Women? They Only...

Pierce listened to his subordinate's report with a furrowed brow. After dismissing him, Pierce rubbed his temples.

What was going on with the world now? A bunch of superheroes had appeared out of nowhere, followed by some supervillains. Now even gods had shown up. Still, his subordinate had reported that the Asgardians were actually aliens, which put him slightly at ease.

My ass!

What Rainbow Bridge planet-destroying cannon? What planet-shattering God King? Was this really the Asgard from mythology?

It seemed ancient people's imaginations had been far too limited.

Pierce leaned back in his chair and thought carefully. The Security Council had just approved the construction of the Helicarriers, though they would first build one as a trial to see whether it was truly useful. The other Helicarriers would have to wait a few more years.

Pierce clenched his fist. He had not expected so many variables before the plan had even begun. And now, the situation was increasingly slipping out of control.

After thinking for a while, Pierce pressed a button. Shortly afterward, a bald man entered.

"Sitwell, immediately feed all of Lu Qi's information into the Zola Algorithm. I want to know whether he will interfere with our plan."

Sitwell nodded briskly, pressed his earpiece, and walked out.

Pierce let out a breath.

Project Insight was terrifying, yes, but its core was the Zola Algorithm.

Hydra, which controlled the Zola Algorithm, could identify those who would harm Hydra in the future, then quietly eliminate them.

Over the years, Hydra had secretly eliminated over ten thousand people, but that pace was still too slow.

According to the Zola Algorithm, over a hundred million people around the world would be detrimental to their plan!

Thus, Project Insight was born.

Simple and effective. Eliminate millions of people at once, do it a few dozen more times, and they could easily wipe out all those annoying flies!

The momentum was on his side!

Pierce suddenly clenched his fist, but the next second, there came a knock at the door.

Fury entered his office. Looking at Pierce seated behind the desk, Fury slowly walked over.

"You sent people to gather information on Lu Qi?"

Pierce froze. Why did Fury know? But after a moment's thought, he understood why.

"Why are you so cautious? You even classified his information?"

Pierce got up, poured a cup of coffee, and pushed it toward Fury.

Fury took a sip, his expression unchanged.

Pierce watched him and relaxed slightly. "That guy's background is too mysterious. He is involved with Howard's child, he got involved with the Hulk, and now even those gods have something to do with him. I think there's something wrong with him."

Fury nodded. "I've already evaluated him. The result is: no problem. You don't need to investigate him anymore. It's a waste of time. You'd be better off asking the Security Council for more money and getting the new headquarters finished sooner."

After saying that, Fury walked straight out.

Pierce sighed in relief. He had trained Fury, and he knew Fury's abilities. Fury was highly capable. It could be said that he was the best agent there was, but that was not good news for them. After all, they were Hydra, Fury's enemy.

He needed to think of a way. Fury was useful, but...

Thinking of the Zola Algorithm's assessment of Fury, Pierce decided that this tool could not be kept around for long.

Outside the door, Fury silently spat out the antidote pill in his mouth and tossed it into the trash. Trust no one—that was what Pierce had taught him.

As he walked, Fury thought.

Where had Pierce gotten information about Thor? After learning Thor's origins, Fury had ordered those agents to report directly to him alone.

What exactly was Pierce trying to do? Why had he planted people among those agents?

Fury still did not know that Pierce was Hydra, but he had decided to investigate Pierce in secret.

Standing before the elevator, Fury pressed the button. The elevator soon arrived.

Seeing Sitwell inside, Fury nodded and let Sitwell go first.

Sitwell had not expected Fury to be here either, but he remained calm, saluted, and walked normally toward Pierce's office.

Fury watched Sitwell's retreating back, then entered the elevator.

Pierce watched Fury leave, only for his deputy to walk in.

"How did it go?"

"The results show that Lu Qi will not pose a threat to our plan."

(PS: Time was something even The Ancient One could not fully understand or see through. It was far too strange for Hydra's Zola Algorithm to see people's futures, so I simply classified it as big data. The Zola Algorithm also used things like past spending records and website browsing information as its basis. As for Lu Qi's past spending habits and browsing history... well, you all understand.)

Pierce breathed a sigh of relief. The Zola Algorithm was Doctor Zola's masterpiece. Based on its tracking and observation of those samples, its conclusions generally matched the algorithm's results exactly.

After thinking for a while, Pierce had Sitwell try to recruit Lu Qi.

Lu Qi had no idea that he had attracted the attention of so many people. He was still happily playing games. As for Thor, after grinning foolishly for half the day, he finally remembered that there was a woman outside waiting for him to return.

