After causing trouble the whole night, Diwen, as usual, fell asleep in Karl's arms.
"Bzz… bzz…"
The phone rang again—more precisely, Diwan's ringtone.
Karl rarely used his phone except to contact her. Most of the time, he lived almost completely disconnected from the world.
He gently got up, careful not to wake her.
Picking up the vibrating phone, he walked outside.
"Tony, what happened?"
He could tell who it was from the call log at a glance.
"The stones are gone. The two earlier samples are gone too."
Karl frowned. "How did they disappear?"
"They vanished suddenly. No abnormalities on the surveillance footage."
The killer hadn't been caught yet—and now the clues were disappearing.
"I'll come over later and watch the remaining stones," Karl said, about to hang up.
"Wait," Tony quickly added. "There's something else. You've been put on the wanted list again. What you did in Japan was recorded—now the whole world thinks you're the killer. The UN has formed an investigation team."
Karl scoffed. "Looks like someone's targeting me. We'll talk when I get there."
This time, he hung up.
Back inside, Karl placed the phone on the table.
He sat down, deep in thought.
This wasn't simple.
Someone was clearly targeting him—and doing it from the shadows.
Right now, the enemy was hidden in darkness, while he stood in the open.
Every time he made a move, the other side responded—but he had no leads, no way to identify who was framing him.
His hand tapped lightly on his leg as he tried to piece everything together.
While he was thinking, Diwan woke up.
Her eyes slowly opened, bright and clear—but her overall look was messy: tousled hair, dazed expression, unfocused gaze.
She mumbled something incoherent:
"Ni zao… re… ha… ma…"
Then took a deep breath.
Karl looked over and smiled. "Speak human language."
She sighed and lay back down.
"Why are you up so early?"
Seeing she was about to fall asleep again, Karl said softly, "Go back to sleep. I'm heading to the U.S.—something happened."
That woke her up a bit.
"What happened? Wait for me—I'll get ready and come with you."
Karl pushed her gently back onto the bed.
"No. You stay here and rest. Your condition isn't suitable for going out right now."
There wasn't much she could do anyway—and if Karl couldn't solve it, no one else could.
Half-asleep, she murmured lazily, "Fine… go. I'll sleep a bit more. If you're not back when I wake up, I'll come find you myself."
Karl nodded and tucked her in.
"I'm going now. When you wake up, go eat breakfast—no snacks."
She didn't reply.
She had already fallen asleep again.
Karl gently pinched her cheek, brushed her hair aside, and kissed her smooth forehead.
Then he stood up, walked out, and closed the door.
With a sharp burst—
He disappeared from Kamar-Taj.
Avengers Base – Tony's Workshop
Karl watched the surveillance footage showing the stones disappearing.
The room was empty most of the time, except for occasional appearances by Tony.
At 5:23 PM, the stones appeared on the workbench—mostly black ones, with a few yellow ones.
Then—
Two stones placed aside slowly disappeared.
No warning.
No disturbance.
They simply vanished, as if they had never existed.
"Play it again," Karl said.
Tony replayed the footage.
"I've watched it dozens of times," Tony said. "It's like a magic trick. Completely unexplainable. I've gone through a lot of coffee over this."
Karl stared at the screen for a long time.
Still nothing.
No signs.
Just like the victims—sudden death, no warning.
He tapped the table lightly.
"This is troublesome."
Tony smirked. "So even Superman gets headaches. I should tell the world."
Taking a sip of coffee, he asked, "Did you notice anything unusual?"
Karl shook his head. "Looks like I'll be staying here for a while. I want to see the stones disappear with my own eyes."
Tony shut off the video.
"You're currently the world's most wanted man—but I like it. Having you here proves the Avengers still matter."
He laughed. "The biggest criminal in the world staying with me—let's see who dares complain now."
Karl patted his shoulder. "Maybe I should remove your face too. That'll make my 'criminal image' even better."
Tony brushed his hand away and straightened his clothes.
"Ahem… I carry too much wisdom to move casually."
With that, he walked out.
Now alone, Karl approached the table.
He picked up a stone and crushed it.
It turned into powder.
He rubbed it between his fingers.
"Crack…"
A faint electric reaction flashed across his hand.
He sprinkled the powder onto the floor.
The ground began to corrode slightly—fine cracks spreading where the powder landed.
But that wasn't the main point.
The powder…
Was disappearing.
Without warning.
Karl stared closely, not missing a single detail.
His enhanced vision activated.
In his eyes, the world changed—
The powder vanished piece by piece.
Molecules. Atoms.
Gone.
Completely erased.
Karl stood up and crushed a yellow stone.
Same result.
It disappeared as well.
No difference.
No explanation.
Only more confusion.
The killer hadn't been found.
But the clues were disappearing.
Karl left the workshop.
Originally, he wanted to examine the bodies.
Now—
He had to.
He walked to Tony's room and saw Pepper in casual clothes.
She smiled. "Hey, Karl. I'm sure this will be cleared up. Don't take it too seriously."
Karl smiled faintly. "I don't care about being wanted. I'm just curious who the killer is. They're no threat to me."
Pepper nodded. "Tony said someone is framing you."
They reached Tony's door. Pepper opened it.
"Come in. I know you're here for Tony."
Inside, Tony was working on something. His workstation seemed to be running constantly.
Tony glanced up and complained, "You shouldn't bring men in here. This is our private space."
Pepper kissed his cheek. "Maybe it's urgent. I just finished my shower—talk quickly."
Tony raised an eyebrow and looked at Karl.
"Find anything?"
Karl nodded slightly. "Not exactly. But the stones disappear after being crushed too. Do you know where the bodies are? I want to check them."
At first, no one thought to preserve the bodies.
Now it seemed like a mistake.
Tony replied, "In New York—Bellevue Hospital. In Japan—Okayama Red Cross Hospital and a national hospital. There were too many bodies."
Karl nodded. He knew where to go.
"Take care of yourself," he said casually. "Your kidneys look a bit weak."
Then he turned and left.
Tony froze for a moment, staring at the closed door.
"…I don't regret my wild youth," he muttered.
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