The End
"The thunderstorm may have interfered with the signal, making it temporarily impossible to contact headquarters."
Black Widow said helplessly, but she didn't rule out the possibility that her communicator was broken.
Although the thunderstorm, which formed for some unknown reason, blocked the portal and prevented an alien invasion, it didn't bring only benefits. Wireless communication and satellite signals throughout the city were completely unusable.
But this is only on the surface. The energy released by the thunderstorm every minute is equivalent to the explosion of a tactical nuclear bomb. The strong magnetic field formed by it destroyed everything in modern civilization, and only Stark's black technology could still be used.
Furthermore, the nuclear explosion didn't last long. Judging from the size of the thunderstorm, could it maintain that intensity for a day? Two days? Or a month?
Black Widow's latest combat suit shielded her from electromagnetic interference, but her short red hair was standing on end. She had seen tiny arcs of electricity appear at the tips of small metal objects more than once, and every breath she took had the unique smell of ozone.
Modern technology is as fragile as paper under the influence of natural phenomena.
Furthermore, this power was also under the enemy's control. The object floating in the thunderstorm absorbed its energy and launched a wanton attack on the city. A beam of light shot down, leaving not even a wrecked building behind.
However, the two female warriors of Latovinia blocked the beams of light time and time again. The energy beams they clashed with each other shone brighter than the midday sun, making it impossible to look directly at them.
Stark and Dr. Banner perused Wei Xiuming's notebook, carefully studying the sections on space devices. They were amazed by the concepts, deductions, and verifiable theorems and formulas, but these were of no use to the problem they needed to solve.
Tony Stark retrieved some parts from Stark Tower and assembled them on the spot into a detector, scanning the location where the activation device had been. However, he could not find any trace of the sub-plane, even though the energy of the Tesseract was being activated into the sky within reach.
Loki, who was complaining to Thor, saw this and came over. He relayed what he had learned from Thanos to Tony Stark in a way that Earthlings could understand, so that the genius could come up with a solution to the Tesseract problem.
Although not entirely trusting of Loki's defection, Tony Stark listened to the information with skepticism. After some time, he came to a despairing realization about Asgard's technological level—human civilization would need to develop for another thousand years to barely even touch the edges of Asgard.
Inspired by Loki's insightful observations, Tony Stark gained a great deal. In addition, he had talked with Wei Xiuming for a while before, roughly understood Wei Xiuming's thinking on space physics, and grasped a certain foundation. However, the final result he came to was just as Dr. Selvig said: only energy cores of the same level as the Tesseract can access the sub-dimensions created by the Tesseract.
They originally had a chance— Loki's Scepter —but now the scepter still lies on the ground, while the Mind Stone, a key item, is nowhere to be found.
In the mirrored space just a stone's throw away, the Master Gu Yi, having eaten and drunk her fill and taken a stroll, looked down at the Eye of Agamotto hanging on her chest. The Time Stone inside was the very core that Stark and the others needed, and her portal could directly open the gate to that sub-plane.
Thor, having been outmaneuvered by his younger brother, stared at the sky, idly tossing and catching his hammer, then his eyes sharpened. "Something's coming from the other side of the portal again!"
Tony Stark closed the mask of his Iron Man suit, and together with Thor, the only other person with the ability to fly, they soared into the sky.
It was a gigantic object shrouded in Black Mist that broke through the thunderstorm and smashed the device dropped by the Chitauri.
"Thor, wait a minute, I think I recognize this thing!" Although the various sensors on the Iron Man suit couldn't detect the Helicarrier, Tony Stark's eyes clearly recognized it as an S.H.I.E.L.D.. Helicarrier.
Adhering to the principle of not putting all your eggs in one basket, Stark Industries also took over part of Nick Fury's Helicarrier upgrade and modification work, such as energy supply and anti-gravity devices.
Given his good relationship with Black Eggplant, Tony Stark personally took charge of adjusting the Helicarrier's propulsion system, so he was quite familiar with the Helicarrier's structure.
Although the Black Mist distorted many details, Tony Stark immediately recognized the layout of the four anti-gravity jet ports and other structural elements as the Helicarrier.
Moreover, he recognized the Black Mist shrouding the area; it was the result of the portal opened by Dr. Kent Dr. Clark's teleportation gun.
Sure enough, after a burst of radio noise, Nick Fury's voice came through the Iron Man suit's communicator. "Mr. Stark, why haven't you solved the Tesseract problem yet? I've already repelled the alien mothership."
Wei Xiuming teleported directly from inside the mothership to the rooftop of Stark Tower and asked Dr. Banner was preparing to transform, "What problem are you encountering?"
After being punched by Captain America, Dr. Selvig, who had been looking sickly like an old man on a bus, immediately perked up, just like when he heard that eggs were on sale at the supermarket. He jumped up from his half-sitting position and took the initiative to tell Wei Xiuming about the problems they were facing.
"This is very simple." Wei Xiuming took out the teleportation gun and fired a shot at the original location of the stabilizing device. Relying on the energy from the same source, he opened the spatial barrier, revealing the device that was working inside and the Tesseract that had been activated.
Without needing any tools, Wei Xiuming simply reached out and pulled out the Tesseract. Deprived of its power supply, the subdimensional space instantly contracted and collapsed, completely obliterating the existence of the stabilizing device.
The energy pillar that opened the spatial gate dimmed and disappeared instantly. The spatial passage rapidly healed under the corrective force of the universe itself. To the low-dimensional beings, it appeared as a rolling mass of black mud, filling and repairing the collapsed space without leaving a trace.
Seeing Wei Xiuming's reaction, Loki couldn't hide his Shocker —this person was terrifying!
The Chitauri invasion came to an end amidst endless thunder.
But just like building a house, the completion of the main structure is only halfway through the project; the subsequent interior decoration and exterior coating are still major undertakings.
Although the war is over, there is still a great deal of work to be done, including rebuilding the cities, providing compensation to the wounded and the public, and dealing with political infighting.
But this was irrelevant to Wei Xiuming; he was just a scientist with no physical strength.