Chapter 75: Plum’s Memory (Please Vote for Me)

Not only was Mumu Meilin stunned, but even Mordo and Fatty Wang beside her were left bewildered. Kamar-Taj had always given off an air of deep mystery—reserved and full of hidden depths. The Ancient One had always instructed her disciples to remain humble.

Naturally, they all knew about the Avengers. For three people who had dominated the headlines of the world year after year, Mumu Meilin and her two companions were more than familiar with these superheroes. According to the principles of social connections, anyone is separated from the President of the United States by no more than six degrees. But knowing of superheroes and having superheroes know you, even greeting you with a certain odd familiarity, were two entirely different matters.

Now, Fatty Wang and Mordo were both casting deeply suspicious glances at Mumu Meilin. Peter Parker was the least able to restrain himself; though he usually appeared quiet, it was really just a cover for his exuberant, attention-seeking nature. Once he donned the Spider-Man suit, his urge to perform would burst forth.

"Enough, Merlin! When have you ever not played innocent to get close to us, only to drag us into a mess? Vision’s here today, so stop pretending, will you?"

Pretending? Pretending about what? Why did it feel like she was faking innocence so badly it had become obvious?

Faced with Spider-Man’s rapid-fire sarcasm, Mumu Meilin felt genuinely wronged.

Iron Man, in his armor, turned his focus back to flying but didn’t hold back his words: "Merlin, May, Messi—whatever you’re calling yourself this time, I don’t care. Look at what New York’s become. If you know anything, just spit it out. If you can fix this, we’ll turn around and leave without another word."

Sure, I know what’s going on. But what do you mean, just leave? Dormammu is that terrifying, and you’d really trust me to handle it? Your home is right next door!

Mumu Meilin grimaced, at a loss for where to begin explaining. Tony’s next reaction was nothing short of uncanny. Seeing the look in Meilin’s eyes, he knew he’d guessed right. Suddenly he raised his hand, firing the repulsors in his palm and bringing himself to an abrupt halt mid-air. "I knew it! This guy’s in the know!"

Wait a minute… Since when can you read minds?

"Oh—God, spare me!" For once, Spider-Man’s tone was that of utter dejection.

Huh? What’s going on?

Iron Man and Spider-Man both looked as if they were ready to quit on the spot, adopting a ‘whatever, I’m done here’ attitude. Their reaction suddenly brought to mind the Ancient One’s words, echoing in Meilin’s ears: "You brat! You’re not about to do it—you’ve already done it! I just didn’t realize until now that you were the bastard responsible!"

A terrible possibility dawned on Mumu Meilin—what if her future self used the Eye of Agamotto to travel back in time, causing all sorts of trouble, and that was why the Avengers were reacting so… oddly?

A shiver ran down her spine. That wasn’t impossible. In her world’s comics, there was a particularly tragic ending in the Marvel universe: Thanos collects all the Infinity Stones and, with a snap, wipes out not half the universe, but every living thing—leaving only Ghost Rider and the Hulk. Eventually, bored out of his mind tormenting the Hulk, Thanos travels back in time to stop his own past self from destroying the world.

If you followed that line of reasoning, it was entirely plausible she might one day do something similar.

A cold sweat broke out down her back.

Just then, Vision spoke up: "Tony, as always, I can’t enter his mind. He may be him, and yet not him. I can’t sense the mind we once knew."

"Ah!" Spider-Man was the first to cry out.

Tony, his brain struggling to process, asked, "Are you sure, man?"

"Minds do not lie. The person we knew—though he was a scoundrel—genuinely cared about us. But this ‘Merlin’ doesn’t have a trace of those shared memories."

Vision’s words left Mumu Meilin feeling utterly exasperated. The Infinity Stones were all such bugs. The Mind Stone embedded in Vision’s forehead was immensely powerful, enhancing mental and psychic abilities. It could invade and control thoughts, implant memories and illusions into the brain, and when used with other Stones, its power would grow, allowing the user to connect to every mind in the universe.

Mumu Meilin had thought that, in front of Vision, all her shady thoughts would be laid bare, but apparently the Scales of Fate still shielded her well enough.

Buoyed with confidence, Mumu Meilin said, "Hey, guys, nice to meet you. Actually, it’s more like I’ve seen you on TV, but you have no reason to know us."

Tony and Peter both turned to Vision, who nodded in confirmation.

Tony reluctantly accepted this: "Fine, whatever happened to you, let’s just call this our first meeting. But my gut tells me you know what’s going on."

Mordo and Fatty Wang had been reluctant to speak up.

This was the honor of Kamar-Taj! Since the dawn of mystical magic, this secretive order of sorcerers had guarded humanity from the shadows. It was their pride—a legacy of silent protection.

But Mumu Meilin saw things differently. In the original film, Doctor Strange’s method of ‘defeating’ the Dark Lord Dormammu was nothing short of brutal. He used the Eye of Agamotto’s time reversal power to trap Dormammu in an endless temporal loop, driving him mad enough to bargain for Strange’s release and Earth’s safety. During that endless cycle, Strange was killed by Dormammu countless times—whether it was 9,527 or 10,086 times hardly mattered. Such endless deaths and corpse runs reminded Mumu Meilin of those hopeless boss fights in her World of Warcraft days.

And this time, the pain would be hers to endure.

Just thinking about it sent a chill down her spine.

"If you’re my brother, come at me with your sword!"—forget about Mumu Meilin uttering such words. ‘Let others take the fall for misfortune’ was much more her style. Not exactly noble, but honest.

Why should she be the sacrificial lamb? If she couldn’t avoid the disaster, at least let everyone share the blame equally.

So, without further concealment, Mumu Meilin explained directly that they had discovered a powerful alien ruler of the Dark Dimension—Lord Dormammu—who had lured a traitorous man named Kaecilius with the promise of immortality. This Kaecilius had opened a portal on Earth, aiming to summon Dormammu.

Kaecilius’s appearance and abilities were described with great precision, but as for his personal history…

Well! Sorry, today she was going by the name ‘Mei Memory-lapse’.