Start in Terra, immortal

"The zombies seem... seem to have stopped moving. It's like they're being controlled."

"How is that possible? Aren't those ghostly things already dead? Who could still control them?"

"Didn't you see? It looks like something's popping out of their heads!"

"What nonsense are you spouting? Are you talking about ghosts? You son of a bitch, how can you say something like that?"

"But...but I really saw it..."

"God bless……"

Similar arguments kept happening throughout the city, but they always gradually subsided under the dominance of one side.

New Jersey, S.H.I.E.L.D. operational base.

Peter Parker, dressed in red and blue battle suit, suddenly felt as if he were facing a formidable enemy, and his hair stood on end.

He looked around and noticed that only Vision's expression had changed drastically. He immediately realized something and shouted, "Vision, those zombies outside!"

At that moment, Vision, who possessed the Mind Stone, also felt an invisible force forcefully sweep over his body. Simultaneously, the restlessness and hostility emanating from the countless zombies outside vanished without a trace.

He suddenly realized what was happening, losing his usual composure as an artificial intelligence, and cried out in a trembling voice, "Wanda!"

Vision's form blurred as he was about to rush towards Wanda's imprisonment when a crimson energy leaked out from behind the iron gate deep within the base.

The door opened, and Bucky helped T'Challa, who had lost a leg, slowly walk out.

"Your 'raising' zombie bride has awakened, Vision." Bucky's tone was icy as he pointed his gun at Vision.

"Your Majesty!" Okoye was both surprised and delighted upon seeing this, and quickly stepped forward to take T'Challa from Bucky's hands.

"Her name is Wanda." Vision ignored the gun pointed at him and slowly rose into the air. "Although you may think my actions are abhorrent, they are all choices made after logical deduction."

"You can save Scott, but you can't save her?" Banner asked, puzzled.

"She's too powerful; even the Mind Stone can't fully restore her. The only way is to control her, and... her hunger. Otherwise..." Vision didn't finish his sentence; those who understood Wanda's power knew the consequences.

"Then why don't you finish her off yourself?" Okoye demanded angrily, scoffing at Vision's actions.

"I...I can't do it." Vision's face showed struggle. "Even now, I can't fully understand my actions. But...I don't want her to die."

"If you don't let her die, you make someone else die in her place? What disgusting 'love'!" Banner couldn't help but rebuke, he simply couldn't understand the logic of this artificial intelligence.

"Hey guys!" Peter Parker interjected, "Haven't you noticed we're actually chatting here? If this were a movie, the zombie bride would have already stormed out and beaten us all to a pulp by now, right?"

The unprecedented fear he felt just now, the "Peter shudder" he experienced, still haunts him.

Reminded by him, Vision snapped back to his senses and rushed toward the room where Wanda was being held.

Inside the reinforced glass wall, Wanda Maximov, with disheveled hair and a withered face, stood in an extremely bizarre posture.

Crimson chaos magic formed a spherical shield around her in the room—clearly defending against something.

"Wanda!" Vision's Mind Stone lit up, and the invisible psychic energy tried to penetrate the shield, but it quietly dissipated the moment it made contact, having no effect whatsoever.

"ah--!!"

A shriek erupted from Wanda's mouth, the violent energy whipping her disheveled hair and making her face appear even more ferocious.

Overloaded energy surged through the room, and the aftershocks were too much for even the heavily reinforced S.H.I.E.L.D. base to withstand. Cracks appeared in the walls and floors, and the entire base swayed precariously, as if it were about to collapse completely at any moment.

Just as everyone was preparing to leave, a calm voice suddenly rang in everyone's ears:

"Chaos magic... even a portion of it can resist 'Soul Awakening'. Sithon did leave behind something decent."

"Who?"

Before anyone could see who it was, the tremors beneath their feet suddenly stopped. The suffocating crimson energy vanished without a trace.

They stopped in their tracks and looked toward the source of the sound.

Rosso's figure slowly emerged from the air, as if stepping into this place from another dimension.

He ignored the wary gazes of the crowd and looked directly into the glass wall—Wanda's crimson shield was rapidly dimming and eventually disappearing completely.

Losing her support, Wanda's withered body swayed slightly before collapsing to the ground, motionless.

The violent, chaotic magical aura emanating from her body seemed to have been completely wiped away by an invisible hand, leaving only an empty, zombie-like body.

"What did you do to her?" Vision was the first to react, his gem flashing rapidly, his voice filled with surprise and a hint of fear.

He tried to connect with Wanda's mind, but only felt a deathly silence—not the emptiness of a zombie driven by desire, but a complete "nothingness" at the level of the soul.

"It's just that she's 'resting in peace,'" Rosso replied calmly, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, "along with all the souls in this city outside, twisted and imprisoned by the abnormal virus."

"Those zombies outside... they've all stopped?" Peter Parker asked sharply, recalling the terrifying sensation that had swept over him just now. "Was it you who did it? The things emerging from their heads... were those spirits?"

"Mostly, I guess." Rosso nodded slightly; he wasn't surprised that some people could see souls.

"This is a forced purification and recycling based on the soul level."

The "zombification" of this universe is not a natural disease or an ordinary curse, but a pollution and imprisonment at a higher level of rules.

The soul is twisted and locked within the decaying body, unable to break free or enter the normal cycle of reincarnation or its final resting place.

By doing this, I'm also liberating them.

Banner adjusted his glasses; his scientist's instincts compelled him to try and understand this phenomenon beyond comprehension.

"Rules corrupted? Souls imprisoned? You mean... some being deliberately created this disaster, turning Earth into a 'farm' for souls?"

Instead of answering directly, Rosso looked at Banner, the only one present with multiple doctoral degrees, and posed a question:

Do you know about the multiverse?

Banner paused, then hesitated, "You mean...parallel universes?"

"Similar, but not limited to that." Rosso nodded slightly. "There are fundamental differences between universes."

Some universes possess almost all the key elements that support their continued growth, and are therefore called the 'main universe'.

Others, however, have deviated significantly from the trajectory of the main universe and are destined for extinction—unfortunately, your universe is one of them.

Such a universe is often the easiest place for others to conduct "experiments".

In my opinion, the zombie virus here is merely a symptom; the real purpose of collecting these souls is probably for some kind of 'ritual' or as 'feed'.

"And what about you?" Vision's gaze remained fixed on Wanda, who lay slumped on the ground, his voice trembling with suppressed emotion.

"What's the difference between your so-called 'liberation' and plunder?"