Chapter 232: Thor Odinson (3)
Chapter 232: Thor Odinson (3)
After finishing his meal, Thor didn't have much time to wander around. He had to continue looking for work, because he knew that if he couldn't pay the rent, Loki would be very happy to throw him and his luggage out, and without his godly powers and weapons, he wouldn't stand a chance against Loki.
Furthermore, Thor felt that finding a job to earn money to pay the rent was faster than fighting with his brother.
Although SHIELD had helped Thor obtain a legal identity, he had no education or credentials, so he could only rely on knocking on doors to find work. The only skills he had were fixing cars and moving things.
More formal car repair shops and warehouses also required work experience, and Thor still didn't have any work experience to prove himself. So he could only look for work in the Hell's Kitchen and Manhattan outskirts.
He still wanted to find a job fixing cars, but the area where the car repair shops were clustered was not far from where he used to work, so Thor wandered around and ended up back in that area.
Originally, he wanted to try his luck in a few car repair shops at the end of the street, but when he was about to walk in, he noticed someone lying next to a shed where miscellaneous items were piled up.
"Old White! What's wrong with you?!" Thor hurried over and found that the person lying next to the pile of junk was the old man who had advised him earlier that day.
After helping him up, Thor asked, "What happened to you? How did you end up here?"
"I didn't collapse here, I..." The old man tilted his head and a look of fear and resentment appeared on his wrinkled face. He said, "...after you left, that bastard took out his anger on me. He got two gang members to beat me up and threw me here."
He coughed a few times, struggling to catch his breath. Thor was about to take out his phone to call for an ambulance, but the old man stopped him, saying, "No...don't call an ambulance..."After hesitating for a moment, Thor put his phone away. The old man coughed twice more and said, "I'm fine."
Thor helped him up and asked, "What happened to you? How did you end up here?"
"I didn't collapse here, I..." The old man tilted his head and a look of fear and resentment appeared on his wrinkled face. He said, "...after you left, that bastard took out his anger on me. He got two gang members to beat me up and threw me here."
He coughed a few times, struggling to catch his breath. Thor was about to take out his phone to call for an ambulance, but the old man stopped him, saying, "No...don't call an ambulance..."
After hesitating for a moment, Thor put his phone away. The old man coughed twice more and said, "I'm fine."
"Fortunately, my grandson is very promising," said Mr. White. "His grades are excellent, and his teacher said he could get into New York University..."
"But...we can't even afford his living expenses."
Mr. White closed his eyes, and Thor had never seen such a sad expression on anyone before.
"You must have ended up here because of some unexpected events, right? I can tell..." Mr. White's grip tightened as he said, "You must have received a good education, or perhaps you retired from the military?"
"I can tell you're different from us. You still have courage, or rather, strength, but we..."
"Enough of that. Let me take you to the hospital first." Thor crouched down and helped Mr. White up. Just then, voices could be heard from the intersection: "Hurry up and check on that old man. Don't let him die here. If he's about to die, drag him over to Hell's Kitchen. We don't have time to deal with a corpse."
Thor turned around and saw several people at the intersection, including the owner of the auto repair shop. When the owner saw Thor, he widened his eyes and said, "Damn it, you dare to come here again?!"
"That's him! He hit me and stole my money! Tell your boss that if you teach him a lesson, I'll double your reward!"
Thor had no interest in questioning the owner's lies, because three gang members were already approaching him from behind.
These three people weren't as tall or strong as Thor, but the problem was that two of them were holding guns.
These gang members weren't like the auto repair shop owner. They actually knew how to use guns, how to hold them steady, and even if Thor managed to take one gun unexpectedly, he wouldn't be able to deal with the other.
But Thor had no choice. He turned around and stood in front of White. As one gang member raised his gun, Thor lunged forward and successfully knocked him down. He rolled in place, avoiding the flash of the other gun.
But before he could pick up the dropped gun, there was a gunshot. A spray of blood splattered out, and Thor turned to see Mr. White writhing in a pool of blood. He couldn't even scream. On the other side, the auto repair shop owner was holding a gun and saying, "Looks like my shooting skills haven't deteriorated much..."
Thor's blood boiled instantly. His arms trembled as he rushed forward and picked up the gun. He had never really used human firearms before, and as he fumbled for the position of the bullets, there was another gunshot. Thor felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder.
"Ugh..." Thor groaned softly. Fortunately, he was experienced and the pain didn't distract his attention. He staggered toward the side of the junk pile to avoid another bullet.
Just then, a whistling sound cut through the air, followed by the sound of heavy blows. When Thor stuck his head out again, he saw a figure holding a cane on the street.
"Matt!" Thor shouted. "Over here! Someone's been shot..."
