Deep in the Universe, a golden wing-shaped spaceship is sailing at superluminal speed.
Inside the cabin.
Steve Rogers is standing in front of a giant holographic star map, brows furrowed. He is studying the route to Xandar and intelligence on the surrounding star sectors.
Bruce Banner is a bit restless, constantly wiping his glasses, his eyes occasionally drifting to the endless Darkness outside the window.
"Bruce, what's wrong? Why do you seem so nervous?" Tony, who was tinkering with his armor, suddenly leaned in front of Banner.
Bruce Banner shook his head. "Hulk says he feels uncomfortable."
Only Lin Huai sat quietly in the captain's seat.
He neither interrogated the two prisoners nor participated in the discussion, just quietly watching the changing trajectories of the stars ahead.
Finally, after a violent space jump, the ship suddenly slowed down.
"Arrived at the outskirts of the Xandar System."
The ship's onboard intelligent system issued a prompt.
However, when everyone turned their gaze out the porthole, they all fell silent.
There was no bustling interstellar metropolis, nor were there patrolling golden Nova Corps fighters.
What met their eyes was a burning, dead star sector floating with countless debris.
Xandar, the former capital of the Nova Empire, was now covered in giant craters on its surface, still oozing magma.
A huge hole had been torn in the atmosphere, with flames and thick smoke churning out of it.
Above its orbit, a massive pitch-black warship was quietly anchored there.
It was the culprit of this dead star sector—Thanos's flagship, Sanctuary II.
"My God..."
Tony's voice was a bit dry.
"Is this what interstellar war is like?"
Steve clenched his fists.
"He did it. He destroyed everything here."
"We're too late."
Banner's voice trembled.
Lin Huai didn't speak, but slowly stood up.
His newly promoted Scholar of Yore ability gave him a keen intuition for the flow of history.
"Let's see what history tells us."
Lin Huai closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, it was as if countless historical fragments were flowing in his eyes; the light of the Time Stone and the Scholar of Yore's ability converged.
In the center of the bridge, a clear holographic projection appeared out of thin air.
In the image was Sanctuary II's oppressive throne room.
The gaunt Ebony Maw and the ferocious Black Dwarf knelt on one knee, reporting to the towering figure on the throne.
"Master, Xandar has been purified. The Nova Corps no longer has any power to resist."
"Very good."
The figure on the throne slowly stood up—it was an incredibly burly purple giant.
He wore heavy golden armor.
Just standing there, he exuded a pressure enough to make the stars tremble.
He was Thanos.
Lin Huai and the others could even feel the powerful aura belonging to the cosmic overlord through the projection.
Thanos stepped down from the throne and took the silver Cosmic Orb from Ebony Maw's hand.
He didn't even glance at it, just placed the orb in his palm.
With a soft sound, the hard shell, strong enough to withstand planetary impacts, shattered easily in his palm like an eggshell.
Dazzling purple light erupted from it, dyeing the entire throne room in an eerie purple.
A gem emitting pure, primal power floated quietly in Thanos's palm.
The Power Stone.
Thanos looked at the gem, a flicker of heat crossing his eyes, but he immediately returned to an ancient, well-like calm.
He used no container, but simply and directly reached out his large, calloused hand and grasped the gem containing the Universe's most primal destructive power.
BOOM!!
Violent purple energy instantly burst from the gaps in his clenched fist, like a supernova exploding in his palm!
A terrifying energy storm swept through the entire throne room with him at the center; the metal walls let out a sharp twisting sound, as if they could be torn apart at any moment.
In front of the monitor, Banner's face turned pale. Looking at the energy readings on the instrument that had instantly gone off the charts, his voice shook: "This energy... Hulk... I feel Hulk is afraid. He... he actually grasped an Infinity Stone directly with his hand?!"
Thanos's burly body remained motionless in the energy storm.
Purple energy currents surged wildly over his muscular arms, seemingly trying to swallow him whole.
