Chapter 141: Returning to the Divine Realm, Hero Saves the Old Lady
Boom! The seven-colored rainbow light exploded at the Bifrost Bridge hub of Asgard.
Lin An had just steadied himself in the blinding light when he heard a deafening cold snort.
"Mortal! How dare you treat the mighty Thor of Asgard as a sewer cleaner for your Earth!"
On the high platform of the great hall, Odin, the King of the Nine Realms, sat on his throne, gripping the Eternal Spear.
That single eye, flashing with divine radiance, was coldly looking down at Lin An.
Last time, watching Lin An pick and choose in the treasure vault through a crystal ball, he only thought of him as a greedy, narrow-minded Earthling.
Later, hearing that this brat had actually made the eldest prince of Asgard clean sewers, Odin was even more furious.
This black-hearted capitalist dared to show up at his door.
Today, he had to give this ignorant Earthling a little taste of divine power.
But the moment his divine eye, which could see through the causality of the Nine Realms, focused on Lin An, his pupils constricted violently.
Something was wrong, very wrong.
The mortal body that he had only slightly guarded against was now undergoing a heaven-defying qualitative change.
A thin, transparent force field lingered on Lin An's body; it wasn't magic, but pure, extreme physical mass collapse.
Odin tentatively released a trace of divine king pressure capable of crushing mountains, but it was like a breeze blowing past an iron tower.
He knew very well that if he recklessly donned the Destroyer armor now and used all his divine king origin to forcibly suppress him, he might not be able to defeat this brat.
But even if he won, this floating continent of Asgard would likely be torn apart; it just wasn't worth it!
"Old man, what are you looking at? Haven't you seen such a handsome Earthling before?" Lin An put his hands in his pockets and raised an eyebrow, his heart completely calm, even wanting to laugh.
He had just swapped to the Silver Age Superman template and was worried he had nowhere to vent.
If this old guy dared to make a move, he would tear down the Heavenly Palace today and start a global livestream, titled 'Forcibly Demolishing Illegal Structures in the Divine Realm'.
Odin swallowed calmly, and the atmosphere was extremely awkward for a moment.
Thor was still wearing that "Vought International" work uniform in the color of braised chicken, holding the unconscious Jane foolishly, completely unaware of the silent confrontation between the two big shots: "Father! Save Jane! She's been hexed!"
"Ahem..." Odin quickly retracted his pressure, his old face switching to a polite expression as if flipping a book.
"A guest from afar. Mr. Homelander, since you are Thor's boss, Asgard welcomes you."
Lin An curled his lips.
Old fox, he sure backed down quickly.
Odin frowned and stepped forward, his divine power sweeping over Jane, and his expression suddenly turned extremely ugly: "It's the Aether Particle."
He sighed and shook his head: "This is the power of the Reality Stone; it has already bonded with this girl's life. It is protecting her, but at the same time, it is consuming her."
"Then how do we treat it? Can it be reimbursed? My boss said that as long as it can be treated back home, it counts as a work-related injury!"
Thor's head was full of capitalist jargon instilled by Lin An, looking at Odin with hopeful eyes.
Odin's mouth twitched crazily, and he glared fiercely at Lin An.
What on Earth had this bastard brainwashed his son into?
The mighty Thor was now full of talk about medical insurance and work-related injuries!
"Take this girl to the back hall lounge and use the Divine Realm's calming spell to protect her heart pulse." Odinturned to look at Queen Frigga, who was walking over gracefully.
Frigga looked at Lin An gently, nodded, and directed the handmaidens to take Jane and leave the hall in a hurry.
Once Jane was taken away, Odin gripped the Eternal Spearagain and began a long explanatory session: "This dates back thousands of years, when Malekith, the leader of the Dark Elves, attempted to use the Aether Particle to drag the Universe back into darkness. Back then, my father Bor led an army and defeated them at Svartalfheim..."
Odin was speaking eloquently about the history of the Nine Realms, trying to regain some prestige as a divine king.
Lin An leaned against a golden pillar, nodding repeatedly on the surface, but he was already overjoyed inside.
Dark Elves? This wasn't a historical legacy issue; this was a heaven-sent top-tier donor!
"Therefore, if Malekith senses the Aether Particle in Asgard, he will definitely return at all costs." Odinconcluded with a grave expression.
Boom! Before he could finish, the entire Asgard shook violently.
The shrill sound of the air defense alarm instantly tore through the tranquility of the Heavenly Palace.
Holy crap, speak of the devil, the devil's warship crashed right into the door.
"Enemy attack!" The palace guards rushed into the hall covered in blood and shouted, "The invisible warship destroyed the external shield, they've broken in!"
"Father! I'm going to the front line!" Hearing this, Thor's eyes turned red, his blood boiled, and he grabbed Mjolnirand rushed out.
Odin couldn't care about his divine king demeanor and went to command the front-line defense with his spear.
The flames of war outside were ignited instantly.
Lin An, however, didn't go to the front line to join the fun.
What's the point of fighting small fry?
If you're going to do it, do it big!
He walked at a leisurely pace, avoiding all the guards as if he were strolling through his own backyard, and wandered straight into the depths of the palace.
The Dark Elves' true target was the Queen's bedroom where Jane was hidden.
Just as he reached the corner of the corridor, Lin Anstopped.
Not far ahead, Queen Frigga was holding an exquisite Asgardian dagger, protecting Jane firmly behind her.
And in front of them was a terrifying creature nearly three meters tall, covered in sharp bone spurs, like a Minotaur—the Dark Elves' strongest combat force, the Cursed Warrior!
Although Frigga was a mage, her skills were quite nimble.
With a feint, her dagger precisely grazed the Cursed Warrior's side ribs, sending out a trail of sparks.
"The old lady is pretty good, look at that footwork, that micro-management."
Lin An leaned behind a pillar, grabbed a handful of melon seeds from his pocket, and watched the show with gusto while snacking.
He could crush this bullshit Cursed Warrior into slag just by blowing a breath.
But he wouldn't.
Saving someone when they are on low health is called a great kindness; saving someone when they are at full health is called meddling.
The situation ahead took a sharp turn for the worse.
The Cursed Warrior was, after all, a monster created with life force, and its defense was maxed out.
Frigga's dagger couldn't break its defense at all; instead, she was sent flying by a violent punch from the opponent.
"Bang!" Frigga hit the wall heavily, spitting blood, and the dagger flew out of her hand.
The Cursed Warrior let out a Beast-like roar, stepped forward, grabbed Frigga by the neck, lifted her high, and the pitch-black bone blade in its other hand stabbed fiercely towards Frigga's heart!
"That's it."
Lin An tossed the melon seed shells in his hand, "The show begins."
"Boom!" A sonic boom exploded in the air.
The Cursed Warrior's bone blade was less than a centimeter away from Frigga's heart, but it couldn't move forward a single bit.
A hand, like an iron pincer, grabbed its wrist tightly.
"Breaking into private property is one thing, but hitting an old lady is not a good habit."
The curve of Lin An's mouth was as cold as frost.
He didn't even fully activate his force field; he just used the pure physical strength of the Silver Age Superman, and with a backhand, gave a massive slap, smashing it fiercely onto the Cursed Warrior's deformed face.
"Slap!" A crisp sound that made one's teeth ache.
Before it could even scream, the bones on half of its face were instantly shattered.
The massive body flew backward like a baseball hit by a home run.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Five load-bearing walls of the Divine Palace were smashed through by the Cursed Warrior.
In the smoke and dust, the monster was embedded in the ruins at the end of the temple like a pile of mud, motionless.
One-hit kill!
No flashy magic, just pure, unreasonable violence!
Lin An was very satisfied with his current strength.
He then steadily supported the falling Frigga.
His dark blue suit was spotless, and the stars-and-stripes cape fluttered in the energy turbulence.
If a spotlight hit this moment, it would definitely win a Pulitzer Prize.
"Your Highness, are you alright?" Lin An asked with concern.
