American comics: Damn it, I’m surrounded by those who worry about their fathers!.

Chapter 1067 Creating an Illusion to Trapped Peter

The child in the lead, wearing a stiff clown mask, spoke in a flat, emotionless tone: "Trick or treat."

His voice came through the plastic mask and sounded somewhat strange.

The other children also stiffly stretched out their empty baskets in unison.

Peter watched this scene quietly.

The sun was still shining brightly, but the temperature in the air seemed to have dropped a few degrees.

The children's attire and tone of voice conveyed a strong sense of unease and incongruity.

This scene felt familiar, as if some pre-programmed program had suddenly started running at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

Wanda stepped forward, a warm smile on her face: "Oh, what lovely children! Wait, let me see if we have any candy at home..."

She turned around and walked towards the kitchen, her movements seemingly hurried.

Pietro scratched his head, looked at Peter, shrugged, and seemed to think it was just a slightly strange little thing.

But Peter's gaze grew increasingly serious.

He looked at the children standing motionless and waiting silently outside the door like puppets, then at Wanda's disappearing figure in the kitchen doorway, and finally at Pietro's unguarded face.

Why did he feel that this scene was somewhat like a stage play?
Moreover, it was a somewhat outdated situational stage play from the last century.

Could Wanda have pulled herself into some strange space?
Peter stroked his chin, lost in thought.

Wanda quickly returned with several brightly wrapped candies, which she stuffed into the children's baskets almost as if stuffing them in.

"Alright, kids, Happy Halloween in advance! Now go on your way."

Wanda urged the children to hurry up and go cause trouble at the next house.

After receiving the candy, the children didn't say thank you. They simply turned around in unison, their movements still somewhat stiff, and silently left along the way they had come, quickly disappearing around the corner as if they had never been there.

Wanda breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, and smiled at Peter: "Alright, that little episode is over. Where were we, Peter?"

Wanda's smile was flawless, as if the little incident with those strange candy-sniffing children had never happened.

Peter remained silent, staring into Wanda's smiling yet unfathomable eyes, his suspicions reaching their peak.

This place, Wanda and Pietro right before our eyes, and even everything that has just happened, are all shrouded in a veil of falsehood.

Something extremely wrong is happening.

Has Wanda really turned to the dark side?!

You know, when Wanda turns to the dark side, she becomes ruthless and vicious, but he doesn't find anything out of place about her now.

Could it be that Wanda concealed her emotions and power, escaping her own perception?

hiss.
If Wanda could evade his mental perception, it meant that the girl's mental strength was no less than his own.

No!

I cannot reveal myself for the time being.

Quickly regaining his composure, Peter pretended not to have noticed anything and said to Wanda, "Speaking of what happened here in New York after I left."

"Yes, I was just about to talk to you, Peter, about what's been happening in New York lately."

Wanda was excitedly preparing to share her recent experiences with Peter.

But the next second, her gaze inadvertently swept across the fence outside the yard and saw a figure walking along the path toward the farmhouse.

The newcomer was a Black woman dressed in khaki pants and a shirt, her steps steady, her eyes carefully scanning her surroundings.

Wanda's perfect smile froze instantly.

But her smile quickly vanished, replaced by a slightly apologetic helplessness.

"She is my neighbor."

Wanda said to Peter in a lighthearted tone, as if she had a headache, "She's a very nice person, but sometimes she's a little... overly enthusiastic. I guess she heard the noise I made when I landed from the air."

She quickly gave Pietro a wink and casually instructed, "Pietro, darling, why don't you take Peter upstairs to the guest room to take a look? Didn't you say your computer seemed to be having some problems, and you wanted Peter to take a look? He knows everything."

Pietro immediately understood, his face still bearing that sunny and harmless smile, and stepped forward to affectionately put his arm around Peter's shoulder.

"Yes, yes, sir, please come and take a look at my computer. It keeps having problems. Can you take a look?"

Quicksilver tried enthusiastically to lead Peter away from the doorway.

Peter's gaze shifted subtly between the approaching "neighbor" and Wanda.

He didn't say anything and obediently followed Pietro into the house.

Although Peter followed Quicksilver upstairs, his mental perception covered the entire farm.

Just as Peter and Pietro disappeared around the corner of the stairs, Wanda's smile vanished instantly.

She took a deep breath, turned around, and put on her gentle, slightly apologetic mask of a good neighbor again, opening the farmhouse door.

The woman outside the door had already stopped. She looked to be in her thirties and had a capable demeanor, completely unlike an ordinary peasant woman who would casually visit neighbors in the afternoon.

"Hello."

The woman spoke, her voice steady and warmly polite.

"I'm Monica Rambo. I just moved to this area. I heard a lot of noise around here just now. Is everything alright?"

Her gaze swept quickly over Wanda and the furnishings in the room.

Wanda's brows furrowed slightly, but her smile remained unchanged, even carrying a hint of embarrassment.

