Those time travelers that year

"In the dark forest law of the universe, ants have no right to speak."

“Especially these few ants, who are arrogant and conceited when they don’t even understand the world they live in. In the eyes of higher beings, you are no different from primitive people and uncivilized apes.”

168. End of conversation

After bombarding Coulson with a jumbled mess of information, both true and false, Sharl ruthlessly disappeared. Whether this information, some true and some false, would cause chaos for Coulson and his S.H.I.E.L.D. was none of Sharl's concern. He was simply presenting the stark reality that S.H.I.E.L.D. was rubbish, and that the UN Security Council behind them was rubbish too. Compared to other worlds, these self-proclaimed top dogs on this planet were nothing but utter scum, a deception designed to fool them.

Regardless of their interpretation, Shire had indeed simply told them the truth. However, the truth was cruel, and whether they could bear its cruelty was none of Shire's concern. After all, he hadn't lied. At this point, compared to the bigwigs of the Marvel Universe, S.H.I.E.L.D. was nothing more than an ant. Even in the eyes of Xandar and Kreegan, Earth was an uncivilized wasteland, while the other nine realms were renowned civilizations in the universe. Therefore, whether these schemers could accept the reality that they were, in essence, nothing more, was none of his concern.

Actually, Ciel had an even more wicked sense of humor earlier, which was to tell them that this world was actually created on the pen and paper of some guys who just wanted to make money, and that they were just characters existing in comics and movies.

However, this thought only lingered in Ciel's mind for a moment before he dismissed it. After all, compared to revealing the truth, for some reason, watching these guys move forward in the plot like puppets without their knowledge brought Ciel much more pleasure, yooooooooooo…

But Charles left, disappearing into a cloud of black mist, leaving Coulson sitting there dumbfounded, staring blankly at the various plates piled on the table.

"How much of what he said was true?" After a moment, Coulson, regaining his composure, reached up and pressed his right ear, asking, "It sounded like something out of a fantasy novel..."

“Unfortunately, Coulson, according to our experts’ analysis, the probability of it being true is as high as 52.65138%.” A woman’s voice came from the miniature earpiece. “Although it sounds strange and delusional, the conclusion that it’s more than 50% true, based on facial expression and tone analysis, is the conclusion reached by the experts behind me.”

"How am I supposed to tell our superiors this?" Coulson said, exasperated. "Say that we humans, especially S.H.I.E.L.D. and the UN Security Council, are just a bunch of monkeys? They look down on us and have always treated us like fools?"

“That’s your problem, Coulson!” the female voice said. “Anyway, we’ll make a report on today’s conversation for Fury, and whether he believes it or what he thinks is not up to me!”

"On the contrary, I think Fury would be more interested in your judgment and opinion..."

“…Although it’s…stupid to think that way!” Coulson hesitated for a moment, then continued, “But my gut feeling tells me that Charles Gretel wasn’t lying at all.”

"Forget it! Let the chief deal with these headaches; they have nothing to do with us." Coulson shook his head and said, "In comparison, can we figure out how he left? And can we confirm his identity?"

“We can’t detect the X gene here, so he’s not one of those mutants at all! But our equipment can’t completely determine Mr. Gret’s true identity either. Although he looks very human, the energy detection equipment shows…” The voice paused.

"What's wrong?" Coulson asked, slightly curious.

"According to the data from the energy detection instrument, this 'person' Charles Grete is constantly emitting an incomprehensible energy fluctuation, and most of these fluctuations form an unanalyzable force field on his body surface."

"Preliminary calculations show that the force field is sufficient to neutralize the vast majority of modern firearms."

"How to say?"

“You can pull out your pistol, fire all the bullets at someone’s temple, and still not hit a hair on their head,” the woman’s voice continued. “Even if you try to do what those jihadist organizations do, carrying a thermobaric bomb to launch a suicide bombing attack, you’ll only knock someone off balance.”

"Um, can I understand that a moving humanoid nuclear bomb was sitting right in front of me just now?"

“Not just nuclear bombs! Coulson!” The voice revealed a deep sense of helplessness. “The current instruments simply cannot calculate the upper limit of his energy reserves; my instruments here certainly cannot do it. But a rough estimate shows that if he really wanted to unleash his energy, he could wipe the entire city of New York off the map—completely wipe it off. Just think about how much nuclear weapon yield it would take to destroy the entire city of New York in an instant!”

