Thanos Has Arrived

"Marvel's Magnetic Field Rotation"

"Game complete!"

All the game drivers spoke in unison, which meant that Ultron, the final boss, had been completely defeated. The crisis of strong artificial intelligence, which had been like the sword of Damocles hanging over humanity's head, had come to an end. The Boon-type virus, which was the key to the game world and was itself, was gradually analyzed in the game, shedding the mark of the Dark Elves and becoming its true form as Infinity Stones.

Wei Xiuming did not leave the brilliant red gem behind. Instead, it was placed in a satellite as an important part of the outer space defense system. When activated, the Infinity Stones can provide a powerful barrier for Earth.

The outer space defense system, which mobilized the entire industrial power of the Earth, performed its due function. It detected an unidentified signal that had forcibly broken through the barrier, entered the Earth's atmosphere, and entered Norway.

Such spatial fluctuations were not unprecedented; they had occurred multiple times in Earth's records—it was the Bifrost in Asgard. These aliens, who called themselves the guardians of the Nine Realms, had once again descended upon Earth. Given that their arrivals never brought good news, all the countries that received the message were alerted.

The Avengers also sent out a report that Thor suddenly sensed something, and after leaving the game world, he immediately flew away. According to Iron Man's calculations of his flight path, his destination was Norway.

Wei Xiuming immediately inquired with the S.H.I.E.L.D.. sanatorium. Shadowmoon, who was in charge of looking after Odin, replied that Mr. Wednesday had suddenly disappeared from the sanatorium not long ago, just like Dr. Selvig before him.

"All-Father Odin."

Wei Xiuming's actions did not escape Nick Fury's notice. Before Fury could ask any questions, Wei Xiuming answered Black Eggplant's doubts and then took out the teleportation gun to open a portal to Norway.

It was a cliff overlooking the sea, with an endless ocean in front of it. The sea breeze, carrying a salty, fishy smell, blew gently, and even though it was early winter, it wasn't very cold.

Odin, leaning on his scepter, sat on a boulder on the edge of a cliff, like the once invincible God King sitting on his throne, gazing intently into the distance at the rising and falling clouds.

Loki, who had arrived earlier, sat by the boulder, accompanying Odin as they aimlessly admired the monotonous scenery. Noticing Wei Xiuming's arrival, Loki rose and walked to Wei Xiuming, bowing in Asgard courtesy before saying, "Revered strongman, my father awaits Wei Xiuming."

"Odin, the God King." Wei Xiuming sensed Odin's passing. Odin, who could have lived for several more years, was now at the end of his life. It seemed that Odin had to take action for some reason.

"You've come. Thor is the God King in Asgard, and I am merely Odin." Odin spoke with a powerful yet somewhat weak voice, "I sense a strong, evil force constantly surging into our universe."

"The Cosmic Cube?" Wei Xiuming said. Based on the information he had, this was the only thing that matched Odin's description.

Odin did not answer Wei Xiuming, whether because he himself was unaware of the truth or because he had already tacitly accepted that Wei Xiuming was correct.

Remaining noncommittal and using cryptic language is a typical tactic of a master, Odin is well aware of this.

"The Mad Titan, Thanos, he's started collecting the Infinity Stones. Although it's unclear how many he's already acquired, he's set his sights on Midgard. Space, time, reality, Mind Stone —all he needs is a trip to Earth to achieve his goal." Odin produced a fragment of clothing stained with blue blood. "His messengers have already arrived on Earth. I used my last bit of strength to crush that army, but now the former Sorcerer Supreme is gone, and my life is on the verge of death. Anything that could have deterred him has vanished. The Mad Titan's army is probably already on its way; Midgard is about to be engulfed in war once more."

Taking the white cloth stained with blue blood, Wei Xiuming recognized it as a fragment of the Supergiant's hooded Cloak. Though the God King was old, his power remained, and he was able to silently resolve the invasion led by one of the Black Order. The battle was not as easy as Odin had described.

"Here, I led the Asgard army to defeat the Frost Giant and end the Midgard winter, but I didn't have time to see the Nine Realms unite to defeat the enemy."