"Oh, thank you, Miss Rambo. I'm so sorry to bother you. It's nothing serious. My husband and I were mowing the lawn when the old lawnmower suddenly got stuck and made a really loud noise. It really startled us."

She turned to the side, gesturing to the lawnmower that hadn't been there a moment ago but was now on the grass, and said in a natural tone.

Monica Lamb nodded and said enthusiastically, "The lawnmower is broken? Do you need help? I know a bit about machinery."

As she spoke, her gaze swept over Wanda again.

This time, her gaze lingered briefly for a few seconds on Wanda's scarlet battle suit, which had nothing to do with farm work, and a hint of confusion flashed in her eyes.

Wanda noticed the other person's gaze linger for a moment, and her alarm bells suddenly went off.

She maintained her smile: "No need, thank you so much. My brother has already gone upstairs to get the tools, he should be able to handle it."

She was eager to end the conversation, saying, "It's really kind of you to go to all this trouble."

"It's no trouble at all; it's only right for neighbors to help each other."

Monica said, seemingly preparing to turn and leave.

Just as she turned slightly to the side, the collar of her shirt opened a little due to the movement, and a necklace slipped out.

The necklace doesn't look like an ordinary ornament; the pendant is a simple, technologically advanced silver-gray badge—clearly engraved with the SWORD logo.

Heavenly Sword Bureau?

Wanda was stunned when she saw the Sky Sword Bureau logo.

She had previously been in contact with the Tianjian Bureau.

SkySword is short for the Bureau of Intelligence Observation and Response. It is an intelligence and military organization focused on dealing with extraterrestrial and supernatural threats, and its authority and capabilities even surpass those of S.H.I.E.L.D. in some aspects.

Upon seeing the S.W.O.R.D. necklace, Wanda's expression instantly turned icy.

She had created this illusion, never expecting someone to break in.

All pretense and all performance collapsed completely at this moment.

Sky Sword Bureau, Monica Rambo, she's no ordinary neighbor.

The woman in front of me is an intruder!
She entered this illusion to investigate, or perhaps even to...

Wanda's unease was instantly replaced by an even more surging anger.

Her own sanctuary, the perfect moment of her "reunion" with Peter, the fragile illusion of happiness she carefully maintained, were all intruded upon by outsiders once again.

Never allow it!

Monica immediately realized that she had been exposed.

She saw the gentle mask on Wanda's face disappear, replaced by extreme anger.

The sudden burst of crimson light in the other person's eyes made her realize something was wrong.

"Wait, let me explain, I'm just your neighbor..."

Monica retreated rapidly, trying to draw her gun and activate the energy suppression device on her wrist.

But it was too late.

"Get out!" Wanda let out a shriek, a roar imbued with the power of chaotic magic, as she lashed out at her opponent.

She didn't even make any complicated gestures; she just suddenly raised her hand.

"boom!"

An indescribable, violent, dark red energy, like a tangible tsunami, erupted instantly from Wanda's body.

The dark red energy didn't attack Monica directly, but instead slammed into the space behind her.

The walls, porch, yard, fence of the farmhouse... everything before my eyes shattered suddenly, like a glass curtain wall being smashed.

The broken fragments are not wood or bricks, but countless twisted and shimmering pixels and film-like phantoms.

Monica felt as if she had been thrown into a rapidly spinning, broken kaleidoscope.

She saw her "neighbor's" house turn into a rough backdrop, and the blue sky and white clouds fade into dim stage lights.

Wanda's figure stood at the center of that madly collapsing illusion, her eyes glaring at her like a goddess of destruction descended upon the world.

She no longer needed to pretend.

"This is my world, and no one can destroy it or take it away from me!"

Wanda screamed wildly and pushed her hands forward violently.

More chaotic magical energy surged forth and quickly detected Monica Rambo's "discordant" real-world coordinates.

Monica felt herself being gripped tightly by an irresistible force.

She tried to resist, but she couldn't even move a finger in the face of the enraged chaos magic.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

She was pushed backward by a powerful force against her will, crashing through one "wall" after another.

After each "wall" is broken down, another bizarre and completely different false background is revealed behind it—sometimes it's the set of a 50s black-and-white sitcom, sometimes it's a stage play set, and sometimes it's an empty virtual grid with only colored lines...

Wanda is forcibly "deleting" this "mistake" from her carefully woven multi-layered illusion of reality.

Monica struggled desperately, but to no avail.

She was as if she had been thrown into an infinitely long tunnel with constantly changing scenes, and was being pushed wildly towards the exit by a brute force.

finally--

"boom!!!"

After an unprecedentedly loud bang, Monica felt herself break through the last, and most "real," barrier—which seemed to be the outer wall of a real farmhouse, with bricks and wood chips flying everywhere.

The powerful inertia propelled her backward, and the scene before her was no longer a fake backdrop, but a real field and sky.

But the force of that chaotic magic had not disappeared, pushing her to roll on the ground for more than ten meters before finally stopping.

