Liu Zhen didn't expect much from life anymore.
At 21, he lived in a modest apartment with his parents on the edge of Nanjing. While his friends pursued careers, degrees, or dreams abroad, Zhen worked nights at a gaming café, drifted through part-time gigs, and binge-watched old Marvel movies during his downtime. Superheroes, gods, aliens—it all felt like a distant fantasy he used to love as a kid, long before reality settled in like cement.
That night, rain lashed the sidewalks. His mom had asked for dumplings, so Zhen tossed on his jacket and jogged across the street. Headphones in, hood up. He never saw the truck.
Metal slammed flesh. Pain flared—brief, jagged. Then... nothing.
When he opened his eyes again, he wasn't in Nanjing.
He stood in a white void, barefoot, uninjured, and surrounded by silence.
"Liu Zhen," a calm, androgynous voice said. "You are dead. But you have potential. I offer you a new life."
Zhen blinked. "Wait, is this—like—isekai? Am I getting reincarnated?"
"Yes. Into a world shaped by myth, science, and chaos. You may choose three gifts."
Zhen's mind raced. He didn't need to think hard.
"I want:
Cellular regeneration—as long as a trace of my DNA exists, I come back.
The ability to copy powers by absorbing someone's DNA.
The Great Sage ability, like in That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime."
"Granted," the voice said. "But know this: the world you enter is real. Dangerous. It does not bend for your survival."
"Where am I going?"
The god smiled. Zhen didn't see it, but he felt it in his bones.
"The Marvel Cinematic Universe."
A flash of light erupted, and the next thing he knew, he was falling—naked, reborn, and surrounded by trees... somewhere in New York.