the sky in rapid succession, fireballs blooming like deadly flowers as shockwaves rattled windows miles away. Master Hong blinked. Down on the streets, the crowd suddenly roared in perfect unison, "Nuke that goddamn god!"
Even after exhausting their missile payloads, the fighter squadron wasn't satisfied. They formed up like hungry sharks and made strafing runs past the luminous pillar, autocannons chattering as they pumped rounds into its shimmering core. The air filled with cordite smoke and the staccato thunder of high-velocity impacts. Then—crunch.
The White Dragon's head swiveled toward the sound. One overeager pilot, caught up in the frenzy, had clipped his wingman during an aggressive turn. Master Hong watched the damaged jet corkscrew downward, trailing a plume of black smoke, and sighed. These humans never failed to surprise him—always inventing new ways to screw themselves over.
As the pilot ejected, the White Dragon's tail lashed out with whip-crack precision, batting the doomed aircraft away from the populated city below. Just then, the divine light shuddered—then winked out entirely. Considering their... enthusiastic cooperation, the Dragon King saw no reason to hold a grudge. He'd even done them the favor of disposing of their nuclear problem.
When the White Dragon vanished through the portal, the entire city exhaled. Hong's subsequent stops went smoothly—each warhead swallowed into the Dragon Dimension without divine interference. His final target: Los Angeles, California.
Master Hong scowled. HYDRA's placement strategy made no sense. Washington was the obvious choice for North American nukes—why stash one in Los Angeles? Were they trying to piss off every gangster, methhead, and washed-up actor on the West Coast? And why not hit Vegas while they were at it? These idiots couldn't even do apocalypse logistics right.
The White Dragon's dramatic descent sent Angelenos scrambling. They'd had no idea a nuke lurked in their backyard until the Dragon King tore open a half-built skyscraper like it was tissue paper, plucking the warhead from its guts. The crowd erupted in cheers—apparently, nearly dying made for great entertainment.
Out of fourteen nukes, thirteen now rested safely in the Dragon Dimension. The sole exception? The one Sun God Ra had forced to detonate. Ironically, that single explosion might've saved Hong Fei a world of trouble—without Ra's divine intervention, people might never have realized they were nuclear warheads at all.
Otherwise, Hong Fei would've faced more than just divine beings—he'd have had every military on the planet shooting at him. And the Dragon King, never one to turn down a fight, would've gladly suited up in his black armor and sent them all straight to hell.
The White Dragon shimmered mid-air, scales dissolving into a cascade of light as Hong Fei resumed human form. He gave Los Angeles' starstruck citizens a lazy wave before stepping through space to Washington. The battle around the Helicarriers had reached its climax—with Steve playing double agent for The Foundation.
Pierce was too busy screaming under Hong Fei's tender ministrations to issue orders to his brainwashed super-soldier. That left John Garrett—long since fled—as the only one pulling strings. Hong's return electrified Tony's team. The armored Avenger responded by blasting a Helicarrier's engine to scrap metal, sending the massive craft listing sideways toward the Potomac.
Pierce was enjoying the torture Hong Fei had bestowed upon him...
Steve threw his shield into the rapidly spinning engine of another Helicarrier; instantly, the fan blades clattered, and in the blink of an eye, a violent explosion erupted. Hulk followed suit, jumping directly into the engine. The razor-sharp spinning blades didn't mince him into meat paste; after being passively spun around many times, Hulk destroyed the engine completely with one punch.
Seeing this, Hong Fei thought to himself: There is still a lot of potential to be dug out from Hulk! Rhodes was clearing enemies on the warship, Barton led people to blockade the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters building, and Luke Cage and Matt... they were among the people Barton brought. Three Helicarriers were falling simultaneously.
Although there was a river below, it was hard to guarantee they would all fall obediently into the water. Moreover, even if they fell into the river, it might trigger a chain of secondary explosions, which would be very detrimental to the safety of the city and its residents.
"Hong, help me out!"
This was Tony.
"Hong, I beg you!"
This was Steve.
"Hulk!!"
This was Hulk.
If it weren't for Steve, do you think I would have stepped in? Hong Fei flashed forward and transformed into the White Dragon. With an incredibly agile posture, his dragon body soared around the three Helicarriers. The river water below instantly surged upward into the sky, the clean water turning into ribbons that followed behind the White Dragon.
After wrapping around the falling Helicarriers, he supported them and slowly lowered them to the ground. The battle came to an end. The remaining HYDRA members on the Helicarriers surrendered straightforwardly, a whole crowd coming to the deck, crawling on the ground with their hands behind their heads. Everyone gathered at the main entrance of the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.
As soon as Tony landed, he opened his faceplate, revealing a sweat-covered, flushed face, and said to Hong Fei with a smile, "Nice job, you saved humanity."
Fourteen nukes couldn't wipe out humanity, but some of these fourteen nukes could trigger a nuclear war that no rational person would want to see; that was the root cause that would truly lead to the extinction of humanity. The terror of the Dead Hand system was not just an empty reputation. Steve also cast a look of reverence. As for the others, there was no need to say more; even blind Matt was filled with excitement and agitation. But Hong Fei was calm. This matter shouldn't have been so troublesome. He had always believed in overestimating the enemy, but he had still been careless when it came to HYDRA.
On one hand, he had underestimated Pierce's ruthlessness and determination; on the other, he had underestimated HYDRA's power. Therefore, although the result was clearly beneficial to him, the process was not satisfactory.
"Round up the prisoners, investigate their crimes. Kill those who deserve to die, and sentence the rest to life imprisonment."
Tony was taken aback and kindly reminded him, "Uh... that, we don't seem to have the specific law enforcement and judicial power."
Hong Fei smiled at him, "You have used law enforcement power many times already. As for judicial power, from now on, The Foundation has it." Turning to face the Triskelion, Hong Fei added, "Gather everyone inside. Wait for Big Head to come and interview them one by one. Take those who have no issues back to The Foundation; deal with those who have issues in the same way." Everyone shouted in unison, "Yes!"
After giving instructions, Hong Fei returned to Kamar-Taj.
"I'm done. Can you tell me now?"
The Ancient One sat cross-legged, tinkering with the tea set in front of her with a calm and natural demeanor.
"No."
"You already know I've figured something's wrong, so why keep quiet?"
"No need to rush."
"Maybe others can wait, but I can't. Tell me now, or I'll drive straight to Strange and beat him to death. I'm not joking—right now, I'm angry enough to do it."
The Ancient One sighed and slid a steaming cup of tea toward Hong Fei, the liquid trembling at the brim.
"Once you've gathered all the Dragon Power, I'll tell you everything."
Hong Fei lifted the cup.
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Good."
He threw his head back and drained it in one swallow. Scalding heat flooded through him, pores flaring open as if purging tension from his bones. He stood abruptly, chair scraping, and flicked a dismissive hand.
"I'm gone."
"In such a rush?"
"I'm about to break through."
The Ancient One's eyelids lifted, something like envy flickering in her gaze. This wasn't an ending—it was the moment before eruption, the crackle of energy straining against earthly limits. Her outline wasn't even half complete. Did he really think she'd let it end here?