Chapter 1354

"Don't call me that, Your Majesty the Queen. I am not here representing Kamar-Taj today." Strange reached out to brush off his neat suit fabric. He looked at Frigga and said, "I saw Odin's ravens at the entrance before I came in. How has the All-Father been lately? Please convey my greetings to him."

"He is, of course, very well. There is nothing in Asgard that he does not know, and nothing in the Nine Realms that he does not understand."

Strange revealed a knowing smile and said, "We have already prepared the new package regarding information and intelligence within the Nine Realms that you requested during your last call to the Sanctum. Would you like to see the project catalog?"

Frigga tilted her head slightly. Strange handed over a document. As the Queen smiled and flipped through the pages, she said, "Thank you, Mr. Strange. You are always in such a rush whenever you visit, and I feel uneasy that I have not been able to host you properly."

Strange smiled and shook his head, saying, "Coming and going in such a hurry, and failing to enjoy your hospitality—it is I who have been somewhat impolite. Come to think of it, I have never properly toured the palace of Asgard."

Having said that, he looked up to examine Frigga's bedchamber. Frigga conjured a quill and, while writing on the document, said, "But unfortunately, I am no longer in charge of the palace's internal affairs; that is now the responsibility of Sif, Thor's future wife. It would not be appropriate for me to interfere... Oh, that's right, she is also responsible for the reception and security of foreign guests for the wedding in a few days."

Strange looked up calmly. Frigga handed the document, now containing some written notes, to Strange. Strange took a glance; it contained some suggested revisions. He then looked at Frigga and said, "Then I shall rely entirely on you, Your Majesty."

"Remember, the future Queen is Sif."

"Of course, Your Majesty."

The light on the chessboard returned to dimness. The last piece jumped out with a light step; Professor X landed in the front row, side-by-side with Thor and Strange.

"I really didn't expect you to be interested in the mythology of the Shi'ar Empire." Charles blew on the hot tea in his hand and said, "Actually, I don't know much about this either, only that the Shi'ar dual gods established the state foundation of 'fusion' for the Shi'ar Empire."

Stark, sitting opposite him, gently swirled the remaining tea in his cup, looked at Charles, and said softly, "Do you also know nothing about the M'Kraan Crystal?"

When that alien-sounding noun landed on the coffee table, Charles's hand paused. He shook his head and said, "I advise you not to set your sights on it; that thing is very dangerous."

"To humanity, what isn't dangerous?"

Charles's hand stopped moving. He set down his teacup, looked at Stark, and asked, "Where did you learn about this? Have you had dealings with the Shi'ar Empire?"

"When the gods were fighting earlier, I scavenged some robot remains in a corner of the universe. They came from a testing ground in the Shi'ar Empire called the 'Half-World Asylum,' and their underlying protocols carried some information about the Shi'ar Empire's 'Universal Life Fusion Project'."

"Oh, the 'Universal Life Fusion Project'." Charles lowered his eyes, picked up his teacup again, and said, "That was back in the days of the Mad King D'Ken."

Stark caught the implication in his words and said, "I know, this crystal must be very powerful. Perhaps the mutants are not uninterested in it, but your current level of technology cannot study it, let alone ensure safety during research. But what if we cooperate?"

Charles raised an eyebrow, looked at Stark, and said, "You are willing to study it for us?"

"It would be a joint study." Stark stared into Charles's eyes and said, "I have the technology, you have the power. I can guide you on how to operate it, and we share the results. Each gets what they need—isn't that good?"

A coldness appeared on Charles's face that he had never shown in front of his students, but he still said calmly, "What do you want me to do?"

"Recall the past between you and Erik."

With a "hum" and a vortex of magnetic force, Magneto's piece appeared beside Professor X.

In Asgard, in Professor X's guest room, Charles looked into Erik's eyes and said, "Which is more important, the throne or the crystal? Perhaps both are important, but once the throne becomes vacant, the nobles' energy will inevitably be diverted to fighting for it. At that time, they won't be able to use any of their means to track the whereabouts of the crystal."

Erik leaned his head back, looked at his old friend, and said, "So, Lilandra must die."

