There's a popular anecdote about Sif.
It's said that during the filming of Thor: Ragnarok, Sif's actress had scheduling conflicts and thus was absent from the plot.
As a result, the Warriors Three were unceremoniously killed off in Ragnarok, but Sif escaped this fate and survived into Thor: Love and Thunder. A blessing in disguise?
Of course, in this context, characters are separate from their actors.
The Sif standing before Su Ye wasn't subject to scheduling conflicts, and her appearance and physique were more aligned with popular standards of beauty.
Standing over 175 cm tall, with a toned physique and an air of valor, the armored warrior Sif was both fierce and striking. Among the Great Wall Defenders, perhaps only Sharon could match her in this regard.
However, upon seeing Su Ye, Sif's expression wasn't particularly friendly.
Previously, the two of them had shared an unpleasant encounter on Earth.
Not the kind involving lines like, "What do you want from me?" "Where did I go wrong?" or "You big dummy!"
Rather, it was back when New York was still a city and not a ruin, and Thor was a prisoner, not the God of Thunder. Sif and the Warriors Three had tried to break him out of captivity.
Su Ye had intervened, easily overpowering the Warriors Three and even sparring with Sif, nearly thrusting his sword at her throat in the end.
Though this event ultimately helped Thor reclaim his title as the God of Thunder, restoring him to his invincible warrior status.
However, in the hearts of Sif and the Warriors Three, the humiliation they endured was not easily forgotten.
Being beaten four-on-one by an Earthling didn't sit well with them.
So upon seeing Su Ye, Sif naturally wouldn't give him a friendly look. Still, she wouldn't slack off in her duties.
"Jotunheim was previously damaged by Loki using Gungnir. We're unsure of its current state, so you must be very careful!"
Before setting out, Sif spoke sternly, handling matters professionally.
With that, she mounted a warhorse and rode off toward the Bifröst bridgehead, where Heimdall was already waiting.
Behind her, the Great Wall Defenders boarded the Quinjet, following her slowly toward the bridgehead.
Sif glanced back and let out a mocking chuckle.
Asgardian warriors always led the charge. Against straightforward foes, they would dismount and battle, relying on their valor and strength. Hiding inside an iron shell hardly made one a hero.
Soon, the Bifröst activated, sending a rainbow beam shooting into space. Moments later, Sif and the Quinjet landed on the icy snowfields of Jotunheim.
The Bifröst made quite a commotion, and as soon as they landed, blue, hideous heads began to pop up in the distance.
Beneath those heads were towering bodies clad in primitive loincloths. Their crimson eyes glared in this direction.
The Quinjet was an unfamiliar sight to them, but Sif's Asgardian warrior attire was all too recognizable.
"The Asgardians are here!"
"The Asgardians who killed King Laufey are here!"
"The Asgardians who nearly destroyed our world and killed countless of our kin are here!"
After a brief exchange, the Frost Giants collectively descended into madness.
To them, the Asgardians were the enemies who had slain their king and kin and nearly destroyed their world. There was no need for words—only action.
"Kill them, avenge King Laufey!"
"Kill them, avenge our kin!"
"Asgardian pigs, die!"
In an instant, the landscape was filled with charging Frost Giants.
Meanwhile, the Quinjet's doors opened, and the Great Wall Defenders disembarked, preparing to assess the situation.
Sif, gazing ahead with a tense expression, said, "These Frost Giants are not only strong but also highly skilled in ice magic. They can launch powerful ranged attacks, so be cautious!"
As she spoke, the fastest Frost Giants had entered within a hundred meters, forming long spears of ice in their hands, readying their attack from afar.
"It's an ice spear barrage! Those spears can easily pierce through steel—get ready to defend!"
Sif dismounted and raised her shield over her head.
The shield was barely larger than her face—adequate for close combat but offering limited protection against ranged projectiles. It was more for psychological comfort. Even Captain America wouldn't dare face a barrage with such a shield.
