Accompanying Strange's confident and stylish display of magic, Peter and Iceman saw a burst of light explode, after which everything returned to a state of calm.
Following this, Strange cast a spell to pull something out of the temple, and the three of them fell into a collective silence as they stared at the object.
What Strange had pulled out was a statue—and it appeared to be a statue of Odin.
An exceptionally handsome, majestic Odin, possessing a rugged and heroic aura, sat atop Sleipnir, the eight-legged steed, wielding Gungnir. He looked incredibly dashing.
Unable to keep a straight face, Peter asked Strange with uncertainty, "Is this... what Loki was looking for? A super-cool statue of his old man?"
"I don't think so..." Strange found the situation hard to stomach. "I think it's more likely that Odin, to prevent the actual item from being stolen, deliberately placed a misleading option here—namely, this... super-cool statue of Odin."
Iceman scratched his head in confusion, not quite understanding. "Is there no possibility that this is what Loki is looking for? For instance, a super-cool Odin statue with a magical artifact hidden inside?"
M.O.D.O.K., who was tied up in the back, was speechless. Just how obsessed were these people with the dashing quality of this statue?
"Aside from a mental suggestion that makes people perceive the statue as particularly handsome, there is no magic on this statue, nor is there anything inside."
Strange slapped the statue with his cloak to dispel the magic on it and shook his head helplessly.
Regardless, the fact that Olympus and Asgard had teamed up to set a trap and place a statue of Odin here was absurd no matter how one looked at it. For a moment, no one knew what to say.
But at that point, Peter suddenly thought of something and turned to look at M.O.D.O.K. "If he was in charge of the excavation here, then he should know exactly what he was looking for."
M.O.D.O.K. froze for a moment. He actually did know what he was looking for. The problem was that he certainly couldn't say; if he did, Hydra would likely eliminate him. This item was different from others, and Hydra placed immense importance on it.
However, it seemed that staying silent wouldn't make much of a difference. There was a powerful sorcerer here, and the Avengers could find a telepath. No matter how one looked at it, he was in a losing position and would likely be forced to talk eventually.
Still, M.O.D.O.K. intended to resist a little, at least so he would have an excuse if Hydra ever launched a counter-offensive.
"I don't know about this matter either. I only know I was supposed to dig up the item here and hand it over. Even if I really dug up this statue, I would have had to hand it over regardless."
M.O.D.O.K. lied without changing his expression, hoping the two would believe him. But his tricks couldn't fool Strange at all. The latter simply performed a simple spell that nearly suffocated M.O.D.O.K.'s massive head. He shook in agony, holding his breath for several seconds before being released, after which he gasped for air.
Though gasping for air while deep under the sea was inherently strange.
Once released and catching his breath, M.O.D.O.K. revealed the operational goals of Hydra and Loki to the three of them.
"I'll talk! I'll talk! It's remains! The remains of a Frost Giant! Anyway, the higher-ups said that one would know what those skeletal remains were just by looking at them—they are something truly terrifying."
The three exchanged glances. A Frost Giant? They already knew that Loki possessed Frost Giant blood, but the question was, what did Loki want with such a thing?
"Do you think the remains might have some commemorative significance? Like his father's bones or something? Didn't you say Loki's biological father was the King of the Frost Giants? It seems only a Frost Giant of that caliber would be worth Odin hiding away, right?"
Iceman asked with uncertainty. While the conclusion was logical, Peter felt it was somewhat inconceivable. After all, Laufey himself had been killed by Loki. Why would he need to steal his own father's remains? Even if he stole them, what use would they be?
At the very least, the three of them currently couldn't imagine a play as abstract as "Loki stealing his biological father's corpse to have Malekith turn it into a puppet."
On the other hand, something else was also very strange.
"Odin placed a statue here to mock those looking for Laufey's corpse, which means he doesn't want anyone to find it. But if he truly didn't want it found, he should have destroyed it or hidden it in Asgard under his own watch."
Peter looked at Strange in confusion. "Why go to all this trouble to hide his own statue here and mislead people into thinking this is Laufey's burial site?"
Odin didn't need to "fish" to find out who his enemies were. For an Odin who had seen the ending of Ragnarök, all the cards were on the table, and he had been preparing for Ragnarök all along. Thus, Peter truly couldn't understand Odin's logic.
Regarding this question, Strange merely gave Peter a flat look.
"I'm not Odin. You shouldn't be asking me this; you should ask Thor or Odin himself. Who knows what these gods are thinking."
"In any case, we've at least captured M.O.D.O.K. for now and learned what Loki is looking for, so it wasn't a total loss." Peter let out a sigh, then looked at the large group of new inmates about to move into their "luxury mansion" prison before turning to Strange. "So, shall we head back first?"
"Uh, guys, did you forget why you called me here in the first place?"
Iceman reminded them somewhat awkwardly. Peter hadn't forgotten—it was to deal with Krang and his Casket of Ancient Winters—but Krang wasn't here.
Speaking of which, where did Krang go?
Peter curiously made a call to the Avengers headquarters and found that Krang was busy conquering other Atlantean cities, which seemed quite normal. Well, that was strange; it was as if the entire world had fallen into a bizarre silence.
Just then, a new message came from Captain America.
"Thor's signal has been cut off. Spider-Man, you can use Strange's teleportation to go there and see if something happened to him."
"What could possibly happen to Thor..." Peter muttered. He had Strange open a portal to Thor's location. Stepping through the portal, he went from the depths of the ocean in Atlantis to a damp, cold primeval forest. Before he could react, a tall and burly Norse god was sent flying into him, and the two of them tumbled away together.
"Thor? What are you doing?"
"Spider-Man? You've come at just the right time."
After standing up, Thor pulled Peter to his feet. "Amora found a new villain. I'm not very familiar with that fellow, and I've lost contact with the Avengers. I need you to tell me who that guy is."