American comics: Praising the sun, starting from Gotham!

The command center of the space carrier.

The cold light from the holographic screen reflected on Nick Fury's dark face.

He couldn't bear to look at the human-shaped light bulb that was turning the alloy armrest next to the control panel into a golden ball; that one eye was locked onto Tony Stark.

"I don't like beating around the bush, Stark. I know you've always thought your father was a cold-blooded arms dealer who was good for nothing but making money and sending you to boarding school."

Fury slammed a heavy folder onto the glass table.

The file folder only shows signs of age and yellowing.

"But the fact is, he was one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D. If he hadn't been busy making your sieve-like Arc Reactor technology usable, I might still be using an old-fashioned propeller-driven mothership."

Tony's hand, which was fiddling with his sunglasses, froze in mid-air.

He looked at the file folder.

"Founder? You're kidding. Even I might not be able to stand Howard Stark for more than ten minutes, and he'd actually team up with the government? I mean, team up with a one-eyed bastard like you to run a secret organization?"

Despite his stubbornness, his actions spoke volumes.

He reached out and turned to the first page.

There's an old photo of Howard Stark standing on a familiar construction site, with a Stark Expo model being built in the background, and a sketch in his hand.

That's an atomic structure.

"He left you something in the video, Stark. It's about the future, and about how to cure that ever-growing toxicity in your blood."

Fury pointed to Shum next to him.

"Your new friends may not care if your death affects the taste, but I care about how chaotic the world would be without you."

"Hey, don't slander me, I actually care about him quite a bit."

Xiu En, who had been trying to squeeze the armrest like some kind of toy, finally chimed in.

His golden aura reflected off the agents' anti-glare goggles, creating a bright spot.

Shuen's gaze passed over Fury and settled on the sketch in the file folder.

Even though he couldn't understand it, his intuition about energy, stemming from the metal element, allowed him to immediately discern the meaning behind the triangular structure.

"That thing is like some kind of purer seasoning, even closer to the flavor of the star's core."

Fury turned to Shuen.

He's evaluating, calculating, and gambling.

"This gourmet gentleman is so interested in pure energy."

Fury pulled out another document, this time a photograph.

The photo is blurry, with only a pale blue cube glowing in the darkness.

Xiu En stopped gripping the armrest.

On that thin photograph, he could actually smell an exquisite fragrance that could transcend dimensions and tear through space.

That's the smell of the Space Stone.

"We not only have the seasonings you want, but also the real main course. Instead of eating that nutritionally worthless scrap metal, my research on this thing—the Cosmic Cube—might give you a real menu."

Fury learned from some source that Shuen could not devour the Tesseract. Although there was still a risk of being devoured by Shuen, he was willing to take the gamble.

"very good."

Xiu En tossed aside the handrail crumbs, which he had already crushed into the shape of gold coins, with a hint of disgust.

"I admire straightforward people. Show me that glowing cube, and I promise that as long as Stark builds a new reactor, I won't fight you for the first taste."

He turned to look at Tony, who was still in a daze, and flicked Stark's forehead with his finger.

"Did you hear that? Your dad left you a cheat code: that one-eyed bastard left me a buffet voucher. Nobody's going to starve tonight. So, stop acting like Hamlet and get home to work."

Tony decides to go back and study the new element, while Shum insists on going with Fury to see the Tesseract.

Tony Stark, carrying the briefcase filled with his father's belongings and his future life, drove his battle-damaged armor off the deck.

Even at this critical moment, the playboy didn't forget to leave his final words through the loudspeaker:

"Hey, Light Man! Once I've got that new element figured out, remember to come to Malibu Beach for the inspection. I'll make the reactor as big as a donut!"

Xiu En waved his hand, and golden light shards drew an OK sign in the air.

"Hopefully it will be a bit firmer than a donut."

After seeing Stark off to meet the deadline, the atmosphere in the command room instantly shifted from the lighthearted banter to the cold, gritty atmosphere of a spy movie set.