Like an old man in his twilight years, Odin began to reminisce about his youth.

But Wei Xiuming didn't listen. Now that he knew Thanos was coming, the most important thing was to prepare his troops for battle, not to listen to an old man spouting nonsense.

Amidst the roar of thunder, Thor, clad in armor, landed here. After a brief chat with Loki, he approached Odin: "Father, I'm taking you home."

Odin rose from the boulder and said, "Look at this place, how beautiful it is! It is thanks to the sacrifice of countless Asgard warriors that this beautiful landscape exists..."

Back at S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury finally asked, "Thor's father, the Monarch of Asgard...?"

"He's dying. Asgard are long-lived, but life is finite. They will die eventually," Wei Xiuming said. "He's gathering his successors, leaving them his final teachings before he dies, instructing them to be a worthy god, a worthy ruler."

Nick Fury was somewhat tempted upon hearing this. The heir to Asgard was Thor, and if this man with muscles in his brain became the Monarch, it would be a good thing for Earth compared to Odin, who was rarely seen.

Even if Asgard is Earth's protector, it is still an alien world that is countless generations ahead of Earth. Just look at how the country that was taken to the United States for "seed oil" has been ravaged. Putting ourselves in their shoes, Nick Fury does not believe that Asgard will always be benevolent towards Earth.

Just as the plantation and slavery issues led some European and American countries to associate large-scale cotton cultivation with slavery, because they had done such despicable things.

What wonderful news it would be if a neighboring country were to be inherited by a foolish but controllable Monarch.

"This is not good news," Wei Xiuming said. "All-Father Odin's name still carries considerable weight in the universe. At least aliens don't dare to launch a large-scale invasion of Earth easily. Even the Chitauri are nominally led by Loki, whose reputation is forged through countless battles."

"If one day all of United States's nuclear weapons disappeared and all eight of its fleets were swept into the sea by a tsunami, could its global hegemony still be maintained?"

Just as the two were talking, the outer space defense system issued an alarm. An alien spacecraft suddenly appeared in the solar system and gradually approached Earth. It was not a large spaceship and was constantly sending a regular signal toward Earth.

The signal was encrypted in a very simple way and was deciphered in just a few seconds, or perhaps it didn't even need to be deciphered at all. Wei Xiuming and Nick Fury knew that the alien spacecraft was not hostile.

That's a universal distress signal used across interstellar space.

Due to the limitations of Earth's technology, Earth could not communicate with the spaceship in real time, but it was still possible to send messages directly. Wei Xiuming guided the alien spaceship to land near an S.H.I.E.L.D.. base. As soon as it landed, long guns and short cannons were aimed at the spaceship.

The upgraded energy weapons were now powerful enough to deter such small spaceships, especially since the spaceship was badly damaged, clearly having recently left the battlefield, and some areas were still emitting black smoke.

When the spaceship hatch opened, a space dog wearing a CCCP spacesuit stepped out, followed by a raccoon carrying a potted plant. There were no more passengers inside the spaceship.

The newcomers were none other than Cosmo the Spacedog and Rocket Raccoon, members of the Guardians of the Galaxy —the potted plant Rocket Raccoon was holding was the remains of Groot.

Upon seeing Wei Xiuming, Cosmo displayed the true meaning of "a stray dog," clinging to his legs with its two front paws and whimpering incessantly, as if it had never lost a fight with any other dog outside.

Rocket, whose body was bandaged, explained the situation to Wei Xiuming.

After splitting Ego in two with an axe, Star-Lord Peter Quill's name spread throughout half the galaxy, making him incredibly famous. Even Ayesha, the high priestess of the golden-clad Supreme Race, extended an invitation to the Guardians of the Galaxy, wanting Star-Lord to visit her.

Yondu pretended to want to cause trouble for Star-Lord, but was stopped by his gang of monsters and demons. They cried and said that their boss's decision to keep Peter Quill instead of handing him over to Ego was so wise. With this god as their backer, their Ravagers could walk sideways.

