#684 - It turns out that Tom is a tsundere!

“Bang!”

Mark was hit repeatedly, and blood splattered from his face.

While falling, he passed through different dimensional worlds, finally tumbling and collapsing in a desert.

Yellow sand filled the sky, and the scorching sun warped the desert.

Mark spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, feeling every bone in his body screaming.

Gestrong Levi stood before him, looking at him coldly.

“Look at you now. You're just a pathetic worm lying in the sand waiting to die. This won't end until you and your family are dead.”

Mark tried to stand up, but Gestrong's fist struck his chest heavily.

He heard the sound of ribs breaking, and the intense pain made his vision go black.

Sand grains burrowed into his wounds, like countless small knives cutting.

“You know what?”

Gestrong squatted down, grabbing Mark's neck, “I'm going to end your life this way! And your family's too!”

Mark heard the other party threaten his family, his pupils constricted sharply, his fist raised, using all his strength to strike at the other party.

“Shut up!”

With a “boom,” Gestrong was sent flying backward.

“You will never—”

Mark's angry roar was like thunder, “Don't even think about hurting my family!”

“My father, my brother, my sister…”

With a “bang,” Mark charged in front of Gestrong, grabbing the other's arm.

The other's enhanced muscles twisted and deformed in his palm, the bones groaning under the pressure.

For the first time, fear appeared in Gestrong's eyes.

He tried to break free, but Mark's fist had already slammed into his face.

The force of this blow was so great that Gestrong's body flew out like a cannonball, plowing a deep furrow in the sand, rolling backward.

The next second, Mark's figure instantly appeared above him, his fist falling heavily, sending the other flying again.

“You don't even know what I've been through, don't know how important my father is to me, don't know how many times he's saved me, and I can only be a burden to him. Whether it's Anissa or you, I can only rely on my father's help… I want to protect him, not be someone my father protects!”

In Mark's angry words, Gestrong's enhanced body began to collapse.

Blood splattered, staining the yellow sand red.

Gestrong tried to fight back, but Mark grabbed his arm and slammed it into the ground.

The sound of tearing muscles was sickening, and Gestrong let out a scream.

Mark grabbed Angus Trang's head with both hands.

The other's eyes were filled with fear, blood foam flowing from the corners of his mouth.

“You can't threaten my father, threaten my family anymore! Go to hell!”

Mark's fist slammed down on the other.

Gestrong was immediately knocked unconscious by Mark's punch.

But Mark didn't stop, his fists pounding on Gestrong's body again and again.

Each impact made the desert tremble, the yellow sand lifted by the shockwaves, forming a sky-covering sandstorm.

“This is for my father!”

A punch caved in his chest cavity.

“This is for my vow to protect him!”

He looked down at his hands, covered in blood and minced meat.

Mark stood next to Gestrong's corpse, his hands dripping with blood.

The desert wind swirled sand, hitting his face with a stinging pain.

After a long while.

He looked down at his hands, the bloodstains already dried, yet still seeming to burn.

“What have I done…”

He muttered to himself, his voice hoarse and unlike his own.

Memories surged uncontrollably, the image of his father talking to him suddenly clear. He was still young then, and his father held his hand and said, “True strength is used to protect, not to destroy.”

But now, Mark looked at the pool of bloody remains on the ground, and his stomach churned.

He knelt on the ground, gagging, but nothing came out.

Tears blurred his vision, and he rubbed his eyes hard, but the more he rubbed, the dirtier they became.

“What have I become…”

Mark looked at his reflection in the blood on the sand, the face both familiar and strange.

He remembered Gestrong's last expression, that pure fear.

Kneeling on the ground, Mark's face was full of pain.

“I'm sorry, I… I thought you, I thought you would be very strong, I didn't want to do this.”

Mark mumbled with a face full of self-reproach, “I thought you would be stronger, you told me you were stronger, I wanted to kill you, but I didn't know if I could do it, oh god…”

He covered his head and stood up, looking at the endless yellow sand, “He brought me here, but I killed him, I'm trapped here, I'm trapped forever, I can't go home, and I can't see Dad.”

Waiting desperately and helplessly until night, Mark sat alone in the desert, recalling the scenes of getting along with his father on the farm.

“There must be a way, there must be a way to go back, somewhere on this planet… there must be something.”

Muttering to himself, Mark walked forward along the boundless desert.

Just as Mark was walking alone in the desert, he suddenly saw a green portal open in front of him.

