"Sis—sister?"
At the mention of a sister, Thor suddenly perked up.
"Honestly, I would love to have a little sister. Haven't people always said that having a sister is completely different from having a brother?"
"Sisters are meant to be spoiled, so brothers with little sisters tend to be responsible."
"On the other hand, little brothers are meant to be bullied, so brothers with little brothers tend to be competitive."
"But I had it rough. I didn't have a sister to spoil, and instead, I had a little brother who bullied me all the time. Can you imagine? The first time Loki stabbed me with a knife, I was only eight years old."
"..."
Faced with Thor's complaints, Su Ye could only remain silent.
Having a little brother like Loki, Thor must have destroyed the universe multiple times in his past life.
Otherwise, how could he end up with such a twisted little brother?
But right now, discussing childhood character development isn't the priority. The past is the past, and what matters most is living in the present.
"I sympathize with your situation. So, do you want a little sister? You know, the kind that's both charming and clumsy, with pecs bigger than yours..."
Su Ye felt his words were insufficient to express his thoughts, so he flipped his hands, and a photograph appeared in them.
The image wasn't of Sylvie, the female Loki from the Loki series—honestly, that actress was a bit too old.
The picture was of a comic-style character, a young girl dressed in a green V-neck leather armor with a horned helmet, playfully curling her lips into a smirk. (Easter egg chapter)
The moment Thor saw the photo, his resolve wavered.
"This, this… looks pretty good!"
"Ahem!" Su Ye reminded him, "That's your sister!"
Thor shrugged. "It's not like we're actually related by blood!"
"Hiss!"
Su Ye took a deep breath of Asgardian dairy-scented air. "Your thoughts are pretty criminal, you know?"
Thor chuckled. "This is nothing. Do you know Zeus? Forget sisters—he didn't even spare his daughters! Compared to him, this is barely anything!"
That's when Su Ye remembered—Thor's idol wasn't his father, Odin, but rather the neighboring God-King, Zeus.
In Thor: Love and Thunder, when he went to see Zeus, he was more excited than when meeting his own father.
So, the reason you idolize Zeus isn't because of his thunder and lightning, but because he has a massive harem, right?
Damn it, I'm jealous too, okay?!
"Enough with the nonsense. Just tell me, are you in or not?"
Su Ye handed the photo to Thor. "Make it look like this, or adjust it to your preference. You can even tweak the personality. Trust me, I can make it all happen."
"You can change the personality too?" Thor got excited upon hearing Su Ye's words.
"Of course~!" Su Ye nodded firmly.
In Thor's arms, Loki's eyes turned green.
Sure, he liked turning into other people. He had even transformed into a woman before to mess with Thor. But that didn't mean he actually wanted to become a woman and be… 'handled' by Thor.
Messing with someone and being messed with are two entirely different things, okay!
Also, were these two bastards seriously discussing his gender transformation right in front of him? How was that even polite?!
"Can you two NOT discuss this in front of me?!"
Thor looked a bit embarrassed and turned to Su Ye.
"Uh… Can we erase some memories? Not all of them, just a little bit?"
"No problem!"
Su Ye casually waved his hand, and red light mixed with a bit of yellow instantly enveloped Loki.
"Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing?! Stop it! Don't come any closer!"
Loki struggled desperately in Thor's arms, but he truly had no strength to break free.
Thor was starting to panic too.
"Wait a minute! Weren't we just joking? Why are you actually doing it?!"
Before he could finish speaking, the light vanished. The Loki in Thor's arms had transformed into a "Loki-sister," someone so captivating that it was hard not to take a second look. Even though the body was thinner, two enormous 'evils' remained unchanged.
"I..."
Seeing this, Thor almost threw Loki—now Loki-sister—out of his arms.
Joking was one thing, but actually seeing his little brother, whom he had lived with, eaten with, even bathed with as a child, turn into a big sister—it was a bit too much to process.
Before he could even lift his hands, Loki-sister suddenly used all remaining strength to tightly hug Thor's neck.
"Brother, don't abandon me!"