Nick's single eye refocused like a scanner.

"Alright, everyone else has left. If you want to see that, you'd better wipe your drool off."

Fury turned and walked toward the heavy-duty isolation door that required dual iris verification.

Inside the deep isolation chamber of S.H.I.E.L.D., it was blindingly bright.

In the center of a complex mechanical device, the dark blue cube floats silently.

It emits not only light, but also a cold, profound, and endless fluctuation, like the deep space of the universe.

Even the Shaohao Golden Fire on Xiu En's body surface was distorted when it approached this energy.

It's not about confrontation, it's about missing out.

"This is the Cosmic Cube."

Fury stood outside the safety line, his tone tinged with awe.

"Hydra used it to make weapons during World War II, Howard used it to find his son, and now we're using it to open doors."

Xiu En couldn't be bothered to listen to that bureaucratic speech about humanity's efforts to develop new energy sources.

All he could see now was that blue square.

In the perception of the Great Sun Projection.

It was a hole.

A hole leading to infinity.

Xiu En manipulated the golden light to condense into a giant hand, ignoring the Geiger counters around him that were reading wildly, and grabbed at the Cosmic Cube.

The golden, giant hand of energy touched the blue cube.

The next second, Xiu En's expectant expression was replaced by a mask of pain.

"Pooh!"

As the golden light dissipated, even the projection of Xiu En's true form flickered a few times due to extreme discomfort.

How can I describe that feeling?

When you try to bite into a piece of real energy, the feedback from your teeth is absolutely nothing.

It's like you're eagerly biting into a top-quality steak, only to find yourself biting into a vacuum tens of thousands of light-years away when you close your mouth.

The sense of spatial disorientation caused him severe dizziness and nausea.

This thing not only lacks a metallic texture, but it also lacks even the most basic sense of presence.

It's like a lie made with mathematical formulas; it smells delicious, but when you eat it, all you get is a mouthful of distance units.

Xiu En shook his hand dismissively, as if it had been stained with something dirty.

"This tastes like stretching a tasteless pizza to the edge of the universe—it's nothing but emptiness!"

Fury's eyebrows were raised even higher.

Although he didn't understand what a pizza stretched to the ends of the universe meant, he understood one thing.

This competitive eater couldn't finish the Cosmic Cube; he made the right bet.

This might be the best news he's heard tonight.

"Looks like this isn't to your taste?"

There was a hint of undisguised relaxation in Fury's voice.

"Disgusting. Extremely disgusting. This is a case of misleading marketing!"

Xiu En turned away angrily, determined never to look at that broken blue cube again.

"By comparison, Stark's reactors are more practical. At least they're electricity and iron, not some damned journey."

Just as Hugh was cursing and swearing as he walked out of the isolation pod, preparing to ask Lieutenant Hill if there were any spare aircraft engines on the ship that he could use as snacks, a familiar face appeared at the end of the corridor.

A loud voice, like muffled thunder, was complaining to a poor agent.

"Son of Coulson! Your drink cups are too small! They're smaller than an Asgardian thimble! Give me another cup of that black holy water called coffee!"

Xiu En stopped in his tracks.

At the corner of the corridor, a burly, blond man wearing a red cloak, a silver breastplate, and carrying a short-handled, round-headed mace walked over.

He held the paper cup in his hand, and it really did look like a toy in his palm.

Thor, the down-on-his-luck prince in the New Mexico desert, covered in dust and believing he had lost his divine status, was warmed by a biscuit.

Eyes facing each other.

Then came a burst of resonance that could only occur between beings who didn't need brains.

"It's you!"

Thor casually tossed the empty paper cup into the trash can, then burst into laughter, opening his arms as if he had seen a long-lost brother.

"That gleaming metal devourer! The owner of that truckload of scrap metal! Ha! I knew I'd see you again!"

"Hammer Man"

Xiu En grinned, his eyes sparkling with light, and everyone could feel his joy.

"Looks like you went home to get your equipment? That armor looks like it's made of good quality silver."

