Ch: 81-90
Chapter 81: Ghost-Spider Debuts, Karl's Jealousy!
When the time comes, I'll just have HYDRA bring prisoners from jail for Dr. Lan to experiment on.
Anyway, America doesn't have much else, but as for criminals in prison, there are as many as you could possibly want!
There are even so many inmates that American prisons operate on a rotation system; to fit a batch of new criminals, a batch of old ones must be released, or else the prisons simply wouldn't be able to house them all!
This is all thanks to the idiotic policies where most states in America have abolished the death penalty while allowing guns to proliferate freely.
So, HYDRA taking prisoners for research is actually helping to relieve the pressure on American prisons!
Dr. Lan nodded respectfully: "Understood!"
After making arrangements for Dr. Lan, Karl didn't linger. He exited the Shadow World and went to get some sleep.
Over the next month, life on Earth remained relatively peaceful, and the members of the Justice Leaguewere each busy with their own affairs.
Tony was busy iterating on his Iron Man armor while also researching and analyzing the formula for the super soldier serum.
Captain America still drank a little wine every day, and after drinking, he would head into the back alleys. Don't misunderstand, he wasn't looking for streetwalkers; he was performing his daily routine of cleaning up scum.
Captain America would kill any parasite he saw preparing to commit murder or robbery in the dark corners of the city, showing no mercy!
Peter remained the most diligent member of the Justice League. He had to attend school and then transform into Spider-Man after classes, conducting several hours of high-intensity crime-fighting.
Then there were Dr. Banner and Hulk. After Karl's physical 'persuasion,' the two souls in one body both accepted Karl's recruitment and joined the Justice League.
However, Karl hadn't found a suitable body for Dr. Banner yet, so Dr. Banner and Hulk were still sharing the same body for the time being.
Under Karl's mediation, he finally made the executive decision to split the body's usage time equally between the two souls: Dr. Banner would control the body on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday; Hulkwould control it on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; and on Sunday, Hulk would have the first 12 hours while Dr. Banner would have the latter 12. This allowed for a perfect handover between the two souls.
During the time Dr. Banner controlled the body, he worked with Tony as a researcher.
During the time Hulk controlled the body, he went on missions with the Justice League as a combatant.
One person's salary for two people's worth of work—he was simply the ultimate corporate slave!
Perfect!
Finally, there was Karl himself. He also held two roles: presiding over Justice League operations and occasionally handling supervillain incidents that others found difficult to resolve.
Occasionally, he also had to go to HYDRA to carry out assassin missions, accumulating merits within HYDRA to prepare for his future rise to power.
On his days off, he had his daily dates with Gwen, and in his spare time, he'd meet up with Hill in Washington.
On the surface, Karl seemed very idle, but in reality, he could be said to be the busiest person of all.
Oh, right. During this month, Gwen also gradually mastered all of Spider-Man's abilities.
After receiving verbal instruction from Peter and hands-on combat training from Karl, Gwen was now a qualified Superhero.
For this, Karl gave Gwen a classic Ghost-Spider hooded suit in white, red, and black.
Naturally, after finishing her superpower training, Gwen also joined Karl's Justice League and, under Karl's supervision, successfully executed several supernatural missions on her own.
And as soon as Gwen debuted, because of her rare image as a female Superhero and her immediate membership in the globally famous Justice League as its sixth member, she gained many loyal fans!
However, shortly after Gwen's debut, because her abilities were identical to Peter's Spider-Manabilities, many people mistakenly thought the two were a CP (couple)!
This point made Karl very unhappy!
During those days, Karl's face would sour whenever he saw Peter, causing Peter's Spider-Sense to ring incessantly whenever he saw Karl, making Peter avoid him for days.
But before this matter could fully ferment, after a Justice League team operation, during a press interview, Gwen—without Karl's knowledge—took off her hood when it was her turn to speak and gave Karl a big surprise kiss in front of the global live broadcast cameras!
At the same time, she also revealed her true identity for Karl's sake!
Gwen used practical action to debunk the online rumors!
In the following time, naturally, no one was blind enough to suggest that Spider-Man and Spider-Woman were a CP anymore; instead, they were all shipping the God and Spider-Woman CP!
However, because Gwen had also revealed her identity, Peter suffered again.
After all, Peter had finally waited for a masked Superhero in the Justice League who, like him, didn't reveal their true identity, only for her to reveal it after a few days, leaving him as the only anonymous hero again... Now there were comments online saying that maybe he was too ugly to show his face!
Peter could only watch in impotent rage, muttering that he was actually very handsome!
After Gwen revealed her identity, besides becoming more eye-catching on campus, it didn't actually bring her any trouble.
After all, Gwen's father was Director Stacy of the New York Police Department, and her boyfriend was the Justice League's most powerful Superhero, God Karl. Who would be blind enough to provoke this combination of a second-generation police officer and a second-generation superhuman?
Supervillains wouldn't dare seek death like that!
Besides this, Karl was also busy with another matter recently.
That was recruiting people for the Justice League.
After all, Karl planned to develop the Justice League to a global scale, just like HYDRA.
And now, although the members of the Justice League were slowly increasing—with Dr. Banner and Gwen joining this month—it wasn't enough.
While more than enough for carrying out justice in New York, if they were to expand globally, six people were still too few.
So, Karl simply started a Vought-style national Superhero selection.
Those who succeeded in the selection could become new members of the Justice League.
As the only officially certified Superhero team currently popular worldwide, the Justice League's recruitment announcement immediately ignited the entire internet, attracting countless people from all over the World.
Many Superheroes, as well as those who considered themselves Superheroes, came to participate in the selection.
In the beginning, Karl even personally acted as a selection officer for a few days with great interest.
But after a few days, Karl discovered that among those who came for the selection, there were truly all sorts of freaks and monsters!
There were those whose fingers could only poke out tiny sparks, those who could shoot out disgusting blackheads from their noses, and those who could make their armpit hair grow long to strangle people—all sorts of trash superpowers!
Chapter 82 – Justice League Tryouts: The Unexpected Recruits
...And those were the decent ones. Sure, their powers were garbage, but at least they actually had powers.
What was even more ridiculous were the ordinary people who showed up in cosplay!
One claimed his power was "super allergies"—he could be allergic to anything he touched.
Another had "super diabetes," somehow afflicted with two mutually exclusive types at once.
Then there was "super luck"—she insisted she was just naturally lucky!
Total nonsense, right?
In the end, Karl couldn't bear to watch. He delegated the job to Captain America—the most idle and famous face around—to screen candidates for the Justice League.
After Karl flipped Captain's personality, the selection criteria became brutal and straightforward.
Step onto the platform, fight him. Anyone still on the ground after one minute was out; only those still standing advanced to the next round and became real candidates.
The moment people heard they'd have to spar with Captain America, over ninety percent of the line outside Base dropped out the next day.
Only the confident remained.
Among the handful who passed were names even Karl hadn't expected. First was the so-called "super-lucky" civilian he'd written off as a joke—Domino.
According to Captain, she was just an ordinary woman with basic combat skills.
Yet every time he nearly knocked her out, some freak accident made him miss, letting her stay on the platform by pure coincidence.
She lasted the full minute on luck alone.
Crazy, huh? Turns out her claim wasn't hot air.
Second was a familiar face: Skye, who during last month's Hulk-vs-Abomination brawl had awakened vibrational powers just in time to save Gwen.
