In the universe.
Amid the endless darkness, a small spacecraft sped through space.
Even without entering warp, the ship was still moving extremely fast.
"Bill, are you sure your people were around here?"
Luma piloted the ship, her four crimson eyes sweeping across the dark void, yet she found no trace of anything.
Hearing her question, the horse-faced alien who had yet to become Thor stepped forward and said in a slightly dejected, anxious tone, "This is where I separated from them. After that, my squad and I drew away Surtur's Fire Demon warriors, and from then on, I completely lost contact with them."
Logically speaking, all the Korbinites aboard the massive warship should still be frozen in suspended sleep. The ship should have continued along the route Bill had set for it.
But after traveling this far, there was still no sign of it, and that left Bill with a faint sense of unease.
"Could someone have woken up early and changed the ship's course?" Korg asked.
"That's possible."
The odds were slim, but right now, that was the only explanation Bill could use to comfort himself.
Then he turned to Luma and said respectfully, "Princess Luma, thank you very much for your help. I'll handle the rest of the search myself."
At first, Luma had not planned on making this trip with Bill.
She was still busy preparing the bride price for her wedding with Bant. She simply did not have that kind of time to spare on this.
But after thinking it over, she realized that since she was now a member of Tiangong as well, helping each other was something Bant would want to see. So after finishing the engine, she decided to help Bill rescue the Korbinites first.
Besides that, fighting those devils under Surtur had also been part of her plan.
Now, though, that part had clearly fallen through.
With no one to fight, Luma had lost interest. She might have wanted to help Bill, but if they could not find anyone, there was nothing she could do.
Just then, the ship's communicator suddenly rang.
Luma pressed the button, and the image of a short-haired green figure appeared in the projection.
It was Loki.
Luma pursed her lips. She really did not think much of weaklings like Loki.
"What is it?"
"I'm here to remind you to stay alert." Loki did not care about that look at all. To be honest, most Asgardians looked at him the same way.
"Stay alert?"
"The ship detected traces of a special energy signature nearby. If nothing unexpected happened, it most likely came from the Collector," Loki said.
Loki knew a little about the Collector, one of the Elders of the Universe.
In the movie timeline, after Thor recovered the Aether, which was the Reality Stone, he had specifically entrusted it to the Collector for safekeeping.
That was enough to show that, in the eyes of the Asgardians, the Collector's strength and credibility were both reliable.
"The Collector? Who's that?"
The moment Luma heard the name, her eyes lit up like rubies.
Just hearing it, it sounded like the kind of person who had a house full of treasures. Maybe she could even gather all the bride price she wanted directly from him.
At that thought, excitement immediately appeared on her face.
Loki clearly noticed it and hurriedly said, "Don't tell me you're thinking of robbing the Collector..."
Even Loki was alarmed by such a crazy thought.
He had originally intended to stress how dangerous and terrifying the Collector was, but he quickly realized that if he said that, then in Luma's ears, it would only make the target sound even more tempting.
So he immediately changed the subject and said, "As far as I know, the Collector has always been very interested in endangered species. If those Korbinites were discovered and taken away by him, then they should not be in any danger."
In the comics, the Collector gathered endangered creatures because Thanos, in order to offer life to Death, carried out massacres across the entire universe.
To preserve the seeds of different lifeforms, the Collector placed them in his museum.
Viewed from that angle, what he did was almost perfectly aligned with the very purpose of the Omnitrix.
Of course, in a different universe, there could always be differences.
Perhaps in this universe, what the Collector wanted was nothing more than biological specimens.
"If that's the case, then we're going to find this Collector." Luma had already made up her mind, and she spoke at once. "Loki, send me that guy's coordinates."
"The Collector should currently be in Knowhere, but..."
Loki glanced at Luma and stopped mid-sentence.
He remembered that most of the Elders of the Universe possessed formidable powers. Immunity to physical attacks was just the most basic of them. If Luma went up against the Collector, she probably would not gain any advantage.
And as one of the only two living Tetramands in the universe, even she herself might end up becoming one of the Collector's exhibits.
Although he did not particularly like Luma's overbearing personality, considering her relationship with Bant, there was no way he could let her walk into danger like that.
So after a brief moment of thought, he made a decision that completely betrayed his ancestors.
"Princess Luma, as it happens, I recently learned of a planet inhabited by a great number of ice-type creatures..."
As Loki spoke, he silently offered an apology to his real father.
Of course, he was not sincere in the slightest.