Then several people walked out of the portal.

Mark looked in astonishment at the people appearing before him.

“Raven? Loki? Eve, and Tom?”

He didn't expect to see familiar family and friends here.

Raven had short silver hair, looking surprised at Mark, who was shirtless and covered in blood.

“You look a little rough, Mark.”

She and Loki, Atom Eve, Tom, and Loki, according to Peter's instructions, were searching for Mark's whereabouts in different dimensional worlds.

If it were the previous Raven, it might have been a little difficult to find Mark.

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But Raven, after awakening the “Dark Raven” form, although her power had faded for the most part, her mental perception was still sharp.

With the ability to cross-dimensional teleportation, she quickly found Mark's trail.

The nearby Atom Eve, seeing Mark in such a miserable state, reached out her hand and activated her superpower, reorganizing the matter on Mark's body.

The originally embarrassed Mark put on a brand new uniform identical to the Invincible Iron Man, and the blood stains on his face disappeared.

“Raven, Eve, I… I seem to have done something terrible.”

Mark said to the others in distress, “I killed Gestrong, that wasn't my intention.”

Hearing Mark say he killed someone, the others were stunned.

Tom looked at Mark's painful and struggling expression, his brows furrowed.

“Now that you've done it, don't suffer for it, Mark.”

In the twilight of the desert, Tom's expression was dark and unclear.

He slowly said to him, “You should have understood this principle long ago.”

Mark looked up in confusion, “What?”

“This world is like this,” Tom's voice sounded cold to Mark, “Either kill or be killed. You did the right thing, it's just too late.”

“But…”

“No buts,” Tom interrupted him, “Do you think the so-called heroes have clean hands? They just package the killing more beautifully.”

Mark knew that Tom was wrong, but he couldn't find a reason to refute it.

“Listen,” Tom suddenly leaned closer, his cold breath spraying on Mark's face, “If you really feel guilty, then become stronger. Strong enough that no one dares to threaten our family, strong enough not to feel guilty for this.”

After speaking, Tom turned and walked towards the portal, his black robe shining in the twilight.

Mark stood in place, feeling Tom's words seep into his heart like poison.

“By the way,” Tom's voice came from a distance, “If you have nightmares, remember to come to me, I have some special potions.”

Mark looked at Tom's back, suddenly realizing that this might be Tom's way of expressing concern.

In Tom's seemingly cold heart, perhaps there was always concern for himself hidden.

In the hospital, outside Debbie's ward, Mark saw Peter Peter, and excitedly came over to hug his father.

“I'm sorry, Mark, it's my fault.”

Peter apologized to his son.

Gestrong used technological equipment from other dimensions to shield Debbie's room, and no energy or sound leaked out, so Peter never noticed.

It wasn't until Mark knocked Gestrong out of the room, and the two of them crashed onto the street, that he noticed.

After using Rune magic to briefly treat Debbie, Peter immediately called Raven and the others, asking them to look for Mark.

“No, Dad, I… it's my fault.”

Mark said to Peter in distress, “I made a mistake.”

Peter frowned and asked Mark, “What happened?”

Mark took a deep breath and began to recount the battle in the desert.

When he spoke of Gestrong threatening to hurt his family, Mark's voice began to tremble; when he spoke of losing control and beating the other to death, he almost couldn't go on.

Peter listened quietly until Mark finished the last word.

Outside in the night, the sound of cars and voices were particularly clear.

“You had no other choice at the time, Mark, you don't need to blame yourself for this.”

Peter was silent for a moment, then comforted him.

“Dad, you weren't there at the time, I lost control, I completely lost control, I crossed the line, and I…”

Seeing Mark still struggling, Peter put his hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, Mark, look at me, you should understand that if the bad guy dies and the good guy is still alive, then it's a good day.”

Looking into Peter's eyes, Mark asked, “Then what is a good guy, and what is a bad guy? Dad.”

“Bad guys are usually the people who break other people's arms.”

Peter thought for a while, deciding to comfort his son's soul, otherwise he was afraid that this kid would never come out of it completely.

“For humans, life is like a wheat field on a farm. Every wheat stalk is trying to grow, but there will always be pests to destroy them.”

Mark looked up, looking at his father in confusion.

“As a farmer,” Peter continued, “we have to get rid of the pests and protect the wheat stalks. It's cruel, but that's the law of life. What's important is what we protect, not what we destroy.”