Skye's abilities were still unreliable, but with Gwen egging her on she gave the tryouts a shot.
Karl tipped off Captain in advance, so when Skye's first blast took thirty nervous seconds to materialize, Captain still let her through.
Connections matter; the World is one big network.
Third was another ordinary human, but unlike Domino he relied on pure skill.
Using traditional martial arts honed since childhood, he survived the full minute against Captain.
Captain admitted that without the buzzer the kid could've kept going.
His name was Shaun—though Karl immediately recognized him as Shang-Chi.
The valet from the hotel he and Gwen had visited.
After sensing something off about the boy, Karl had HYDRA dig up his file: Xu Shang-Chi, son of Xu Wenwu, leader of the Ten Rings.
Karl had planned to recruit him but got distracted.
Now Shang-Chi had walked right into his net.
Karl wasn't about to let the opportunity slip.
The kid's potential was one thing; the stories tied to him were another.
He wanted the Ten Rings in Wenwu's hands and the ancient Ten Rings organization itself—older than HYDRA.
He also wanted the hidden village of Ta Lo, home to mythic beasts and a certain dragon.
That dragon was a walking treasure hoard; its scales were a magic material more valuable than Vibranium and deadly to dimensional entities.
He just wasn't sure he could take the entire village yet.
By movie standards he figured he could manage a fifty-fifty fight, but to be safe he'd wait for two more talismans—ideally the Dragon talisman—before soloing the "Ta Lo dungeon.
After all, the village housed not only Guardian and the dragon but also a sealed dimensional rift.
He'd need a plan for that portal; conquering Ta Lo only to face an invasion would ruin everything.
Those dimensional creatures were tougher than any Guardian—formless, immune to normal weapons, vulnerable only to dragon-scale blades.
If they broke loose on Earth, the headache would be cosmic.
Kamar-Taj and the Ancient One would step in eventually, but Karl had already bent the timeline left and right without drawing the Sorcerer Supreme's wrath.
He couldn't repay that tolerance by adding to her workload.
Not when he still had zero chance against the budget-blessed Sorcerer Supreme.
He even toyed with the idea of speeding Stephen Strange along—sending someone to break the doctor's hands so he'd head to Nepal and relieve the Ancient One.
He dropped it.
Strange might figure out Karl had arranged the accident and come for revenge.
And compared to the Ancient One, Strange was about as reliable as Nick Fury and General Ross—those two civil-war magnets who stirred up trouble every other week.
Better to let the Ancient One stay a few more years—at least until Karl collected all twelve talismans.
Without her, every Lord of the Dimension would throw a party on Earth, and that would be a circus nobody wanted.
Chapter 83: Ancient One's Thoughts, a Sudden World-Ending Crisis?
While Karl was constantly changing his mind, far away in the Himalayas, in a secluded ancient building in Nepal, a bald woman with a shiny head sat cross-legged on a futon, meditating and cultivating.
But in the next moment, the ancient necklace she wore around her neck opened automatically, revealing the brilliant green gem flashing inside.
Ancient One opened her eyes, as calm as Water, and looked down at the Time Stone glowing within the eye of agamotto.
As the green light from the Time Stone reflected in Ancient One's eyes, it showed scenes of the future.
Moreover, they were two completely different future scenarios, yet both were possibilities that could become the real future.
Ancient One only took a couple of glances before skillfully closing the eye of agamotto, not finishing the two distinct but simultaneous future scenes.
Because she had seen too many of these images where different futures appeared simultaneously over the past nineteen years, especially in these last two years.
And this change, which clearly didn't follow the laws of the timeline, all stemmed from one person... After closing the eye of agamotto, Ancient One looked toward New York and sighed:
"His own fate is closely linked to the fate of the entire World, and even the Universe. Yet, because a new king has ascended, he remains untroubled by temporal corrections. What a lucky kid..."
"It's just that although this kid has many ideas, he hasn't put enough action into them. For a young man, he's as cautious and cunning as an old fox..."
"Seriously... young people should just do what they want. Why have so many concerns? You're delaying my early retirement..."
Ancient One pondered for a moment, her fingers lightly stroking the eye of agamotto on her chest, as if making a decision.
After a long time, Ancient One stood up from the futon, a faint, almost imperceptible curve appearing at the corner of her mouth:
"Since you have concerns, let me give you a push..."
"Right now, this kid's Dimensional Power is already comparable to a small-scale Lord of the Dimension. It's just that in the application of Dimensional Power, because no one has taught him, he still seems too naive. Aside from the special summoning ability inherent to the dimension itself, he doesn't even know basic Dimensional Power projection. It seems you need a teacher to instruct you on the correct use of Dimensional Power..."
And on Earth, who could be more qualified to teach Karl about Dimensional Power than herself, who has taught dimensional magic for thousands of years and absorbed the power of countless Lords of the Dimension?
But just as Ancient One raised her hand, preparing to open a portal to meet Karl and dispel the concerns in his heart to help him grow faster, her outstretched hand paused before the portal could open. Her eyes narrowed as she looked in another direction:
"Oh? Even Asgard has been affected by this little butterfly of fate, causing the timeline to move up..."
"Or rather... has His Majesty the God King also taken an interest in this little butterfly that can change fate?"
Ancient One's expression turned cold. With a wave of her hand, she opened a brilliant portal in front of her.
But this portal didn't lead to the Justice League; it led to Asgard!
[Warning! Warning! An abnormal energy source is invading Earth! Energy levels exceed the system's detection limit! Issuing a Level 1 Quasi-World-Ending Warning! All members of the Justice League, please enter emergency combat readiness!]
[Repeating...]
Just as Karl was interviewing Shang-Chi, Jarvis's piercing alarm suddenly echoed in every corner of the Justice League Base.
Hearing the sound, Karl frowned and stood up abruptly, his expression becoming serious.
To better distinguish the severity of disasters, the danger levels within the Justice League had been divided into five levels by him, Tony, Peter, and Captain America.
From lowest to highest, they were:
Level 5: Ordinary armed criminals or the lowest level of superpowered criminals like Blackhead—events that a single member of the Justice League could easily resolve.
Level 4: Average superpowered criminals, but dangerous missions that ordinary police firearms can no longer handle. A single Justice League member can generally resolve these.
Level 3: Crimes involving stronger superpowered individuals that the police are completely unable to solve. Weaker members of the Justice League struggle to handle these alone, requiring two or more members.
Level 2: Events that no single Justice League member—excluding an outlier like Karl—can absolutely solve. These are major crises capable of threatening an entire city, such as the battle between Hulk and Abomination.
Level 1: The highest level, which even Karl cannot solve alone. A Quasi-World-Ending Crisis threatening a country or even the entire Planet, requiring the mobilization of all Justice Leaguemembers.
Finally, there's the World-Ending Level.
This level hasn't been officially introduced by the Justice League, so naturally, there's no description for it.
Because when a crisis of this level occurs, either they won't notice it at all before Ancient One resolves it, or by the time they do notice, Earth will already be finished.
It's beyond the Justice League's scope of handling.
At least for now, the Justice League doesn't have the capability to handle World-Ending crises; Level 1 is already their limit.
And even then, they might not necessarily be able to solve it.
Therefore, the World-Ending level was not included in the standard crisis levels.
