Frost City, Asgard, Lord's Office.
Thor lay half-reclined on the sofa, popping a grape into his mouth while watching the holographic projection in front of him with great interest.
Betsy leaned quietly against him, her gaze also fixed on the screen, holding a plate of snacks in her hands, feeding Thor a piece every now and then.
The screen is playing Frost City's third most popular entertainment activity: virtual combat, which could also be described as a real-life battle royale game.
This is something Valeria made up on a whim when she was bored; it's a large-scale holographic simulation game.
The skill gap between the fighters in the city's fighting arenas is too large. You can't send a newly enhanced Captain America to fight overpowered monsters like Hulk, Thor, and Wonder Woman; that would be pure suicide.
Therefore, this virtual fighting game came into being.
Here, all participants' physical abilities are forcibly reduced to the level of ordinary people, and the competition is purely based on fighting skills and on-the-spot reactions.
What's happening right now is a battle royale with 500 players, parachuting, scavenging for gear, and fighting each other, with the ten survivors sharing a 50 million yuan prize.
" Bruce truly lives up to his reputation as DC's 'father,' it's a complete game-changer!" Thor looked at a corner of the screen, a smile unconsciously creeping onto his lips.
At that moment, Bruce Wayne was lying motionless in the grass, wearing a ghillie suit.
With a soft gunshot heard on the screen, yet another unfortunate soul vanished as a stream of data.
Thor found it amusing.
Back in his own universe, this man was Gotham's richest man, a billionaire.
When he arrived in Frost City, he became a high-level wage earner, but still a penniless one.
By Bruce's own standards, anyone with less than nine figures in US dollars in personal savings is considered destitute.
It's in line with his public image to compete in this kind of competition for money.
However, Thor knew the inside story: Bruce hadn't volunteered for this; it was his good-for-nothing son, Damian, who had secretly signed him up.
"This guy's really going all out for a little bonus," Thor muttered casually, then switched back to Deadpool and Taskmaster for a look.
One was full of witty banter and jumping around, while the other had learned all the moves from others and fought back and forth.
The comments section was buzzing with arguments, everyone betting on which of the three would come out on top.
Just then, a suppressed voice of anger came from behind the desk.
" Thor!"
Emma Frost slammed a document down on the table, her icy blue eyes filled with displeasure. " Frost City is your city, can't you be a little more considerate?"
Thor didn't even turn his head, his eyes still glued to the screen, and casually replied, "Isn't that what you're doing? I'm perfectly at ease."
Emma Frost's chest heaved with anger. "You think I'm at ease? Do you know how many emails I handle a day? A full three thousand five hundred! And that's just my workload for today!"
"So many?" Thor was genuinely a little surprised; he remembered that the reports his subordinates submitted were usually very concise.
"Does simplification have anything to do with how much it is?" Emma Frost scratched her long, smooth, golden curls, feeling a throbbing pain in her temples.
Thor thought for a moment, then casually suggested, "How about we let Madelyne help you?"
"I don't need it!" Emma Frost refused without even thinking; she didn't want other women hanging around under her nose.
Her gaze swept over Betsy, who was still eating on the sofa, and her tone became even more unfriendly, "I don't want any more idiots adding to my burden."
The moment the words left his mouth, a chill instantly spread through the air.
Betsy jumped to her feet, her deep purple eyes narrowing into slits as she stared straight at Emma Frost.
"Who are you calling an idiot? Emma Frost!"
Emma Frost stood up as well, cracked her knuckles, and curled a defiant smile at the corner of her lips, "Whoever gets angry first, that's who it is."
"Are you going to attack again, Emma Frost?" Betsy's voice was calm, but the danger in it was obvious to everyone.
"Indeed," Emma Frost stretched, her pure white suit accentuating her perfect curves, "It's been a while since I've punched you, I hope you've improved."
The next second, a white starlight and a purple psionic blade collided instantly.
boom!
The expensive, handcrafted coffee table made by the dwarves in the office was instantly reduced to dust.
Thor didn't even lift his eyelids, but subtly moved the snack plate next to him closer to himself to avoid being affected by the aftershocks of the battle.
He was used to these two women fighting at the drop of a hat.
Anyway, they all know their limits. At most, they'll just destroy some furniture like a husky; no one will die.
As he watched Emma Frost and Betsy go back and forth in the office, with diamond shards and psionic sparks flying everywhere, he turned his attention back to the holographic screen.
Yes, Batman took down another one.
Indeed, he has the potential to become this year's Champion.
Just then, with a "beep," Valeria's holographic projection suddenly popped up and appeared directly in front of Thor.
Her expression remained calm as always, and she spoke rapidly, " Thor, the three advance teams sent out to investigate anomalies in the multiverse have found nothing."
Thor grunted in agreement.
This kind of thing happens often; the multiverse is too vast, so it's normal not to find any clues.
"But," Valeria changed the subject, " Wanda just contacted me, Tony Stark's daughter Morgan, Peter Parker, and Sentry Robert are all missing."
Thor stopped moving and finally looked up from the game screen at Valeria.
Valeria continued, "All conventional and unconventional means of communication have been cut off; even Lumina cannot trace any of their signals."
The office fell silent instantly.
Even Emma Frost and Betsy, who were having a good time fighting, stopped and looked over at the same time.
They knew very well what Morgan and Peter meant to Tony Stark, and the disappearance of the Sentry was a major event in itself.
To be able to take away all three people silently and completely sever all contact is something that no ordinary person could do.
The lazy smile on Thor's face disappeared.
He slowly sat up straight, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest of the sofa.
* Morgan Stark, Peter Parker, and the Sentry...*
Thor's mind raced.
The first two had close ties with Tony.
The Sentry, on the other hand, is a walking high-energy bomb.
The fact that these three people were kidnapped together makes the other party's intentions quite intriguing.
They're either after Tony, or they have a bigger scheme.
Moreover, the technology to block Valeria's tracking is beyond the reach of most cosmic civilizations.
"Can you find out where they were last seen?" Thor asked.
"It will take some time to backtrack the data and perform model derivations," Valeria replied crisply. "Their methods were very clean; they erased all traces."
Thor pondered for a moment, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
"Check."
He only said one word.
"Once you've found out, don't rush into action," Thor continued, his voice calm yet carrying an undeniable authority. "Send Dark Strange, Kara, and my good brother Loki —these three exploration teams—to go together."
Emma Frost and Betsy were both somewhat surprised.
The Dark Supreme Sorcerer, Kryptonian of Universe Level, and the number one mage of the Nine Realms wielding the Heart of Lies.
This trio is enough to dominate most of the universes.
Was this kind of deployment just to "find someone"?
"After finding those rats hiding in the gutter," Thor leaned back on the sofa, picked up a grape again, but this time, he didn't eat it; he just twirled it between his fingers.
"Just let me know."