Autumn has arrived in New York. After the summer's heatwave dissipates, the skies become bluer and the wind cooler. However, in this bustling international metropolis, few have the leisure to pause and enjoy the shifting weather.
The hustle and bustle is more urgent and faster than the morning breeze. After iced coffee has left the market, the hot coffee held by white-collar workers in suits accompanies their hurried steps, just like autumn, shedding its heat.
The busiest place in this busy city has to be the famous Wall Street.
This street stretches from southern Manhattan to Broadway, once home to the New York Stock Exchange and the headquarters of various banks, and was incredibly glorious in the last century.
But today, the symbolic significance of this street has come to outweigh its actual importance. It is more like a financial symbol for this country. Having endured through changes over time, there is no longer any bank that has its headquarters here; most have moved to the more prospective Midtown.
This street may disappoint traveling tourists. It is short in length and very narrow. When people pass through it, they feel as if the high-rise buildings on both sides are collapsing towards them.
The only consolation is leaning against an aging building, imagining the vignette of a vintage car parked by the side, and the cool morning breeze sweeping over the street and the coffee cup, as if from the last century.
At the corner of Wall Street, echoing to the sound of a starting gun, the sashes on the flower baskets sparkle under the sun. Yet, pedestrians seem completely oblivious, as if all this hustle and bustle is behind a barrier from the real world.
"Nice to see you, Dr. Shiller." Loki stands on the steps before the main entrance, shaking hands with Shiller and smiling.
Loki's wearing the most common white shirt with a dark green tie dangling from his neck. Under the sunshine, you can see the small prints on it. From his wristwatch to his leather shoes, they're all of stock brokers' favorite brands.
Without stating his name, no one would realize he's not a Wall Street clerk, let alone an earthling.
After shaking hands with Loki, Shiller says, "I never imagined that in just over a month, you've completely adapted to this place."
"Thanks to the recent stock market downturn, I've had no days off in the past month. I even have to finish my coffee with just three sips," Loki jokes.
Shiller shakes his head, looking at Loki with a sense of emotion.
About a month ago, before Odin, the Father of All Gods, announced he was going into sleep, he entrusted his youngest son, Loki, to The Ancient One.
The reason being, Loki had absorbed a lot of energy and needed to digest it, and someone needed to watch over this process. Odin, preparing for his sleep, couldn't afford to do this, and thus passed Loki to The Ancient One for fostering.
The Ancient One, believing that it would be just like herding two sheep instead of one, accepted Odin's request.
Then The Ancient One found out that she was really not the babysitting type. With holes in the cosmos waiting for her to mend, not doing so would mean a loss, so she passed Loki to Doctor Strange and requested them both to practice in Kamar-Taj on their own.
Interestingly, Loki and Doctor Strange found they had quite a lot in common. Their backgrounds were somewhat similar; Loki had always believed that Odin favored Thor, and Strange's father also favored his younger brother. The two had a lot in common in terms of personality, or to put it simply, they had similar moral baselines.
Therefore, after staying in Kamar-Taj for a while, the two got along quite well. And when a wolf and a hyena get along well, you can pretty much guess what's to come next.
The two started a betting game in Kamar-Taj, wagering on the outcome of the war between the Hell Lords. Loki used his accumulated connections to get people from all around to join in on online betting.
The news reached Sakaar, and the gambling loving High Lord initially did not take it seriously. As a self-proclaimed gambling saint, he disdained joining such a low-grade gambling game.
When Loki heard he was not participating, he was immediately upset. The High Lord who had been calling customer service every day now wouldn't join the betting game when he was finally invited. This was too much to bear, so he rolled up his sleeves and headed for Sakaar.
As the saying goes, a stroke of the brush by a master shows the master's hand. Loki's skills in fraud were no joke. Even Thanos had been fooled by him before. After just two days of his visit to Sakaar, the High Lord was conned into placing a big bet.
Later, Doctor Strange found Mephisto, the Lord of Hell. They teamed up to stage a fake game, almost making the High Lord lose his pants in the bet.
The High Lord, who never admitted defeat in gambling, initially planned to default, until Doctor Strange brought Modu, a follower of Dormammu, to knock on Sakaar's door. Weighing the gap between himself and Dormammu, the High Lord decided to grit his teeth and settle the bet.
After retrieving the money, Dormammu and Mephisto each took 20 percent, with the remaining 60 percent falling into the hands of Loki and Doctor Strange.
Seeing the easy money coming their way, the duo embarked on their path of telecommunications fraud.
They stopped at nothing, took advantage of every means, cheated, deceived, you name it. After making several "gains," they indeed collected a substantial amount of energy.
Though these two have a very low moral bottom line, their abilities are not high either. They were in a hurry to use the energy they obtained. As a result, due to mishandling, a burst of energy exploded, causing a hole in the temple at Kamar-Taj and even damaging the protective shield.