Zombie Spider-Man sat in a corner of the Avengers base with a blank expression.
He didn't understand why things had turned out this way.
In previous resets, Zombie Spider-Man had already discovered traces of the outsiders and had left enough clues for them. He had even written down his whole plan and guided them to find it.
Zombie Spider-Man thought that since they had been following the cosmic reincarnation, they would cooperate with his plan to escape from this place. But now things had clearly gone out of his control.
About half an hour ago, Zombie Captain America had rushed into the Avengers base in a panic, and it obviously looked like he was being pursued by other people.
At the time, the Zombie Avengers were in a meeting discussing how to infect the world and their experiences after becoming zombies. Seeing the panicked expression on Captain America's face, everyone thought there were survivors outside chasing after Captain America trying to wipe them out.
But when Zombie Ant-Man and Zombie Iron Man went out to check, there was nothing behind Captain America. Everyone condemned Captain America for making such a terrible joke at such a critical time, but they were also a bit confused.
If Mr. Fantastic or Iron Man had done this, it wouldn't have been surprising. But Captain America is usually quite dependable and often the one maintaining discipline during meetings. It would be uncharacteristic of him to make such a joke at this time.
Ant-Man assumed Captain America might have been traumatized and suggested they ignore him and continue the meeting, but Iron Man was curious about what could make Captain America flee in panic.
The two had a disagreement, but just then, Captain America who had disrupted the meeting, suddenly started to go crazy. But differently this time, he started to swing his shield at people instead of the mindless biting he used to do before.
To make matters worse, Ant-Man, who rushed into the room, started to indiscriminately attack everyone else. Iron Man, on the other hand, hopped around like a child.
Soon, everyone else in the room started to exhibit various strange symptoms. Some scratched at others' faces with clawed hands, gouging eyes out. Some held tightly around other's necks. Some hanged themselves on the beams with ropes. Others violently banged their heads against the wall, while screaming like a woman.
Zombie Spider-Man thought he had a heart of steel after experiencing so many cycles of reincarnation, but the bizarre scene still scared him. Now he was curled up in a corner, appearing weak, pathetic, and helpless amongst his suddenly crazed companions.
Having already experienced a great deal of stress, reaching numbness, his spirit experienced another kind of stimulus. Zombie Spider-Man felt like his spirit was a string pulled tight to its limit, about to snap at any moment.
Between moments of confusion, Zombie Spider-Man saw a vague white figure standing in the corner. But when he blinked, the shadow disappeared.
Zombie Spider-Man rubbed his eyes vigorously, then opened them wide. A white shadow flitted in front of his eyes.
Spider-Man vaguely saw that it appeared to be a doctor wearing a white coat.
In Stark Building, Stark was welding armor while glancing at Shiller, who was dozing off next to him. He muttered to himself, "I don't know why they sent you out. You don't talk, you always have a stern face, and you always like to scare people with your eyes…"
"Why was it Shiller who asked me to take out the trash before, but once we came to this world, it changed to others? Where did Shiller go?"
Seeing that Shiller didn't react, Stark called to him a couple of times. Shiller gave Stark an impatient look. Stark leaned in and asked him, "Where did Shiller go? Isn't he bored staying in your tower? Did you lock him up? Can I visit him now?"
With a "whoosh" the cold gleam of the umbrella knife reflected squarely on Stark's face. Looking at the blade only a few centimeters from his throat, Stark swallowed nervously and stooped back down to continue his welding.
Helen and Spider-Man, dressed in special protective battle armor, were on their way to the Avengers base. Helen said as they flew, "Communication is the most important thing right now. We have to find a way to contact Zombie Spider-Man, who is still lucid. If we recklessly execute our own plan and the two sides conflict, we are likely to miss a valuable opportunity."
"We are all in the same city, why are we guessing riddles? Why don't we just go ask directly?" Helen curled her lips and added, "If there are other survivors and outsiders, aren't we all gathered together enough to defeat some zombies?"
After finishing her thought, she sighed with resignation, "If I could use all my strength, would it still be this difficult? I would just suffocate the earth…"
"Absolutely not!" Spider-Man's voice came from inside the battle armor, saying, "We have to find a way to make the humans return to normal, not simply destroy them."
"I didn't say I would digest them. Using my digestive system to filter out the virus and then spit them out wouldn't work? Just like how I spat out those lab equipment."