A soft-spoken plea, a pitiful expression, and an impossibly pure face—Thor felt himself crumbling in just a moment.
"I... gulp I won't abandon you... gulp But you... you gulp can you stop using magic on me?!"
Thor stuttered, his face flushed red.
Loki-sister didn't respond, just buried her face into Thor's chest.
"Brother, take me home!"
"Hiss!"
This time, it wasn't just Thor—Su Ye, standing opposite, also gasped in the mirrored space.
You two brothers… oh no, you siblings… are really too well-matched. Should I leave for a bit, so you can relive your childhood memories and freely play around in this mirrored space?
"Let's go. I'll take Loki back to Asgard first!"
Thor hesitated no more. He didn't even ask Su Ye to turn Loki back into his original form. This new Loki-sister, though a bit strange at first glance, had a genuinely pleasant personality—gentle, caring, good at comforting people, and most importantly, not prone to stabbing.
With this kind of Loki-sister, Thor felt completely at ease entrusting his back—and even his kidneys—to her.
With that, Thor stepped out of the mirrored space. Before the scorching heat of Muspelheim could cause any harm to Loki, he quickly raised Mjolnir.
"Heimdall!"
Boom!
A rainbow beam shot down from the sky, engulfing both Thor and Loki, and in an instant, they vanished.
At that moment, Su Ye still hadn't stepped out of the mirrored space.
"Wow, talk about prioritizing your sister over your friends. Didn't even say goodbye before leaving?"
Su Ye finally exited the mirrored space, closing the portal behind him. Looking at the fiery landscape of Muspelheim, now restored to its original furnace-like state, he shook his head helplessly.
"If I had known… ah, forget it. Thor doesn't even care about Ragnarok anymore, so how could he remember a friend like me?"
Turning around, Su Ye looked at Surtur, who was still trapped in restraints.
"Hey, buddy, how about a chat?"
Surtur remained silent. He was bound and physically unable to speak.
"Let me introduce myself first. My name is Su Ye."
The moment he finished speaking, Su Ye suddenly chuckled. "Look at this—you're called Surtur, and I'm Su Ye. We both have 'Su' in our names! Maybe five hundred years ago, we were even part of the same family!"
If Surtur hadn't been restrained, he would have definitely spat molten lava right in Su Ye's face.
The hell do you mean we have the same last name?! You're the one named Su! Your whole damn family is named Su!
"Old Su..."
Su Ye had barely finished speaking before he realized something felt off. Calling Surtur 'Old Su' made it sound like he was talking to some elder named Su Mutian.
This name wasn't going to work.
Su Dog… Wait, no! Who am I cursing?!
"Uh, how about Old Fire?"
Since he was the Fire Giant King, 'Old Fire' seemed appropriate.
"Let's be honest with each other and have a proper talk, shall we?"
Surtur didn't react at all. No matter how much Su Ye talked, he couldn't move anyway.
Seeing this, Su Ye lifted the restriction on Surtur's head so that he could speak freely.
And the first thing Surtur did after regaining control of his head was—HE… TUI! (Spit!)
But Su Ye was no fool. The moment Surtur even twitched, he knew exactly what was coming.
As soon as Surtur started his 'HE' movement, Su Ye immediately restrained him again, causing a huge mouthful of molten lava to get stuck in his mouth.
"Alright, since you don't like talking nicely, let's switch to another form of communication!"
With that, Su Ye extended his telepathic powers, directly invading Surtur's consciousness.
"Old Fire, answer me this—staying in this dark, monotonous, unchanging Muspelheim every day… are you happy?"
Surtur remained silent, but the molten lava trapped in his mouth started to overflow, dripping from the corners of his lips in bright red streams. It actually looked kind of impressive.
"Come on, let's have a proper talk. Speak your mind!"
Su Ye stared at Surtur, continuously provoking his consciousness.
"No need to be nervous. Don't avoid the question. Just say whatever comes to mind—hurry up!"
"Cough..."
Surtur tested his voice, realizing he could indeed speak—and at that moment, he just couldn't hold back anymore!