Thus, when a Level 1 alarm sounds, it is the highest alarm for the Justice League.
All members of the Justice League, regardless of what they are doing, must immediately drop everything upon receiving a Level 1 alarm and assemble to resolve the crisis!
Karl pushed open the door and said in a heavy voice to the Justice League candidates waiting for their interviews:
"You don't need to participate in the rest of the interview process. A highest-level crisis has appeared on Earth. All Justice League members must set out immediately. You will also begin the emergency practical combat phase right now!"
"As long as you survive after this mission is completed, you can all join the Justice League as official members!"
"But the risk is proportional. For a Level 1 mission, even we official members can't guarantee we'll all survive. So, those who are unwilling can leave now."
After saying that, Karl didn't wait for their answer and walked quickly toward the Hall of Justice.
The Hall of Justice is the gathering place for team meetings and team operations.
And... it's more than just an ordinary hall... Shang-Chi, Skye, and the other candidates looked at each other. In the end, no one chose to leave, and they all followed in Karl's footsteps.
Chapter 84: The Thor Plot Begins, Everyone's Worry... They had just heard the alarm as well—a near-apocalyptic event. If the World was truly going to be destroyed, where could they escape to even if they left now?
So, they might as well stay with the members of the Justice League and die like heroes!
Not only were Karl and these candidates rushing to the Hall of Justice.
Tony and Dr. Banner, who were doing research, and Gwen and Peter, who were in class, were all rushing there at top speed.
Even Captain America, who was slacking off while taking a dump in the restroom at that moment, decisively cut his business short upon hearing this Level 1 alarm and rushed over as quickly as possible, pulling up his pants.
After everyone arrived at the Hall of Justice, Karl didn't waste any words. He waved his hand and ordered, "Jarvis, set off immediately. Take us to the destination of the incident. Report the specific situation on the way."
[Understood!]
Clang, clang, clang—
Jarvis projected a blue light to scan everyone. Immediately, the floor of the hall split open, and a peculiar metal chair equipped with a seatbelt appeared behind each person.
[Please fasten your seatbelts, everyone. Preparing to head to the destination.]
"Seat... seatbelts?"
Hearing Jarvis's reminder, the old members sat down and skillfully fastened the seatbelts on their chairs, but the new members were completely bewildered.
Aren't they indoors? Why do they need seatbelts? And how are they going to get to the destination?
They didn't have to wonder for long before they found the answer.
The ceiling above the hall opened from both sides, and then the entire hall actually rose from the ground, constantly ascending into the sky!
During the ascent, metal bulkheads rose from around the metal floor beneath their feet, fitting together perfectly to transform the hall into a sci-fi spacecraft cabin!
Tony slapped his chair, moving his seat to the nose of the craft. He turned his head and winked at the stunned newcomers:
"Boys, wipe your drool and hurry up and sit down and fasten your seatbelts. Otherwise, once the jet takes off, the speed will instantly accelerate to Mach 5. If you break your butts, Uncle Tony won't be responsible, oh~"
Hearing Tony's words, the newcomers quickly sat down and tightened the seatbelts on their chairs.
At most, they had only ever flown in passenger planes in their lives, which didn't even reach Mach 1 and accelerated slowly.
This jet could instantly accelerate to Mach 5; they couldn't even imagine what kind of terrifying speed that was!
Tony wasn't lying. This multi-functional Justice-class jet, which could accommodate over twenty people, indeed reached a speed of Mach 5 instantly after takeoff, powered by two built-in medium-sized arc reactors. Moreover, the speed continued to climb until it stabilized at Mach 10!
However, the discomfort the newcomers imagined from such high speed wasn't that intense; they only felt a strong push against their backs during the initial acceleration.
Once the plane stabilized, everyone couldn't even feel they were in the air. Instead, it felt as steady as being on the ground, much smoother than any model of aircraft on the market!
During the flight to the destination, Karl had time to have Jarvis report the specific details of this near-apocalyptic crisis.
After Jarvis's concise and clear explanation, everyone finally understood roughly what was going on.
It turned out that just a few minutes ago, in the New Mexico region of America, a pillar of energy that Jarvis detected contained enough power to destroy the Earth descended upon the planet.
Furthermore, this energy pillar didn't just descend once. Within just one minute, two consecutive energy fluctuations of this terrifying magnitude occurred!
Fortunately, these energy pillars capable of destroying the Earth didn't seem to descend for the purpose of attack. Instead, they seemed to have transported something to Earth, dissipating shortly after appearing.
But because the energy intensity of that pillar was so high, even Tony's high-tech satellites, which far surpassed civilian ones, couldn't detect exactly what the first energy pillar had transported down.
By the time the residual energy from the first pillar dissipated, there was nothing left at the site except for a special unknown symbol imprinted on the ground.
It was unclear whether whatever it was had already run away or if there was never anything there to begin with.
However, the object left by the second energy pillar was still there. Jarvis projected the image captured by the Stark satellite into the cabin.
It was an ordinary-looking dark metal hammer.
For a moment, except for Karl, everyone was speechless looking at the projection of this hammer.
After all that work, they were busy over a damn hammer!
Looking at the hammer, Tony couldn't help but recall his 'happy' days of blacksmithing in the Ten Rings Gang's cave. He complained, "What, do those aliens with planet-killing energy weapons really think they can conquer Earth by sending a blacksmith?"
When Karl saw the hammer, he already understood what was happening. He silently shook his head. "No, this is no ordinary hammer..."
Tony immediately followed up with a joke, "What, is it a hammer from a Wang Wei poem?"
Karl's mouth twitched. He shouldn't have used Chinese cultural references to tease Tony last time. Now this guy occasionally bypasses the firewall to browse the Chinese internet, always learning new memes to tease him back!
But Karl was in no mood to argue about Chinese memes with Tony right now. He said calmly, "While it's not Wang Wei's hammer, its Master is indeed from roughly the same period as Wang Wei..."
Karl looked around at everyone with a deadpan expression and said word by word, "This is a weapon of a God. It comes from another realm of Gods, and its Master is a legendary deity."
Seeing Karl's expression, which didn't look like he was joking at all, everyone's hearts immediately sank.
So, they were going to face a real God this time?
Karl didn't leave them hanging; he explained the true Master of the hammer and the general situation of Asgard to them.
After hearing Karl's explanation, everyone who had just been speechless about the hammer fell silent.
They didn't expect that not only did aliens truly exist in this World, but the aliens appearing this time were actually the Gods of legend!
They were going to fight a God? For real?
One had to realize that some of them didn't even have superpowers... Seeing the low atmosphere in the cabin, Karl relaxed his tone and said, "You don't need to worry too much. So-called Gods are actually just organisms with stronger vitality and some special superpowers."
"Just like me—I'm a human, but aren't I also called a God?"
"Why? Because I'm strong enough. Strong enough to be like a deity."
"So don't worry. If the sky falls, won't a tall guy like me be there to hold it up?"
Seeing Karl's unpretentious, self-praising comfort, the heavy atmosphere in the cabin indeed lightened quite a bit.
Especially for the newcomers of the Justice League, their hearts, which had been in their throats after learning they would be fighting legendary Gods, finally relaxed.
That's right, so what if the enemy is a God? Don't they also have an undefeated God Among Menwhose record is clear for all to see?
