“Bad luck, bad luck, bad luck!” Gao Ming couldn’t help but laugh out loud as he watched the phone screen, where Jackie Chan was shouting about his bad luck while running for his life.
At this moment, the phone wasn’t playing a movie by the famous superstar Jackie Chan, but an animated series called *The Adventures of Jackie Chan*.
The Jackie Chan in the show wasn’t the action star we all knew, but an archaeologist.
The first time he watched it, Gao Ming really wanted to complain.
Sure enough, even if he were an ordinary archaeologist, just because he was Jackie Chan, he would definitely get caught up in a lot of trouble, and…
What kind of archaeologist is this good at fighting!
He obviously put his skill points in the wrong place!
But what could you do?
After all, he’s Jackie Chan.
It would be weirder if Jackie Chan couldn’t fight…
With university graduation approaching, the students on campus were all gradually going out for internships.
The other roommates in the dorm had all gone out to work, leaving only Gao Ming, who was too lazy and found it too troublesome, staying cooped up in the dorm all day surfing the web.
With his roommates gone, Gao Ming could only surf the web to kill time.
His daily online activities were just a repeat of reading novels, watching anime, and playing games.
A few days ago, after Gao Ming finished the new anime he was following, he was looking for other good anime to watch when he accidentally came across this childhood classic, *The Adventures of Jackie Chan*.
So he started re-watching it, reminiscing about his childhood.
What had started as a way to kill time had completely hooked Gao Ming.
Even though he’d seen it several times before, rewatching it was still incredibly engaging.
“Phew… That was awesome,” he sighed, finally finishing the last episode of the classic animation after a few days of binge-watching.
Watching Uncle finally release Shendu to counter the Demon Dragon, and seeing the Dragon Team return the talismans to Shendu, who then regained his full power and unleashed his might, Gao Ming felt a bit speechless.
“So it still comes down to the talismans in the end. It seems they’re the central theme of the entire series.”
Finally, Uncle used a reverse spell to seal both Shendu and the Demon Dragon in Hell, condemning the father and son to be trapped together for eternity, locked in a cycle of love and hate.
With that, *The Adventures of Jackie Chan* drew to a close.
“What a waste…” Gao Ming grumbled after the credits rolled.
He was frustrated because the magical talismans vanished along with Shendu’s sealing, and he had grown quite fond of them.
As he thought about the unique powers of each of the twelve talismans, Gao Ming couldn’t help but let his imagination run wild.
The Rat Talisman grants life to the inanimate; the Ox Talisman bestows immense strength; the Tiger Talisman balances power; the Rabbit Talisman grants agility; the Dragon Talisman enables explosive blasts; the Snake Talisman allows invisibility; the Horse Talisman purifies and heals; the Goat Talisman enables astral projection; the Monkey Talisman allows transformation into animals; the Chicken Talisman grants flight; the Dog Talisman brings eternal youth; and the Pig Talisman grants laser vision…
If anyone were to ask Gao Ming which talisman he liked best, he would definitely answer, “The Goat Talisman.”
Not the Dragon Talisman with its super-strong attack power, nor the Chicken Talisman that fulfills humanity’s dream of flight, but the Goat Talisman, which was rated as the weakest of the Twelve Talismans!
The Goat Talisman allows a person’s soul to leave their body and even enter the dreams of others.
It seemed to have no great power and appeared only a few times in the series, yet Gao Ming liked it the most.
What are the three superpowers a gentleman most wants to obtain?
The answer is undoubtedly “invisibility, clairvoyance, and teleportation.”
If he had the chance to obtain superpowers, Gao Ming would also choose these three.
Although none of the Twelve Talismans granted clairvoyance, the Snake Talisman’s “invisibility” and the Rabbit Talisman’s “speed” could achieve the other two.
However, the Goat Talisman’s “astral projection” was actually a form of advanced invisibility.
Since the soul is invisible and intangible, both invisibility and teleportation could be bypassed.
As for X-ray vision, the Goat Talisman couldn’t solve that.