When it came to Laufey, Loki did not care at all.
To him, that was just a giant who had abandoned him. He did not deserve to be called a father.
Nor had Loki ever wanted to acknowledge his identity as a Frost Giant.
"Ice creatures!"
Luma became instantly excited, practically vibrating with energy.
"I've already sent you the location. In Asgard, that realm is called Jotunheim. In addition to the Frost Giants, there are other types of giants living there as well. By the same logic, if you can conquer that planet, then it would be the same as obtaining blue objects."
"Forget it."
Luma shook her head and rejected Loki's suggestion.
That actually made Loki feel relieved. At the very least, it seemed she had not lost her reason in excitement and assumed she could solo an entire planet by herself.
But very soon, he realized he had been wrong.
Luma said with open disdain, "Fighting is one thing, but what value is there in conquering some frozen planet? I want treasures with real value. Only that is worthy of my incomparably heroic husband!"
She clenched all four fists and shouted.
"All right, Bill, I'll send you this far."
Luma turned around with decisive efficiency and strode out of the control room.
"I'm giving this ship to you. I'll take a small spacecraft and head out on my own."
Seeing Luma turn away to wage war on Jotunheim, Loki let out a sigh of relief.
He did the math in his head. Luma's combat strength was somewhat greater than Thor's before he lost Mjolnir. Even if something went wrong, she would still be able to hold out until help arrived.
In fact, as long as the true cosmic heavyweights did not personally step in, Luma could pretty much go anywhere in the universe unimpeded.
To be honest, the forces currently gathered under Tiangong had already become a behemoth on a cosmic scale.
Not long after, Luma piloted a small ship away according to the directions Loki had given her.
Inside the ship, Loki's projection remained, still inputting Knowhere's coordinates for Bill.
He reminded him, "Although I've never been to Knowhere, that place is a chaotic mix of every sort of person imaginable. You'd all better be careful. The reason I sent Luma away was because she clashes with people far too easily. If it turned into a full-scale brawl, that would be troublesome."
Hearing that, Bill nodded.
Unlike Luma, he was much more steady and composed.
And so, the little team split into two groups and headed off in different directions.
Just before cutting the connection, Loki seemed to remember something and added, "Oh, right. Once you get to Knowhere, remember to bring back some soil from there."
After saying that, he offered no explanation and simply cut the communication.
Sakaar.
Caiera also found Loki's final remark extremely strange.
Loki explained, "According to legend, that place is the skull of a certain Celestial. After its death, its body became what is now Knowhere."
At that, Caiera more or less understood what he meant.
"The last time the King of Sakaar fought me, he transformed into a Sakaaran. You think he possesses the ability to turn himself into other races?"
Loki nodded.
Bant had never told them the secret of the Omnitrix, but Loki and Caiera had analyzed a few of its mysteries on their own.
Still, they did not believe it was the power of a mere watch. They only assumed it was Bant's own superpower.
"Are the Celestials very strong?" Caiera asked.
Hearing that, Loki leaned back against the wall.
"I don't know. But no matter what, a creature that enormous, even if its actual combat power weren't that great, would still be terrifying enough purely by size alone."
Loki's calculations were sound, and he really was thinking about Bant.
But in truth, the soil of Knowhere might not necessarily contain Celestial genes at all.
Knowhere was as large as a planet, and it had remained there since time immemorial. Over the ages, countless particles of cosmic dust had been pulled in by its gravity and turned into soil that covered its surface.
That soil was nothing more than the dust of the universe.
If there was any place where Celestial genes might truly exist, it would only be within Knowhere's ore.
After all, Knowhere had another name.
The Mine.
Those mineral veins were the true bones of a god.
Leaving aside the actions of the Tiangong members across the universe for now, on Earth, an attack quietly unfolded.
Boom!!
With a tremendous crash, the wall of the Daily Bugle building was blasted apart by a massive impact.
Kraven the Hunter, draped in a beast's mane, leaped in through the opening. He grabbed Jameson's collar, hoisted the old man who spent every day blasting Spider-Man in the papers into the air, and strode to the edge of the building.
Jameson's feet dangled in empty air, and his old face had turned red with fear.
But he showed no sign of cowardice. Instead, he shouted loudly,
"What do you want?"
Outside the office, every employee stared at the scene in terror. After hesitating again and again, Robbie finally rushed inside.
"Jameson, tell me. Who is the one taking photos for Spider-Man?"
"Who knows Spider-Man's identity?"
/-\
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