Chapter: Comical

That single, casual remark instantly ignited the S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel present. Everyone shifted the aim of their guns, pointing them instead at the operative held suspended by Galacta.

They knew the current situation within S.H.I.E.L.D., and everyone present had been carefully handpicked by Nick Fury as people he believed he could trust.

They also all knew that Hydra members had poison fangs hidden in their mouths. When Mercer said that at a time like this, what else could it mean?

Hearing this, Nick Fury's expression grew increasingly dark, and he strode over to the front of that operative.

Because Galacta was choking *he*1 throat, the operative could only keep he mouth open, unable to move, and could only let Nick Fury check he teeth.

A few seconds later, Nick Fury reached out and pulled a tooth from the operative's mouth, he expression terrifyingly dark.

It was a poison fang!

"Vermier! You're actually a member of Hydra? You've been in S.H.I.E.L.D. for so many years-were you Hydra from the very beginning?!"

In Nick Fury's voice, anger carried a hint of a tremor. It seemed this operative still shared a bit of personal friendship with he.

"Good job, Galacta. Come back."

Mercer said to Galacta, then used the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to condense several Lightning Orbs in he hand, tossing them directly to Galacta, who caught them with a single grab.

"And here you were posing." Galacta gave a soft huff. "I'm not your servant, to be summoned and dismissed at your whim."

Mercer offered an awkward laugh, hurriedly condensing a few more Lightning Orbs, and chuckled ingratiatingly, "I definitely didn't mean it like that. It's just that in a situation like that, I couldn't help saying it."

Seeing how sincere Mercer looked, Galacta took the Lightning Orbs from he hand and, with a soft huff, stopped bickering with he.

Seeing his poison fang pulled out while the two of them were still there flirting, the man called Vermier sneered.

"That kid is truly too astonishing. I failed to keep my emotions in check. I never expected that after hiding for so long, I'd end up exposed because of something like this."

"Still, it's useless even if you've discovered this now. The ritual is already underway-all of you, just wait to die!"

A trace of madness and excitement surfaced in Vermier's eyes, and they were even tinged with a streak of adoration.

"The entity we are summoning this time is an evil god from beyond the Earth! When he descends upon the Earth, that will be the day you all bow down and pledge allegiance!"

"He is none other than the God of Mischief, Loki-!"

Shouting this out with frantic madness, Vermier let out a burst of wild laughter, arrogant to the extreme.

He didn't laugh for long before he gradually began to feel something was amiss. It seemed a bit too quiet.

He looked toward the few people in front of him, but their expressions were all different.

There was astonishment, speechlessness, and utter confusion, but precisely none of the fear and panic Vermier had expected to see.

"To think... it's Loki." Mercer shook he head helplessly. What happened to the sub-dimensional creatures they were promised?

To think he even spent a whole night studying Vishanti's Technique just to deal with those terrifying sub-dimensional creatures, only for them to tell him now that the person coming was Loki?

He had already crossed paths with the guy ages ago, and what's more, that guy had gotten beaten and chased away. What was there to be scared of?

The three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were also somewhat struck dumb. When they heard the first half of Vermier's speech, their hearts had indeed jumped into their throats, and their minds had already conjured up a fierce battle.

However, Coulson had already transmitted all the intelligence regarding the events in New Mexico back to headquarters, though that matter was known only to the three of them, including Nick Fury.

Hydra had originally sent people to investigate the situation in New Mexico as well, but those two had gone missing without a reason, and Hydra's information chain had snapped.

Back then, the three of Nick Fury had been quite astonished-astonished by Mercer's strength, capable of going toe-to-toe with an outer god without falling behind, while also making them aware of the outer gods' existence.

The tense atmosphere eased back down from its initial peak, and Nick Fury waved a hand. "Lock him up."

After that, the group returned to the conference table to discuss their plan.

Vermier was dragged away with a blank look of bewilderment, completely clueless as to why they showed no shock upon hearing this name.

Ten minutes later, the group had finalized their plan.

Nick Fury said, "Alright, Alex, so our plan is set. You'll infiltrate the campus first to see where Hydra intends to pinpoint the location, then let us know. Leave the rest of the work to us to handle."

"Mm." Mercer nodded. "Then we set off immediately. There's no time to waste now."

Having settled the matter, everyone immediately set off.

Mercer and Galacta were going to the school. Originally, the latter couldn't go because her figure, appearance, and hair color were all far too conspicuous, making infiltration unfavorable.

However, when Mercer asked her what she planned to do, she produced a palm-sized "flashlight" and swept a beam of light across her own face.

That face of unearthly beauty actually shifted to become utterly ordinary. Aside from her figure remaining unchanged, her disguise technique was identical to Mercer's, without a single flaw!

Stark, a tech fanatic, rushed right over the moment he saw this gadget and reached out to grab it, but Galacta moved faster than a striking snake and shifted the "flashlight" away directly.

Seeing that the other party had no intention of giving it to him, Stark simply stood nearby, scrutinizing the "flashlight" closely as he asked, "Can this thing change appearances at will?"

"Mm. The planets I've visited are numerous, and many planets don't feature human forms like ours. I therefore developed this kind of tech, allowing one's body and appearance to transform into entirely different shapes."

As she spoke, Galacta even demonstrated it once.

Including Mercer, everyone watched in a daze. A wooden lifeform, a stone lifeform, a beast lifeform-in less than a minute, the group witnessed dozens of alien species.

"You're saying you developed this?"

Stark noted the details in Galacta's words and asked in astonishment. This level of technology was something he himself hadn't been able to create yet, and this girl, looking as young as sixteen or seventeen right before him, was actually capable of inventing it?

The meaning within the other's gaze was naturally clear to Galacta. She gave a soft huff and said, "My age is something none of you present can compare to even if you added all your years together, and my knowledge encompasses the technological levels of every intelligent planet in the universe. Your Earth's technology doesn't amount to much in my eyes either."

Mercer muttered under he breath beside them, "Turns out she's an old grandma..."

Galacta: (╬◣д◢)!

A purple figure flashed instantly to Mercer's side, grabbing he by the collar...

"Such an age? So she's not an Earthling?"

Having been inexplicably looked down upon, Stark surely would have blown his top if anyone else had said those words. Yet, whether it was Galacta's appearance, figure, or her intellect, she completely won his admiration.

Watching Galacta hoist Mercer up like a little chick and proceed to "beat him up," Stark's eyes flashed with a hint of regret. It seemed getting the girl to fall for him was definitely out of the question.

At the very least, he had to study her technology.