Darkness Approaches

In Asgard, inside the Golden Palace of the royal city.

The newly crowned All-Father, Thor, sat upright on the throne, gazing intently into the distance. Every so often, a doting smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. No matter how one looked at him, he seemed sleazy, with a touch of perversion!

His nauseating expression made Prime Minister Loki, sitting nearby, break out in goosebumps.

Loki endured it once, then again. Only after he could bear it no longer did he set down the pen in his hand and protest in a deep voice, "Thor, you bastard, what the hell are you watching through the Golden Palace’s ability to spy on the Nine Realms? Why are you grinning like some veteran womanizer?"

At that, Thor subconsciously raised a hand and wiped his face. Then he put on a serious expression and said, "How could that be? I was only checking on the situation on Earth."

"Didn’t Uncle say so before? Although Hela’s problem has been resolved, the day of the Nine-Star Alignment is drawing near, and the Dark Elves may very well return. As the All-Father of Asgard, I…"

Loki looked at Thor with an expression that clearly said, I’ll just quietly watch you show off, while Thor continued spouting nonsense. Suddenly, he asked out of nowhere, "What’s Jane doing?"

Thor answered casually without the slightest hesitation, "She went to an abandoned factory. She looks especially beauti—"

He had only gotten halfway through the sentence when Thor realized he had exposed himself. An ugly yet awkward smile immediately appeared on his face, and he chuckled, "That was just an illusion."

Loki could not help rolling his eyes. He was becoming less and less sure what to say about his idiot brother.

Ever since this fellow had been crowned, they had agreed that Loki would handle the minor matters while Thor took care of the major ones. But in this fellow’s eyes, apart from Hela’s return, there seemed to be nothing that counted as a major matter!

And he had made "major matters" and "minor matters" sound so tactful. He might as well have said: You handle domestic affairs, and I’ll go fight.

The problem was, he had to be able to win those fights. Whenever a powerful enemy appeared, did they not still have to invite Earth’s Congxin Uncle?

What use are you to me?

As the saying went, brothers were connected at heart. Just as the thought What use are you to me? arose in Loki’s mind, a shameless smile spread across Thor’s face. He called out softly, "Loki, Lokey, Little Lokey…"

Hearing Thor’s irritatingly sycophantic tone, Loki nearly dropped the pen in his hand. "If you have something to say, say it. Don’t disgust me!"

"So, the thing is…"

Thor shifted his body, moving a little closer to Loki, and lowered his voice as much as possible. "Look, as the All-Father of Asgard, I should understand my people better. I was thinking that sitting in this Golden Palace all day makes it impossible to understand the hardships of ordinary life."

"Besides, Asgard has you holding down the fort right now, so I’m very reassured. I was thinking, should I go to Midgard and inspect the people’s situation, while strengthening our ties with the Avengers? That would also help Asgard’s diplomatic and military development. What do you think…"

Loki mercilessly retorted, "Why do you want to go to Earth? Don’t you have any idea in your own heart? I think you really just want to go on a date with that beauty named Jane Foster, don’t you?"

"Loki, that’s not right. How could I… Oh, no!" Halfway through his sentence, the shameless expression vanished from Thor’s face. He abruptly stood up and said gravely, "Jane is gone. She suddenly disappeared inside that abandoned factory. I have to go check the situation immediately."

Loki gave him an alluring smile. "As expected of the traffic star Lei Jinjiang. Your acting isn’t bad. I’ll give you a like!"

"I’m telling the truth!" Thor’s expression was exceedingly solemn. "She disappeared all of a sudden, and the spatial fluctuations in that abandoned factory are strange too. And… Uncle Clark has appeared as well. If you don’t believe me, sit down and take a look!"

Only then did Loki finally put away his teasing expression. Based on his understanding of Thor, he naturally knew that Thor was not talking nonsense this time.

Loki nodded and finally said, "If that’s really the case, then hurry over and take a look."

