Shiller looked at the skewers on the grill with some confusion. He hadn't grilled American-style skewers like this before, so he was pondering a question now: how to cook the bell peppers without overcooking the meat, which seemed quite difficult.
The lean beef was almost half-cooked as soon as it was placed on the grill, while the bell peppers were not done yet. Although raw bell peppers can be eaten, Shiller remembered that the American BBQ skewers he had before did not have raw bell peppers. They were not only very soft and mushy when cooked, but the edges were also slightly charred, clearly having been grilled.
Seeing that the beef was about to be overcooked, Shiller hesitated on whether to take them off. Quicksilver's figure flashed past and then returned, standing beside Shiller and saying, "Aren't you going to take them off, sir?"
"The bell peppers don't seem to be done yet."
"Those aren't grilled on the stove," Quicksilver said, "You grill them with a blowtorch after taking them off."
"Alright." Shiller directly took the skewers off, wondering why the bell peppers he had eaten always had slightly charred edges. Normally, a charcoal grill wouldn't achieve that, though he hadn't realized what exactly was used.
"Many chefs take the skewers off and then grill them on a gas stove," Quicksilver explained, "That way, the meat gets a better sheen, and the vegetables soften. But I always feel that way, they'll taste like gas, so I generally use a blowtorch."
After saying that, he zipped away and then returned with a blowtorch, handing it to Shiller, then disappeared again. Shiller glanced back to see him giving instructions all around the venue.
As Shiller flipped through his memory, he realized that Wanda and Pietro were indeed work champions. They've done almost every job, especially in restaurants, working from the front to the back kitchen. They've experienced everything from grilling to washing dishes.
Although Wanda and Pietro couldn't really be considered Americans, they indeed represented a typical American youth archetype. Most come from small towns but have no land, with their whole family in a nomadic state, finding temporary work wherever they can and then renting a place in an RV park or container park to make ends meet.
Strangely enough, the percentage of diligent American youths of this sort is much higher than in European countries like England. Many restaurant waiters, cashiers, or kitchen helpers start taking odd jobs at fourteen or fifteen and continue living like that into middle age. Although never wealthy, they aren't idle troublemakers either.
On the contrary, many high-welfare countries nurture a terrifying group of wild teens who speed through city streets, wrecking every trash bin and setting fire to every heap of fallen leaves, causing all sorts of trouble.
Perhaps it's because most of these American youths are still striving just to fill their bellies. The state won't support them if they don't work. Conversely, in high-welfare regions, many youths experience only spiritual emptiness without any survival worries, naturally wandering the streets doing nothing good.
While thinking, Shiller was grilling the bell peppers with a blowtorch. Just as he was about to finish the last skewer, the torch suddenly stopped firing. He shook it, and suddenly a fiery dragon shot out, scorching the sandy ground black. Loki laughed brightly beside him.
Shiller waved at Loki.
Loki flashed behind him in an instant, and Shiller turned around. Loki gave him an innocent smile, and Shiller smiled back.
Then he pressed Loki's head onto the grill.
"Aaaahhhh!!!"
Of course, a Frost Giant wouldn't actually get burned by a grill, but that didn't mean they couldn't feel the heat, otherwise, he wouldn't have nearly been scalded by the turkey just now.
Loki struggled free, shaking off Shiller's hand: "What are you doing!"
"You're not afraid of fire." Shiller seemed somewhat disappointed. In his memory, Loki was always somewhat afraid of fire, resolutely avoiding the kitchen, let alone attending a bonfire party.
So, upon seeing this Loki for the first time, Shiller knew he wasn't the Loki from the Central Universe; he likely was from the Fusion Universe. Even saying Earth 616's Loki was an anti-hero was a stretch; he mostly played the Evil God, causing massive mayhem every time, who knows how many times he screwed over his brother.
Yet, Thor was completely smitten by him, simply because Thor once lost control and killed Loki. This time, Loki held it over him for life, later even defying the entire Avengers' opposition to bring back a young Loki. The outcome of opposing the world for Loki was that it wasn't long before the Flame Giant Surtur was at his doorstep.
Loki used magic to conjure water to wash his face, checking himself with a mirror, shouting at Shiller: "I almost got disfigured!"
"Too bad." Shiller continued focusing on his skewer.
Loki vigorously rubbed his face, looked Shiller up and down, and slightly raised his chin asking, "Are you a psychiatrist?"
"I'm not." Shiller shook his head, "But I can still tell that your brother becoming the True God of the Nine Major Kingdoms left you quite distraught."