"I don't need you to tell me. I can smell it." Matt's calm voice rang out. He walked over to Thor, only to discover that he was pointing to someone else. Mr. White had been shot in the leg. Matt walked over, half-kneeling down, and touched his chest. "Call an ambulance."
"But..." Thor covered his shoulder and said with difficulty, "He doesn't have the money to pay for the ambulance."
"Is now the time to talk about this?" Matt looked at Thor and said, "You need to go to the hospital too, quickly make a phone call."
When the ambulance arrived, the female nurse looked at Thor and said, "Why is it you again? And this..."
Matt interrupted her, saying, "Don't say so much, there are two gunshot victims here, quickly move them onto the ambulance."
On the ambulance, Thor still had the mood to chat with the female nurse. He asked, "What's your name?"
The nurse looked at Thor and thought about how he helped save people. She said, "My name is Jane, Jane Foster."
Thor grinned, but spoke fluently. Jane was surprised and asked, "You were shot in the shoulder, doesn't it hurt?"
"It hurts? It definitely hurts," Thor said, still speaking vigorously. He said, "Hmm...but it's not that bad compared to the injuries I've had before."
Jane was even more surprised and asked, "Injuries before? You're not...a retired special forces soldier, are you?"
Thor didn't answer. He knew it wasn't necessary to explain his background in detail, but Jane was curious. As a nurse for so long, she could naturally tell that Thor wasn't just showing off, he was truly tough.
When they heard that Thor was injured and in the hospital, several Asgardians who were stationed at SHIELD couldn't stay put and rushed to visit. To prevent them from causing trouble, Hill followed them.
When they saw Thor in the hospital, the bullet in his body had already been removed and he was lying in bed. Fandral looked at Thor's wound and said, "Fortunately it's not serious. The father of the gods didn't even leave you with the ability to regenerate, isn't he afraid of you getting injured?"
Thor shook his head and said, "Can you all help me go to the hospital room next door and see how a patient named White is doing?"
"White? Who's that?"
"He's...an old man, an unfortunate person." Thor swallowed his saliva, touched the wound on his body, and took a deep breath.
After the other three left, Hill sat down next to Thor's hospital bed and said, "You look a little disheartened, why? I don't think a little injury could turn Asgard's bravest warrior into this."
"...a little injury? Maybe it is. Compared to the injuries I received in Sagittarius, this is nothing." Thor half-closed his eyes and said, "But I am an Asgardian, and old White is just an ordinary human with no special abilities. He was also shot in the leg and should be in pain."
"Why did he get hurt? I don't know..." Thor said to himself, while Hill just listened quietly.
"He's not a general, not a soldier, he hasn't fought on the battlefield, and he hasn't committed any crimes, but he still has to suffer all this."
"The person who hurt him is his own kind. If anyone dared to do this in Asgard, I would definitely..."
Speaking of this, Thor closed his eyes and fell silent for a while. He said, "Why do humans have to be like this? I can't understand. Clearly their lifespan is already short, why do they have to spend time hurting their own kind?"
"Why did the owner of the repair shop do this? I don't understand either. His malice has no reason, he just crazily attacks everything around him. I've never seen this kind of person before..."
Sif poured Thor a glass of water and said, "The universe is so vast, I don't think it's strange for such people to exist."
Her voice was calm, like a solemn divine sound. After changing into casual clothes, the Valkyrie's fierce temperament was weakened a bit, replaced by the solemnity and sacredness common to the goddesses of Asgard.
"Are you disappointed?" Sif asked Thor. "Do you think Earthlings are not worth saving? Do you think even if you save them, they will still kill each other?"
Thor pursed his lips and didn't speak, but obviously he agreed with Sif's words. He had always been eager to regain his godly powers and weapons because he believed it was the glory of the Asgardians and that he needed to return to Asgard as soon as possible to fight and protect.
But now he began to doubt all of this. After being deprived of his godly powers and weapons, it seemed like he couldn't do anything. And the Earth, one of the nine realms he was eager to protect, these people laughed at each other's injuries every day.
It was as if everything he had done in the past had no meaning.
"Perhaps you haven't noticed, Thor, years of war have changed you," Sif looked at him, and Thor saw that there was some sentimentality in Sif's eyes.
"You always think about the result of killing enemies, victory, and honor. Of course, this is a question that a warrior should consider, but you are not just a warrior... you will also be the king of Asgard."
"As a monarch, what you need to see is not just the result, but also the cause of all this and the process that led to it. What you can rely on will not just be your powerful strength, but also..."
Sif pointed to her own temple, and Thor looked at her. When the two of them met each other's gaze, there was only a faint sound in the room.
As the night grew deeper, the clouds drifted across the sky, making the moonlight dim. After a long time, a sigh came from the hospital room. It sounded like a brave warrior in distress, but also like a young monarch missing something.