Seeing Thor rise to leave, Loki suddenly called out to him, "Thor, remember, a nation cannot be without its king for even a day." Seeing Thor nod gravely, he immediately added, "But whether Asgard has you or not, it’s pretty much the same."

Thor’s face lit up at that. "Then I’ll leave Asgard in your hands."

As he watched Thor leave with a dashing stride, Loki’s expression gradually darkened.

Leave it to me, my ass!

If that sentence had been said to any other king, he would have fallen out with me already, all right?

What’s with that delighted expression?

Do you have any awareness at all of what it means to be a king?

Ignoring that utterly clueless fellow, Loki decided to turn his anger into motivation and continue reviewing the memorials…

In fact, Loki was quite satisfied with his current life.

From childhood onward, he had always hoped to gain other people’s recognition. More than anything, he wanted Odin’s acknowledgment and wished to prove that he was stronger than Thor.

This mentality was exactly the same as Naruto’s at the beginning of Naruto.

The difference was that Naruto himself was an idiot who wanted to surpass a poker-faced person. Loki was also an idiot, but the person he wanted to surpass was an idiot even more ridiculous than him.

Now, Loki’s goal had finally been achieved. Not only had he gained his father and mother’s recognition, he had also earned the respect of all Asgard’s people!

Although he had not truly become king, he was doing the work a king should do every day.

And although his older brother was somewhat unreliable, was that not convenient?

If Thor were truly wise and mighty, how would Loki’s own abilities ever stand out?

Now, as long as he could make the lives of Asgard’s people better and better, with their happiness steadily rising, everyone would remember that it was all thanks to Loki.

His glorious achievements would be recorded in the history of the Golden Palace!

As for letting Thor be king, that actually seemed pretty good too.

He had heard Uncle Li Congxin say it several times already: for a long time to come, disasters would continue to plague the entire universe. At a time like this, with a brother capable of fighting sitting on the throne and bearing the pressure of every war, Loki could devote himself to development without restraint!

What was so interesting about fighting compared with handling government affairs?

If Thor wanted to go out and enjoy himself, then Loki would let him do so to his heart’s content. As long as Thor could return whenever Asgard was in danger, that would be enough.

Then, should he start considering whether Asgard ought to enter the Internet age like Earth?

Once it entered the Internet age, Asgard’s people could connect their level of thought with Earth’s. More importantly, this would let the people understand one truth:

The king was nothing more than a figurehead, while the prime minister was the pillar of the nation!

Yes, that’s what I’ll do!

At the same time, outside an abandoned factory in New York.

You had not misread it. This incident had happened in New York again. This city, cursed by movies, was always favored by all kinds of natural and man-made disasters. Its appearance rate was frighteningly high.

Now, the only place on Earth affected by the Nine-Star Alignment was still this city.

Speaking of abandoned factories, Li Congxin remembered that the events in the movie had taken place in Britain. How had it ended up in New York again?

Perhaps this was the change caused by the butterfly effect.

Various strange incidents had occurred inside the abandoned factory before them, including spatial wormholes and overlapping space. The entire factory had now been placed under tight police cordon.

However, Jane Foster had entered earlier to investigate the situation, and she still had not come out.

At that moment, torrential rain poured from the sky.

Suddenly, a luxurious Maserati sports car came speeding from afar with Déjà Vu blasting from its speakers. As it neared the factory perimeter, it executed a beautiful drift, sending up water that nearly splashed onto the police officers maintaining order.

The car door opened, and an exceedingly handsome Asian young man stepped out from the passenger seat. Even the falling raindrops did not dare profane his flawless, peerless features. They slid away to either side three feet above his head, leaving not a single corner of his clothes wet.

When the police officer in charge of the cordon tried to step forward and stop him, a tall, blonde beauty had already emerged from the driver’s seat with an umbrella. She approached while taking out an identification card and said, "I’m FBI agent Sharon Carter. This matter is now officially under our jurisdiction. Your police station only needs to control this area and prevent outsiders from entering."

As America’s most famous "relevant department," the FBI had an extremely broad scope of authority. Even the opening of adult films had to carry an "FBI warning." In America, there was practically nothing beyond their jurisdiction.

