Chapter 553

Loki waved a hand, and a burst of light erupted from the tip of the staff, projecting a massive magical screen into the air. For someone of Ebony Maw or Loki's stature, the screen was a bit too large—one couldn't even clearly see what was playing on it—but for Thanos, the size of the screen was just right.

Suddenly, a stirring piece of music burst forth from the staff. On the screen was a black stage where Strange, dressed in a suit, was pacing back and forth. The camera dove straight down from the audience, finally focusing on his face. Strange's voice was more magnetic than usual:

"Sanctum Sanctorum—it is more than just a Sanctum!"

Following this, a clip began to play.

A dispatcher on break picked up a model of a spaceship from their desk to admire it. As the camera zoomed in, the model gradually enlarged, transforming into a real spaceship firing on enemy forces amidst an interstellar war.

Immediately after, this massive spaceship was struck by a flickering beam of light, instantly disintegrating into fragments.

The dispatcher jolted awake from the dream, picked up the phone that had been ringing incessantly, and after a brief exchange on the other end, the real-life spaceship performed a jump, narrowly avoiding the lethal beam.

The dispatcher hung up the phone and flashed a satisfied smile. Beside their hand, the Sanctum Sanctorum logo enlarged, and the promotional slogan below it flashed with golden light: "Sanctum Sanctorum—it is more than just a Sanctum."

Subsequently, another short clip began to play. It opened with Strange once again delivering the slogan, but this time, the spaceship was replaced by a Demon God. It was only thanks to the dispatcher's early warning that the Demon God managed to avoid an innocent disaster.

Following that, there were all sorts of promotional clips: Demon Gods having their meetings interrupted by phone calls reminding them to renew their subscriptions, only for the one who renewed to pull out new ideas and leave the other side speechless; scenes of member gift distributions where passing Demon Gods regretted not joining sooner. In short, it was a masterpiece of human advertising culture, featuring long-form, short-form, positive, and reverse marketing...

In the half-hour of advertising clips, the top-tier standards of human advertising design were on full display. By combining the efforts of various masters and drawing from the diverse styles of different nations, they managed to keep Thanos and Ebony Maw glued to the screen for the entire half hour.

Loki had already put the screen away for half a minute, yet the two still hadn't reacted. Finally, Thanos was the first to compose his expression. He asked, "You mean to say that this place called the Sanctum Sanctorum is now the strategic advisor for your Asgard?"

"Not entirely. Asgard has its own independent strategic and tactical planning departments, but we still don't shy away from making small investments to gain more perspectives."

Following this, Loki began to introduce the Sanctum Sanctorum's membership system. Thanos's head began to ache again as he listened. He waved a hand, cutting Loki off, and said, "No, I have no desire to purchase a membership."

Loki wore a look of regret, but then tried to continue persuading Thanos. However, Thanos remained unmoved, and she could only put on a helpless expression and say:

"My deepest apologies, Your Majesty, but the Sanctum Sanctorum is indeed membership-based now. However..." Loki changed her tone and continued, "If you handle your business through me, I can offer you the highest discounts, and even provide quarterly billing options not listed in the standard service manual..."

"Enough." Thanos interrupted her, showing signs of impatience. Loki took a deep breath, stroked her chest, and finally had to say with great helplessness: "Very well, Your Majesty Thanos. It seems your requirements are quite high. What is it that you actually want to do?"

"I do not wish to purchase a membership, but I do want to know the specific details of that plan."

"Purchasing on a per-use basis is also possible..."

"Loki." Thanos let out a cold snort and said, "They had you push this so hard—how much did they pay you?"

Loki was momentarily stunned by the question, but she shook her head and remained silent. Thanos then said, "You are a clever person. You are the same type as him—my capable subordinate, Ebony Maw."

"Is playing the role of an errand runner what you truly want?" Thanos sneered. He said, "You could have so much more."

Loki dropped the fake smile from her face. She looked straight at Thanos, and Thanos continued, "I will not be purchasing any membership, but I can hand these resources over to you. You go and help me obtain the method to use their services for free."

Loki marveled inwardly; Thanos was truly worthy of being an emerging cosmic overlord, self-taught in the dregs of human civilization. Yet, Loki put on a look of difficulty, and Thanos tempted her further:

"Loki, even if this defection is truly just a part of your plan, Asgard only has one God-King. Your brother possesses everything, while you—you have no right of inheritance and must still run about busily for his sake. Since that is the case, this is what you deserve..."

Ebony Maw also chimed in from the side: "His Majesty only needs their information network. As long as you can use their network to transmit the intelligence we desire at any time, His Majesty Thanos will not be stingy."

"Counter-attacking Asgard? When you shouted that slogan, was there even a shred of sincerity in it?" Thanos looked into Loki's eyes and asked.

Loki lowered her head slightly, closed her eyes, and sighed. She said, "Even if I said I agreed, you wouldn't trust me, would you?"

"Correct. So, we can try a different approach." Thanos snapped his fingers. Several figures walked out from behind the throne and stood in a row with Ebony Maw. Thanos looked at them and said:

"You will arrange for my people to be inserted. We will find the intelligence we want ourselves. You don't need to worry about being exposed; I believe you should have many ways to accomplish all of this without making a sound."