Frigga clutched her chest and coughed violently, her eyes full of the shock and gratitude of surviving a near-death experience.
"Frigga!" A heartbreaking roar came from afar.
As soon as Odin entered the room, he saw his beloved wife lying in a pool of blood, dying, as well as Homelanderstanding next to her, and the five transparent holes in the wall leading to the plaza outside.
He was shocked, rushed up, and hugged Frigga: "Frigga! Are you okay!"
Frigga coughed weakly twice and looked at Lin An with extremely complex eyes: "It was him... he saved me at the last moment. If it weren't for him, I would have gone to see the ancestors."
Odin turned his head abruptly to look at Lin An, his single eye full of shock and lingering fear.
Thinking of his own probing and prejudice against this Earthling in the hall just now, he felt his old face flush red.
Almost!
Just a little bit more, and he would have lost the woman he loved most forever!
"Homelander..." Odin's voice was trembling, carrying deep guilt and gratitude, "Asgard... owes you an unpayable favor."
Lin An waved his hand very decently: "Oh, Your Highness, you are too kind. Our Vought International has always treated employees as family. Thor is my excellent employee, and you two are our company's family members. Protecting the personal safety of family members is our capitalist... ahem, corporate responsibility."
"Ding! Detected extreme gratitude and deep worship from Odin, King of the Nine Realms, congratulations to the host for obtaining Popularity Points: 5 million!"
The crisp system prompt sounded on time in his mind.
Lin An looked at the huge number jumping on the panel, and he was already laughing like a pig inside.
"You are truly a warrior worthy of respect." Odin sighed.
He raised his chin slightly, looking at the broken ceiling at a forty-five-degree angle, his tone full of holiness: "Maintaining the peace of the Universe is an obligation for people like us!"
Chapter 142: Head to the Dark Dimension
The dim and damp lower levels of the Asgard dungeon.
The air was filled with the smell of moldy moss and the scent of rusting metal.
Loki leaned against the special glass wall, holding a heavy magic book in his hands.
Hearing heavy footsteps coming from outside, he didn't even lift his eyelids.
He was too familiar with these footsteps. Rude, impatient, and completely brainless.
"The commotion outside is quite loud, Brother." Loki slowly closed the book, a habitual sneer tugging at the corner of his mouth. "What, did the old man finally realize that your pitiful IQ is not enough to deal with external enemies, and banished you to the dungeon to keep me company?"
Thor strode up to the glass wall.
Loki glanced at that outfit and almost laughed out loud. "Or has Midgard's aesthetic degenerated to this point now? You look like a moldy orange."
Thor did not fly into a rage as usual, nor did he swing his fist to smash the glass.
With a serious expression, he pulled a crumpled Asgardian parchment from his bosom and slammed it against the glass with a slap.
"Cut the crap. I have an outsourcing project here, do you want to take it?"
The dungeon fell into an eerie silence.
Loki's cunning green eyes blinked twice, and his gaze slowly moved toward the parchment.
On it, written crookedly in ancient Asgardian runes, was a line of large characters: "Vought International Dark Dimension Special Rescue Plan Outsourcing Agreement".
"You... what did you say?" Loki doubted if something was wrong with his ears.
"The boss said that it's not convenient for me to directly use company resources right now, so I have to do some unreported private work."
Thor pointed at the clauses on the parchment with his thick fingers and explained solemnly, "The core objective of the project now is to go to Svartalfheim to rescue Jane."
"The old man won't approve the slip, but as a department head, I must have subjective initiative."
"As long as this quarter's core KPI is maxed out, what's done is done, and the old man can't do anything to me either."
Loki's mouth corners began to twitch uncontrollably.
He stared hard at the parchment filled with "performance appraisal", "profits and losses at one's own risk", and "risk isolation", feeling that thousands of years of theological cultivation had suffered a devastating blow.
The grand, epic military operation to save the Nine Realmsand fight the Dark Elves had actually turned into a damn outsourced side hustle in the mouth of this muscle-brained brother?
"Thor, were your brains sucked dry by someone on Earth?"
Loki tossed aside the magic book, walked up to the glass, and said, "Do you know what nonsense you're talking about? What the hell is a KPI? Who is your boss?"
Lin An, who was leaning invisibly in the shadows of the corridor, almost spat out the chewing gum in his mouth from laughing.
He casually tapped the system panel a few times, aiming the camera at the two brothers in the dungeon.
The livestream room opened instantly, titled: "Even Immortals Have to Rat Race: The Re-employment Path of a Fallen Prince".
Asgard had no internet, but Vought International's quantum signal cut directly into all video platforms on Earth.
In less than a minute, millions of traffic poured in.
"Launching a raid in the middle of the night? Where the hell is this?"
"It looks like the Asgardian prison! Is that Loki? That green Joker guy from the Battle of New York?"
"Hhahahaha what the hell with KPI! What kind of soul-soup did Homelander pour into Thor?"
"I'm dying of laughter, the God of Mischief looks like a freshly graduated, pure-hearted college student in front of workplace jargon."
"Vought International, a black-hearted enterprise where even immortals cannot escape the fate of being outsourced!"
Asgard's royal scandal was the only one in the entire Universe; the traffic code had completely been mastered by him.
In the dungeon, Loki was too lazy to argue with Thor about those incomprehensible words.
"No matter what psychiatric spell your idiot self learned on Earth."
Loki patted the glass. "Want me to help you break out of prison? Sure. But what's in it for me? The old man locked me up here for life imprisonment."
Thor lowered his head, his voice muffled: "Mother is injured, seriously. It was done by the Cursed Warriorbrought by that scum Malekith. If it weren't for the boss stepping in, she would have already gone to meet the ancestors."
The banter on Loki's face vanished instantly.
His fingers tightened on the glass, his knuckles turning white, and his gaze instantly turned gloomy.
But he quickly took a deep breath and put on that unfathomable, hypocritical smile again.
"Is that so? That's truly unfortunate."
Loki raised his chin, trying to regain control of the conversation's rhythm. "But this is Asgard's price, isn't it? Want me to lead the way? Family affection alone is not enough. I'll take you out, and when it's done, I want you to promise..."
"Bang!"
A deafening loud bang interrupted Loki's conditions.
The entire dungeon shook violently, and dust rustled down from the ceiling.
The special glass in front of Loki burst with thick cracks.
A hand pierced through the energy defense layer and directly tore the several-meter-thick special material to pieces like tearing a newspaper.
Shattered glass fragments scattered all over the floor, and Loki instinctively took two steps back, his eyes full of horror.
Lin An walked into the dungeon.
"You..." Loki pointed at Lin An, just about to speak when a piece of white paper slapped him in the face.
"This is the "Vought Labor Dispatch Contract". Sign it and you'll be an outsourced personnel under Vought." Lin An casually pulled an iron chair from the dungeon, sat down, and crossed his legs.
Loki pulled the paper off his face. After seeing clearly who it was, the shadow of being slapped away on the New Yorkbattlefield instantly enveloped his heart.
But the self-esteem of the God of Mischief did not allow him to bow his head immediately: "Earthling, do you think you can force me by force..."
"Three." Lin An looked at his fingers and interrupted him.
Loki gritted his teeth: "This is Asgard, if you kill me—"
"Two." Lin An looked up at Loki, the corners of his mouth curling into an extremely approachable smile.
Deep within his pupils, two clusters of dark red Heat Visionwere already beating restlessly. The temperature in the cell soared abruptly, and Loki's long hair even began to curl slightly.
Absolutely unreasonable.
This lunatic was even more terrifying than when they last met!
Loki knew very well that when it reached one, the light shot from these eyes would definitely vaporize his head.
"I'll sign!" Loki grabbed the quill on the table next to him and smoothly signed his name at the bottom of the dispatch contract.
"Wouldn't it have been better if you did this earlier? Everyone is a decent person." Lin An immediately put away his Heat Vision, the smile on his face becoming even brighter. He casually took the contract, flicked the paper surface, and said, "Welcome to join Vought International's outsourcing team, Mr. Loki. Now, lead the way."
