Everything Connected

Inside the vast, dark main hall of the base, Thanos, the ruler of the Centaurus Galaxy, and his most trusted adopted son stared at each other in silence, with only the image of Woz projected onto the large screen still glowing.

The fact that a laboratory-bred Rocket with only a few decades of cellular life activity appeared in Asgard over a thousand years ago is so incredible that even the well-informed Thanos had never seen anything like it before.

Before this, even Thanos, who had been dominating the universe for many years, never imagined that he would encounter such a bizarre thing one day.

"Who is the man who appeared in Asgard with it, its accomplice?"

Thanos stood with his hands behind his back, his sharp gaze fixed on the masked... bloated man in the video footage.

His bulky figure didn't look imposing, but the way he wielded the warhammer was incredibly powerful.

The horse-faced mask never fell off his face, and the mutant Rocket holding the cannon-shaped weapon was cursing under his breath.

The man wielded lightning with unparalleled skill, using the weapon once belonging to the Goddess of Death with effortless ease.

More than a thousand years ago, Thanos was unable to ascend to Asgard because he was stopped by the Sorcerer Supreme, Agamotto, so he did not know what had happened in Asgard at that time.

"I don't know," Beckett shook his head.

He was so enraged by witnessing Hela being sealed away by Odin that he was ready to destroy the Bifrost and confront Odin head-on. How could he possibly care about such an insignificant character?

"Thor."

Woz, who had been quietly standing at Beckett's feet, uttered the name of the horse-faced man, drawing the attention of both Beckett and Thanos.

"That horse-faced man's name is Thor, and I heard it shout it clearly." Woz's chubby little finger pointed to the Rocket still held in Beckett's hands. It had heard the raccoon swearing at Thor in Asgard more than a thousand years ago.

"Thor..."

Thanos stared at the horse-faced figure in the video recording, who was thrown directly into the Sakaar junkyard by Beckett. A thoughtful look flashed in his eyes, and a name slowly flowed from his mouth: "Thor Odinson".

"What?"

"Thor Odinson, the son of Odin and Frigga, born 1,600 years ago."

"What do you mean?" Beckett frowned, his mind a little foggy, or rather, he found the idea absurd and didn't want to think about it further.

"The fact that he can use the weapon that Odin personally crafted for Hela with such ease shows that he must use it frequently."

"At that time, the warhammer was in Hela's hands. Apart from her and Odin, no one could lift that weapon, not even Frigga."

"And sixteen hundred years ago, after Odin and Frigga's first child was born, Odin bestowed that weapon upon him."

"Speak your mind, Beckett." After quickly eliminating various guesses through a series of Silk, Thanos was left with only one answer that was utterly unbelievable.

"They come from the future, 1,600 years from now?" Beckett said with obvious hesitation.

"No, not 1,600 years from now. Thor was born more than 380 years after Hela was sealed away."

"Moreover, they must have experienced something that led them to decide to travel through time back to the past and back to Asgard."

"Therefore, we can postpone this time slightly."

Thanos raised his hands, and two azure beams of light instantly appeared from his palms, connecting head to tail and fingertips.

"The physical characteristics of this Rocket Raccoon determine that its theoretical lifespan is not long. Without considering various unforeseen circumstances, the time period they traveled through should be in the future, after 2000."

"So, the question is, why did they travel back from the future 2000 years in the future? In other words, what exactly happened in the future 2000 years ago that caused this distorted Asgard prince to return to 2000 years ago?"

How to stop the great battle between Odin and Beckett?

Obviously not, otherwise they wouldn't have chosen such an awkward time.

"The Rocket had been squatting near the Bifrost ever since I appeared, and he remained there with unusual determination even when Thor Odinson wasn't around."

"At that time, the only people who would be near the Bifrost besides Hela, who wanted to escape, were me, who was going to save Hela."

"If they wanted to save Hela or stop Hela, they wouldn't have chosen this time."

"So, their target back then was me?"

"Or rather, something about me."

Beckett remembered the orange cat that was still perched on the scale in the side hall.

"The Energy Devouring Beast".

"Or rather, the Reality Stone within the Energy Devouring Beast's body."

Beckett's mind raced, and almost in an instant, he had already decided on a highly probable target.

Thor was no match for him, nor was the Rocket.

Assuming their purpose in traveling through time was to steal the Reality Stone from the Energy Devouring Beast, then Beckett during the rampage in Asgard two thousand years ago was indeed the best opportunity they could have chosen.

"That's right."

Thanos listened quietly to Beckett's thoughts, a kind, fatherly smile appearing on his face.

He truly deserves to be his most valued adopted son and the successor he has chosen.

Not only can you easily follow his train of thought, but you can also continue to deduce the next steps.

"Assuming this horse-faced man is Thor Odinson, then he would naturally know of your existence, because Odin cannot be kept in the dark. After all, you did not die at Odin's hands; you have returned."

"It doesn't make sense that he went back two thousand years, but his target wasn't you, who were weakened after the battle with Odin."

"Now that we've traveled through time, are we just going to do nothing and just glance at Odin or you?"

"Impossible."

"Unless, he encounters something more important than changing history."

"Reality Stone".

Thanos's eyes gleamed with a light called wisdom.

"He wants the Reality Stone."

"And when you fight Odin, it will be the time when you are at your weakest and have no time to care about others."

"With Thor Odinson's abilities, you simply couldn't have taken the Energy Devouring Beast at that time."

Thanos sealed the deal with a single blow.

"But time travel, even the Time Stone can't do that, right? And their target is the Reality Stone, why?" Beckett asked, puzzled.

"Gemstones are merely power, Beckett."

"This is where true power lies," Thanos said, pointing to his head.

"In Midgard, there was a man who, like me, was cursed by knowledge, and his name was Tony Stark."

"If it were him, it wouldn't be surprising if he wanted to build a machine that would allow people to travel through time."

Beckett, who had never heard of the name before, frowned.

"As for why their target is the Reality Stone inside the Energy Devouring Beast..."

Thanos clenched one fist, the other hanging naturally at his side. "It's simple, because I succeeded."