Seeing that Thor ignored him, Loki continued to speak:
"You know, I could only say that about the situation during the day; I cannot lose the Grandmaster's trust."
"Save your lies, Loki. Get out!" Thor couldn't be bothered to pay attention to him.
"Don't be so hasty, I'm here to help you." Loki lowered his voice. "Although the Grandmaster is a madman, I can clearly handle him with ease."
Thor sneered, not buying it at all.
"You're helping me? You only ever help yourself."
"I have a plan." Loki ignored Thor's mockery. "As long as you cooperate with me. Not only can you regain your freedom, but this place will also belong to..."
Loki didn't continue; he pointed at Thor, then at himself.
"Put away those ridiculous schemes of yours."
Thor looked at Loki's ambitious face and turned his head away in disdain.
"Even without cooperating with you, I will be free in a year."
"A year? Hahaha!" Loki couldn't help but laugh.
"You don't actually believe the Grandmaster's nonsense, do you, Thor? When did you become so naive?"
"The Grandmaster said the exact same thing to the last gladiator who won thirty matches in a row: as long as you win the annual championship, you can gain your freedom."
"And what was the result?" Loki spread his hands. "Only his soul gained its freedom."
"You are his slave, Thor. No one tells the truth to a slave. Your value lies in entertaining people here until you lose your value, and then die a lowly death."
Thor stared at Loki's projection.
He knew that Loki must be brewing countless sinister schemes in his mind, and things were definitely not as simple as he made them sound.
This bastard might stab him in the back at any moment.
But now that he wanted to escape, he had no other options.
After pondering for a moment, Thor nodded.
"Fine... let me hear your damned plan."
Upon hearing this, Loki smiled slyly.
"A wise choice, my dear brother."
He lowered his voice and began to explain the plan.
"In a few days, it will be the biggest event on Sakaar, the Champion of Champions annual title defense. It's the largest event segment here, and most of the gladiator slaves will be brought out to compete."
"And while the Grandmaster's rule seems unbreakable, the scavengers and gladiator slaves under him have long been dissatisfied."
"They just lack a leader."
Loki pointed at Thor.
"As the current star of the arena, you have a very high appeal among those slaves."
"When the time comes, you must use an overwhelming victory on the field to bring your reputation to its peak! Then, immediately launch a rebellion and incite an uprising!"
"As soon as the arena is in chaos, it will attract the attention of the Grandmaster and all the guards."
A sharp glint flashed in Loki's eyes.
"And I will take the opportunity to sneak into the Grandmaster's palace and obtain the highest control of the Obedience Disks!"
"As long as I control the authority, the Grandmaster will be a commander with no troops. This Planet will also be in my... our pocket!"
"By then, whether you want to return to Asgard or stay here and share power with me, it's all up to you."
Thor frowned and immediately pointed out the fatal flaw in the plan.
"That won't work! Even if I can incite an uprising, what about the controller on my neck? The Grandmaster can knock me out just by flicking his fingers."
Loki laughed confidently, as if everything was under his control.
"Of course I've considered this."
"Before you go on stage tomorrow, my inside man will secretly slip you a signal jammer."
"As long as you detonate it, within half an hour, all signals within a one-kilometer radius of the entire arena will be disabled. The Obedience Disks will also lose control."
"And this half hour is enough for you to go on a rampage."
"Are you sure that jammer thing works?" Thor was skeptical.
"You can rest assured! This is a top-tier item I spent a lot of money to get on the black market. It's a work by the famous artisan of the Universe, Master Rocket."
Loki guaranteed it with certainty.
Rocket?
Thor was slightly stunned; the name sounded a bit familiar.
Forget it, it's not important.
"I'll trust you one more time, Loki. If you dare to lie to me again..."
"At your disposal, my dear brother."
Loki bowed elegantly.
Then the illusion turned into specks of green light and disappeared from the cell.
...
Two days later.
The Sakaar Champion of Champions annual championship officially kicked off.
The huge circular arena was packed.
Millions of spectators from various races erupted into deafening, fanatical roars.
Above the center of the arena, the Grandmaster's hundred-meter-tall holographic image slowly appeared.
He was wearing an ostentatious golden robe, beaming with a smile.
"My dear scavengers, cleaners, and those bastards who don't know which garbage dump you crawled out of!"
"Welcome to the greatest annual celebration!"
"Today, we don't talk about rules, we only talk about blood!"
The Grandmaster waved his arms exaggeratedly, his voice echoing throughout the arena via loudspeakers.
"Prepare your eyes to witness cruelty, witness violence, witness... art!"
The audience erupted into even more fanatical roars.
At this moment, in the backstage preparation area of the arena.
Thor put on heavy gladiator armor, with a short sword and a sturdy shield on his back.
A hooded attendant walked up to him and quietly slipped a small black ball into his hand.
Thor looked down, then silently tucked it into his waist.
"Now! Please welcome our current hottest rising star — the Thunder King!"
As the host called out, the heavy gate slowly opened.
Thor's opponent was already standing in the center of the arena.
It was a beast-man over three meters tall, with four thick arms, each holding heavy dual hammers and dual axes.
"Kill him! Tear him apart!" The audience instantly roared with bloodlust.
The battle erupted instantly.
The beast-man roared and charged, the ground trembling slightly under his stomps.
The two heavy hammers swung toward Thor with a whistling sound.
"Clang!"
Thor raised his shield and withstood the bombardment of the heavy hammers.
Then, taking advantage of his recovery time, he slashed his sword at the beast-man's wrist.
"Roar!"
The beast-man felt the pain and swung his other arms with battle axes in a sweeping motion.
Thor leaped up, twisting his body nimbly in the air, the battle axe grazing his back armor.
Thor discarded the deformed shield and leaped up.
Twisting his body nimbly in the air, the battle axe grazed his back armor.
At this moment, his eyes flashed with dazzling lightning.
"Crackle!"
Violent lightning surged from his palm onto the short sword.
Thor roared, the short sword wrapped in thunder as it precisely sliced across the beast-man's neck.
"Boom!"
The beast-man's head and neck exploded in the lightning, and his massive body crashed to the ground.
The entire arena was silent for half a second, then erupted into deafening, crazy cheers.
"Thunder King! Thunder King! Thunder King!"
Now is the time!
Thor stood on the beast-man's corpse, pulled the jammer from his waist, and slammed it onto the ground.
"Hum—!"
The electromagnetic pulse spread, instantly enveloping the entire arena.
The holographic screens on the field flickered twice and went black.
The commentator's voice also came to an abrupt halt.
Thor grabbed the Obedience Disk on his neck and tried to remove it.
But as soon as he applied force, his body began to go numb.
It seemed that although the Obedience Disk had blocked the remote signal, forcibly removing it would still activate the punishment function.
Then he would just have to follow Loki's plan.
The moment of uprising!
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