Chapter 412: Qualification
The massive Peak Spaceship overhead still hung suspended in Space, but Space had now returned to calm!
In a desert valley on the Mining Planet, this valley was originally the source of the Mining Planet's largest river. The source water flowed out from the large mouth of a mountain resembling a crouching toad, gathering countless streams along the way to form a great river dozens of miles wide, which thousands of years ago irrigated and nurtured large numbers of Toad Natives on both banks.
Only now, Toad God Mountain was completely covered by yellow sand, and the entire toad was so dry that not a drop of water remained! Decades later, Abad returned here. Looking at the familiar yet strange environment, he couldn't help but sigh deeply.
"Hurry up, don't play any tricks. My time is limited!"
A golden big head floated in mid-air, its face occasionally glancing up at the Peak Spaceship in the sky, eyes filled with anxiety! Beneath him, over a dozen four-armed greenskins held energy guns, escorting Little Frog, Diego, and others. Hearing MODOK's urging, a greenskin, standing two and a half meters tall with an energy gun in each of his four hands, stepped forward and poked Abad in the back with a muzzle! Abad glared back at the greenskin with bared teeth, then looked at Diego and the others being escorted by the numerous greenskins. Forcing down the urge to shoot, he took a deep breath, raised his arm, and under the watchful muzzles of several greenskins, a virtual screen popped up from his mechanical arm.
As Abad input a string of command codes, the Valley suddenly began to vibrate. A giant stone not far away began shaking violently. Amidst the flying dust, the giant stone split open, and a hundred-meter-long, black shuttle-shaped Spaceship flew out from Underground. "Oh, it's beautiful!"
Diego looked at the black matte Spaceship hovering nearby and couldn't help but exclaim. Enthralled, he even wanted to go forward and touch the Spaceship, until the greenskin escorting him roughly poked him in the head with a muzzle, jolting him back to reality.
"The Spaceship is here, release them!" Abad said, looking at the big head encased in golden armor.
MODOK crossed his two small hands, pressing his thumbs together. This was a posture he liked to adopt when talking with business elites on Earth, pretending to think, but actually wearing down the other party's patience.
"I said, once you get me there, I'll leave on my own. Plus, I'll pay you another sum of money! Relax, I just want a ride, there's no malice!"
"I wouldn't have guessed that~" Abad said with a gaze, looking mockingly at the greenskins pointing guns at them.
"You mean these guns? They are just tools to make sure you listen to me calmly. Believe me, compared to these energy guns, you wouldn't want to experience my other abilities!"
MODOK sat on the golden floating seat, looking down at Abad. "Alright, you'd better open the hatch first. We can discuss other matters on the way. I'm in a hurry to get home!"
Abad recalled the scene of being controlled by this golden head and indeed didn't want to experience it again. He directly controlled the Spaceship to land and opened the hatch.
"May I ask, what is your Destination? The energy source on the Spaceship is limited and can't support a very long distance!?"
Inside the Spaceship's ship cabin tunnel, Abad looked at the golden head hovering before him. A black, goose-egg-sized firing port quietly opened in his Palm. Just as Abad was about to raise his hand, MODOK suddenly turned around, his large face filled with mockery.
"I can give you one chance to see if your little thing can harm me, but you only get one chance. If you can't kill me, I'll make sure you see Little Frog's brains!"
Abad and MODOK's gazes met. Looking at the teasing on MODOK's face, the energy cannon port in Abad's Palm slowly closed. "My home is in the Orion Spur of the Milky Way Galaxy. I'll send you the specific star map coordinates! Fly the ship well, and when we get to Earth, I'll treat you to a drink!"
MODOK turned and floated towards the interior of the Spaceship, his voice drifting back. "It's a beautiful blue planet. I think you'll like it there~"
The black Spaceship rose into the air. Looking at the desolate desert disappearing further and further from the porthole of the Main Control Room, MODOK's eyes were filled with anticipation and the excitement of impending revenge.
"Just wait, Professor Pym, you never thought I'd be able to come back, did you? And that damned Tang Group, I'll make you pay the price you deserve. I will take back everything that belongs to me!"
In front of the Main Console, Abad, who was controlling the Spaceship, suddenly turned around with a strange complexion. "Mr. Big Head, I don't care what kind of king's return drama you want to put on, I think your plan is about to fall through!"
The black Spaceship flew at low altitude, circled to the back of the planet, and then ascended. As soon as the Spaceship left the planet's Low Earth Orbit, hundreds of disc-shaped aircraft surrounded it from all directions. Looking at the Predator Ships with their high-energy cannons already charged and exposed, MODOK's large face completely lost its previous arrogance towards Abad and the others. He said exasperatedly to Abad:
"Activate the space jump, leave here!"