But he only gave a low grunt, the muscles on his arms bulging to their limit.
Slowly, with unparalleled willpower, he forcibly suppressed that violent energy back into his fist.
A moment later, the energy storm subsided.
Thanos slowly opened his palm; the purple Power Stone was now floating submissively in his palm, like a completely tamed Beast.
A satisfied smile finally appeared on his face.
"Bring her up."
He ordered.
Two tall alien guards dragged a fiercely struggling green-skinned woman up.
It was Gamora.
She was thrown violently at Thanos's feet, but she immediately looked up, her eyes burning with hatred and rage.
"I should have known you would succeed,"
she said through gritted teeth.
"You always get everything you want."
Thanos looked down at her, his eyes showing no anger, but rather a deep disappointment.
"Everything I do is for the balance of the Universe, to give new life to those civilizations struggling in hunger and war."
"I thought you, my daughter, would be the person in this Universe who understood me best."
He shook his head, a hint of regret in his tone.
"But you chose betrayal, chose sentimentality, chose to associate with the scum of the Universe."
"I was never your daughter!"
Gamora roared.
"You only treated me as a weapon! A tool for your slaughter and conquest!"
"A tool?"
Thanos seemed to find it somewhat amusing.
"No, I raised you to be the most dangerous woman in the galaxy. I gave you glory, gave you the strength to survive."
He reached out, seemingly wanting to stroke Gamora's cheek, but she turned her head away in disgust.
Thanos's hand stopped in mid-air and was finally slowly withdrawn.
"Childish rebellion will always pass."
He turned calmly and walked back toward his throne.
"You will understand. When half of the life in the Universe falls silent, the other half will continue in prosperity and gratitude."
"By then, they will honor me as... the Savior."
The historical projection ended there.
Inside the bridge of the golden-winged ship, there was dead silence.
Everyone was shocked by Thanos's insane philosophy and overwhelming power.
"Well,"
Tony was the first to break the silence. He poured himself a glass of wine and drank it in one go.
"That Purple Sweet Potato has gone completely mad. For the sake of so-called balance, he wants to randomly execute half of the Universe? Why doesn't he run for Director of the Family Planning Office?"
"He stands on the ruins of billions of lives, talking about new life."
Steve clenched his fists tightly.
"This kind of person must be stopped."
Banner's face was pale, and he had to hold onto the console to stand steady.
"Lin Huai... that plan of yours earlier to stab him in the rear... I think it might need to be re-evaluated."
"That plan has been canceled."
Lin Huai's voice was equally solemn.
He looked at the image of Thanos in the star map, feeling the difficulty for the first time.
"He got the Power Stone, and more importantly..."
His gaze turned to the face of despair and rage belonging to Gamora in the image.
"He captured Gamora."
"That green-skinned girl?"
Tony asked, puzzled.
"Is there something special about her? She looks like she can fight, but not to the point where you'd care this much, right?"
Lin Huai did not answer directly.
He waved his hand and brought up another completely different star map.
At the end of the star map was a barren Planet shrouded in blood-red nebulae, emitting an ominous aura.
"Here is Vormir."
His voice was low and serious.
Everyone looked at him, including Loki, who had been silent and whose face had already changed from the shock of this cosmic-level crisis.
Lin Huai looked at everyone and said an astonishing secret word by word.
"Thanos didn't just get power; he also got... the key to open another door."
Loki's face changed drastically. As a prince of Asgard, he had clearly heard of certain ancient legends.
"Vormir... the Soul Sanctuary..."
He muttered, losing his voice.
"A sacrifice of what you love in exchange for the eternal treasure..."
His gaze moved back and forth between the images of Gamora and Thanos, his face showing horror.
Lin Huai nodded heavily.
"We must get ahead of him."
He turned and gave new instructions to the ship's intelligent system, his voice resolute.
"Immediately plot a course for Vormir and initiate Maximum Warp! I should have found a way to get the coordinates earlier."
"We must reach Vormir before he does!"