"It's not a bad idea, but it should only be used as a last resort." Spider-Man said. "Humans aren't as strong as metal equipment. You might kill many people just by shaking them around."
Helen fell silent. She knew what kind of person Spider-Man was and knew she couldn't persuade him. But she didn't want to give up her ideas, so she sank back into her own consciousness during the flight, adjusting the messed-up mappings.
But while digging through the mess, Helen discovered many things she had never seen before. Among all the tumbling files, she sharply noticed a folder called "Instinct".
"What is this?" Helen wondered, staring curiously at a file folder she didn't seem to remember. "Do I have instincts I'm unaware of?"
Driven by curiosity, Helen opened the folder. The sheer number of items listed inside shocked her.
Helen and Spider-Man quickly arrived at the Avengers' base. The base and its surroundings were eerily empty; nothing was there.
The puzzled duo looked around, thinking they had come to the wrong place. However, Helen found records of the base's address and Stark's recent flight data using the battle armor, all from equipment in the Stark Building. Could the base have been moved that quickly?
Helen and Spider-Man cautiously approached the interior of the base. As they walked down the corridor, the bizarre traces everywhere sent chills down their spines.
Spider-Man picked up a strand of hair from the ground with his armored hand. After examining it, he said, "This seems to be Captain America's hair. Did he hurt his head here?"
"Quick! Spider-Man, come here quickly!!" Helen shouted from a room, her voice filled with urgency and disbelief. Spider-Man quickly rushed in, only to find a slowly dimming transmitter in front of them.
"They've teleported away!" Helen was on the verge of panic. "This could very likely be a portal to another universe. But those are zombies; they could infect other universes!"
What Helen didn't say was, "They could potentially infect my universe." Although she believed that Nick and his team should be able to handle these zombies, with Stark and Shiller gone, any accident would spell trouble.
Spider-Man was even more anxious than her. Regardless of which universe was infected, he couldn't stand by and do nothing. As he strode towards the portal, Helen caught him and said, "What if it's a trap?"
"But if we don't go, other universes might fall into the trap!" Spider-Man turned to Helen. "I have to step up... it's my responsibility!"
Helen knew she couldn't dissuade Spider-Man. She took a deep breath, glanced at a specific entry in the Instinct file, and joined Spider-Man in stepping through the portal.
In the Stark Building, Stark put on a freshly forged battle armor. He reminisced as he listened to the rough mechanical friction, "Haven't used this primitive style in a while. Although it doesn't compare to my battlesuit in terms of precision, it's got plenty of energy and packs a punch."
He sighed, "I have to admit, JARVIS's departure was justified. If he was still around, I might have long forgotten how to wear an armor." He added in an icy, angry tone that was almost imperceptible, "Time to go make trouble for them."
Just as Stark flew into the New York sky, he spotted a conspicuously silver figure standing atop a skyscraper.
Then, a voice echoed through the sky of New York.
"The planet shall be devoured, everything comes to an end. Humans, your planet will be devoured by the great Galactus. I am here to..."
"Swish!"
A gigantic, moon-shaped, glowing disc-blade appeared in the air. It approached the silver figure almost instantly. Shiller charged out in an instant. All Stark could do was yell, "Mercy! Show some mercy!!!"
The silver figure sneered disdainfully as a dazzling lights erupted around his body, seemingly intending to withstand this attack.
As soon as the shape of the disc-blade appeared, Stark recognized which Shiller this was and could only look at the silver figure with pity.
In an instant, the light formed a shield that shattered. The silver figure was flung away, crashing heavily onto the ground.
As he tried to stand, the tip of the Umbrella Knife penetrated through his forehead. Shiller, transformed into gray mist, opened his mouth wide along the blade, biting off the figure's head.
Stark landed and looked at Shiller with a resigned expression, "There was finally someone who wasn't a zombie, and you killed him..."
Suddenly, a drastic change occurred. Stark looked up to see thick clouds looming over New York. Then the clouds cracked open to reveal a colossal figure flickering with starlight, hovering over the Earth.
"Galactus?" Stark incredulously blurted out his name.
However, as two more immense disc-blades appeared before his eyes, all Stark could do was frantically grab a wisp of wind behind Shiller. In a fit of rage, he yelled at the sky:
"Get back here! Moonlight! Come back!!!!!"