Knowhere!
A notorious lawless zone in the universe, a place of surface-level disorder and chaos. Whether a galactic fugitive or an interstellar marauder, anyone can show their face openly here. No law restrains them.
But that's only on the surface. A lawless zone isn't truly without order—otherwise it would have fallen into complete anarchy long ago.
The Collector, Tivan, laid down the rules. Here, money reigns supreme. With enough credits, you can do anything in Knowhere—even set off explosions in a busy district. As long as you pay the fines afterward, no one holds you accountable.
The ship flew in through the eye socket of the Celestial's severed head. Tivan discovered this head many years ago and immediately organized crews to claim and mine it.
Bones, brain tissue, and spinal fluid harvested from the Celestial are all rare resources. Their prices stay sky-high on every black market across the galaxy.
The head has been largely hollowed out. As mining and construction progressed, it attracted swarms of merchants. Close on their heels came desperadoes; various factions entangled here, making the place extremely chaotic.
The ship cruised slowly along. Zod and the others saw numerous mining platforms. The Celestial's head was treated purely as a resource, and dense clusters of mining robots worked frenetically.
"They're digging up this head?"
Yan Lingji found it incomprehensible.
"It's normal. Just imagine they're digging up Taiyi or Pangu's head."
Zod shrugged.
And just like that, Yan Lingji understood. She even felt like digging a bit herself, to see if she could unearth something good.
"Can you mine something like Mako from it?"
Tifa also asked curiously.
"No, but a Celestial's head can probably yield other good stuff."
Zod thought for a moment. Something like Mako probably didn't exist inside a Celestial's head.
Clang!
A soft sound rang out as the ship docked at the starport landing pad.
As soon as they disembarked, Zod and his group headed straight for the slave quarter. A short while later, they left the slave-trading district, somewhat disappointed. They had thought that with money, they could buy anything, but harsh reality told him he wasn't actually rich.
"Kree scientists are that expensive?"
Zod wore an expression of genuine surprise.
Well, it looked like the plan to buy a slave had failed.
The asking price for a Kree scientist was insane. The Orb only cost a few billion, yet they dared demand ten billion.
Zod, who had thought he was already quite wealthy, suddenly felt his pockets were painfully empty.
This is outrageous! I'll go right back to Earth, bring out the Burning Legion, and attack the Kree Empire. Then I can have as many Kree scientists as I want!
Of course, Zod was only saying that.
Since he couldn't buy a Kree scientist, he decided to simply stroll around Knowhere and buy whatever caught their eye. It wasn't like they were short on cash.
After that round, Esdeath and the other two were quite happy, while Zod grew increasingly frustrated.
How come entertainment products sold for more than scientific research products?
Still, he took it in stride. Money was easy to earn back; making his women happy was what mattered most.
During this time, Zod caught wind of the Black Order's movements. They had attacked the Chitauri homeworld and swept through like a hot knife through butter. Now, the Chitauri had become one of Thanos's lapdogs.
This had all just happened very recently.
"Timeline-wise... doesn't that actually match up?"
Zod considered. After all, on Earth it was still only 2005, three full years before Iron Man's 2008 debut, and yet Tony had already created a nano-armor that surpassed the Bleeding Edge armor.
If the Chitauri ever dared invade Earth again, they'd probably die horribly.
Because Earth's people had already been conditioned into sharp battlefield reflexes through Zod's repeated emergency drills—not to mention all those War Machines and Iron Mongers.
After buying a heap of mostly useless entertainment goods, Zod brought Esdeath and the others back to the ship.
Next destination: the Orb!
Since they'd come all the way to space, there was no way they'd return empty-handed. Conveniently, Zod still remembered where the Orb was.
Right now, the Guardians of the Galaxy probably weren't even a glimmer on the horizon. Wouldn't it be satisfying to just go and take the Orb? The Power Stone was inside it, after all.
"Let me see... I remember the Orb is on Morag?"
Zod checked the star chart. The coordinates for Morag popped up on it; it didn't seem to be some remote, unknown planet.
Morag!
A planet orbited by three natural satellites. It once flourished, possessing interstellar exploration and colonization capabilities. But at some unknown time, for unknown reasons, its advanced civilization abruptly perished, and Morag became a forgotten, abandoned world.
Zod piloted the ship, consecutively shooting through over a hundred spatial nodes in one breath and then arriving. Barely an hour had passed back at Knowhere.
Kryptonians really have a bright future as astronauts. Other aliens would need at least ten days to half a month to pull this off, while a Kryptonian can complete the journey in an hour.
Even Esdeath and the others felt it wasn't exciting enough. The near-death pressure of jumping through spatial nodes had been quickly adapted to and had now become a tool for flirtation.
The abandoned Morag was desolate and decayed, its climate complex and volatile. The planet's surface bristled with rocky peaks, large swaths of ground had collapsed, and groundwater frequently gushed up under pressure. The temple had likely been buried underground long ago.
On the windswept Morag, dark clouds churned, lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled. As the ship entered the atmosphere, Zod activated the scanning systems and built a projection model of Morag.
"Looking for a temple in such a harsh environment..."
Yan Lingji felt the difficulty was sky-high.
"No problem. Kryptonians are all walking super-detectors. Finding a temple is a piece of cake."
Zod activated his super vision and soon located the temple.
The ship hovered in midair for a few seconds, oriented itself in a direction, and then slowly moved, finally landing on a relatively flat piece of ground.
Directly ahead of the ship, the ruined palace had weathered into shapelessness. Through the crumbling half-walls, its former grandeur was still faintly discernible. This was a civilization forgotten for countless years.
Zod, Tifa, and the others disembarked and walked into the temple.
Deep inside the palace ruins, a stark contrast to the wreckage outside, the area was remarkably well-preserved. Apart from a little dust, it was as if the long passage of time had stood completely still here.
At the far end, a massive stone door stood tightly shut. Countless intricate openwork patterns were carved into the door and walls, and through the seams, thin strands of energy flowed at a steady pace.
Morag had been abandoned for who knows how many years, yet the energy array in the ruins was still operating continuously. It was truly mind-boggling.
/-\
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