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, this screen was a bit too large—one couldn't even clearly see what was playing on it—but for Thanos, the size of this screen was just right.

Suddenly, a burst of impassioned music erupted from the staff. On the screen was a black stage, and Strange, dressed in a suit, was pacing upon it. The camera shot straight down from the audience, finally focusing on his face. Strange's voice was more magnetic than usual:

"Sanctum Sanctorum, not just a Sanctum Sanctorum!"

Following this, a clip began to play.

A dispatcher on break picked up a model of a spaceship on the table to admire it. As the camera zoomed in, the model gradually enlarged, turning into a real spaceship, firing at the enemy in the midst of an interstellar war.

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

The dispatcher woke up with a start from the dream, picked up the phone that was ringing incessantly, and after saying a few words to the other side, the spaceship in reality performed a jump, avoiding that lethal beam of light.

The dispatcher hung up the phone and revealed a satisfied smile. Beside his hand, the Sanctum Sanctorum logo enlarged, and the slogan below flashed with golden light: "Sanctum Sanctorum, not just a Sanctum Sanctorum."

Subsequently, another short clip began to play. The opening was still Strange delivering the slogan, but this time, the spaceship was replaced by a Demon God, and it was the dispatcher who gave an early warning, allowing the Demon God to avoid an unprovoked disaster.

Afterward, there were all sorts of promotional clips: a Demon God's meeting interrupted by a phone call reminding them to renew their subscription, resulting in the renewing party constantly bringing out new ideas and leaving the other side speechless; a scene of membership gift distribution where a passing Demon God regretted not joining sooner. In any case, it was a masterpiece of human advertising culture, featuring various long-form, short-form, positive, and reverse advertisements...

In the total of over half an hour of advertising clips, the top-tier standards of advertising design masters in human civilization were displayed. Gathering the strength of various masters and drawing on the strengths of different national styles, it captivated Thanos and Ebony Maw, who actually watched the entire half-hour of commercials.

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

"Not entirely. Asgard has its own independent strategic and tactical formulation department, but we still don't shy away from making a small investment to gain more ideas."

Following this, Loki began to introduce the membership system of the Sanctum Sanctorum. Hearing this, Thanos's head began to ache again. He waved a hand, interrupting Loki's speech, and said, "No, I do not wish to sign up for a membership."

Loki revealed a look of regret, but then wanted to continue trying to persuade Thanos. However, Thanos remained unmoved, and she could only reveal a helpless expression and say:

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

"Say no more." Thanos interrupted her, revealing an impatient mood. Loki took a deep breath, stroked her chest, and finally had no choice but to say very helplessly: "Very well, Your Majesty Thanos, it seems your requirements are very high. What exactly do you want to do?"

"I do not want to sign up for a membership, but I want to know the specific details of that plan."

"Purchasing by the session is also possible..."

"Loki." Thanos let out a cold snort and said, "How many benefits did they give you to make you sell this so hard?"

Loki was stunned by this question, but she shook her head and didn't speak. Thanos, however, said, "You are a smart person, and you are the same type as him, my capable subordinate Ebony Maw."

"Is playing the role of an errand runner what you want?" Thanos revealed a cold sneer and said, "You could have so much more."

Loki dropped the fake smile on her face. She looked straight at Thanos, and Thanos continued, "I will not sign up for any membership, but I can hand this resource over to you. You go and help me obtain a way 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. But Loki revealed a trace of a troubled expression, and Thanos tempted her further:

"Loki, even if this defection is truly just a plan of yours, Asgard only has one God King. Your brother possesses everything, while you—you have no right of succession and still have to run around busily for this. Since that is the case, this is what you deserve..."

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

"Counter-attacking Asgard? When you shouted that slogan, did you have even a shred of sincerity?" 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 way." 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 get in. We will find the intelligence we want ourselves. You also don't need to worry about being exposed; I believe you should have many ways to complete all of this without anyone noticing."

"Indeed, but what can you give me?" Loki was no longer putting on a disguise. Her voice became somewhat cold, like a true God of Mischief.

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

"What if I want the entirety of Asgard?"

Thanos did not feel surprised. He said, "Right now, we are just 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 only loyal to the All-Father, Odin." Loki replied.

The two looked at each other, neither continuing the topic. Conversations between two smart people don't need to be stated too clearly. And after Loki left, Thanos sat on the throne and said softly, "Odin... the Nine Realms..."

Ebony Maw walked forward, bowed, and asked, "Great Your Majesty Thanos, whom do you intend to send to the Nine Realms?"

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

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

"The only thing that makes me feel somewhat puzzled is, Your Majesty, you sent Cull Obsidian to infiltrate... Of course, I am absolutely not questioning your decision, it's just, Cull Obsidian's loyalty..."

Thanos let out a cold snort and said, "Of course I know he is not loyal. He only joined me under false pretenses 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 know Asgard's strategy was merely an excuse."

"Then you..."

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

"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 on that massive throne, like a towering mountain. His powerful strength and brutal rule brought him a powerful aura unique to a tyrant, different from those enlightened monarchs.

"Only Odin will hinder my subsequent plans. The rest..." Thanos extended his hand, pinched his fingertips, and said, "are nothing but small pebbles that will crumble at a single touch."

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

"Bad news, I only managed to lure over one of the five generals, and he looks like a discarded pawn. Should I bring him over directly, or take the risk of letting Thanos swap for another?"

In the conference room on the other side, hearing Loki say this, Stark frowned 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 just need to treat him like Odin. Would Odin fall for such a trick?"

"The fact that he is willing to send someone over proves that his claim of not being interested in the Infinity Stones is complete bullshit. As long as he is interested, he will come sooner or later."

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

"Who is 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. By the way, have him pilot a spaceship over—the kind you wrote in the data earlier, the one that can turn 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 he was on the fifth floor, but in reality, he was only on the first. Thanos thought this was an Asgardian scam, but in reality, it was just weak humans wanting to get their hands on some new technology.

Therefore, Thanos agreed without any precautions. In his view, Asgard might scam people for anything, but it was impossible for them to scam people for this spaceship. After all, the technological content of this ordinary spaceship was far inferior to other Asgardian ships; Odin wouldn't have any use for it either.

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

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

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

"Do you need to inspect your own bedroom?" After Loki got Cull Obsidian out, she began to prepare for teleportation. Cull Obsidian just wanted to say something, but with a "swish," a flash of light passed, and the figures of the two disappeared from near the spaceship.

And very soon, a portal opened, and more figures descended near the spaceship. Looking at this massive ship, Stark waved a hand and said, "Board the ship!"

"Wait!" Nick Fury, who had come along, extended a hand 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 being unclaimed, automatically belong to the sole civilization within that star system, the Pan-Human Civilization..."

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