Even the Ravagers usually resented Yondu's favoritism towards Star-Lord now all expressed their loyalty to Yondu, one after another pounding their chests and saying they were willing to give their hearts for Yondu.

But Star-Lord knows his own situation best. After Ego became cosmic junk, all of his superhuman powers vanished completely. Apart from being able to run faster, jump higher, be stronger, and be more resilient than before, he was no different.

These changes were enough for him to make a living in the universe. Then, under the name of the Guardians of the Galaxy, they became mercenaries, mostly rescuing spaceships that had suffered space crashes and defeating some troublesome cosmic creatures.

The character setup is very well-balanced: Star-Lord is the tank, Rocket Raccoon is the marksman, Gamora is the assassin, Cosmo the Spacedog is the crowd control mage, Groot can release special spores to heal injuries, making him a sort of healer.

Then, Thanos arrived.

He launched the first attack on the Knowhere, snatched the Power Stone from the Collector, then located Gamora and intercepted the Guardians of the Galaxy's ship.

Thanos, seated on his throne, didn't even lift a finger. Four of his Black Order easily defeated the Guardians of the Galaxy. Although Star-Lord possessed superior physical abilities, he was trained as Ravagers, and his combat experience was limited to group brawls. How could he possibly be a match for the Black Order, who had been honed in life-or-death battles? After a few rounds, he was captured by Ebony Maw.

Thanos used Star-Lord's life as a threat, and without any further words, he directly burned half of Star-Lord's skin with the Power Stone embedded in the Infinity Gauntlet. Gamora, hearing her lover's screams, finally gave up resisting and obediently surrendered.

On Rocket Raccoon's side, Supergiant was sent to Earth as an advance force to probe the enemy's situation. Cosmo the Spacedog's Mind Stone abilities came in handy, allowing him to escape from Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive. Groot, sacrificed his life to block the saturation attack of the Sanctuary II energy cannon matrix, covering the escape of the small spaceship from the Sanctuary II's attack range. However, he was left with only a limb about the thickness of a little finger, which Rocket Raccoon planted in his body.

After revealing Thanos's insane idea of collecting the Infinity Stones and wiping out half of all life in the universe with the Snap, Rocket Raccoon sadly said, "When we were saving a refugee ship, we obtained a star map that showed the location of the Soul Stone and how to obtain it—by sacrificing your loved ones."

"Thanos's favorite was Gamora; she was definitely killed as a sacrifice."

Rocket Raccoon values his friends most of all, and having lost three of them, who had practically become like family, his grief is understandable.

However, Rocket Raccoon guessed one thing wrong: Gamora was killed as a sacrifice to obtain the Soul Stone, but it was Star-Lord, not Thanos, who obtained the Soul Stone.

Thanos poured all his love into the death that appeared in that illusion. His original doting on his daughter and his love for the entire universe had vanished completely. It was Star-Lord who devoted himself to the one he loved.

After losing his beloved, Star-Lord's Soul Stone was also ruthlessly taken away, leaving him alone on Vormir, accompanied by Red Skull. Just as Red Skull constantly suffers the pain of having the stone so close yet unable to reach it, Star-Lord will also be forever immersed in the pain of loss. According to Thanos's principle of killing half to save the other half, Gamora was the half that was sacrificed, exchanging her life for her lover's survival.

Next, Thanos will personally visit Earth to embed Six Infinity Stones into the Infinity Gauntlet on his left hand.

As the most knowledgeable being in the entire universe, whose thoughts are incomprehensible to others, Thanos proficient in technology and magic. With this ability, he located the other four Infinity Stones, which were found to be concentrated on a small planet.

He no longer needs to travel around; all he needs is a war to obtain all the Infinity Stones.

At that time, he will sacrifice half of the universe's life to death to win her heart.

However, the defeat of the Supergiant, who served as the vanguard, served as a wake-up call for Thanos. Earth was not a backward planet without any means of resistance; it was protected by several peerless powerful beings. Therefore, he canceled the original plan to divide his forces and obtain the Infinity Stones from multiple locations, and instead launched a massive army invasion to crush all resistance forces on Earth with overwhelming force.