A flicker of surprise crossed Odin's eyes. Han Yu looked young, but his strength was anything but ordinary. No wonder he had dared to come straight to Asgard like this.
Looking into Han Yu's clear eyes, Odin realized he had never seen eyes so free of desire. They were calm but not indifferent, with a seemingly constant gentleness in their depths. Even facing Odin, Han Yu showed no sign of nervousness or discomfort, instead displaying a most admirable bearing.
"Heroes truly do emerge from the young. Very good, very good!"
Odin laughed and patted Han Yu lightly on the shoulder. Powerful yet not arrogant—if Thor had possessed that kind of bearing, he would have become the god-king of Asgard long ago.
"You're impressive yourself, old Mr. Odin. Not just anyone could have accomplished the feat of unifying the Nine Realms."
Han Yu smiled. Everyone liked hearing praise. There was little formality in his words; he spoke simply and naturally, as if the man before him were nothing more than an ordinary old fellow.
Odin's impression of Han Yu improved even further, and he patted his shoulder repeatedly.
At that moment, Thor seemed to understand how Loki felt. Was this how Loki had felt when he saw Thor close to their father in the past? Now, seeing Odin act this way with an Earthling, Thor felt rather uncomfortable.
"Thor, I believe I told you not to bring Earthlings to Asgard?"
Odin narrowed his eyes at Thor. He wasn't just referring to Han Yu, but Jane as well.
Although he didn't dislike Han Yu, Asgard wasn't a place where outsiders could be brought so casually.
Thor hurriedly explained, "Father, something's wrong with Jane's body. I brought her to Asgard to seek a way to treat her."
Odin said, "Hmph. There's a profession on Earth called 'doctor.' If something's wrong with her body, why not go to them? Why bring her to Asgard?"
Just as Thor found himself riding a tiger with no easy way down, Han Yu stepped forward and said, "Old Mr. Odin, Miss Jane's condition isn't an ordinary illness. She has the Aether inside her!"
Odin was more familiar with the name Aether than Reality Stone. At those words, his expression visibly changed. He covered three steps in one and came to stand before Jane.
"I'm sorry. Forgive the intrusion."
With that, Odin took Jane's hand, and the divine power within him surged through his palm into her arm. Then everyone saw a dark red energy writhing beneath the skin of her arm.
"There's no mistake. This really is the Aether. How did you come into contact with it?"
After examining her, Odin immediately released Jane's hand and asked.
"Well, a friend of mine found a place with abnormal spatial readings. I went with her to take a look and found that gravity was acting strangely there. And in certain places, objects thrown out would reappear somewhere else."
"As I was walking around, somehow I ended up in a dark place. There was a very thick square stone pillar held between something above and below, and those dark red particles were inside it. I tentatively touched it, and before I knew it, they entered my body."
Han Yu nodded repeatedly. He remembered all of this. It seemed that part of the plot hadn't changed much. He couldn't help saying, "Why put this kind of thing on Earth? Is Earth a vault or something? Why does everything get left there?"
Ultron had asked Han Yu the same question. Han Yu was also eager to know the answer, so he put it to Odin.
Odin sighed softly and said, "When Asgard obtained the Aether, Earth was still a wild, untamed planet. How could we have foreseen that something like this would happen?"
Han Yu nodded slightly. He thought the explanation was reasonable enough. Although Earth had existed for around 4.6 billion years, the age of human dominance had lasted only a few thousand. Back then, Earth really had been a vast wilderness.
Asgard had obtained the Aether at least ten thousand years ago. Who would sit around wondering what would happen to an object after ten thousand years? Wouldn't they have to be bored out of their skull?
"All right, come with me first. This isn't a suitable place to talk."
Now that Odin knew they hadn't come without reason, he offered no more words of reprimand. He led Han Yu and the others onward, into Asgard's main city.
At the sight of the splendid, gold-and-jade buildings, even Han Yu couldn't keep a hint of wonder from his eyes. Until now, his impression of Asgard had been limited to scenes from the movies.
And those scenes had failed to properly show this holy city. Now that he was seeing it in person, even someone as composed as Han Yu glanced at the buildings on either side from time to time.
Jane was the same. She and Han Yu were like a pair of curious children, looking here one moment and there the next. Though the two had never met before, their first visit to Asgard unexpectedly gave them something to talk about.
Faced with this Eastern man, who wasn't particularly handsome but grew more pleasing to the eye the longer she looked at him, Jane inexplicably felt something strange. It wasn't quite love, but it stirred something in her heart for no apparent reason, and she always wanted to keep her eyes on him.
"Jane, come look at this! This entire building is floating above the ground!"
Han Yu's voice brought Jane out of her daze, and she hurriedly jogged over to him.
The sight left Thor feeling rather uncomfortable. Why was his girlfriend so close to another guy now?
Although the two hadn't made their relationship official and had only kissed once, that still showed they liked each other. There surely wouldn't be any problem with them getting together.
"This Earthling isn't just strong; he's a good person too. You'd better make an effort."
How could Odin not see what his son was thinking? He patted Thor on the shoulder, left him with those words, and walked on ahead.
The group entered the hall of Asgard's main palace and came to a quiet place to talk. Only then could Jane no longer resist asking Odin, "Odin... Your Majesty, is there any way to get this Aether out of my body?"
When Odin and Heimdall had just learned that she had the Reality Stone inside her, their surprise had given Jane a fright. Was the thing inside her really that frightening?
She didn't know exactly how powerful the two men were, but one controlled the Bifrost, which could transport people to Asgard, while the other was Asgard's god-king, the legendary figure who had unified the Nine Realms. If it could surprise both of them so much, then whatever was inside her surely wouldn't be easy to deal with.
Jane hadn't been worried at first, but after seeing their reactions, she became a little frightened.
Odin pondered for a moment, then slowly shook his head and said.
"As far as I know, there is no way to remove the Aether from the body."
Boom.
Jane felt dizzy and lightheaded. If even All-Father Odin didn't know, what was she supposed to do?
With this strange, poorly understood power inside her, she didn't even dare imagine what might happen in the future. Would she suddenly turn into a monster one day, or something like that?
"Don't be afraid. I'm here, and I'll find a way to deal with it!"
Thor spoke with great conviction, but although he sounded so certain, he had no confidence in his heart. If even his father said there was no way, how could he be sure?
As he spoke, he reached out to touch Jane, but Odin suddenly shouted.
"Don't touch her!"