*Chapter 149: [Reality Stone] (Third Update)*

Thor didn't blame Jane; instead, he asked, "I'm more worried about where you went just now. Heimdall, who can peer into thousands of planets across the Nine Realms, couldn't see you."

You have to admit, Thor is really patient. Normally, after a mortal dodges a god twice, divine punishment is inevitable.

This is definitely true love.

Miss Jane, reunited with Thor after a long separation, didn't even notice the importance of what Thor was saying. She acted like a wronged wife, complaining about her hardships over the past few days.

"I waited for you. I was waiting the whole time, and then I cried. You said you'd come back."

Thor, ever so patient, explained, "I wanted to return, but the Rainbow Bridge was destroyed, and then the Nine Realms fell into war..."

At least Jane understood priorities. She pouted, "That's a pretty good reason, but I saw you in New York on TV."

"Jane, I was trying to protect you from the dangers of my world at the time!"

...

Neither of them noticed that every word they spoke was being broadcast through a micro-camera on the female hunter’s shoulder, live-streaming to a mansion across the ocean.

At that moment, there was a violent storm on the island. Penthesilea, brushing her soaked hair away from her forehead, commented on the broadcast, "Thor has such a good temper. This is no different from one of those romantic soap operas you all watch at 8 PM. In our culture, if you like someone, you just take them. If you can't take them, you propose. A little dowry just to save face."

On the other side, Helen, who was just about to help Penthesilea into her robe, suddenly froze. Once upon a time, she had almost been abducted into a forced marriage.

But Helen had come to terms with it. What did it matter if she had once been adored by thousands? She was just a cursed woman.

After crossing into this world, she secretly looked up the story of Troy. When she read the part where "King Menelaus of Sparta, after sacking Troy, forgave 'Helen' and took her back to the palace," Helen was silent for a long time.

No historian dared write what happened afterward.

As a woman with a heavy burden of sin, Helen knew full well how terrifying the cold treatment would be after being locked away in the palace.

Well, being a maid now isn't so bad.

Helen glanced at Atreus secretly, and her gaze softened in a strange way.

Atreus was staring at the screen, feeling a dull ache. If he'd pursued Miss Jane a while back, she probably wouldn’t have rejected him, given how desperate she was to go on blind dates. But if that had happened, he and Thor would be rivals.

He wasn’t about to start sharing everything in this world.

queen suddenly leaned over, lightly caressing Atreus's muscular body, and asked, "Since the timeline of Troy is different from this world, you must have glimpsed parts of the future during your journey through the astral realm. But aren’t you worried that stirring fate like this might be dangerous?"

"You really died at the hands of Achilles. Does that not bother you?" Atreus replied with a smile.

"You bastard, I’m worried about you! In mythology, those who peer into fate usually meet bad ends." The queen playfully slapped Atreus's chest in anger.

Atreus winced; she had a point.

Those who reveal the secrets of fate often meet terrible ends, and those who are spoiled with spoilers don’t escape their destinies either.

The most classic example is Norse mythology’s Ragnarok—no matter what, the gods still met their doom.

But what kind of traveler doesn't stir up trouble?

Question: What happens if you pull out the car key while driving at high speed?

A: The car's exhaust pipe might spray water.

B: The car will beg you to put the key back.

C: The car will magically find the key and put it back itself.

D: Pull it out and put it back quickly, or the car will get angry.

E: All of the above.

Atreus now held the car key, and the wheels of fate had already begun to turn. He wasn’t stopping until he reached his destination!

Gently stroking the queen's face, which bore an 80% resemblance to her niece’s, Atreus smiled warmly. "Those who believe too much in fate will end up under its wheels. You can only take on as much as your strength allows. Maybe we can even change the direction of those wheels."

Stopping wasn’t an option; "doing your best and leaving the rest to fate" sounded pretty good.

Honestly, the seeds he’d planted with Miss Jane probably wouldn’t amount to much. Even if they did, Asgard was likely to have limited usefulness.

At this point in Thor: The Dark World, Asgard was still quite powerful. Old Odin was still strong, and many god-level warriors were around. More importantly, Asgard's army was still at full strength.

Atreus wasn’t exactly an anti-hero, so he wasn't going to start a war with Asgard. Even if he had a "Godslayer System," it didn’t mean he’d gain much from Thor’s side.

After all, with Thor 2's villain, the Dark Elf leader Malekith, Atreus wasn’t sure what he could even get.

Malekith had nothing valuable. The Aether was another matter entirely.

It had another name known throughout the universe: one of the Infinity Stones—*the Reality Stone*.

If Atreus didn’t know that Miss Jane had just gotten the Reality Stone and that Thor would soon come for her, even he might have gotten devious enough to make her give it up.

But there was still time after all this...

Penthesilea noticed that Atreus seemed a little troubled and anxious. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she reassured him, "Don’t worry so much. You're a traveler of the astral realm. If things go wrong, you can always live on another planet. A true strongman can survive anywhere."

"Uh, can you stop calling me an 'astral traveler'? I'd rather you call me a charlatan."

It wasn’t just that—whenever Atreus heard the word "traveler," a cute but annoying voice echoed in his head: "Traveler, all your wishes will be guaranteed, but you'll never get good loot from domains."

Ugh! Stop it! Master, stop reciting it!

"Alright then, my charlatan! I'll just wait for you to lead us past this obstacle of fate." The queen passionately embraced him.

Whoa! That’s a big deal—you could’ve just said so.

It was hard for Atreus to turn down a wealthy and generous queen.

While Atreus was busy, Thor, in London, had a bad feeling that something had happened to Jane Foster.

He immediately called Heimdall to open the Bifrost and bring Miss Jane back to Asgard.

What they found was shocking.

Using Asgard’s technology (which seemed more like magic), Thor saw through an Asgardian ultrasound that a crimson Aether was continuously surging through Jane’s body.

The discovery shook Thor to his core.

(End of chapter)