But as a gentleman, Gao Ming had long since cultivated enough patience.
If he couldn’t see through clothes, he’d just have to wait for the other party to unburden themselves…
After daydreaming for a while, Gao Ming snapped back to reality.
He adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose and chuckled self-deprecatingly.
*I’ve watched too much anime and gone crazy.
I still haven’t graduated from my second-degree syndrome.
In reality, there’s no such thing as all this crazy stuff.*
Glancing at his phone’s battery indicator, he saw it was below 10%.
Gao Ming rolled off the bed, grabbed the charger from the cabinet, plugged it into his phone, and then lined up the plug with the outlet, pushing it in…
BOOM!!!!!
A loud explosion ripped through the air.
The phone in Gao Ming’s hand suddenly detonated, shredding his hand into a bloody mess.
The excruciating pain made him want to scream, but before he could even make a sound, shards of the shattered screen flew everywhere.
One of them pierced his eye and tore straight through his brain.
Stray sparks ignited the papers on his desk, quickly escalating into a raging inferno that engulfed the entire dormitory.
The dying Gao Ming was consumed by the merciless flames, which snuffed out his last breath.
No one would ever know Gao Ming’s final thought before he died: *I knew I shouldn’t have bought a Sanxin phone…*
***
Gao Ming stared blankly with dead fish eyes, leaning against the wall.
His gaze was fixed on the blue sky and drifting clouds outside the window, devoid of any focus.
“Damn it,” he muttered despondently, feeling his future grow bleak.
“I’m pretty sure I was watching *The Adventures of Jackie Chan*. How did I end up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?”
He had been in this world for less than a day.
When he awoke from his coma and saw his completely unharmed body and the American pedestrians passing by below the window, Gao Ming realized in an instant—he had transmigrated!
He wasn’t sure if this was a soul transmigration or a physical one, as this body was identical to his own.
However, his mind now contained a set of unfamiliar memories.
“He” was also named Gao Ming, a Chinese-American who had grown up in the United States.
His only relative was his grandfather.
After high school, Gao Ming had followed his grandfather in Chinatown, selling fast food and snacks.
Unfortunately, his grandfather had passed away recently.
Fortunately, his grandfather had always cultivated his independence and ability to stand on his own, so he was now living alone and working at a pizza shop.
Perhaps the sudden intrusion of Gao Ming’s soul had caused “him” to faint at home.
After more than half a day of integration, Gao Ming finally succeeded in merging with the other’s soul.
“It seems I’ve been transmigrated into the body of a double from a parallel world. But our lives were completely different,” Gao Ming thought.
He pondered the concept of a “double” and concluded that his predecessor must have been himself from another parallel world.
The thought that his original self had already died in another world brought a wave of sadness.
However, he felt his double had been luckier—he had siblings and living parents.
He hoped his parents would gradually accept his passing with the support of his brothers and sisters.
Having merged with the double’s soul, Gao Ming naturally found himself fluent in English.
*If I could go back,* he thought, *I’d definitely pass my English exams now.*
He was surprised to find the current year was 2008.
His double, like him, was 24 years old.
However, while Gao Ming had been born in ’94, his double was born in ’84—a ten-year difference.
Gao Ming speculated that when they were still just chromosomes, his double had won the “race of life” and been born first.
But his double’s parents had passed away when he was very young, leaving him with no siblings.
With the double’s memories now his own, and sharing the exact same face, everything felt natural and familiar.
Gao Ming adapted to his new life quickly.
Embracing the mindset of “making the best of a bad situation,” he was preparing to continue “his” life, even considering whether to cross the ocean and return to his homeland to watch the 2008 Olympics.
However, he saw a news report on television that left him utterly stunned—
*Billionaire Tony Stark has been missing for 72 days!*
*Holy shit, Tony Stark?
Iron Man?
This is the Marvel Universe!*
After confirming that the television was broadcasting the news and not the movie *Iron Man*, Gao Ming felt a massive headache coming on as he stared at the photo of “Robert Downey Jr.” on the screen.