The barrage in the livestream room laughed like crazy.
"Physical persuasion, specialized in curing all kinds of stubbornness."
"Hhahahaha, even gods have to sign indenture contracts to work for Vought."
The three-man team was thus formed.
Under Loki's lead, the group skillfully avoided the patrolling guards.
Loki led Thor and Lin An into several secret passages that even Odin didn't know about, successfully bypassing Heimdall's eyes.
One hour later.
The abandoned Asgardian shipyard.
A blade-shaped Dark Elf stealth warship quietly docked in the corner, which was spoils of war captured in the daytime battle.
"Are you sure you know how to fly this thing?" Thor looked at Loki, who was messing around randomly on the control panel, full of suspicion.
"Shut up, you are questioning a genius's comprehension ability." Loki slammed the control console hard, and the Dark Elf engine let out a low roar, the red indicator lights on the dashboard lighting up one by one.
"It's started." Loki pulled the joystick, and the anti-gravity device at the bottom of the warship began to hum. "Hold on tight, Asgard's air defense network hasn't been withdrawn yet, we have to force our way out."
The spaceship slowly lifted off, smashed through the roof structure of the shipyard, and rushed toward the night sky.
Thor clenched his fists, staring nervously at the air defense weapons outside. Meanwhile, Lin An leaned against the co-pilot's seat, listlessly checking the million-plus popularity value earnings brought by this wave of livestreams.
Just as the engine was about to be pushed to its limit, on the verge of performing a space jump.
Boom!
Without any warning, an extremely thick golden thunderbolt descended from the sky, precisely striking the open space in front of the spaceship.
The holographic projection of Odin himself stood tall and majestic, his single eye staring fixedly at Thor in the cockpit.
"Thor, if you dare to take this step, you will no longer be my son!"
Chapter 143: Deep Brotherhood
Thor glanced at Odin's projection, seized the pilot seat, and gripped the thruster lever with his large hand.
"Sorry, old man." He gritted his teeth and shoved the lever all the way down. "The boss says the bold eat their fill while workers starve!"
"You rebellious son!"
Odin's roar cut off abruptly.
Crimson exhaust flames spewed out, and the Allfather's holographic projection was distorted and flickered by the violent airflow, like an old TV with its power cut off, vanishing on the spot with a static fizz.
The spacecraft darted forward abruptly, but like a drunkard, it scraped headfirst against the metal wall of the dock.
Amidst the harsh scraping sound, sparks flew with lightning.
"Do you think this is a Midgard tractor?!" Shaken so hard that he crashed his head against the bulkhead, Loki roared while clutching the console for dear life.
"Shit, this thing is really not as easy to use as a Ninebot electric scooter!" Thor frantically pressed buttons in a flurry.
Asgard's air defense alarm wailed shrilly, and dense energy artillery fire intertwined into a net, smashing down fiercely.
"Get away, you idiot!" Loki shoved Thor aside, his hands leaving afterimages on the virtual keyboard.
The spacecraft suddenly rolled to the side, narrowly brushing past two golden beams, weaving to the limit between the temple pillars like a loach.
At this moment, directly in front of the spacecraft, circles of huge golden halos were rapidly closing.
"Oh no!" Loki's face turned pale. "Heimdall has activated the gravity lock array! The jump point is sealed! This piece-of-junk ship's power can't punch through!"
Thor clenched his fists: "All power to the shields, crash right through!"
"You'll smash us into meat paste!"
A helpless sigh came from the side.
"Each generation of workers is truly worse than the last." Lin An stood up. "Aim the course at the jump point and floor the throttle."
With that, he pressed the cabin door open button.
Raging wind poured backwards. Homelander flicked his cape and rushed into the cold space.
"Is he crazy?!" Loki widened his eyes.
The next second, one billion viewers, along with the two brothers in the cockpit, witnessed a scene they would never forget in this lifetime.
Lin An couldn't be bothered to dodge.
Higher-dimensional energy blasted onto him, not even burning a single thread of his Stars and Stripes spandex suit.
He flew straight to the rear of the warship, pressed his hands flat against the armor plating.
"Up—!"
A biological force field burst forth, enveloping the spacecraft.
Creak.
The warship, weighing several thousand tons, let out a teeth-aching cry.
"Boom!"
Under sheer physical violence, the spacecraft was forcibly pushed to sub-light speed, pushing against a gravity lock strong enough to crush a star, and aggressively tearing open a crack.
Inside the cabin, Loki and Thor were pinned tightly to their seats by the terrifying thrust, unable to breathe.
Loki's eyeballs rolled with difficulty, watching the stars stretched into lines outside the window, feeling that his thousands of years of theological cognition were being pinned to the ground and repeatedly crushed by this monster.
His original plan to sell Homelander to the Dark Elves was uprooted and trampled into pieces.
This fucking thing is a monster wearing human skin!
The spacecraft rushed into the spatial passage, and after violent turbulence, the view suddenly darkened.
Gravity suddenly grabbed the hull, and the spacecraft, like a plummeting weight, plunged headfirst into a dead, gloomy World, plowing a deep trench several kilometers long across the black sand dunes.
Lin An flew back into the cabin leisurely, flicked the dust off his cape, glanced at his popularity points that had once again broken through ten million, and was in a great mood.
"Get ready to work, outsourced employees." He pointed outside the window.
In the distance where black sand filled the sky, hundreds of Dark Elves warships rose like ghosts, surrounding them.
A cold, hoarse voice rippled through the wind.
"The Aether Particle has finally come home."
Malekith walked over stepping on the scorched Earth, his pale face full of greed, followed by a large group of elites and several huge Cursed Warriors, holding the unconscious Jane in his arms.
Thor tightened his grip on Mjolnir and stared unblinkingly.
Loki stood to the side, his green eyes sweeping rapidly across the encirclement.
Without any warning.
Loki flicked his wrist, and a dagger slid into his palm.
Squelch!
He spun around abruptly, bringing his blade down to sink the dagger entirely into Thor's lower back.
"Ah—!" Thor let out a shrill scream and fell straight down.
Loki didn't even look at his brother in the pool of blood, kicking Thor toward Malekith with one foot.
"This foolish fellow is the trophy I offer to you. In exchange, Asgard belongs to me! How about it?" He spread his arms with a distorted expression.
Behind a rock not far away.
Homelander was holding a cup of iced cola, the straw making a slurping sound.
Above his head, the quantum live-stream drone captured this epic family ethics drama in a 360-degree dead-angle-free manner.
At this moment, the live-stream room on Earth completely exploded.
"Holy shit! The village chief has betrayed again?"
"The double-agent DNA has activated! Stabbing even his own brother? What a beast!"
"Homelander, stop watching the show and go give him a couple of big slaps!"
Lin An bit the straw and shook his head repeatedly at the camera.
He gave a professional review: "The knife wasn't stabbed deep enough, and the emotion is too exaggerated; he'd get cursed out by directors even as an extra in Hollywood. With this lousy acting, he still wants to win The Oscars?"
Earth's viewers were stunned.
"Wait... does this mean they're acting?"
"Damn! A bitter-flesh ruse?"
"What the hell, exaggerated?! I actually believed it just now, Thor's muscle twitching had so much depth!"
"Homelander, you are truly a dog! They're putting their lives into acting, and you're over here doing a reaction video?"
Beneath the sand dunes, Malekith clearly hadn't been watching the live stream.
"Surrendering to the darkness is the wise choice."
He laughed wildly as he walked up to Jane, forming seals with both hands.
A streak of crimson energy was forcefully stripped from Jane's heart.
The Aether Particle circled once and violently poured into Malekith's body.
"Boom!"
A dark red storm soared into the sky.
"Right now!"
Thor, who was twitching the second before, sprang up abruptly and snatched up Mjolnir.
Rumble! Thick lightning split the clouds and smashed fiercely toward Malekith.
At the same time, the greed vanished from Loki's face, and daggers flipped out in his hands, turning into afterimages as he stabbed straight at Malekith's back heart.