"Indeed, but what can you give me?" Loki no longer bothered with the pretense. Her voice became somewhat cold, like a true God of Mischief.

Thanos raised his hands and said, "Whatever you want, I shall bestow upon you!"

"And if I want the entirety of Asgard?"

Thanos did not seem surprised. He said, "Right now, we are merely in a transactional relationship. I will not pay such a huge reward for such a negligible gain. But if you pledge your loyalty to me..."

"I am loyal only to the All-Father, Odin." Loki replied.

The two locked eyes, neither continuing the topic. Conversations between two clever people do not need to be spelled out too clearly. After Loki left, Thanos sat on his throne and said softly, "Odin... the Nine Realms..."

Ebony Maw stepped forward, bowed, and asked, "Great Majesty Thanos, whom will you send to the Nine Realms?"

Thanos scanned the Black Order, finally letting his gaze fall upon the most massive of them, Cull Obsidian. Cull Obsidian immediately knelt on one knee, lowered his head, and said, "As you command, Majesty."

Once the other generals had left, Ebony Maw stood in place and said, "If that Sanctum Sanctorum can provide us with decent tactics, it would naturally be better for breaking through our current developmental bottleneck. If not, planting a nail within the Nine Realms is not a loss for us."

"The only thing that makes me somewhat doubtful is, Majesty, you sent Cull Obsidian to infiltrate... Of course, I am by no means questioning your decision, it is just that Cull Obsidian's loyalty..."

Thanos let out a cold snort and said, "I am well aware that he is not loyal. He only feigned joining me for the sake of his own race's survival."

"However, I never intended for him and Loki to bring back any useful information for me anyway. Wanting to learn Asgard's strategy was merely an excuse."

"Then you..."

"Odin has two heirs. He let one become the new King of Asgard. So, will the other be willing to accept that?"

"Are you intending to stir up conflict between the new King and the eldest Princess, so as to deal with Odin?"

"My goal has always been only Odin." Thanos leaned back against that massive throne, like a towering mountain. His immense power and brutal rule brought him a powerful aura unique to a tyrant, unlike that of any enlightened monarch.

"Only Odin can hinder my subsequent plans. As for the others..." Thanos reached out and pinched his own fingertips, saying, "They are nothing but pebbles that will crumble at a single touch."

After leaving the throne room where Thanos resided, Loki hurried away from the Dark Quadrant along the starport. After ensuring she had left Thanos's sphere of influence, she picked up the phone and said to the person on the other end:

"Bad news. Only one of the five generals was lured over, and he looks like a discarded pawn. Should I bring him over directly, or risk having Thanos swap him for another?"

In the conference room on the other end, Stark frowned upon hearing Loki say this and looked at Schiller. But Schiller was not surprised at all. He said, "It's not that easy to lure Thanos over. He is, after all, a cosmic overlord. You should just view him as Odin. Would Odin fall for such a trick?"

"The fact that he is willing to send someone over proves that his claim of having no interest in the Infinity Stones is complete nonsense. As long as he is interested, he will come sooner or later."

"Then what should we do next?" Loki asked.

"Who is the one coming?"

"It should be the one called Cull Obsidian. Very tall, looks like he should be a native of a star system near the Dark Quadrant."

Schiller frowned and said, "Bring him over, and leave the rest to us. Oh, right, have him fly a ship over—the kind you wrote about in the data, the one that can transform into a ground assault vehicle after disintegrating..."

"No problem." Loki nodded and went to call Thanos.

Now, Loki had discovered the benefit of setting the bar high. Thanos thought she was on the fifth floor, when in reality, she was only on the first. Thanos thought this was an Asgardian scam, when in reality, it was just weak humans trying to get their hands on some new technology.

Therefore, Thanos agreed without any precautions. In his view, Asgard might scam him out of anything, but it was impossible for them to scam him out of this ship. After all, the technological content of this ordinary ship was far inferior to other Asgardian vessels; it would be useless even if Odin wanted it.

Once the ship reached a dimension near the solar system, Loki hurriedly cast an illusion on Cull Obsidian, turning him into a tall human with dark skin, then urged him to leave the ship and use teleportation to head to Earth.

Cull Obsidian was baffled by her "pants-on-fire" attitude. He asked, "Why are we in such a rush? Shouldn't we scout the surroundings first?"

"This is the Nine Realms." Loki replied while pushing Cull Obsidian. As Cull Obsidian was pushed out of the airlock, he asked suspiciously, "So?"

"Do you need to scout your own bedroom?" After Loki got Cull Obsidian out, she began preparing to teleport. Just as Cull Obsidian was about to say something, a flash of light swept by, and the two figures vanished from near the ship.

Very soon, a portal opened, and more figures descended near the ship. Looking at the massive vessel, Stark waved a hand and said, "Board the ship!"

"Wait!" Nick Fury, who had come along, reached out and stopped everyone's actions.

"According to the Human Interstellar Passage Act, all items lost within the galaxy and within 100 light-years of the galaxy, after 100,000 years of remaining unclaimed, automatically become the property of the only civilization within that star system—the Pan-Human Civilization..."

"... I forgot the rest, board the ship!"