Chapter 85: Karl's Plan for Asgard
Then what the hell were they still afraid of?
With Karl acting as their insurance, the tense atmosphere among everyone in the cabin vanished instantly.
It was replaced by a heated discussion about this novel species known as gods.
Tony and Dr. Banner were discussing that since Asgard even possessed Planet-killing weapons with teleportation functions, just how advanced was their level of technology, and how many years ahead of Earth's was it?
Peter and the newcomers were more curious about the strength of these so-called gods, wondering how large the gap in power would be between themselves and the gods of Asgard.
Was it as large as the gap between them and Karl, their earthly god?
Or perhaps even larger?
But that seemed unlikely, because if every god in Asgard really had strength like Karl's, they would have conquered Earth, and even the entire Universe, long ago.
So overall, they were still relatively relaxed now.
Karl didn't participate in the group's discussion, instead sitting aside in solitary contemplation.
While thinking about the plot of Thor 1, he was planning in his mind how to pull Thor into his Justice League and then pull Loki into his HYDRA.
After learning that the Level 1 near-World-ending crisis Jarvis mentioned was the Thor plot, he was actually not worried at all that the situation would spiral out of control to the point of a global crisis.
Because although Asgard did indeed have the Bifrost Bridge, a Planet-killing weapon that could reach true World-ending levels if an all-out war broke out.
Earth itself belonged to the Nine Realms under Asgard's jurisdiction, and it wasn't a Planet that hated Asgard like Jotunheim, so it was nominally under Odin's protection; Odin would absolutely never let something like the Bifrost Bridge attacking Earth happen.
Furthermore, Earth still had the Ancient One, a Sorcerer Supreme who was not weaker than—and perhaps even stronger than—the current elderly Odin, who dared not use his full power.
As long as the Ancient One was on Earth, even Odin, the nominal God-King of the Nine Realms, could not interfere with Earth.
And by the time the Ancient One left Earth, Odin would be nearly burnt out and leaving Asgard as well.
An Asgard without Odin and an Earth without the Ancient One were actually six of one and half a dozen of the other; putting the Bifrost Bridge aside, neither could do anything to the other.
At least if he stood on Earth's side, he believed he wouldn't fear an Asgard without Odin.
But an Asgard with Odin was a different story; while an Odin with Planet-killing strength might not necessarily be able to kill him, he could certainly destroy the Earth.
If Earth was gone, even if Karl could survive alone, he would lose everything he had worked for and have to start over... So, if he was the Justice League's biggest backer, then the Ancient One was Earth's biggest backer.
Karl sighed inwardly; sometimes he really envied the others in the Justice League for having a backer like him, never needing to worry about anything.
Unlike himself, who had no system essential for transmigrators and no supernatural backer with overwhelming raw power; he had to fight every tough battle himself... What if he tried to pull a powerhouse like the Ancient One into the Justice League to be his own backer?
A bold idea suddenly surfaced in Karl's mind.
But he immediately shook his head to dispel this ridiculous thought.
The Ancient One was different from the others in the Avengers; he couldn't just use some tricks or the sheep talisman to brainwash her for his own use.
The Ancient One's strength, even ignoring the comics, was in the T0.5 top-tier category in the MarvelCinematic Universe.
His minor tricks and the sheep talisman would likely be completely useless against the Ancient One.
The reason she died so abruptly in the movie was firstly because the timeline of the Universe developed that way; powerful beings like her and Odin had to go offline at specific points in time.
Secondly, she carried too many debts to Lords of the Dimension; the longer she stayed on Earth, the greater the crisis she brought to it. So, after finally finding a successor like Strange, she didn't want to stay on Earth for a moment longer and took the opportunity to abandon her physical body and flee, joining the Great God Eternity, one of the Five Great Gods.
Odin was the same, though not because he borrowed too much energy from Lords of the Dimension like the Ancient One and carried too many debts; his reason was the exact opposite of the Ancient One's—it was because he was 'too powerful'.
The reason it was said that Odin had to leave Asgard was because he was too powerful.
This was because the gods of the Aesir had a specific trait.
That is, they would naturally and continuously grow stronger over time.
However, the growth of their physical strength had an upper limit; once it reached a certain point, the body would stop getting stronger.
But the problem was that while the physical strength of the Aesir had a growth limit, the growth of their divine power had no limit; it would keep getting stronger and stronger.
Until... it exceeded the physical body's capacity to endure and blew the god themselves apart!
Odin was currently in this situation; he had lived too long, his own godhead was strong, and his divine power increased too rapidly. His body had reached its limit long ago. If Thor's growth hadn't been so consistently disappointing, Odin would probably have reported to Valhalla long ago.
His staying in the God Realm now was actually more dangerous than the Ancient One staying on Earth.
When the Ancient One was on Earth, even if those Lord of the Dimension creditors came knocking, her own strength was still there, and she could act to stop their invasions herself.
But Odin was different; he didn't dare use his divine power at full strength at all now.
His current divine power was like a powder keg full of explosives—it would blow at the slightest spark!
If he acted with full force, he wouldn't even need to wait for the appearance of the Fire Giants Surtur or the Goddess of Death Hela; he could blow up Asgard himself, bringing about Ragnarok ahead of schedule!
This was also why Odin had changed from a tyrant who conquered the Universe into a weak 'benevolent king' who didn't dare strike back even when provoked by Frost Giants at his door.
Because he didn't dare to act; if he did, he would die.
And since Asgard didn't yet have a new God-King who could shoulder the responsibility, Odin could only become a 'Ninja Turtle,' enduring again and again.
Thinking of this, Karl's eyes flashed.
Perhaps he could use this point to win over Thor and Loki, and even the entire Asgard, as his allies!
And the key to winning them over lay in the hammer.
Mjolnir!
He had to get the hammer before Thor and Loki to seize the initiative!
"Jarvis, no need to go to the first location. Go directly to the second location, where the hammer is."
[Understood.]
After receiving Karl's command, the Justice Fighter reached its destination before long.
Located in a desert in New Mexico.
When the Justice League's fighter arrived at the destination, they didn't expect the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents to have already arrived ahead of them, dispersing the local redneck brothers who had come from nearby to join the fun.
Chapter 86: Meeting the Old Man Again? Smear Nick Fury!
True, S.H.I.E.L.D. has branches everywhere, so it's normal for them to arrive first.
And the redneck fellas were naturally unwilling to leave just like that; they were still competing to see who could first lift the magical hammer that fell from the sky.
Currently, the contestant trying to pull the hammer was an old man. He wasn't using brute force, but rather his wisdom.
He was tying the hammer to his pickup truck, preparing to pull it up with the vehicle.
However, several S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents stopped him and were about to remove the chain connecting the pickup to the hammer.
Because of this, the old man had gotten out of his truck and was arguing with these S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents.
Seeing this, Karl shook his head slightly.
It seemed that his detention of Coulson in the Justice League prison had also caused some chain reactions in the plot of Thor 1.
Because he remembered that in the original plot of Thor 1, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent in charge of this team was Coulson.
And since Coulson was a well-known nice guy in Marvel, his methods for dealing with civilians were usually gentle persuasion to leave, rather than forcing them out from the start.
But with Coulson absent this time, the beginning of Thor 1 had clearly shifted slightly, with the lead Agent changing from Coulson to a bald Agent.