A counter-attack of betrayal.
"Bang!"
Mjolnir hit the target.
Malekith merely raised a single hand, and the Reality Stone turned into a crimson shield, forcefully catching this blow of the hammer.
"Just by the two of you?" He sneered, waving his backhand.
A ribbon of crimson energy whipped Thor flying away.
Loki's dagger stabbed into Malekith's back, sending sparks flying everywhere.
"Deal with them." Malekith commanded coldly.
A nearly three-meter-tall Cursed Warrior roared and rushed out.
Just as Thor climbed up, a huge fist smashed down with a sonic boom.
Clang!
Thor raised his hammer to block it head-on, but was struck so hard that both his knees smashed into the ground, and the skin between his thumb and index finger split open.
The Cursed Warrior grinned hideously, bone blades extending from his forearms, stabbing straight at Thor's heart.
"Watch out!"
At the critical moment, Loki slid to ram Thor out of the way.
Rip.
The sharp blade entered flesh, penetrating Loki's chest without any obstruction.
The battlefield fell into dead silence.
"No—!"
Thor's eyes bloodshot, he roared and smashed the Cursed Warrior away with his hammer, rushing up to catch the slowly falling Loki.
"Loki! Don't die!" Thor's voice carried a crying tone, pressing his hands tightly over the bloody hole in his younger brother's chest.
Loki trembled as he grabbed Thor's arm, pulling out a familiar, mocking yet incomparably gentle smile.
"Everything I did..." His voice was as faint as a gossamer thread.
"Was not for... father..."
He stared fixedly at Thor.
"It was for you..."
Thor's tears broke through the dam, crying like a child: "I know, I know! You're a good brother!"
Such a touching parting of life and death.
Hum——
A harsh burst of static suddenly broke the dead silence.
The drone's lens shoved right into Loki's face, almost plugging into his nostrils.
Immediately following, the tear-jerking song "My Heart Will Go On" resounded across the wasteland.
The ethereal prelude, paired with Loki's pale face and Thor's snot-streaming close-up, made the scene bizarre to the extreme.
Lin An stood on a mound of dirt and cleared his throat with great emotion:
"Audience friends, family members! Let us applaud this great emotion that transcends bloodline and gender!"
"He, the Asgard Thor! He, the Jotunheim outcast! They love and kill each other, but at this moment, all misunderstandings vanish into thin air!"
Lin An exaggeratedly wiped away non-existent tears and roared at the camera: "Who wouldn't be bewildered watching this plot? Who wouldn't shed tears?
Family members, the tipping QR code is right below the screen. Today, for nothing else, let's chip in some monetary gifts for this pair of ill-fated lovers! Two hundred is not too little, one thousand is not too much, consider it crowdfunding a nice coffin for the God of Mischief!"
The live-stream room's bullet comments paused for three seconds, and then erupted like a volcano.
"Holy shit! My tears were already out, and you fucking played Titanic for me?!"
"They're over here parting through life and death, and you're over here collecting gift money?!"
"With this kind of operation, even a dog passing by would have to take two slaps!"
"Count me in, count me in! For this damn bromance, I'll chip in fifty!"
The system prompt chimed frantically: Emotion collection successful, popularity points +100,000, +500,000...
Thor had been crying his heart out, but when the music suddenly exploded by his ear, he was completely dumbfounded.
He raised his head, his face full of tears mixed with blood and filth, staring blankly at the mentor shouting into the megaphone.
Loki, who had already closed his eyes to play dead, couldn't control his eyelids from twitching wildly.
Lin An coughed. "Thor, stop howling. Now, go beat that bastard to death! Drive your hammer deep into his ass!"
Click.
The string in Thor's brain called reason snapped.
Whatever brotherhood, whatever despair and sadness, were all torn to pieces by this insane BGM and unscrupulous commentary.
He carefully laid Loki down, slowly stood up, and grabbed Mjolnir from the ground.
Crackle—!
Violent lightning burst forth, and his eyes turned into pure white.
Fuck the Dark Elves.
Fuck the Reality Stone.
Right now, he just wanted to smash everything before him, along with that megaphone playing music, into cosmic dust.
"I'm going to kill you all—!"
Thor let out a heaven-shaking roar, stared fixedly at Malekith in the distance, and charged out wildly.
Chapter 144 Reality Stone
Thunder descended from the sky.
Thor, wreathed in electric light, smashed straight down toward Malekith's head.
Crackle!
Mjolnir was wreathed in lightning as thick as a bucket, illuminating the gray wasteland.
That was Thor's full-strength strike, mixed with the pain of losing his brother, scorching the air with a strong smell of ozone.
"Die—!"
Thor's eyes split with anger as a Beast-like roar erupted from his throat.
Ten meters.
Five meters.
One meter.
The moment Mjolnir was about to smash into that pale face, the Dark Elves leader didn't even bat an eyelid.
He casually raised his right hand.
Boom!
Crimson Aether Particle surged like a mad tide, transforming into a translucent dark red shield above his head.
The thunder slammed fiercely onto the red shield.
The earth-shaking explosion they imagined did not occur.
The golden lightning, sufficient to shatter a mountain, abruptly distorted, deformed, and faded the moment it contacted the crimson energy.
A muffled thud.
The violent lightning dissipated out of thin air, transforming into pink rose petals dancing all over the sky.
Falling in a flurry all over Malekith.
Two petals even playfully landed on Thor's blood-stained nose tip.
Thor held his hammer, suspended mid-air in a posture of overwhelming force, his two eyes wide open like bronze bells.
His brain crashed.
"What the hell, where is my lightning?"
"Cough cough... Hello hello? Sound check, sound check."
Homelander had dragged out a leather sofa at some point, sitting boldly and imposingly on the sand dune.
In his hand, he held a custom microphone printed with the Vought International logo, flanked by three omnidirectional quantum drones floating beside him.
"Folks, folks! Keep your eyes wide open and look closely!"
Lin An pointed at the battlefield, spit flying everywhere, "What is called the version answer? This is called the version answer! Once the Reality Stone is activated, even the underlying code gets changed for you! Thor's ultimate move was directly subjected to dimensional reduction strike into magic special effects from Balala Little Fairy!"
"This wave, this wave is called transforming living flowers out of thin air! David Copperfield would have to buy a standing ticket overnight to come and become an apprentice after seeing this!"
The live broadcast room's bullet comments instantly flooded the screen.
"Holy shit! What the hell is scattering flowers! The art style shifted so hard that my lumbar disc herniated!"
"Thor: Did I fucking strike a void?"
"Physical system battles a cheater, appraisal complete."
"Homelander, you really aren't acting like a human. Someone else's brother just died, and you're doing variety show commentary right next to them?!"
The system prompt sounds jingled wildly, and the popularity value skyrocketed frantically.
Lin An looked at the numbers on the panel, blooming with joy inside his heart.
Consuming this traffic was even more exhilarating than selling edge-chasing figures in Times Square.
Watching others get deflated was the thrill carved deep into human DNA.
Center of the battlefield.
Feeling the surging Infinity Stones power within his body, Malekith wore an intoxicated smile on his pale face.
"The era of light has ended."
He raised his head, his voice amplified by the crimson energy, spreading across the entire wasteland, "Thor of Asgard, in front of reality, your power is as ridiculous as a child's toy."
Before his voice fell, his right hand waved violently.
The rose petals suspended around him instantly condensed, turning into countless crimson blades, rolling back upwards like a fierce storm.
"Get lost!"
Thor roared, hurriedly waving his hammer and spinning crazily to block.
Clang clang clang clang!
The dense metal collision sound was deafening.
The attack angle of the Aether Particle was extremely tricky, and several blood-colored blades pierced through the defense network, fiercely bringing up a string of blood splashes on Thor's thighs and shoulders.
"Ugh ah!"
Thor cried out in pain, losing his balance and falling from mid-air.
Before he could stand firm, Malekith's fingers moved slightly.
The hard black rock sandy ground under Thor's feet instantly turned into a viscous, boiling crimson swamp.
