The Plot Starts Going Off the Rails (Part 1)

Are you sure you're really okay?

Thor, standing at the door, carefully examined Eddie. Eddie looked terrible; his hair was a mess, like a bird's nest, as if he hadn't washed it in days. The sweater he was wearing underneath seemed to be a designer brand, but it was already ripped in many places. His coat was even worse, with dirty oil stains on one sleeve.

Thor has been wandering around Hell's Kitchen these past few days and has seen many homeless people. Eddie's appearance blends in perfectly with the homeless population.

Seeing his neighbor's current state of destitution, Thor felt too embarrassed to continue criticizing him for disturbing the peace. He could only say, "If you need help, I'm right next door..."

"Damn it! I'm not a homeless person!" Eddie clearly saw the pity in Thor's eyes. He slammed his fist on the doorframe and said, "I just..."

He had just uttered a syllable when he suddenly lurched backward, bumping into the entryway behind him. The water glass on the entryway fell to the ground and shattered. He turned around and cursed, "Damn it, not again..."

Then he fell hard to the left, his head hitting the door frame. Then, like a puppet on a string, he staggered back a few steps and ran to the sink to vomit.

Thor couldn't stand idly by now. Even if it wasn't to help him, he had to go into Eddie's room to see what was wrong with him, just to prevent the house he had finally found from being destroyed.

Eddie's house was a mess. Several boxes of documents and odds and ends were piled up by the door. It was clear that they had been packed in a hurry. The items of all sizes were stacked together in no particular order, and it looked like it could collapse at any moment.

Thor stepped over the documents and found a pile of unfamiliar machines on his left, some with messy stands and others that looked like cannons.

Having lived in the human world for so many days, Thor had roughly figured out that any machine he didn't recognize must be very expensive, and he definitely couldn't afford to pay for it if he broke it. So he went around to the left and came to the sofa on the right.

There was a pile of clothes on the sofa, the most eye-catching of which were several suits wrapped in dust covers. They looked different from the other clothes. Even though Thor couldn't distinguish the different types of human clothing, he could tell that these suits were made in much better quality than the others.

Further inside, there were suitcases scattered on the floor. Clearly, the man named Eddie had been kicked out. His suitcase was also a mess, and many things hadn't been taken out yet, just piled up inside.

Stepping over the suitcase and into the kitchen, Thor saw Eddie crouching on the floor, leaning against the cupboard. He seemed to have completely broken down, his eyes glazed over, muttering to himself.

Eddie saw a huge shadow looming in front of him. He looked up and saw the tall Thor looking at him with concern. He opened his mouth as if to ask for help, but then thought that what he wanted to say was too absurd, so he said nothing.

"How about I take you to the hospital?" Thor said to Eddie, looking down. "You really look quite ill."

With that, Thor turned and walked out, seemingly to make a phone call. Eddie quickly got up and grabbed him, saying, "No! Don't go! I don't have any more money to pay for the ambulance!"

"But you look absolutely terrible." Thor turned and pointed at Eddie's face. "You're the most haggard human I've ever seen. Don't you have a mirror? Don't you want to look at yourself?"

Eddie sighed deeply. He slowly walked to the sofa, pushed aside the mess of clothes, and said, "You're from Texas Hold'em, right? Have a seat. I don't have anything to offer you. Just bring me those two cans of beer next to the suitcase."

Thor stood still and glanced at him. Although he didn't know much about Earthlings, he still had basic discernment. He could tell that this man was not a vagrant, but someone who had fallen on hard times for some unknown reason and had a lot of stories to tell.

Thor looked out the window. It was still early. The warehouse work was done in three shifts, and it wasn't time for him to start work yet. Since he was idle anyway, Thor listened to Eddie and took two cans of beer from beside his suitcase. He walked to the sofa opposite Eddie, gave him one can, and placed the other in front of himself.

Of course he knew about alcohol. When he worked in the warehouse, the boss would provide a meal, and Thor worked the night shift. After his shift, his coworkers would treat him to draft beer.

For Thor, Earth's beer was a bit too weak, but it was better than nothing, so on his first day in his new home, he went to the nearby Shop and bought a few bottles to stock up.

Eddie opened the can and took two big gulps of beer. Thor waved at him and said, "Don't do that. I can tell you don't drink often, right? All you're drinking is foam. It'll make you bloated, and you won't be able to drink any more later."

"Later?" Eddie gave a wry smile and said, "I only have these two cans of beer left. How long do you think they'll last?"

