Chen Mo casually tossed the Space Stone, its eerie blue light reflecting on his face.
Tony and Fury stared at the gem, their eyes shining.
Reverse invasion of alien civilizations.
This proposal is truly inspiring.
Chen Mo looked at the two men's undisguised ambition and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
"Since you're both interested, let's not waste our time."
He pointed to the sky, grinning like a bandit about to rob a place. "There's no time like the present. Let's open a portal now and raid the aliens' lair!"
The laboratory fell silent instantly.
Tony and Fury exchanged a glance, their previously sparkling eyes immediately returning to calm.
"Now?"
Tony stared at Chen Mo as if he had heard something insane. "You think going to outer space is like going downstairs to buy pizza and putting on a pair of shoes and you can just leave?"
"No."
Fury refused even more decisively. "Not now, at least not."
Chen Mo raised an eyebrow.
"What are you afraid of, you Nick Fury? I'll cover for you."
" Chen Mo, this isn't a question of whether you can cover for them."
Tony sighed and pointed to the scattered armor parts on the lab table.
"Dude, I'm even more eager than you to bring back that alien technology. But for interstellar warfare? Our current production capacity is simply not enough. You'll have to wait until I open a few production lines for standard combat suits."
He spread his hands helplessly and said, "I can't possibly use these few sets to fight a positional war against an interstellar fleet. Do you want my company to go bankrupt even faster?"
Fury nodded in agreement, a rare occurrence for him.
" Stark is right. S.H.I.E.L.D..'s current firepower reserves are insufficient to support an interstellar war."
He stared at Chen Mo with his single eye, his tone serious. "Even if the aliens are a bunch of primitive people, they're primitive people piloting spaceships. Give us a few months to prepare, otherwise Earth isn't qualified to be space pirates."
After hearing their explanations, Chen Mo rolled his eyes.
"Promising."
He casually put the Space Stone into his pocket.
I was originally planning to casually open an interstellar instance and have a heart-to-heart talk with the alien guys, but my two teammates chickened out before even leaving the house.
But upon closer reflection, what they said makes sense.
He's taking a bunch of weaklings without even energy shields to space, and he has to babysit them the whole time. If they encounter a large fleet, before he can even loot anything, he has to make sure they don't get killed by stray bullets.
This deal was definitely not worthwhile.
Thinking of this, Chen Mo didn't bother to force himself and went about his own business.
The Ancient One had warned him before, but he still hadn't found the most crucial thing.
Chen Mo refused to believe in superstition and traveled back and forth twice more in the past few days.
He first returned to the Boys World to check on the Superman and Blacklight clones, then went to the Mutants World to quickly deal with the remaining troubles.
After all that effort, aside from swallowing up a few fools, there was still no substantial progress.
One week later.
The top floor of Stark Tower.
Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, filling the spacious living room.
These past few days have been uneventful for Chen Mo; in fact, one could say he's bored to death.
His only pastime was a confidential document he had smuggled from Fury.
[A list of super-powered and dangerous individuals worldwide].
Chen Mo leaned back on the sofa, holding a glass of iced cola, and projected the list into the air. He casually swiped the screen, looking as serious as if he were flipping through a restaurant menu.
"Strength-enhancing type... too weak."
"Elemental manipulation type... looks like a fire sprite, it's not appetizing at all."
On the other side, Tony was adjusting his armor in front of the holographic blueprints.
However, as Chen Mo continued to browse the list, his typing on the virtual keyboard became slower and slower.
Whenever Chen Mo lingered on a superpowered person's profile for more than three seconds, or smacked his lips twice while staring at a photo, Tony would break out in a cold sweat.
This scene is absolutely Shocker.
Tony now strongly suspects that Chen Mo used to treat superpowered people like food.
This guy is sitting in the most secure building on Earth, flipping through a list of dangerous people around the world; he doesn't look like he's doing intelligence research at all.
It's more like they're choosing today's dinner.
Seeing Chen Mo staring at the " Human Fly " data for half a minute, Tony finally couldn't help but put down his tools.
"Um... buddy."
"Um?"
Chen Mo didn't even look up.
"You're not really planning to order everything from the list, are you? And this guy's tastes are way too extreme!"
Tony rubbed his hands together and tentatively said, "Quite a few of these people have already been officially registered. Although they might not look very friendly, their character is generally quite good."
Chen Mo finally looked up and sized him up.
Is your brain filled with nothing but engine oil?
He waved his hand dismissively, and the list in mid-air immediately disappeared, replaced by a clear street surveillance video.
Tony secretly breathed a sigh of relief and leaned over to take a look.
The image shows a slightly dirty and messy old street in Brooklyn.
"I can't be bothered talking to you stereotypers."
Chen Mo leaned back deeper into the sofa, shifting to a more comfortable position. "How about we watch the live stream?"
In the surveillance footage, a tall and imposing figure stands on the side of the street.
He was the Asgard crown prince who had just been thrown into Brooklyn a few days earlier and forced to fend for himself.
Thor.
At this moment, Thor was no longer shirtless, but wearing a faded second-hand jacket. His long blond hair was tied back with a broken rubber band, and he was holding half a cheap hot dog in his hand.
Opposite him stood three portly neighborhood police officers.
"Have you been watching his reality show lately?"
Tony looked surprised.
"That's right."
Chen Mo smiled and took a sip of his cola.
In the footage, Thor is seen shoving and pushing several corrupt police officers over a dispute involving a few dollars.
Chen Mo crossed his legs with satisfaction. "See? This alien prince's survival reality show on Earth is much more interesting than going to outer space to fight purple sweet potato monsters."
Brooklyn street corner.
Thor glanced at the menacing-looking police officers in front of him and silently swallowed the last bite of his hot dog.
If this had happened a few days ago, if any mortal had dared to poke him in the chest, he would have shouted the glory of Asgard and summoned thunder to turn them into charred remains.
But now, he just stood there in silence.
In the days since losing his divine powers, Thor has experienced the life of a mortal for the first time.
He would get hungry, he would get cold, and he would be deceived. At night, he would sleep on a park bench, unable to find even a piece of clothing to keep out the wind.
Even that hot dog was bought with money he found in the pockets of two thugs who tried to rob him after he beat them up again.
These police officers in front of them turned out to be the backers that the two thugs had found.
"Kid, this area is under our jurisdiction."
The portly sheriff, holding his baton to Thor's chest, sneered, "I heard you stole my brother's money?"
Thor looked down at the plastic baton.
If this were in the past, even if you brought ten thousand of these, they wouldn't even touch his skin.
But now...
Thor raised the back of his hand and wiped the mustard residue from the corner of his mouth.
He didn't shout that he was the Son of Odin, nor did he threaten to smash the other man's head with Mjolnir; he simply looked calmly at the swaggering fat sheriff in front of him.
"The hot dogs here are pretty good."
"What did you say?"
The fat sheriff's face darkened, and he raised his baton, smashing it down on the man's head. "You dare to mess with me?"
Unfortunately, he was too slow.
Just before the baton fell, Thor's eyes turned cold, and he took a sudden step forward.
He didn't dodge, he just swung his right fist.
"Bang!"
With a dull thud, the over 200-pound police chief was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into a trash can two meters away, and immediately lost consciousness.
The two remaining officers stood frozen in place, their hands gripping their guns beginning to tremble.
Thor twisted his neck, and his bones cracked.
He may no longer be a god.
But he was still a soldier.