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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones. or 500 Collections
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"Tsk tsk tsk…"
However, just as Taneleer Tivan ignored the 'dead' Karl on the ground and walked out triumphantly with the bottle of genesis ember, a familiar voice suddenly reached his ears.
"The Collector, it seems you are much more foolish than I imagined."
Accompanying a flash of red light, the 'Karl' who was already dead on the ground suddenly disappeared. In his place was another perfectly intact Karl, holding a wine glass, elegantly seated in a chair, looking at Taneleer Tivan with a playful gaze as if watching a monkey show.
"What? You…how are you not dead?"
Taneleer Tivan was startled by this sudden scene and immediately prepared to control the weapons emerging from the ground to give Karl another volley.
"Bang!!"
However, before he could make a move, with a snap of Karl's fingers, the weapons on the ground instantly transformed into adorable little animals, hopping and scattering in all directions.
"This…what is this?"
Taneleer Tivan was completely dumbfounded this time, his widened eyes filled with shock and bewilderment. He stared blankly at Karl opposite him, his voice slightly trembling as he asked:
"This is impossible, you…how did you do it?"
However, Karl did not answer his question, but said with a half-smile, "Do you think I would rashly come here to gamble with you without doing any homework?"
"Everyone in the Milky Way Galaxy knows that you are willing to betray your own brothers for these pathetic collections. Do you think I can believe that you will honor your bet?"
If gamblers were trustworthy, the World would have been at peace long ago!
At this point, Karl couldn't help but shake his head regretfully, "But it's really a pity. Originally, if you had been willing to abide by our agreement and give me the genesis ember and this God's head, you could have left here alive with your other collections."
"Hmm? What do you mean…"
Taneleer Tivan said in a daze, "My collections were clearly destroyed in that big explosion just now. How can I take them with me?"
"Heh heh, are you sure they were really destroyed?"
Karl let out a disdainful snort from his nose, then raised his hand and snapped his fingers again. The vast space, which had originally looked like a ruin, gradually 'recovered' to its pre-explosion appearance under the shroud of red light.
All the destroyed and varied collections were also re-displayed before Taneleer Tivan's eyes.
Even Carina, the red-skinned maid who had been turned to ashes by the Power Stone in the explosion, was 'resurrected'.
"I…how am I still alive?"
Carina looked around in a panic. The experience of death just now was incredibly real; she had even clearly felt the entire process of her body being torn apart bit by bit by the energy that erupted from the Power Stone.
But who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, she would be 'alive' again?
What on Earth is going on?
This sudden change made Carina begin to wonder if the scene just now was a figment of her imagination.
And the only change, perhaps, was that the Power Stone, which she had been tightly gripping in her hand, was now nowhere to be found!
"How could this be…"
Taneleer Tivan looked at the jar of genesis ember in his hand, which had turned into a red light and completely disappeared, and at the 'resurrected' Carina opposite him. He felt as if all his strength had been instantly drained, and he slumped weakly to the ground.
Undoubtedly, he had lost the bet, and he had lost completely!
It wouldn't even be an exaggeration to say that he had been tricked from beginning to end by the opponent using false 'illusions'.
Even if Taneleer Tivan was unwilling to admit it, the man from Earth opposite him was terrifyingly strong!!
So this gamble, in fact, was already lost the moment he agreed to it.
But what was ridiculous was that he had just been thinking of using a dirty trick to ambush the opponent and salvage the defeat…he was really asking for trouble!
However, what Taneleer Tivan didn't know was that the scene that had just occurred was not entirely an illusion. Apart from the explosion not actually happening, all other events had genuinely unfolded under the influence of the Reality Stone.
And the range of influence of the Reality Stone's power was limited only to the area where this exhibition hall was located.
This means that other events, including Drax's encounter with Ronan and Gamora's spaceship being destroyed by Nebula, were all real!
So…this cannot be considered Karl cheating.
Moreover, Karl had genuinely intended to let Taneleer Tivan take away all the remaining collections after he honored his bet.
After all, he was always a man of his word.
But now…
All these collections now belonged to him!!
It was Taneleer Tivan's own fault for causing trouble.
Whoosh—
Karl slightly raised his finger, and a surge of Psychic Energy instantly enveloped Taneleer Tivan's entire body. After removing the controller from his arm, he directly threw him into an empty display cabinet.
It was precisely the display cabinet that Taneleer Tivan had previously mentioned, where he intended to place Karl.
Karl looked at Carina, who was still in a daze, and said faintly, "Carina, you now have two choices. One is to leave here, in which case you will regain your freedom, and perhaps you can soon form your own family, have a bunch of children, and slowly enjoy your old age!"
"The second is to continue working for me. In this case, in addition to generous pay and excellent benefits, I will entrust the entire exhibition hall to you to manage!"
Upon hearing the last sentence, Carina suddenly looked up, her eyes bursting with unprecedented surprise. She pointed to the display cabinet where Taneleer Tivan was, and asked bravely:
"Does that…include him too?"
"Of course." Karl smiled and nodded, "Now Taneleer Tivan is one of my collections!"
"Okay, then I choose the second one." Carina made her choice without hesitation.
"Very good, you can just call me Boss from now on."
As he spoke, Karl had already handed the controller that could operate all the display cabinets to Carina, and said meaningfully:
"I believe you will be able to manage this place in an orderly manner."
