Chapter 160: The Survivor from Another World

"2023?"

When Orion Cross heard Doctor Strange describe himself that way, his brows immediately furrowed.

2023... Wasn’t that the year of X-Men: Days of Future Past and, in the original timeline, the year when the Avengers traveled back through time to reverse the effects of the Infinity Stones?

"Yes. I only arrived here a minute ago."

Doctor Strange nodded, then looked at Orion Cross in confusion. "I’ve never heard of you before. Could it be that you left Earth before I became a sorcerer?"

"No, Strange."

Ancient One sat down at the tea table nearby and spoke first. "You didn’t travel into the past of your own timeline. You came from another universe."

"What?"

Strange turned toward Ancient One with a bewildered expression. "Another universe?"

"You should have noticed that, according to the timeline of your universe, New York should be in complete chaos right now. Yet here, everything remains peaceful."

Ancient One waved her hand. The tea room disappeared, and the floor and walls transformed into a scene overlooking New York from above.

"Indeed. Very peaceful."

Orion Cross glanced down at several shootings and robberies taking place in dark corners of the city and nodded in agreement.

Compared to an alien invasion, things really were peaceful right now.

Crimes like these could be handled by any ordinary city hero.

"How could that be? Did they accidentally alter history and turn this place into a branch of a parallel universe?"

Doctor Strange stared at the scene below, falling into deep thought.

"You mean your friends?"

With a wave of her hand, Ancient One made the New York nightscape disappear, returning the three of them to the tea room. "Then you may have misunderstood them. They are even more cautious than you are, though that caution is unnecessary."

"What do you mean? Where exactly have I come?"

Strange looked up at his former mentor.

After inheriting the position of Sorcerer Supreme, he had only come to appreciate Ancient One’s wisdom more and more.

Even though this was the Ancient One of another universe, he instinctively wanted to seek her guidance.

"A universe that was fundamentally different from the one you came from."

Ancient One answered calmly.

"Fundamentally different?"

Doctor Strange was slightly stunned.

"That means all those three rules you have about traveling through time are completely useless here, because you aren’t affecting the past of your own timeline in the first place."

Orion Cross explained.

From Ancient One’s words, he had more or less understood the situation. This Doctor Strange was not truly a Strange from the future. He was from another parallel universe.

As for what had happened in that parallel universe, Orion Cross could only make an educated guess. Thanos had probably followed the original storyline and snapped his fingers.

But what puzzled Orion Cross was that if things had really happened according to the original plot, Doctor Strange should have turned to dust as well.

"So it’s a parallel world..."

After briefly pondering, Doctor Strange raised his head and looked at Ancient One. "If that’s the case, then things will actually be easier."

He did not question the truth of Ancient One’s words. Instead, he immediately took out a miniature communication device and prepared to contact the others.

"Wait. You came here to borrow an Infinity Stone?"

Orion Cross pressed down on Strange’s hand and asked.

"Yes. How did you know?"

Doctor Strange looked at Orion Cross in surprise, becoming increasingly aware of how mysterious this person was, someone who stood on equal footing with his mentor.

He had not mentioned anything about the Stones. Even Ancient One did not know his exact purpose for coming here. Yet Orion Cross had immediately figured it out.

"Forget that for now. First, tell me, is Nebula here?"

Orion Cross stared into Strange’s eyes and asked seriously.

In the original timeline, when the Avengers traveled through time to retrieve the Infinity Stones, the ultimate result was that Thanos followed them into the future and nearly wiped out the Avengers.

The root of the problem was Nebula.

Nebula was almost entirely mechanical, and the versions of Nebula from the two parallel timelines shared the same brain data.

This caused the Nebula who traveled into the past to transmit information about the future to the Nebula who had not yet betrayed Thanos. That information was immediately discovered by Thanos as well.

Thanos realized that even if he sacrificed everything to destroy the Infinity Stones, someone could still use a time machine to reverse the damage.

So he simply went completely mad and decided to restart the entire universe.

And now, if the one who was about to go completely mad and change his ultimate objective was Thanos from Orion Cross’s universe, then the consequences would be terrifying.

Once he saw the events of the future, Thanos would no longer adhere to his principle of killing half and sparing half.

He would become the true Mad Titan.

Orion Cross stared at Strange, waiting for his answer.

However, what Orion Cross did not expect was for Strange to reveal a puzzled expression.

"Nebula... Who’s that?"

"The woman who was with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Thanos’s adopted daughter."

Orion Cross frowned slightly as he explained.

"The Guardians of the Galaxy? Thanos’s adopted daughter? Do you mean Gamora? Thanos already killed her."

Doctor Strange thought for a moment before looking at Orion Cross.

"Not Gamora. I mean her sister, Nebula."

"A blue-skinned woman who was almost completely transformed into a machine by Thanos."

"If you don’t know her, ask your teammates through your communicator. Hurry!"

Orion Cross pointed at Doctor Strange’s communicator with some urgency, urging him to make the call.

"Okay. Give me a moment."

Seeing Orion Cross’s expression, Doctor Strange realized that this was probably extremely important. He no longer hesitated. He picked up the communicator, turned it twice, and connected the signal.

"Is that Peter Quill? Do you know a woman named Nebula? Gamora’s sister..."

"Okay, I understand... Don’t worry. Everything’s fine here."

Doctor Strange shut off the communicator and looked up at Orion Cross, shaking his head.

"Peter Quill, Thanos’s adopted daughter’s boyfriend, said he had never heard of her."

"Never heard of Nebula?"

After learning that Nebula had not come, Orion Cross naturally felt much more relieved. But that statement, "never heard of Nebula," filled him with endless confusion.

Nebula and Gamora were sisters who constantly fought against and supported each other. Nebula had also crossed paths with the Guardians of the Galaxy countless times. How could Star-Lord possibly have never even heard her name?

"Wait. First, tell me who came with your group this time."

Orion Cross gathered his thoughts and looked up at Strange.

"Everyone in the group?"

Doctor Strange counted on his fingers. "Me, T’Challa, the Black Panther, Scott Lang, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Falcon, Spider-Man, Bucky, Nick Fury... Then there’s the Guardians of the Galaxy: Groot, Drax, and Star-Lord."