Blaine knew that when Gali first brought him out from beneath the earth, he had already, unknowingly, embarked on this journey. Especially after discovering the mysterious space battleship on the moon, Blaine had confirmed just how dangerous this path truly was.
He had once thought that with the Hunter System, he was already invincible in this universe. But now it seemed that even the prehistoric Bounty Hunter had been unable to touch the final secret—and his ultimate fate was death. Let alone Blaine.
Even though he was a time traveler, and had been almost unstoppable as he overcame obstacles along the way, Blaine now felt confused. The future was uncertain and distant, the road ahead perilous and difficult. With the prehistoric Bounty Hunter failing despite possessing such terrifying power, what right did Blaine have to believe he could break through everything and see the light at the end?
For a moment, Blaine felt as though his life had fallen into confusion. His vision seemed shrouded in thick fog, leaving him unable to see the path ahead.
"Child, although I don't know who you truly are,"
"I don't know what your secret is,"
"But as Mr. Hunter said—follow your heart,"
"Isn't that right?"
The prehistoric Black Panther seemed to sense Blaine's doubts. His words not only encouraged him, but also dispelled the fog clouding his mind.
Yes. Even the prehistoric Bounty Hunter could face death and devote his entire life to pursuing what he believed in. So why couldn't he? If others could do it, then Blaine could as well. This was Blaine's pride, born deep within his heart—the unique dignity of a Bounty Hunter. No matter what, follow your heart. As if seeing the sun break through the clouds, listening to the words of the king, Blaine felt as though something long lost had returned.
"Senior, there's something I want you to see."
After speaking, Blaine directly took out the metal key from the Hunter's space.
If one were to trace the origin of everything, it all began with this metal key. Blaine believed that the endpoint of all secrets was also hidden within it. This was his greatest doubt.
"It looks like an alloy of some metal,"
"It's been so long that I've forgotten its name,"
"However, I seem to have seen it in Wakanda's ancient texts,"
"There were only patterns in those ancient books, with no specific written records,"
"However, I deduce that this alloy is not produced on Earth,"
"It belongs to an ancient and mysterious race whose civilization was extremely advanced,"
"It is recorded in ancient monuments that their planet was very similar to Earth,"
"With Wakanda's current level of technology,"
"Even a hundred Wakandas, another hundred years from now, would still be unable to match their achievements,"
"Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, a black cloud swept through the records, and that race disappeared,"
"There should be six pieces of this metal fragment in your possession,"
"Because its material is inherently indestructible and does not change with the passage of time,"
"So its function is to record certain information,"
"What's even more astonishing is that it seems capable of absorbing specific energies,"
"And then transforming them at the appropriate moment,"
"Under certain conditions, it may even serve as a key to open some mysterious place,"
"Anyway, I've seen identical fragments on Mister Hunter before, many times."
"The secret you are searching for, is very likely related to this mysterious metal fragment, and it should also be closely connected to the destruction of that race."
"And also, most importantly—"
"Fragments… under the altar… sealed… no…"
For some reason, as the prehistoric Black Panther spoke, he began to hesitate, and his voice gradually weakened.
"Huh? Senior?"
"What happened?"
"Could it be that your energy is about to dissipate?"
"Goodbye…"
After finishing the last word, Blaine's surroundings once again fell into boundless silence. It seemed that the prehistoric Black Panther had finally followed him.
"Farewell."
Blaine also murmured silently in his heart as he stood up. The greatest gain from this journey was perhaps discovering the direction of his future, as well as learning the origin of the metal key.
Moreover, what the prehistoric Black Panther had described partially matched the information Blaine had obtained from the Collector. From this perspective, the Collector had not lied to him. Then, Blaine's own origin might be related to that highly developed civilization. Perhaps Blaine himself came from there.
It turned out that the metal fragments in Blaine's possession could absorb kinetic energy and store it. This was somewhat similar to vibranium, but its hardness was hundreds of times greater.
So far, Blaine only had two key fragments in his hands, which meant there were still four more somewhere in the universe, waiting for him to find them.
"Wait—he seemed to say that something is sealed beneath the altar."
Suddenly, Blaine recalled something. He immediately rose into the air, wind gathering beneath his feet. At the same time, Hawkeye and his psychic power were released, scanning the altar up and down like a laser scanner.
However, the strange thing was that even under Hawkeye's vision, it was impossible to see through the inside of the altar. There were very few things in this world that could block Hawkeye's perspective, and anything capable of doing so was undoubtedly extraordinary.
No matter how hard Blaine searched, he still found nothing. Just as he was about to withdraw Hawkeye, he suddenly noticed what appeared to be a black hole beneath the throne formed by the Black Panther's mummified corpse…
Judging from this black hole, the altar was like an opaque black bottle. Its four sides were impenetrable, leaving only the opening at the top. That is to say—
There must be hidden secrets inside this "bottle."
Because the opening was directly beneath the throne, Blaine hadn't dared to examine that area carefully. Moreover, the black hole was very similar in color to the mummy and the remains of Bast, causing Blaine to overlook it entirely.
From this perspective, there had to be something sealed beneath the altar—either something left behind by the prehistoric Bounty Hunter for Blaine, or something related to the secret they had been pursuing. In any case, it had to be connected to Blaine.
With that thought, Blaine instantly moved to the side of the throne. He couldn't wait to reach out and move the vibranium throne aside to see what lay beneath the opening.
However, just as Blaine's hand was about to touch the throne, another intense tingling sensation surged into his body along his fingers. This time, Blaine didn't doubt it at all—this energy still did not regard him as an acquaintance.
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