Thor coughed twice.
He had considered breaking the Watcher's time loop, but everything has to be cost-effective.
"It's not a matter of daring or not." He took the Stormbreaker off his shoulder and planted it on the ground, blade down. "I need help."
Valeria tilted her head, her golden ponytail swaying.
"What kind of helper?"
Thor ignored her.
He raised his right hand, and a thin golden ray of light condensed at his fingertips, drawing a string of runes in the air that only he could understand.
That's the resonance of the laws of cross-dimensional communication; in plain terms, he's making a phone call.
To Franklin.
no way.
He's still one step away from reaching the Multiverse Level. If he encounters a veteran cosmic-level being like the Watcher, going it alone would be reckless, not courageous.
Moreover, Franklin is one of the very elite at the very top of the pyramid, even in the Multiverse Level.
Thor never felt ashamed of currying favor with powerful figures.
After sending the message, he did not follow Valeria's plan.
Instead, he turned and walked towards the zombie that was frozen in mid-air.
Heaven-Defying Comprehension activated!
The Law of Analysis were laid out, the Law of Calculation were operating in sync, and the Law of Surveying delved into the virus's underlying structure—he wanted to see for himself what this so-called " Hunger Virus " really was.
The data exploded in my mind.
Thor stopped in his tracks.
wrong.
This thing... isn't an ordinary rule.
He has comprehended more than thirty kinds of cosmic laws, from power to space, from time to Oblivion, and each of them has traceable patterns and solvable rules.
But this thing in front of me—
Its underlying logic is not in this dimension at all.
It's like a three-dimensional being trying to understand a projection into four-dimensional space.
You can see its cross-section and analyze its appearance, but its true whole lies outside your cognitive framework.
It's a level above the Infinity Stones.
No, there might be more than one.
This is a dimensional reduction projection of a higher-dimensional concept.
The abstract concept of "hunger" was given a physical form by some force that transcends the multiverse, and then it pierced into the lower-dimensional reality like a needle.
Thor stood there, and closed his eyes.
However, since it is a law, even a law projected from a higher dimension, it has the potential to be comprehended.
He began to attempt deconstruction.
Wanda noticed that Thor's demeanor had changed; his aura was receding, and the lightning arcs on his Stormbreaker had disappeared, replaced by an extremely restrained, almost imperceptible fluctuation.
She had seen this state before; she occasionally entered a similar state during meditation at the Ancient One -Kamar-Taj.
"What is he doing?" Felicia asked in a low voice.
"I understand," Wanda replied with two words.
Felicia opened her mouth, then closed it again.
What did I learn? Did I learn about a virus that even Valeria said was "unavoidable"?
Just then--
A crack appeared in the air without warning.
It wasn't the golden spatial cracks like Thor's, but a more random kind of dimensional folds, almost like they'd been poked by a finger.
A foot wearing flip-flops stepped out first.
Then came a pair of floral shorts, a white short-sleeved shirt with "I ♥ NY" printed on it, and finally a young face with a French fry dangling from his mouth.
Franklin Richards, holding a McDonald's's family bucket in his left hand and a Coke in his right, exuded an aura of "I was just dragged off the sofa."
He landed with the fries still in his mouth.
But the next second, he stopped chewing.
Those seemingly lazy eyes suddenly narrowed, their gaze sweeping over the surrounding desolate streets, the zombies suspended in mid-air, and the frantically recording data—
" Valeria."
His voice deepened, taking on an extremely rare seriousness.
"I remember saying I wouldn't let you into this universe."
Valeria poked half her head out from behind the holographic projection panel, looking completely innocent.
" Franklin, let me explain—"
"This place is dangerous." Franklin placed the McDonald's's family bucket into the air, and it floated there, defying the laws of physics—"It's not just dangerous, it's dangerous."
Valeria's innocent expression vanished, replaced by a serious one.
"How dangerous is it? You can't even handle it?"
Franklin did not answer immediately; his gaze lingered on the frozen zombie for three seconds.
In those three seconds, Felicia saw an extremely subtle distortion in the air around the young man in his baggy shorts.
It was as if reality itself became transparent in the face of his perception.
"You should have already studied this," Franklin said, turning his gaze to his sister. "This virus is a projection of a higher-dimensional concept."
He held up one finger.
"At least one level higher than me."
Valeria's expression changed completely.
Franklin Richards, Omega-level Mutant, a top-tier being in the Multiverse Level, a man who can conjure up Pocket Universe at will, is now saying with a serious expression that this thing is a whole level higher than him.
"This is absolutely not something we can touch." Franklin's tone was calm, each word setting a clear boundary.
Valeria bit her lower lip and quickly reiterated her plan: to shatter the anchor point from the outside at the moment time resets, breaking the closed loop.
Franklin shook his head immediately after hearing this.
"No."
"Why?"
"Your solution only temporarily freed the Hunger Virus from its constraints within this closed loop."
He took a sip of his cola, his voice still calm, "Once the closed loop shatters, it will begin to spread wildly throughout the multiverse."
Valeria was stunned.
"Otherwise, do you think the Watcher are just bored and have nothing better to do?" Franklin tilted his head.
"Welding two universes into a closed loop is to lock this thing inside forever. If you break the lock, it's like opening the door to the entire multiverse."
Valeria opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Her dissection plan has fallen through again.
After only two seconds of silence, her eyes lit up again, radiating a light that sent chills down the spines of everyone who knew her.
" Franklin," she leaned closer, her voice sickeningly sweet, "Could you help me catch Thor?"
Franklin paused in his chewing of the French fries.
"Just let me dissect him once. Just once," Valeria said, holding up a finger. "Then you can bring him back to life, how about that? A win-win situation."
Wanda and Felicia both took a step back.
The two exchanged a glance, seeing the same emotion reflected in each other's pupils: this teenage girl was far more terrifying than a zombie; no wonder she was a mad scientist!
"No." Franklin finished chewing the last French fry and wiped his hands.
Why?
"Because there's a guy sitting on the golden toilet who's been staring this way." Franklin said casually, but Valeria immediately shut up.
"I don't want to fight someone of the same level just to satisfy your pointless request." Franklin retrieved the McDonald's's family bucket that was hovering in the air. "I was just learning how to pilot a Gundam when you guys called me here."
He took half a step back, and the dimensional folds reopened behind him.
"I need to hurry back before Reed notices I've run away. What if Reed catches me—"
He didn't finish speaking, but his expression said it all.
Before Valeria could say anything more, Franklin had already half-submerged into the crevice.
He glanced one last time at Thor, who was still meditating with his eyes closed, and his lips twitched.
"But he... might actually be able to crack this bone."
The crack closed.
The smell of McDonald's's still lingered in the air.
Thor remained motionless in front of the zombie, his Stormbreaker axe planted firmly on the ground, his presence almost nonexistent.
If someone could sense the fluctuations at the level of laws, they would find that the fluctuations around them were resonating at an extremely slow frequency.
That frequency is completely consistent with the conceptual anchor of the Hunger Virus.