Brotherly Bonds

"Boss, we've arrived..."

"The Knowhere!"

Directly in front of the spaceship, the dark depths of space were filled with a wispy cloud. The distant stars cast their light, causing the surface of the cloud to reflect a rainbow of colors, creating a dreamlike and magnificent scene that was truly captivating.

At the center of the cloud floats an enormous head. After countless years, the head is no longer recognizable, with empty eye sockets; it would be more accurate to call it a skull.

Everyone on the spaceship was stunned and utterly shocked, their bodies frozen like statues. Even Russell was no exception; the immersive realism made his scalp tingle.

"Boss, what is that?"

Yelena swallowed hard; her first trip into space had truly broadened her horizons.

"The head of the Celestials!"

"The Celestials... what is that?"

"An ancient form of cosmic life." This was a rather complicated explanation, so Russell glossed over it.

"An ancient cosmic life..." Yelena swallowed hard. If a head was this big, how terrifying would it be with limbs and body?

"Luckily, I died young!"

"Looking at it from another angle, the real horror of this head lies in... who killed him?"

"..."

The spaceship was buzzing with chatter. Everyone was deeply shocked by the Celestials' head and began to discuss it, each expressing their own opinions. Even the usually taciturn, icy-faced Bucky chimed in twice.

Smack! Smack!

Russell clapped his hands twice to shut everyone up. "Change your clothes. When we enter the Knowhere, behave yourselves and don't cause any trouble."

"Boss, what should we do if someone provokes us?"

"Is that even a question? Just kill him!"

"..."

Everyone nodded, weighed the options in their minds, and changed into the prepared outfits— Dark Elves sets specially sponsored by Malekith.

Russell put on the white mask. The Black Order had issued a warrant for his arrest, and the bounty was enough to drive desperate criminals mad. He had to be careful.

"Boss, what about those Dark Elves?" Natasha asked quietly.

"Don't worry about it, let them be."

Russell refused to accept the Dark Elves' allegiance, instead accepting their war reparations, ransom, compensation for emotional distress, warship maintenance costs, water, electricity, gas bills, late fees, and so on, leaving Malekith penniless.

Because their fighter jets were destroyed, the Dark Elves lost their means of transportation and were unable to leave their original planet. Malekith had no choice but to write an IOU and board Russell's ship. Coincidentally, their destination was also the Knowhere.

Russell learned after some inquiry that Malekith knew the collector Tanlia Tivan, and the two had done business together before.

That was thousands of years ago, when the Dark Elves were at war with Asgard, Tivan bought one of the Dark Elves.

Malekith came this time to sell his tribesmen. Thousands of years had passed since the last transaction, and the original tribesman might already be dead, so he came to sell them again.

War requires money, and even starting from scratch, you need a spaceship first. Malekith knew that doing so was dishonorable, but there really wasn't anyone in the universe more generous and law-abiding than the Collector Tivan.

Through subtle inquiries with Malekith, Russell gained a general understanding of the Collector Tivan, who, in terms of allegiances, was absolutely neutral.

Tivan maintains friendly cooperative relations with all forces, yet keeps a certain distance from them, using interests as the linchpin of his relationships, never showing favoritism or bias.

Russell asked Zereel about this and received the same answer: when the Chitauri the Black Order, Tivan had also cooperated with Zereel and purchased a Chitauri.

Contrary to Russell's expectations, despite Tivan's collection of many cosmic races and his practice of raising them like livestock, he had an excellent reputation among the high-ranking members of many cosmic civilizations.

The reason this guy collects life forms is to prevent the complete extinction of these races; he wouldn't even take a race with a large population for free.

The spaceship entered through the eye sockets of the Celestials Skull, which Tivan had discovered many years ago and immediately organized a team to occupy and excavate it.

Bones, brain tissue, and spinal fluid from the Celestials are rare resources, and their prices remain high on the black markets of every galaxy.

The skull was mostly hollowed out by worms, and with mining and construction, a large number of merchants flocked in. Following them came desperate criminals, and various factions became entangled in a chaotic situation.

The reason a fight didn't break out was because of the Collector Tivan. According to Zereel and Malekith, Tivan was incredibly powerful. How powerful they were was unknown, but he Knowhere for years, and no one dared to cause trouble on his territory.

The spaceship moved slowly along the way, Russell saw many mining platforms. The Celestials' heads were regarded as resources, and countless mining robots were working frantically.

"The Celestials..."

Russell narrowed his eyes slightly. Even if a powerful being of this caliber had been dead for thousands or tens of thousands of years, its flesh should still be well-preserved. He wondered what it would taste like in hot pot...

When!!

With a soft click, the spaceship docked at the starport landing pad.

Led by Malekith, the Dark Elves in the cabin quickly left, for it was too sad to linger there. Every time they saw Russell, the Dark Elves were filled with grief and indignation.

In other words, they couldn't beat them, otherwise Russell would have been killed by them long ago.

"Boss, they've run away, what about the IOUs?"

"They can't escape, I've installed tracking devices on them..."

On the other side, a uniquely styled spaceship is slowly moving through the starry sky— Asgard spaceship.

"Prince Loki, the coordinates on the Star Map have stopped moving; the location of the Dark Elves has been determined."

Loki nodded, manipulating the light screen to project Star Map, then frowned immediately. "The Knowhere, what are the Dark Elves doing in the Collector's territory?"

"Prince Loki, is it possible that the Dark Elves are recruiting people there to build an army?"

"That's certainly possible!"

"Should we inform Prince Thor?"

Do you think he would care about such things?

"..."

"Forget it, let's notify him. After all, he's the leader of this operation."

After saying that, Loki opened the communication system and contacted the Collector Tivan in the name of Asgard. He did not mention the Dark Elves in his conversation, only saying that he was passing by and would like to pay a visit.

The communication had just ended when the control room door was violently pushed open, and Thor strode in. "Loki, where are the Dark Elves?"

Loki remained expressionless. "The Knowhere, the Collector's territory."

Who is the collector?

"An acquaintance of my father's, well... let's just call him an acquaintance!"

Loki gave a few perfunctory words, then left the control room and returned to his room to rest. He wasn't tired, but rather afraid of getting hurt because he was too close to Thor.

Where are you going?

"Sleep!"

Thor, unfazed by Loki's cold treatment, chuckled and approached Loki, giving him a hard punch in the chest. "Get some rest. When you're awake, we'll go fight together."

"..."

Thor strode away, Loki, supporting himself against the wall, slowly made his way back to the room. Now he could finally get some rest.

Thor, oblivious to Loki's deliberate distancing, remained unperturbed. His younger brother had grown up and was no longer as clingy as he had been when they were children, but this did not affect their brotherly bond.

Thor believes that his younger brother loves him, but he just doesn't know how to express his feelings. In reality, he is a cold-faced but warm-hearted boy with a quirky personality, yet he is very cute.

As for Loki's pranks and ambushes on him since childhood, and his occasional unexpected stabs, it was all to help him hone his combat awareness, fearing that he would die from the enemy's underhanded tactics.

The same principle applies to poisoning a knife. The two grew up together and fought together. How could the younger brother possibly harm him?

Besides, if Loki really wanted to harm him, his father Odin would definitely stop him. Since Odin didn't say anything, then it's definitely not true!

Whenever Thor thinks of Loki's sneak attack from behind, and how he instinctively beat Loki half to death, Thor feels he owes Loki too much. His brother risked his life for him, but he could never stop himself from doing so.

The more I think about it, the more ashamed I feel...