"During the Soviet era, the experimental Tsar Bomba had a yield of 50 megatons of TNT, equivalent to 3846 times the "Little Boy" atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II," Coulson answered without hesitation, as if reciting data. "It was dropped from an altitude of 10500 meters, with a detonation time difference of 188 seconds, and a detonation altitude of 4200 meters. The fireball produced at the time of the explosion had a diameter of 4600 meters, and the mushroom cloud after the explosion was nearly 40 kilometers wide and 60 kilometers high, more than seven times higher than Mount Everest."

"The hot air generated by the explosion can cause third-degree burns to people as far as 170 kilometers away, and the flash of the explosion can cause severe eye pain and burns as far as 220 kilometers away, and even cause cataracts and blindness."

"The storm pressure generated by the explosion reached 300 pounds per square inch, and it traveled for nearly 1000 kilometers. The U.S. Geological Survey detected an earthquake with a magnitude of 5 to 5.25 on the Richter scale. All wooden or brick houses in the Severny settlement, 55 kilometers away from the test site, were completely destroyed. The electromagnetic pulse (EMP) wave after the explosion caused a radio communication blackout for a full hour, and the atmospheric disturbance caused by the explosion circled the earth three times... OMG, are you saying I was just sitting next to a Khrushchev bomb?"

"Hahaha, although I really want to say no, Coulson, you're right!" The female voice in the earpiece said gloatingly. "By the way, your memorization of the information is completely correct!"

"But this is no good at all!" Coulson clutched his forehead in exasperation. "How am I supposed to tell Fury? I can't exactly tell him it's a self-propelled alien planetary civilization's annihilation biological weapon, can I? Fury would kill me!"

"No! He won't!" a reassuring voice came through the earpiece. "It just means you won't get your vacation and raise next year!"

169. The upcoming Thor storyline

As for Coulson's chaotic and mind-blowing antics, Ciel paid no attention. After leaving, he once again indulged in his slacker life of watching new anime and playing various games. In his spare time, he simply watched Tony Stark fiddling with his Iron Man armor. Although his previous armor hadn't been damaged in the fight with Obadiah, it was still badly damaged. Moreover, Tony had also discovered a problem: his offensive methods were far too limited. Once he ran out of missiles and bullets, half of his Iron Man armor would be useless. He couldn't very well be forced into hand-to-hand combat, could he?

Moreover, the materials used also need improvement! Obadiah's Iron Monger had its two arms crippled in just a few moves by Ciel. On the other hand, while Ciel's Iron Man armor was of slightly better quality than Obadiah's, it was still much thicker and tougher! The two were evenly matched. Ciel could easily cut through the Iron Monger, and conversely, he could easily cut through Ciel's Iron Man armor.

However, to solve these problems, the first issue to address is his energy supply. Tony knows that Ciel is currently prolonging his life to prevent him from dying from metal poisoning. But how long can this last? Or rather, how long does Ciel intend to remain in this position? Moreover, as a genius, Tony doesn't want anyone to have any leverage over him, and unfortunately, in a sense, Ciel has exactly that leverage over him.

However, finding a completely new element to replace his current Arc Reactor wasn't easy. During this time, Tony tried many elements he knew, but none could solve the fundamental problem. Although he wasn't as颓废 and颓废 as the characters in the original story, due to their countdown to death, Tony's attitude towards finding the new element remained the same. In Shire's view, he simply didn't want to entrust his life to someone else; of course, he would have felt the same way if he were in Shire's shoes.

Even if he knew, Ciel didn't want to say anything, since it had nothing to do with him. Besides, if Tony Stark could continue as in the original storyline, it would be easier for him to get involved with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s affairs. In other words, Ciel would be closer to his target, the Tesseract, and might even be able to access the Mind Stone and the Aether. Although he didn't know why, there was a voice inside him urging Ciel to approach these soon-to-be-released Infinity Stones.

But the feeling that there would be tangible benefits lingered in Ciel's heart. However, no matter how anxious he was, he had to wait patiently for time to pass and for that moment to arrive. In any case, that moment would come soon!

