Another Powerful Backer

"Why are you here?" Because some one-eyed guy refused to reimburse his gas money, Coulson had driven his own car here all the way from Tony's house.

It had been a grueling trip over mountains and through valleys, yet someone who had set off more than a day later than him had somehow arrived first.

"Relax, Coulson. Catch!" Lu Qi lounged lazily on a deck chair in beach shorts and a tank top.

He pulled a bottle of cola from a box beside him and tossed it to Coulson.

"It's such a hot day. It'd be a shame not to have an ice-cold cola."

Coulson sighed, but he still happily took a sip of the icy drink.

"So, did the director send you here?" Coulson let out a satisfied burp, feeling a little more energized.

"No. Before I joined that so-called alliance, Fury would've loved to hide everything from me."

Because of someone's "overseas returnee" status, Fury was afraid Lu Qi would learn some of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets. He had wanted nothing more than to send Lu Qi as far away from S.H.I.E.L.D. as possible.

However, Lu Qi had his own "sources of intelligence," which left Fury quite helpless.

"So, is there something unusual here? Something that drew you all the way out?"

Coulson glanced at the crowd holding a beer party in the distance, then looked at the ice-cold cola in his and Lu Qi's hands. He felt completely out of place among them.

"Look at that!" Lu Qi suddenly sat up, staring intently at something in the distance.

An old man drove a pickup truck into the crater with a rope, tied it around the strange meteorite, then happily ran back to his truck.

The pickup's engine roared to life. Its wheels scraped and spun wildly against the ground, but it failed to move forward even an inch.

After a lengthy stalemate, the pickup's truck bed tore straight off, leaving everyone at the scene deeply disappointed.

"What kind of meteorite is this?" Coulson walked over curiously, intending to take a closer look.

Lu Qi, meanwhile, kept staring at the old man driving the pickup.

"Hey, cheese!"

Lu Qi took a photo with his camera, only to discover that the person making a V sign in the picture was someone else.

Lu Qi looked up and found that the mischievous old man was gone. In his place stood the person from the photo, holding up a V sign toward Lu Qi.

"You slippery old fox!" Lu Qi put down the camera, lay back down, and happily drank his iced cola.

After finishing a bottle, Lu Qi got up to grab another, only to discover that one of his colas was missing. A photo had been left beside the box.

Lu Qi picked it up and found a picture of the old man making a V sign behind him, posing for a photo with him.

"Not bad. You made me look pretty handsome." Lu Qi gave it a satisfied assessment as Coulson walked over with a grave expression.

"Do you know what that hammer is?" Coulson recalled the meteorite in the crater. Though he found it hard to believe, he was certain it was a hammer.

This mission had originally begun with a report from the meteorite recovery department about a meteorite that could not be transported. Seeing how long Coulson had been working overtime, Fury had simply handed the matter over to him and told him to take a vacation while he was at it.

But Lu Qi's appearance, along with the meteorite's strange shape, made Coulson feel that this matter was anything but simple.

"A meteorite, obviously. What else could it be? Thor's hammer? Here, take a look at this photo."

Naturally, Coulson ignored Lu Qi's "nonsense." He leaned over to inspect the photo in Lu Qi's hand. "Why is there just blank space behind you? Does the meteorite have some strange magnetic field that affected your camera?"

Now Coulson could no longer remain calm. If that hammer had some strange magnetic field, could it affect the human body as well?

Coulson hurriedly called Fury and informed him of everything here. The moment Fury heard that Lu Qi had shown up, he immediately ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to head over.

After making his report, Coulson returned to the edge of the crater. Watching several burly men competing to pull out the hammer gave him a headache.

Did these guys really have nothing better to do? Did they think this was some sword in the lake, and that whoever pulled it out could inherit the throne?

Afraid that the hammer might have some strange effect on the human body, Coulson hurriedly told them to leave. But the men were unwilling, and one guy who was clearly drunk pulled out a gun.

Coulson could only move out of the agitated man's line of sight. What else could he do, kill them all?

"Can you have your ninjas drive these people away? It'd be bad if the hammer affects the human body somehow."

"This hammer does affect the human body, but first you have to lift it. You can try it yourself. The effect is beneficial." Lu Qi was too lazy to chase anyone away. He tried storing the photo in the Shadow World and found that it had not been assimilated.