Thor strode forward, wanting to give Shuen a warm Asgardian bear hug, but Shuen clearly didn't want to be hugged. Thor walked right through him, which made Shuen stumble, but this did not diminish his enthusiasm in the slightest.

"Of course! To thank you for your sacrifice, even though it was just an avatar, I never owe anyone favors. The one-eyed leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. said there's a more suitable battlefield for warriors here and invited me to join as an advisor for the Avengers program. I didn't expect to find you here too!"

Thor patted his breastplate, making a dull thud.

"What? You've joined this mortal organization too? Or do you like the cafeteria here?"

Thor was squinting, trying to poke Shuen's shoulder with his finger.

This time, Xiu En actually got what he wanted.

"Well, the popularity is still astonishing."

Thor frowned, his blue eyes filled with innocent skepticism.

"My friend, you don't look like someone who could lift a barrel of wine in Asgard right now. And I just passed through there. Are you just a clone again this time?"

Shuen slapped Thor's hand away without any politeness.

He's about to start conning Thor.

The special ultraviolet rays he's been exposed to in the sun these past few days, and the donut that Iron Monger just ate, haven't been completely useless. Now, his hardness can be very high!

"That's how mortals understand it, Thor."

Xiu En shone with a saintly radiance under the lights.

"This is called the Great Sun Golden Body, an advanced form I achieved after absorbing the essence of the yellow sun in your world these past few days. Only the purest divine power could construct such a perfect body. A clone? That's an excuse for the weak. I've simply sublimated my physical body into a higher form of energy."

He even went so far as to flick Thor's breastplate with his finger.

"See, it's true. But you, a prince of the divine realm, look even fatter than last time!"

The golden sunflower sitting on Xiu En's shoulder turned its flower head.

Ivy was clearly bored with the tedious hardness contest between the two males.

She shook the leaves and made a soft, disdainful click of her tongue.

"Now that we've met again, it seems your social circle has shrunk considerably, big guy."

The sunflower leans slightly forward.

"What happened to that girlfriend of yours who made you cry like a child in New Mexico? What was her name again? Jane? Why isn't she clinging to you like a koala anymore? Did she finally realize that a Nobel Prize in Physics is more practical than dating a giant who generates electricity, so she dumped you?"

These words struck a nerve with Thor's seemingly unbreakable thick skin.

Thor's hand, which was about to pat Shuen's back, froze in mid-air.

His gaze quickly shifted, and he began to take a keen interest in the ventilation ducts on the corridor ceiling.

"Ah! Jane! Yes, of course, Ms. Jane Foster!"

A rare, weak tremor appeared in Thor's deep voice. He took a paper cup from the agent next to him, crushed it, and threw it into the recycling bin, making noise to cover up his embarrassment.

"She...she's fighting for the scientific cause of Midgard! You know, astrophysics! I'm not just a consultant at S.H.I.E.L.D., I'm also there to protect her research environment! You've seen it yourself, this world is full of Hydra and aliens, and as Odin's son, how can I let personal feelings interfere with justice!"

He turned around and put his arm around Xiu En's shoulder, even though it was so hot it made Xiu En's palms steam.

"Let's not talk about that! Science is always complicated! But good food and spirits are simple! Since your divine body is so hungry, Coulson said there's a special warehouse on this spaceship for storing Earth's delicacies! It's called the cafeteria!"

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Xiu En, who had originally intended to join Ivy in making sarcastic remarks, switched to "diner mode."

"Lead the way. As long as there aren't those damn blue glowing cubes inside."

At that moment, Coulson, who was hiding in the corner of the corridor monitoring the scene, pressed his earpiece.

"Plan succeeded, Chief. Yes, they rendezvoused. There was no fighting, but... okay, I'll go tell the kitchen to remove all the stainless steel plates and replace them with paper plates. Yes, lock that new coffee machine in the safe. Immediately."

The exciting chapter "Chapter 185 Xiu En Hates Space Gems" is now available online. Click to read it now!