On the chessboard, Rocket Raccoon's piece jumped out limping, and chasing behind him was the piece of Prince Alan of the D'Bari Federation.

Amidst a floor of vase shards, Alan stood up, clutching his head. He shook his head vigorously, looked at the empty cage that had held the raccoon, and cursed through gritted teeth.

Suddenly, he turned and rushed toward the door, but stopped just as his hand was about to touch the doorknob. He slapped his own head, his palm sliding down to cover his eyes, and whispered, "Calm down, calm down, Alan. Now is not the time. Asgard won't make a big fuss for the prince of a small tribe..."

Suddenly, Alan looked up again, his eyes beginning to brighten. He muttered to himself, "That damn raccoon said the Shi'ar Empire is conducting secret, evil human experiments and threw all the test subjects into an asylum... It said the coordinates, what were they again?"

Alan began to pace the room. His eyes grew brighter and brighter, and he couldn't help but speak excitedly, "The Shi'ar Empire certainly doesn't want this secret to get out. Perhaps this could be a card in my hand, but I cannot make contact rashly, or I might be silenced."

"The ball... yes, the ball. Perhaps I can approach the Queen and probe her attitude... Butler! Is the butler there?! I accidentally broke the vase in the room. Also, can you help me bring the formal wear I prepared? I want to check it in advance to ensure I don't embarrass myself in front of the Queen."

The chessboard trembled, the light brightened again, drums sounded, and lights shifted. Everything seemed to return to the enthusiastic atmosphere of the beginning of the banquet. On the grid of the chessboard, pairs of spinning and leaping shadows showed much activity amidst the stiff, horizontal and vertical lines.

Lilandra stepped forward, wanting to find Hela to chat about old times, but found herself beaten to it by a man. She did not see the smile on Tony Stark's lips in front of Hela, only feeling bored at having her actions interrupted.

At this moment, she heard a deep male voice from behind her:

"Hello, Your Majesty the Queen, can we talk?"

Lilandra turned her head and saw a blue-skinned man with braids all over his head standing behind her, smiling at her. This gentleman introduced himself very politely: "Hello, Your Majesty the Queen, I am Prince Alan of the Centauri-D'Bari Federation. May I have a word with you?"

Before Lilandra could even speak, Alan continued, "Recently, interstellar media in the Centauri system has been smearing the three great empires, saying they have set up human testing grounds here. But in my opinion, this is all nonsense. After all, as intelligent and kind as Your Majesty the Queen, how could you possibly conduct such evil experiments?"

Lilandra's mind was not on socializing at all. She glanced left and right and did not find Charles. She was not a diligent monarch and did not pay much attention to the political affairs of the Shi'ar Empire. She did not understand Alan's deep implications and thus felt even more bored.

"Sorry, my dress is a bit wrinkled, which is very impolite. I might need to go to the washroom to tidy up. Let's talk later."

Lilandra revealed a perfectly appropriate smile and turned to walk toward the washroom, but just as she reached the entrance, she found that a butler had placed a sign at the door.

"Oh, it's Your Majesty the Queen. Sorry, a multi-legged species just finished washing their hands and spilled some water on the floor. We are cleaning it up urgently. I'm afraid you'll have to go to the washroom upstairs."

Lilandra looked down at her shoes, then at the water stains inside the washroom, and frowned with some dissatisfaction, but still turned and walked toward the stairs.

After going up one floor, Lilandra found that the second floor was exceptionally quiet. The corridor passage was far from the atrium on the first floor, and not many people would come here, but she didn't think much of it and walked straight toward the washroom at the end of the corridor.

Lilandra didn't really want to tidy her clothes, but when a woman sees a mirror, she inevitably wants to confirm if her image is satisfactory. Thus, she stood in front of the mirror at the washroom entrance, turning her head left and right, using her hand to groom the feathers at her temples.

Suddenly, a soft sound came. Lilandra froze for a moment, then turned her head to peer toward the washroom entrance from which the sound came.

But the washbasin was still around a corner from the main door. Lilandra could only take two steps forward and look toward the entrance.

