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Jotunheim.
Soon after Thor left, Algrim, a Chaos Cursed Warrior whose body was twice as large as before, stepped down from a Blade Battleship that had just come out of stealth mode and reported to Malekith:
"Leader, Vanaheim has completed the sacrificial ritual using the bodies of those Frost Giants. I believe it won't be long before it is completely transformed… into a habitable Demon World!"
"Very good."
Malekith nodded with satisfaction, "Vanaheim has rich rare metal deposits. Once it's fully transformed, we'll send people to other realms to capture more slaves to mine those deposits. This will provide a continuous supply of mineral resources to the war factories in the Warp, allowing us to build even more battleships."
"Leader, now, including Jotunheim and Alfheim, we have already controlled three complete Demon Worlds in the Nine Realms… Is it time to launch the second phase of our expansion war as planned?"
Algrim asked excitedly.
Unexpectedly, Malekith shook his head decisively, "Don't rush this. Let's wait. I don't want our reckless actions to affect the plan of the great Dimension Master… After all, we are just the vanguard."
"Let those clowns from Asgard jump around for a while longer!"
Hyperspace Group.
In the chairman's office, Karl still maintained a comfortable posture, sitting on the Golden Throne, generating electricity for love.
Soon, Thor, led by the blonde secretary, appeared before him again.
"Prince Thor, I didn't expect us to meet again so soon. I wonder if you've brought what I want this time?"
Karl said first, with a harmless smile on his face.
However, this time, Thor did not rush to answer his question, nor did he rush to make a deal. Instead, he spoke with a serious expression:
"Mr. Karl Merks, please allow me to ask you a crucial question before we officially begin negotiations."
"Go on?"
"If I remember correctly, in the great battle in Greenwich a few months ago, Malekith, the leader of the Dark Elves, was taken away alive by you, right?"
"That's right. He was taken back to Sokovia by my subordinates and then thrown into the laboratory to be a guinea pig."
"Oh, really?"
Thor frowned, his tiger-like eyes fixed on Karl, who was sitting on the Golden Throne. He continued to ask, word by word:
"Then why did I encounter him in Jotunheim today, and his strength seems to have become even greater than before?"
"Ah, this…"
Karl deliberately drew out his words, and only after he saw the uncontrollable tension on Thor's face did he explain with a smile:
"I remember telling you before that I am actually the Dimension Master of the Hyperspace Dimension, right?"
Thor didn't speak, just nodded noncommittally.
"Then this question is relatively simple to answer… The Warp is a dimensional space with very special properties. It can directly absorb the souls of humans—no, to be precise, all intelligent beings—who have a causal connection with it, after they die."
"And not long after Malekith was thrown into the laboratory, he committed suicide because he couldn't endure the scientific research being conducted on him… Presumably, his soul must have been resurrected by the Chaos Gods entrenched in the Warp, right?"
"Souls will be plundered by the Warp?"
Somehow, when Thor heard this explanation, he suddenly felt a chill down his spine, and his mind couldn't help but wander.
Did the souls of the Asgardian warriors who died in Jotunheim go to Valhalla, or were they plundered by the Warp?
If it's the latter, will I encounter them on the battlefield in the future?
The thought of a day when he would have to fight against his own comrades filled Thor with an inexplicable sense of gloom and frustration.
After a moment of calm, he spoke again: "Mr. Karl Merks, what kind of abilities do those four Chaos Gods possess?"
"Huh?"
Hearing this question, Karl instinctively froze, his dark eyes looking at Thor opposite him with some disbelief.
No, brother, are you sure you're not here to be funny?
The Eye of Fear has been around for almost half a month, and after all this time, you Asgardians still don't know what abilities the four big bosses you're facing have?
Or is mindless charging your Asgardians' only way of doing things?
Karl also didn't expect that the Ancient One, that old schemer, would send Thor directly to him without even telling him this useful information?
Alright, alright, you bald old man really doesn't want to bother with anything!
When I get you into the Warp later, I'll definitely give you all the hardest and most tiring tasks to handle!
After a pause, Karl repeated the nonsense he had told the Ancient One about the Four Chaos Gods back then… cough, that is, the explanation, to Thor again.
"They are actually four conceptual-level Evil Gods…"
Thor broke out in a cold sweat after hearing this, and even his gaze towards Karl became more respectful and wary.
There was nothing he could do. Although he was called Thor, he was still somewhat lacking in the face of a dignified Dimensional God.
Perhaps only when his father Odin dies and that part of the Odin Force is completely transformed into his exclusive Thunder God Power, will he have the capital to compete with a Dimensional God!
After slightly calming his emotions, Thor unhesitatingly took out the Tesseract and the technical data for the Bifrost Bridge, but before the official transaction, he couldn't help but ask:
"Mr. Karl Merks, I want to know why you are so eager for the Tesseract? Don't you already possess an infinity stone?"
No, you're wrong. Not one… but two!
"If I told you I'm doing this to prevent the entire Universe from falling into the hands of the Chaos Gods, would you believe me?"
Karl looked at Thor with a serious expression. The latter wanted to shake his head, but under the gaze of the powerful figure, he couldn't help but nod. Seeing this, Karl continued:
"Currently, the power of the Chaos Gods has grown increasingly strong. If we let them continue to develop and grow, it won't be long before the Demon God Body I left in the Warp will be unable to suppress them… By then, their pervasive evil power will completely permeate the entire Universe."