Normally, anyone who discovered they had transmigrated into the Marvel Universe would be jumping for joy and cheering wildly.
Yet, Gao Ming couldn’t find a single reason to be happy.
Hulk versus Abomination, Iron Man versus Iron Monger, the Avengers versus the Chitauri army… all these events were bound to happen in the future, and Gao Ming was now living in such a dangerous world.
Even if Gao Ming chose to leave the United States, he might not be able to escape the chaos.
Although the movies mostly took place in America, this was the real world.
Who knew if the wars that had originally broken out in the U.S. would eventually expand to encompass the entire globe?
What if Thanos, Dormammu, or the Celestials suddenly decided to destroy Earth one day…
Thinking about Thanos, wearing the Infinity Gauntlet embedded with all six Infinity Stones, snapping his fingers and causing half the universe’s life to vanish, Gao Ming couldn’t help but shiver.
The more he thought about it, the more dangerous it seemed.
Gao Ming couldn’t help but shout, “I’m going back!”
“Fuck, what’s all the noise!”
“The bastard next door is at it again!”
“…”
Gao Ming’s sudden shout disturbed his neighbors, who all started cursing.
Words starting with “F” and “S” flew around.
Gao Ming immediately shut his mouth, quietly waiting for his neighbors to cool down.
After a while, seeing that Gao Ming had fallen silent, his “friendly” foreign neighbors lost interest.
They threw out a few last curses, decided not to waste any more saliva, and went back to their own business.
Hearing the cursing stop, Gao Ming finally breathed a sigh of relief and muttered, “Vulgar, uncultured foreigners, all they can do is swear.”
That said, Gao Ming wouldn’t dare argue back with these American neighbors.
After all, arguing with others had never been his strong suit.
Besides, his neighbors, being aware that he was Chinese, harbored a subtle, perhaps even unconscious, racial prejudice.
If Gao Ming were to argue with them, he might even end up getting beaten up.
*This is just keeping the peace, not backing down…* Gao Ming thought bitterly.
He slumped back on the bed, leaning against the wall, his eyes fixed on the white clouds drifting across the sky through the windowpane.
*The sky is so blue, the clouds are so white…*
*The Marvel Universe is such a great place.
Why do so many destructive villains have to appear…*
*I just want to be a background character, someone who never gets the spotlight and never gets killed off…*
*Where is Stan Lee?
I want to protest…*
After daydreaming for a while, Gao Ming still couldn’t think of anything useful.
He could only lie helplessly on the bed, recalling the movie plots while planning for the future.
*Tony Stark went missing for three months before returning to start perfecting the Iron Man suit.
Now, 72 days have already passed.
This means the day Tony Stark is rescued is not far off…*
*The Hulk’s plot seems to happen after Iron Man.
Bruce Banner is probably still hiding in some beverage processing plant in a Brazilian slum…*
*Captain America should still be in hibernation, only coming out to stretch his old bones when the Avengers are formed.
And forming the Avengers is currently just Director Fury’s half-baked idea…*
***
Although Gao Ming had transmigrated before *Avengers: Infinity War* was released, he had seen all the Marvel movies that were out at the time, including the old versions of Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and Ghost Rider that weren’t part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
With the advantage of knowing the plot, Gao Ming’s confidence in his survival had improved significantly.
While he couldn’t 100% guarantee he wouldn’t get caught up in the chaos, he could at least try to hide.
If you can’t beat ’em, you can’t hide from ’em?
With this salted-fish-like mindset of hoping for the best, he temporarily put aside these worrying matters and started obsessing over something else:
“I was watching *Jackie Chan Adventures*, so why did I transmigrate into the Marvel Universe?! This makes no sense!”
Gao Ming couldn’t figure it out.
According to novel tropes, you’re supposed to transmigrate into the world of whatever you were watching or playing before you crossed over.
This was the Law of Transmigrators.
Even though this logic was completely irrelevant..