This bald guy spoke very aggressively, always keeping a cold face toward civilians, snapping at anyone with: "We at S.H.I.E.L.D. never compromise. If you have a problem, go to the United Nations and complain about our Officer Nick Fury!"
Karl was left speechless by the sight.
For he had already recognized the arrogant bald lead Agent.
His name was Sitwell, a classmate of Coulson's at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy and one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s high-level Agents.
And he had a hidden identity: he was a secret Agent for HYDRA.
This guy had likely received orders from Pierce to smear Nick Fury's reputation as much as possible, so now he wasn't even acting anymore; Coulson would at least use an FBI ID to fool people.
But Sitwell directly used S.H.I.E.L.D.'s name and even dragged Director Nick Fury into it to draw the civilians' hatred. The intention was all too obvious... It seemed that the appearance of Captain America, a candidate for S.H.I.E.L.D. Director even more "correct" than a black man, made Pierce no longer willing to keep Nick Fury around.
Presumedly, once Captain America had enough achievements in S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury's reputation was sufficiently tarnished, that would be the time for Pierce to eliminate Nick Fury!
But this was for the best; the sooner Nick Fury was cleared out, the sooner Earth would be rid of an ungrateful tumor!
However, if that was the case, it seemed his plan against the Skrulls would also have to be moved up.
It would be best to clean up both the Skrulls on Earth and Nick Fury together to avoid more trouble later.
Yeah, it's decided. I'll start cleaning out the Skrulls after the events of Thor 1!
If I successfully win over Asgard this time, even if Nick Fury calls back Captain Marvel and that woman sides with the Skrulls, it won't change the outcome of the Skrulls' extinction!
While Karl was thinking rapidly, Tony in the driver's seat frowned and looked back at Karl:
"Karl, those S.H.I.E.L.D. bastards are actually threatening civilians, including an old man. Should we intervene?"
Karl snapped out of it upon hearing this and glanced down. Two Agents were already flanking the old man who owned the pickup, leading him away to toss him out. His mouth twitched:
"This old man is really bored, appearing again..."
Looking at that familiar face of the Creator God, Karl suddenly felt a faint pain in his buttocks.
The most helpless move he had ever faced in his life was probably that kick from behind when the old man sent him into the library... While Karl watched the old man being carried away by the Agents in silence, the old man seemed to sense something and suddenly waved his hands toward the sky, shouting loudly:
"Look! The Justice League is here! We're saved!"
"You bastards, let me go! Do you want to have your asses kicked hard by the Superhero God?!"
Seeing the old man below using his name to intimidate others, Karl became even more speechless.
This old man isn't even trying to act anymore, is he? Their Justice Fighter is currently in optical stealth mode. Do you think it's reasonable for an ordinary person to see a stealth fighter?
But whether it was reasonable or not, the old man had already called his name, so he couldn't just pretend not to hear, right?
With a thought, the rooster talisman replaced the Horse Talisman, and the two Agents flanking the old man were flung away.
Before the other Agents could raise their guns to search for a target...
In the sky, a silver fighter plane bearing the Justice League logo suddenly appeared. One by one, uniformed Superheroes leaped from the Justice Fighter, using their respective powers to disarm every Agent on the scene.
Finally, Karl slowly drifted down from the sky, hovering half a meter above the ground in front of the Superheroes, and said indifferently, "This place is now under the control of the Justice League. Agents, you can get lost."
As soon as Karl appeared, the eyes of eighty percent of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents on the scene, including Sitwell, became respectful.
Their Young Master had arrived!
Only twenty percent of the Agents seemed somewhat indignant at Karl's arrogant words.
It had always been S.H.I.E.L.D. bullying others; when had they ever been bullied like this!
But no matter how dissatisfied they were, the highest-ranking Officer leading this team was Sitwell, and before Sitwell gave the order, none of them dared to make a move against the Superheroes.
And Sitwell, being a HYDRA man, saw the Young Master telling them to get lost, so naturally, he wanted to scramble away as far as possible.
But just as Sitwell was about to speak, he felt his lips being pinched by an invisible hand, making it impossible for him to open his mouth.
And now, invisible telekinesis had almost become synonymous with Karl.
So Sitwell immediately looked at Karl and indeed saw Karl looking back at him. Although Karl didn't speak, Sitwell, using his brilliant little brain, understood the meaning in Karl's eyes.
The Young Master is on the same page as the Old Master!
That is, to have him smear Nick Fury's reputation!
So Sitwell's eyes rolled, and his expression suddenly became arrogant again. He pointed haughtily at the Justice League members and said in a disdainful tone:
"Justice League? What kind of thing is your Justice League? You only have a partnership with New YorkState; you can't control things in New Mexico. You have no law enforcement authority here!"
"But we at S.H.I.E.L.D. are different. Our Director Nick Fury has connections all over the world and possesses global law enforcement authority. Our Director Nick Fury said that S.H.I.E.L.D. never compromises, and our Director isn't afraid even of you so-called Superheroes!"
Chapter 87: A Double Act, Sitwell's Little Schemes
After saying those words, as expected, Sitwell successfully earned the furious glares of all Justice League members, as well as the 'kind greetings' from the civilians present.
A few redneck guys, who were already die-hard fans of the Justice League, were already cursing while pulling their shotguns out of their cars.
This made Sitwell's body tremble, fearing that some Superhero or civilian might actually give him a blast in a moment of heat.
Whether it was a Superhero's superpowers or the civilians' shotguns, he, a regular human, couldn't withstand a single hit!
So Sitwell could only turn his pleading eyes toward Karl.
Save me! Save me! Save me!
To prevent his loyal subordinate from actually getting blasted by a shotgun, Karl waved his hand, snatching the shotguns from the hands of several 'enthusiastic' brothers and thoughtfully placing them back into their respective cars.
Then, Karl slowly pressed his hand down. Though he didn't use any superpowers, the entire scene immediately fell silent!
This was the appeal of the name 'God'!
Karl intentionally kept a cold face, walking step by step to Sitwell. Standing nearly a head taller than Sitwell, his eyes looked down upon him with indifference.
Even though Sitwell knew he was currently performing a double act with his Young Master, he couldn't help but feel his legs shaking, subconsciously taking two steps back in fear.
If this was acting, Sitwell could probably crush those Oscar-winning actors; even Karl couldn't help but admire Sitwell's acting skills.
Indeed, everyone in HYDRA was a talent. It was almost a waste for this guy to be an Agent; he should have gone undercover in the entertainment industry!
But Sitwell knew himself—this wasn't acting, he was genuinely terrified!
Others only knew Karl as the Superhero God who had saved countless people, a bright and grand figure who gave everyone a sense of security.
But he knew that Karl was also a demon who had killed without blinking and sent countless people to hell!
He was truly afraid that Karl would get too caught up in the performance and end him!
Fortunately, Karl was not such an irrational person.
Right now, he hadn't switched to his identity as a cold-blooded HYDRA assassin. He was currently the Superhero God, so he didn't use his hands, but his voice:
"Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D., right? Very well! Our Justice League has noted him. Go back and tell him that his S.H.I.E.L.D. never compromises, but our Justice League never consults when doing things. If he has an opinion, let's settle it with actions, not words!"
"If he dares to act tough again, our Justice League will make him fly!"
After delivering the 'harsh words,' Karl waved his hand, and all the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents present, including Sitwell, all flew into the air and were accurately thrown into the classic Chevrolet SUVs they came in!
