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Upon reaching Knowhere, everyone relaxed considerably.
This was the Tivan Group's territory, and it was little-known; the Nova Corps from Xandar wouldn't come here.
Ronan and Yondu wouldn't find this place anytime soon either.
The Guardians of the Galaxy finally had a place where they could truly relax and rest.
Gamora found a quiet spot to sit, and Star-Lord followed her, trying to Wahhh her.
Rocket Raccoon, Groot, and Drax went to a nearby casino, saying they wanted to have some fun; they also invited Kevin, but Kevin had no money in his pocket and didn't like gambling, so he declined their offer and started wandering around Knowhere.
'… …￥#%&, ￥#&#%…'
"?"
While wandering, Kevin seemed to hear something whispering in his ear.
He couldn't hear it clearly, but his intuition told him it was about him.
"Who?"
Stopping, Kevin stood in the middle of the street, looking left and right.
People came and went all around, different species walking past him; some ignored him, while others gave him strange looks.
But no one seemed to be talking to Kevin.
The words he had heard, which he couldn't understand, seemed to be just Kevin's auditory hallucination.
"An illusion…?"
Although Kevin always felt that when he said "Is it an illusion?" or similar words, it definitely wouldn't be an illusion.
But Kevin truly didn't perceive anything strange, nor did he detect any danger.
So, in the end, he could only believe it was Kevin's own illusion.
After all, there were so many people here, and everyone was talking; it wasn't impossible for one of them to mention a word similar to the name 'Kevin'.
Although… the words Kevin heard just now didn't seem to mention Kevin's name…
Shaking his head, Kevin, unable to discover anything, continued to wander, enjoying the cyberpunk-style Knowhere.
In fact, putting aside the alien planets and aliens, the style here really had a strong cyberpunk feel, or perhaps cyber-wasteland would be a more fitting description.
There were neon signs everywhere with unknown writing, flying vehicles constantly shuttling, and many aliens who had modified their limbs into machinery.
There was no sense of high technology at all.
However, considering that the Marvel World was originally adapted from very old comics, Kevin wasn't too surprised.
The only thing he found strange was one thing.
"I can understand the spoken language, but I can't understand alien writing."
Since the very beginning of his transmigration, Kevin had been able to understand all languages and communicate freely with anyone.
Kevin originally thought that because this was the Marvel Universe, and everyone in the entire universe spoke the same common language, 'English,' that was why he could hear and speak it.
But later, through Star-Lord, Kevin learned that most aliens had multi-functional language devices implanted in their throats and ears.
They could naturally understand others' languages and naturally speak the languages of other races.
So it wasn't that Kevin could understand their words, but rather that with this high technology, everyone could understand what Kevin said and could communicate with Kevin.
Incidentally, Kevin had also asked Rocket Raccoon to get him two of these multi-functional language implants.
Kevin planned to implant one into his own body, and the other Kevin intended to take back to the The Boys world for research, to extract the technology he wanted from it, and to use these technologies as the future strategic foundation of Vought.
However, while communication was not a problem, written language could not be understood through this method.
Kevin was now a complete 'illiterate' in the universe, which fit his identity as a penniless wanderer quite well.
After wandering around Knowhere for a while, Kevin felt it was time to head back.
As soon as he returned to the casino, he saw people fighting.
The fighters were Kevin's acquaintances: Groot and Drax.
Pushing through the crowd, Kevin watched the two fight along with others.
Because this was a casino, most of the people there were outlaws; they wouldn't care about the rules here, only about whether they were enjoying themselves or not.
So when people fought, not only did no one try to stop them, but they even cheered loudly with excitement.
It made the place feel like an underground bare-knuckle boxing match.
Shouts like 'Kill him!', 'Just like that!', 'Stick your branch up his ass!' came one after another.
Just as the situation was about to escalate, at the crucial moment, Peter Quill and Gamora came to the rescue; they pulled Groot and Drax apart respectively, and stopped Rocket Raccoon, who was about to attack Drax.
With Star-Lord mediating, the agitated individuals finally calmed down.
Kevin listened from the side and understood why Rocket Raccoon and Groot had started fighting Drax.
They had all drunk a lot of alcohol, both Rocket Raccoon and Drax.
In his excitement, Drax called Rocket Raccoon a 'little monster' as usual.
Then, Rocket Raccoon, whose head was clouded by alcohol, exploded.
He felt that Drax was looking down on him, looking down on him, this 'monster' who had been experimented on and modified.
What happened next was what everyone saw: Rocket Raccoon and Groot battling Drax.
It was fortunate that Star-Lord appeared in time to stop Rocket Raccoon, otherwise, if Rocket Raccoon had opened fire, things would have truly become uncontrollable.
"I can't believe it, old man, you just stood there and watched?!"
After mediating the fight, Star-Lord turned around and saw Kevin standing in the crowd, watching the show, and couldn't help but ask loudly.
Kevin spread his hands:
"I just arrived, and it's good to let them vent; otherwise, keeping things bottled up will cause problems later."
"Don't think that just because you say high-sounding words, you can cover up the fact that you stood there and watched the show!"
Star-Lord didn't believe Kevin's nonsense.
He had known Kevin for some time and had come to realize that Kevin was just a lazy bum who liked to lie flat when he had nothing to do.