"And to avoid such a tragedy, I must increase my own strength at a faster pace, thereby feeding back into the Demon God Body in the Warp, preventing the Chaos Gods from invading the physical Universe on a large scale, and thus achieving the goal of balancing them!"
"So… I endure external slander and misunderstanding, and still collect the infinity stones, all for the billions of lives in the Universe!"
Thor was so moved that he almost had 'Mr. Righteous' written all over his face. Immediately after presenting the Tesseract and the Bifrost Bridge design data with both hands, he also firmly guaranteed:
"Mr. Karl Merks, rest assured, as long as there are clues about the infinity stones in the future, I will definitely inform you immediately."
Karl nodded with satisfaction, gently bumped his chest twice with his fist, and then pointed his index finger at Thor: My friend, you really understand me!
But… aren't you going to ask me how I'm going to solve the problem of the Eye of Fear's corruption of the surrounding star systems?
You just handed over the Tesseract and Bifrost Bridge design data directly to me?
Aren't you afraid I'll turn on you right away?
Looking at Thor, who was smiling foolishly like a 500-pound child, Karl suddenly remembered a compliment he often heard from relatives after he became an adult, before he transmigrated—This child, he's been smart since he was little!
That's right, looking at Thor like this, he must have been smart since he was little…
However, as a qualified businessman, Karl would naturally not engage in 'black eating black' underhanded dealings when dealing with high-quality customers.
[Detected a cosmic-level special energy substance 'Space Stone', which can be devoured. Does the host choose to devour it?!]
Almost the moment Karl took the Tesseract, the system prompt appeared before his eyes.
"No."
Karl naturally couldn't devour the Space Stone in front of outsiders. Such trump cards can only achieve surprising results when no one knows about them.
"Prince Thor, I have already had people prepare materials that can suppress Warp energy corruption and overflow. Shall we go take a look together?"
Karl slowly stood up, then directly activated the power of the Space Stone, leading Thor to instantly appear in front of a rather large warehouse.
And at this moment, in the open space in front of the warehouse, mountains of supplies covered with tarpaulins were already piled up.
"Open the tarpaulins."
Karl instructed a staff member, who quickly called over a few helpers and pulled down the tarpaulins covering the'small mountains,' revealing neatly stacked black stones underneath.
"Ah, this…"
Thor walked closer, looked around, then reached out and pinched the huge black stone. He found that besides being very hard, there seemed to be nothing special about it. So, he turned around in confusion and asked:
"Mr. Karl Merks, are you sure these large stones that look a bit like obsidian can really suppress the corruption of Chaos energy?"
"That's right." Karl explained unhurriedly: "You must not underestimate these black stones. I accidentally discovered them in an underground mine in Sokovia. They are a mysterious mineral with naturally special properties…"
"By building these black stones in a specific way, they can interact with the Warp energy within a certain area, thereby suppressing the expansion and corruption of Warp energy, preventing Warp demons from maintaining their physical form and gradually dissipating, weakening the power of Psykers blessed by the Chaos Gods, and even directly closing some smaller Warp Rifts!"
"These… these black stones are actually so miraculous?"
Thor's 'wise' eyes widened, and he once again moved closer to the black stones for a careful examination, but still found nothing. Then he heard Karl behind him continue:
"I will send professional engineers with you to Asgard. They will instruct Asgardian craftsmen on how to build black stone obelisks that suppress Warp energy, and where to build them, so that these black stone creations can be connected in the most time-saving and labor-saving way, forming a relatively stable node defense line within the Nine Realms…"
"But I advise you to act quickly, because once a Planet is completely transformed into a Demon World, or if that Planet is bound to the corresponding Evil God in the Warp through a Chaos sacrificial ritual, then even if the connection with the Warp is eventually severed using the black stone obelisks, the original terrain cannot be restored!"
Thor's expression immediately turned serious upon hearing this. He was about to thank Karl and summon Heimdall to return to Asgard, but then he suddenly thought of a question and asked with some confusion:
"That's not right. If these black stone obelisks can really stop the corruption of Warp energy, then why didn't I find these black stone creations in Midgard… ah, that is, Earth, as humans call it?"
Karl seemed to have anticipated his question and said lightly, "That's because… I'm here!"
Thor was startled at first, but then his face showed understanding.
Because this explanation was very reasonable.
After all, the other party's true identity was the Dimension Master of the Warp!
Even if the Warp was currently occupied by the four Chaos Gods, how could a Dimensional God, who shared the same origin, be affected by Warp energy?
If possible, Thor truly wanted to trick Karl into returning to Asgard to help him resist the Eye of Fear's erosion and corruption of the Nine Realms.
But such a thought was clearly just wishful thinking on his part.
This was evident from Karl's attitude towards Asgard, so Thor naturally wouldn't open his mouth to invite trouble!
So, after a few more brief exchanges, Thor, accompanied by a dozen engineers from the Hyperspace Group and a large quantity of black stones exchanged for the Tesseract and Bifrost Bridge data, returned to Asgard via the Bifrost Bridge…