"See? It's even playing with me."
Thor continued teasing it. Calvin slowly tightened its grip. "Oh, even though it's small, its strength is quite impressive."
"This thing is my spoil of war, taken from the Martians. At first, it seemed to be dormant. When I retrieved it, it was only the size of a grain of rice."
"Now, half a day later, it's grown to the size of a palm and has developed considerable intelligence. I was wondering if I could take it back to Asgard for proper research."
Luke searched his memory carefully and finally recalled the origin of this thing.
This was Calvin, the Martian organism from the 2017 sci-fi horror film Life. It was a single-celled organism, but within the context of the film, this thing was anything but ordinary.
It might very well have been the culprit behind the destruction of Mars's ecosystem.
Although Calvin was single-celled, it could grow at an astonishing rate in a very short period of time. As long as it absorbed enough nutrients, it could rapidly develop into a highly intelligent predator nearly one meter tall.
It possessed extremely powerful learning, adaptation, and comprehension abilities.
Moreover, due to its biological structure, every one of its cells was fully functional, and each individual cell could think independently.
As long as even a single cell remained, it could regenerate, making it effectively an alternative version of The Thing.
Compared to the latter, it did not possess such extreme assimilation abilities, but its offensive power and overall threat level were no less formidable, and might even be greater.
After consuming a human and completing its growth, it could quickly master the operation of spacecraft, correctly utilize various tools, identify what posed a threat to itself, and even infer others' intentions from their actions, eliminating dangers in advance.
In addition, it was resistant to extreme cold and heat, immune to radiation, resistant to impact, possessed an incredibly powerful physique, and could even survive and act in outer space for short periods of time.
This was an utterly terrifying Martian organism.
Luke even suspected that the Martians were not the true rulers of Mars. This thing was.
Luke thought of something else.
If his guess was correct, Calvin should be a species rather than a lone individual.
If the Martians brought it to Earth, given how unique this organism was, it could very likely expand its population rapidly.
Admittedly, for humanity, the Calvin species was far less insidious than The Thing.
Nor would it rise to the level of an extinction-level catastrophe.
But it was still a massive problem.
"I suggest you eliminate it completely. Don't take it back to Asgard. If I'm not mistaken, it's the true reason the Martians fled to Earth."
Luke warned Thor, "If you take it to Asgard, and even a single cell escapes, it can rapidly grow by absorbing other matter and completely destroy Asgard's ecosystem."
Thor's expression changed. "This thing is really that terrifying?!"
As if sensing that the conversation between Luke and Thor was extremely unfavorable to it, the sprout that had been pretending to be harmless suddenly increased its strength. It leapt up Thor's arm and onto his face, spreading open to envelop him, trying to eliminate the threat Thor posed.
"You little bastard! How dare you act so brazenly in front of me!"
"Let me smash you to death!"
Thor, who had still harbored some doubt, instantly flew into a rage when Calvin revealed its true nature.
He violently tore Calvin off and slammed it onto the ground, then picked up Mjolnir and brought it down again and again.
Amid roaring flames and crackling lightning, Calvin was ultimately blown apart by Thor's furious assault.
"Is it dead now?"
Thor looked at Luke with uncertainty in his eyes.
Luke shook his head, raised a hand, and unleashed hundreds of millions of volts of electricity, only stopping after maintaining the output for more than ten seconds.
[Killed Anomaly: Calvin. Gained 500 Anomaly Points. Current Anomaly Points: 2800/3800]
Thor's pupils constricted. Although he already knew Luke was adept at controlling lightning, he hadn't expected him to be this proficient.
They were both Thors, so why could he only release lightning through his hammer?
Could it be… that Odin had been right to punish him?
At the same time, Thor was stunned by Calvin's vitality.
After Luke's sustained electrical output, Calvin had been completely reduced to charcoal. Every single cell had been thoroughly destroyed.
"Yulinka, send me a copy of the video."
Luke said this to Yulinka, who was recording with her phone. She nodded and sent it over.
After opening and watching it, Luke immediately forwarded the video to Ada Wong, adding a note: Let the United Nations handle it.
He didn't know how many Calvins the Martians had brought with them, but he did know that human nature was unpredictable.
When faced with something so unique, there would always be people who wanted to take it away for research.
Because there were always people foolish enough to believe they could control anything.
But the problem was that Luke couldn't fly all over the world just because of Calvin.
Compared to other crises, Calvin really wasn't much of a threat.
If Calvin appeared again later, he would simply deal with it then.
Compared to Luke's nonchalance, Thor was far more concerned.
"I'll have Heimdall keep a close watch on Calvin's whereabouts. If anything happens, I'll deal with it immediately."
"Suit yourself. When you kill it, it's best to raze everything nearby to the ground, preferably burning it all at temperatures of at least a thousand degrees."
Luke had no objections. He didn't have the time or energy to waste on Calvin.
Just then, a calling voice came from outside the door.
"Sharon?"
"Sharon! Where are you?"
"It's my mother!"
Hearing the familiar voice, Sharon instinctively looked toward Yulinka, waiting for her instructions.
Yulinka smiled and nodded. "I think you can invite your mother in to spend some time with us, can't you?"
Sharon hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded.
Seeing this, Thor gave Luke a playful smile. Didn't expect you to be this kind of Luke.
"Ahem, since you have company, I'll be heading out."
Thor had originally planned to have a drink with Luke, but seeing the situation, he naturally felt it wasn't appropriate to stay and bother him.
Luke didn't try to stop him. After seeing Thor off, he noticed a young blonde woman holding Sharon's hand and speaking softly to her.
When she saw Luke, Rose offered an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry to bother you, Mr. Luke."
"It's fine. Yulinka and Emma both really like her. We've even made plans to go to Jurassic Park together. Rose, are you free this weekend?"
Luke looked her over. She was completely different from the Rose in Silent Hill.
She was younger and radiated a sense of vitality.
Noticing the anticipation in Sharon's eyes, Rose hesitated only briefly before nodding. "No problem. We were originally planning a beach vacation…"
Luke waved his hand. "That works out perfectly. We can go to the beach first, then head to Jurassic Park afterward."
Sharon grew even happier.
Rose was a little surprised, but still nodded.
Sharon was her only family. Even though she was adopted, Rose had long since regarded her as her own flesh and blood.
Sharon had finally managed to make two good friends, and as a mother, Rose naturally didn't want to disappoint her.
Besides… Luke looked very handsome and very young.
That made Rose think of her younger self.
If it hadn't been for seeing Sharon at her doorstep that night,
perhaps she would have… No. Sharon was the best gift God had ever given her.
Yulinka shot Sharon a look.
Sharon immediately understood and quickly clung to Rose, begging to stay and play a little longer.
Rose didn't hesitate much this time. Luke clearly wasn't a bad person, and there was no need to be overly cautious.
Under Yulinka's deliberate guidance, the conversation gradually deepened.
Without realizing it, Rose was drawn into an in-depth discussion with Luke.
As they talked, Rose found Luke to be outstanding in every aspect.
Especially after learning that Luke, at only eighteen years old, had adopted Yulinka, her gaze softened even more.
At eighteen, she had likewise adopted Sharon.
She naturally understood the hardships of raising a child.
Luke truly was a good man.
Almost unconsciously, Rose moved a little closer to Luke. She found herself wanting to understand this young man's inner world—whether it was the same as what she had once imagined back then.
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