S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to keep a low profile, so using an FBI identification card as a shield was entirely routine. Moreover, their credentials were not forged.

After the police confirmed that the credentials were genuine, they immediately let them through without another word, cooperating fully.

As they walked toward the factory, Sharon asked, "Clark, Director Fury just sent me a message asking me to find out whether the nine planets forming a straight line would cause gravitational changes and consequently trigger various other disasters."

Egghead’s concern was not unfounded. Normally, when special changes occurred in the heavens and earth, gravity would be affected first. Even a solar eclipse could influence the climate to some degree, let alone the Nine-Star Alignment.

However, Li Congxin’s answer was…

"Tell him not to worry. The changes caused by this Nine-Star Alignment are on the spatial level." After a slight pause, he added, "When space develops overlaps and wormholes, a series of chain reactions will occur. The gravitational changes that would have inevitably appeared will also be canceled out during this chain reaction. That’s what Dr. Erik said. He’s an expert in this field."

After saying that, Li Congxin stopped and sensed the chaotic spatial fluctuations inside the factory.

Suddenly, a playful smile appeared on his previously calm and handsome face. "Thor is here."

Sharon froze. She was searching around for the Thor Li Congxin had mentioned when a burst of multicolored light suddenly descended from the sky, breaking through the clouds. It flashed past the two of them, leaving behind Thor’s tall, sturdy figure.

"Uncle. Jane, she…"

Li Congxin waved his hand. "She disappeared after entering this factory. I’m searching for her too, and I’ve already found a suspicious spatial node. Sharon, this factory isn’t safe right now. Go back to the car and wait for us. Thor, come with me."

With that, he took one step forward and arrived before a wall five meters away. He turned and beckoned to Thor, then took another step toward the wall. His entire body instantly vanished before the two of them.

After crossing the spatial wormhole, what entered Li Congxin’s view was a pitch-black world. Here, he sensed a type of energy fluctuation that was somewhat familiar yet extremely unpleasant.

It was Dark Energy!

A kind of Dark Energy that seemed similar to, yet different from, Dormammu’s dark magic!

"Jane!"

Compared with Li Congxin, who was observing the Dark Energy fluctuations from the broader perspective, Thor had a much simpler objective. Arriving right behind him, he immediately spotted a woman lying unconscious on the ground in the distance. He rushed over at once and helped her up, his face filled with concern.

At that moment, Li Congxin caught up as well. After scanning Jane Foster from head to toe, he could not help frowning.

Sensing the change in Li Congxin’s expression, Thor hurriedly asked, "Uncle, how did Jane end up unconscious here? She… she should be all right, shouldn’t she?"

Li Congxin shook his head and said helplessly, "There are traces of Aether particles left on her, but the Aether particles themselves are no longer inside her. They should have been extracted by someone. Even so, the residual energy alone was more than an ordinary person like her could withstand… We’ll discuss the details later."

Thor froze and immediately objected, "Jane’s body is in trouble. How can we discuss this later?"

Li Congxin glared fiercely at this fellow whose mind held nothing but his girlfriend, but he did not rebuke him.

Putting himself in Thor’s place, Li Congxin felt that he might not be any better.

Compared with the safety of the Nine Realms, the handful of people he cared about were obviously more important.

Although he could understand Thor’s selfishness, some reasoning still had to be explained. "The Reality Stone has reappeared in the world… Ahem, I mean, the Aether particles have broken free of their seal. They are bound to awaken the Dark Elf clan, which has been sleeping for many years. Judging from Jane’s condition, I’m afraid the Aether particles have already fallen into their hands."

"Those guys sure moved quickly!"

Frowning slightly, Li Congxin said to Thor, who had lifted Jane Foster into a bridal carry, "Back then, the Dark Elves were defeated by your grandfather Bor, and the Aether particles—which could alter reality and return light to darkness—were sealed."

"Now that they’ve broken free of the seal, what do you think they’ll do?"