The light in the corridor shone in along the door, forming a bright cut-angle on the wall. Just as Lilandra walked out, she saw a pitch-black figure standing in the bright light.

"Ah... uh..."

"Bang!"

"Ugh!"

As the light grew stronger, the shadows cast by the pieces on the chessboard grew deeper. Compared to the side of the board filled with pieces, the other side was empty, with nothing at all.

Schiller stood on the empty side of the chessboard, watching Stark walk out from the gaps between the pieces, standing on the side of the Queen's statue in the center of the board, face-to-face with Schiller.

"That was indeed a brilliant move," Schiller said with a smile.

"Or, you could also call me your copycat, Dr. Schiller. The inspiration for the vast majority of my layouts comes from things you have done in the past," Stark said bluntly.

"Connecting various forces, using people to form situations, and using situations to push people forward. Those who know the truth are willing to be manipulated by you, and those who don't know the truth also walk to the positions they are supposed to be in."

"You are like a chess player manipulating the game, never considering the feelings of the pieces, only caring about whether the layout of the game is perfect."

Under the brilliant light of the ball, Stark spread his hands, looked into Schiller's eyes, and said, "And now I have become the chess player. Do you think that you, who now have no pieces at all, will be my opponent?"

"Who said I don't have a single piece?"

Stark stared tightly into Schiller's eyes, but Schiller began to pace on the empty chessboard, his tone rising and falling as he said:

"Connecting various forces, setting up appropriate scenes, letting key people or objects reach predetermined positions, and then watching the game evolve on its own, finally achieving the desired result perfectly—the feeling is indeed wonderful."

"But Tony, I don't remember if I told you, this is just my hobby. My main job is that of a psychiatrist."

Schiller stopped his steps and looked into Stark's eyes. Stark remained standing where he was, waiting for an answer. Schiller looked at his honey-colored brown eyes, smiled, and said:

"Sometimes, a chess game doesn't need a brilliant move, but a common one."

"Bang!"

A chess piece landed behind Schiller.

The light grew brighter and brighter. After the Shi'ar Empire's spaceship landed at the Asgard starport, the flames from the engine nozzles gradually extinguished.

Schiller, standing in front of the window, rubbed his eyes with some sleepiness. He thought, this is truly strange; the Shi'ar Empire actually arrived so early.

While thinking, Schiller got dressed and walked out of the room.

Soon, a gray mist appeared at the corner of the fourth floor of the guest rooms. Schiller transformed back into human form. He stood in the shadows of the corner, waiting quietly until, ten minutes later, a figure walked into the public washroom, and then he also stepped into the washroom.

Standing in front of the mirror at the washroom sink, Schiller took out a phone that didn't exist and raised his voice, saying, "My god, you wouldn't believe what I just saw! You know the Queen of the Shi'ar Empire, right?"

"Yes, I just saw her. Guess where I saw her? At the door of a human guest room!"

"There's absolutely no mistake. As soon as she got off the ship and left the Asgardian King of Gods, she headed straight for a human's bedroom..."

"That's right, it's the middle of the night in Asgard now. Do you think the Queen would... well, maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. Humans are so weak, they can't even leave their own home planet. How could the Queen of the Shi'ar Empire have anything with a human?"

"... How would I know? But I did hear the butler at the door say that the human's name is Xavier or something like that. I don't really understand the pronunciation of their names, probably."

"Sigh, what a pity. I thought I had stumbled upon a shocking piece of gossip. If the Queen really cheated, her power is so great that she might be able to divorce her current husband directly, and her husband certainly couldn't do anything about it..."

"Forget it, forget it. I'm going back to my room first. I'll call you later."

Having said that, Schiller glanced toward the stalls inside the washroom, then stood in front of the mirror, revealing a smile. The face reflected in the mirror turned to look at the chessboard behind him.

"Tony, a perfect murder does not come from the murderer's noble status, brilliant mind, powerful magic, or seamless cooperation, but only from the... evil... that is ready to trigger at any moment in the heart."

"Bang!"

The chess piece behind Schiller crashed into the statue of the Queen in the center of the board. With a "clatter," the statue shattered.

