On the TV, an interview with a woman was playing.
She stood beside a street filled with ruins, several soot-covered firefighters behind her.
She looked even more disheveled. Her blonde hair was a mess, covered in dust. Her body was smeared with black ash. Yet her eyes shone with hope and longing, ["Captain saved my life. No matter where he is, no matter where they are, I just want to say, thank you!"]
Nick Fury deliberately turned on the TV during his call with the higher-ups of the World Security Council.
This was his team. This was his plan.
After so many years, finally completing this feat, he was very satisfied with the result.
Without exaggeration, they had saved the world.
"You old fossils who like to call the shots on your own, it's time you really listened to the voice of the people."
Thinking this, the smile on Nick Fury's face grew wider.
Even if he was older than anyone among the higher-ups in front of him, that didn't matter.
If your thinking can't keep up with the times, even if you're not yet thirty, you're just a young old fool.
["Where are the Avengers?"]
The higher-ups' attention was successfully drawn to this group of superheroes.
Some believed these people posed a serious threat to Earth's own security and should be strictly controlled and dealt with early.
Nick Fury knew these politicians' dirty thoughts too well. Crossing his arms over his chest, he said lazily, "I'm not tracking their whereabouts right now. They have every reason to take a break."
["And the Tesseract?"]
"It went where it was supposed to go, far away from us."
The higher-ups opposed his unilateral decision regarding something as powerful as the Tesseract.
The topic returned once more to the Avengers. The higher-ups repeatedly stressed, ["They're dangerous!"]
And they received a firm reply from the one-eyed chief, "That's right. They're dangerous."
"We know that. The whole universe knows that now…"
"Isn't that exactly the point of this plan?"
"Damn it, I still remember you guys launching that nuke behind my back. Try smearing my team now and see what happens!"
At this moment, no one was allowed to tarnish his team's name.
He shut off the call in a clean, decisive move, turned around sharply, and strode away with force in every step.
————
Somewhere Far—
Thor was escorting Loki and saying goodbye to Selvig and the others.
When he realized Loki hadn't tried to escape, his brain felt like it wasn't working properly.
His brother had clearly melted into a cloud of mist and disappeared right in front of him earlier. How did he come back?
Since when had he become this obedient?
In fact, Loki hadn't run at all. Stripped of his divine gear and having suffered a setback, he could only use his magic to conjure up a new set of armor for now.
That scheming brain of his was still rebooting.
At the moment, his mouth was tightly gagged to keep him from messing with anyone's mindset again.
It was Banner's idea.
After all, being provoked earlier and smashing so many planes had left him feeling guilty.
"Those were masterpieces of modern technology in the field of weaponry. And I just wrecked them like that. What a waste!"
Loki wanted to say, 'Brother, you're overthinking it.'
Right now he didn't want to say a single word, because Corin was standing not far from him, occasionally glancing over.
Maybe it was Loki's imagination, but there seemed to be a trace of heat in Corin's gaze, as if he wasn't quite satisfied with having stripped him before.
Like a young girl being stared at by a burly man, Loki's palms turned cold, and unease crept up his spine.
There was indeed something hard to read in Corin's eyes as he looked at Loki.
'What a great gold mine! And it respawns on a timer.'
'Go back, let my skills cool down, and when he's ready and shows up in front of me to cause trouble again, that's another harvest waiting.'
Having discovered Loki's true use, Corin looked at him with full anticipation.
Suddenly thinking of something, he walked over to Thor and joked, "Prince, not taking me back to Asgard for a tour?"
Thor glanced at the Tesseract container in his hand, then at Loki, who had visibly stiffened beside him. His honest face was full of awkwardness, "Bro, look at this… how about… next time?"
Corin understood immediately.
Ever since meeting Odin last time, he wasn't in a hurry to go to Asgard anymore.
'Help with something that big, and you only give me one item? Are you kidding?'
Not to mention there's a gatekeeper on the Rainbow Bridge who keeps watch over the Nine Realms at all times.
They say his eyesight is excellent.
If he went to the realm of the gods, he'd definitely be under that guy's constant watch.
And then there was the Allfather, Odin.
With a simple wave of his spear, he had upgraded Corin into a demigod body. That kind of power made Corin wary.
What he didn't know was that the energy Odin gave him didn't actually come from himself, but from an opportunity gained during his Odinsleep.
Odin had merely done him a small favor, handing over a tiny portion of that energy.
The real goal was to have Corin lend a hand in the future, out of goodwill for the gift.
"Old fox…"
Corin knew that even if Thor warmly invited him to Asgard, he would only be able to do as he had said, just take a look around.
The dream of getting rich there would definitely fall through.
'Hmph! Trying to scheme against me?'
'When Ragnarok comes, I'll head over then. I doubt anyone will notice if a few items go missing from the vault at that time.'
He patted Thor on the shoulder and didn't insist any further.
That made Thor recognize this friend even more, "Next time, we'll fight together again, yeah?"
With that, he twisted the handle of the Tesseract container in his hand. Space energy was released and successfully connected to the Rainbow Bridge.
The two brothers turned into a beam of white light and disappeared before the others.
As for why Corin didn't seize the chance to take the Tesseract for himself.
It was because he had already quietly appraised it.
[Space Stone → Valuation: 500 billion USD]
At the time, Corin cursed out loud, "Damn! That's dark. Seriously!"
In the system shop, the Infinity Stones were priced at one trillion dollars, yet the exchange value was only half of that.
"Scam! A straight-up scam!"
The fact that it could even be exchanged had surprised Corin.
He had a faint feeling that the Infinity Stones being exchangeable was a trap.
'Ordinary buildings in New York couldn't be exchanged, and now you're telling me the Space Stone can? That's way too abnormal.'
After all, the most crucial parts of the future plot revolved around the Infinity Stones. If he exchanged it now, unless he bought a new one from the shop later, this world would become extremely dangerous in the later stages.
The math wasn't hard.
Putting aside how S.H.I.E.L.D. would explode if he exchanged the Stone.
Just from the price difference alone, buying and selling would cost him 500 billion on the spot.
He didn't believe another Space Stone could just pop up somewhere else in this universe.
The only likely outcome was that at the critical moment, he'd have no choice but to buy one from the shop.
"You really hid it well."
Anyone would know what to choose.
———
What Corin didn't know was that when he appraised the Space Stone, somewhere on Earth, inside a temple, a bald figure with imposing presence suddenly opened her eyes.
Her face was filled with seriousness.
Only after confirming that Corin made no further move toward the Space Stone did she seem to relax and slowly close her eyes again.
"You chose survival, young man."
The soft murmur was almost inaudible.
That's right, this monk was the Ancient One.
While in meditation, she constantly observed every key turning point in this world's future.
The pendant on her chest emitted a faint glow.
Her attention on Corin was not sudden. She had been watching him for quite some time.
There was one question, "How does he know how to open a sling ring portal?"
Not only that, in different future timelines, she often saw this person's shadow.
Especially at moments tied to the survival of an entire realm, he would always appear.
What left the Ancient One uncertain was that Corin's existence felt filled with the unknown.
It was as if he had suddenly appeared in this world, and frequently interfered with its future development.
If not for the fact that his actions were generally righteous, she might have suspected he was the calamity of this entire plane. Her clenched fist slowly loosened.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.