But this was all Sif could do.
"Everyone, fall back behind the ship and prepare for the first wave of ice spears!"
Sif shouted while bracing her shield, only to find that the Great Wall Defenders behind her were surprisingly relaxed, like casual hikers. They were even pointing at the distant Frost Giants and chatting.
"That tall one—could he be the tribe's leader?"
"The one dressed more heavily might be part of their think tank."
"There's quite a few of them. This tribe looks sizable. I wonder if they've developed any sort of national structure."
"Their ice spear formation looks impressive, but too bad—it's no longer the era of cold weapons."
They chatted and laughed, reminiscent of early European explorers arriving in the Americas and seeing Native Americans armed with primitive weapons and wearing animal skins adorned with feathers.
Their ancestors had once conquered and nearly exterminated the Native Americans in the Americas.
Today, on Jotunheim, they were about to repeat the deeds of their ancestors.
Most of the Great Wall Defenders were American heroes, and their thoughts and actions weren't much different from those of their forebears who once invaded the Americas.
Now, they could overlook their ancestors' actions while pointing fingers at others. Future generations would likely do the same—forgetting about the Frost Giants they were about to eliminate and enjoying the spoils of conquest.
Professor Ai once spoke of a "wrong view meant for criticism": invasion is a crime in the present but a merit for future generations.
Westerners, and even some Easterners, were reaping the benefits of past invasions.
So, the Avengers could easily replicate their ancestors' "brilliant" strategies in the universe.
But the team before them wasn't called the Avengers; they were the Great Wall Defenders.
The Great Wall Defenders were defined by their mission to protect. Their principles excluded invasion and colonization.
Those who harm us will be punished, no matter how far they are.
However, for civilizations that haven't engaged in conflict with them, they were accommodating, even open to any form of cooperation for mutual benefit and shared development.
Take the Frost Giants before them: their hatred was directed at the Asgardians, not Earthlings.
So, before the Frost Giants could launch their ice spears, Su Ye raised his index and middle fingers, lightly tapping his temple.
Immediately, the Frost Giants holding their spears froze in place, their eyes glazing over as they stared blankly ahead.
Su Ye's consciousness then linked with the immobilized Frost Giants.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Su Ye—you can call me Yesu. Now, I have a question for you."
Through telepathy, Su Ye asked gently, but the Frost Giants erupted in confusion.
"Who are you?"
"What are you using to control us? Is it magic?"
"You Asgardian accomplice, what exactly are you planning?"
In response to their questions, Su Ye let out a faint hum, causing the Frost Giants to erupt in groans of pain.
"My head! Stop, stop it!"
Headaches are no small matter—so intense that even the Monkey King couldn't endure, let alone these Frost Giants, who immediately fell to the ground, writhing in pain.
Su Ye had no intention of killing. After this minor demonstration, he withdrew the psychic pressure and spoke calmly.
"Can someone tell me—do Frost Giants have females? Why is it that, no matter how much I've searched, I haven't found any pictures or even comic references to female Frost Giants?"
This was a question Su Ye had been curious about even before his time in this world, but he never found an answer. All he knew was that Loki's father was Laufey, but his mother was never mentioned.
In Norse mythology, however, Laufey was Loki's mother.
Honestly, Su Ye was curious to see what female Frost Giants looked like. After all, the males only wore loincloths—so would the females…
Ahem, purely academic curiosity, of course.
"..."
The Frost Giants' collective consciousness fell silent. After a moment, one of them, who seemed to be Laufey's successor, spoke up.
"Of course, we have females. Where do you think our children come from? You don't see them simply because they remain unseen to you."
Su Ye immediately delivered a psychic jolt to the speaker's mind, reminding him that spouting nonsense would earn society's harshest reprimand and punishment.
"Ah! Young one, you're not playing fair!" the Frost Giant shouted as he writhed on the ground.
