Postwar Gains

New York.

Dressed in a tank top and shorts, looking like an ordinary old man from Earth, Odin covered his nose and asked Wang Bert unhappily, "Blood God, are you sure you’re not messing with me? How could Little Hela possibly like something that smells this bad?"

"What do you know? Stinky tofu smells bad, but tastes great."

Wang Bert speared a piece of stinky tofu with a toothpick and tossed it into his mouth. As he ate, he said, "How about switching careers? It’s not like I’m forcing you."

"Little Hela really likes it?"

Odin gritted his teeth. "Fine. From now on, I’ll sell stinky tofu on Earth."

Standing more than ten meters away, Frigga felt that the future was utterly bleak. She said, "I think we should just travel the universe instead."

"Wait a while first. Thor has only just taken the throne. We need to observe him in secret for a while."

Odin said, "Besides, I’m the one selling stinky tofu, not you."

"Make sure you wash up before coming home every day."

After thinking for a moment, Frigga said, "I might as well open a flower shop next door. It’ll help cover the smell."

"One sells flowers, the other sells stinky tofu. You two really are a perfect match."

Wang Bert lowered his voice and said, "All-Father, you can’t reveal your identity. You’re our trump card now."

"Do you think I need you to tell me that? I’m just waiting to give Thanos a nasty surprise."

Odin said, "By the way, when is Little Hela coming? Do you think she’ll hate me?"

Looking at Odin’s anxious face, Wang Bert could not help shaking his head. At this moment, Odin was merely an old father hoping to make up for what he owed his daughter.

"She should be here soon. This is the road they always take home from school."

Wang Bert had barely finished speaking when Mindy and the other two appeared in the distance.

"Odin, I’m out."

Wang Bert vanished in an instant. Odin took a deep breath and pretended to be calm, but his constantly fidgeting hands thoroughly betrayed him.

Frigga covered her mouth and chuckled. She rather liked this Odin. He felt real, unlike before, when he had merely been a king of gods.

"It smells awful. Did someone’s sewer leak?"

Mindy covered her nose in disgust, but Little Hela and Lina’s eyes lit up. This was clearly the smell of stinky tofu. Was someone selling it nearby?

Little Hela and Lina immediately ran toward the smell, with Mindy following helplessly behind. Soon, the two arrived in front of Odin’s little stall. Little Hela was about to speak when she suddenly saw Odin and froze.

Odin grew even more nervous. He asked, "Little one, would you like some stinky tofu?"

Little Hela frowned and said, "I don’t know why, but I really, really, really hate you."

Those three "really hates" filled Odin with guilt. He took a deep breath and said with a smile, "Maybe it’s because I look like Odin. Did Odin kill you in Super Heroes?"

"Yeah, he kills me every day. Even after getting Thor’s Hammer, I still can’t beat him. I hate him so much."

Little Hela nodded repeatedly. She carefully examined Odin, then said, "Wow, Grandpa, you really do look like Odin."

"You’re practically Odin himself. You’re both one-eyed too, though your belly’s a bit bigger and you don’t have Odin’s aura of majesty."

As Mindy took pictures of Odin, she said, "I think you should cosplay as Odin."

"After I clear Odin first. That old bastard is too awful. No matter how many times you kill him, he won’t die."

Odin laughed heartily. "And he’s ridiculously shameless. When you get him down to half health, he goes berserk."

Frigga wanted to roll her eyes. Did he have to badmouth himself so much? "Going berserk is nothing. When you’re about to kill him, he suddenly restores full health and turns into his All-Father form."

The moment the conversation turned to the game, Little Hela immediately forgot the disgust in her heart. She said proudly, "You definitely don’t know this, but only my team has ever forced Odin into his All-Father form on the entire server."

"Only your team? Are you ‘Death is the Truth’?"

"How did you know?"

"I’m ‘Blood God is a Bastard.’"

"Ah, it’s you! You’re actually an old grandpa?"

"I never expected you to be a kid either. Wait, doesn’t this game have an age limit?"

The situation instantly turned into an online friends meetup. Everyone was delighted and chattered nonstop. Little Hela no longer disliked Odin as much, since he was her online friend.

Looking at Little Hela’s bright smile and innocent liveliness, Frigga was astonished. She had never seen Hela like this before.

"Odin, what a sin you committed. For the sake of your ambitions, you turned a little girl into a Goddess of Death who killed without blinking."

