Upon hearing the sudden noise, Qin Xiao asked who it was, and in a few flashes, he was already heading straight for the source of the sound.
In a pile of rusty, lifeless metal.
An elderly man with a hunched back was huddled between two metal plates, which looked like a tent made of metal plates.
There was a cup made of some unknown material on the ground, with some water stains next to it. It seemed that he had tried to pick up the cup to drink water, but was too weak to even lift it.
"Who are you?"
Qin Xiao didn't offer any immediate help, but instead asked coldly from his superior position.
The old man struggled to open his cloudy eyes and glanced at Qin Xiao with curiosity.
He gasped for breath several times before he finally had the strength to speak.
"Finally, another living person! And it seems you're not one of us. Great! I hate seeing every man named Loki, not even a crocodile!"
"Are you Loki?"
Qin Xiao squatted down; the old man's aura was terrifyingly weak.
At first, Qin Xiao thought the old man was so weak because of food or water problems, but now it seems that's not the case. His strength is almost completely exhausted, and his organs have almost completely lost their vitality.
"Are you Loki, or one of them?"
Having determined that the old man posed no threat, Qin Xiao took out some water and fed him a few sips. After thinking for a moment, he took out a cup of hot chocolate, inserted a straw, and placed it near the old man's mouth.
After drinking a few sips of water, the older version of Loki looked a little better, and unceremoniously picked up the chocolate and drank it all in a few gulps.
"I feel much better. I can finally have something decent to drink before I die. Damn Alioth, I thought he was going to die at their hands, but nothing has changed at all. This might be the most worthless thing I've ever done in my life."
Old Loki regained some of his strength and then muttered a few words to himself.
"Who are they? It sounds like you had a big battle with that cloud. Tell me about it!"
Seeing that Old Loki was feeling a little better, Qin Xiao took out a soft piece of bread and handed it to him.
"For the sake of these things!"
Old Loki took a bite of bread and muttered something.
"I'd be happy to tell you these things, but are you sure we have time to talk about them here?"
Old Loki pointed into the distance.
Before anyone knew it, Alioth had filled half the sky and was rolling toward them.
Damn it!
Qin Xiao glanced at Old Loki.
Without caring whether he could handle it or not, he reached out and scooped him up.
In a few flashes, they arrived at the spot where Groot was evolving.
He scooped up the Shiba Inu Thor's corpse from the ground—which was now the little guy's flowerpot—and carried it away with the little guy.
"Oh? Little Thor, if only we'd met sooner. Let him see his little crocodile brother. I've been here so long and never knew there was Little Groot here, absorbing Thor's power? That's fine, Groot Thor looks better than Little Thor!"
Loki kept rambling on, but Qin Xiao didn't have time to pay attention to him. Groot was surrounded by golden light and lightning, and it was unclear how much longer it would take.
Qin Xiao had no choice but to pick up the 'flowerpot' and head towards the place where the two were hiding, dog and tree alike.
Alioth is enormous and can devour all energy; ordinary physical attacks are ineffective against it, making it seem incredibly powerful.
Fortunately, it wasn't very fast; even a car could easily keep up the distance, let alone Qin Xiao's speed.
Holding two people made flying inconvenient, so Qin Xiao resorted to brute force.
With a giant leap, he covered a distance of one or two kilometers and headed straight for the two people who were trying to escape.
"Damn it! Your way of moving reminds me of a huge green guy!"
Old Loki's face was filled with memories, and he couldn't help but rub his nose.
"Now I'm starting to wonder about your identity. You even have the aura of Asgard on you. In my memory, there's no one who matches your appearance!"
"You seem to be recovering well, but it's best to keep your mouth shut for now and talk when we're in a safe place, unless you find it enjoyable to have the wind blowing into your mouth!"
As he spoke, Qin Xiao leaped away from the city ruins in a few bounds.
Little Groot's underground shelter.
The owner is using the body of a Shiba Inu as a lamp.
Qin Xiao placed Old Loki on a sofa, took out some food and drinks, and the two began to stare at each other.
"Don't you think you should say something? Like, the battle you mentioned between you and that cloud?"
Qin Xiao spoke first.
"I thought you weren't going to ask. You can tell I don't have many days left to live? Why don't you tell me about yourself first?"
Old Loki rummaged through the pile of things Qin Xiao had taken out and pulled out a bottle of wine, taking a satisfying sip and saying...
Old Loki's physical functions were almost on the verge of stopping, and Qin Xiao didn't care about any threat to him, so he briefly recounted his experiences.
Of course, this does not include the system or time travel.
"You mean you're not being targeted by the Time Variance Authority? You know, that doesn't fit the Sacred Timeline's rules."
Qin Xiao himself was also confused about what was going on.
Either it's because of the system's existence, or something happened within the Time Variance Authority.
Therefore, Qin Xiao simply shrugged helplessly at the question.
"You changed a lot of things. Although I hid on a small planet after the Battle of New York, I heard the story that followed. Malekith killed my mother. You changed all of that. Thank you so much, even though that Frigga and the mother who raised me are not the same person."
Old Loki stood up and bowed slightly to Qin Xiao with unusual sincerity.
