Goodbye, Thor

Li Nian only felt a moment of dizziness before he arrived somewhere else. Except...

"Why is my birthplace on the Moon?!"

Li Nian stared at the distant azure planet in despair, then lowered his head to look at the white soil beneath his feet. He was so miserable he nearly cried. If he had tear glands, he really might have cried.

"Long time no see!"

A grand, solemn voice suddenly came from behind Li Nian. It sounded familiar. With a slight turn of his supercomputer-like brain, he remembered who it belonged to.

"Watcher?!" Li Nian turned around. Sure enough, the Watcher's enormous baby-like head and glittering eyes filled his view.

"My friend..." The Watcher's lips curled into a faint smile. No matter how Li Nian looked at it, it seemed awkward, like some big-headed doll in a Northeastern floral padded jacket.

"Cut the nonsense. Figure out how to send me back to Earth." Li Nian spoke irritably. The Civil War was about to begin around this point in time, and he had no time to reminisce with the Watcher. Besides, they had no old memories to reminisce about.

"Unfortunately, this is not your universe."

With a wave of the Watcher's hand, the surroundings instantly changed. Colorful walls enveloped the two of them, possessing a crystal-like texture, like the palace of a prince and princess from a fairy tale.

All sorts of bizarre reflections appeared upon them, like countless mirrors reflecting the lives of others, as though they were monitoring those lives.

Li Nian looked around in amazement, watching one life after another.

He even saw Captain Carter among them.

"This is the boundary of the multiverse. No one can find this place."

The Watcher declared confidently, but when he lowered his head and saw Li Nian's suspicious gaze and that demon-like face, his voice faltered.

"Of course, there are exceptions."

Li Nian looked at him disdainfully and said without any politeness.

"How are you going to send me back? Or are you going to imprison me here and make sure I can never return?"

"If I wanted to do that, I would have locked you up long ago." The Watcher glared with his bright yellow eyes.

"You mean... you found me a long time ago?"

Li Nian narrowed his eyes, floated in front of the Watcher, and questioned him.

"How long have you been watching me?"

"I have been watching you ever since you arrived in that world."

Li Nian was speechless. He had nothing to say to a peeping tom like this.

"Then why didn't you bring me back? Do you know how long I spent looking for a way home?"

"...I do."

Li Nian was truly defeated by him. Scratching his head, he shouted in near collapse, "Then why didn't you take me away?!"

"I cannot interfere in any events within a universe... unless they truly threaten the safety of the multiverse."

"..."

The Watcher stared expressionlessly at Li Nian, thinking, If it weren't for that guy who had the same face as you, would I have ended up like that?

"I only came to warn you. Because that universe was destroyed, certain other universes have also deviated from their original paths and undergone indescribable changes. The future has been disturbed, and all of it... is because of you!"

"Because of me?" Li Nian laughed in anger. "I was staying peacefully at the Avengers Compound. If you hadn't dragged me there to fight Ultron, would those changes have happened? If you're going to shift blame, at least blame the right person."

"Ever since you arrived in this universe, every future has descended into chaos. You must take responsibility for it."

The Watcher casually opened a portal and said to Li Nian, "This is the universe I brought you to."

Then he opened another portal. "This is the universe you just left."

"I have already stabilized the spacetime passage between these two universes and transmitted the coordinates into the Tesseract in your universe."

Li Nian paused and looked at the Watcher in disbelief. Did that mean he could now use the Tesseract to travel between different universes?

"I need you to resolve certain anomalous events occurring in some universes. But... I will not interfere."

The Watcher spoke blandly. On the surface, it seemed like he was giving Li Nian a huge benefit, but in reality, he had found himself a free laborer. What a sweet deal!

"Come on! The Tesseract is in Asgard's vault. You can't expect me to go rob the Asgardians, can you?!"

Li Nian hurriedly waved his hands, but when he saw the strange, barely visible smile at the Watcher's lips, his expression went blank as he asked.

"You're not really making me rob them, are you?!"

The Watcher said nothing. With a wave of his hand, he tossed Li Nian into the Avengers' portal.

"You bastard!"

As Li Nian left, he offered the Watcher a cordial greeting.

"For the glory of Asgard!"

Li Nian had barely recovered his senses when he heard a rough roar. Then thunder of tremendous force crashed down beside him, shattering a Frost Giant at his side.

Icy water slapped wildly across Li Nian's face, and large chunks of ice struck him squarely on the head.

"Vision?"

Thor's astonished voice reached Li Nian's ears. Before he could react, Li Nian felt as if he had been hugged by a bear.

"Hey! My good brother! What are you doing here?!"

Thor heartily patted Li Nian on the shoulder, casually swinging his hammer. The scattered lightning effortlessly blasted apart a Frost Giant trying to sneak up on Thor.

The sounds of Asgardian soldiers fighting Frost Giants filled the area, along with corpses and blood strewn across the ground.

"Oh... ever since the Dark Elves invaded Asgard, there have always been some overconfident fools who think they can challenge us." Seeing Li Nian's puzzled expression, Thor took the initiative to explain.

"I've been restoring order to the Nine Realms lately, so I haven't had time to visit Earth."

Thor laughed boldly and smacked Li Nian hard on the back. "Come drink in Asgard when you have time!"

"Thor... listen to me..." Li Nian stopped Thor's violent behavior. "I came to ask for your help."

"Oh!" Thor hurled Mjolnir, smashing a Frost Giant soldier with a single blow, then asked with a smile, "What do you need help with?"

"I want to borrow the Tesseract!"

Thor's smiling face instantly froze. Like a wound-up mechanism, he slowly forced his head around.

"What did you say? You want to borrow the Tesseract?"

Thor's expression became incomparably grave. Looking at Li Nian's calm face, he said seriously.

"Do you truly understand the power of the Infinity Stones? No one has ever been able to wield two Infinity Stones at once. Not even my father or my grandfather could keep two Stones in Asgard at the same time."

"I understand. No one knows the power of the Infinity Stones better than I do. One is sitting on my forehead right now."

Li Nian spoke seriously to Thor. "Precisely because of that, I need the Tesseract. This concerns an event affecting the multiverse. I don't need any of the other Infinity Stones. I only need to borrow the Space Stone for a few years."

"Compared to your long lifespans, a few short years are but the blink of an eye."

As Thor listened to Li Nian, he controlled Mjolnir to destroy the enemies around them. The enemies on the battlefield had mostly been cleared away, and many Asgardians had already planted their weapons on the ground and started chatting.

"I can't decide this. My father Odin must agree to it himself!"

At this point in time, Odin had already been exiled to Earth by Loki. The so-called All-Father in Asgard was merely an impostor Loki had disguised himself as. Unfortunately, Thor spent all year campaigning abroad and knew nothing of what had happened in Asgard.

But Li Nian knew!

Li Nian's eyes lit up upon hearing that. He knew this could work!

"Heimdall!" Thor roared toward the sky.

A Rainbow Bridge immediately enveloped the two of them, and they vanished without a trace.