Asgard, Asgard.
"You've aged a lot." Loki looked at Thor, who had an unshaven beard and even a big belly, and patted his belly with his palm. The fat swayed through his clothes.
"No, tell me! This is not my future self!" Thor, with his muscular body and abdominal muscles, covered his eyes, unable to bear to look at his future self.
"Strictly speaking, he's you from another universe, not this one. You won't necessarily become like him in the future," Queen Frigga reassured her son, patting his shoulder. But her gaze was mostly fixed on the future Thor, whose face was weathered and whose single eye seemed to have seen a lot. Her eyes were filled with affection.
"So, in your universe, we're all dead, and Asgard is destroyed?" Odin said in a low voice, sitting on the throne. This was a bit of a blow to him.
He always wanted to avoid the arrival of Ragnarok, but his self in another universe still failed to prevent the end of Ragnarok.
"It's my fault." Thor looked at his father with guilt. The sight of his living relatives in front of him brought back a surge of long-lost affection and emotion. Even Loki's face, with its sardonic expression, looked much cuter in his eyes.
"I never thought that you would die for me." Young Thor hugged his brother, but was pushed away by Loki in disgust.
"That's not me!" Loki said proudly, "I would just drop you down to hold the enemy back, and then find an opportunity to escape."
"You're not wrong, you did a good job." Odin looked at the vicissitudes of Thor gently. He could feel that this son from another universe had experienced a lot, grown a lot, and became more cunning. While sighing for him, he also felt a little comforted.
"In other words, the dark elves haven't invaded yet?" Thor finished his story, looked up at Odin on the throne, and asked softly.
"No, the invasion of the dark elves is over." Odin shook his head.
"The war here lasted longer and was more intense, and the Nine Realms suffered heavy losses. Even Nidavellir was exiled." Frigga stepped forward, gently stroking Thor's face with her hand, and replied in a gentle voice.
"What about the Aether particles? Who has the Reality Stone now? Jane?" Thor asked the key question he wanted to know.
"That mortal from Midgard?" Odin heard the name again. He glanced at the young Thor with dissatisfaction, snorted coldly, and turned to look at the aged Thor. "No, the Aether is still in Malekith's body. He is using it to forcibly prolong his life."
"Then where is he? I must get the Reality Stone." Thor felt a little relieved. He planned to get rid of Malekith in this universe and then borrow the Reality Stone.
"No, you can't go to him."
However, Thor's request was met with Odin's unquestionable rejection.
"Why?" Cangsang Thor was puzzled.
"Because he is in danger now. He is being targeted by the abyss. If you kill him, it will only give him a certain degree of relief. But as a medium, you will be entangled by the abyss." Frigga held Thor's hand tightly, her tone a little nervous.
"What is the abyss?" Thor frowned. He realized that the Asgard and everything in this universe seemed to be very different from his memories and experiences.
For example, during the Dark Elves' invasion, his mother didn't die, and neither did Malekith. Furthermore, the Asgard here seemed to be larger than the Asgard in his universe! The divine power within seemed even greater!
"It's best if you don't know." Frigga shook her head. "It's a filthy place, contaminating all energy and matter. If you're entangled by it, even maintaining a clear mind will be extremely difficult."
"But I need the Infinity Stones to save my universe." Thor scratched his hair, looking distressed.
Odin and Frigga looked at each other.
"Maybe you should go meet someone." Frigga turned her head and looked at Thor with a smile.
…
The group appeared in an empty square. After dispersing the portal behind them, Strange led everyone to stand on the ground.
"Record, record!" A suspended drone-like machine flew over and scanned everyone while speaking in various languages.
"Okay, okay, I have something important to do." Strange waved his hand to drive the small drone aside, and led everyone towards a building in the distance.
"Teleportation is generally prohibited here. My authority only allows me to open a portal here." Strange explained to Stark and others behind him as he walked forward.
There were boxes of various styles placed on the square, and in the front it was like a market, with stalls and all kinds of strange races mixed in.
"What is that? A demon?" It was the first time that Stark from the other world saw these strange lives, which made him very curious about the owner of this place.
"Yes, they are Mephisto's men, employees of the Energy Bank, miserable demons who have to bring their own food, have no holidays, and no salary. Luke thought this was not good, so he went against the majority and asked Mephisto to pay them a pitiful salary. Of course, most of them are not satisfied with it, because Mephisto always finds various excuses to deduct a little here and there. But fortunately, they have collected a lot of things themselves, and will trade them regularly in the data dimension and this square." Strange glanced in the direction Stark pointed and answered.
"They will bring out some minerals and materials from the Hell dimension, and I sometimes come here to buy things. Only here can I feel that I am a poor person who is not rich." The young Tony who was walking beside Nick Fury also turned around and added a few words to his own experience in the other universe.
"What is that? An angel? It's so chaotic here." The captain saw some people with white wings flying in the sky. Their shapes formed a sharp contrast and conflict with the demons below.
"The angels from the Heaven dimension have just returned to the Nine Realms. Now they have joined Luke and are serving and working for him. The inter-ethnic relations here are different from what you remember." Nick also slowed down his pace, and when Stark and the others approached, he answered in a deep voice.
