Luca subconsciously looked up.
Only then did he realize that the entire World seemed to have been paused.
The panicked expressions of the people were frozen on their faces.
The previously flickering Fire now looked like a crude two-dimensional special effect, the Water sprayed by the fire truck hung silently in the air, and the sparkling Water droplets that had splashed out were clearly visible.
And in this completely still World, only one person, smiling, was slowly walking towards Luca.
The 'thump-thump' of the approaching person's footsteps seemed so abrupt in this time-stopped World.
Luca subconsciously swallowed, and a drop of sweat slid down his temple.
He wanted to open his mouth to say something, but found that his throat was unable to make a sound.
"Hmm~ I think you don't really need to use that toy~ do you?"
The approaching person raised a finger and pointed at the [Little Monkey Bomb] in Luca's hand, his tone very gentle, and as he spoke, he seemed to carry a hint of cynicism.
However, although the other party's actions seemed to be expressing goodwill, Luca did not dare to relax in the slightest at this moment.
Gently putting down the [Little Monkey Bomb] in his hand, he rubbed his brow with a slight headache.
He uttered a name.
"God Loki!"
Yes, although the Loki in front of him was only wearing the green Asgard battle suit from Avengers 1, and his hair was even a bit disheveled, and his clothes were covered in a lot of dust, looking quite disheveled.
But just from the situation of him directly stopping the time of the entire World, this Loki was undoubtedly the one who had taken the final step, becoming the 'God Loki' who controlled all time lines of the Marvel Universe, or rather, 'God Loki'!
It was laughable that Luca had risked so much to rush to Stark Tower just to stop Loki from taking the Tesseract and entering the Time Variance Authority.
This was to ensure that his own timeline would not be affected and destroyed.
Yet, what appeared before him was already the final form that had completed all episodes of two seasons of 'Loki'.
The Loki in front of him seemed not to have noticed Luca's complex emotions, or rather, he noticed them but didn't care.
He still smiled and spread his hands, a look of interest on his face.
"God of Stories? A good title~ So, is that how people in your World refer to me?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Luca, who had just slightly calmed his emotions, had his pupils widen again.
The simple words 'your World' directly exposed Luca's identity as an outsider.
However, Luca then thought that if it was God Loki, he was basically an existence almost at the ceiling of the Marvel Universe.
Just knowing his origin didn't seem to be anything surprising.
"Surprised? Actually, your existence isn't an isolated case~"
"Let me think~ In a certain World before, there was a girl named Gwenpool who, like you, also came from the real World~"
"..."
This time, Luca was even too shocked to react.
Goodness, not only did he know he was from another World, but he even uttered the term 'real World'.
However, Luca had never heard of the 'Gwenpool' that God Loki mentioned.
'Her name is Gwen, it doesn't sound like she's from the same place as me, does it?'
Luca, whose mind was already a bit numb, hesitated for a moment and no longer dwelled on the other party's 'omniscience'. Instead, he directly asked.
"So... you know that the World you are in is... is a..."
Luca didn't know how to phrase it.
Should he just say that you are a movie character? That your real name should be 'Tom Hiddleston', nicknamed 'Hiddles'?
What if the other party understood it differently from him, and he said too much, directly angering this nearly omniscient and omnipotent being.
However, God Loki himself seemed completely unconcerned, instead saying calmly.
"You mean a TV show? Yes, yes~ I know~"
Loki pouted and raised an eyebrow, saying naturally.
"Don't worry too much about these things; the way the World operates is not as simple as you imagine~"
"Perhaps you can think of what I call the real World as, hmm~ a Universe that visualizes superpowers into films and television shows?"
"Since there are Zombie Universes, Spider-Man Universes, and two-dimensional flat Universes~ then a World without any supernatural abilities, which just treats these as film and television entertainment, shouldn't be too difficult to understand, right?"
"Or rather, how can you be sure that what you consider the real World isn't seen as a movie or novel by people in other Worlds?"
Looking at Loki's very casual tone, Luca found himself unable to refute.
Luca himself couldn't quite grasp this kind of philosophical concept, let alone discuss it with the God in front of him who held countless parallel Universe timelines.
However, he also noticed the key point in Loki's words and immediately pressed on.
"Since you know about the real World, then can you..."
At this point, Luca's words suddenly got stuck.
He originally wanted to ask if Loki could send him back to his original Universe.
But halfway through his sentence, Luca suddenly realized that he seemed to have no more attachments in his original World.
Instead of returning to that former World, having an exciting adventure here seemed acceptable, even if it meant experiencing various crises, or even dying on this adventurous path.
However, Loki seemed to have understood Luca's unspoken meaning and simply said faintly.
"I can't."
"In fact, even I, as I am now, am far from omniscient and omnipotent; the scope of my abilities still has boundaries. What you wish for, at least for the current me, is not yet possible."
Hearing this, Luca just nodded calmly.
For a moment, he couldn't tell whether he felt disappointed or relieved.
However, another question surfaced in Luca's mind.
"Since you're not planning to expel me from this World, then why are you here?"
Seeing him ask again, this time God Loki didn't answer immediately, but instead turned to look at the first-floor lobby of Stark Tower.
There, in the still World, another Loki, handcuffed, stood like a statue.
For some reason, Luca actually saw a faint, almost imperceptible... envy in God Loki's eyes.
"Someone asked me to give you a choice~"
"Also, to give you a... hmm, identity verification? Something like that, I guess~"
God Loki quickly turned back to look at Luca, the inexplicable expression in his eyes disappearing as if it had never existed, replaced by his previous playful smile.
But the words he spoke made Luca freeze in place.
"Huh? Someone can ask you for a favor? And... what choice? What identity?? What are you talking about, Big Shot?"