……

Time flew by. Several months passed after his first contact with Coulson, formerly of S.H.I.E.L.D., and S.H.I.E.L.D. They didn't send anyone to look for him again, allowing Shire to enjoy some peace and quiet. However, he noticed that whenever he left California and used Apparition to wander aimlessly to other places, he always caused S.H.I.E.L.D. considerable trouble! Of course, they didn't dare to take action; their primary focus was on monitoring Shire's presence as a human nuclear bomb.

In short, Charles didn't find it troublesome. After all, the agents monitoring him day and night were quite tired, and they always had to spend time dealing with the troubles that came their way! For example, the most common street thugs in America. After all, Charles's appearance, if you didn't look closely, looked like a woman, and if you looked closely, he really did look effeminate. Those drug addicts and lust-driven guys, as well as those human traffickers, would always make stupid mistakes. Over the course of a few months, while monitoring Charles's movements, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents also dismantled more than a dozen gangs and human trafficking organizations, threw thousands of people into local prisons, made more than a dozen stubborn guys disappear, and brought down several companies that appeared to be doing legitimate business. At the same time, they also offended a large group of unreasonable politicians. Because those politicians just happened to be the behind-the-scenes power holders of several companies that were taken down by S.H.I.E.L.D., and then not long after, those politicians who were jumping around were directly subjected to a thorough investigation into corruption issues, suspended from their duties, and then imprisoned for life without even being interrogated... What a gratifying 'democratic' and 'free' society!

But think about it: facing a humanoid nuclear warhead that could explode at any moment, and to avoid a potential catastrophe, SHIELD's actions were a last resort until they found a way to deal with Shire. They couldn't just watch some fools run off to their deaths and drag a whole bunch of people down with them, could they?

Several months passed in this cycle of occasionally going out and causing chaos for S.H.I.E.L.D., only to return to his reclusive life. Unsurprisingly, Ciel found that the plot of Iron Man 2 was still unfolding. Tony Stark's revelation of his Iron Man identity caused considerable confusion, leading to increasing pressure from the media, public opinion, and various government sectors to release his advanced military technology. Naturally, this attempt to take advantage of him and treat him like a fool was met with Tony's opposition and dissatisfaction. Then, fueled by the self-proclaimed genius Justin Hammer, this farce continued to escalate, eventually attracting the attention of Ivan Vanko, a Russian who was no less capable than Tony.

But that's none of my business!!!

Thinking this way, Ciel then told Tony his goodbyes one day.

"Huh! You mean you're going on a nationwide tour of America?" Tony looked at Ciel with a bewildered expression.

“That’s right!” With his dark golden eyes wide open, Ciel, speaking with a straight face, casually tossed a few bottles of potion to Tony. “If the metal content is too high, drink these…”

"What is this?" Tony's eyes suddenly lit up.

"In your words, it's a potion! A potion that can heal you, but I can't possibly keep casting healing spells on you all the time, can I? I'm not a healer, and you're not a tank!" Charles rolled his eyes and continued, "Also, don't try to analyze the ingredients through mechanical means. That's useless. It's a potion created through magic. If you just synthesize it based on the analyzed ingredients, it'll definitely just be poison!"

“So…” Seeing Tony Stark’s absent-minded look, Ciel knew he hadn’t listened, but that was none of his business. If Tony was really so stupid as to just make a potion to drink based on the analysis results, then it was none of Ciel’s concern.

In any case, if he doesn't leave, it will be difficult for him to make contact with SHIELD, which Tony is trying to curry favor with. If Tony isn't allowed to contact SHIELD, then Ciel has no idea where the Tesseract is hidden. In that case, it's better to give SHIELD a chance.

Moreover, compared to the plot of Iron Man 2, it was Thor, who was about to be kicked down, that interested Shire more. Of course, what interested him was only the hammer.

170. Thor's Arrival

After leaving, Ciel estimates the original plot will unfold very similarly, with Tony getting beaten to a pulp. While Tony Stark isn't in immediate danger as in the comics, Ciel predicts that, given Tony's personality, he'll eventually hand over the Mark II to Rhodes to silence the US military and politicians. However, this doesn't change the fact that Tony will still get beaten to a pulp.

Therefore, Ciel wouldn't take it to heart at all.