"F*ck yo… mmph!"
"..."
Su Ye's face darkened.
"You're supposed to be the ruler of Muspelheim, a world-dominating powerhouse. Can't you at least speak with some dignity? What's with the cursing?"
"Do you even understand what a civilized society is? We're all respectable beings here. People with a sense of shame know their limits—got it?"
"..."
Surtur couldn't speak anymore, but the look in his eyes conveyed his thoughts very clearly.
'Even if I, the great Fire Giant, am beaten to death, my remains scattered, and my crown taken away, I will never submit to you!'
"Alright, you've got guts. You've got pride. I get it."
Su Ye shrugged. He was never afraid of these tough-guy types—because he had a special way of dealing with them.
"Have you ever heard of this saying? 'Headaches aren't a disease, but when they strike, they can kill you!'"
'Headaches aren't a disease? Why not? If it's not a disease, why does it hurt so much?!'
A question formed in Surtur's mind, but before he could voice it, a sharp, piercing pain suddenly exploded in his head.
It felt as if someone was hammering a chisel into his skull, trying to dig his brain out.
The excruciating pain made Surtur want to roll on the ground in agony, but his body was still restrained. He couldn't even move—he just stood there, trembling like a fool.
Yet, the sheer intensity of the pain caused his body to shake uncontrollably. Su Ye's restraints could keep him from moving, but they couldn't stop his involuntary tremors.
The lava that had been trapped in Surtur's mouth now gushed out like a fountain. More cracks began forming across his body, with molten lava seeping out continuously.
"Come on, hold on! I believe in you! Even the Monkey King lasted a few seconds before begging for mercy. You've got to at least make it a few minutes—otherwise, you're not worthy of that massive body of yours."
Su Ye, as if he had all the time in the world, casually pulled out a cigarette from nowhere, lit it using Surtur's lava, and took a deep drag.
"Speaking of the Monkey King, you probably don't know who he is. No worries—I'll tell you a story."
"And you little guys—if you're interested, you can listen in too. I don't charge for storytelling, and I never leave stories unfinished. I'll make sure to tell you the full version of Journey to the West."
"But you can't just listen for free. Your boss is suffering so much right now—shouldn't you all share in his pain too?"
"Since you're all part of the same team, you should share the good times and the bad. If your boss is suffering, you little guys should get a taste of it too, right?"
"Alright, let's all suffer together. Here we go!"
In an instant, from Surtur himself to the minions surrounding them—including the massive fire-breathing dragons—every single fire giant and dragon started trembling uncontrollably.
It looked as if they were all standing on a vibrating fat-burning machine.
"Alright, since everyone is ready, let's start our story."
As the poem goes:
-----
"When chaos had not yet split heaven and earth, all was vast and unseen."
"Since Pangu shattered the great obscurity, from then on, clarity and murkiness were divided."
"All creatures relied on the heavens, all things were created to be good."
"If you wish to know the secrets of creation, you must read The Journey to the West."
-----
Just as Su Ye finished reciting the opening poem of Journey to the West, there was a sudden pfft! sound. Two streams of lava—one thin, one thick—shot out from Surtur's body, one in front, one behind.
"Whoa! Can you be any more indecent?!"
Luckily, Su Ye reacted quickly and dodged away. Otherwise, he would have been sprayed all over.
"So, the Fire Giant King, when he pees and poops, it's all lava?! What the hell do you eat? It's completely undigested!"
Opposite him, Surtur finally experienced what it truly meant to be 'better off dead.'
The unbearable pain ravaged his mind, making his entire body tremble like a leaf in the wind. And now, this sudden loss of control had completely drained away the last traces of his dignity as a king.
From this day forward, his subordinates would no longer see him as the all-powerful king. Instead, they would remember him as the pitiful fool who was restrained in place, lost control of his bodily functions, and disgraced himself in front of everyone.
"It's over..." Surtur's heart turned to ash. This public humiliation was even worse than death.
"So, can we have a proper talk now?"
Su Ye spoke again.
This time, Surtur neither refused nor cursed.