Thor stepped into the air, sinking half his body directly in.
The heavy armor had now become a death talisman, and the more he struggled, the deeper he sank.
"Finish him off."
Malekith disdainfully withdrew his gaze, too lazy to look a second time.
"Roar—!"
The nearly three-meter-tall Cursed Warrior beside him roared and sprinted, crushing across the surface of the swamp.
Bang!
The giant fist as big as a sand-pot, carrying a terrifying sonic boom, slammed fiercely onto Thor's face.
The bridge of his nose made a crisp snapping sound.
Thor's entire body was violently blasted out of the swamp, plowing a deep trench dozens of meters long on the ground.
"Tsk tsk tsk, this positioning, this awareness, it's not even as good as Bronze tier."
Lin An leaned against the sofa, took a sip of iced cola, and shook his head repeatedly at the camera.
"Did you see that, folks? This is a classic warrior being kited by a mage! The other party didn't even move their hands much, and Thor was beaten into a mentally disabled person. With just this, you still want to avenge your brother? I see that the whole family will be neatly arranged together soon."
At this moment, behind a sand dune not far away.
Loki, who was originally "dead as a dead person", quietly opened his eyes a slit, his eyeballs rolling around spinningly.
Seeing Thor pinned to the ground and rubbed by the Cursed Warrior, the corners of his mouth couldn't help twitching twice.
Decisively closing his eyes, using both hands and feet, he hugged the ground closely and moved silently toward behind a more concealed rock.
Getting beaten up and such, it's better to let his simple-minded brother do it.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Cursed Warrior straddled Thor, hammering down like raindrops with fist-hammers.
Thor was covered in blood, desperately raising his arms to block, completely lacking the power to fight back.
He tried to summon thunder.
The surrounding space was completely blocked by the energy of the Aether Particle, and Mjolnir flashed with weak electric light, completely misfiring.
"Father... Loki..."
Thor's consciousness began to blur, spitting out bloody foam from his mouth.
That yellow Vought delivery uniform had long shattered into strips of cloth.
Despair.
Complete despair.
In front of Malekith who possessed the Reality Stone, his proud power was simply a joke.
The atmosphere in the global live broadcast room changed.
The bullet comments that were still playing memes just now all turned into anxious cries for help.
"Stop just focusing on commentary! The guy is about to be beaten to death!"
"Homelander! Aren't you fucking the boss? Your employee is being beaten like this by an outsider, are you going to manage it or not!"
"I'm begging you, log on! I really can't bear to watch anymore, the delivery station Master is too miserable!"
"Rank 1 Big Brother [New York City Grass] tipped 100 super Rockets! Postscript: John, hurry up and pinch that ugly alien scum to death, looking at it is upsetting my stomach."
"Rank 2 Big Brother [Captain America] tipped 50 super Rockets! Postscript: Although I strongly disagree with your style of action, this time, please save him."
The timing was ripe.
The emotions were maxed out.
The leeks were almost harvested; if he didn't make a move soon, this bunch of sucker audience members would start cursing.
On the battlefield, the Cursed Warrior clasped his hands together and raised them high.
Preparing to give Thor's head a final physical transcendence.
Malekith carried his hands behind his back, his eyes indifferent, waiting to witness the fall of the Asgard prince.
"Hum—!"
A ring of white sonic boom clouds exploded in the air.
There was no early warning.
There was no magic fluctuation.
Pure physical violence instantly tore apart the battlefield's gravitational field.
Bang!
An arm wearing dark blue tights abruptly crossed above Thor's head.
That hand pushed upward.
The Cursed Warrior's full-strength fists, sufficient to smash a city wall, were steadily intercepted.
The terrifying kinetic energy shockwave diffused in all directions, stirring up black sand all over the sky.
The owner of that hand didn't even shake his shoulders.
"You can't hold on already?"
Lin An hovered in mid-air, looking down at the bloody Thor.
His mouth hung with that signature savior fake smile.
"Although Vought International is a sweatshop, we do not support employees dying meaninglessly. Your KPI has already exceeded the standard, go rest aside. Work-related injuries are fully reimbursed."
Thor struggled to open his swollen eyes.
Looking at the Star-Spangled Banner cloak in front of him, he suddenly felt that this outfit was even more dazzling than the god of light of Asgard.
His lips moved, and finally his head tilted, fainting completely.
"Who are you?!"
The Cursed Warrior let out an angry roar, trying to pull back his fists.
But his wrists were stuck tightly in place, motionless.
Malekith frowned, turning his head to look at this suddenly appearing Earthling.
"Who am I?"
The sunny smile on Lin An's face instantly vanished.
The dead fish eyes of a working person who sees through everything were hung back on his face.
He slightly tilted his neck, his joints making a teeth-aching crack-crack sound.
Boom!
A dark red biokinetic force field suddenly burst from within his body.
The reality space around him distorted by the Aether Particle emitted unbearable cracking sounds under this mass collapse pressure.
He grabbed the Cursed Warrior's wrist and swung him along with the momentum.
The monster weighing several tons was directly smashed flying away, shattering three sand dunes before stopping.
Lin An turned around, the Star-Spangled Banner cloak fluttering loudly in the fierce wind.
He stared at Malekith in mid-air.
Deep within his pupils, two clusters of dark red Heat Visionbegan to beat frantically.
Even the surrounding air was scorched and twisted.
"That country girl wearing smoky makeup."
Lin An moved his wrists, his tone bone-chillingly cold.
"Have you shown off enough? Now, the real top-tier traffic is going to start clearing the field."
Chapter 145: The Reality Stone Is Better Used for Special Effects
Before Lin An could finish speaking, the dark red light in his pupils had accumulated to the extreme.
"Bzz——!"
Two streams of Heat Vision, carrying a high temperature capable of instantly vaporizing an aircraft carrier, tore through the air and headed straight for Malekith's pale face.
That was Heat Vision fused with the mid-level Silver Age Superman template!
The overflowing high temperature alone instantly burned the surrounding black sand into crystal-clear glass!
Malekith's eyes sank as he raised his right hand once more.
Crimson Aether Particles surged wildly, forming a dense reality barrier in front of him.
"Mortal, I said before, reality is mine to command!"
The dark red rays, sufficient to slice a Planet in half, suddenly lost all their violent kinetic energy the moment they crashed into the crimson barrier.
The beams began to twist and expand.
Their color changed from dark red to an eerie Barbie pink.
Finally, under the gaze of billions of eyes across the World.
Those World-destroying streams of Heat Vision turned, with a squelch, into two fluffy and soft pink marshmallows!
They floated swayingly in mid-air, emitting an enticing strawberry flavoring scent.
The entire wasteland battlefield instantly fell silent.
Even Loki, who was pretending to be dead, couldn't help but open his eyes, almost spitting out a mouthful of old blood.
He had lived for thousands of years, learning so many tricks and magic, but had never seen such an absurd scene.
The live broadcast room on Earth saw its bullet comments directly stagnate for a full five seconds.
Immediately afterward, the surge in bullet comments almost crashed Vought International's servers!
"Holy shit?! Am I blind? What the hell is that?!"
"What the hell, marshmallows?! My worldview has collapsed!"
"Homelander: My eyes can shoot out sweet love, yo~"
"A must-watch for tough guys! Who could refuse a Superhero who makes you marshmallows with his eyes?"
On the battlefield, Lin An was also stunned.
He lowered his head to look at the pink lump floating in front of him, then touched his own eyes.
"No, auntie, aren't you modifying the underlying code a bit too outrageously?"
Lin An extended his finger and poked the marshmallow lump.
It was soft.
And quite bouncy.
He looked left and right.
Then, amidst Malekith's ghost-seeing gaze, he directly tore off a piece and stuffed it into his mouth.
Smacking his lips.
"Mhm, strawberry-flavored." Lin An nodded with satisfaction, "It's just too sweet and not healthy enough; I've been cutting fat lately."
The muscles on Malekith's permanently pale, poker face began to twitch uncontrollably.
