Chapter 1408 The Return of the Old Ones (Part Sixteen) (Patreon)

In DC World With Marvel Chat Group : Table of Content/Chapter List

XXX-----XXX-----XXX-----XXX

In the space filled with dense gray mist, two beings that were neither gods nor mortals stared at each other, and the aged face holding a feather pen still harbored doubts about the Black Sun hanging opposite.

The God of Stories, Loki, was a very special existence in Space. He controlled all the stories in the universe, creating stories, listening to stories, and feeling stories. He was the child of stories and also their father. Therefore, when every story was written under his pen, it was also written into his soul.

Recently, an absurd, strange, and horrifying story had attracted him. There were too many horror stories in Space, but most of them were scattered and chaotic. Each story had a ghost, and they were of all kinds, but they did not know each other. Most of the time, they only harmed the race that created the story.

However, the story that the God of Stories, Loki, had recently heard was different from other horror stories. It had order in the chaos. Countless terrifying entities had their own names, and they even had kinship relationships, forming a complex network of relationships through their own symbols, personalities, and hobbies.

Yet, in the order, there was also great disorder. They did not intend to harm any intelligent life, but simply remained in the depths of the stars, and the madness encountered by those who peeked at the truth was only their own doing.

Setting aside this matter, the ups and downs of the story from Englewood to the end of the Mysterious Entities' Dream Realm had aroused the curiosity of the God of Stories. He wanted to know if there was really something in the depths of the stars.

So he came, and he saw the Black Sun hanging high in the sky, terrifying, majestic, and magnificent.

However, no matter how the God of Stories, Loki, investigated, he always seemed to be separated from the entities in the depths of the stars by a thick barrier. He could not approach them, nor could he observe them, and he did not know how to respond to the Call of the Stars.

The story he had obtained did not mention this, and there were no similar skills in all the other stories he had heard.

This was very strange, because if someone had really contacted the stars, the God of Stories, Loki, would certainly have found traces of it in the thousands of stories he had heard.

Just as the God of Stories, Loki, felt puzzled, another story caught his attention. And this story came from another version of himself in a different Space.

"A burst of bright light flashed, and Schiller woke up from his somewhat dazed drowsiness. Outside the bedroom window of the Celestial Palace, he could see the bright energy exhaust of the royal Shi'ar Empire spaceship slowing down and landing.

This is really strange, Schiller thought, the Queen of the Shi'ar Empire and her husband are actually coming in person to congratulate, and they are even earlier than the other two major Empires..."

An interesting suspenseful story.

The fact that this story came from another version of himself inevitably added a touch of more suspense to the story - what kind of Space could allow so many parties to compete in this way?

When the God of Stories, Loki, projected his attention onto this Space, he heard all the stories in this Space, as well as the numerous familiar and interfering noises in all those stories - "God of Stories! Thor has locked me up! Help!"

Schiller, or rather Greed, who had projected his consciousness onto the Black Sun, suddenly felt a call coming from the high tower.

"Greed, Greed! Hear the broadcast and immediately return to the high tower, hear the broadcast and immediately report to the high tower broadcast station!"

Schiller impatiently withdrew his consciousness and sank it back down, arriving in the high tower and taking the elevator to the broadcast station floor. As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw a green-skinned Schiller sitting at the broadcast console shouting.

"Greed, Greed, hear the broadcast and..."

"Oh, you're here."

"What's wrong, Skrull? Why are you so eager to find me? I'm doing important things."

The Skrull Schiller stepped forward and said, "It's not me looking for you, it's Nick. He's been looking for you like crazy, you'd better go over there right away."

"But I still have things to do." Schiller frowned and crossed his arms. "What urgent matter does he need me for? If it's this period's psychology assessment report, can't you just give it to him? Isn't your body at the Time Management Bureau?"

"If it were just that, I wouldn't have come to find you." Skrull shook his head and said, "Don't you know? He's looking for you must be something related to the budget or the extension of your previous plan. I heard him cursing for half an hour, I really can't stand it anymore, you'd better go over there."

Greed sighed and was about to say that they could switch shifts, but then he felt some movement next to the body he had in the Hell's Kitchen clinic. At the time, he had pretended to fall asleep because the TV show was too boring, but now Peter Parker was shaking his body, wanting to play the new two-player game with him. Schiller had at most three seconds left to wake up, otherwise Peter and Steve might go to Stark to tattle, and then he would be exposed.

So Greed strode to the broadcast console and shouted, "Pride! Pride! Pride, are you there? Hear the broadcast and come to the broadcast station immediately!"

Soon, a frowning Pride appeared at the door of the broadcast station. Greed stood up from the broadcast console and said, "Go upstairs and take over! I swear this is the last time this month, please!"

Pride was full of impatience, but he still pursed his lips and said, "No way, Batman can recognize me."

"Then go to the Black Sun, Skrull will take over his number, and I'll take over his number."

"You really have been playing too many games."

A few minutes later, Schiller walked out of the Time Management Bureau corridor. Before he even reached Nick's office, he heard him cursing like crazy inside. He actively blocked out most of the profanity, leaving only about one-tenth of the effective information, which was that Loki's absence had caused the work that should have been completed seven or eight days ago to still have no progress.

Schiller pushed the door open, and as Nick turned his head, he was about to yell, but when he saw it was Schiller, he paused and tentatively asked, "Schiller?"

"Correct, it's me. Skrull just called me over. What's wrong? Something worth you getting so angry about?"

"Loki has been absent for almost a week." Nick put his hands on his hips and sighed deeply. "You know as well as I do, the only ones making it big in interstellar society now are him and Thanos. Thanos' identity is special and his prices are high, we don't dare use him much. Now it all depends on Loki to gather intelligence on the interstellar society."

