Chapter Seventy-Three: The Spatial Passageway

After finding a solution, Tony accelerated sharply and flew directly above Suggs. Qu Yizhi quickly gathered her own energy, while Suggs’s tentacles were straining to reach them.

Qu Yizhi clasped her delicate hands together and closed her eyes gently. A small blue dot appeared on her forehead. Suddenly, as she opened her eyes wide, a blue radiance visible to the naked eye materialized, instantly forming nine massive concave lenses. Under her command, these nine concave lenses of varying sizes overlapped at different distances, resembling a towering nine-story structure from afar.

Tony immediately fired a laser beam at the tip of this tower—the smallest concave lens. Thanks to the “nine-story tower,” the laser’s energy barely diminished; its illumination quickly expanded to cover the entire Suggs.

The two tentacles at the forefront immediately transformed into reflective skin. However, Suggs soon sensed the omnipresent light and swiftly withdrew his tentacles, forming reflective skin over his own surface.

Seeing Suggs firmly pinned to the ground by the beam, both Qu Yizhi and Tony breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously. At the same time, good news came through the earpiece.

Dr. Banner’s deep voice sounded like a heavenly melody: “Tony, Miss Qu, the portal is open. We need to leave immediately. How are things on your end?”

“Suggs is temporarily suppressed, but he’ll break free soon. We’re coming back right away,” Tony replied. He had wanted to say it was temporarily safe but noticed Suggs’s body rapidly enlarging. He realized the creature would soon escape its restraints.

Qu Yizhi also restrained her joyous smile, feeling a chill as she looked at the massive form of Suggs beneath her feet. This was a creature beyond her current ability to handle.

With Suggs about to break free and the portal now open, Tony wasted no time and flew toward a nearby cave. Yet, he left one arm behind to continue projecting the laser beam, which could hold for about two more minutes.

Though Tony had lost an arm and was considering slowing down, Qu Yizhi quickly conjured an ice-made arm for him, allowing him to maintain full speed toward the cave.

In a short time, Suggs’s body doubled in size. The new mass immediately formed several tentacles swinging toward the “nine-story tower” in the sky and the arm Tony had left behind.

Jarvis reported the situation to Tony, who was relieved that they had already put distance between themselves and Suggs. Yet, the arm originally expected to hold for two minutes seemed unlikely to last even one.

The two quickly reached the cave. During earlier communications, the others had already evacuated, likely unable to match Suggs’s speed. Only a shrinking spatial portal remained.

Tony paid no heed to anything else and dashed straight for the portal. Suggs had completely destroyed the earlier suppressions left behind and was pressing down toward the cave with his immense bulk.

Tony and Qu Yizhi passed through the portal. Tony’s voice immediately rose: “Close the portal quickly! Don’t let Suggs come through!”

After they crossed, Dr. Banner began shutting the portal down. Without looking up, he said, “It’s already at maximum speed. The portal will close completely within ten seconds.”

Outside, Suggs had reached the cave entrance. Qu Yizhi’s layers of ice walls blocked him outside, but instead of breaking through the ice, Suggs demolished a nearby cliff wall and stormed inside. For Suggs, the cliff was far easier to breach than the ice walls.

At this moment, the shrinking portal caused Suggs to roar again, “Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!” Several tentacles surged toward the portal, now only the size of a human head.

Tony and the others at the portal saw Suggs’s tentacles rushing in. Qu Yizhi quickly reformed her concave lenses, and Tony aimed his laser at the tentacles. Black smoke rose from where the light struck, but Suggs seemed aware of the portal’s importance and pressed on despite his tentacles sustaining injuries.

Just as the tentacles were about to breach the portal, Steve’s shield flew in from the side, blocking the entrance firmly. With Tony’s laser blast providing impact, the shield successfully repelled the tentacle assault, and at that moment, the portal closed.

Steve’s shield was knocked against the wall by Tony’s beam. Once the portal was confirmed fully shut, everyone relaxed.

Tony cautiously approached the shield and flipped it over with his foot. The star on its surface had vanished, revealing the gleaming metal beneath.

After a detailed scan by Jarvis, Tony finally picked up the shield and grinned at Steve. “Looks like I need to design a new suit for our hero.”

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After a brief discussion, the Star Spirit Empire passed a total war act and began conscripting the entire population. The Purifier factories started forging AI machines without consciousness matrices, preparing for an uncertain future war.

Sentinel arrays installed across major star systems had detected numerous evil forces. The Star Spirit Empire planned to gather this intelligence for an interstellar conference to inform nearby empires about dealing with these malevolent servants.

The Spear of Aton was battling the minions of dark gods in the endless planes. Thanks to the main universe’s advantages, they held the upper hand but brought troubling news to the Star Spirit Empire. The dark powers had thoroughly corrupted many alien civilizations, leaving the Spear of Aton no choice but to purify them.

The Pride of Otalis had officially joined the Golden Fleet, tasked with maintaining peace in the main universe. The Memory of Neshin patrolled the Andromeda Galaxy, guarding the safety of the capital, Ail, and its surrounding star regions.

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Having resolved their Antarctic mission, the Avengers boarded their return flight. William, who had escaped from the Old Ones’ camp, sipped hot coffee slowly. His knee was bandaged; he claimed he had fallen while fleeing, but in truth, it was grazed by one of Suggs’s tentacles during their first encounter. For reasons unknown even to himself, William subconsciously concealed this fact, and when he realized it, it was too awkward to admit.

He cooperated fully with the S.H.I.E.L.D. full-body examination and quietly breathed a sigh of relief when no abnormalities were found.

What he did not know was that several of Suggs’s cells had quietly entered his body. Suggs had the ability to perfectly alter his genes, rendering him undetectable by Midgard’s current technology.