"System?"
Hearing the voice in his mind, Lin Feng paused.
He then curled his lips in disdain.
"Don't tell me you're the one helping me."
It wasn't that he looked down on the system.
This damn system couldn't even deal with two nobodies.
According to its own words, it was afraid of attracting the attention of high-tier enemies.
Lin Feng didn't believe the system could freeze the elder Thanos for him.
This damn system was so quiet, Lin Feng had almost forgotten about it.
"What do you mean!" the system retorted indignantly, hands on its hips.
"Underestimating the system?"
After a period of silence, the system felt Lin Feng no longer respected it!
"How dare I, great system lord!"
Lin Feng rolled his eyes, but a smile played on his lips.
Bickering with the system gave him a long-lost sense of ease.
He had been so busy lately, transmigrating and fighting.
Honestly, Lin Feng missed the days when he just wandered around Blue Star every day after arriving in Marvel.
Now, he was so busy he didn't even have time to properly spend a couple of days with Susan.
"Hmph!" the system huffed arrogantly.
"I can't be bothered to argue with you."
"It wasn't me who helped you."
Lin Feng chuckled, "I knew it."
"Don't interrupt!" the system snapped, then continued its explanation.
"The one who helped you is the Universal Consciousness."
"Universal Consciousness?" Lin Feng scratched his head, a little confused.
It was a term he hadn't heard before, but it was easy to understand.
"That's right, the Marvel Universe has a consciousness of its own," the system explained.
"You must have seen it too, Thanos's pause before the heat ray arrived, right?"
Lin Feng nodded. Although it was brief, he had seen it clearly, otherwise, he wouldn't have suspected someone was helping him.
However, Lin Feng didn't understand why the Universal Consciousness would intervene.
Under normal circumstances, this was almost impossible.
The system provided the answer.
"This elder Thanos you see isn't entirely the comic book version, but his strength is about the same."
"He wreaked havoc and slaughter in his own universe, and in the end, unsatisfied, he consumed the entire universe."
"So when he arrived in this universe, the Universal Consciousness would naturally try to expel him!"
"After all, he's a being that persecutes his own kind. The Universal Consciousness feared Thanos would consume it too."
"That's why it stepped in to help you."
The system continued to explain.
"While it couldn't stop Thanos from crossing over, it could at least trip him up."
"This is also why the elder Thanos dared not fight you."
"The moment the elder Thanos appeared, the Universal Consciousness had its eyes on him. Otherwise, he would have already started slaughtering the entire universe!"
After the explanation, Lin Feng understood most of it.
So that's why the elder Thanos never made a move despite Lin Feng's provocations.
According to the comic book's depiction, the elder Thanos was ferocious, but in reality, he seemed cowardly and weak.
"So that's why the elder Thanos was unwilling to fight and even ran away in the end," Lin Feng clapped his hands, enlightened.
It was likely that the elder Thanos didn't *not* want to fight, but rather, if he had fought, he might have met his end today.
A single heat ray could pierce him.
If Lin Feng had aimed for his head with the next shot, and the Universal Consciousness had frozen him for another moment,
Tsk tsk tsk, the elder Thanos would have gone straight into his coffin.
No universe would want to see a being that could arbitrarily consume its own kind or itself appear.
The Universal Consciousness helping Lin Feng was nothing more than self-preservation.
"Do you know where that elder Thanos went now?" Lin Feng asked.
He had a nagging feeling that this elder Thanos would return.
Rather than waiting, he'd rather take the initiative. The funeral hadn't even concluded; how could the main guest be missing?
"...I don't know," the system replied.
"But it's certain that he has left this universe and most likely went to consume other universes."
Hearing this, Lin Feng frowned again.
He was truly elusive, leaving no trace.
However, Lin Feng wasn't one to be trifled with, and with the help of the Universal Consciousness, he'd face whatever came his way...
"I have one last question."
"Why did the elder Thanos spread the information about me having the Infinity Stones?"
This was something Lin Feng still couldn't figure out.
He had no grudge with the elder Thanos.
If you said the elder Thanos wanted the Infinity Stones, he already had a set.
Oh, but that set was now in Lin Feng's hands.
Heh.
A single snap of his fingers with the Infinity Stones could destroy the entire universe. Why would he go through such trouble to stab Lin Feng in the back?
"Regarding this, the system only has a rough conjecture."
"It's likely that the elder Thanos knew you didn't originally belong to the Marvel Universe."
"Didn't I just say?"
"He dared not make a move against you, and fighting you would only put him at a disadvantage, as the Universal Consciousness would help you."
"So the system guesses that he might want to use the hands of powerful beings from other universes to eliminate you first!"
The system made a gesture of snapping its fingers in Lin Feng's mind.
"After all, you are not a native inhabitant and are the biggest variable. Eliminating you first is only logical."
"And there's a reason why he had the Thanos of this universe snap his fingers."
"Because he likely wouldn't be able to perform that snap himself."
With that, the system rolled its eyes.
Lin Feng was such a dullard, he could figure these things out with his own brain.
Superman's brain seemed to be just for show when it came to him!
The system's explanation once again brought clarity to Lin Feng's thoughts.
He couldn't help but nod, thinking it made a lot of sense.
Indeed, if one wanted to slaughter the entire universe, the Infinity Stones were the fastest option.
And he, possessing all six Infinity Stones, could reverse that outcome at any time.
But the elder Thanos couldn't attack him directly, so he could only use others as pawns.
All his doubts were resolved, and the events became clear.
Lin Feng was quite satisfied with the outcome.
After all, the process and time it took to resolve the situation were far quicker than Lin Feng had anticipated.
He had expected it to drag on for days, but the progress had been surprisingly rapid.
After a moment's thought, Lin Feng raised his left hand and snapped his fingers.
This was something he had planned beforehand, to protect Blue Star by making everyone forget the location of the Infinity Stones.
With Lin Feng at the center, the shockwave from the Infinity Stones, carrying this rule, rapidly spread throughout the entire Marvel Universe.
All beings who knew Lin Feng possessed the Infinity Stones froze for a moment, then completely forgot.
After the snap, everyone only knew that a reality-bending existence called the Infinity Stones existed, but they could no longer recall their whereabouts.
Even in communication logs and platform databases, this information had vanished.