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Pfft!
The sound of the cabin pressure system indicated the door opening, and Darian slowly stepped out of the spaceship, with Skurge, his adjutant, following closely.
This time, he wasn't carrying a speaker but two unusually shaped firearms.
The spaceship's built-in amplification system worked much better than the speaker, so the speaker had lost its only use. He simply took two trophies he had chosen and acted as a minion.
With the ugly Skurge as a foil, Quill immediately recognized Darian as the one in charge here.
He quickly forced out what he believed to be his most friendly smile and shouted at Darian, "Brother, it's all a misunderstanding! I'm just a handsome guy passing by!"
"Hmph, full of lies. Strip him."
Darian waved his hand.
Before Quill could react, he was tackled to the ground by seven or eight burly Asgardian warriors. He was instantly covered by men, man on top of man, and within half a minute, he was stripped down to just his striped underwear.
He was filled with grief and indignation, clutching the last piece of fabric on his body, vowing to defend his chastity to the death.
Darian glanced at Quill's information.
NPC: Peter Quill
Codename: Star-Lord
Affection: -10
Evaluation: A divine body comparable to a mortal, whose biological father is a ball, a big idiot, enjoys awkward dancing, a father-killer, whose single punch triggered the plot of Avengers 4, the greatest contributor to Marvel's billions in box office revenue.
Another idiot!
Seeing this evaluation, Darian had a general impression of Quill.
It was his first time seeing someone with so many negative labels attached to them.
Darian checked the items stripped from Quill and found a Walkman among them. Surprisingly, it was a well-known brand from Earth.
Darian raised an eyebrow: "You're an Earthling?"
Quill was stunned for a moment, then immediately nodded: "Yes, I am an Earthling."
Darian asked curiously: "How did an Earthling like you end up as a Raider?"
Quill quickly shook his head: "I'm really not a Raider, even though I'm wearing Raider clothes, flying a Raider spaceship, and carrying Raider equipment..."
As he spoke, he trailed off. This was clearly a Raider!
Fortunately, Darian didn't dwell on his identity and asked: "Who are you, and what are you doing in Vanaheim?"
"My name is Peter Quill. You might not have heard that name, but you should have heard my other name, Star-Lord!"
"Never heard of it."
"..."
Quill was a bit embarrassed and explained: "I'm a famous interstellar thief. I took on a mission concerning Ravagers and came to Vanaheim to exchange them for intergalactic credits."
"You're looking for Ravagers?"
Darian chuckled: "Then you're too late. The Ravagers of Vanaheim are no longer reachable."
Quill was stunned: "Ah? Did they leave so quickly?"
"Ah, no. We plundered dozens of their teams. Now, the Ravagers in Vanaheim are almost wiped out. The remaining ones are either hiding or have fled. Only an idiot like you responded to us and even delivered yourself to our doorstep."
Quill: "..."
He finally understood why he hadn't seen a single Raider's shadow on his journey here. It turned out they had all been 'opened' by this group of unknown individuals.
Vanaheim, which was supposed to be a good place, had actually turned into a dark forest. If he had known it was so dangerous here, he wouldn't have come.
Quill was filled with regret.
But he also realized how formidable this group was.
Although Ravagers were a bunch of scoundrels who committed all sorts of evil, they were still a well-known armed group in the Universe. Yet, the Ravagers in Vanaheim were almost completely annihilated by them.
This was troublesome!
As Quill was thinking about how to escape, he heard Darian ask: "By the way, I heard you mention a mission earlier. Where did you get it from?"
"Uh, I have a special channel that allows me to view missions and bounties on the intergalactic dark web."
"Show it to me."
At Darian's signal, Quill took out a transparent screen from his equipment.
With his operation, various missions quickly appeared on it, such as killing a certain intergalactic monster, collecting rare materials from a certain Planet, and so on, much like Earth's dark web.
Darian randomly clicked and accepted a mission.
Unfortunately, like Earth's dark web, these also couldn't trigger game missions.
"Boring."
Darian pouted, then opened the bounty interface.
Photos of various wanted criminals instantly popped up on the screen, opening Darian's eyes and truly showing him the diversity of the game's modeling. Even Red Devil looked relatively handsome among them.
Darian scrolled down, seeing many dangerous intergalactic fugitives, each with an extremely high bounty marked below their avatar.
Suddenly, he saw a familiar avatar and quickly clicked on it.