Then Karl spread his five fingers and pushed forward. All dozen or so SUVs flew up and crashed onto the interstate highway ten kilometers away.
All dozen vehicles were totaled, but under Karl's precise control, eighty percent of the Agents didn't suffer a single injury, while only twenty percent were 'accidentally' thrown into serious condition.
Sitwell got out of the wrecked car and checked the injured Agents, feeling even more admiration for his Young Master.
Well then, the seriously injured Agents were all Nick Fury's people.
Their HYDRA people were perfectly fine!
They even thought it was quite thrilling... As expected of the Young Master!
Sitwell's eyes were fanatical; the thought of following such a powerful leader in the future gave him a full sense of security!
After calming his emotions, Sitwell pulled out his phone and called Nick Fury: "Director, the hammerwas snatched by the Justice League. I mentioned your name, but they kicked my ass hard and even injured our Agents!"
"You tell me, how is this just kicking my ass? This is clearly slapping your face!"
"So, do you think we should send more people over to reclaim our dignity?"
Sitwell's tone was respectful, but his face was full of disdain.
He thought, you idiot, you'd better send all your people over so the Young Master can deal with them all at once!
But Nick Fury was clearly not that stupid, thinking he could reclaim dignity from the Justice League—which was entirely composed of people with superpowers or super-wealth—just by sending more Agents.
After a moment of silence, he said in a deep voice: "Agent Sitwell, withdraw with the men now. Let them have the hammer..."
Sitwell was a bit surprised and somewhat unwilling: "But Director, those Justice League guys injured several of our agents; they simply don't respect us. If we let it go like this, isn't that admitting our S.H.I.E.L.D. is afraid of their Justice League?"
Sitwell was very smart; he didn't directly say Karl was the one who did it, but instead dragged the entire Justice League into it, wanting Nick Fury to offend the whole group.
Unfortunately, in the end, Sitwell didn't get his wish to have Nick Fury send more Agents to their deaths.
"Don't talk nonsense, bring the men back now!" Nick Fury said coldly and hung up the phone directly.
Listening to the busy signal on the phone, Sitwell cursed under his breath: "Damn cyclops, what are you so arrogant about? Delaying my chance to earn credit, let's see how much longer you can live!"
After cursing, Sitwell called Pierce, immediately putting on a respectful face and reporting the incident in detail to Pierce.
Pierce was very satisfied with Karl and Sitwell's double act and promoted Sitwell's Agent rank by one level, making him equal to Coulson.
Then he offered some encouragement, telling Sitwell to work hard and cooperate well with Karl, so that in the future, when Karl takes over, he could strive to become Karl's right-hand man!
After feeding Sitwell these grand promises, Pierce also hung up the phone.
But unlike his disdain for Nick Fury, Sitwell was all smiles after hearing Pierce's promises.
He decided in his heart that he must work even harder for Karl in the future to be worthy of becoming Karl's right-hand man!
Sitwell's eyes rolled again; he remembered that the Young Master seemed to like the female Agenttype... Just right, he knew two female super Agents with different styles but top-tier looks and figures. Should he offer them to... oh no, he meant introduce them to the Young Master?
In Sitwell's mind, an enchanting figure in a pure white full-coverage suit and a wavy-haired Agent in a black tight-fitting combat suit appeared.
Ghost Ava, Mockingbird Barbara!
On the other side, Karl didn't know his loyal bald subordinate was planning to find him some fun. After throwing the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents and their vehicles away, he and the Justice League enjoyed the applause and cheers of the crowd.
And although the Justice League led by Karl took over the hammer, they didn't drive away all the bystanders like S.H.I.E.L.D. did.
Chapter 88: The Old Man's Approval? Lifting Mjolnir!
Instead, he let everyone continue the hammer-pulling contest, even bringing the Justice League into it.
This man-of-the-people behavior, especially when compared to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s earlier actions, clearly boosted the bystanders' favor toward Karl and the Justice League.
It had to be said, the redneck brothers in New Mexico were quite handy.
In just a short while, they had turned the site where the hammer fell into a picnic ground.
They had even set up BBQ stalls and beer stands.
Karl leaned against the Old Man's pickup truck, a grilled sausage in one hand and an ice-cold beer in the other, watching the Justice League members enthusiastically line up with the locals to try and pull the hammer.
Right now, Captain America and Tony, the uncle and nephew duo, were cheating by trying to pull it together, trash-talking each other as they did.
Captain America: "Kid, is that a toy you're wearing? My vibrator has more strength than your crappy armor!"
Tony: "Huh? Old Popsicle, I think you're just impotent from fooling around every day, that's why you have no strength!"
Captain America: "Impotent? When I'm standing tall, I'm thicker than your arm, and the bullets I'shoot' have more power than you!"
Tony: "You're full of it! Do you think your 'thing' is a Squirtle's head?"
Hearing their vulgar banter, Karl couldn't help but cover his face... How embarrassing! These two were bringing such shame to his Justice League... Gulp, gulp, gulp...
Beside him, the Old Man, also holding a large sausage and an ice-cold beer, tilted his head back and finished a whole bottle in one go.
He then slapped Karl hard on the shoulder: "Young man, thanks for earlier. If it weren't for you, those bastards using our taxpayer money would've thrown me out!"
Karl rubbed his shoulder, which was stinging from the Old Man's slap, and handed him another beer with a grin: "Hehe, Old Man, no need for verbal thanks. How about you give me something more practical?"
"I'm not asking for much, just a Superman physique or maybe two Infinity Stones, how about it?"
Hearing this, the Old Man nearly spat out his beer. He glared at Karl and said crossly, "Supermanphysique? You think just because your name is Karl, you're actually Kal-El?"
"And what Infinity Stones? I have no idea what those are. I do have two kidney stones on my waist, though. If you want them, I can give them to you!"
Looking at the Old Man, a master of playing dumb, Karl was inevitably a bit disappointed, even though he knew it was unlikely.
As a transmigrator without a system, having met Marvel's Creator God twice, he had thought the Old Man would be his 'cheat' Grandpa.
It seemed he had overthought it; he only met the Old Man because he really loved making cameos... Seeing Karl's disappointed look, the Old Man suddenly added, "Young man, don't always think about getting something for nothing. You should know that what others give you is never as reassuring as what you take with your own hands."
"Besides, why do I need to give you a heavenly treasure? Isn't it right in front of your eyes?"
As he spoke, the Old Man looked toward Mjolnir in the crater.
Hearing the Old Man's suggestive words, Karl's eyes lit up as he followed the Old Man's gaze.
No way!
Could the Old Man mean that Mjolnir was his gift, and that he could lift it himself?
Originally, knowing how 'unworthy' he was inside, Karl hadn't even thought about trying to lift Mjolnir.
But now that the Old Man had hinted at it, with the interference of the Creator God himself, he might actually be able to master Mjolnir!
Thinking of this, Karl couldn't help but gulp.
After all, what man hasn't fantasized about wielding the power of lightning, becoming Thor, Leigong, Leidianzi, or Enel!
Lightning power is an elemental superpower that combines both coolness and power—two things men find irresistible!
With the Old Man's hint, Karl tossed aside his sausage and beer and walked toward Mjolnir, unable to wait.
