The moment they saw the body, everyone's gaze began to shift among each other. Under the silence, a brewing undercurrent was about to erupt. The first to speak was Thor, who was holding Sif's hand.
"What happened?" Thor's voice was very low, the anger contained within it made the guests tremble. No one here could withstand the wrath of the Divine King.
One can only say, thankfully today's banquet was not a formal wedding ceremony, but a banquet to welcome the interstellar civilizations. The Divine King and Queen of Gods would only formally hold the ceremony tomorrow morning. If this happened at that time, I'm afraid it would cause bloody chaos in the interstellar society.
But such an accident was shocking enough. The one with actual power from one of the Three Great Empires of the Universe was dead on the spot at Asgard's banquet, in front of so many civilization leaders.
Thor's gaze fell on Loki, Shiller also turned his head to look at Loki, whereas Loki lowered her head slightly and said, "I'll investigate it right away."
The insiders in the venue knew what she meant by "investigation". She only needed to look above the cosmos and trace back along the timeline to see who had made the move. At the worst, she could go to the Time Management Bureau and ask Mobius to bring the machine here to trace back time.
Loki slowly turned around, and at that moment a voice rang out, "Wait a moment, your Highness Loki."
Loki turned back and found the voice from Stark. Thor's gaze fell on Stark's face again, and Stark calmly touched his wrist and said, "Should we first confirm the identity of the deceased? Although she looks like her Majesty the Queen of the Shi'a Empire, there is no reason for her Majesty the Queen to die here in Asgard's palace. Should we first check if this is a substitute or an illusion?"
As soon as Stark finished his words, he felt a gaze fall on him. Stark looked up at Shiller opposite him who was staring at him. He didn't continue to speak, but only smiled.
At this time, Sif, the leader of the Immortal Palace Guard, furrowed her brow and said, "To ensure the smooth running of the banquet, the soldiers of the guard are waiting outside. But the other members of the guard who do not have security tasks, including doctors and coroners, have already withdrawn from the Fairy Palace.
"Your Majesty, if you want to verify the identity, I can notify the professionals to come and investigate now."
"Not necessary." Thor didn't look at Sif, but rejected her suggestion.
However, everyone understood that now Sif was not the captain of the Royal Palace Guard, but the bride-to-be of the Divine King. She could neither bring a team of people to touch the body nor could she leave here temporarily, as that would be very rude.
"I believe there is a doctor here, isn't there?" Frigga's voice came forth. She looked at Shiller. Shiller slightly turned his head but didn't look at Frigga. Instead, he glanced at the face of Odin.
Apparently, everyone on the scene had their own goals and secrets. A subtle and fragile balance was gradually established.
Everyone had information that others did not have, which would be the key for them to achieve their goals.
They were sure that the wise men on the scene would understand the current situation—without knowing the purpose of others, they could not use overly violent measures to probe the truth rashly, which would only bring trouble to themselves.
Even an idiot could understand this under the atmosphere - this would not be a simple murder case. Or to put in other words, the fact that the Queen of the Shi'a Empire would die, and at the Asgard banquet at that, has no possibility of it being a simple murder case.
Shiller stood in silence for a few seconds but didn't walk over. Instead, he said, "I'm a psychiatrist, and don't know magic. I can't conduct an autopsy or break illusions. I think there's someone more suitable for this job than me."
After saying this, he turned his head to the other side, looking at a figure in the crowd. Everyone followed his gaze to the person; Strange, holding a wine cup, crossed the crowd and walked over.
His gaze first fell on the body on the ground, then on Thor saying, "I am not a forensic pathologist, only a surgical Doctor."
"But at least you can check if it's magic's doing, right, your honor Supreme Magician?" Thor emphasized.
"Loki can also...alright, it's impolite to have the well-dressed Highness touch the corpse. Let me do this." Strange turned and put the wine cup on the waiter's tray.
However, unlike the others, Shiller's gaze didn't follow Strange's actions; instead, he only glanced at the wine cup which Strange had set down.
The Supreme Magician took off his cloak and casually handed it to Loki, who was closest to him. Then he squatted beside the Queen's corpse. His eyes slightly shimmered, and a glint of golden light flashed at his fingertips.
Strange's finger lightly touched the ground, and the magical brilliance rippled. As it swept over the Queen's corpse, there was no anomaly in the magic fluctuations. Most of the people on the scene observed this.
"The corpse is real." Strange shook his head and said, "There is no trace of magic forgery or illusion technique."
"So, can we determine the cause of death?" Thor asked again.
Strange gazed at the corpse and said, "I want to examine the wounds on the corpse, but this might be a bit offensive. I'm not sure if the Queen and her family will agree to have me touch her body at will."
"Lylan! Lylan! His Majesty Lylan!!!" A anxious shout came from the main entrance of the Fairy Palace, and a muscular male of the Ferocious Feather Tribe rushed in with two guards.
"That's the husband of the Queen of the Shi'a Empire," Loki quietly explained to Shiller,
But Shiller's attention wasn't on the Queen's husband, but on the face of the young guard who just had come in.
"Isn't their royal family's guard all composed of the Ferocious Feather Tribe?" Shiller quietly asked Loki.