Reassured, he put the photo away, raised his cola toward the air in a casual toast, and only then lazily replied to Coulson. He was rather hoping someone would surprise him by lifting the hammer.

Coulson was somewhat helpless, but he relaxed after learning that the hammer was not harmful to the human body.

Half an hour later, several helicopters arrived. A group of agents spent over ten minutes shouting through loudspeakers that the meteorite was radioactive before finally driving away the beer-party crowd.

Coulson breathed a sigh of relief and had the agents try transporting the hammer by helicopter, but that failed too. Even digging away the soil beneath the hammer did not work. Whatever ability the hammer possessed had made the soil bearing its weight harder than brick and stone.

Coulson could only direct the agents to build a base on the spot and establish a security perimeter.

Watching the agents erect a fairly convincing base in just half an hour, Lu Qi was stunned. Then he had the ninjas carry him, chair and all, into the base and set him down in a good spot.

"That really is an eight-man sedan chair of yours." After having the newly arrived researchers conduct their tests, Coulson came over to Lu Qi.

Lu Qi shook his head. "How can this be called an eight-man sedan chair? There are clearly only four people!"

Too lazy to bother with Lu Qi's bizarre logic, Coulson went off to assign tasks to the newly arrived Hawkeye.

As the bow-wielding man used his equipment to reach a high vantage point, Lu Qi silently took a photo.

Seeing this, Coulson said to Lu Qi, "You can't post his photo online, or it'll make future missions difficult for him."

"Don't worry. I'll put a mosaic over it." Lu Qi took several more pictures of the hammer, completely ignoring Coulson's hesitant expression.

Putting down the camera, Lu Qi rose from his deck chair, stretched his muscles, and walked over to the hammer.

"Sorry for the trouble." He pushed aside the researchers, who were angry but did not dare say anything, then gripped the hammer with one hand and tried to lift it. Yet an invisible force quietly prevented him.

"Interesting." Lu Qi gathered Dark Energy and suppressed that force, then tried to lift the hammer again. He only caused the soil beneath it to collapse, leaving the hammer suspended in midair.

"I should still be able to try." Lu Qi glanced at the stunned Coulson. Dark Energy seeped into Mjolnir and completely suppressed the strange energies within, allowing him to lift Mjolnir.

In an instant, the sky darkened. Bolts of lightning gathered in the heavens, occasionally striking down around the base.

Before Lu Qi could celebrate, the energy he had suppressed suddenly erupted and wiped out the Dark Energy. Unfortunately, Lu Qi did not yet have enough Dark Energy to keep up with the consumption, and Mjolnir broke free of his control.

"Damn it!" Lu Qi felt Mjolnir's weight suddenly increase. His feet sank straight into the ground, forcing him to put the hammer down.

"Whew, I'm exhausted." Lu Qi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. But when he opened them, he found himself in a golden space. Before him floated an old man with one eye covered by an eyepatch and the other tightly shut, as though he were asleep.

"Oh ho."

Lu Qi sensed that things were going badly. He tried to enter the Shadow World, but the surrounding energy encased him, and the instant Dark Energy appeared, it was obliterated by Oblivion.

"Sorry, boss. I was wrong. Next time I... won't dare."

Lu Qi immediately backed down. Even if he slipped into the Shadow World, it would be useless. The old man before him was an existence on the same level as The Ancient One. With a wave of his hand... no, one punch, he could still kill Lu Qi.

At least he had grown from an ant into a caterpillar.

But what was he supposed to do now?

Lu Qi looked at Odin. Odin's eyelids trembled twice before finally opening.

"You dare!..." Odin suddenly stopped speaking and stared in shock at something behind Lu Qi.

"Long time no see, King Odin."

The Ancient One's voice came from behind Lu Qi. He turned and, sure enough, saw a yellow figure.

"Master Ancient One, why are you here?" Odin laughed heartily, as though he had encountered an old friend.

This humble monk...

"I came for this little fellow."

The Ancient One spoke and glanced at Lu Qi.

Then everything was fine. To these two powerful figures, his age was not even a fraction of theirs. Lu Qi quietly shrank into a corner, afraid Odin would notice him. Yet after The Ancient One said that, Odin frowned and looked over.

