Chapter 728 Knowhere and Collector Tivan

Inside the small spaceship, Mike, who was enjoying a thoughtful massage from Wanda, had unknowingly laid down in her arms and fallen asleep.

In the cockpit ahead, Nebula, who had activated autopilot, was also listlessly dozing off.

After all, long interstellar travel was indeed boring.

In this lazy atmosphere, the automated spaceship gradually approached an asteroid shaped like a skull.

At a certain moment, rings of purplish-red energy waves suddenly erupted from this strangely shaped asteroid.

Large sections of the buildings on the asteroid were destroyed by this energy impact. Immediately afterward, the cosmic dust and meteor clusters surrounding the asteroid were enveloped by the energy, forming a wave of turbulence in space.

The spaceship carrying Mike happened to be within the range of the turbulence.

Furthermore, the small spaceship collected by Heimdall, while decent in appearance and some internal amenities, was far inferior in performance compared to truly excellent ships.

Especially its defensive capabilities.

After a shower of meteors, the small spaceship began to sound an alarm.

“What happened?” Wanda, who had been dozing, was jolted awake, her eyes still slightly hazy.

Mike, who was lying in her arms, had already woken up the moment it happened.

“Don’t worry, we must have encountered cosmic turbulence. It will pass quickly.” Mike got up, comforted the girl, and then led her toward the cockpit.

The climate in space is volatile, and the formation of turbulence is not strange.

Mike and the others had encountered this situation several times before, but none were as severe as this one.

“Boss, the ship’s defensive barrier probably won’t last until we leave the meteor field,” Nebula, who was frantically trying to steer the ship, immediately explained the situation upon seeing Mike arrive.

The intelligent screen in the cockpit showed that the spaceship was being attacked by rings of purplish-red energy, mixed with meteors and cosmic dust of various sizes.

Moreover, visibility was extremely poor within the turbulence.

“Continue steering the ship. Leave the safety issues to me.” Mike nodded, and a net of pure white magic coalesced in his hands.

As the magical power spread, it eventually formed a soft cocoon of magic outside the spaceship, isolating the meteors and cosmic dust.

Instantly, the shaking of the spaceship was greatly reduced.

“Cool!” Nebula exclaimed, and continued piloting the spaceship.

To be honest, Nebula was quite apprehensive about encountering an emergency of this magnitude.

Although she had traveled the cosmos with Thanos for many years and was a genuine cosmic “veteran,” she did not actually possess the ability to survive in space on her own.

Harsh environments like low temperature, high pressure, and lack of oxygen could kill her at any moment.

Fortunately, her new boss was very powerful, giving her a sufficient sense of security…

“That damned wretch, how dare you touch the Power Stone…” At the same time, Collector Tivan, who had been about to retrieve the money to purchase the Orb on the asteroid, watched the maid who had ruined his plans with eyes blazing with fury.

The young maid, who had hoped to gain power and reclaim her freedom, was unable to withstand the immense power after touching the Power Stone, and her body was slowly disintegrating in the purplish-red energy.

She turned into nothingness shortly after.

Rewind to half an hour ago: Star-Lord, unwilling to be constrained by his foster father, Yondu, unilaterally abandoned him after completing a cosmic sweep and obtaining the Orb, intending to keep the money from selling the Orb for himself.

Since he did not understand the value of the Orb, the buyer he found on Xandar dared not take possession of this Orb, which contained the Power Stone.

Then, he encountered the “bounty hunters” Rocket Raccoon and Groot.

The reason was that, unbeknownst to Star-Lord, his foster father had placed a 40,000 intergalactic credit bounty on him.

While the two sides were struggling, they happened to run into Gamora, who had just broken free from Thanos’ control and was trying to make a living alone in space.

It should be known that it is difficult to get by in space without an identity; there was nowhere for her to go, not even to scavenge.

Gamora, struggling financially, had also seen the bounty notice issued by Yondu.

With money to be earned, Gamora also decided to temporarily act as a bounty hunter.

Thus, the fight on the Xandar square, which was originally just between Rocket Raccoon’s team and Star-Lord, instantly turned into a three-way melee.

Furthermore, Xandar is one of the few peaceful planets in the universe, governed by Nova Corps leader Rael.

Under her governance, various races across the universe could live peacefully on Xandar.

The fighting involving Star-Lord and the others clearly violated Xandar’s philosophy of peace. Therefore, it wasn’t long before they were captured by the arriving Xandar Guard and thrown into prison.

In the Xandar prison, Star-Lord and the others met Drax the Destroyer, whose planet had been destroyed by Thanos and who was solely focused on seeking revenge against Thanos.

After the group learned that Star-Lord possessed a valuable Orb, they instantly banded together, planning a mass jailbreak to sell the Orb.

Since Gamora had traveled with Thanos for a long time and was worldly, she suggested, after the successful breakout, that they sell the Orb to Collector Tivan.

After all, the Power Stone inside the Orb was worth four billion intergalactic credits, a price not just anyone could afford.

Collector Tivan, happened to love collecting and was not short on money.

So, the group boarded a spaceship and began searching for Collector Tivan.