Seeing Karl striding over, Captain America and Tony, who were still competing and insulting each other, quickly and sensibly moved aside to make way for the protagonist!
No one else objected to Karl cutting the line; instead, everyone cheered when they saw he was stepping up!
This was Earth's current strongest Superhero God. As long as he took action, there was nothing he couldn't solve. They still vividly remembered the scene in New York where he raised his hand and made tens of thousands of people fly!
Now, wouldn't lifting a magical hammer be a piece of cake for him?
Waving to the cheering crowd, Karl arrived before the hammer with a confident look and gripped the handle.
Puny Mjolnir, I'll just... "Huh?"
Karl pulled confidently with one hand, expecting the hammer to be lifted easily, but the reality was that it didn't budge an inch.
Was he not using enough force?
Karl frowned. His first thought wasn't that he was unworthy, but rather he suspected his posture or the amount of force was wrong.
After all, he was a man certified by the Grandpa of Marvel; how could he not be worthy of lifting Mjolnir?!
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
So, Karl dropped his playful expression. With a solemn and serious look, he gripped the handle with both hands and pulled with all his might!
Finally... it still didn't come up!
Holy shit! Are you kidding me?!
Karl whipped his head around toward where the Old Man had been, only to find he was nowhere to be seen!
The Old Man had already driven off in his pickup. Karl only saw the taillights in the distance and a hand waving at him from the driver's window.
Dammit! He had been played by the Old Man!
The veins on Karl's forehead throbbed as he suppressed the urge to chase him down and give him a beating.
Calm down! Calm down! Karl, you can't beat him anyway; chasing him will only lead to you getting thrashed! Calm down!
After persuading himself, Karl's heart finally began to settle.
But now everyone was watching him. As the undefeated God Karl, how could he lose to a hammer at this moment!
"Back off! I'm getting serious!"
With a wave of his hand, Karl used telekinesis to move everyone to the edge of the crater made by Mjolnir.
He let them watch from the perimeter.
Then, the rooster talisman in Karl's eyes flickered as he began to exert his true power!
"Rise!!"
Karl gave a low shout, and the ground began to tremble violently, like a magnitude eight earthquake. Many people watching from the edge lost their balance and fell, forced to watch while lying on the ground.
Finally, under everyone's shocked gazes, Karl actually lifted Mjolnir!
Wait! Something's not right!
It shouldn't be said that Karl lifted Mjolnir, but rather... everyone stared blankly at the entire chunk of Earth Karl had raised; he had freaking lifted the whole piece of ground connected to the hammer!!!
Chapter 89
Chapter 8: Pick It Up!
Karl held the hammer and the small mountain he had lifted along with it, his expression indifferent.
"If I can't lift Mjolnir, can't I just lift the ground beneath it?"
Indeed, because of Odin's enchantment, no one can forcibly lift the hammer unless their own power exceeds Odin's, except for those who meet the requirements set by Odin—those with a righteous and pure heart.
However, the range of Odin's enchantment is limited. While this spell can make Mjolnir itself and even the ground it lands on indestructible and impossible to pick up by force, it's impossible for Odin's enchantment to cover the entire Earth.
So Karl exploited this bug, using his telekinesis to forcibly lift the ground within the range of Odin's enchantment along with it.
Never mind whether this counts as being recognized by Mjolnir or not; just tell me, was it lifted or not!
As for why Karl didn't use telekinesis to lift the hammer directly instead of going through the trouble of lifting the entire patch of ground, it was, of course, because Karl couldn't do it.
Because the telekinesis of the rooster talisman is an extension of his spirit; the telekinesis is controlled by his thoughts.
And as long as something involves personal thoughts, whether it's tangible or intangible, it will be subject to the test of Odin's enchantment.
Therefore, if Karl wanted to lift the hammer, the only workaround was to lift this patch of ground along with it.
But truth be told, without being recognized, this hammer is truly heavy!
Although Karl was only lifting a small mountain of a few hundred square meters connected to the hammer, it felt to him as if he were lifting the weight of at least an entire city!
If an ordinary person were to use the rooster talisman, they probably wouldn't be able to use telekinesis to lift such a heavy Mjolnir.
It was only because his constitution was different from ordinary people, and he was even half a Lord of the Dimension, that he could achieve this.
But he didn't hold it for long. After demonstrating that he could 'lift' the hammer, Karl placed it back onto the ground.
After all, he couldn't exactly take the hammer back along with this small mountain, could he?
The moment the hammer and the mountain landed, everyone near the crater was shaken more than a meter into the air, which showed just how heavy that mountain was.
After putting down the hammer, Karl pointed at Little Spider, who was joining in the fun among the crowd: "You, Spider-Man, come down and take this hammer back to the fighter jet."
Peter pointed at himself; even through his mask, one could see his utter confusion: "Me, take the hammer? For real?"
He admitted that his strength was great, even ranking among the top in the Justice League.
But you have to see who you're comparing him to!
His physical strength had been tested by Tony; in a normal state, the limit he could lift was close to a hundred tons, and in special circumstances, he might exert power exceeding a hundred tons. This was already a terrifying strength figure.
But Peter had just used his clever brain to roughly calculate that the mountain Karl lifted with the hammer weighed at least tens of thousands of tons!
With his hundred tons of strength, how the hell could he lift it?
Wait, he couldn't even lift the hammer itself!
Just as Peter was in a state of questioning his life, Karl couldn't wait any longer. With a wave of his hand, he used telekinesis to forcibly pull Peter down and drop him next to the hammer:
"Yes, you. Go for it, kid."
Having been pushed to the brink by Karl, Peter had no choice but to try.
So he helplessly gripped the handle, gave it a casual tug, and looked at Karl:
"See? Tony and Captain couldn't lift this hammer together, so how could I? You really called the wrong person, Karl."
Peter didn't even look to see if he had lifted the hammer; he immediately turned to tell Karl he couldn't do it.
But upon seeing Karl's strange expression and the eerie silence around him, Peter's heart skipped a beat.
He then slowly looked down, only to see that he was actually holding the hammer that no one else could lift!
And it was just the hammer itself, without being connected to the large patch of land beneath his feet!
"Holy shit! How is this possible? I didn't even use any strength!"
Peter was so startled that he dropped the hammer, clutched his head with both hands, and looked even more incredulous than when Karl had called his name!
Hearing Peter's humblebrag, Captain America, Tony, and the others who hadn't been able to pull the hammer up just now felt their faces darken, each of them glaring at Peter.
They had used every ounce of their strength just now and couldn't budge the hammer, yet this kid said he didn't even use any strength. Wasn't that just mocking them?
Seeing that he had accidentally offended more than half the people at once, Peter couldn't help but shrink his neck and quickly picked up the hammer, scurrying back to the fighter jet first.
With the hammer—the source of the amusement—taken away, the members of the Justice Leaguedidn't plan to stay much longer. After greeting the locals, they piloted the fighter jet and left.
While Karl was on the return trip in the Justice Fighter with the hammer, preparing to use it as bait to lure Thor and Loki into a trap,
he didn't expect that while he was setting a trap for Thor and Loki, he was also being targeted by someone else!
As the Justice League took the hammer away, Nick Fury, back in the Triskelion, dialed a phone number, his voice low and carrying a hint of excitement:
"Talos, our chance has come. All members of the Justice League are on the plane right now; this is when the Justice League is at its most vulnerable. It will take them about 20 minutes to return to New York, so you must complete the infiltration of all Justice League members and the Fisk Family within 20 minutes, understood?"