"There are also elves and dwarves from the Nine Realms, as well as some captive frost and fire giants. They were convicted by Odin and sent here to perform service tasks based on their strength. For example, fire giants help the dwarves heat the furnaces. In short, you can see all races from the Nine Realms, as well as some unique species from the universe." Young Tony explained, "It's nothing to see too much."
"What are those dwarves doing? Parading?" Captain Rogers was clearly fascinated by everything here. He spotted the dwarves occupying a large area of the square ahead. Seeing their much taller figures, yet being introduced as dwarves by Tony, he was quite confused and surprised.
"They want Luke to help rebuild their homeworld of Nidavellir," Strange answered. "The dwarves are the best weapon forgers in the universe, capable of crafting artifact-level equipment. They have a dedicated forge in their home galaxy, but Nidavellir has been transformed into the Abyss, contaminating everything around it.
The dwarves are now working for Luke, and Odin, the god-king of Asgard, has paid for the rebuilding of the dwarves' forge. They're urging Luke to start work as soon as possible."
"Luke is helping them find a suitable planet for transformation." Nick obviously knew some information and added a sentence after Strange finished speaking.
A group of people boarded a retro vehicle and rushed towards their destination.
"I never thought that I could see the combination of future and retro." Stark looked at the highly technological surroundings, and then looked at the behemoth car he was riding. The sensory impact was still very strong.
"It's just a small circle formed by the tribes of Silent City. These behemoths are all tamed." Nick looked at the behemoth pulling the car wildly in front, and the demon controlling it, and answered softly.
"Do you want to pay more?"
After getting out of the car, Stark asked curiously when he saw Strange throwing two shiny round coins of different colors to the demon driver.
"Of course you have to pay. Some business circles have emerged in this city. They use a new currency. Generally speaking, if it is from other races, you can choose to give cash or transfer it to the account they opened in the energy bank. But demons only accept cash." Strange said as he walked up the stairs.
"Why?" Dr. Banner came forward and asked.
"Because if the money is transferred to their account in the Energy Bank, the money in the account will be erased and transferred by their master, Mephisto, the lord of the Hell dimension, in various ways." Strange explained the reason.
Everyone entered the building.
A cute little girl wearing a little skirt and carrying a big dog was blocking the way ahead.
"Look who this is?" Seeing the little Loli, Nick and Strange looked at each other in surprise, then walked up with a smile.
"Do you want me to help open the door for you?" Little Becky's childish voice sounded with an expectant smile on his face.
"Thank you so much. Speaking of which, according to the procedure, should I prepare a gift for you when we meet?" Strange touched little Becky's head, took off a ring from his hand with a painful feeling, and handed it to her.
Little Becky's eyes lit up, he reached out and grabbed the ring that Strange handed over, gave him a sweet and lovely smile, then waved his hand and spun out a mist of light that enveloped Strange and the others.
With Strange's loud reminder of "Don't resist", everyone disappeared on the spot.
…
"Who was that little girl just now?" Stark reappeared and looked at the cute little girl. He couldn't help but think of his own daughter.
"Who are you referring to? Little Becky? She is Luke's daughter, and can also be said to be the original owner of the Space Stone." Strange looked around and replied.
"This place looks like a laboratory?" Dr. Banner asked tentatively, looking at the various instruments and circuits densely packed around him.
"This is an observation room and storage room. It is specially used for observing and storing some valuables." A gentle male voice sounded above Stark and the others.
Everyone subconsciously looked up and saw Luke hanging in the air with several mechanical arms connected to his back.
"Is he the Luke Field you are talking about?" Stark looked at Luke who was slowly descending and asked young Tony as he approached him.
"That's right. He is also the current owner of the Infinity Stone you want." Tony nodded.
"Looks like you've encountered something supernatural again." Luke raised an eyebrow slightly as he looked at the two Starks, as well as Captain and Dr. Banner, who were clearly different from the Rogers and others he'd been seeing. Without needing to look closely, he could sense from these people an aura that was out of place in the existing world.
"I heard you possess two Infinity Stones. Our universe was ravaged by Thanos, who used the power of the Infinity Stones to wipe out more than half of all life in the universe and destroyed the original Stones with them. We want to go back to the past, to a stage before the original Stones were destroyed, to collect them again and restore the life lost to our universe because of the original Stones." Captain America stepped forward and explained and pleaded with Luke with a sincere face, "Can we borrow the original Stones from you? Of course, we will return them as soon as we restore our own universe."
"Are you sure you can return to this universe? This is not time travel." Luke shook his head.
Stark and the captain were unable to answer Luke's question for a moment.
"Don't be discouraged. Although I can't lend you the raw stones, I can teach you the technology to re-condense the raw stones." Luke looked at the disappointed Stark and others with a smile on his face.
"The technology to condense the original stone?" Stark and Dr. Banner's eyes widened in shock at Luke's words. They had never thought that the original stone could be condensed.
"What do you think the Rough Stone is? As long as the rules of the universe don't change, it can be condensed and extracted. It's no problem for the Rough Stone to destroy the Rough Stone. As long as there are no restrictions that don't allow the Rough Stone to reappear in any form, it won't be difficult." Luke clapped his hands.
Buzz!
A nearby metal wall suddenly vibrated. As everyone turned their gazes, the metal wall opened to both sides like a door, revealing everything inside.
It was a light that shone brightly like a starry sky.
That was a collection of raw stones that shocked Stark and his team so much that they held their breath.