They were fortunate enough to arrive at Knowhere, the planet occupied by Collector Tivan.

This asteroid was formed around the skull of an ancient god as its core. Thus, it was unaffected by cosmic gravity and drifted aimlessly through space at all times.

It could only be said that Star-Lord and the others were truly lucky.

Collector Tivan, who occupied this asteroid formed from the ancient god’s skull, had made his fortune by selling the remnants—ancient god brain tissue, bones, and spinal fluid—left inside the skull on the black market.

This was the main reason Collector Tivan, was never short on funds.

Wealth brings status. Thus, the status of Collector Tivan, on Knowhere was equivalent to the status of his brother, Grandmaster, on Sakaar.

Both were the absolute controllers, or rather, “dictators,” of their respective planets.

Collector Tivan, was very enthusiastic toward Star-Lord and the others who arrived at Knowhere with the Orb.

He generously spent half an hour explaining to everyone how precious the Power Stone hidden inside the Orb was.

Once activated, it was enough to destroy all organic life on an entire planet.

Star-Lord and the others were greatly shocked, but given that Collector Tivan, was willing to pay four billion intergalactic credits for the Orb, the group ultimately succumbed to the lure of money.

That was four billion intergalactic credits, more than an ordinary person could spend in ten lifetimes.

Star-Lord and the others could already see a beautiful, extravagant life beckoning to them.

As for Collector Tivan, with the resources of an entire ancient god’s skull at his disposal, the one thing he didn’t lack was money.

At this point, both parties were extremely satisfied with the transaction.

However, the accident occurred when Collector Tivan, went to retrieve the money. The maid who always served him had also heard the full explanation of the Power Stone’s immense strength.

As mentioned before, Taneleer Tivan had absolute authority on Knowhere, and one could imagine that the maid enslaved by him did not have an easy life.

Oppression was probably the least of her worries.

Due to a series of coincidences, the young maid decided to take a gamble on her fate. This might be her only chance in this life to regain her freedom.

So, when Taneleer Tivan turned away, the little maid did not follow him but reached out toward the Power Stone exposed on the table.

Unfortunately, gaining power also required paying a price.

Clearly, the little maid did not have the ability to control the Power Stone and was instantly killed by the stone’s energy.

Of course, the subsequent consequences she caused did not end there. The Power Stone, having been partially activated, continued to unleash its energy, threatening to destroy Knowhere and turn it into ruins.

From a certain perspective, the little maid’s death was not in vain.

At the very least, it forced Taneleer Tivan, the “dictator” who had enslaved her, to pay a heavy price.

“That damned wretch, how dare you touch the Power Stone…”

Returning to Collector Tivan, he had already cursed the maid countless times in his heart as he watched her foolish actions.

It was fortunate that the maid died quickly; otherwise, Taneleer Tivan would surely have made her taste suffering worse than death.

Of course, it was too late for anything now. Collector Tivan’s, most important task was to dodge the Power Stone’s energy shock and save his own life first.

So, after momentarily freezing, Collector Tivan, rushed toward his collection room.

Taneleer Tivan did not love money, but he was extremely fond of collecting strange and bizarre objects, each of which he regarded as a treasure.

The place where he stored his treasures naturally had higher security and protection…

“NO, no, no, I feel like my body is splitting apart!!!”

Over there, Rocket Raccoon, who had taken several close-range impacts from the Power Stone, wailed in agony.

At the same time, Star-Lord, Gamora, and the others were not much better off than the Raccoon; every one of their bodies was on the verge of collapse.

After all, they were right next to the young maid when the incident occurred.

They were also very close to the Power Stone.

Just as everyone was about to give up, Gamora, who had seen many major events while following Thanos, endured the pain and stepped forward to re-seal the Orb.

Instantly, the powerful purplish-red energy vanished. Relieved of the external pressure, everyone collapsed weakly onto the floor.

Fortunately, every one of them was exceptionally gifted; otherwise, they would likely struggle even to breathe right now.

“I hope I don’t wet the bed tonight…”

The little Raccoon, who had adjusted for a moment, was the first to crawl up. Still feeling weak in his limbs, he couldn’t help but crack a joke.

Humor, sometimes, is the best medicine against pain.

“What do we do now? Should we still complete the transaction?” Star-Lord, who got up next, asked aloud.

“Do you think that’s still possible? If I were Collector Tivan, I would definitely kill us,” Gamora interjected timely.

She motioned for everyone to look around.

“I am Groot!” Groot looked at the surrounding ruin-like scene and offered his opinion.

However, no one present could understand the unique language of the Ent race, except for Rocket Raccoon.

“Uh, he means we should run,” the Raccoon, who had told a joke no one cared about, then acted as a translator.

“Agreed—”

“I have no objection either…”

After a brief discussion, the group decided to take the Orb and flee. At worst, they could return to complete the transaction after they understood Collector Tivan’s, attitude.

Alternatively, they could simply continue looking for a new buyer for the Orb.

In short, their lives were paramount.

However, just as the group was quickly running outside with the Orb, Drax the Destroyer lagged behind with flickering eyes.

His seemingly strenuous but actually slow pace lowered the overall speed of the entire team…