Loki's Escape, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Destruction

Nick stared wide-eyed at Lin Du, his face full of disbelief and his eyes flickering with confusion.

Just moments ago, Lin Du had used the Cosmic Cube's mysterious power to force his way to the threshold of Space Law.

Then, somehow, he had swiped the Mind Stone right out of Loki's hands.

Judging by the situation, he was probably relying on his extraordinary talent to begin unlocking the Mind Stone's secrets.

This... could so many miracles really happen to one person?

The question marks in Nick's mind were practically overflowing, but this was clearly not the time to dwell on them.

Loki had already slipped away with Dr. Selvig and the unconscious Hawkeye Barton.

Yet the crisis on their side was far from over.

"Lin Du, we have to catch up to Loki. We can't let him succeed."

Nick gritted his teeth and forced himself upright. Though the bleeding had stopped, weakness still clung to his entire body.

Lin Du nodded silently, his broad palm gently patting Nick's back as his resolute gaze turned toward the direction Loki had vanished in. "Don't worry. I won't let him get away with this."

Hearing those words, the weight in Nick's heart finally lifted.

As the tension slowly subsided, he leaned against the base's cold wall, steadied himself, and began replaying everything that had just happened.

Loki's ominous aura had barged into the base, instantly putting everyone on edge as though the end of the world had arrived.

But what Nick couldn't figure out most was what Loki had gone through all that trouble to come here for.

Why had he appeared without warning, and why had he given up the Mind Stone so easily?

Could it be that he had realized he was no match for Lin Du and decided to make a run for it?

Nick froze, his heart pounding with unease.

"What do we do now?"

Yet Lin Du remained utterly calm, as if even a mountain collapsing before him would not change his expression. He merely waved a hand leisurely.

In an instant, a Portal glowing with deep blue light appeared out of thin air before them.

Nick and the people around him were all dumbfounded. Such swift and precise use of magic was simply unheard of.

Didn't magic require chanting a whole string of spells?

It was precisely because chanting was so cumbersome that mages were always mocked by mutants.

Every second counted on the battlefield. Mages often did not even have time to finish a spell before needing to flee for their lives.

But how could Lin Du do it without chanting anything, summoning magic whenever he pleased?

From the wave of his hand to the opening of the door, it had taken no more than three seconds.

Everyone's curiosity instantly exploded. Their eyes widened like bells as they all stared at Lin Du.

"Th-this... you didn't even chant a spell?" The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were so shocked their jaws nearly dropped.

Lin Du had no time to explain. He grabbed Nick by the collar and, without another word, hurled him into the Portal with a whoosh.

After Lin Du had dealt with Nick,

he shouted at the S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel who were still standing there in a daze:

"Move! This place is about to collapse!"

Lin Du's roar snapped everyone awake. They scrambled into the Portal one after another.

In the blink of an eye, they were standing in an open area,

only a stone's throw from S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick stumbled out of the Portal and looked around.

He found himself and his companions in an unfamiliar yet clearly safe environment.

Panting heavily, he steadied himself and looked once more at Lin Du, who walked leisurely out of the Portal.

His heart was a jumble of emotions, filled with both confusion and gratitude.

"Thank you, Lin Du," Nick finally said slowly.

But before his words could finish,

the tranquil air was suddenly torn apart by a deafening explosion.

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s base seemed to be ripped apart by an invisible giant hand, steel and concrete scattering in every direction like rain.

In an instant, more than half the base had become a field of rubble.

A violent wind swept up dust and blotted out the sunlight. A hideous crater now gaped in the heart of what had once been an impregnable base.

"What the hell happened?!" Nick Fury, standing nearby, stared with eyes as wide as bells.

Before he could voice his gratitude, his gaze abruptly shifted toward the source of the explosion.

The devastation before him made him suck in a cold breath.

His fists clenched tight, his knuckles cracking loudly enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Lin Du stood beside him, his expression calm and unmoved, as though he had expected everything.

"Loki used the Mind Stone to open the Time-Space Gate, intending to use its power to create even greater chaos."

His tone was calm as he explained.

And this was precisely the root cause of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s catastrophic destruction.

Lin Du's words made Nick's heart sink. The brutality and complexity of this battle far exceeded their expectations.

What kind of unfathomable scheme and power lay hidden behind Loki?

Just as Lin Du had said, Loki had never come to coexist peacefully.

He had only one goal—destroy this blue planet.

As Nick's thoughts raced, a subordinate's panicked voice interrupted him.

"Director, our base..." The agent's face was filled with terror, and his voice trembled.

"It's... it's all destroyed."

At that moment, the mutants nearby were terrified out of their wits by the deafening blast.

It felt as though their souls might flee their bodies.

They all turned toward S.H.I.E.L.D. in unspoken accord, their eyes full of doubt and speculation.

They wondered what kind of earth-shattering scene had unfolded there.

"S.H.I.E.L.D... was attacked?" A young mutant stared with wide eyes, his lips trembling faintly as his voice betrayed irrepressible fear.

"Could something even more terrifying than us have arrived? Is Earth... about to face something huge?"

"Steady yourself," an experienced mutant said, gently patting his back.

Though his own gaze remained fixed on the wreckage as he struggled to suppress the panic in his heart.

"We need to understand the situation first. Losing our heads now will only make things worse."

They looked up toward the distant horizon. The night sky was like a vast sheet of black silk, dotted with twinkling stars.

But tonight, that peace had been utterly shattered—the Time-Space Gate's explosion was like a berserk beast, tearing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s base to pieces.

Flames shot into the sky, and shockwaves swept through the surroundings. The steel-and-concrete buildings that had once seemed indestructible became like rotten wood in that instant, easily crushed to pieces.

The nearby mutants were all utterly horrified by the sight.

Elsewhere, Nick Fury stood at one corner of the badly damaged command platform, his face covered in dust and burn marks.

In his one remaining eye was both unshakable resolve and a trace of helplessness that was hard to detect.

"Time is running out,"

"Director!" A young agent came running over, panting heavily, panic written all over his face.

"We've lost contact with most of the agents, and there are still many people trapped beneath the base!"