Karl did what he always did—he removed the stone.
He had long suspected that these stones represented something far more significant. Every corpse had one embedded in its abdomen.
After leaving the house, Karl crossed the road to another home.
As soon as he pushed the door open, a strong stench of blood hit him. Inside the living room lay only two bodies. Karl removed the stones, then went upstairs.
There were four rooms. Two of them contained corpses.
A family of four—completely wiped out.
Karl moved from one body to another, extracting the stones methodically.
There had been over eight hundred people in this village.
Now, not a single one remained.
Every one of them had died in the same way.
A heavy, suffocating scent of blood lingered over the entire village, giving it an eerie, oppressive atmosphere.
Back in Vienna, Karl had sensed something familiar about this place—that was why he rushed here.
He hadn't come to save anyone.
He had come to find the killer.
None of these people had died instantly.
Their deaths weren't simultaneous either—they had died in sequence. The time gap between the first and last victim was less than thirty seconds.
Karl stood in the middle of the village road, staring blankly at the ground, deep in thought.
Anyone capable of escaping his notice had to either understand him extremely well, possess extraordinary perception… or not be human at all.
Of those possibilities, he couldn't confirm familiarity—but one thing was certain:
The killer was incredibly skilled.
Silent.
Efficient.
Karl hadn't found a single trace.
The entire village had died without any sign of resistance.
Karl closed his eyes and listened carefully, trying to detect any hint of the killer's next move.
After a while, he opened them again.
Nothing.
There was no point in staying any longer.
Even the animals had fled.
No livestock. No pets.
Pets?
Karl suddenly noticed something strange.
He had clearly seen pet supplies in several houses—but where were the animals?
This was a rural village.
There should have been chickens, livestock… something.
But everything was gone.
No corpses.
No traces of escape.
Karl closed his eyes again, focusing even harder this time, not missing a single detail.
He didn't know whether the animals were alive or dead—he could only rely on faint sounds.
"…Hmm?"
Karl's eyes snapped open.
There was movement in a small valley not far away.
He took off and flew toward it—less than two kilometers from the village.
The night was unusually dark.
Heavy clouds covered the sky—no stars, no moon.
Under such conditions, the valley looked even more terrifying.
Karl landed and scanned the area.
Hundreds of animal corpses were scattered across the valley.
Their condition was far worse than the humans'.
If the human bodies had at least remained intact, these animals had been completely dismembered.
Even their fur was gone.
They looked like ingredients prepared for cooking.
Karl stepped forward to examine them more closely, trying to find what distinguished them from the human corpses.
He picked up one—likely a dog.
It was hard to tell.
Its limbs and head were missing. Its fur had been torn away.
Karl used the same method as before, cutting open the abdomen.
Inside—
The same.
All internal organs reduced to pulp.
And a stone.
But this stone was different.
It was yellow.
Unlike the black stones found in human bodies.
Similar in size, but slightly smaller.
Karl tossed the corpse aside and picked up another.
Cut it open.
Another yellow stone.
So animals and humans… were different.
Karl methodically tore through every corpse in the valley, extracting every stone.
By the end, he held the last one in his hand.
He couldn't understand it.
Every corpse had a stone.
What were they for?
Were they tools?
Markers left by the killer?
Or something else entirely?
But the strangest part remained—
Where was the skin from the humans' backs?
Where were the animals' hides?
These were questions he still couldn't answer.
Looking around, there was nothing left to examine.
Karl decided to leave.
He flew into the sky—
—and headed straight for New York.
These stones needed to be analyzed by professionals. Karl himself had never seen anything like them—only what Tony might be able to identify.
But first, he needed to call Diwen. If too much time passed, she'd definitely start worrying.
With a flick of his hand, his phone appeared—something Diwen had specially bought for him.
The call connected quickly.
"Karl, are you done?"
Diwen's voice sounded soft and pleasant through the phone.
Karl nodded instinctively, forgetting she couldn't see him.
"It's done. But I found something else. I'm going to see Tony now."
"Then I'm coming too."
"I won't be staying long. What are you planning to do?"
"I need to keep an eye on you. You're too suspicious!"
Karl's expression darkened slightly.
As expected… women were cautious.
They were still worried about Wanda.
The problem was, there had been no contact at all—no signals, no meetings.
"Please… I haven't eaten you, have I? What kind of nonsense are you imagining every day?"
With that, Karl hung up.
At Kamar-Taj, Diwen stomped her foot in frustration. Karl's tone when he hung up had made her furious.
Under Wong's curious gaze, she left the library and stepped into the courtyard. With a swift motion, she drew a portal and stepped through, arriving on the rooftop.
"Where is everyone?"
She looked around.
No one.
She opened another portal—this time to Tony's lab.
It was empty.
"Are they playing hide-and-seek or something?" she muttered.
With no other choice, she called Karl again.
"The number you have dialed is out of service…"
She hung up.
Without thinking, she knew—Karl had definitely thrown his phone somewhere again.
Helpless, she could only sit and wait.
Meanwhile, Karl flew toward Peachtree City, Georgia—the new Avengers headquarters.
But just as he arrived, he realized Diwen didn't know anyone there.
So he turned and flew to New York instead.
In the next instant, he appeared inside Stark Tower.
He saw Diwen sitting in a chair, absentmindedly fidgeting.
Karl smiled softly.
No matter how lively or restless she seemed, she always cared about him deeply. She understood people well—just a bit noisy.
He walked up behind her—
—and lifted her into his arms.
"Ahh!!"
Diwen let out a startled scream.
Then she recognized the familiar embrace, and her panic quickly faded.
"Are you sick or something?! Can't you say something before showing up? You nearly scared me to death!"
She pressed a hand to her chest, trying to calm herself.
Karl smiled and reached out to rub her shoulder.
She immediately slapped his hand away. "Keep your hands to yourself! Don't even think about it!"
Karl withdrew his hand, and she huffed lightly.
Then she suddenly realized something.
"Where is everyone? Why does this place feel empty?"
"It's being phased out," Karl said with a smile. "They've all moved to Georgia. A new Avengers base has been set up there."
"Why move there? Isn't this place more convenient?"
Karl didn't fully understand her question. He had heard it—but didn't really think about it. Tony hadn't explained it either.
In truth, Natasha had intended to explain.
But Karl had never entered the Vienna building—he had stayed outside the entire time.
From launching a nuclear missile to fleeing immediately after…
There had been no way for him to know the full story.
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