"Hey, Quill, this person on here looks a lot like you. There's a 5000 intergalactic credit bounty, and the bounty hunter is Yondu Udonta."
Quill said earnestly: "It must be a coincidence. I don't know anyone named Yondu."
"Even the name is the same as yours."
"Is that so? Hahaha, what a coincidence."
"Yeah, quite a coincidence."
Darian smiled slightly, waved his hand, and shouted: "Tie him up and contact the bounty hunter! Today, I can finally make a buck!"
Quill: "..."
Seeing that he was about to be surrounded by men again, Quill quickly said: "Wait, I can ransom myself with money!"
Darian was amused: "Funny, you only have your underwear left now. Where would you get money?"
Weren't you the ones who stole it from me!
Quill's mouth twitched: "Then I'll ransom myself with my spaceship, surely that's fine?"
Darian's face darkened: "Watch your words, that's my spaceship."
Quill: "..."
Having been with Yondu, a Raider, for many years, it was only now that he truly understood what real robbers were like.
What a shame!
Quill didn't want to be caught and returned to Yondu. In his desperation, he loudly said: "I know Yondu recently took on a big job, worth millions of intergalactic credits. We can bypass Yondu to complete this mission and get the reward from the broker."
NPC Peter Quill has given you a new mission.
Mission: Cosmic Orb
Objective: Assist Quill in obtaining the Cosmic Orb and delivering it to the broker.
Reward: 2000 experience points, random equipment 1, random item 1.
"Stop!"
Darian raised his hand, halting the Asgardian warriors' actions, and a friendly smile appeared on his face.
"Oh, you should have said so earlier. Actually, I'm an Earthling too. We're all from the same Planet, fellow countrymen meeting with tears in our eyes. How could I really hand you over to an alien?"
In the past, if Quill had heard that the other party was an Earthling, he would have been somewhat excited.
After all, Earth was his home Planet. Ever since he was forcibly abducted from Earth by his adoptive father Yondu when he was a child, he had been drifting in the Universe for over twenty years, and he could barely remember what Earth looked like.
Although everyone in the entire Universe spoke English, true Earthlings were extremely rare in the interstellar space.
But he never expected that his first encounter with an Earthling would end up like this.
This wasn't fellow countrymen meeting with tears in their eyes; it was clearly fellow countrymen meeting with a shot in the back!
"Since we're all fellow countrymen, can you return my things?" Quill asked cautiously.
"Of course."
Darian also didn't care for Quill's belongings. He had nothing valuable on him, earning him the evaluation of a pauper.
Of course, don't expect the spaceship to be returned. Even if it's dismantled, it's worth a lot of money.
After putting his pants back on, Quill finally regained some sense of security. He leaned over and tentatively asked: "Fellow countryman, when are we going to steal Yondu's mission?"
He had already figured it out: if he couldn't beat them, he would join them.
Darian's group could even treat Ravagers as Leek(slang for easy money to be cut), so temporarily clinging to this powerful figure would at least prevent him from worrying about Yondu coming to settle scores, or about interstellar bounty hunters attracted by the bounty.
Darian casually said: "What's the rush? Let's talk after we've quelled the unrest in the Nine Realms."
"Quell the unrest in the Nine Realms?"
Quill blinked. That sounded impressive. He couldn't help but ask curiously: "Fellow countryman, if I may ask, who exactly are you people?"
Darian said with righteous indignation: "Can't you tell? We are the righteous army maintaining peace in the Nine Realms!"
Quill: "..."
Sorry, I really can't tell.
Afterward, Darian took Quill onto the spaceship and had Skurge keep an eye on him. If the other party showed any signs of escaping, he was to break his third leg.
Quill: "..."
Earthlings are too terrifying. I want to go back to Yondu.
This threat was very effective. Quill, who had originally been contemplating finding an opportunity to slip away, completely settled down. Unless he had a hundred percent certainty, he would absolutely not risk escaping.
Not even 99% success rate would do!
With Quill as a good start, soon other Raider teams actively contacted them. With Darian's command, dozens of Raider spaceships set off in a mighty procession.
However, Darian and his team's actions were not entirely smooth.
Among them, there were also many Ravagers who valued money over their lives and launched counterattacks against the Raider-plundering team.
And then there was no 'then.'
The Raider-plundering team had dozens of spaceships. A mere Raider team posed no threat to them at all. They easily wiped out the enemy, filling the screen with unavoidable bullet hell.