"The Shi'a Empire is a big fusion of nationalities. Although the Ferocious Feather Tribe is the royal family's race, to show respect for other races, their guards include members from more than 20 races."
"Does that include humans?"
Loki was taken aback for a moment. Following Shiller's gaze, she noticed that the young soldier standing behind the fallen husband of the queen looked just like a human.
A glimmer of magic sparked in Loki's eyes, and then she realized that the young guard was indeed human, or at least definitely had human lineage.
There are many humanoid races in the cosmos. This phenomenon originates from some entities that disseminated life in the past. However, factually speaking, humanoid races are the mainstream of interstellar society, with most races being quadruped vertebrates.
But based on this, different races have minor differences. Differences like skin color are no longer considered disparities. Some species have more than just four limbs, they might have four arms, some are mermaids, and some even have two heads.
Even if they look exactly like humans, there would definitely be significant differences in their internal organs, blood vessels, and muscle tissue.
After all, there are very few species as weak as humans in the universe. Even if they are not good-looking or seem physically robust, most can utilize other forms of energy.
This means that their organs will undergo special changes during evolution. It is impossible for them to be exactly the same as the human race, which has weak bodies and cannot utilize energy.
However, the young man opposite her, from internal structure to blood vessels to muscle tissue, all conform to the normality of a human body. Thus, he's very likely to be a human.
But it is strange that a human could become a member of the Shi'ar Empire's Royal Guard. Humans are not part of the tribe under Shi'ar Empire's jurisdiction. The territories of the two species are far apart, and humans have not traded with the Shi'ar Empire, the two are hardly related.
So who would this human appearing here be? How could he join the Royal Guard of the Shi'ar Empire? Why would he be by the side of the Queen's husband?
Shiller searched for information swiftly in his mind. He knew that all humans who could step out of the Nine Major Kingdoms were not weaklings, they must have some support, and would definitely be well-known in the Marvel World.
Searching with the keyword 'Shi'ar Empire Royal Guard', he suddenly found an inconspicuous piece of information deep in his memory.
It was in the origin story of Star Lord from the Guardians of the Galaxy. The first part of the story was too complicated. However, Star Lord Peter Quill was imprisoned in an interstellar prison called Kaine.
Star Lord wanted to escape from prison, so he found some teammates. During the escape, he found that Kaine Prison had a massive explosion. He wanted to go over and check on the situation. At that time, he encountered a gladiator, who later recruited Star Lord into the Guard of the Shi'a Empire.
In the comic, Star Lord refused to be recruited and chose to stay in Kaine Prison. However, there is no doubt that Star Lord once had the opportunity to join the Guard of the Shi'a Empire.
The butterfly effect of transmigrators is too complicated, and Shiller couldn't be sure whether it was his changes that led Star Lord to agree to the gladiator's request and to really join the Shi'a Empire's Royal Guard.
However, in this insignificant story, it still involved a famous figure, Thanos.
At that time, Star Lord wanted to deal with a being known as The Creator. He thought he was not powerful enough, so he wanted to get Thanos as a teammate. In the comic plot, Thanos didn't agree, he beat The Creator himself.
In other words, Thanos and Star Lord had interacted. They were not only not enemies, Star Lord even wanted to cooperate with Thanos. So, even if Thanos wisely refused to unite with Star Lord against a common enemy, would they collaborate in other aspects?
Shiller turned to look at the edge of the dance floor. The giant with purple skin was just holding a wine glass, drinking by himself, not saying a word, as if he hadn't noticed the chaos in the center of the dance floor at all.
But Shiller knew that Thanos was not a person who abides by the rules. If it was said that he had no part in this chaos, nobody would believe it.
Was the chaos caused by the queen's assassination case a sudden event?
On the contrary, all conspiracies were carried out stealthily, and the final chaos was just the result of colliding and accumulating forces reaching a peak, exploding together.
Standing in the center of the bright and spacious dance floor, Shiller could take in everyone's thoughtful expressions at a glance.
Following the pupils of every person, connecting the perspectives that others do not know, a complete truth can be constructed.
Without this information, Shiller would need to deduce where the source of the force causing the chaos originated from and when it emerged within the few minutes of chaos, based on everyone's words, reactions, and attitudes.
He would have to unravel threads and infer step by step, deducing everyone's motives, methods, and ultimate goals.
As he thought rapidly, his heart began to beat faster. The "thump-thump-thump" beat was like the prelude to the opening of the dance party.
Time froze, and space condensed. The last streak of light flowed into Shiller's eyes along his brow bone, and then, like the remains of a sunset on the Bifrost Bridge, it pulled the curtain for the darkness.
The noise in the venue gradually faded, and the light became dimmer.
Suddenly, a burst of intense light flashed. Shiller woke up from a somewhat hazy drowsiness. Outside the bedroom window of the Fairy Palace, he could see the bright energy tail flame at the engine mouth of the Shi'ar Empire's Royal spaceship as it decelerated and landed.
This was strance, thought Shiller. The Queen and King of the Shi'ar Empire had actually come in person to send their congratulations, and even arrived earlier than the other Two Great Empires.