"Why?"

The Ancient One slapped Lu Qi, sending him flying. She did not hurt him, merely sent him farther away before speaking to Odin about something.

Lu Qi did not dare eavesdrop, lest he hear some secret and get silenced for it.

After a while, the two powerful figures finished talking. The Ancient One reached out and pulled Lu Qi back over.

Only then did Lu Qi realize that, at some point, The Ancient One had revealed the symbol of Dark Energy. Unlike Dormammu's symbol, however, hers was shaped like a mask.

He had to admit, this mask looked much better than Dormammu's symbol.

Lu Qi silently complained, but outwardly stood obediently before the two powerful figures.

Odin stared for a while without speaking. He turned to look at The Ancient One, who helplessly said to Lu Qi, "Starting today, you will provide King Odin with sufficient Dark Energy. Can you do that?"

Was this... a new powerful backer?

Lu Qi hurriedly nodded. If a powerful figure owed him a favor, it would be easier to ask for help later.

He obediently signed the agreement with the powerful figure and discovered that he had to provide nearly a thousand points of Dark Energy every second.

This was not hard to understand. Odin was already extraordinarily long-lived even among the naturally long-lived Asgardian Gods, and he often entered Odin's Sleep to regulate his energy. It was normal for him to consume so much energy every second.

The Ancient One, on the other hand, had originally been an ordinary person, so she only needed an energy supply when fighting.

After signing the contract, Lu Qi breathed a sigh of relief. But then he suddenly thought of something else: why did Thor's mother look younger than Odin?

Surely Odin had not robbed the cradle and found Thor and his brother a stepmother, right?

Then did that mean that if Thor's mother had not died at the hands of the Dark Elves, she could have lived even longer than Odin?!!

These waters ran too deep. Lu Qi did not dare think any further.

After signing the contract, Odin closed his eyes and sensed things for a while. He then opened them in pleasant surprise, smiled at Lu Qi, and deliberately put on a stern expression as he drove him out of the space.

Back in front of the hammer, Lu Qi let out a sigh of relief. It seemed the powerful figure had spared him, and he had gained another powerful backer.

Purple Sweet Potato, bet you didn't expect it. I've got another powerful figure on my side now.

If you dare come to Earth, I'll make you suffer. What's so good about the fruit on your planet anyway?

"What's wrong, Lu Qi?" Coulson was puzzled as he watched Lu Qi stand there with his eyes closed without moving for so long. Why had he suddenly frozen? Hadn't he said lifting the hammer would bring good things?

Lu Qi shook his head, then left with a smile.

"I'm going to the town over there to buy some burgers. That guy Tony even opened his burger chain here! I haven't had one in ages, so I'm going to check it out."

Ignoring Coulson's strange look, Lu Qi left immediately.

"He looks really happy. Did he really gain some benefit?" Coulson looked at the hammer, which had sunk even deeper into the ground, then shook his head and told the researchers to continue examining it.

Lu Qi naturally did not care what they thought. He happily skipped into the nearby town. Looking at the small town, he thought that even if he could not beat that armor later, he could lure it away.

Pah! Odin was one of my people now. Why would I still be afraid of his armor? I'll stand right in front of that thing and see if it dares fire at me!

Lu Qi smiled as he entered a Stark chain burger restaurant, ordered two signature cheeseburgers, and happily began eating.

Meanwhile, in that space, an image floated before Odin. It showed Lu Qi acting like an idiot.

"Is this guy really reliable?"

"Don't worry. He is enough to stop Ragnarok. His Dark Energy is of a very high grade and can suppress your eldest daughter."

The Ancient One nearly failed to keep her expression composed as well. Lu Qi was becoming more and more uninhibited, and he had nearly made her lose face in front of an old friend.

"His energy is indeed very pure, but there is still too little of it. It cannot even suppress my Runic Script."

"Yes, but he is growing quickly. The prerequisite is obtaining coordinates for the Dark Dimension. I hope you will find all the Dark Dimension coordinates you have collected over the next two days and give them to him. There is no need for too many. Afterward, he will find a way to seek out other Dark Dimensions."

The Ancient One looked into Odin's remaining eye and spoke with confidence.

"You who watch time, do not let time control you."

After saying that, Odin fell silent.