And amidst the shards on the floor, Stark turned his head abruptly and saw the face of the murderer's piece—it was the Prince Consort of the Shi'ar Empire's Queen.

The lights in the washroom flared up. In the dazzling light, Lilandra saw her husband's face. The expression on his face contained anger, jealousy, and desperation, twisted almost into a monster.

"How could you..."

Before Lilandra could finish her sentence, a bolt of lightning composed of divine power struck her chest, knocking her onto the washbasin. Lilandra stared in disbelief at the charred wound on her chest.

The radiance of divine power flashed again, and sound-insulating magic enveloped the entire washroom, and the Queen was already powerless to resist.

"You damn slut!!!" The Prince Consort extended the four sharp, raptor-like claws unique to male noble members of the Raptor race, and then with one of the three main fingers, "swish," he slashed across Lilandra's face.

"Ah!!!"

"I knew it... I knew it!!!" The Prince Consort muttered through gritted teeth. He panted heavily, staring fiercely at Lilandra, and said, "I knew you still had feelings for that human... I knew it!!!"

As he spoke, his fingers began to tremble. He suddenly changed to a fearful expression, knelt beside Lilandra, and said to her with a crying voice, "Lilan, Lilan, Your Majesty the Queen, forgive me. I am the one who loves you the most. Please forgive me..."

"You even held a grand wedding for a lowly human. The Raptor people only remember your twenty days of grand celebrations, but you only used a shabby trip to brush me off, you damn slut!!!"

The Prince Consort's expression turned ferocious again. He inserted his trembling hand into Lilandra's charred chest, panting heavily as he said, "Don't blame me, don't blame me, Lilandra. This is the tradition of the Raptor race. I have the right to punish a wife who is unfaithful to me, the right to dig out your heart. This is a husband's power..."

"You would dump me and then marry that human again. You never considered that I would become the laughingstock of the entire galaxy!!" The Prince Consort was almost screaming. His hand went deeper and deeper, and Lilandra was already breathing her last.

"Forgive me, forgive me. This is the only way to save our reputation, Lilan, Lilandra, forgive me..."

"Pfft!"

The lights in the washroom gradually extinguished. Accompanied by a "hum," a wormhole opened. Magneto, who walked out of the wormhole, looked down at the Queen's corpse and the blood on the floor, and lowered his eyes.

And in the same space at a different time, Star-Lord Quill, holding a sharp sword, and Strange, who had traveled through the timeline to get here holding the Eye of Agamotto, stood in the same position, gazing at the Queen's corpse. Their faces gradually merged together, and the same sentence echoed in the washroom.

"Did someone move first?"

When all the figures had disappeared, a figure walked into the washroom. An Asgardian butler gently touched his forehead toward the Queen's corpse and said, "May Her Majesty the Queen bless you."

Then, he used divine power to evaporate the blood, lifted the corpse, and came to the railing of the seventh-floor atrium.

"Bang!"

A corpse fell from the sky.

It was the Queen of the Shi'ar Empire. When she landed, blood and the hem of her dress bloomed on the ground simultaneously, like a golden-red flower.

Amidst the rapid drumbeats of the ball, the situation remained as usual, and the black and white pieces returned to their places.

Schiller's gray pupils seemed to want to devour all the flowing light. When he looked at Stark opposite the corpse, he did not smile as usual, but took a glass of wine from the waiter beside him, reached out, and raised the glass to Stark, toasting from afar.

They had never been so close, and had never been so far apart.

Stark, this fledgling eagle, was the best companion on this lonely journey of the wind. Every fall and every flap of his wings was proof of the wind's existence.

And the best reward for this was, in a broader sky, in this endless sea of stars, using wine as a gun, toasting the detective, toasting the murderer.

Toasting the lifelong journey, in this magnificent storm, behind the eagle fighting the giant waves, there is always a best friend who understands him better than anyone else.

I suppose everyone has already discovered that this book is a comprehensive practice workbook for the author's writing techniques.

Damn, practicing flashbacks and interjections is the most tiring; I've been tangling yarn balls until four in the morning every day.