He quietly changed into his armor and flew away.

As for returning to Asgard, he said that his father had not forgiven him yet, so he would not go back.

That guy did not actually lack the means to return. He simply did not want to, okay?!

While playing, the internet suddenly disconnected.

"Coulson, why did the internet suddenly go out?!"

Lu Qi called out, but no one answered. When he turned around, he found that the two big shots had dragged him into the Mirror Dimension again.

Odin looked extremely happy now. After all, his child had finally awakened his divine power, making him feel that he would soon be able to retire.

"So you're still not planning to let Thor return to Asgard? You still want to test him?" Lu Qi asked Odin in confusion. Was he not afraid Thor would spend several decades wandering around Earth with Jane first?

"Thor's power has already awakened. His divine power will continue growing over time, so it does not matter where he is. As for the test, Thor has passed it already. To become Asgard's commander-in-chief, all he needs is strength and the ability to listen. As for being king, I will test Loki."

Good lord, your standards for Thor were that low? He just had to be able to listen? But that was true. If Loki became king, Thor, as Loki's only supporter, would definitely listen to his younger brother.

Still, the meaning behind Odin's words shocked Lu Qi. This guy actually wanted to leave Asgard to a Frost Giant?

But if you raised even a dog for thousands of years, you would develop feelings for it, much less Loki.

Lu Qi could not be bothered to care what Odin thought. As long as Odin came riding an eight-legged heavenly horse in a suit of Destroyer armor to save him when danger struck, that was enough. As for taking control of Asgard's royal court while he had the chance?

Please. Strategy games were what he was worst at, and he was supposed to hollow out someone else's royal court?

Lu Qi glanced at his phone and said anxiously, "What else is there? I'm in the middle of playing a game. Can you hurry up?"

You, trying to explain to your parents that an online game cannot be paused.jpg

The Ancient One glanced at Odin, who pulled a book from his robe.

The unfamiliar yet familiar scene made Lu Qi look forward to it. He remembered the sheer extravagance of The Ancient One tossing him several Dark Dimension coordinates back then.

"These are Dark Dimension coordinates collected by Asgard over the past several thousand years. However, after a thousand years, many of these dimensions may have evolved into Intermediate Dimensions and changed their coordinates. Still, there should be quite a few that remain usable."

Lu Qi eagerly accepted the coordinates, his face full of smiles.

Boss, is there anything else you want to say—or give me? I can wait slowly over here.

Odin said nothing, while The Ancient One drew a circle and signaled Lu Qi to hurry back to his game, or he would be judged AFK.

Lu Qi returned to the Material World, and his game quickly reconnected.

Amid his teammates' question marks, Lu Qi arrogantly sent a message: The Earth's guardian and the God King called me over to discuss something. I've got things to do now, so I'm logging off first.

He exited the game directly, ignoring the flood of question marks from his teammates. Lu Qi took out the little book and called Mordo after a long time, telling him to get people ready for a fight.

Entering the Dark Dimension, Lu Qi watched Mordo lead the Mage Corps inside, then casually selected a coordinate.

"Sorry, the number you have dialed does not exist."

Uh... Lu Qi looked at Mordo's solemn expression and felt inexplicably embarrassed.

Taking advantage of Mordo not paying attention, he hurriedly selected another coordinate.

"Sorry..."

Lu Qi was speechless. How long ago were the coordinates Odin gave him from? Every single one was disconnected!

He randomly tapped ten times, and seven valid coordinates appeared.

Fortunately, five were Micro Dimensions, while only two were Lesser Dimensions. There were no enemies in the Micro Dimensions, while both Lesser Dimensions had enemies.

Lu Qi sighed in relief. Luckily, there were only two Lesser Dimensions. Next time, he should slowly do single pulls instead. Otherwise, pulling gold would be far too terrifying.

He ordered the Shadow Legion to conquer one of the Lesser Dimensions first, while they would defend against the other Lesser Dimension for the time being.

Lu Qi's strength had already far surpassed what it was when he first fought Andrews. The Shadow Legion under his command could now conquer Lesser Dimensions on their own. As for the other dimension?

Mordo and the others had jointly cast a giant magic shield composed entirely of Dark Energy.

Pure Dark Energy displayed its own effectiveness, and its defensive power far surpassed the previous magic shield.

It looked impressive, and after checking the cost, Lu Qi found that it consumed nearly 5,000 points per second. It could even withstand the energy bombardment from back then!

