Karl left the Avengers base and headed straight for Bellevue Hospital.
There were always people in a hospital—otherwise, it would mean a major medical accident had occurred, or the hospital had shut down for some reason.
Karl concealed his combat suit and changed into ordinary clothes, making his way to the morgue.
Everyone who saw him along the way seemed almost hypnotized, as if they hadn't seen him at all.
After arriving smoothly, Karl activated his x-ray vision and located the refrigerated units storing the bodies.
His gaze swept across the room before he walked up to one of the drawers, pulled it open, and dragged the body out.
At that moment—
Something strange happened.
As soon as the drawer was opened, the corpse inside disappeared—just like the stone before it.
No warning.
Gone in an instant.
Karl froze, his expression turning grim.
The clues were vanishing, and he was running out of chances.
He turned to another drawer, confirmed the body was still inside, and stared at it without blinking.
Walking over, he opened it.
The same scene happened again.
This time, Karl was prepared. He witnessed the entire process of the corpse disappearing.
Just like the stone—
Its molecular and atomic structure completely vanished.
Karl disappeared from the morgue and reappeared outside, looking toward Japan.
In the next instant, he shot into the sky.
The disappearance of the stones hadn't concerned him much before—after all, their material and function were unknown.
But now, even the bodies were disappearing.
This was far more serious.
A second later, Karl appeared in Okayama City.
With another flicker, he reappeared inside the Red Cross Hospital.
Reaching the morgue, he didn't need to search carefully—just opening any drawer revealed a body from the village.
There were too many dead.
It was impossible they had all been cremated—this supported Karl's suspicions.
He opened a drawer and stared at the corpse, waiting to see if it would disappear.
But this time—
Nothing happened.
The body remained.
Karl unzipped the body bag.
It was a female corpse, covered in a blue-and-white cloth. There was an unstitched opening in her abdomen—completely hollow inside.
He opened her mouth.
It had been cleaned. No blood.
Inside—
No teeth. No tongue. Nothing.
He checked the eyes.
Empty sockets. The eyeballs were gone.
A red glow appeared at Karl's fingertip.
This time, he intended to open the skull and see what was inside.
His finger cut through the bone effortlessly.
But—
There was nothing inside.
His precognition hadn't deceived him.
The situation grew even more confusing.
Finding the truth seemed even further away.
Karl pulled out another corpse.
Same result.
After examining all the bodies, he placed them back and left.
At the national hospital's morgue, Karl repeated the same process.
The results were identical.
Except—
"One body is missing…"
Karl muttered.
Standing in the morgue, he carefully reviewed everything and slowly reached a conclusion.
The bodies were connected to the stones.
The first two stones had disappeared—and so had the corresponding two bodies.
The person represented by the black stone Karl had crushed—once the stone disappeared, so did the body.
As for the animals, their remains had already been cremated, and their whereabouts were unknown.
There was no point in continuing.
Each corpse was just an empty shell—nothing but skin and bones.
Karl returned to Kamar-Taj.
There was no need to inform Tony anymore.
This was no longer just about stones and bodies.
This was the meaning behind the killer's actions.
Why had the first two victims died right in front of him, yet he hadn't even seen a trace of the killer?
More importantly—
What was the purpose of killing in this way?
After returning to his room, Karl took a shower.
He still carried the faint smell of formalin. If Diwan woke up, she would definitely complain endlessly.
Even if she didn't dislike the smell, her ears certainly wouldn't enjoy the lecture.
On the Helicarrier — Inside the New S.H.I.E.L.D.
Nick Fury stared at the data in front of him, his expression serious.
Maria Hill stood behind him, also focused on the information.
"Still no way to find out who's framing Karl?" Fury asked.
Hill replied firmly, "No leads. All the video files appeared out of nowhere—exactly at the moments when Karl was with the bodies."
Fury frowned.
The situation was being handled carefully, but his authority was limited, and so were the resources he could mobilize.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had only recently been rebuilt—it would take time to regain its former strength.
"Targeting Karl like this isn't wise… What exactly do they want?" Fury muttered.
Hill didn't answer.
They both believed Karl was innocent.
If Karl wanted to kill, he wouldn't do it this way—he would use methods no one could trace.
The surveillance footage was too strange. Clearly deliberate.
And the victims' conditions were even stranger.
Fury turned to Hill.
"Have you compiled all the victims' information?"
Hill stepped forward and operated the system.
After a moment, she stopped.
"All data compiled. None of them have legal identities. The places they frequented have no surveillance records. It's as if they appeared out of thin air."
Fury's expression darkened.
"They're erasing all traces of the victims."
He paused, then asked again, "Still no clues?"
Hill shook her head.
"It's like the information never existed. No matter what method we use, we can't find any record of their lives."
"Cunning…" Fury cursed under his breath.
Then he ordered, "Deploy satellites to monitor Karl. He's our only lead now."
Hill immediately moved to carry out the command.
"Also contact the Avengers," Fury added. "We're too weak to handle this alone."
Hill nodded and left.
Fury continued reviewing the files.
They were extremely detailed—especially the moments before and after Karl discovered the first two bodies.
That was exactly why Fury was certain Karl wasn't the culprit.
Otherwise, even without proof, Fury would still have secretly guarded against him.
But the deeper he investigated—
The more uneasy he became.
This was no longer a simple framing incident.
There were already 837 victims.
Among them, 31 were children under the age of ten.
And the killer was still using such cruel methods.
The most terrifying part—
How had they erased every trace of the victims?
It was impossible to leave absolutely no evidence.
Especially since many of them weren't even native to Earth.
Meanwhile, the Avengers had also begun investigating.
At first, they thought it was just an ordinary murder case and didn't take it too seriously.
But tonight's developments—and the global highest-level wanted order—changed everything.
Steve Rogers came out of seclusion and went to Okayama, Japan.
With him were Sam, Quicksilver, and Wanda.
The small, unnamed village in Okayama couldn't be verified.
There were countless villages like it—places whose names existed only among the locals.
After landing the jet, Steve began assigning roles.
"We split up. I'll take the east. Wanda, you take the west. Sam, south. Quicksilver, north."
He paused, then added seriously:
"This isn't as simple as it looks. Pay attention to anything unusual."
The three nodded.
"Move out!"
The four of them headed off in different directions.
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