Chapter 2: The Passive Skill of Transmigration: Prophecy

Time flies swiftly. It has been 17 years since the Park couple adopted Zhang Lan, with only three months left until his 18th birthday. That's also the remaining time to activate the system.

After the day he fell unconscious, Aunt May came out to take out the trash. Her careful habit of checking the trash can before disposing of the garbage saved his life. Thinking Zhang Lan was an abandoned baby and finding him still breathing, the kind-hearted woman rushed him to the hospital. The hospital declared his physique to be exceptionally healthy, even better than a normal infant's, and after a day without regaining consciousness, they took him home. Aunt May decided to adopt this poor child.

Then came the commotion of Zhang Lan waking up, a story often recounted by Aunt May. With no other choice and the so-called system "crashing," he dismissed the idea of recharging it. After all, who knows if he would even be alive in 100 years to need the system? And if he failed the task after turning 18, wouldn't the system be useless?

Zhang Lan could only focus on training hard and then consider his next move. His training was limited to chakra, physical strength, and the Multi-Shadow Clone Technique. Chakra, simply put, is the energy absorbed from cells mixed with mental energy. To use "techniques," one must form hand seals after extracting chakra.

As for physical energy, it involved rigorous exercise. Perhaps due to his modified physique, his recovery was extraordinary, even better than in his previous life. His mental energy was more than sufficient, given that his soul was in its prime in his previous life.

Although Zhang Lan loved Naruto in his past life, he never obsessed over practicing the twelve basic hand seals, let alone memorizing the sequence of techniques. Now, he regretted it deeply. The only technique he knew was the basic Multi-Shadow Clone Technique, with a casting delay of 0.8 seconds.

Hand seals were fundamental, and one of the few skills that could be improved through sheer effort. As for the legendary technique "Rasengan," he could only dream of it, having spent seventeen years just managing to burst balloons. Where was the protagonist's halo that novels promised?

Without the Shadow Clone Technique, he couldn't create multiple currents in a small area and maintain a spherical shape, making Naruto's shortcut unsuitable for him. Regarding chakra's form and nature transformation, even the trees in his yard remained barren in summer, showing no signs of special abilities.

The only consolation was his mastery of chakra applications like tree climbing, water walking, and defensive output. As for more intricate control, without further training methods, he had to keep practicing these basics.

Besides these tasks, Zhang Lan had two major matters to handle. First, he planned to document every detail of Marvel's storyline he knew from his past life, adhering to the saying, "A good memory is not as reliable as a bad pen." Then, using his mediocre creative skills, he hoped to gain something from it. After all, having come to the Marvel world, he didn't want to just experience an ordinary American life—he could have traveled abroad for that, as if he had the financial means in his past life.

Second, he attempted to write famous works from his past life into scripts and publish them online. As a subtitle translator, he was familiar with the dialogues of many blockbuster films. This was his only "golden finger" after transmigrating. If he didn't use classic works from his past life to show off, would it even be a proper transmigration?

He wasn't skilled in poetry, but when it came to "creating" films, he believed he was unmatched in the Marvel world. Consequently, he founded a literary website named "Zhang Lan Literature Network." The name had no particular reason or symbolism; it was simply endorsed by his own name. In reality, he still used the name Ben Parker, given to him by Uncle Ben.

The website's purpose was merely to provide a platform for himself. He had no ambitions of making it as big as Qidian, the dominant force in online literature in his previous life. So far, the progress was smooth, with several introductory novels attracting a decent readership. He awaited the right moment to release the sensational "Harry Potter" series.

On the first matter, Zhang Lan perfectly exemplified the quality of a third-rate writer. He realized that with his current subpar skills, he couldn't even compete with the gods and demons of fantasy. As for the locals, well, the Hulk was a formidable figure who used Loki as a hammer.

Back to square one, he needed a solid foundation of strength. Currently, his chakra could only cast the E-rank Multi-Shadow Clone Technique twenty times. What could he do with that? He probably couldn't even beat Captain America.

The most convenient way to increase his strength was to recharge the "system" that he had barely tried for ten minutes. Oh, the evils of capitalism! That was Zhang Lan's only comment on the matter.

After numerous attempts, Zhang Lan confirmed that technological energies like electricity were not recognized by the system. It was picky, rejecting Earth's "food." The only energy that seemed to recharge the system was the chakra he had been diligently cultivating.

Zhang Lan wondered why, despite his strong physique and solid mental foundation, his chakra was so limited. After extensive research, he discovered that the chakra he worked hard to cultivate each day mysteriously vanished at midnight. Eliminating all impossible scenarios, the remaining fact was clear—the system was absorbing the chakra. Thus, his chakra level remained just enough to cast twenty E-rank techniques.

He concluded that the system's sustenance must be supernatural energy. Earthly elements like electricity, rocks, and soil had value, but the system didn't consume them. In the real world, Zhang Lan would be helpless, but this was the Marvel universe, where there were plenty of sources for such energy.

The most obvious was the cosmic energy storm that created the Fantastic Four. Adhering to the law of conservation of energy, it was impossible for ordinary people like Reed and his team to develop such powerful abilities with minimal or no consumption. That would be unscientific and violate the law. Even in Marvel, where gods existed, Zhang Lan saw them as merely a group of technologically advanced aliens. Every superhero's emergence had a logical explanation.

The Hulk's gamma rays. Captain America's super-soldier serum. Spider-Man's genetically engineered spider virus, created by his father using his own genes. Therefore, Zhang Lan deduced that the cosmic energy storm must contain terrifying energy, enabling the Fantastic Four to evolve superpowers within days.

Now the question was, as a child adopted by an ordinary couple, even an Eastern boy, why would Reed's team take him to space? His only leverage seemed to be his familiarity with future storylines, a form of "prophecy."

After much consideration, Zhang Lan decided to keep his ability secret unless absolutely necessary. This was the Marvel world, after all, where many powerful beings existed, but truly useful abilities were controlled by elite organizations.

Iron Man was owned by Tony Stark, son of S.H.I.E.L.D. founder Howard Stark and America's leading military weapons supplier. His status was unquestionable, as he dared to mock senators in Congress. Captain America was a soldier and spiritual leader of the army, backed by the government. Black Widow, Hawkeye, and others were high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. As for the Hulk and Thor, the former was currently Earth's strongest, and the latter was an alien prince.

In summary, highly valuable abilities were coveted. Zhang Lan's pseudo "prophecy" ability would be irresistible to any organization. Imagine if Red Skull had a prophet by his side; the world might now be ruled by Hydra.

However, exceptions existed. Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. could be a good collaborator. If Zhang Lan truly had prophetic abilities, he wouldn't mind cooperating with organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D., as it would be a mutual use. S.H.I.E.L.D. needed his predictive intelligence, and he could use them to accomplish tasks beyond his reach, like securing a position in Reed's research team or even accessing the cosmic cube later.

The problem was, he didn't have prophetic abilities. He only knew some storylines, which were precious information for his survival. He wouldn't sell them to any organization. He hesitated over how to decide. For now, he could use this information for his benefit. It was difficult for one person to fundamentally change the world's course, but if S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, or the U.S. government got hold of it, then…

Would the future Marvel world still be the one Zhang Lan knew? After weighing his options, Zhang Lan made up his mind. Now, he had thought of a compromise and was implementing it, waiting for the moment to reap the fruits.