She felt dizzy and her whole body ached. She struggled to lift her head.

Where is there any peaceful and perfect farm now?

Only one lonely farmhouse stands in the wilderness.

On the wall of the farmhouse, there was a shockingly large hole, which had just been made by her body.

The next second, all the doors and windows of the farmhouse were suddenly sealed by an invisible force. Dark red energy retreated into the house like a tide, and the holes were forcibly covered and repaired by the rapidly spreading and thicker magical energy, as if to completely isolate all external prying eyes.

Monica collapsed onto the real grass, breathing heavily, her clothes soaked with cold sweat.

The detector on her wrist was alarming, indicating that the energy level she had just experienced was terrifyingly high.

She succeeded; she confirmed the truth—Wanda Maximov had once again distorted reality, trapping herself and others in a vast, multi-layered illusion.

But she failed; she was roughly expelled, which thoroughly enraged the woman with godlike power.

at the same time.

Kama Taj.

The tranquility of Kamar-Taj was shattered by a portal that stumbled in.

Stephen practically fell flat on his face. His face was ashen, bloodstains remained on his chest, and his magic robe was tattered. He barely managed to stay upright by relying on his sling ring, preventing him from collapsing to the ground.

The king, who had been on high alert, rushed forward to support him upon seeing this, and asked with a grave expression, "Strange, what happened?! Who hurt you like this?!"

Raven, who was in a corner of the hall, closed the book in her hand and stood up instantly.

Bruce emerged from the shadows like a ghost.

Even Azu, who had been posing and preening in front of the mirror in the Dharma Artifacts Hall, stopped what he was doing and raised his eyebrows in curiosity.

America, who was resting in the side room, heard the commotion and ran out in a panic.

All eyes were focused on the disheveled Doctor Strange.

Stephen was breathing heavily, which he forced down. He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, and said in a hoarse and urgent voice, "It's Wanda!"

This statement instantly caused an uproar in the hall.

"What? Wanda?"

Wang gasped, incredulous. "This is impossible, Strange! Explain yourself! How could Wanda...?"

"She practiced the Dark Book."

Stephen interrupted him, saying in a somber tone, "She has been completely corrupted by that cursed book. She is the one who is hunting America in another universe. She sent the Eye Demon. She knows America's name. She knows everything. Her current power... far exceeds our imagination."

He recounted with difficulty his experiences at the New York Temple, how Wanda disguised herself, how she was exposed, how easily she tore reality apart, how she summoned the Dark Book, and the ultimatum issued by the other party.

The hall was deathly silent, save for Stephen's heavy breathing.

Raven listened quietly, her expression hidden beneath the purple hood.

But her hands unconsciously clenched slightly, and a chilling coldness crept up her spine.

Wanda Maximov.

The name was like a key, instantly unlocking the door to the deepest fears she didn't want to touch in her memory.

She vividly remembered that moment when she faced the Boggart in Defense Against the Dark Arts class during her time at Hogwarts.

When the cabinet door opened, Boggart spun and changed in front of her... finally settling into the image of Wanda.

Wanda Maximov, clad in a scarlet battle suit, with eyes burning with chaotic flames and surrounded by destructive power.

That was the embodiment of her deepest fear—a terrifying dark force that she could not understand, could not communicate with, was pure and obsessive, and was capable of tearing reality apart and annihilating everything.

From the moment she first met Wanda, she sensed the darkness within her.

That dark power seemed to lurk within Wanda's heart, ready to destroy everything if it were to erupt.

Wanda's feelings for her father were not normal, which is why she feared that Wanda would take her father away.

At that moment, she almost exhausted all her willpower to barely manage to shout "Funny! Funny!" at that "Wanda," watching Boggart contort into a ridiculous shape.

But that sense of fear was deeply imprinted on her soul.

Hearing Stephen's account, Raven's inner unease was rekindled.

But she took a deep breath and forcefully suppressed the fear.

I am Raven, Peter's daughter, possessing a powerful bloodline that connects to extradimensional forces, and a warrior trained by my father.

I have become stronger.

Raven said to herself, her eyes gradually hardening.

Even if she obtains the power of the Dark Book... I might not lose to her.

Chaos magic is not invincible.

However, another, more pressing concern instantly seized her.

"Father!"

Raven looked up sharply at Stephen, her voice unusually urgent, "Father went to find her. He's with Wanda in that state now. He's in danger. We have to go immediately..."

Before she could finish speaking, Bruce, who had been silently observing, suddenly spoke up, interrupting Raven.

"Riven."

Bruce stepped forward, shook his head, and said to her, "Don't be impulsive. The fact that Master Strange returned severely injured proves that Wanda's strength and determination far exceed expectations. If we rush there now, we may not only fail to rescue Mr. Strange, but we may also directly trigger a full-scale conflict."

He glanced around at the ancient halls and the oblivious apprentices. "She is coming soon. We cannot be unprepared."

(End of this chapter)