Frigga secretly shook her head. Coming to Earth this time had truly been the right choice.

"That went pretty smoothly. Kids really are easy to coax."

Wang Bert shook his head and walked into his office, where Ivan and Dr. Richards had been waiting since early morning.

Ivan said, "The spoils from the Dark Elves and Chitauri have been distributed. We get the lion’s share, while the rest goes to those countries."

"Very good."

Wang Bert nodded in satisfaction. "Ivan, focus all your efforts on researching the Black Hole Grenade and the Dark Elves’ invisibility technology. Both are important."

Ivan nodded. "No problem. I’m very interested in the Black Hole Grenade too."

Wang Bert turned to Dr. Richards and asked, "Dr. Richards, is the Bifrost operating smoothly?"

Dr. Richards smiled. "Very smoothly. The Bifrost project can officially be declared a success. We can teleport anywhere within the Solar System."

"Good, but that is far from enough. Our goal is the Milky Way Galaxy."

Wang Bert said, "Dr. Richards, continue your research. Also, get rid of your dependence on me as soon as possible, just like Asgard’s Bifrost."

"Understood."

Dr. Richards nodded. "I’ll continue researching the Bifrost. I’m very interested in it."

Thinking of something, Wang Bert sat down and said with a smile, "By the way, let me tell you a story."

Dr. Richards asked in confusion, "What story?"

"Once upon a time, there was a domineering president. He started from nothing and made a fortune of tens of billions in only a few years. Later, he helped his college classmate conduct an experiment. In the end, not only was he disfigured, but his company was liquidated as well."

Wang Bert looked at Dr. Richards with a smile. "The domineering president was deeply depressed, so he went up a mountain to study the Dao—no, magic. During that time, his college classmate stole his fiancée.

"Now, this domineering president has completed his studies and returned, ready to have a good talk with that college classmate."

Ivan cursed disdainfully, "There are scumbags like that?"

Dr. Richards broke out in cold sweat. He asked, "Doom is coming back?"

"That’s right. He graduated and is preparing to come have a chat with you himself."

Ivan stared at Dr. Richards in astonishment. You’re actually that scumbag?

Dr. Richards swallowed and asked, "Is Doom strong now?"

Wang Bert said, "Not particularly. He can only fight projections of Hell Lords."

"Projections of Hell Lords?"

Dr. Richards was nearly scared to tears. He hurriedly said, "Bert, you have to help me. Susan and I truly love each other."

"That’s what all homewreckers say."

Ivan looked utterly contemptuous. Wang Bert looked at him with a half-smile, and his old face reddened. "I haven’t succeeded in stealing her yet, so it doesn’t count."

"You have the nerve to look down on others?"

Wang Bert mocked him, then said to Dr. Richards, "You’re my friend, and Doom is my friend too. I can only remain neutral. Dr. Richards, good luck.

"By the way, would you be willing to donate your brain after you die? Your brain is very important to humanity."

"I would—no, why would I die?"

Dr. Richards gritted his teeth. "I did wrong Doom somewhat, but I won’t just sit here waiting to die. Bert, I have to go. I’m heading back to call for help."

With that, Dr. Richards hurriedly left. Ivan asked, "Aren’t you afraid Doom might actually kill Reed? Reed is important. He can’t die."

"Don’t worry. Doom will never touch a single hair on Susan’s head, and Susan will protect Reed with her life."

Wang Bert smiled. "Let them fight it out. We can treat it as a show: Fantastic Four versus Explosion Doctor."

"I see."

Ivan understood. He stood and said, "Bert, I’m going back to research. My father gave me a huge amount of technology, and I need to master it all. Heh, what’s so great about Tony Stark? Isn’t he just relying on his dad? Now my dad is far stronger than his ‘dad.’"

"You two can continue loving and trying to kill each other. I won’t see you out."

Wang Bert waved his hand. Ivan gave him the middle finger and turned to leave.

After handling the trivial matters, Wang Bert began taking stock of this battle’s gains. Overall, they were quite substantial.

The Dark Elves’ technology, the Chitauri’s technology, more than ten Magic Crystals, half a Reality Stone, and an infiltrator planted beside Thanos—the Reality Stone could be recalled at any time, making it no different from one of his own! Beyond all that, there were three major gains this time: half of the Eternal Fire, Surtur’s Crown, and the Spear of God.

There was no need to say much about the Eternal Fire and Surtur’s Crown. Together, they could create a God-Devil Level powerhouse.