Quill secretly rejoiced, fortunate that he had surrendered quickly enough, otherwise his fate would probably not have been much better.
He had no reaction to the plight of these Ravagers.
Although Quill had been with Yondu's Raider team ever since he was abducted, he felt no affection for these Ravagers. Besides prohibiting child abduction, they did almost everything else.
Even an intergalactic outlaw with flexible moral boundaries like him couldn't stand their methods, which was why he tried so hard to go solo and start anew.
As Darian and his Raider-plundering team grew like a snowball, their whereabouts gradually became impossible to hide.
The various Raider teams, originally hiding in Vanaheim, somehow contacted each other and began to band together for warmth, even actively launching an offensive against Darian's team.
Ultimately, it was because the resources Darian and his team had plundered were simply too outrageous!
After successively taking down dozens of Raider teams, their team was practically a mobile vault.
It was this enormous wealth that prevented these Raider teams from choosing to flee Vanaheim. Instead, they united to deal with the Raider-plundering team.
Of course, on the surface, they still had to put on a show, raising banners to avenge their comrades and forming a Raider-plundering Raider Alliance, to show the entire Universe how united and friendly they, the Ravagers, were.
As for the legacies left behind by their comrades, they could only reluctantly swallow them.
These Ravagers had quite a beautiful plan.
However, when they received the signal from Darian and collectively drove their spaceships, full of killing intent, to the designated coordinates, they found the area empty, not even a ghost's shadow.
Damn! It was a trap!
But it was too late.
Before they could turn their ships around, dozens of spaceships suddenly flew out from all directions, and cannon fire poured down like Water!
Boom!
The Raider-plundering Raider Alliance instantly became living targets. Their shields flickered a few times before completely collapsing, and their ship hulls were repeatedly blown open, spiraling in the air with black smoke.
"Abandon ship! Quickly land in the forest below!"
The remaining Raider leaders shouted at the top of their lungs.
They crashed into Vanaheim's primeval forest, abandoning their ships to escape, attempting to use the dense vegetation to evade pursuit.
Seeing this scene, Darian did not order a saturation bombardment.
In his eyes, these were all his resources, and damaging them would result in a significant loss.
"All personnel, land and pursue!"
With Darian's command, dozens of spaceships followed the fleeing Ravagers, landing steadily in clearings in the forest.
As soon as the hatch opened, three hundred fully armed Asgardian warriors rushed out like arrows from a bowstring.
These battle-hardened warriors were incredibly fast. Their heavy equipment did not affect their agility in the slightest. They moved through the forest as if on flat ground, quickly catching up to the disheveled, fleeing Raider remnants.
"Fuck! Fight them!"
Seeing no escape, the remaining Ravagers hardened their resolve, turned around, and raised their various firearms, firing wildly at the pursuing Asgardian warriors!
A dense volley of energy bullets instantly poured out!
The Asgardian warriors did not panic. They raised their shields, instantly activating a huge energy shield that impermeably blocked all incoming energy bullets. Even a foot massage would be useless.
Seizing this opportunity, two hundred ninety-nine Asgardian warriors charged forward, engaging the Ravagers with their spears.
As for why it was two hundred ninety-nine.
Because Skurge was holding two high-tech rifles and engaged in close-quarters combat with the Ravagers.
Ever since he acquired these two treasures, it was as if a new World had opened up to him. He even cast aside his beloved axe, transitioning from melee to long-range melee, perfectly illustrating what it meant to be fast and accurate with a gun within ten steps!
However, these Ravagers were indeed numerous, a dark mass outnumbering the three hundred Asgardian warriors.
Darian stood at the rear, observing the battle, and beckoned to Quill, who was swaying to the background music.
"Stop dancing, go lend a hand."
Quill scratched his head, a bit troubled: "Fellow countryman, I was once a member of the Ravagers. It wouldn't be right to stab them in the back like this."
Although he disapproved of their ways, that didn't mean he was willing to help deal with the Ravagers.
Darian waved his hand: "After the battle, you can pick some spoils of war."
Quill's eyes instantly became resolute, and he said righteously: "Ravagers commit all sorts of evil, and everyone should punish them! I'm definitely helping with this!"
"Aren't you afraid of being called a backstabber?"
"I don't trust a knife from an outsider. Of course, I, as one of their own, must personally do the stabbing!"