"Fine, I understand..." Talos's voice on the other end was very indifferent, and he then warned Nick Furyagain:
"Fury, the clansmen participating in this operation have all volunteered with the resolve to die. They seek nothing else but to secure a home that truly belongs to us Skrulls. So after this, you'd better fulfill your promise; otherwise, they will no longer be the sharp sword in your hand, but the poisonous blade that kills you!"
After speaking, Talos didn't wait for Nick Fury's silver tongue to respond and hung up the phone directly, indicating that he was not joking this time.
Nick Fury listened to the beeping from his phone, his face darkening, and he couldn't help but take out his precious pager to fiddle with it in his hand.
In the past, whenever he was in a moment of anxiety, as long as he held it—this final trump card of his—Nick Fury could feel a sense of peace and confidence from the bottom of his heart.
But this time, he took out his hidden trump card, yet that sense of unease in his heart didn't diminish in the slightest.
He didn't know if it was because the target of the infiltration this time was the Justice League, or because of Talos's threat just now... or... both!
Chapter 90: The Death-Seeking Nick Fury, Skrulls Infiltrate the Justice League!
Was he really doing the right thing, playing with fire like this?
But after only a moment's hesitation, Nick Fury's heart hardened again: "No, I'm not wrong! The Justice League must never be held in the hands of others, and Earth must never be threatened by anyone!"
"As long as I control the Justice League, even Skrulls will no longer be able to threaten me; they can only continue to listen to me!"
"That's right! I'm not wrong! Everything is for Earth!"
While Nick Fury was comforting himself, the Skrulls also began their infiltration operation.
After Nick Fury gave the orders a month ago, they had long since started keeping tabs on the people close to all official members of the Justice League, waiting for this moment when everyone from the Justice League was away to complete the replacement of those around them!
The secretary of the Mayor of New York City, Kingpin; the butler Alfred of Fisk Manor... Pepper and Happy of Stark Tower... Peter's Uncle Ben and Aunt Mei... Gwen's mother and two younger brothers... Dr. Banner and Hulk's shared girlfriend, General Ross's daughter Betty... Captain America... oh, that old bastard Captain America had no family at all, his family had died long ago. Now, the reversed Captain America spent his days in debauchery with a different woman every night, making it impossible for the Skrulls to find someone close to him as a replacement target, so they could only replace his neighbors... Finally, the most important part of the infiltration plan: infiltrating the Justice League headquarters!
A dozen Skrulls, disguised as workers delivering fresh ingredients daily to the Justice League Base, successfully entered the Justice League.
Starting with the chefs who took the goods from the kitchen, they quietly replaced the staff members in the Justice League Base one by one.
From chefs, cleaners, and security guards at the bottom, to biology lab assistants, switchboard operators, and secretaries at the top, the Skrulls placed their people everywhere, and no one had yet noticed anything unusual.
Even Jarvis's surveillance failed to detect any anomalies.
The Skrulls' shapeshifting ability was simply too heaven-defying; with just a glance and no need for contact, they could complete a transformation at the DNA level. They could replace you in the time it took to go to the bathroom, making it impossible to guard against, and it had already exceeded the detection range of human technology.
But... while the mantis stalks the cicada, the oriole follows behind; yet above the oriole's head, there is often a birdcage. The mantis and cicada are merely traps set to catch the oriole.
From the moment the Skrulls stepped into the Justice League Base, all their actions were under the surveillance of pairs of eyes in the darkness.
Or rather, since the completion of the Justice League Base, everyone who entered or left—even the members of the Justice League themselves—was constantly under the surveillance of the darkness as long as they were inside.
And that monitoring darkness was, naturally, Karl's Shadow Legion!
Starting from when the Skrulls replaced the kitchen chefs, the Ghost Shadow Ninja in the shadows took out a long-prepared video camera and recorded the entire process of the Skrulls replacing the Justice League Base staff.
However, the Ghost Shadow Ninja did not alert them, instead allowing the Skrulls to carry out their supposedly seamless replacement operation, recording it all as the most powerful evidence to decide the extinction of the Skrull race in the future.
Once the Skrulls were satisfied with replacing the personnel in every department of the Justice LeagueBase with their own people, they took the people they had replaced and left in the vegetable delivery trucks.
But the Skrulls lurking in the Justice League Base, as well as those leaving, did not know that a Ghost Shadow Ninja was already lurking in each of their shadows!
Furthermore, a Ghost Shadow Ninja followed the delivery truck carrying the replaced humans, found the location where the Skrulls were holding the family members of the Justice League members, and saw a certain person there.
The current leader of the Skrulls, Talos.
Additionally, the Ghost Shadow Ninja hidden in the darkness recorded the scene of Talos calling Nick Fury to report the completion of the infiltration mission.
So who was the prey and who was the hunter? Only one person truly knew... and that was Karl, who was currently on the fighter jet.
He was the prey in the eyes of others, yet he was also the hunter hunting them, and at the same time, the one laying out the board.
Karl sat in his chair, seemingly resting with his eyes closed, but in reality, he had already watched the entire process of the Skrull infiltration through the shared vision of the Ghost Shadow Ninja. Finally, a smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
Nick Fury, oh Nick Fury, what should I say about you?
If I call you stupid, you were able to use the same enslavement methods once used on your ancestors against the Skrulls to make them work for you.
But if I call you smart, you're actually quite stupid to dare send Skrulls to infiltrate the headquarters of superhumans!
Are you so sure that none of these superhumans would notice anything wrong with the infiltrating Skrulls?
Or does Nick Fury really have such brainless trust in the Skrulls' shapeshifting abilities?
If that's the case, it's truly ironic. Nick Fury, as a King of Agents who doesn't even trust his own human kin, would actually completely trust an alien race capable of shapeshifting.
But Nick Fury probably wouldn't imagine in his wildest dreams that the Skrulls he sent out, who are best at infiltration, would actually be counter-tracked and infiltrated themselves.
And that his crime of colluding with the Skrull race was completely filmed.
Karl was never a person who beat around the bush or waited until the last moment to reveal the truth.
He knew well that villains die from talking too much, and the strong die from misunderstandings.
So, after the Ghost Shadow Ninja recorded the entire criminal conversation between Talos and Nick Fury, he opened his eyes and called a halt to the group that was still surrounding Peter, making him perform hammer acrobatics.
Hearing this, Peter couldn't wait to put the hammer down. Drenched in sweat, he escaped the clutches of the crowd and dashed to Karl's side ahead of everyone else.
Because these guys were unconvinced that he could pick up the hammer, they had added another round of the hammer-lifting competition on the jet.
But still, besides Peter, not even the other members of the Justice League who hadn't tried before could lift the hammer.
This resulted in Peter being tossed around amidst everyone's envy and jealousy, forced to lift the hammer in various ways to see if he was cheating.
It wasn't until Karl spoke up that Peter was finally rescued.
But Peter had just breathed a sigh of relief, and before he could even catch his breath, the words Karlsaid in the next second almost made him choke to death!
Karl patted Peter's shoulder with a strange expression and said, "You've come at the right time, Peter. I just received news that your Uncle Ben and Aunt Mei have been kidnapped by aliens..."
Peter:???