"Fuck! What are you doing?!"
Malekith's voice was trembling.
This was humiliation!
Barefaced humiliation!
He had used the power of the Infinity Stones to neutralize this monster's attack, yet this fellow was actually starting a mukbang right on the spot!
"Can't you tell? I'm tasting it on behalf of the family members."
Lin An rolled his eyes.
He casually tossed the remaining major chunk of the marshmallow in front of the quantum drone's lens.
"Family members, family members! Vought International's latest merchandise, Homelander's handmade sterile eye-baked marshmallows!"
"A gift for the top benefactor!"
The live broadcast room instantly exploded into a mess, and its popularity value skyrocketed.
"Buy, buy, buy! Even if it ruins me financially, I will buy it!"
"This is the original flavor! I want to bear monkeys for Homelander!"
"Top benefactor Grass of New York City tipped 100 super Rockets! Message: John, do you have a serious illness?! There's eye boogers in your marshmallow!"
"Third-place benefactor Captain Marvel tipped 10 Rockets! Message: Although I don't understand at all, can this marshmallow be shared with the orphans of Brooklyn for a taste?"
On the battlefield.
Malekith was completely enraged, even the two sharp horns on his head trembling slightly.
"Damned Earthling, I'm going to turn you into a maggot in the sewer!"
He slammed his hands together abruptly.
Aether Particles surged into the sky like a tsunami, transforming into hundreds of crimson light ribbons.
Overwhelmingly strangling toward Lin An.
This time, he wasn't just defending.
He wanted to forcibly modify the reality attributes of Lin An's physical body!
Turning him into a pig, a dog, a puddle of mud!
"Oh yo, you're anxious, you're anxious."
Lin An crossed his arms, too lazy to even dodge.
He just hung there brazenly in mid-air.
The crimson light ribbons instantly engulfed him.
"Boss!" Thor, who had just woken up, blurted out an exclamation upon seeing this scene.
"It's over, this lunatic is being overconfident!" Loki, hiding behind a rock, also cursed inwardly.
But the next second.
The jaws of this pair of Asgard brothers directly crashed onto the ground.
They saw that those Aether Particles, capable of distorting physical laws, stopped abruptly half a meter around Lin An's body.
As if crashing into an invisible high wall!
Crack! Crack!
A harsh glass-shattering sound came from the air.
An extremely terrifying dark red bio-force field erupted around Lin An!
That belonged to a mid-level Silver Age Superman, a pure-to-the-extreme physical mass collapse!
The Reality Stone attempted to turn Lin An into a frog.
But the moment the energy of the Aether Particles touched this force field, it was crushed into nothingness!
Attempting to turn him into water?
The energy instantly collapsed!
Attempting to turn him into a pile of rubber ducks?
The energy was directly torn apart by the violent gravitational field!
In the face of absolute physical strength, even the laws of the Infinity Stones experienced a brief spellcasting failure!
Those crimson energies constantly exploded and collapsed around Lin An.
Transforming into bursts of gorgeous light rain.
Some turned into colorful soap bubbles.
Some turned into flying colorful little ducks across the sky.
And some even turned into small firecrackers setting off fireworks.
The entire wasteland battlefield instantly turned into a playground full of childlike innocence.
Lin An stood amidst the pile of bubbles and ducks, even casually grabbing a duck to squeeze it.
"Squeak~"
The rubber duck let out a miserable screech.
"Tsk tsk tsk."
Lin An shook his head and gave Malekith a thumbs-up.
"Old Tie, your special effects are awesome!"
"If this were taken to Hollywood to shoot a movie, just the post-production rendering fees could save a few small targets."
"Consider jumping ship to our Vought International film and television department?"
"I'll offer you the position of Visual Director, with the highest tier of five social insurances and one housing fund."
The audience in the live broadcast room was already laughing so hard they couldn't catch their breath.
"What the hell, five social insurances and one housing fund! Homelander hasn't forgotten to recruit people for the company!"
"Malekith: I've never suffered such a huge grievance in my life."
"The dignified Dark Elf leader was forced into a magician releasing special effects!"
"A Universe-grade mage encounters a Universe-grade meat tank; the mage couldn't break the defense, and was even forcibly co-opted!"
Malekith was so angry that his whole body trembled, his eyeballs almost popping out.
He couldn't believe it.
The power of the Reality Stone actually couldn't change this monster's form!
That seemingly weak bio-force field was simply like the hardest barrier in the Universe.
Even laws could be forcibly bounced away!
"This is impossible... What kind of monster are you?!" Malekith roared.
"Monster? You talk too harshly, I'm deducting your performance bonus."
Lin An put away his smile.
The dead fish eyes of a wage earner that saw through everything hung back on his face.
"I am the top traffic, the savior, and the daddy who pays wages to you bunch of cosmic idlers."
He slowly descended to the ground.
Walking step by step toward Malekith.
Leather boots stepped on the black dunes, every step carrying a heavy sense of oppression.
"The Reality Stone is not bad, but you, the driver, are too trashy; it's simply a terrible waste of a celestial treasure."
Lin An twisted his neck.
His joints made a crisp friction sound.
Malekith's mental defense completely collapsed.
He knew that playing fancy tricks with the Reality Stonewas completely useless against this man.
Since the laws couldn't distort you, then pure energy would crush you!
"Shut up! Earth bug!"
Malekith let out a long howl to the sky, abandoning those fancy reality modifications.
He drew all the Aether Particles back into his body, completely fusing them with the source power of his own Dark Elf nature.
"Boom——!"
An ink-black storm erupted from beneath his feet.
Soaring straight into the clouds.
The sky of the entire Svartalfheim was instantly swallowed by darkness.
Even the meager trace of starlight was completely deprived.
Malekith's body began to swell, his face turning as ferocious as an evil ghost.
"I'm going to grind you and this Planet together into powder!"
The violent dark energy turned into a black light sphere as huge as an asteroid.
Hovering above his head.
That was a terrifying power sufficient to destroy the entire Nine Realms.
The howling wind blew so hard that Thor and Loki couldn't even open their eyes.
"It's over..." Thor closed his eyes in despair, "This time we're really going to type GG!"
However.
Lin An in the center of the storm.
Didn't even have a single strand of hair disheveled.
He even leisurely pulled a comb out from his cloak.
Combing his blown-about golden slicked-back hair until it was glossy and smooth again.
"Grind into powder?"
Lin An put away the comb and sneered with a face full of disdain.
He retreated his right leg half a step, and his waist suddenly exerted force.
His right fist clenched tightly.
Pulled back like a fully drawn strong bow.
Pure-to-the-extreme physical mass began to collapse on his fist edge.
"Whatever mage ultimate you have!"
"In front of me, smash them all away with a single punch!"
"Boom——!"
Lin An punched out.
Space collapsed instantly!
A naked-eye visible white sonic boom cloud exploded at the edge of his fist.
Immediately following.
That black light sphere sufficient to destroy the Nine Realms.
Was like a fragile balloon stepped on by an elephant.
Not even lasting a single second.
"Pop."
Directly by Lin An's terrifying physical kinetic energy.
Blown up raw!
Chapter 146: The Rule Power of Capital
"Boom!"
The kinetic Impact directly shaved three meters off the basin.
Malekith had no time to react at all and was struck squarely in the chest by this physical might.
The crisp sounds of bones breaking over a large area merged into one.
"Pfft——"
The Dark Elves leader wildly spewed pitch-black blood in mid-air.
He successively smashed through a dozen black rock peaks, crashing heavily into a deep wasteland crater.
The crimson glow of the Aether Particle flickered violently twice on his body surface before extinguishing completely.
"Is that it?"
Lin An hovered in mid-air, shaking off the dust staining his fists.
Mages were too fragile; he couldn't even take a single basic attack.
On the surviving stealth warships, over a hundred remaining soldiers of the Dark Elves burst out in desperate roars.
They raised their energy rifles and fired frantically at Lin An.
The blue energy beams hit Lin An's bio-force field, causing no reaction at all.
