Planet Eater

"Th-that is…!"

Pietro recognized the one-handed hammer at a glance. Although he had never actually met Thor in person, he still knew something about this being called a "god."

"That’s the real thing."

"Yes, the genuine Mjolnir."

Zhang Ye murmured softly. In his memories, Thor had been beaten to death by Absorbing Man.

At the time, none of the superheroes had expected Magneto to suddenly strike so ruthlessly. Not even his daughter, Scarlet Witch, had seen it coming.

After Magneto killed his own daughter before she could react, he transferred both his magnetism and Scarlet Witch’s magic into Absorbing Man.

Having gained such immense power, Absorbing Man’s abilities instantly soared beyond all limits, and his physical strength rivaled Thor’s. At the same time, he used the secret power of chaos magic to absorb Thor’s divine power, then punched him again and again until he beat Thor to death right here.

Thor’s body had long since been collected by the criminals, but no one could move his hammer. It had therefore remained here, waiting for the next person with a heart of justice to lift it and gain all the power belonging to Thor.

Around Mjolnir, people had spontaneously placed all kinds of wreaths and gifts, along with many beautiful lanterns and candles that shone brightly in the night.

"What are these?" Kara asked as she looked at the wreaths and candles.

"These? They were left behind by people who came here to pray or seek blessings. They hoped those superheroes could return—like before—put on their uniforms, rise from the dead, or that someone would inherit their virtues and stand up against the criminals’ oppression."

Hearing Zhang Ye’s calm reply, Kara could not help asking again. "Don’t those criminals care? Since these people are praying for the heroes’ return, wouldn’t the criminal leaders ruling this place refuse to ignore it?"

"It’s not that simple." Zhang Ye shook his head. "They did it deliberately. They wanted to leave people with a tiny shred of hope, so they would be more ‘obedient.’ I have to say, Red Skull played this move rather well. He really understood how to manipulate people."

As he spoke, Zhang Ye walked past the wreaths and candles until he reached Mjolnir. Feeling the power within it, dormant for decades, he gave a mocking smile.

"Making ordinary people refuse to give up hope and come here every day to pray means making them continue to place their hopes on those unreachable ‘heroes.’ If everyone thinks like that, no one here will ever be worthy of lifting Mjolnir."

Mjolnir represented protection. Only those of noble character, willing to die for others, could earn its recognition.

Just like the saying, "Asgard means the people," if they could not understand its meaning, these civilians would undoubtedly continue to be foolishly controlled and toyed with by Red Skull.

"I get it. So this place was deliberately designed by Red Skull. Not only could he use it to display his past ‘achievements,’ he could also use it to control the people’s beliefs and public opinion," Pietro said thoughtfully.

Zhang Ye could not help giving Pietro a pleasantly surprised glance. This guy was getting better at using his brain. Then Zhang Ye added, "It also makes money. This is one of the hottest tourist attractions in the world. Countless people come here every day."

"Can’t we lift the hammer? It looks pretty powerful. If we can lift it, maybe it could increase our combat strength quite a bit?" Kara stared intently at the hammer. She could sense that it was capable of hurting her.

"Unfortunately, not one of the three of us meets the requirements for this broken hammer’s recognition."

Zhang Ye chuckled and shook his head, then continued, "But lifting it does not necessarily mean following its rules. As long as you have enough power to bypass Odin’s spell, you can also gain the hammer’s ‘recognition.’"

"Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get started."

Pietro was eager to try, but in the next instant, Zhang Ye flicked him on the forehead.

"I don’t have that kind of power. Odin at his peak was a mighty being who shook the entire universe. Even though he’s dead now, the power he left behind isn’t something ordinary people can shake. Besides, why would I lift it? Am I supposed to announce the birth of a new Thor to every villain?"

"True." Pietro smiled sheepishly.

"There’s nothing here worth lingering over. Let’s find somewhere nearby to stay. We have plenty of time to gather some ‘treasures’ from this dump."

They casually found a decent-looking motel and checked in. With magic capable of turning things into gold, Zhang Ye saved himself quite a bit of trouble.

Lying on the bed, Zhang Ye recalled the events of the comics while making plans for his next move.

In this wasteland world, although most heroes had already died and most villains had become old, weak, sick, or disabled, that did not mean there was no fighting power left. Whether it was Doom’s robots or the Sentinel Robots under Baron Zemo, both were formidable forces.

It would still be troublesome if those guys set their sights on them. And besides them, there was Red Skull, the so-called "mastermind." Aside from an army, he also had quite a few powerful desperadoes under his command. With so many people joining forces, even Zhang Ye would find them difficult to deal with.

Thinking of this, Zhang Ye could not help sighing at how lucky Star-Lord had been in this universe.

When Star-Lord arrived in the wasteland, it happened to be when Old Man Logan traveled to the Prime Universe.

At that point, Baron Zemo, Bullseye, and every traitor in the Thunderbolts had died at Hawkeye’s hands. Juggernaut had been tricked by the old Daredevil and thrown off a cliff, unable to climb back up for years. Red Skull and Hulk had been killed by Wolverine Logan, and the entire American was in complete chaos.

That was precisely why Star-Lord had not been attacked by a swarm of villains. Otherwise, those villains would have slit his throat long ago.

But because of that, Earth was doomed as well. After all, with the abilities of Red Skull’s group, they could not stop the Church or Planet Eater from descending.

At the thought of Planet Eater, Zhang Ye could not help sighing again.

A being on that level was far beyond his ability to defeat right now. It seemed that before that guy descended, he had to find a way to increase his combat strength as quickly as possible, while also finding ways to improve Earth’s means of resistance.

(Thanks for the donations: thanks to Linlang Lan and Extremely Fat Otaku for their support, and thanks as well to everyone else who voted in support. Thank you, everyone.)