Chapter 1386: The Return of the Old Days (Part 2)

After a while, in a cramped and small bedroom on the second floor of the shop, a long-haired girl sat on the floor, soaked all over, obviously having just been doused with water. She glared at the two young men in front of her with hateful eyes. Xu Shangqi shook his head and said, "Miss Jessica, if you hadn't gone crazy and hit us, I wouldn't have had to use the water-dousing technique to splash you. Are you calmer now?"

Jessica spat, just like the kind of female hoodlum common in Hell's Kitchen. She shook her head hard, throwing her wet hair behind her ears, took a deep breath, and said, "What really splashed me awake wasn't the water, but the movement of you performing magic. Monsters can't perform magic, at least not magic without dark power."

"Can you tell us what happened? We already introduced ourselves just now. We are superheroes from another world and just arrived here not long ago."

"Soon you'll have to stay here forever," Jessica sneered and said, "You just traded punches with that group of monsters, right? Then wait for it, your madness is only a matter of time."

Riley and Xu Shangqi looked at each other. Riley knelt on one knee, looked straight into the eyes of Jessica, who was curled up on the ground, and said, "That's why we want to know what happened here even more, for the sake of us saving you."

"You didn't save me. I was hiding well, and you dragged me here."

"But you couldn't hide there for long," Xu Shangqi emphasized, "The monsters would have found you sooner or later, and there aren't enough survival supplies here."

"Anyway, I'll go crazy sooner or later, hiding for a while is hiding for a while," Jessica said self-abandoningly. She threw the old-fashioned shotgun aside, hugged her legs, and said, "If you must know this desperate fact, I don't mind repeating it."

"As you can see, this world has gone crazy, and this madness started with superheroes. Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man—those superheroes people often saw in the newspapers all turned into monsters."

"Next were ordinary people. A terrifying madness epidemic spread among the crowd. People turned into monsters one after another, and then started to destroy wantonly."

"At first, the FBI and the military were still a bit useful. They used large-scale thermal weapons to wash the ground, and then people discovered that the transmission route of this epidemic wasn't wounds, but the spirit."

Jessica pursed her lips, revealing a desperate expression, and said, "As long as you see them, or even get close to them, you will gradually be infected by madness. That kind of terrifying, irresistible darkness erodes your heart, eventually turning you into a monster like them."

"By the time the government realized this, it was already too late. Many of them had already been transformed. Yes, someone pressed the nuclear bomb button. Fortunately, their chaotic brains made them fail to throw the big bombs in the right places, but the ocean has been polluted, and so has the groundwater."

Riley and Xu Shangqi's faces became heavy. Jessica, pale-faced, muttered, "Some countries in Asia still have remnants of organizations resisting, and there are also some survivor alliances in Texas and Florida, but New York is completely finished. You know why."

Of course they knew. New York was the place where superheroes were most active. If superheroes were the source of infection, it was almost impossible for anything to be left here.

"Then you..." Xu Shangqi spat out a few syllables with some hesitation. He was worried that Jessica's unstable mental state would be stimulated again, so he was extra tactful.

Jessica pursed her lips and lowered her head, revealing a bitter smile, and said, "I'm lucky in misfortune. For a long time before, I was controlled by a supervillain called Purple Man. He built a mental control barrier in my brain."

"When the disaster struck, he died at the hands of a superhero at the first opportunity, but his mental control over me didn't completely end. That barrier was still there, so I relied on my talent to beat away two monsters and hid."

Jessica pointed at her head with her finger and said, "He was a terrifying abuser, manipulating every part of my thinking, depriving me of the ability to think independently, but this actually saved my life. Because of the residual influence, the madness brought by the monsters couldn't control the main part of my brain, so I could face those monsters without going crazy."

"But you were right," Jessica's tone revealed a trace of despair, "This is fundamentally not a long-term plan. As I gradually regain clarity, that kind of madness will invade here sooner or later. I will become a monster like the Avengers."

"The Avengers?" Riley repeated this word with some confusion. Jessica looked up at him, but quickly withdrew her gaze, muttering, "Yeah, the Avengers. Maybe there are some of your old friends in there, Iron Man, Captain America, Lei Shen."

Riley and Xu Shangqi both opened their mouths in shock. Xu Shangqi swallowed and said, "Fine, Iron Man and Captain America are human after all, I can understand. What's going on with Lei Shen?"

"Literal meaning, just that guy who walks around carrying a hammer," Jessica shook her head and said, "There aren't many reports about him in the newspapers, and I don't know much about him. Is there anything special about him?"

He was certainly special, Riley said in his heart. He looked at Xu Shangqi. Obviously, Xu Shangqi thought the same. It seemed Jessica didn't know Lei Shen came from Asgard, but they both knew.