Saying things like letting Rocket Raccoon and them vent was all fake; he simply found it troublesome and didn't want to deal with it.
During this quarrel, Drax left the team.
Drax had come for Ronan in the first place; he followed Gamora hoping for a chance to kill Ronan.
But when he arrived here, not only did he not see Ronan, but he was almost killed by Groot and Rocket Raccoon.
He felt there was no point in staying here anymore, so he left the team.
No one tried to persuade him; after all, Drax was not on the same path as the others, and just as they were causing a commotion, the Collector finally finished his own affairs.
His female servant appeared before them and said:
"Miss Gamora, my master has instructed me to bring you over; please follow me."
The red-skinned servant respectfully spoke and walked ahead, leading the way for everyone.
… … …
Under the guidance of the red-skinned servant, everyone finally met the buyer of the cosmic orb.
The helmsman of the Tivan Group, the most famous Collector in the universe, Taneleer Tivan.
Tivan immediately displayed his etiquette to Gamora.
He was well aware of Gamora's identity; even though Gamora seemed to have thoughts of leaving Thanos now, Tivan knew very well that until Thanos publicly broke ties with Gamora, Gamora was still Thanos's favorite daughter.
With Thanos standing behind Gamora, Tivan had no choice but to be respectful to Gamora.
But only to Gamora; facing the others Gamora brought, Tivan showed little interest.
He was only slightly interested in Groot's body.
However, putting aside minor matters, having finally met Tivan, everyone listened to him talk about the origin of the Infinity Stones, which they found boring, while waiting for Tivan to open the cosmic orb.
Kevin watched the cosmic orb from the side, and upon seeing the layer upon layer of onion-like locks inside the cosmic orb, he finally understood why he couldn't open it.
With so many locks on such a small object, let alone Kevin, even if Hulk came, it would probably be very difficult to pry it open.
In the movie, Ronan easily pried it open, most likely because Gamora hadn't re-locked it when she took the orb, merely closing it.
After opening the lock, the Guardians finally asked about the matter they cared about most: their payment for this trip.
They had traveled halfway across the galaxy, even risking being wanted by the Nova Corps, all for this four billion reward.
If Tivan didn't pay, putting Star-Lord aside for a moment, Rocket Raccoon would definitely turn the place upside down.
"Yes, the payment, I'll give it to you now. How would you like to be paid?"
Seeing that everyone was uninterested in what he was saying, Tivan asked rather boredly and walked towards his workbench, preparing to pay everyone.
Rocket Raccoon said without hesitation:
"Cash, of course!"
"That's a huge amount of cash; I think a card would be more… Karina!!"
Tivan was talking to Rocket Raccoon while reaching for the payment for everyone.
But when he looked up, he saw the red-skinned servant, Karina, approaching the power stone suspended in the center of the already opened cosmic orb.
The purple power stone emitted an alluring light; the red-skinned servant looked at it, her eyes filled with hatred and determination.
Hearing Tivan's reprimand, Karina suddenly looked up and roared at Tivan:
"I! Don't want to be your slave anymore!!!"
"No!!!"
Karina disregarded Tivan's command and unhesitatingly reached out for the power stone.
The purple power stone was grasped in her palm, and purple veins extended from her skin towards her head.
A colossal amount of energy instantly poured into Karina's body; unable to bear such immense energy, Karina let out a painful and sharp wail:
"Ah ah ah ah!!!!!"
Her body was fragile and couldn't withstand such a massive influx of power; the escaping energy passed through Karina's skin and flew in all directions.
The purple energy formed powerful energy blasts, indiscriminately destroying everything around her!
"Damn it!!"
Star-Lord reacted immediately, quickly tackling Gamora to the ground to avoid the wildly flying purple energy blasts.
Groot also reacted quickly, protecting Rocket Raccoon beside him.
Tivan was blasted away by the purple energy; his collection room was ravaged by the violent power, glass shattered, and countless collectibles fell from their places.
"Ah ah ah ah!!!"
The red-skinned servant was still screaming; eventually, she could no longer bear the immense power, and her body suddenly exploded, the violent purple energy instantly engulfing the entire room!
Boom!!!
The purple energy swallowed everything in the Collector's room and surged out of it; from a distance, it looked like a splendid and beautiful purple firework had been set off here.
It was just that this 'firework' was a bit large.
The explosion continued for a while before finally stopping.
When the explosion ceased, the servant's figure was gone; Groot, holding Rocket Raccoon, had already escaped the room, and Star-Lord and Gamora cautiously peeked out from their hiding place, then witnessed a scene that made their eyes pop out:
"Kevin! What are you doing?! No!!!"
In their line of sight, Kevin was approaching the power stone suspended in the middle of the orb, step by step, and attempting to touch it.
Seeing this, Star-Lord couldn't help but shout loudly, running towards the power stone, wanting to stop Kevin.
But Kevin, who had been waiting for this moment, how could he listen to Star-Lord?
Kevin, who had already reached the power stone, turned his head and said to Star-Lord, who was running towards him:
"Hide well; I won't be able to control myself next."
As his words fell, his hand also rested on the power stone.
In an instant, violent purple energy surged madly into his body.
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