The sunset glow like a blood mist hung high in the sky.
A cold and cruel killing was taking place under the setting sun.
Blood gathered into streams, dyeing the ground red. A boot stepped on the sticky blood. In front of him was a group of women and children with terrified expressions and trembling.
The woman in the front was holding a little girl, and her arms seemed to have used up all her strength to hold the child.
"Clean them up," the boot's owner said nonchalantly, turning around. The soldiers around him used their weapons without hesitation. The screams abruptly stopped, and the world returned to a dead silence.
The girl and the woman fell on the blood-covered ground, staring at the sad and beautiful sunset in the sky with dead eyes.
…
"No!"
When the girl's eyes, which were still open after death, appeared in her dream again, a tall and strong man with dark red skin and mysterious patterns on it woke up from the bed with a roar.
He gasped for air, his chest rising and falling like a bellows. He covered his face with his hands in agony. He had that nightmare again. The nightmare that had caused him to lose the two people he loved.
"What are you crazy about?" A somewhat annoyed voice sounded from above the man. A man with colorful hair and clown-like features poked his head out from the bed above. The only eye in the center of his forehead stared at the man who woke up from a nightmare with dissatisfaction.
"Hmm, are you having a nightmare again, Drax? Did you dream about your wife and daughter being killed by the Kree again?" On the other side, a man with half of his body transformed into a machine and dark gray skin sat up from his bed and looked at Drax, whose face was still filled with pain.
A shrill alarm suddenly sounded.
A rough male voice violently output sound waves through the loudspeaker in the cabin.
"Hurry up, you bastards! Business is coming! A transport ship has appeared at the Srilan jump point! Let me see, it looks like it's from Xandar! We have to hurry."
"Looks like I can make a fortune." The one-eyed clown above Drax jumped down from above like an elastic ball, bounced high on the ground, and quickly armed himself.
"Let's go. Even though this isn't a Kree transport ship, who cares?" The dark gray half-mechanical man checked his mechanical body. After a bright energy wave flashed in his palm, he looked up and said to Drax who had just stepped his big feet on the ground.
Drax silently stuffed the two daggers and their sheaths into his pockets, then grabbed a box from under the bed, opened it, and effortlessly lifted the massive metal cannon inside. The cannon itself was nearly two-thirds the size of his body, yet in his hands, it felt strangely light.
"This weapon is awesome." The dark gray cyborg man looked at Drax's weapon with envy, then ran out quickly with him.
They were a band of space pirates—simply put, interstellar criminals who made their living by plundering the stars. They robbed, killed, and worked for hire. Their members came from all corners of the universe and held no affiliation. Most of them carried wanted warrants from at least several civilizations, and if caught, they could face life imprisonment.
There are roughly two types of pirates in the universe. One type is those that only operate in a certain area, with fixed territories and hunting grounds. These pirates usually have a large number of manpower and ships, and can compete with the warships of some civilizations. Some of the stronger ones can even win.
Another type is the nomadic pirates who have no fixed territory and roam around. Most of these pirates are solitary travelers with a small ship. They are few in number and their ship technology may not be very advanced. Most of them will join a large pirate group with their own ship when they can't make it.
Due to the prevalence of interstellar pirates, a new interstellar profession has emerged to combat their capture: the star hunter. These interstellar hunters, formed through the efforts or funding of various civilizations, often pursue these pirates like hyenas, capturing them and handing them over to the civilizations behind them in exchange for a bounty.
Drax wasn't originally a pirate, but a resident of a planet with a loving wife and a lovely daughter. He supported his family by working as a space guard. With his combat prowess and physical talent, he had no problem finding someone to recruit him and offer him a well-paid job. He was content with this simple life.
But the Kree ruined his life!
Ronan the Accuser, a war maniac from the Kree Empire, had been on an expedition against Xandar for decades. During this period, the Kree destroyed countless planets belonging to the Xandar civilization, and the planet where Drax's wife and daughter lived was just one of them.