Abad spread his hands, not without schadenfreude. "Do you think a small Spaceship like mine can be equipped with a space jump engine?!"
Blue veins bulged on MODOK's large face. His small hand rested on his belt, where he still had one last vial of Pym Particles. However, his experience in the Quantum Realm made him hesitate, especially the strange light spot in the Quantum Realm. His head was still filled with countless Consciousness, as if his Soul had been torn into countless pieces, thrown into different Worlds, then retrieved and these Consciousness kneaded back together.
The reason his head had become so huge was because his brain couldn't withstand such a complex flow of information, and it had undergone adaptive changes by spontaneously absorbing the energy storm of the Quantum Realm. He never wanted to endure that pain a second time.
Just then, the Spaceship's communication channel suddenly received a communication request. Abad chose to accept it directly, and a virtual projection of a tall Predator appeared inside the Spaceship—
Beneath the Dark Predator Mask, the mouthparts opened and closed. Through the Predator Mask's translator, standard Galactic Common Tongue was transmitted.
"Surrender, or choose death!"
Inside the Peak Spaceship's Simulation Cabin, the scene simulated a tropical rainforest on Earth. The towering tropical trees, the river with its surging water flow, and the diverse tropical flora and fauna in the forest made Boss Tang recall his time when he first arrived in the Marvel Universe.
To cultivate qualified Gu Insects, he even infiltrated Oscorp Laboratory as an Experimenter, just to freeload on the high-tech equipment and expensive biological culture dishes in Oscorp Laboratory.
Compared to Oscorp's environmental simulation room, which covered two to three hundred square meters, this Simulation Cabin, covering tens of kilometers, was undoubtedly a level of technology unimaginable to Oscorp on Earth.
In the observation room at high altitude within this Simulation Cabin, Boss Tang savored the red wine from the High Evolutionary's collection, watching the rainforest picture projected onto the screen. In the rainforest, the High Evolutionary, stripped of his perception armor and wearing only a white clean suit, was fleeing in a sorry state. Behind him, a tall figure was faintly visible in the forest. This was a fair one-on-one hunt—the roles of Hunter and Prey were decided by Shadow Storm and the High Evolutionary.
However, it seemed that the High Evolutionary, whose spirit had suffered a severe injury, had become the Prey in this hunt. "A face-to-face meeting?" Sitting alone on the sofa, swirling his wine glass and enjoying this live hunting show, Tang Song suddenly seemed to receive a message. He frowned, calculated for a moment by counting on his fingers, and then spoke:
"Have Him come to the Current World, I will meet Him here!"
A bloodlight disappeared before Tang Song. After a full thirty minutes passed, a Space Gate flashing with sparks opened before Tang Song, and then a tall Elder wearing a black suit walked out from within the Space Gate!
Tang Song looked at the tall Elder with a strange complexion.
Kane was already quite bulky, but this Elder, nearly three meters tall, was even more robust. One could feel his surging muscles even through the suit.
For Tang Song, the Elder before him was an "acquaintance"! During the Blood Battle in Hell, he had seen Him from a distance once.
Only back then, "He" didn't look like this. The black-haired tall Elder walked out from the Space Gate, first sweeping His mental power over the Spaceship beneath His feet, then His gaze fixed on Tang Song.
He looked at the human before Him, whose aura was weak, His eyes full of suspicion:
"Human, I want to see the person behind the Blood Daoist~ Who are you?"
Tang Song put down the wine glass in his hand, extended his hand towards the Elder, and said, "Please sit. Yes, it was I who extended the invitation for you to be my guest here! By the way, should I address you as Níðhöggr or Archdemon Dragon!"
Upon hearing Tang Song's words, the black-haired Elder's eye suddenly turned into golden vertical pupils.
An incredibly powerful Dragon Might erupted from inside His body, pressing down towards Tang Song—
"Don't get worked up!" Tang Song waved his hand. The Dragon Might, nearly tangible and capable of rendering everyone on the entire Peak Spaceship unconscious, instantly vanished into nothingness.
Seeing this move casually revealed by this seemingly ordinary human, the Old Demon Dragon's expression instantly changed.
He walked directly to the sofa opposite Tang Song and sat down. As He sat, the four legs of the sofa let out a creaking sound, unable to bear the weight.
Seeing the sofa about to collapse, Tang Song, as the host, raised his hand. A mass of Azure Qi split into four bowl-sized Green Lotus flowers that rose from the four corners of the sofa, supporting it.
