The world beyond the portal is like a pot of boiling neon soup.
The deafening electronic music mixed with the agonizing screams of some creature created an eerie symphony.
The air was thick with the scents of champagne, perfume, and... an overwhelming, pungent stench of rotting blood.
Countless laser beams swept wildly under the enormous dome, illuminating the garbage planet arena called " Sakaar " like a post-apocalyptic disco.
However, the "guests" on the dance floor were not very friendly.
Zombies with grayish-green skin, bulging, cloudy eyes, and drool and bits of flesh hanging from their mouths are trudging along, chasing after stray survivors to the accompaniment of frenzied music.
"Looks like the Grandmaster's party ran into a little mishap." With Strange wave of his hand, Strange conjured scarlet magical ropes that bound a dozen zombies that pounced on him like dumplings, then tightened them sharply, instantly slicing them into countless pieces.
Silver Surfer was even more direct. He hovered in mid-air, his silver surfboard buzzing beneath his feet, and his fingertips emitted dazzling energy beams that, like precise scalpels, blasted the heads of every zombie that tried to approach.
It's very efficient, but the quantity is too large.
Thor, carrying Mjolnir, lazily followed behind, occasionally smashing away a few stragglers.
Just then, a golden afterimage, accompanied by a piercing shriek that tore through the air, suddenly burst out from the shadows on the side!
The target is none other than the Silver Surfer, who's been cleaning things up the most!
"Watch out!" Strange's warning was only half-said.
"Bang--!"
With a dull thud, the golden afterimage—a Stormbreaker that looked similar to the one in Thor's hand—slammed solidly into the Silver Surfer's back.
Silver Surfer let out a muffled groan, and like a bird shot down, he plummeted straight down from mid-air, crashing into the ground and creating a shallow crater. A clear dent appeared on his silver body.
Immediately afterwards, a tall, burly figure lunged out of the shadows. His face resembled a skinned horse, his muscles contorted, one eye rotted into a black hole, while the other flickered with a crazed red light.
A zombie version of Beta Ray Bill, the Beta Ray Bill!
He roared, opening his mouth full of fangs, and bit down hard on the Silver Surfer on the ground, seemingly wanting to taste what crispy roasted meat with Cosmic Energy tasted like.
Thor sighed inwardly; his slacking-off time was over.
He used a little force and swung Mjolnir away.
"Clang!!!"
Two almost identical hammers collided violently in mid-air, bursting into blinding flashes of electricity.
The Zombie Bill's hammer was knocked far away, while Thor's hammer drew a graceful arc in the air and returned steadily to his hand.
"Hey, big guy!" Thor cracked his knuckles and beckoned to the Zombie Bill had turned to look at him. "What's the point of bullying a skateboarder? Come and spar with the real Thor!"
The Zombie Bill was clearly enraged. He abandoned the Silver Surfer on the ground, let out a deafening roar, stomped his foot on the ground, and transformed into a cannonball, charging straight towards Thor.
Thor grinned, neither dodging nor avoiding, and raised his hammer to meet the attack.
"Boom!"
"Clang!"
"Bang!"
What followed was the most primitive and savage showdown.
It's like two brutes fighting in the street, hammer against hammer, fist against fist.
You give me a hammer, I'll hit you back.
Lightning flashed alongside rotting flesh, sparks mingled with saliva.
Thor was knocked back seven or eight steps by a hammer blow, while the Zombie Bill was also punched and rolled several times on the ground.
Strange and the Silver Surfer had gotten up were both stunned. They had never seen such a... simple and unpretentious fighting style.
Thanos, standing not far away, frowned slightly.
He glanced at Tetiyu, who was watching the farce with great interest, and asked in a deep voice, "Aren't you going to do anything?"
Tetiyu's gaze shifted from Thor to the zombies lurking at the edge of the battlefield. She shook her head slightly, a hint of disdain in her voice:
"I don't want to touch these disgusting things. They're neither alive nor dead, just a bunch of moving rotten flesh, so filthy."
Thanos did not try to persuade him further.
This being's aura was similar to that of the Goddess of Death he followed, yet it also seemed to be something more ancient and powerful; he couldn't see through it.
But it doesn't matter; he only has one goal.
In the midst of their conversation, the tide of battle turned.