"Your name is Farbauti, correct? The new king of the Frost Giants?" Su Ye remarked calmly after briefly skimming through the Frost Giant's memories and withdrawing the psychic pressure.
"Let's skip the nonsense. I'm Yesu from Earth. I'm here to help and befriend you, not to serve as Asgard's accomplice."
"Heh," Farbauti sneered as he shakily sat up, his fierce expression unyielding.
"Earth, or Midgard, right? Friends? When we visited Earth thousands of years ago, we said the same thing. But everyone knows that between civilizations, there are no friends, no cooperation—only invasion, colonization, and enslavement."
Though Frost Giants appeared rugged and barbaric, disliking clothing, they were far from unintelligent. Their civilization had existed for tens of thousands of years, predating human history.
Their harsh living conditions merely made them seem like savages.
In truth, based on Su Ye's assessment of Farbauti, the latter's intellect was far from lacking.
However, their mindset mirrored that of many bandit-like cultures in harsh environments: they believed equality between civilizations was impossible.
So when their hundreds of warriors were instantly immobilized by telepathy, and the other side hypocritically spoke of friendship, Farbauti proudly declared their millennia-old creed:
"If you wish to invade and enslave us, it won't happen. Giants shall never be slaves!"
With Farbauti's mental shout, the distant mountains suddenly erupted, and a massive blue beast emerged.
The creature, over a hundred meters long, had a body resembling a seal's, muscular limbs with sharp claws, and powerful, razor-sharp teeth.
It was clear at a glance that this beast was a high-tier weapon of war, capable of destroying an entire battalion on its own.
This was Farbauti's trump card: the Frost Beast, meant to launch an assault while the Frost Giants were incapacitated.
When Thor had previously led a mission here, they'd been driven off in panic by this very beast.
Now, without Thor among their ranks, how could this group of nobodies possibly fend off the Frost Beast?
Would they rely on sheer stubbornness?
Farbauti felt like laughing, unaware that his thoughts had already been laid bare by Su Ye's telepathy.
"'Never slaves,' huh? And you have a trump card? Maybe it's time you learned that times have changed," Su Ye said with a smirk.
With a faint hum, the Quinjet hovering behind Su Ye adjusted its direction. From its underside extended a massive cannon barrel glowing with the same blue energy as an arc reactor.
This was the upgraded Quinjet's sole weapon: an energy cannon powered by a dedicated mini arc reactor.
Initially, someone suggested naming the cannon "Damage Cannon," but Su Ye vetoed it. "Damage Cannon" sounded too much like "Shanghai Cannon," which could be misconstrued as a reference to someone, so it wasn't necessary.
Instead, they went with something simpler and more straightforward: "Humanity Cannon."
"High energy signature detected ahead. Humanity Cannon: Level One prep, Level Two prep, Level Three—fire!"
A deafening hum resounded as a massive blue energy beam shot out, heading straight for the charging Frost Beast.
The Frost Beast seemed to sense the cannon's power. Instead of dodging, it opened its jaws and roared as if trying to scare the beam away.
But the blue beam plunged straight into the Frost Beast's open mouth, passing through without resistance.
Whoosh!
The beam disappeared into the distant mountains, obliterating a peak the size of Asgard's royal palace.
The Frost Giants were stunned as they watched the lifeless Frost Beast collapse to the ground.
"What kind of attack is that? How is it so powerful?"
"It feels infinitely more powerful than our ancestral relic, the Casket of Ancient Winters!"
"If that attack had hit us instead, what would've happened?"
Beside Su Ye, Sif had no idea about his telepathic exchange with the Frost Giants. However, the power of the Humanity Cannon had genuinely shocked her.
She even began to regret her earlier arrogance. Her gaze toward Su Ye was no longer cold, and her legs trembled uncontrollably, barely able to stay steady.
A terrifying scene involuntarily played out in her mind.
If Su Ye ever turned that devastating cannon on her, could she possibly withstand it?
The thought sent chills down her spine...