Then, Karl turned his gaze to Gamora, who was still lying on the ground, "Miss Gamora, how long are you going to pretend to be unconscious there?"
"Ah, well…I wasn't, don't talk nonsense, I just woke up too."
Seeing her act exposed, Gamora stood up somewhat awkwardly and cautiously looked at Karl, saying:
"Mr. Karl, did you save me?"
In fact, Gamora had woken up early shortly after Karl rescued her from space using a teleportation portal, thanks to her strong physique.
However, after witnessing firsthand how Karl unilaterally toyed with Taneleer Tivan, the female warrior, who had earned the title of 'most dangerous woman in the Universe' in her teens, suddenly felt a spine-chilling sensation when facing this man from Earth.
It should be noted that previously, the only person who could make Gamora feel this way was her adoptive father, Thanos, alone.
And now, her list had another name added to it.
"More or less."
Karl did not deny it, merely nodded slightly, then raised his hand and made a welcoming gesture towards the door, "Ronan has left with his men. You can go and meet your companions."
Gamora opened her mouth, intending to ask how she had suddenly appeared here from space, but in the end, she didn't say it.
She simply thanked Karl politely, then hurried out of the exhibition hall.
"Oh my God, Gamora, it's great to see you're okay."
As soon as he stepped out, a burly figure immediately pounced on Gamora and embraced her.
"I saw you floating in space just now, and I don't know what came over me, but a voice kept telling me that I absolutely couldn't just watch you die in front of me."
Star-Lord cupped Gamora's head in his hands and said affectionately:
"At that moment, I felt a kind of… indescribable heroism welling up from the depths of my heart. You know, I'm definitely not praising myself by saying this; I'm just truthfully expressing my real thoughts at the time."
"It was under the influence of this heroism that I resolutely rushed out of the cabin to try and rescue you."
"But just as I was about to make a move, you were suddenly rescued by a suddenly appearing teleportation portal and a strange large hand?"
"Alright, I get it, let's stop this topic here." Gamora rolled her beautiful eyes and immediately interrupted Star-Lord, who was still trying to forcefully emote with her, and asked:
"I ask you, where is the Cosmic Orb?"
"Uh, well…"
Star-Lord said with a somewhat evasive look, "It seems your sister Nebula snatched it."
"What?"
Gamora's face immediately changed dramatically upon hearing this. "Damn it, this is going to cause big trouble now. We must first figure out whether Ronan and his people are going to directly attack Xandar, or go to Earth to collect the Tesseract."
However, at this moment, Yondu's top subordinate Kraglin, along with a group of Raiders members, directly surrounded Gamora and Star-Lord, "Welcome home, Peter!!"
…
The Dark Aster.
"The Cosmic Orb is now in my hands."
Ronan said to Thanos on the big screen, "I told you, I am a man of my word!"
"Very good." Thanos nodded in satisfaction and immediately urged, "Send it to me at once."
However, a cold smile appeared on Ronan's face. He then took the Cosmic Orb from his subordinate Korath and said with dissatisfaction:
"Yes, this was our agreement… I find the Cosmic Orb for you, and you help me send troops to destroy Xandar."
"However, there's been a slight change in the plan."
Ronan shook the Cosmic Orb in his hand at Thanos, "Now that I know it contains the Power Stone, I really don't know what I need your help for?"
"I can completely destroy Xandar and the Nova Corps myself with the power of the Power Stone!"
Thanos frowned upon hearing this, and said angrily, "Boy, you'd better think clearly about the consequences of offending the most powerful force in the Universe."
"Even if you now possess the Power Stone, there are still some costs you cannot bear!!"
"Hmph, Thanos, do you think I'm easily scared?"
However, Ronan completely ignored his threats. He immediately gripped both ends of the Cosmic Orb with both hands and forcefully pulled it apart.
Crack—
The incredibly sturdy metal sphere was directly broken into two halves by Ronan's sheer strength, and a purple light immediately burst forth from within.
"Still the most powerful force in the Universe?"
Ronan's ambition seemed to be infinitely magnified by the Power Stone. He immediately took the Power Stone out of the Cosmic Orb, then allowed the violent energy to surge through his entire body, and forcefully embedded the Power Stone into the pre-reserved slot on the Omniweapon's hammerhead.
And the Omniweapon, as a top-tier weapon forged by the Kree Empire using the highest technology, in addition to having numerous functions such as emitting shockwaves, absorbing energy, and creating force fields, can also serve as a natural Infinity Gems container!
Although the energy of the Infinity Gems that the Omniweapon can convert will certainly be less than that of the Infinity Gauntlet personally crafted by the Dwarf King, it is still many times stronger than the Mind Stone in Loki's scepter.
With the Omniweapon as its carrier, the turbulent energy flow that had been surging and raging like a mountain flood and tsunami within Ronan's body immediately receded like a tide.
Feeling the powerful and exhilarating force transmitted from the Omniweapon, Ronan roared defiantly at Thanos on the screen:
"You, how dare you call me 'boy' just now?"
"Just watch, I will personally represent the Kree Empire and carry out a 'righteous' judgment on Xandar's actions over the past thousand years… I will make it disappear from this World forever!"
"And after that, Thanos, I will personally come to settle scores with you and show you who is truly the most powerful person in the Universe."
With that, he cut off the communication, not caring if Thanos had been intimidated by his recent insane actions.
"Wait, Ronan."
Nebula then asked with a complex expression, "After destroying Xandar, will you really kill my father?"