"Thor has locked up Loki, and with him not working, the information update is too slow. Six project groups have stopped working with him, and the information network spanning various Monocosms can't be built up."

Nick rubbed his brow hard and went to sit down at his desk, looking tired and dejected. Schiller shrugged and said, "Calling me won't help, you know I'm not cut out for field work."

"I'm not planning to send you out on field work, that would be a waste. I'm contacting all the special humans in the Pan-Human Civilization circle who can freely change their appearance. Mystique can't leave now, She-Devil and Mirage Master are in Magneto's hands, and that guy won't let them go easily. The sorcerers are too busy to leave, and Spider-Man with his 'lie once, hiccup three times' style can't do intelligence work either."

Nick sighed deeply again, Schiller poured him a glass of water, he gulped down half a cup, put the cup on the table, wiped his mouth and said: "The reason I called you here is that I want you to go talk to Thortalk. When the Asgardian royal succession happened, he didn't really lay a hand on his younger brother, but how come he's imprisoned him now?"

"His pretext about preventing overwork is even more laughable. We three humans haven't said anything yet, do the Frost Giants really get tired to death first?"

Schiller nodded in agreement and said, "I also think they are completely making a fuss out of nothing, but just like Stark has to keep an eye on me, who can blame them for having a strong fist?"

Nick sighed again and said, "If I had known this would happen, I should have figured out a way to strengthen your forces first. At least let you be able to run away when you are captured."

"No chance." Schiller shook his head and leaned against the office desk.

"One more thing." Nick tapped the table with his fingertips and said, "I can't get on the same page at all with that damn psychopathic control freak Magneto, and he completely distrusts me too, because S.H.I.E.L.D. did hunt him down in the past. But it seems you two get along well."

"Gwen Spider-Woman just told me that she and Shadow Spider-Man's mission to transport the m'kraan Crystal to the Netherworld is complete. The mutants will definitely come to you to ask for your advice on handling the m'kraan Crystal."

"You can use this to negotiate with them, so that those two old foxes don't keep holding She-Devil and Illusion Master-type mutants in their hands. Does he really expect them to breed?" Ｅ

Nick hit the table hard with his knuckles and said, "I absolutely will not agree to their extortionate terms! 20 combat suits to the same standard as Spider-Man's is my bottom line! Doctor, remember this, not a single suit more!"

"Of course, for Professor X's sake, I can include three years of warranty and maintenance, and we can help train the people they send over. Those mutants are no different from illiterates, they should be grateful!"

Schiller smiled and sat down across from Nick, placing his hands on the desktop, looking into Nick's eyes and saying, "I think you don't need to rush to make an offer, the mutants will be more anxious than you in a while."

Nick narrowed his eyes, gently stroking the side of his index finger, looking at Schiller's serious expression, he widened his eyes again and said, "You can't be serious? With Tony Stark watching you so closely, you still have a way..."

"I always have a way."

"Tell me about it." Nick pulled his chair forward, also placing both hands on the desktop, leaning forward, adopting a listening posture.

"Before long, the m'kraan Crystal is very likely to reveal its true power, and the mutants will be completely unable to control it."

"Did you tamper with it?" Nick frowned, the serious emotion in his eyes seeming to say he was judging whether Schiller's behavior was a bit too risky. He pondered for a moment, rubbing his nose, and said, "Dr. Schiller, I've heard you seem to have made some progress in science and technology, but in this area, Tony and I are completely in agreement, it's not that every bulb-shaped thing you have to go twist a little."

Schiller waved his hand, indicating he had completely misunderstood, and said, "I don't have that kind of ability, nor do I have a good opportunity to twist the m'kraan Crystal, I know its danger."

"But at the same time I know its special nature, its essence is actually a channel to other spaces, similar to the subway I opened for Eternity, but not exactly the same."

"What's the difference?"

"The m'kraan Crystal is more unstable." Schiller shook his head and said, "You can understand it as a bomb that can open a portal at any time, so I hinted to the mutants to put it in the Netherworld."

Nick laughed and said, "Yeah, because a skeleton frame won't die again."

"Don't tell cold jokes." Schiller wrinkled his nose and said, "But actually it has nothing to do with that, the most important thing is that Hela's Netherworld is very closely connected to the Realm of Death, and the power of kings that Hela wields actually also comes from the Death of this world."

"So what's the significance of that?" Nick hinted for Schiller to explain more clearly.

Schiller leaned back, crossed one leg over the other, and revealed a smile, saying, "Very soon, a group of monsters who once cruelly killed the Death of their own world will come to this space through the portal opened by the m'kraan Crystal, and their purpose is to perform a 'forensic' ritual on the Death incarnation of this space, kill him, and kill the Death of this space."

"Landing in the aura of death-filled Netherworld can help them better understand the Death of this space, and find the Death incarnation of this space faster."

Nick narrowed his eyes slightly.

But Schiller stood up from the desk, looking out the window of the Time Management Bureau office at the starry sky, saying, "I need a good target to see if the sword I've been grinding for so long is sharp enough."

Nick sat in place, only raising his eyes to look at Schiller.

"An exam?"

"An exam."

Nick's finger was tapping lightly on the desktop, silent for a minute before he asked, "And how do you make sure everyone will unite to resist the foreign enemy?"

"They have to do it."

"Oh?"

Schiller looked back into Nick's eyes and said.

"Because the Death incarnation of this space is me."

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

XXX-----XXX-----XXX-----XXX

Next Chapter ->Chapter 1409 The Return of the Old Ones (17)