Three days had passed.
Since the events of Thor's descent into the mortal realm of Mexico and the havoc caused by the extraterrestrial Symbiote in New York, three quiet days had slipped by.
Before ordinary people even noticed, the world had recovered to its usual state of peace, but only a few knew that Earth's tranquility was dwindling by the day.
In New York, within the Empire State Building, in the top-floor office.
On the sofa near the balcony, Kyle reclined in the soft leather chair with his eyes closed, resting, while Raina stood behind him, gently massaging his shoulders with delicate hands.
"Boss, about Eddie..." Raina began.
"Hmm, I know what you're concerned about," Kyle interrupted before Raina could finish, as if he already knew what she was going to ask, his eyes remaining closed as he spoke calmly, "Whether Venom is a descendant of Slaughter or a Slaughter with erased memories, both Venom and I are aware that it's not the same as Slaughter."
Kyle sighed, "Moreover, any grudges between me and Slaughter were settled long ago on Planet Sakaar. There's no need to carry them over to Venom."
"But letting Venom continue to bond with Eddie? As long as it remains fixated on its origins, perhaps one day it will find what it seeks," Raina pondered aloud.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Kyle shook his head, not wanting to dwell too much on it.
If he were to lose a significant asset due to concern over Slaughter, it would be his own problem as the behind-the-scenes boss of Earth.
"What concerns me more is another matter," Kyle opened his eyes, exhaling lightly, his expression complicated.
"Is it about the situation in Asgard?" Raina asked, her lips parting slightly as her fingers danced and kneaded, gently easing the pressure on Kyle's temples.
Kyle nodded, admitting, "Since the day before yesterday, after Thor returned to Asgard, there has been no communication from there. Even calling out 'Heimdall's' name yielded no response."
Raina instantly understood that it wasn't just Asgard bothering Kyle; it was the fact that if something went wrong there, Earth wouldn't be able to use the Bifrost to traverse the stars.
Without the Bifrost, reaching the Galactic Federation would be impossible with Earth's current aviation technology! Even with the Eagle Interstellar Spaceship, without proper coordinates, they would likely get lost in the vastness of the cosmos beyond the human world!
As a result, finding Lucy and the others would become even more uncertain.
"Losing contact between Asgard and Earth can only be due to two reasons," Kyle analyzed, pondering, "First, Thor was defeated, and Asgard is now under the rule of the second prince, Loki, who has blocked all communication to Earth. Second, Thor successfully regained control of Asgard, but the Bifrost, as the gateway to Asgard, is damaged. Without the Bifrost's buff, even Heimdall would find it difficult to communicate directly with me on Earth."
"What do you think is the reason?" Raina nodded, asking.
"It should be the latter. I still have confidence in Thor; with him around, Loki is unlikely to have a chance," Kyle replied.
Despite it being a favorable outcome, Kyle couldn't help but sigh slightly, feeling a hint of helplessness. "Repairing the Bifrost could take anywhere from one to two years, maybe even three to four. I can afford to wait, but Lucy and the others might not hold out. If they leave the Galactic Federation area during this time, finding them later will be even more difficult."
Raina blinked her beautiful eyes, speaking softly, "Whatever decision you make, I'll always be here to support you."
"Good, with your words, that's enough," Kyle smiled, any remaining hesitation dispelled as he made a firm decision.
He would leave Earth again, and bring back Lucy, Logan, and Howard! Even if it meant risking wandering through the vastness of space!
But before that, some small 'preparations' were needed.
Closing his eyes, Kyle focused his thoughts on the Card Space, where all his cards and resources were stored.
The scenery here was far more dazzling than six months ago; cards of various colors like white, green, blue, and purple resembled countless stars in the night sky, occupying the entire visible space.
Since returning to Earth over half a year ago, Kyle hadn't fully mastered his divine power abilities. In the meantime, he had utilized numerous card users to replicate and collect various types of Ability Cards from around the world.
So, within the Card Space, the number of white and green Ability Cards outnumbered all other cards combined by tenfold.
This could be considered a further advancement into the realm of omniscience and omnipotence. In the local Earth domain, Kyle was confident that aside from the Ancient One, there was no one who knew more than he did.
With a subtle shift of his mind, Kyle transferred to the Storage Card Area, his gaze falling upon tens of thousands of Blinking blue-glowing Item Cards.
These were "Kryon Crystals", stacked layer upon layer, enough to make someone with trypophobia's scalp crawl.
This was the overseas base of the Carl Family, an old factory underground that had consumed large sums of money and resources over decades, secretly constructing and accumulating a high-tech energy core.
To prevent any mishaps, Kyle had transferred tens of thousands of Kryon Crystals into the Card Space some time ago, originally intending to follow a predetermined plan to use them in the future to build the Iron Man Regiment with his nephew Tony.
However, due to ongoing improvements to Tony's Iron Man suit, mass production of the Iron Man machines hadn't been achieved, so this plan had to be indefinitely postponed.
Meanwhile, the construction of Stark's new energy factory had alleviated the annual growth pressure on Kryon Energy.
Considering Earth would soon face an alien invasion, and with Kyle having plans to leave Earth, he began to contemplate the tens of thousands of Kryon Crystals stored here.
If not now, then when?
Kyle had already made the decision outside, so there was no hesitation now as he faced the pile of cards before him.
Selected: "Kryon Crystals" × 10000!
Sacrifice for card draw!
With a swoosh, tens of thousands of blue-glowing, densely stacked Item Cards evaporated into thin air, leaving behind an empty space.
Even though Kyle was wealthy, he couldn't help but feel a pang of pain in his heart.
The resources consumed in the blink of an eye could buy the entire wealth of New York City! Only the Wakanda, with its Vibranium mines, could compare!
However, Kyle quickly adjusted his mindset, replacing the pain with an unprecedented sense of anticipation.
After all, this was undoubtedly the biggest sacrifice of his life, not just a ten or a hundred draws, but a straight one thousand!
It seemed even the Extracting Card System was a bit overwhelmed. After about ten seconds of silence, it finally emitted a delayed prompt.
"You sacrificed 'Kryon Crystals' × 10000. Extraction successful!"
"Congratulations, you obtained 'Life Increase Card (Blue)' × 121, 'Life Increase Card (Purple)' × 26... 'Planet Engine' × 2, 'Kryptonian Baby'... 'Adamantium Sword' × 6, 'Deadpool Head'..."
Kyle widened his eyes, finding it difficult to put into words the scene unfolding before him.
Thousands upon thousands of cards, items, abilities, or life forms, blinking with blue and purple hues, surged out of the space breach like a frenzy of deep-sea fish.
(End of this chapter)
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