He hated Ronan and the Kree Empire. The flames of anger and hatred burned constantly within his chest. Every night, he would wake from these nightmares, seeing those two pairs of eyes, still open in death, now cast into a gray gloom. They had once been so beautiful, captivating his heart and willing to risk everything to protect them.
Drax became a man of few words and joined the pirates because they were the best at finding the Kree and dared to attack their ships.
Finding the Kree and seeking revenge on Ronan the Accuser is Drax's only obsession now, and he's willing to risk everything for it.
The spreading rain of light splashed in the dark universe. Unexpectedly, the pirates including Drax quickly approached the transport ship. Then, after a complete invasion process, the pirates quickly took over the transport ship after suffering some casualties.
Then he erased his own traces. According to his experience, he dismantled most of the suspicious instruments on the transport ship. After throwing them away, he made several consecutive space jumps.
After completing this transaction, the pirates will remain quiet for a while, while inquiring about the downwind direction and news, and looking for familiar black market buyers to secretly sell the transported goods on the transport ship, or the entire transport ship, or its parts.
Anyway, in the next period of time, they will first find a remote planet away from the flight route and important space jump points to rest and hide, and then come out to do business after some time has passed.
Pirates would also gather periodically, but this was usually organized and had certain thresholds. Small-time gangs like theirs had no way of knowing the specific planets where the pirates would gather.
For example, now, Drax and his companions have come to a very primitive planet with lush vegetation and creatures, but no civilization.
In the dark night.
Drax sat alone on the edge of the mountain, away from his companions, gazing at the bright and beautiful, unpolluted starlight in the sky, his heart seething with rage. A voice with a strange emphasis suddenly rang in his ears.
"Ah, a target that looks very promising!"
"Who?" Drax looked around and picked up his knife.
"Who? Well, just a poor worker who has undergone arduous training, with his head filled with a bunch of incomprehensible financial knowledge, and is looking for performance all over the galaxy. I feel the anger and hatred in your heart that is so strong that it is condensed into substance, so I came." A dry face gradually emerged from the air and was exposed in front of Drax.
"Do you need the power of revenge?" A demon in a black uniform asked Drax seductively.
"Can you give me the power of revenge?" Drax strangely did not attack the demon. Although he did not know who the visitor was or what his purpose was, these were not important to Drax. What was important was the power of revenge that the other party talked about!
"Of course, as long as you sign a contract, you will be able to gain powerful strength, enough to allow you to kill gods!" The devil habitually took out the parchment.
"I don't need to kill gods, I just need to kill Ronan the Accuser."
Drax's words startled the demon who had handed over the parchment. Under Drax's gaze, the demon took out a ring and put it on his hand. After the ring lit up, he angrily said to the other side.
"Damn it! Can't you be more precise? Another wrong target! He doesn't even want to kill the gods! I haven't even had a single successful sale yet!"
"…"
After arguing with the other side, the demon threw a heavy mask that looked like it was made of wood at Drax. "Listen, this mask has the power to grant you revenge. You can use it to take revenge, but the price is that you must kill at least two gods for me! I don't care what gods they are!"
"Can this mask give me the power of revenge?" Drax ignored the demon's words. He only heard the other party say that this mask had the power to allow him revenge.
"Of course it's fury!"
"The stronger your anger is, the greater the power it can give you! This power is enough for you to complete your revenge. If your anger and hatred are strong enough, you can even summon the original body of this mask, a powerful artifact!" The demon introduced.
"How do I use it?" Drax asked.
"First, you sign a contract and obtain permission to use the mask! Yes, that's it, you just press your fingerprint or willingly shed a drop of blood. Within ten years, you must kill two gods. If you fail to do it, then this mask will devour your power and soul. This is the price you need to pay for using this mask." The devil watched Drax press his fingerprint on the parchment, and watched as the contract paper returned to the hell dimension under the burning of hellfire, and a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.