As for the Spear of God, Wang Bert was confident he could make it submit. When that happened, he would possess a conceptual weapon.

It was a weapon that had even shocked the Ancient One.

"There are plenty of good things, but there are plenty of loose ends too. I need to find a way to bring them all under control."

As Wang Bert pondered, his secretary suddenly called. "Mr. Wang, an old cowboy named Carter Slade is here to see you."

"That old guy isn’t dead yet?"

Wang Bert was delighted. He immediately had Slade brought up. The former Ghost Rider, Slade, laughed heartily. "Are you happy to see that I’m not dead?"

Wang Bert laughed. "Very happy. Also, let me ask: you didn’t come here because you ran out of money, did you?"

"I ran out long ago."

Slade said bitterly, "I thought I was going to die soon, so I spent money like crazy. One night, I even gave more than a million directly to dancers. In the end, my money ran out, but I didn’t die. For the past two years, I’ve had to raise horses for other people just to eat."

"That’s what you get for being so wasteful."

Wang Bert laughed and asked, "So here’s the question: why have you lived so long? Did an angel intervene, or a devil?"

"It was that old bitch Gabriel."

Slade sat carelessly across from Wang Bert and said, "I never understood why she kept me alive, but now I do. She needs me to be a messenger.

"Blood God, what I’m about to say is what Gabriel asked me to convey. I don’t agree with it myself, but I have no choice. I need her Holy Power to stay alive."

Wang Bert asked, "What message did Gabriel ask you to bring?"

"Gabriel asked me to tell you this."

Slade said, "As long as you hand over the Spear of God and surrender to Heaven, then when Heaven descends, they will transform you and some Vampires into noble angels and make you one of their own.

"If you refuse, then when Heaven descends upon Earth, all Vampires will be purified."

"Nothing new."

Wang Bert tossed Slade a cigar and said, "Tell Gabriel that if she kneels and acknowledges me as her master, then when I break Heaven, I’ll spare her life."

Slade was stunned. He asked, "Bert, are you joking or serious? You want to attack Heaven?"

"It’s not that I want to attack Heaven. Heaven will inevitably attack Earth, and when that happens, I can only fight back."

Wang Bert said, "Slade, Heaven isn’t sacred. In pursuit of their goals, they even colluded with the Fallen Angel Lucifer."

"As expected, none of these gods and devils are good people."

Slade snorted. "These matters are beyond me now. I’m just living one day at a time. Thanks for the cigar. I’m going back to report."

Without making a sound, Wang Bert sent a drop of blood into Slade’s body. Then, he wrote a check and handed it over. "Enjoy the rest of your life."

Slade took the check, glanced at it, and said in astonishment, "Five million? Bert, even if you have money, you shouldn’t waste it like this. I only delivered a message."

"Kamar-Taj is about to begin cleansing humans who possess Holy Power."

Wang Bert said, "When Kamar-Taj acts, they always exterminate everyone. They leave no survivors."

Slade was silent for a moment before putting away the check. "Let them come. Bert, thanks for the check. I’m going back to buy that Horse Farm, then I’ll make that damned owner feed horses for me."

"Take care. If you need anything, call me anytime."

Wang Bert said. Slade nodded, then turned and left with carefree ease.

"Neither angels nor devils would give up such a useful chess piece."

Wang Bert narrowed his eyes slightly. This old cowboy Slade’s story was far from over.

After some thought, Wang Bert called Lilith in and asked, "How many people in the Angel Church can we control?"

Wang Bert donated a large sum of money to the Angel Church every year. It was not because he had nowhere else to spend it, but because he wanted to buy over the church’s priests.

"In America, we can control around half of the high-ranking clergy. The percentage is lower in other countries."

Lilith replied, "However, many of them are fence-sitters. If angels truly descend, eighty percent of them will likely abandon darkness for the light."

"We are the light."

Wang Bert snorted and said, "Use every resource we have to push our people into high positions. Then have them provide intelligence and deal with the devout believers and Holy Power users within the church.

"I want the entire Angel Church purged in a short time. No devout follower of any angel may hold a high-ranking position."

"With our strength, doing that won’t be difficult, but the commotion would be too great. It might make humanity uneasy."

Lilith said, "After all, we are Vampires, and they are angels."

Wang Bert said, "Tell every major country that angels are no better than Hell Lords. They also want to destroy Earth."