You're really bad at this.
Thor looked at Valeria, a slight smirk playing on his lips, and uttered those three words in a nonchalant tone.
Valeria stopped abruptly.
"Can't even handle a zombie virus." Thor switched Stormbreaker to his other hand, his tone excessively nonchalant. "You don't know, do you? In this universe, your Papa — Mister Fantastic Reed Richards —voluntarily embraced the Hunger Virus."
He tilted his head slightly.
"It was on my own initiative."
Valeria completely exploded.
Her terminal was nearly crushed, her long golden hair almost stood on end, and she looked exactly like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
You can say she's short.
You could say she has a bad temper.
You could even say she's not as pretty as Susan Stone.
But you cannot—absolutely cannot—question her scientific literacy!!!
Give me five minutes.
Valeria spoke slowly and deliberately, each syllable uttered through gritted teeth.
"Five minutes, and I'll show you how to slap your face."
Thor raised an eyebrow, giving him a smug "I'll be waiting" look.
Valeria mentally cursed Thor's ancestors for eighteen generations.
Moreover, --Earth-2149.
Franklin had observed this universe before and specifically told her, "That place is dangerous, don't go."
Even his Papa, Reed and Susan, jointly issued a ban, making it seem like some kind of cosmic disaster.
She thought it was something incredibly important.
The result is zombies?
That's it?
Valeria's scientific fervor had completely overwhelmed her fear; she abruptly looked up and stared at Thor.
"Take me upstairs. And catch me a zombie."
Thor didn't waste any words and waved his right hand.
The Law of Space surged, and golden cracks simultaneously bloomed beneath the feet of the four people.
Without any warning, without any buffer, the metal floor of the underground base vanished from view, replaced by a gray sky and the ravaged streets of New York.
The moment Felicia landed, her knees slightly bent, and she was already in a full fighting stance.
Seven or eight zombies sprang out from behind the ruins, moving with incredible speed. Their rotting bodies unleashed a burst of power that was not of any living being, and they lunged straight at them.
Thor didn't even turn his head.
With a casual wave of his hand.
The zombies remained frozen in place.
Their limbs were still making attacking movements, and their muscles were still contracting, but their bodies remained completely still, locked at an absolutely stationary point in three-dimensional coordinates.
Felicia felt a chill run down her spine.
This level of control... so effortless?
She had seen too many superhero abilities, but none of them could embody the word "at will" to this extent.
Valeria pulled a bunch of things out of an almost invisible dimensional pocket at her waist: a miniature particle scanner, a quantum state analyzer, three levitation probes, a holographic projection panel, and a thin silver tube of unknown purpose.
She rushed to the nearest frozen zombie, the probe already inserted.
The holographic projection panel lit up, and data cascaded down like a waterfall.
"No... this isn't a virus." Valeria's mouth began to move uncontrollably. "Strictly speaking, it possesses the characteristics of a virus's transmission, but the underlying logic is completely different—it's a concrete projection of a concept. 'Hunger' itself has been given a material carrier..."
Her fingers flew across the terminal, bringing up deeper layers of data.
"As long as the conceptual basis of 'hunger' exists within any organism, this virus can permanently parasitize it. It doesn't infect cells; it infects cognition itself..."
In order not to let that bastard look down on her, Valeria's brain has entered overclocking mode.
The data was cross-referenced in her mind, and possible paths were established and then overturned.
Suddenly, she stopped.
Those eyes darted around and landed on Thor.
"If I really figure out a solution—" she held up one finger, "You'll let me dissect you once."
"OK."
Thor agreed without hesitation.
If this were something that could be easily solved, the Watcher Uatu wouldn't have had to personally intervene and weld the two universes together into a time loop.
Let her study it; she probably won't come up with anything anyway.
Felicia stood to the side, her gaze shifting back and forth between Wanda and the frantically working girl.
"This... is Mister Fantastic's daughter?" She lowered her voice and leaned closer to Wanda.
Wanda looked at her with some surprise. "You don't recognize me?"
Felicia gave an awkward laugh. "I know such a person exists, but I've never actually seen one."
Thor suddenly remembered something, turned to Wanda beside him, and asked.
"By the way, I don't think I saw that fat Thor when you guys fought Thanos. Where did he go?"
Wanda's expression became subtle.
She glanced at Thor in front of her, her voice low.
"Didn't you have Tony give him a Crystal?"
Thor: "Hmm."
"That thing has now turned into a pendant, hanging around his neck, and he can't take it off."
Wanda's description is calm, but the content is anything but. "Every time he wanted to drink, play video games, or lie still for more than two hours—he would get an electric shock."
She paused for a moment.
"The screams could be heard throughout the entire Avengers Tower."
Felicia: "...?"
Thor gets electrocuted?! What did she hear?
"I think he's probably working out right now," Wanda added, "If he doesn't want to get electrocuted."
She turned to Thor, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Is what you're doing... really okay?"
Thor slung his battle axe over his shoulder.
"I know my own physical capabilities; I won't die. Wouldn't that just give your Prime Universe another capable fighter?"
Wanda didn't respond.
Having another powerful combatant might be a good thing.
But the thought of that method—an electric shock collar that can never be removed, 24-hour monitoring of daily habits, and a lightning strike for the slightest lapse in attention...
She felt a chill run down her spine.
Fortunately, when the Ancient One taught her, she was just a little too harsh. If she had been taught in Thor's style...
She wasn't even sure if she could still be standing here.
"Nailed it."
Valeria's voice suddenly rang out, carrying an extremely complex emotion.
Everyone turned their heads.
The girl stood in front of the zombie. The data on the holographic projection panel had stopped scrolling and was now frozen on an unusually complex structural diagram.
Her expression wasn't good; it was the kind of expression where she had discovered the answer, but the answer itself was unsettling.
I can't eliminate this virus.
She looked up and stared at Thor.
"But I found a vulnerability."
Her finger touched a node in the diagram, and that node was flashing.
"The conceptual anchor of the Hunger Virus isn't in this universe. It's at the intersection of closed loops—the instant the timelines of the two universes reset. If someone can shatter the anchor from the outside at that moment of reset—"
Valeria's finger hovered in mid-air, pointing at Thor.
"What you need to break is not the virus, but the time loop set up by the Watcher itself."
Thor's smile vanished.
Break the closed loop of the Watcher.
This is tantamount to declaring war on Uatu.
Valeria stared at his face, speaking slowly and deliberately.
"What, you're scared?"