The Old Demon Dragon lowered His head and looked at the flowers formed by energy composition beneath His feet...
As one of the oldest Demonic Dragons in the Deep Abyss, although His human form body couldn't compare to His billion-ton Demonic Dragon True Body, it still weighed several hundred tons.
These inconspicuous flowers not only supported His weight but even protected this chair.
Moreover, with His experience, He couldn't tell how this human before Him had taken action.
This was clearly not any magic He knew...
"Red wine or tea!"
Tang Song smiled and asked for the Old Demon Dragon's opinion.
The Old Demon Dragon frowned, golden light flickering in His vertical pupils. That was a pupil spell capable of seeing through most magic disguises in this Universe...
"Human, how do you know the name Níðhöggr! What is your relationship with the Archdemon Blood God?"
"I forgot to introduce myself. I am Tang Song, Lord of the Heavenly Court. As for the Archdemon Blood God you mentioned, he is my subordinate! As for how I know your identity, it's also a coincidence. The Nine Realms are now also my Territory, so naturally, I need to understand the legend of the World-Destroying Dragon!"
Tang Song got up, took out a wine glass, and poured red wine for the Old Demon Dragon.
It must be said, the quality and vintage of the red wine from the High Evolutionary's collection were quite good.
————
In the tropical rainforest below the observation room, the High Evolutionary, whose spirit had suffered a severe injury and who had been stripped of his perception armor, heard the footsteps getting closer behind him and quickly sped up his pace, scrambling through the dense Jungle...
He was completely unaware that his sorry state was clearly seen by the two people at high altitude a thousand meters above, and that they were drinking his collected red wine while watching his pathetic figure...
—————
Níðhöggr, the Black Dragon from Norse Mythology who dwells at the root of Yggdrasil, the incarnation of despair and calamity.
According to the Norse Mythology epic, the Prose Edda, Yggdrasil, which supports the World, has three main root systems: one is rooted in Asgard, the realm of the gods; one is in Jotunheim, the land of the giants; and the last is in Niflheim, the realm of mist. The Black Dragon Níðhöggr lives at these roots, feeding on them.
Legend says that when the roots are completely gnawed away, Yggdrasil will wither, the World will face destruction, and Ragnarök will arrive. Everything will descend into chaos in despair, returning to the starting point, waiting for the next Creator God to be born and create the World anew.
When fighting against the Angelic Legion back then, Tang Song had once seen King Odin summon Yggdrasil from a distance to serve as a foothold for the Allied Forces.
However, Yggdrasil was not a Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures with a physical form as described in mythology; it was more like a materialized existence! Tang Song was therefore very curious: since Yggdrasil was not that kind of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, what kind of existence was this Black Dragon, said in legend to destroy the Nine Realms by feeding on Yggdrasil?
So, accompanied by Hela, Tang Song used the Gungnir left by Odin to summon Yggdrasil once again. And where were Yggdrasil's roots? They weren't in Asgard; the ethereal roots directly pierced into the Hell Dimension. "That's right, Níðhöggr is also me. However, regarding this identity, besides Bor, the previous God King of Asgard, you are the first to know this identity of mine!"
The Old Demon Dragon picked up the wine glass before Him, opened His mouth, and drained the red wine in the cup in one gulp, His face full of boldness. "Human, how about we form an alliance? Since the Blood Daoist is your subordinate, I believe in your strength. As the Lord of the Dragon Abyss, I rule six Abyss Worlds. My strength ranks among the top five even in the entire Deep Abyss. Plus Beelzebub,
If you join forces with us, the entire Great Abyssal World will be ours! We can nominate you to sit on Satan's throne!"
Tang Song clapped his hands and laughed. "Good idea. I naturally know my own strength. But what qualification do you and Beelzebub have to form an alliance with me? What gives you the right? Is it Beelzebub's reputation as the Prince of Flies, or your identity as the World-Destroying Dragon!"
Tang Song spread his hands and smiled, shaking his head at the Old Demon Dragon before him. "Reputation is something everyone praises each other for; it can't be taken seriously!
The Blood Daoist alone chased over a dozen of you Hell Lords away. Now you've come running to pledge allegiance. Just pledge allegiance, don't insist on calling it an alliance. That makes things difficult for me!"
A trace of dark golden radiance flickered in the depths of the Old Demon Dragon's eye. As an old relic who had lived for who knows how long, the Old Demon Dragon was not as arrogant and conceited as ordinary dragon race members. Facing Tang Song's merciless mockery, He forcefully suppressed the rage in His heart.
"Then how do you want us to prove that we have the qualification to form an alliance with you?"
(End of chapter)