So far, Blaine had only found two star cores: the tenth-level star core that Quill had taken away, and the fourth-level star core discovered yesterday. The rest should have been taken long ago over the years.
After searching so many times, Blaine found nothing but the wreckage of various warships. He didn't even see a single piece of metal made of the same material. This made Blaine a little suspicious—had the people who shot down these warships deliberately taken that metal away?
The tenth-level star core itself wasn't strictly necessary. As long as he could obtain this kind of metal, that would be enough.
Now Blaine had reason to believe that the carriers of the six Infinity Stones—the Tesseract, the Orb, the Aether, Loki's scepter, the Eye of Agamotto, and the Vormir Stone—were likely created by this same civilization.
After checking again and still finding nothing related to his origins, Blaine finally gave up.
"It seems we can only dig into it slowly later."
"The universe is so vast. Sooner or later, I'll know what I want to know."
With that thought, Blaine closed his eyes and carefully confirmed Quill's position. The next step was figuring out how to obtain the Power Stone.
Although this Stone was also a must-have for that Purple Titan, and without it there would be no Infinity War later on, so what? Blaine didn't care about any of that. Getting the star core was what mattered most.
"Star Lord, here I come."
After speaking, Blaine waved a finger, tore open a spatial rift, turned, and jumped inside.
This was Xandar. In a certain prison, several thugs who had caused a riot on the streets had been brought in just yesterday.
Law enforcement on Xandar was no worse than on Earth—if anything, it was terrifyingly efficient.
For example, if you were a robber, you might have just pulled out your gun when the police were already at the bank entrance. If you were a rapist, the moment you unbuckled your belt, the police would be standing right in front of you. It was that exaggerated.
As a result, before Quill, Gamora, Rocket, and Groot could determine a winner or loser on the street, they were all arrested and thrown into prison.
Inside the room where prisoners' personal belongings were stored, Blaine appeared silently.
Fortunately, having Quill's position was equivalent to having precise spatial coordinates. It just so happened that this area was still within the jump range of the weakened version of the Space Stone ring, so Blaine was able to come directly to Xandar. After all, Quill, piloting a small spacecraft, couldn't run very far.
Once he learned that Quill had been imprisoned in this massive facility, Blaine teleported straight in.
"System, if I take Quill's star core now,"
"Can it become mine?"
[No.]
The answer was far too direct. Blaine had thought the system would lecture him at length and try to persuade him to give up such ideas, but instead it rejected him outright.
Now Blaine felt completely helpless. The Power Stone was right in front of him, yet he couldn't reach it…
"Is there really no other way?"
Blaine lowered his head and frowned, clearly thinking hard about how to obtain the Power Stone.
"Well, if I won't let go of the child, I won't catch the wolf either. Then I'll just do it."
As he spoke, Blaine seemed to make up his mind.
With a grit of his teeth, the Hunter suit shifted in shape, transforming in an instant into the standard uniform worn by prisoners in the facility.
The hood of the Hunter suit still covered his head, but it became transparent. Even so, people outside still couldn't see Blaine's face clearly.
He could be a bearded brute, or perhaps a sweet-looking loli—but in any case, it wasn't Blaine's true appearance.
It wasn't that Blaine was afraid of revealing his identity; it was simply a habit. He didn't want others to know what he looked like. Maybe it would come in handy in the future.
It could be to prevent people from remembering his appearance and putting out a bounty on him, or to stop assassination targets from recognizing him in advance during a mission. Either way, it was all for long-term planning.
Using teleportation once more, Blaine arrived at the prison where the inmates were held.
Just as he remembered. Unlike the small, single cells on Earth, all the prisoners here were confined in a vast enclosed space divided into upper and lower levels, with transparent glass overhead.
Prison guards patrolled constantly inside.
It was free activity time, and everyone was scattered around different areas. Blaine locked onto Quill's position and walked straight over.
That's right—Blaine planned to infiltrate behind enemy lines and blend directly into their group. With his strength, sneaking in shouldn't be a problem. Now that he was effectively part of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Blaine understood the principle that it was easier to act when you were close to the water.
"I'll split up the tasks first,"
"Gamora, you go get a door opener from the guards,"
"Quill, see that prosthetic man?"
"We'll need his artificial leg,"
"And Groot and I will deal with the breaker switch to cause some chaos."
Before Blaine got close, his sharp hearing picked up a discussion.
This Rocket Raccoon might be small, but he was full of ideas—essentially the brains of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
"Hi, Quill."
"Oh shit—thank God, it's Quill."
Running toward Quill, Blaine waved in greeting.
"You are? You…"
"Oh, oh, oh—the black-robed man from Morag."
"Hey, friend, I didn't expect to meet again so soon."
Although Blaine didn't know what Quill meant by "Morag," thinking about it carefully, it should have been the dead planet where they first met.
Hearing Blaine's voice, Quill immediately recognized him as the distance closed. Just as Blaine had expected, though, when facing him—
Quill felt guilty.
"Well, I heard you talking about artificial legs and access-control bracelets just now,"
"Mind if I join?"
"Absolutely. Let me tell you quietly—we're about to do something big."
Quill gave a mischievous grin. Hearing that Blaine wanted to join, he naturally agreed. After all, he had already seen Blaine's strength. Besides, having one more person meant one more layer of insurance.
The others frowned slightly. First, they didn't know Blaine and didn't trust him. Second, they were worried he might slow them down. But since Quill had agreed, they couldn't say much.
"So what's my assignment?"
Blaine looked at Rocket Raccoon.
"Come with us and take care of these surveillance devices."
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