If even the Asgardian god race had fallen, the enemy's strength was probably beyond imagination. They had to re-evaluate the magnitude of the situation.

"How did you come to this universe? Forget it, asking is asking in vain. Before you get infected, hurry up and leave," Jessica waved her hand, stood up, picked up the old hunting gun again, and said, "I have special abilities, it's just that Purple Man's control over me makes me unable to fully exert my power yet. If I go crazy, I might hurt you. Hurry up and get lost."

After speaking, she was about to walk out with the gun. Riley pulled her, looked at her, and said, "You mean, we'll be infected if we face the monsters? But we just solved two monsters."

"That's right, one looked like a zombie, and the other looked a bit like a cobra, just with many more tentacles," Xu Shangqi described.

Jessica's movements paused. She turned to look into Xu Shangqi's eyes and said, "Did you look at them?"

"Of course, that zombie had at least eight eyes. I think it would be hard not to see it," Xu Shangqi answered honestly.

Jessica took two steps back, looking at them as if looking at monsters. She shivered, and then said, "You didn't see, didn't see any terrifying hallucinations? Like suddenly feeling dizzy, and then seeing many pairs of eyes staring at you, tentacles, mucus, and all kinds of terrifying bugs?"

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Seeing Jessica's pale face, Riley knew she must be describing things she had once seen, but he revealed a confused look. And when he turned to look at Xu Shangqi, he found Xu Shangqi was also blank.

"That's a kind of terrifying mental pollution," Jessica shook her head and said, "They will corrode your brain, bit by bit dragging you into the vortex."

"Mental pollution? Where?" Xu Shangqi asked subconsciously.

"I didn't see it," Riley shrugged and said, "I was busy judging whether my spider-sense was working well at the time."

Xu Shangqi recalled and said, "I was performing an inner inspection of the flow of Qi, reciting the incantation in my heart. You know, reviewing before an exam is very important. I didn't want to recite the wrong incantation the first time I performed magic."

At this time, Jessica finally discovered that their expressions didn't look fake. The black-haired girl looked at them both with some curiosity and said, "Are you immune to this kind of pollution? But what's the principle? It can't be because you are visitors from another universe, right?"

Riley and Xu Shangqi looked at each other. Obviously, they thought of the same answer—perhaps the pollution didn't happen, it was just slightly weaker, so they didn't feel it.

They recalled the tearful gratitude they felt when they saw that the monsters and zombies in this world could be touched, and thought of the quiet terror when the terrifying night fell in the dream universe, forming a sharp contrast with the current sunny, breezy, and warm scene—they almost wanted to high-five and cheer.

Riley swallowed, slowly suppressing his excitement, but this action was understood by Jessica as worry and fear. She carried the gun on her shoulder and said, "I have no intention of dragging you into the water, and I don't need anyone to save me. If this is the fate of this universe, I can only say, fine, fuck it, no more victims needed!"

After speaking, Jessica turned and walked downstairs, but Xu Shangqi was one step faster than her, stepping from the side to the stairs, blocking her only path, and saying, "Wait a moment, I have a plan I thought of long ago but haven't implemented yet."

He looked at Riley. Riley of course knew what Xu Shangqi was referring to, so he shrugged and said, "Fine, suit yourself. I hope we can find some survivors to replenish the inventory of our doomsday shelter."

"What kind of riddle are you playing?" Jessica's gaze kept shifting between the two young men, as if guessing their relationship, and also as if thinking about the relationship between herself and their plan.

But regardless, the three walked out of the shop window together. Human survival instinct would prevail at any time. Jessica knew that in a sense, these two people did save her. If there was really a slight possibility that they wouldn't be polluted, then it really saved her.

"So, is this Hell's Kitchen?" Xu Shangqi asked.

"Isn't that obvious?" Jessica stroked the gun barrel and said, "The police cars you see on the road aren't to save the public, just to suppress riots. This is the place that went into chaos first."

"If there is a safe house here that we can utilize, I think it must be..." Xu Shangqi turned to look at Riley. Riley remembered the story about himself that he had once told Xu Shangqi, and then after a little thought, he came to the answer: "Kingpin's palace."

Hearing the familiar name, Jessica raised her eyebrows. She guessed what these two people were going to do, but she still reminded, "I must emphasize to you that in this world, whether it's villains or superheroes, they are all monsters now."

"That terrifying gang boss and his subordinates must have all turned into monsters. They don't just have guns, they have tentacles, and maybe some helpers you can't imagine."

"Aren't you coming?" Riley looked at Jessica and asked with a smile.

Jessica sneered, pulled the bolt hard, and then, under the slightly surprised gazes of Riley and Xu Shangqi, soared into the air, flew into mid-air, and said coldly, "I'll say it again, fuck it!" ===== CHAPTER 1387 =====