Thor seemed to be "out of strength," and staggered, giving the Zombie Bill an opportunity to smash his hammer into his chest.
"Puff!"
Thor pretended to spit out a mouthful of "blood" and flew backward, but in the middle of the flight, he swung the hammer in his hand at a tricky angle, which hit the Zombie Bill -faced head, which was wide open due to the excessive force.
At the same time, a magical beam from Strange and an energy wave from the Silver Surfer arrived "coincidentally" at the same time, striking the legs of the Zombie Bill.
The Zombie Bill froze, and Thor's hammer was already hurtling towards it.
"Bang!"
Like a smashed watermelon, the Zombie Bill's head exploded instantly, splattering red and white matter all over the ground.
The headless corpse swayed twice before collapsing to the ground with a thud.
Thor, panting, got up from the ground, leaning on his hammer, and shouted wearily to the crowd:
"It's done! Guys, I feel like... I could play like this all day!"
Strange and the Silver Surfer exchanged a glance, neither paying any attention to the drama queen, and turned to lead the way into the nearby, once magnificent but now dilapidated palace.
Tetiyu walked last, and as she passed Thor, she stopped, looking him over with interest, a slight smile playing on her lips.
" Thor, you seem to be having a lot of fun. How did it feel to get hit a few times?"
Thor ignored her, inwardly thinking: Happy? Do you know how tiring it is to control 99.999% of your strength while pretending to be evenly matched?
As for how many times he'll be hit?
Just kidding. With this little horse, let alone hitting me, even if he stood here and let me hit him for a hundred years, he would get exhausted first.
He simply waved his hand, shouldered his hammer, and followed. Right now, playing it safe was more important; he didn't have the strength to go toe-to-toe with the Knull of this universe.
The group entered the Grandmaster's palace, and along the way, they also cleared out dozens of zombies dressed in gorgeous costumes.
Finally, behind the throne piled high with gold and silver treasures, they found their target.
The Elders of the Universe, the Grandmaster, was trembling and hiding in the shadow of a giant golden statue.
Upon seeing someone enter, he was first startled, then his face lit up with wild joy.
"Oh! Great! Finally, there are living people!" He scrambled out, pointing at the zombies outside, his face filled with lingering fear.
"You really have no idea how disgusting these monsters are! They actually tried to bite my head! My head! The most precious head in the entire universe!"
As he spoke, his gaze swept quickly across the crowd, finally meeting Thor's eyes.
For a fraction of a second, the Grandmaster's exaggerated expression of terror froze, and Thor raised an eyebrow slightly.
A glance exchanged, and the message was instantly understood.
Grandmaster: 'Oh, fellow travelers?'
Thor: 'Yeah, just trying to make a living.'
They both instantly realized from each other's eyes that they were both acting, but they tacitly kept quiet.
"Where is the last Infinity Stones?" Thanos had no interest in watching his performance. He stepped forward, and a huge shadow loomed over the Grandmaster.
"Ah! Here! Here!" The Grandmaster seemed terrified, trembling as he pulled a gem radiating red light from his flamboyant blue robe and offered it with both hands.
"Great Death Titans, only the power of the Infinity Stones is worthy of you! And only you can end this nightmare!"
Thanos took the red gem, a glint of fanaticism flashing in his eyes.
He raised the Infinity Gauntlet on his left hand, and the five gems shone brightly, with only one slot remaining.
He aligned the Reality Stone with the groove, preparing to press it in—
"BOOM!!!"
The palace's main gate, made of pure gold, was smashed open from the outside in an extremely violent manner!
The metal door panel twisted and deformed, flying inwards. Amidst the billowing smoke and dust, several deformed figures slowly walked in.
The leader of them had only half a head left; its body was entirely made of orange rock.
Beside him were a zombie whose body could stretch like a rubber band, a female zombie whose body appeared and disappeared intermittently, a huge green giant with rotting skin, and a zombie wearing a green Cloak with half of its face covered by a metal mask.
The Zombie Fantastic Four, the Zombie Hulk, and Zombie Doctor Doom.
The elongated zombie, Reed Richards, sniffed the air, grinned with a smile that stretched to his ears, and uttered a muffled yet greedy sound:
"Let me see... What smells so good? Oh, it's... a buffet delivered to our door!"