So what if he gets beaten up like a dog? It's better to get beaten up now than to get beaten up by someone else in the future, right? Besides, if he didn't get beaten up, that dark-skinned Wu from S.H.I.E.L.D. probably wouldn't have been so confident in coming to Tony Stark's door to fool him.

With this in mind, Ciel began his journey with ease, using Apparition.

——————————Divider Line————————

Endless darkness pervades the boundless universe. This is the Dark Zone, a place devoid of starlight and life, a perpetual and tranquil darkness. This is the Dark Zone, a mysterious realm shrouded between the nine kingdoms. No one knows when it began, only that over countless years, this Dark Zone has swallowed countless explorers. Even the last remnants of the once-powerful cosmic overlords, the Dark Elves, fled here and were never heard from again.

Today, the tranquility of this dark realm was shattered. A dazzling rainbow of light tore through the void of darkness, like a rainbow bridge spanning the heavens. This rainbow bridge ripped open this dark realm, which many civilizations have named the Kinggalon Gap, connecting two planets straddling its two ends.

A bright golden light, like dazzling golden glass.

On the other side, in the cold darkness, the harsh cold of death froze the earth.

On one side is Asgard, inhabited by the Aesir gods:

On the other side is Jotunheim, the land of ice giants shrouded in mist.

Soon, the rainbow bridge began to recede, dissipating from Jotunheim and gradually retreating back to Asgard. Along with the rainbow bridge, Odin and his entourage also departed. Although the dazzling rainbow bridge was gone, on the frozen surface of Jotunheim, Laufey, the Ice Giant King, stared intently at the spot where Odin had left, his eyes filled with boundless rage that threatened to melt his ice-forged body.

Once upon a time, he, Laufey, the King of the Frost Giants, and all of Jotunheim were nations on par with Odin and Asgard, listed as one of the Nine Realms. But now, in the Battle of Midgard, he and Jotunheim suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Odin's Asgardians. Their army was annihilated, their people suffered heavy casualties, their entire kingdom was destroyed, and even the Casket of Ice, the source of their power, was taken from them. He and his burning ambition were forced to live in humiliation, confined to this frozen planet.

Having lost almost everything, he naturally lost his dignity as well! A mere newly risen son of Odin, along with a few arrogant brats, dared to come and question him, even engaging in a fight. He tragically discovered that he and his people couldn't even subdue these brats. When Odin arrived riding his eight-legged steed, having lost his greatest source of power, he was utterly powerless against Odin. He could only watch helplessly as Odin took away those troublesome brats unharmed.

"Odin!!!" Laufey's roar unleashed a terrifying blizzard upon the earth. This kind of natural disaster, enough to alarm a great nation and submerge a modern city, was amplified by Laufey's own magic, roaring across the skies above Jotunheim. "I will wait, wait for Ragnarok, wait for your tragic end, just you wait..."

……

Laufey's roar was clearly insufficient to cross the dark King Gallon chasm, much less reach Asgard on the other side. Perhaps the gatekeeper could see Laufey's rage and hear his roar, but clearly, the gatekeeper paid no heed to Laufey as the defeated.

Here, the wrath of Odin, the king of Asgard, is far more unsettling than Laufey's loss of the source of divine power in the Ice Box. Moreover, this is a private matter for the king of gods, so the gatekeeper has no intention of getting involved, as they are bound to run into each other frequently.

Now, Odin, the god-king who wields the eternal spear Gungnir, glares furiously at his son, Thor, with his single, unbroken eye.

After instructing Heimdall to take the wounded Warriors Three and Sif to be treated, Odin roared at his son, whom he had previously favored: "This is arrogant talk, not leadership... You have forgotten everything I taught you, the patience of a warrior..." It seems that Odin was very angry about his son Tony's actions, which almost provoked a war.

"While you waited and endured, the Nine Kingdoms were laughing at us." However, it was clear that Thor, as the God of Thunder, did not share the same view as his direct father. Instead of believing he had done anything wrong, he loudly questioned, "The old path is no longer viable. While you were giving your speech, Asgard had already declined..."

“You are a vain, greedy, and cruel child!” Odin roared.

Thor retorted without hesitation, "And you're a stupid old man..."

