American Comics: Multiverse of Madness

503. I Heard It!

"What experiment?"

The Watcher frowned and asked.

"After we first met, I intentionally severed the connection between me and the crow. At that time, I even left the crow in the wasteland, allowing it to become my eye to monitor the entire wasteland universe."

Alex raised his head again, his expression complex.

"Originally, I thought that after losing the Watcher's Eye, I would no longer be able to observe beings like you who transcend the multiverse. But in reality, whether it's you or other Watchers from different universes, all of you are still within my gaze."

"Even before you cast your gaze on me, I was already able to detect your movements and prepare in advance."

Upon hearing this, the Watcher's gaze toward Alex changed.

In the Watcher's eyes, Alex was just an ordinary human—someone who had learned magic and gained strange powers. But at the core, he was still just an ordinary human.

But hearing Alex's words for the first time made the Watcher question its own judgment.

It stared at Alex and asked the greatest question in its mind.

"Time Bard, who exactly are you?"

Alex pondered for a moment before slowly answering.

"Isn't the answer to this question something you've already guessed?"

With that, Alex leaned back, relaxing on the couch, and continued.

"Do you remember those IP addresses I received? I once communicated with an Watcher from the zombie hero universe, and I believe, through its eye, your Watcher species should have learned the specifics by now."

The IP addresses that Tony Stark had organized and cracked were intentionally revealed to the Watchers by Alex. Although they had already understood the meaning of those numerical combinations at the time, it would still be very difficult for Alex and the Watchers to find the corresponding addresses from the countless multiverses—they simply couldn't do it in a short period of time.

But the Watchers were different.

The Watcher species could see everything; no branch of any multiverse could escape their sight, not even a newly born universe.

While it might be unclear in other places, there was no corner of the Marvel Universe that wasn't under their watchful eyes. With their technological power, it was no trouble for them to look up the corresponding IPs across multiverses.

After receiving those IP addresses from Alex, the Watchers, given their nature, would never ignore it. Moreover, this was closely related to the contamination that threatened the entire universe.

Thus, Alex's action indirectly helped the Watchers to investigate the entire Marvel Universe to see if there were any universes that corresponded to the known IP addresses.

As for why Alex didn't seek help from the Watchers directly—it was simply that he didn't want to owe them any unnecessary favors. After all, they were on the same side. This was a kind of unspoken understanding.

In fact, just as Alex had anticipated, the Watcher species had indeed started monitoring the development of the multiverse and matching the IP addresses.

"Unfortunately, we have reviewed all the multiverses we can observe, but we have not found the corresponding IP addresses on any computer in any universe."

"Of course, you wouldn't find them, because those IP addresses don't belong to this dimension."

As soon as the Watcher finished speaking, Alex immediately picked up the conversation, continuing.

"Those IP addresses are strange. Even I, someone not particularly skilled in computers, can tell there's something wrong with them. So I deduced that these numbers, which I encountered while exposed to the contamination, were born within the contamination itself.

And my trip to the The Boys Universe proved that my guess was correct. Many of those IP addresses could indeed be found in universes born from that contamination."

Hearing this, the Watcher nodded thoughtfully.

"So you mean that these IP addresses come from universes within the contamination, and they use various inferior events to reflect our multiverse and alter our reality?"

"That's just one possibility. I actually have another hypothesis, but if the truth is the latter, then we are in big trouble," Alex sighed.

"What hypothesis?"

The Watcher could see from Alex's expression that the situation was even more serious than it had imagined, but it still wanted to know the truth.

"The hypothesis is... If the The Boys Universe represents the higher-level narrators, then could the higher-dimensional existence above them also fall within our realm of suspicion?"

"You mean—!"

At this point, the Watcher finally began to understand what Alex was trying to express. With Alex's earlier revelation of his origin, the scale of the whole matter had already reached a level beyond what the Watcher could fathom.

"Yes."

Alex didn't deny it, but rather stated it softly.

"Have you ever wondered, if those IP addresses are not just from the reflection of the mirror, but from what lies behind the mirror, what would that state be like? A higher-dimensional world—the true real world..."