Shiller looked up at him and said, "The Nine Major Kingdoms should have been your shared home, or rather, you've always thought of it as your playground. Even if he temporarily has the upper hand, you could always gain some advantage but now, he personally ended it all. Omniscient and omnipotent means a complete victory, leaving no room for your resistance."
"You don't understand why this happened, why he made this choice, why he completely ignored your feelings. More frightening is, you realize this might not be a change, just his more straightforward actions revealed the truth to you—it's always been him indulging you."
"Your supposed rivalry and acquired advantages might have just been him placating you. After gaining real power, he didn't want to keep pretending anymore, so now you're really out of options."
"You are losing control of your emotions because you are afraid. You don't know if he really intends to judge you. You think he will, because you clearly know what you've done. You know how his friends see you, and you know you don't have much confidence that you won't waver in front of him."
"You keep asking him to let you out, not so much because you want to run, but because you want to test if he will still indulge you like before. Now it seems the situation is not very promising, so you've come here, looking for another Thor to save you."
"But the other Thor doesn't seem to be very interested in this matter either, and you don't know what to do. If you were a bit more polite, I could offer some suggestions, but for now, you'd better stay away from this oven; otherwise, you might really get disfigured."
Loki's lips moved a bit: "I apologize to you, I didn't mean to hurt you, just joking."
"I know, otherwise I wouldn't have just pressed you on the grill." Shiller took the cooked skewers, cut a small piece with a knife, and tasted it; the doneness was just right.
"So you..." Loki paused, "We can make a deal. What do you want? Wealth? Power? Or fame?"
"None of these can you give me." Shiller looked at him and said, "The counterfeits created using magic are just a flash, and any noise made on Earth could make your brother find you more quickly."
Loki firmly pressed his lips together.
The sports car stopped by the beach, Dick and Raven got out, coincidentally meeting Bruce and Selina, who had also parked their car.
"Oh, you guys are here too." Dick greeted them.
Bruce glanced at their swimsuits and then said, "How's the sea? We're planning to swim a few laps too."
"Go ahead," Selina pushed him away, "I don't like swimming. It's rare Aisha went to the Richards couple's place, I want to enjoy a few drinks."
Bruce shook his head somewhat helplessly; Selina finally got used to the upper-class society, but the only thing she hasn't adapted to is swimming. The pool is slightly better, but sea swimming is absolutely a no-go.
At the seaside, the air became a bit humid; wearing long clothes and trousers felt uncomfortable, so Selina simply went to the changing room beside to switch to swimwear. But she found the wind a bit strong, so she donned a shawl over it and went to sit at the bar counter. As soon as she sat down, she saw a gloomy figure standing under the beach umbrella at the bar, gazing at the sea.
"Isn't that Loki?" Selina muttered to herself, "What is he doing here?"
Selina walked over with her wine glass: "Hey."
Loki turned around but he didn't recognize Selina, scanned her up and down and said, "Do I know you, miss?"
"You don't know me, but I know you, what are you doing standing here? Why not go grill with your brother?"
"That's not my brother. We are not from the same universe."
"Seems you're not in a good mood," Selina said, "Want a drink?"
Loki looked at Selina; rationally speaking, this kind of invitation carried somewhat of a flirtatious meaning, but Loki didn't pick up on this from Selina's words, yet Selina seemed to have a certain motive for him.
"Are you an agent?" Loki asked, "Here to gather information?"
"What agent would gather information on the Asgard Royal Court?" Selina retorted, "Get hold of a map of the Fairy Palace route, then sneak in and steal your crown?"
Loki couldn't help laughing, and followed Selina to the bar, randomly ordering a drink.
"If that Thor isn't your brother, then you must have argued with your brother." Selina speculated.
"Then guess why we argued?" Loki took a sip of his drink and said.
"That's not important, what's important is that you can still appear in front of me now, instead of being locked up somewhere or secretly executed." Selina bluntly said, "This is the first time I've seen non-biological brothers from families with old grudges, once opposing each other to the death, one taking the throne and the other still being so lively. This is simply a miracle."
Loki was somewhat at a loss for words; he fell silent because he knew the feud between him and Thor was far deeper than Selina could see, and thus was even more of a miracle.
"You think he..."
"You have to worry about him settling scores with you," Selina put down her glass, showing a sneaky smile when Loki wasn't looking; the first step in pitching is creating anxiety, "Forgive my bluntness, I really don't see any reason for him to let you go. You haven't even apologized to him or conceded. I guess you secretly ran away, right? This is completely adding fuel to fire, sir."