2141 The End
After a brief silence, everybody’s expressions returned to normal.
Everybody knew that Thanos had killed Loki, Heimdall and 300,000 Asgardians.
Of course, Loki’s death was a beautiful thing, but Heimdall and the people of Asgard had indeed been innocent, so Thor’s venting was understandable.
Besides, cutting off Thanos’s head was indeed a very efficient way to ‘confirm’ his death.
As for venting on the body… for an alien who had wanted to kill at least half of Earth’s population, who would care about preserving his ‘human rights’ for him?
Thanos wasn’t human.
After looking their fill, everybody dispersed.
Steve, Rhodes, Bucky and some of the others said that they would take part in the final cleanup.
Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight had already been surrounded and killed by Ursa Minor and the reserve members – they hadn’t been given a chance to escape at all.
The Avengers and the Bat Squad, who were ‘old hands,’ were too efficient; they basically cleaned up all the elite small bosses.
Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight could be considered the final ‘gift bags’ left, at 500 credit points each.
Compared with the lowest amount of two credit points for delivering goods, this was undoubtedly an astronomical figure.
On the brink of death, the couple had shouted that they were willing to surrender, which made the Ursa Minor members who were besieging them hesitate for a moment.
But Frank simply said coldly over the main comms, “If surrendering can make a difference, why would we need the Justice League?”
Thus, the couple, whose blood debt was the size of the universe, was besieged and killed on the spot.
Later, it was Tony who got Earth’s allied forces to leave alive Thanos’s ground troops and the air troops that were willing to land and surrender.
Of course, the tycoon wasn’t some saint. He simply suggested, “Their intact gear can probably sell for a lot of credit points. That’s the best set you can get in the universe.”
Everybody was enlightened.
“Besides, I remember that war criminals who surrender can also be executed for extremely heinous crimes, right? Hm, this probably doesn’t come under the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Then, we’ll set up an intergalactic court for the trials,” Tony added unhurriedly.
As expected of a black-hearted capitalist who sucked other people dry! Everybody cursed inwardly.
His motive was clear.
The Justice League often broke the bones of criminals on Earth – could these intergalactic ‘war criminals’ return to space in one piece?
What a joke. Even if Tony was willing to allow that, the Dark Knight wouldn’t.
The tycoon wasn’t accepting their surrender at all – he was clearly greedy for their equipment.
Of course, these spoils of war could also be obtained after the enemy was wiped out, but compared with obtaining a large amount of intact equipment after the enemy surrendered, it naturally wasn’t as profitable.
In fact, the remaining small battleships and fighter planes of Thanos’s army were already fleeing into outer space.
As members of a first-class galactic fleet, there was a high chance they would escape to other planets.
As for whether or not other forces would beat them up after they arrived on those planets, that was another matter.
Due to Tony’s suggestion, Earth’s allied forces turned most of their energy to intercepting the fleeing battleships and fighter planes.
The more combat soldiers were intercepted, the more credit they would get.
In any case, there were credit points for the spoils of war, and credit points for blowing them up; it was just a matter of how many.
At that point, Natasha, Rhodes, T’Challa, Jennifer, Mindy and Joseph started moving to deal with the aftermath.
Naturally, various countries on Earth wouldn’t be indifferent to such a huge battle. They had sent elite forces to ‘watch the battle.’
However, after they arrived, they observed from the perimeter for only a moment before they resolutely decided to continue ‘watching.’
The small battleships and fighter planes in Thanos’s army were blown up by the remote-controlled fighter planes of Earth’s allied forces, which made these forces lose the courage to enter the battlefield.
In terms of fighter planes, these elite forces were indeed a level higher than the cannon fodder remote-controlled fighter planes which Luke tinkered with.
However, the various countries combined couldn’t muster even 1,000 elite fighter planes; how could they participate in a battle of tens of thousands of fighter planes?
Earth’s allied army and Thanos’s army each worked under one command, while these hundreds of elite fighter planes were from various countries. Each country had more or less the same number of fighter planes, and no one was more superior than the other; they even hated each other more than they hated the aliens.
Also, these were the most elite forces which these countries had; how could they be handed over to Earth’s allied forces to command?
Thus, these elite combatants became ‘battlefield observers’ in a sense.
The difference was that in the past, ‘observation teams’ like these were high and mighty ‘conspirators,’ but today, they were genuine ‘passers-by.’
They weren’t even qualified to communicate with the core members of Earth’s allied forces.
T’Challa, Tony and Rhodes were the ones who suffered the most.
Ross, the former American general and current Secretary of State, sent a lot of communication requests, which were all fobbed off by Ms. Friday’s message: “Mr. XXX is dealing with an urgent matter. Please try again later.”
Now that Thanos and his fleet had been wiped out and the outcome was clear, it wouldn’t be good to leave people like Ross hanging.
In the end, an official explanation still needed to be given.
Of course, it was just an explanation.
At Luke’s suggestion, the Avengers and New SHIELD, who had already been laying low for several years, didn’t need to pay too much attention to the various governments.
At most, for Tony and Rhodes’s sake as public figures, they would give each government some leftovers, like the remains of the cannon fodder fighter planes and battleships which he had created.
Thanos’s technology and Wakanda’s vibranium equipment wouldn’t be leaked at all.
What Earth needed wasn’t to follow the old path taken by aliens, but to combine what it had itself to forge a new path.
Besides, if the European and American governments obtained advanced technology, who knew how the capital groups would exploit the people at the bottom.
After Luke put Thanos’s body away in his inventory as test material, Selina raised her right hand, and the four Stones on the back of it glowed.
Bored, she asked, “What should we do with these crappy things?”
“Leave them with me for now. I’ll discuss it with Tony and Strange and see what corner to throw them in.” Luke gave her an unhappy look as he took out a few top-notch shielding devices to put the four Stones in.
That being said, he still had to deal with the Space Stone and the Power Stone himself.
The Power Stone had explosive offensive power and could easily destroy Earth if not handled properly.
The Space Stone was top-notch support. After mastering it, one could roam the universe without ever being caught.
Luke didn’t want another space terrorist with the Power Stone to appear, nor did he want to face a powerful enemy who had the Space Stone.
The Reality, Mind and Soul Stones were also very strong, but their effects weren’t as over-the-top, and he and Tony more or less had ways to contain them.
Putting the four Stones into the suit’s inventory box, Luke and Selina walked out of the woods.
Staring at the vast grassland for a long time, Luke heaved a sigh. “It’s finally over.”
Selina was surprised. “Aren’t you a few minutes late to say that?”
Under the clear and boundless sky, Luke looked at Selina’s extremely familiar face, and couldn’t help but smile as he shook his head. “No helping it, a bunch of people are still waiting for extras even though this is clearly the end.”
Selina stared blankly at him. “What?”
Luke didn’t explain further, and just rubbed her head. “Let’s go, we can have a nice long break after this.”
With that, he drifted upward lightly before flying toward Wakanda.
Selina chased after him. “Wait, how long is long… Be specific. Last time, you said it was a long break, but after one week, you made me work overtime back home.”
Luke: “I guarantee it’ll be a very long one this time, long enough for you to finish a perfect dream.”
Selina: “Really? Go back and let me take a few more portrait shots of your body like this.”
Luke: “Hehe.”
Under the blue sky and above the ground, their words carried through the air as they moved further and further away.
Just like the first time they left Shackelford, the two figures moved forward together.