"It's alright, I have a few more bottles, I'll get them for you later." Thor didn't care at all; his years of battlefield experience had honed his bold and unrestrained temperament. Eddie watched his movements and said, "You must be a retired soldier, right? I can tell you've been in war."

Thor raised an eyebrow. It was the first time someone had said that to him. He said to Eddie, "You're probably not an ordinary person either. Nobody could have guessed my identity before."

Upon hearing his admission, Eddie observed him more closely and said, "Judging from your physical condition, you should be an elite member of the special forces. Which unit are you from? Why didn't you become an instructor?"

Thor waved his hand, not intending to continue. Over the past few days, he had also realized that boasting about his achievements on Earth would only make him seem crazy and cause him to lose his job.

Thor didn't really respect ordinary humans, so he didn't need their affirmation of his achievements. Therefore, if anyone asked him about it later, he would just wave his hand and remain silent.

"Okay, I know you have confidentiality agreements, so I won't ask anymore." Eddie took another sip of his drink and said, "In that case, you must be very tight-lipped, so maybe it won't hurt to tell you."

How did you end up like this?

Thor looked around the room and said, "You have quite a few valuable things in this room. You must have been quite wealthy before, right? How did it end up like this?"

When the topic came up, Eddie sighed deeply again, and fueled by alcohol, he started to talk.

"What I'm about to say might be surprising, and you might think I'm crazy, but it's true."

Eddie gulped down a mouthful of beer, his fingers gripping the can tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

"I used to be a journalist, and a top one at that. I won many awards, interviewed many celebrities, and had many well-known reports. At my peak, even the editor-in-chief had to be mindful of my mood."

Eddie slammed the beer can down on the coffee table and continued, "But just a month ago, everything changed."

He gripped the beer can tighter and tighter, the foam on the surface of the beer overflowing from the can opening, shimmering with iridescent light under the dim light. Eddie's eyes were fixed on that luster, and his thoughts began to drift back to a month ago.

"Good morning, Eddie."

"Good morning, what's wrong? You seem to have something to say?" Eddie looked at his colleague, who had greeted him before, and the colleague walked over and said in a low voice, "The editor-in-chief is looking for you. He seems quite angry. You'd better be careful."

After saying that, the colleague patted him on the shoulder and left. Eddie, with the documents in his hand and a camera hanging around his neck, pushed open the glass door to the editor-in-chief's office.

The editor-in-chief was on the phone when he saw Eddie come in. He glanced at Eddie, then hung up, tapped the table, and gestured for Eddie to come over. He said, "Eddie, did you read the Daily Bugle yesterday?"

"Uh, I didn't see. What happened to them?"

"Their new newspaper sold out, as did their magazine. They released a special issue featuring 'New York Weirdos,' complete with high-resolution photos of Spider-Man and Iron Man, as well as photos of them performing heroic deeds. One reporter even struck up a conversation with Spider-Man and confirmed that Spider-Man really is just a high school student."

"On the contrary, our last issue of the newspaper had dismal sales; people simply weren't interested in any river construction projects."

"Eddie, I know you're a well-known journalist, but you've been going down the wrong path lately. People don't care what kind of projects those rich guys are going to start; that's none of their business. They just want to see high-resolution photos of those New York vigilantes and their amazing gossip..."

"I know..." the editor-in-chief reached out to comfort Eddie, "I know this kind of news isn't your forte, but we have to bow to sales. If we can't come up with some big news, this quarter's performance will be too bad, and we'll probably have to take a pay cut."

Eddie sensed the threat in the editor's tone and said somewhat helplessly, "Didn't we have the upper hand in the previous vampire incident?"

"That was months ago, which is more than centuries in our line of work. We need to find a new breakthrough!"

"By the way, you know about the Immortality Factor that's been all the rage lately, right?"

"I've heard of it, but I don't know much about it."

"That's alright. I've arranged to meet Drake, the boss of the Life Foundation, tomorrow. You'll be in charge of interviewing him and talking to him about the Immortality Factor."

"The Life Foundation claims that they have found a better way to extract Immortality Factor, and that it is faster and more effective. They have also invited many people to try it, and the feedback has been very good. Drake has become incredibly popular recently."

The editor-in-chief clenched his fist and said, "We must seize this opportunity. If this interview becomes a hit, it will not only surpass the Daily Bugle, but we might also have a chance to test that magical Immortality Factor agent."

"Go on, Eddie, your career is about to reach new heights."