After Xiao Xie devoured Thor's fate, he did not interfere with what followed. He did not want to disrupt the plot. If his interference caused Loki not to fall into the Space Wormhole and thus fail to obtain the Mind Stone, it would be a huge loss for Xiao Xie.
In the blink of an eye, another half month passed. Thor had long since returned to Asgard, but his battle with Loki had destroyed the Rainbow Bridge, leaving him unable to return to Earth for the time being.
Inside an underground research facility, the people of S.H.I.E.L.D. began another journey of courting death.
Although their original intention in developing the Cosmic Cube was to create a new source of energy, researching energy beyond humanity's control often brought about self-destruction.
It was like Nobel's original purpose in researching Black Gunpowder. He had actually wanted to make mining easier for workers, but it was ultimately used in warfare.
Compared to being destroyed by aliens or other natural disasters, humanity was actually more likely to perish by its own hand, because courting death was what humans did best.
For example, in Xiao Xie's previous life, he had heard a ridiculous piece of news: America had sent vast amounts of information and images of Earth into outer space to look for Earthlings.
If aliens really existed, that meant there were two possibilities. One was that aliens received Earth's information and images and wanted to come to Earth, but their technological level was not advanced enough. The second was that aliens with that level of technology would simply come and invade Earth.
Any aliens capable of crossing the stars to find Earth would certainly possess technology superior to Earth's. They could not possibly make a special trip to Earth just to befriend humans, could