Sitting on the living-room sofa, Lucas stared at the Space Stone—
or more precisely, the Tesseract—lying in front of him, lost in thought.
The dense energy contained within it was something he could clearly sense.
As for whether the Tesseract's energy fluctuations might attract unwanted troublemakers, Lucas wasn't worried in the slightest.
Putting aside the fact that he was here—ordinary riffraff wouldn't dare come knocking.
And after the recent kidnapping incident, Carrie had proven just how frighteningly powerful she was.
As for Elaine, there was even less reason to worry.
Before coming to this household, a young girl who could travel the world alone was already proof enough that she wasn't ordinary.
The only possible weak point… was his parents.
But when Lucas thought of them, his head began to feel muddled.
From the moment he was born, his parents had always been… unusual.
For example, after he turned three, they began paying the neighbors to look after him—
then promptly went off traveling together.
Given Lucas's abnormal intelligence even back then, he didn't actually need anyone watching over him.
The neighbor's only real responsibilities were checking on his safety once a day and calling him over for meals.
By the time Lucas was seven and had started cooking for himself, the neighbor's job had been reduced to driving him to school and attending parent-teacher meetings on weekends.
Anyone else might have felt resentful toward parents like that.
But Lucas was different.
Life went on as usual—until his parents brought Carrie home, which finally changed things.
Because of that, Lucas had always harbored doubts about his parents.
He had scanned them with ki long ago; in his perception, they were nothing more than ordinary Earth humans.
And yet… something still felt wrong.
Lucas knew that at his level of existence, intuition was rarely mistaken.
---
"Brother, what's this thing? Can you eat it?"
It was the weekend. Carrie, home from school, walked downstairs from her room.
She had originally been heading for the snack storage room, but the glowing cube on the table immediately caught her attention.
Lucas tapped her forehead lightly.
"You little rascal—stop thinking about food all day long. Everything you see isn't edible!"
"There's a thirty-five-square-meter snack storage room on the first floor that Sersi and the others built just for you. Isn't that enough?"
"Do you even know how much you eat in a day? On a bad day, you cost four thousand dollars. On a good day, it shoots past ten thousand."
"My dear sister—if I weren't busting my ass making money every day, my old salary wouldn't even cover your food!"
Thinking about it made Lucas sigh inwardly.
People wondered why a Saiyan like him was so obsessed with money.
The truth was simple—
Carrie.
Ever since she was young, their parents had given at least five or six thousand dollars a month for living expenses.
Lucas spent less than a quarter of it on himself.
The rest went straight into feeding Carrie.
And he was supposed to be the legendary big eater—the Saiyan.
After school, he had relied on sheer physical strength, doing illegal dock work and construction labor, just to barely sustain his own life.
As for things like salvaging treasures from the sea, robbing banks, or stealing gold—
Anyone with half a brain knew U.S. banknotes had serial numbers.
The moment you spent them, you'd be tracked.
And even if you somehow got a few million dollars, Lucas had no idea how to launder money.
As for melting and selling gold—
Even on the U.S. black market, they'd take 40–50% as a cut for suspicious gold.
And that was just asking to be targeted by federal agencies.
---
Carrie puffed up her cheeks, clearly unhappy.
"Hmph! I was just asking if it could be eaten—why are you getting mad?"
But a moment later, she grinned and hugged Lucas's arm.
"Don't be mad, big brother. I know you treat me the best!"
Lucas raised an eyebrow.
"Alright. This thing is called the Tesseract. Remember—it's not food."
Carrie reached out and picked up the Tesseract, holding it up to inspect it curiously.
At that instant, Lucas sharply sensed something wrong.
The Tesseract's energy fluctuations suddenly became abnormal.
"…?"
A question mark practically popped up over his head.
"Carrie—give it to me."
"Here."
Though she hadn't finished looking at it, Carrie obediently handed it over.
The moment it returned to Lucas's hands, the Tesseract's energy stabilized again.
"Hold it," Lucas said.
Carrie blinked but didn't ask why, taking the cube back.
Immediately, the strange energy fluctuations returned.
Lucas's eyes widened in surprise.
He knew that in the comics, each Infinity Stone contained a miniature universe.
The films hinted at this as well—such as the Soul Stone's internal soul space—but the other stones never clearly demonstrated this trait.
So… was the issue Carrie?
Lucas looked at her, unable to understand why the Tesseract reacted to her.
Just then, the front door opened.
Elaine walked in with Wanda and Pietro.
Seeing the two siblings in fresh clothes, Lucas nodded approvingly.
Scarlet Witch Wanda looked youthful and full of vitality.
Compared to her movie counterpart, this version of Wanda had softer facial features.
Pietro, on the other hand, looked even more handsome—
more mature and masculine than his X-Men counterpart.
"Oh, right," Lucas said.
"I've already enrolled both of you in school. Starting next Monday, you'll attend with the family and Elaine."
"B-but… we haven't studied in years," Pietro scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"It's fine," Lucas waved it off.
"I've arranged private tutors for you. Once you catch up, you'll join regular classes."
"But our abilities…" Wanda hesitated.
"First of all, this isn't Sokovia," Lucas said calmly.
"You don't need to worry about those issues here."
"Carrie and Elaine both have special traits as well, yet they can still live normal lives."
"If anything minor happens at school, go to Elaine. If it's serious, contact me immediately."
Wanda and Pietro walked over and sat on the sofa, nodding.
"Alright, we understand."
Lucas continued,
"One more thing—unless your lives are in danger, you are not allowed to use your abilities."
"I'm not saying you can never use them. But without strong mental discipline, power can easily lead you astray."
"That part depends on your self-control. I can't watch you twenty-four hours a day."
_____
T/N:
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