"Given your experience, I think those two Loki who stormed into Alioth may have achieved their goal, or rather, completed their plan. The Time Variance Authority should have undergone significant changes by now."
Old Loki, perhaps feeling that his battle had not been in vain, smiled with satisfaction and began to tell Qin Xiao his story.
In his universe, he found a place to hide after the Battle of New York.
He hid on a sparsely populated planet for a very long time, and because he had no impact on the Sacred Timeline, he lived a peaceful life on that planet.
Until one day, he finally couldn't resist the urge to go back to Asgard for a visit.
In Old Loki's words, he misses his brother and wants to see if Thor is alright.
As soon as they left that planet, they were brought back by the Time Variance Authority.
He was directly judged and purified, and then he came to this hellish place.
Whether it was because it was the same person or because Loki was better at escaping, he encountered Loki from various universes here.
Some successfully ascended the throne of Asgard, some killed Thor, and some even collected the Six Infinity Stones and unified the universe. They all deviated from the Sacred Timeline and were brought to this place to fend for themselves.
Because of the constant influx of various substances from the outside world, they don't have to worry about survival here. Apart from the fact that a group of Loki split into several groups and fought amongst themselves, they only need to be careful of being devoured by Alioth.
Everything changed because of Loki.
At this point, Qin Xiao realized that this must be the Loki character from the solo series.
Also during Avengers: Avengers: Endgame, the Avengers traveled back in time to collect Six Infinity Stones. After the Battle of New York, Loki accidentally obtained the Tesseract and escaped.
Old Loki's story includes his own experiences, as well as the stories told by that other Loki.
(Here I'll give a brief introduction; if you're interested, you can search for the Loki TV series on Baidu to watch it.)
In short, a new Loki has arrived, different from the previous ones; he is not content to merely eke out a living in this place.
He wants to overthrow the time-mutation management system, be with a female version of Loki, and learn all about it.
Eventually, the female version of Loki also arrived here. This female Loki possesses the ability to control other people's Mind Stone.
They decided to join forces to control Alioth, believing that the mastermind behind it all, the creators of the so-called Time Variance Authority, the three Time-Keepers, were hiding behind this red cloud.
They want to find them, kill them to end it all, let the universe develop naturally, and let everyone break free from their destiny.
However, they both underestimated Alioth's power; the two of them combined were not enough to control Alioth's Mind Stone.
At the critical moment, Old Loki returned and used all his magic to conjure up the entirety of Asgard for Alioth to devour, thus relieving the pressure on the two Loki.
Old Loki didn't know what happened to the two of them; he only knew that he had done his best, but in the end, he was still devoured by Alioth.
Just as Alioth was about to drain the life force from his body, Alioth suddenly retreated.
Old Loki survived, but his body was completely destroyed, and his source of power was also completely ruined; in other words, he only had a few days left to live.
After waiting for a while without seeing the two Loki emerge, the Old Loki struggled back to their sanctuary.
He thought he would receive news of victory before he died, but a few days later, Alioth reappeared.
Now Old Loki was in deep despair, and he had originally planned to die in the vault, carrying with him the memories of the past.
But they couldn't escape their bodily instincts; after exhausting their resources, they still wanted to go out and find some food.
After searching for several days without any results, I didn't even have the strength to go back.
He hastily built a shelter in the ruins, barely surviving on the little water he had collected, when he met Qin Xiao.
"I initially thought they had failed, but after hearing what you said, I realize I was wrong. They must have succeeded, or changed something, otherwise your appearance simply cannot be explained."
Old Loki grinned broadly. He had spent his entire life in hiding, retreating to remote planets in his own universe. He had finally mustered the courage to come out, only to be captured by the so-called Time Variance Authority.
Then they were sent to this godforsaken place to continue hiding.
Ultimately, he chose to rebel with others, or rather, on his own.
Although he knew he was almost certainly going to die, he still wanted to add some color to his life.
Now that he knows that what he did with a death wish wasn't in vain, he feels genuinely happy.
" Loki told me that the Time Variance Authority was full of lies. Everyone in that so-called bureau had their memories wiped and was controlled. They were all puppets being manipulated, their lives predetermined from birth. How ridiculous! In a sense, everyone who comes here is truly alive, isn't that right?"
Old Loki laughed heartily a few times, then looked at Qin Xiao with expectant eyes.
His life began as a series of events orchestrated by fate. Later, he managed to escape fate, but he was merely hiding in one place. Eventually, he arrived here, but he never truly felt like he had lived.
Upon meeting Qin Xiao, a man who seemed to defy fate, he hoped to gain some approval from him.
"That's right! Especially that battle you mentioned with that cloud, that was way cooler than when you led the Chitauri army to invade New York!"
Facing Alioth required great courage. If Qin Xiao didn't have the system that allowed him to leave, he wasn't sure if he would have had the courage to confront Alioth head-on. Therefore, he sincerely praised Old Loki.
"I am Thor, for the glory of the Northern Gods!"
Before the two could say anything more, an electronic voice came from the side.
Little Groot has completed his evolution!
I got home at 9 pm today, so I quickly wrote two chapters. They're not in separate chapters, so please bear with them. As for the chapters I owed yesterday, I'll see if I'm busy tomorrow. If I'm not busy, I'll finish them the day after tomorrow.