After two hours of battle, one Lesser Dimension was eliminated. On the other side, Mordo and the others held the line with the magic shield, while Lu Qi silently cast the Great Silence Spell on the opposing Dimension Lord, making him too afraid to show himself.

Lu Qi simply loafed around peacefully at the side, watching his subordinates work tirelessly.

Keep it up. Maybe tomorrow, I'll become twice as strong.

After silently encouraging Mordo and the others, he sent his Shadow Legion to assault the other Lesser Dimension.

Several hours later, the opposing Dimension Lord left behind a threat and fled. Lu Qi regretted not obtaining the other side's World Coordinates again, while arranging for Mordo and the others to scavenge the ruins.

After cleaning up the battlefield, Lu Qi guided the Shadow World to devour those Dark Dimensions, gaining nearly three million extractable energy.

Nice!

It had been a long time since he had watched his numbers rise so steadily. Lu Qi was so happy that he was still grinning foolishly after leaving the Shadow World.

"What's the good news?" Coulson asked. He was currently directing agents to pack up the entire base, along with several meters of soil beneath it, and take it away.

"My ten-pull didn't give me gold."

?

Ignoring Coulson's confused expression, Lu Qi turned and left.

What was wrong with him now? Coulson found it strange, but the relocation work was urgent, so he did not bother with Lu Qi.

Lu Qi made his way into town and happened to see Thor, dressed fashionably, shopping with Jane. Behind them were Darcy and Doctor Erik, radiating the aura of lonely singles.

"Hey, Uncle!"

Thor spotted Lu Qi first and shouted loudly while waving.

This guy was really socially anxious—socially terrifying, that was!

Lu Qi looked helplessly at the crowd around them staring at him and Thor.

With a sigh, Lu Qi covered his face and walked toward Thor.

"Hey, Uncle, this is my new friend, Jane."

Thor enthusiastically introduced Jane to Lu Qi, completely forgetting about the other two behind them.

"Hello, but didn't you say you didn't know Thor? How are you his uncle?"

Jane looked at Lu Qi in confusion.

"Because I had not gotten acquainted with his father at that time, so I wasn't his uncle yet."

Lu Qi explained naturally, though he only answered the latter question.

But apparently, that was enough to fool them all.

"So you came out shopping?"

"Yes. Jane is introducing me to the customs and culture of Midgard—ah, no, Earth."

Thor spoke like a big fool. Lu Qi sighed. This guy had truly been blinded by love.

No! As his uncle, how could I watch him fall this far?

Lu Qi gestured for Thor to follow him. "Want to understand Earth's customs and culture? Shopping isn't enough. Want to play an exciting combat game?"

"Combat? Game?" How did those two words go together? Thor looked at Jane in confusion, but Jane did not know what Lu Qi was talking about either.

Lu Qi bought a new phone, downloaded a certain 5v5 game, and guided Thor through trying it out.

And then...

"Damn it! That guy actually dared to make the great God of Thunder die! Unforgivable!"

Thor roared angrily, trying hard to control the electricity flowing over his body so that he would not destroy the fragile device in his hand.

Jane had already moved three meters away from Thor, afraid that the electricity around him would hurt her, while Lu Qi nodded in satisfaction.

Thor, you're still young. You don't understand!

Women! They only...

Completely forgetting that Thor was already over two thousand years old, Lu Qi smiled. What was so fun about women? Were games not better?

Glancing at the helpless Jane, Lu Qi was not doing this on purpose. He was doing it deliberately.

Thor was an Asgardian and could live for thousands of years. If he was like his father, he could live even longer. But what about Jane? If she was lucky, she might live over a hundred years. If she was unlucky, she might get into a car accident tomorrow and die for nothing.

What future could the two of them possibly have? Their current feelings were nothing more than a temporary surge of hormones.

Although Lu Qi did not know why Asgardians and Earthlings would experience hormonal fluctuations together, he could not be bothered to study that strange physiological phenomenon.

Right now, Lu Qi just wanted them to keep their distance first, calm down, and see their feelings clearly. If they should break up, then break up.

Of course, if they still loved each other, then as long as Thor called him Uncle a few more times in a pleasing way, once Lu Qi grew stronger in the future, he could directly form a contract with Jane and let her live longer.

Lu Qi could not do that yet, but even Dormammu could do it. There was no reason he would not be able to someday.

As for The Ancient One and Odin, he had merely provided the Dark Energy. How they used it was their business. Or perhaps he could ask them to teach him some related knowledge?