"So noisy, didn't you see the boss calculating KPIs?"
Lin An rolled his eyes, dark red flames bursting deep within his pupils.
"Hum——!"
Two bucket-thick Heat Visions swept across the sky.
Lin An casually twisted his neck.
The red vision traced a huge fan shape in the air.
There were no explosion sounds, only teeth-aching sounds of metal melting.
The three warships in mid-air, along with the hundred Dark Elves inside, were instantly split in two.
Dazzling red-hot light lit up at the fracture points, turning into flying ash all over the sky in the blink of an eye.
The entire process took less than two seconds.
Clearance complete.
In the deep pit, Malekith struggled to open his swollen eyelids.
The ashes floating in mid-air were his last clansmen.
And they were all his trump cards for ruling the Nine Realms.
All gone.
After thousands of years of enduring hardships, he had just obtained the Reality Stone and was ready to make a grand ambition.
He ran into a mentally ill Earthling and was beaten into a commander of a bare pole in less than ten minutes.
Malekith's shriveled lips trembled frantically.
Tears mixed with blood plastered all over his face.
"Bang."
A red genuine leather boot stepped heavily on his pale face.
The sole exerted force, grinding the back of his head two inches into the sand.
"Ouch, stop playing dead. Who was it just now that said they wanted to make the Universe return to darkness?"
Lin An squatted down, wearing a standard American savior sunny smile on his face.
He casually pulled a stack of crumpled A4 paper from his cape.
"Come, come, come, President Ma, take a look at this."
Lin An slapped the paper directly onto Malekith's face.
"Visual Director Employment Contract of Vought International Film and Television Department (Lifelong System)".
"I am very satisfied with the special effects of your Aether Particle changing living flowers just now. The bros on Earth like it very much too."
Lin An tapped Malekith's forehead with his knuckles.
"Look at your miserable state now, your clansmen are all dead, and the Universe cannot be destroyed."
"Why don't you come to work at our company? Food and lodging are provided, five insurances and one housing fund are paid, and there is paid annual leave at the end of the year."
"How about it? Am I, the boss, merciful?"
Malekith was shaking all over with anger.
"You... don't even think about it... I am the master of the Dark Dimension..." He squeezed these words out through his teeth.
Work for an Earth monkey? Be some ghost visual director?
He would rather self-destruct on the spot!
"It seems there is a lack of identification with the corporate culture."
Lin An sneered in his heart.
These alien bumpkins really thought the boss was discussing with them?
"System, redeem [Absolute Contract Rule], bind this contract." Lin An thought silently.
[Ding! Deducted 5 million popularity points, Absolute Contract Rule has taken effect.]
[Once signed, souls are bound, and violating contract terms will result in rule obliteration.]
Five million!
This was the traffic he accumulated after selling how many borderline figures on the streets of New York!
Today, he had to squeeze out the remaining value from him.
Lin An's eyes turned cold, and he directly grabbed Malekith's blood-stained right thumb.
"I don't want to sign——!"
Sensing a fatal threat, Malekith struggled frantically.
Crack.
Lin An expressionlessly crushed his wrist.
Pressing his thumb, he heavily pressed a bloody handprint at the end of the contract.
Hum!
A layer of dark golden light rippled across the surface of the contract.
The light turned into a stream of light and drilled directly into Malekith's glabella.
"No——!"
Malekith let out a miserable scream.
The rule shackles directly locked down his life and death authority.
With just a thought from the man before him, he would drop dead on the spot.
"Congratulations to President Ma on joining Vought International."
Lin An instantly switched back to an enthusiastic smile and patted Malekith's cheek.
"Come to the New York headquarters to punch in at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. Full attendance bonus will be deducted for being late."
The refresh speed of the barrage in the global live broadcast room broke the limit.
"Holy shit! What the hell kind of signing a contract is this! Recruit them by force if you can't beat them?"
"Homelander: I'm not here to fight, I'm here for HR recruitment!"
"Malekith cried like a two-hundred-jin elf, so tragic hahahaha!"
"Top benefactor [New York City Grass] tipped 50 super Rockets! Message: John, how many more of these bullsh*t contracts do you have?"
"[Captain Marvel] tipped 1 Rocket! Message: This is a serious case of human trafficking and alien refugee abuse, I protest!"
"Get lost!" Lin An flipped off the camera, "I am solving the Universe's employment problem!"
Behind the huge black rock.
Loki, who had been lying on the ground "dying in the line of duty" earlier, was driving his aura-concealing magic to the extreme.
He watched with his own eyes as Lin An slaughtered the Dark Elves and watched the owner of the Reality Stonebeing forcibly recruited as a worker.
Especially that contract exuding a terrifying rule aura.
Cold sweat broke out straight down Loki's back.
This is a devil!
This guy called Homelander is definitely a demon from the very bottom of the abyss!
Thor didn't work well in the brain and was willing to take a beating, but he himself must not stay here for another second!
Taking advantage of the gap when Lin An had his back turned to this side.
Green illusion magic crossed Loki's fingertips.
His body instantly changed shape, turning into a blood-covered Asgardian golden-armored guard.
Clinging to the ground, he crawled with hands and feet toward the spatial rift at the periphery of the battlefield.
Run!
Leave this ghost place!
Return to Asgard!
Lin An stood on the sand dune, holding a can of iced cola in his palm, slurping down more than half of it.
He didn't look back.
The peripheral vision of his X-ray vision saw the greenish magical energy on the ground clearly.
"Want to play a golden cicada shedding its shell?"
Lin An sneered inwardly, but did not make a move to stop him.
In his portable space.
The "Vought Labor Dispatch Contract" that he had previously forced Loki to sign was flashing with the same causality light.
The rule package worth five million popularity points, he approved two copies!
"Run, run as fast as you can."
The arc of Lin An's mouth kept expanding.
As long as Loki ran back, kicked old Odin into a nursing home, and sat on the throne of Asgard.
Wouldn't that dignified King of the Nine Realms still be an outsourced employee of Vought International?
The entire Asgard divine domain would be a private branch company by then!
"Playing tricks with me? You know nothing about the true power of capital."
Lin An straightened the Stars and Stripes cape on his body and showed a brilliant smile to the hovering quantum drone.
"Family members, Svartalfheim's team-building activity has successfully concluded!"
"Today, not only did we shatter the conspiracy of the Dark Dimension, but we also introduced top special effects talent for the Vought Universe film series!"
"Vought International, for a better tomorrow!"
Meanwhile.
Asgard, the Heavenly Palace council hall.
Several elite guards of the divine domain were patrolling outside the door.
The air on the periphery of the council hall suddenly distorted.
A figure covered in blood stumbled and fell out of the teleportation rift.
"Who goes there!"
The two golden-armored guards were startled, drew their greatswords, and rushed forward.
"It's me... it's me..."
The newcomer wiped away the blood and filth on his face, revealing the face of an ordinary scout.
He panted heavily, his armor shattered, and his body was covered with scorch marks and deep, bone-visible scratches.
The scout weakly grabbed the guard's arm.
"Go quickly... go report to the Allfather and the Queen..."
"We suffered a fierce ambush by the enemy... Thor Your Highness is seriously injured..."
"And... and Your Highness Loki..."
The scout's eye sockets were red, and his voice took on a crying tone.
"To protect his brother, and to defend the glory of Asgard, Your Highness Loki perished together with that Dark Elf demon!"
"He died in battle!"
"He is a true great hero!"
Chapter 147: Vought Divine Realm Branch
Asgard, Throne Hall.
Allfather Odin sat on the high platform, clutching the Eternal Spear in his hand.
That single eye that could perceive the Nine Realms was now dim and devoid of light, leaving only the desolate and heartbroken state of a white-haired old father upon hearing the news of his youngest son's death.
Frigga's severe injuries had not yet healed, and Loki had died in battle.
One blow after another caused this God King, who had conquered the Universe, to lose his composure, dropping the divine power defense restrictions around him to their lowest point in thousands of years.