"My world."

It was as if a thunderclap had exploded in the Watcher's mind, and it felt that its worldview had been once again greatly challenged.

They had considered the possibility that the contamination came from an unknown world, but they had never imagined that this unknown world was the very foundation that shaped their entire multiverse.

Staring blankly at Alex, the Watcher remained silent for a long time. Finally, it was Alex who broke the silence.

"So, can you understand how I feel right now? If the contamination comes from my world, then we'll never find a solution here, because to them, we are 2D beings—paper people."

In most universes, there exist multiple dimensions or even multiple planes of existence.

For instance, the Watcher species is itself a high-dimensional being that transcends time and space. Apart from them, the Living Tribunal, the Pantheon, and the Gods of the Beyond are all beings powerful enough to rewrite entire universes with a wave of their hands.

Even in the DC Universe, beings like Darkseid, Trigon, Mister Mxyzptlk, and Batmite are all extremely high-dimensional entities.

But for the first time, the Watcher realized that this so-called "higher dimension" was only in reference to the multiverse beneath their feet.

In the eyes of the Avengers or the X-Men, these beings were indeed higher-dimensional beings—unconquerable, unobservable, and incomprehensible great entities.

But once they left the multiverse, how would these so-called higher-dimensional beings survive?

Looking down at their hands and feeling the magnificent energy that flowed through their body, in harmony with the world, the Watcher finally began to question its own identity.

In this situation, as a creation of comics or books, how could they possibly step out of the pages and communicate with the readers?

Seeing the Watcher seemingly on the verge of being overwhelmed by its own thoughts, Alex quickly poured it another cup of tea.

"Don't be too pessimistic. This is just a guess. Perhaps things aren't as bad as I imagine. Maybe the contamination itself was born in those higher worlds of The Boys Universe."

"Heh."

The Watcher gave a bitter smile and shook its head. It knew Alex was trying to comfort it, but how could something like this be explained away with just a few words?

"You know this is impossible, don't you? I feel like your guess is getting closer and closer to the truth. I remember you once said: 'Make bold assumptions, and verify carefully.' Now, it's time for us to verify the truth."

"Perhaps," Alex forced a smile. "So, let's go back to the question we first asked. When we met for the first time, who exactly were you talking to?"

Alex raised his head and looked directly at the Watcher.

"Who were you talking to?"

"I..."

The Watcher opened its mouth, sensing Alex's slightly scrutinizing gaze. For a moment, it didn't know how to respond.

After a brief pause, the Watcher continued.

"I may have been speaking to an existence from a higher dimension."

"Explain further."

Alex raised his hand, signaling the Watcher to continue.

"Actually, my kin have speculated on this before. The multiverse we live in is not static; it is constantly being ruthlessly altered by some unknown beings.

But we could never verify it, or rather, we never dared to actively seek the truth."

"Never dared?" Alex's expression grew a little grim.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Yes, for a long time, we've been trapped inside a glass box. We were born from the hands of higher-dimensional beings. To those beings, we are like goods in a store, or animals in a pen—something for them to play with."

The Watcher spoke in a low voice. "We've always been cautious in maintaining this situation, because we can't be sure whether our actions will trigger a response from those unknown beings. So..."

"So, you took on the role of the storytellers, attempting to use your great power to narrate the events of this world to those unknown beings."

"Yes, we are the Watchers, but we are also the narrators."

The Watcher lowered its head, sighed, and a sense of loneliness overwhelmed it.

For the sake of the safety and stability of the entire multiverse, their species had been telling stories of each universe to the darkness, even though they had received no response.

They didn't even know if their voices could be heard.

The Watcher huddled in on itself, its once towering form now slumped, an image of weakness. It was hard to imagine that someone as powerful as the Watcher would look this way.

At that moment, a hand suddenly patted the Watcher's shoulder.

"Your voices..."

Feeling the weight on its shoulder, the Watcher slowly lifted its head, and there, before it, was Alex's smiling face.

"I heard it."

.....

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