“Yes! I was foolish to think you were ready. I should have heeded Mimir’s advice…” Odin’s face darkened. “Thor, son of Odin. You have defied the king’s clear orders. Because of your arrogance and foolishness, the peaceful kingdoms and innocent lives will be plunged into an abyss of war and fear!” Gungnir, the eternal spear held in Odin’s hand, shone brightly, accompanied by Odin’s calm yet furious voice. “You have failed these kingdoms, failed your title, failed those you have betrayed who loved you.” As Odin’s voice fell, Thor froze on the spot, bound by Odin’s power.

"Now, I take back your divine power..." Unable to move or speak, Thor watched as his warhammer flew into Odin's hands. "In the name of Asgard, I, Odin, the Allfather..."

"I will banish you from the realm of the gods!!!"

Golden light enveloped Thor, and instantly, his once indestructible armor shattered into pieces. Thor was sent flying backward as if struck by a heavy hammer, falling into the flowing light of the Rainbow Bridge.

On this day, Thor, the prince and heir of Asgard, was stripped of his divine power and status and banished from Asgard by the Allfather for disobeying his orders.

……

On Earth, a beam of rainbow light, shining brightly in the cosmos, traveled faster than light towards Midgard. The Rainbow Bridge, this radiance that had been absent for millennia, this glory that the Vikings had always sought, descended upon Earth once more. The darkness of the Kinggalon Gap was torn apart by the light of the Rainbow Bridge, and a beam of rainbow light pierced through the endless realm of darkness, landing on Earth.

Following the last anomaly, Earth has once again welcomed outsiders.

Regardless of size, anyone who could observe or sense the presence of this rainbow light undoubtedly widened their eyes and turned their gaze towards the place where the rainbow light descended. The ancient forces hidden on this planet, as well as the extraordinary beings, all turned their attention in that direction.

……

While dining at a restaurant, Ciel was appreciating the starry night sky as he cut his steak when a strange sensation in his mind made him unconsciously raise his head and look up at the endless night sky.

At that moment, the twilight-colored flames shone from his eyes, and space and time were separated in his vision. Then, what was reflected in his eyes was a beam of brilliant rainbow light that streaked across the darkness.

With a clatter, Charles dropped his knife and fork, stood up, picked up the wine glass next to him, and raised it towards the night sky.

"Homage to Thor, the God of Thunder, who was banished to Earth!"

With a strange smile, Charles downed the wine in his glass in one gulp, then casually tossed the glass aside, letting it shatter into pieces on the ground with a crash.

Charles waved his gold money card at the waiter who came over to see what had happened after hearing the noise and said, "Waiter, the bill!"

Double update today, making up for the two updates that were supposed to happen!

171. New Mexico

New Mexico, located in the southwestern United States, is bordered by Colorado to the north, Arizona to the west, Oklahoma to the northeast, Texas to the east and south, and Chihuahua, Mexico, to the southwest. What's most memorable about this place is its traditional cowboy culture, the vast deserts, the steep red rock cliffs, and the towering cacti... well, something seems a bit off here.

In short, the scenery here is captivating, provided you can tolerate the climate. It has a typical desert climate, warm and dry, with abundant sunshine and low humidity. The average annual rainfall across the state is 380 mm, but mountainous areas can receive up to 1000 mm, while the driest areas receive only 200-250 mm. Winters are mostly snowy in the high-altitude mountainous regions. There is a significant temperature difference between day and night. The average annual temperature is 12℃, with a high of 43℃ and a low of -2℃.

Oh, and there's the cowboy culture factor too. Don't think that so-called cowboy culture is just a symbol of 'freedom.' All that talk about courage, perseverance, fearlessness, and indomitable spirit is nonsense. If you really want to compare, this place is similar to the culture of Hong Kong gangsters in the late 20th century. The only difference is that the gangsters in Causeway Bay used machetes, while here they just pulled out revolvers and played "It's High Noon." And unlike on the mainland, after Hong Kong's return to China, the Chinese government thoroughly beat these gangsters, showing them who the most powerful gang in the country was, forcing them to switch careers and become security companies…

Over here, the scions of the US are much more difficult to deal with; drawing a gun at the slightest provocation is part of cowboy culture. While things are much better now—at least they know that killing someone carries consequences—it has to be said that the security situation here isn't great. However, as long as outsiders are careful, generally speaking, there shouldn't be too many problems…right?