In the corner of the hall, the scout who should have retreated raised his head, the corners of his mouth curving into a morbid and ecstatic arc.
Right now.
Relying on his familiarity with every spell restriction in Asgard over the past few thousands of years, Loki's hands moved at extreme speed, green light flowing.
Hum!
The dazzling green magical radiance enveloped the throne.
Before Odin could recover from the grief of losing his son, a strong wave of dizziness surged into his brain.
The mental confinement magic forcefully wedged into the depths of his consciousness, suppressing the God King's sobriety.
"You... you are Loki!"
Feeling the familiar magic, Odin's single eye widened in anger.
"Hush, rest well, Father."
Loki shed his disguise, walked up to the throne, and an irrepressible madness leaked from his eyes.
"The era of fighting and killing has ended; next is the stage for the young people."
He waved his hand fiercely.
A spatial rift opened, directly swallowing the unprepared Odin.
Target location: Earth, Norway, a fully equipped retirement home for the elderly that included food and lodging.
To prevent the old man from running back, Loki also cast as many as eighteen layers of the highest-level mental binding spells on him.
Ensuring that every day he could do nothing except knit and read newspapers.
Looking at the empty throne, Loki let out a long sigh of relief, shuddering with comfort.
A flash of light.
His body grew taller, and his hair turned gray.
A single eye, golden armor, a red cloak, along with the replica of the Eternal Spear in his hand, without the slightest difference.
Loki leaned back on the throne representing the highest power of the Nine Realms.
"It's finally my turn to sit in this position! Asgard is mine!"
However, this joy did not last long before heavy footsteps came from outside the grand hall.
Boom.
The doors were pushed open.
A blood-soaked Thor walked in desolately, carrying Mjolnirin his hand.
And beside him followed that man in a Star-Spangled Banner bodysuit who exuded arrogance even when walking.
The moment he saw Lin An, Loki's eyelids twitched violently.
"How did this living ancestor follow them here!"
But he was Odin now, so he could only straighten his face and put on the airs of the God King.
"Thor."
Loki spoke in a deep voice, his voice rich and majestic, carrying a trace of just-the-right fatigue.
"I heard about it. Loki... he is a true Asgardian warrior."
Thor's eyes instantly turned red, and with a thud, he knelt on one knee.
"Father, it's all my fault. If I hadn't insisted on going to Svartalfheim, Loki wouldn't have died to save me."
Thor's voice was trembling.
Loki's face was as gloomy as water, but inside he was blooming with joy.
"Silly brother, oh silly brother, not only did you get beaten up, but you also have to kowtow here and apologize to me."
"Father, I understand."
Thor raised his head, his gaze revealing unprecedented determination.
"I will no longer blindly pursue the throne; I am not worthy of becoming the king of Asgard. I am going to Earth to accompany Jane."
Hearing this, Loki almost broke character.
"Even giving up the throne means these Nine Realms will completely belong to me alone!"
Loki forcefully tightened his facial skin and slowly said in a kind and inclusive tone: "Good son, go. Go pursue the life you want."
Good son.
Thor froze all over.
He stared blankly at his father on the throne.
In his memory, his father had always been stern. Let alone calling him a good son, usually if he didn't whip him with the Eternal Spear, it meant he was in a good mood.
Today, not only did his father not blame him for stealing the spacecraft and causing his younger brother's death, but instead gently supported him in going to Earth.
"Father... thank you."
Thor heavily kowtowed.
He stood up and strode out of the grand hall.
Watching Thor's receding back, Loki bit his lips hard, using all his willpower to keep from laughing out loud.
The doors of the grand hall slowly closed.
In the empty throne hall, there was only "Odin" sitting on the high platform, and Lin An standing below with his arms crossed.
Loki braced himself, maintaining that awe-inspiring face of divine might.
"Strong one from Midgard,"
Loki spoke in Odin's deep voice.
"You saved Asgard from crisis, and on behalf of the Nine Realms…"
"Alright, alright."
Lin An waved his hand impatiently, interrupting his speech.
"Everyone has left, what are you still pretending for here?"
Loki's pupils shrank.
"What are you talking about, Midgardian. I am the Allfather…"
"Act again."
Lin An drooped his eyelids, his tone turning cold.
"Believe it or not, I'll fly straight to Earth, Norway, drag Odin out of that retirement home for the elderly, and expose your tricks in person? Loki."
As soon as the two words "Loki" came out, the "Odin" on the throne instantly froze.
A green light flashed, and Loki returned to his original appearance.
He grabbed the armrests of the throne tightly, his face pale.
"You... how did you know? What on Earth are you trying to do!"
He considered his magic flawless, something even Heimdall couldn't see through.
How could this Earthling see through it at a glance!
He even knew the hiding place!
"What am I doing?"
Lin An laughed, "Worker, did you get too into character and forget the main business?"
Lin An flipped his wrist, and a crumpled A4 piece of paper appeared out of thin air.
It was precisely that Vought Labor Dispatch Contract.
"You signed and pressed your fingerprint on it. And Asgardjust happens to be leaderless."
Lin An shook the contract.
"From now on, you will steadily sit in this position and manage Asgard well for me. If there's anything, I'll instruct you."
Loki opened his eyes wide and looked at Lin An.
"You want me to manage Asgard for you? Do you really think you are the overlord of the Universe?!"
Loki clenched his teeth.
"Even if I signed that outsourcing contract, does the outsourced position include being the proxy king of the Nine Realms for you!"
"Look closely at the terms, Manager Loki."
Lin An flipped to the last page of the contract and pointed at the line of tiny fly-head characters at the very bottom.
Loki leaned over to look, and his face turned green.
That line of words impressively read: [Party B must unconditionally agree to any instructions from Party A, and the final interpretation right belongs to Vought International].
"This is fraud! This is a bullying clause!"
Loki cursed loudly.
He claimed to be the God of Mischief, yet he actually stumbled on this piece of junk paper.
"A mere scrap of contract, why should it constrain me? I am a god! I can turn you into... at any moment"
Before he finished speaking.
A wave of intense palpitation surged up.
Loki felt his soul being gripped by an invisible giant hand.
As long as he dared to say another half of a "no" word, this force would directly crush his soul.
Loki looked at the man smiling brightly at him below the steps and finally shut his mouth.
This wasn't scrap paper; this was a guillotine hanging over his soul.
Lin An nodded in satisfaction.
"It's good that you understand the rules. The company doesn't raise idle people. If you are not satisfied with this position, you can go deliver takeout and clean sewers together with your good brother."
"No no no, satisfied, satisfied!"
Loki slumped dejectedly back onto the throne, all the strength in his body drained away.
He had plotted for thousands of years and finally succeeded in usurping the throne, only to be reduced to an outsourced worker for a mortal company less than five minutes after sitting on the throne.
Lin An casually took out a communication device and threw it onto the steps with a clatter.
"I will use this to contact you if anything happens. Keep it powered on twenty-four hours a day. Miss a single phone call, and I'll dock one of your arms."
Finishing his words, Lin An turned around, flicked his cloak, soared into the sky amidst a sonic boom, and disappeared outside the grand hall.
Loki sat on the empty throne, looking at the communication device flashing with a red light on the ground, his mouth twitching.
He stared at the direction where Lin An left.
"Earth monkey, don't get cocky too early... The mysteries of magic are not something you can understand. Sooner or later, I will find a way to break this damn contract..."
Mouthing harsh words, Loki still reached out, picked up the communication device, and tucked it into his bosom.
Under the low eaves, one has to bow their head.
Asgard's throne remained cold, and Loki felt that being a proxy king was even more aggrieved than being a prisoner.
Lin An flew in the skies of Asgard, listening to the prompt sounds of his popularity value skyrocketing crazily in his mind, unable to hide his smile.
Handling Loki was equivalent to handling Asgard.
The entire Divine Realm had become his private subsidiary.
"Vought International, for a better tomorrow!"
Facing the sunlight, Lin An hummed a little tune and plunged headfirst into the teleportation beam of the Bifrost Bridge.