174 Power Stone

After Li Daniù chased after him, Star-Lord and the others followed suit.

"Why are you so nervous about him? With one less person, we'll each get a bigger cut of the money."

Regarding the raccoon's complaint, Li Daniù could only offer a bitter smile and say, "Judging by his intellect, there is a very high probability that he will tell Ronan about our whereabouts. When Ronan finds out that we are here with the thing he wants, do you really think he won't come after us?"

Star-Lord asked in surprise, "He doesn't seem like such a smart guy. Besides, who knows where Ronan is right now? As long as we sell the item and fly far away, I don't believe Ronan will be able to find us."

"He's not being smart; he's being foolish." Gamora shook her head and said, "You guys have no idea how powerful Ronan is!"

The raccoon grew nervous. Among this group, his knowledge of Ronan was second only to Gamora's.

"When exactly is your client going to contact us? If it takes too long, I suggest we find somewhere to hide first."

Star-Lord found the raccoon's nervousness very bizarre and asked, "Is it really necessary to be this tense? Even if Ronan finds out we're here and wants to come over, it'll take him at least a day or more, right?"

"A day?" The raccoon sneered. "You think his interstellar warship is like your piece-of-junk ship? What takes us three days to travel, he can cover in just over ten minutes."

Gamora agreed, "That's right. The space warship he commands even has the capability to conquer Knowhere. However, it shouldn't matter too much even if he comes; he wouldn't dare directly cross the Tivan Group. At most, he'll bring a portion of his subordinates."

Star-Lord said nonchalantly, "I doubt the Destroyer would even think of this method. I always feel like his IQ is questionable."

Li Daniù gave another bitter smile before saying, "It's precisely because his IQ is questionable that I'm worried he would do something like this. After all, a normal person would never attempt to challenge Ronan all by himself."

Regarding Drax the Destroyer's intellect, the movie didn't go into detailed explanations. In fact, according to the comic book storyline, the Destroyer was originally a human from Earth as well. However, due to certain reasons, his wife and daughter were killed by Ronan, and he had supposedly died, but his consciousness was transferred into the body of a powerful alien.

Although he inherited the strength of an alien physique, he had forgotten almost all of his memories, retaining only the knowledge that Ronan killed his wife and daughter, and that he must kill Ronan to exact his revenge. Consequently, his intelligence was somewhat lower than that of an average person.

While the group was debating whether to go look for the Destroyer or find a place to hide first, an alien woman walked up to them.

"Gentlemen, my master requests your presence!"

Before Star-Lord and the others could ask who her master was, Gamora took the lead and followed her, saying to the others, "She's from my client."

A client was like a god. Although the raccoon and the tree-man, due to their respective species, neither worshipped God nor knew who God was, they understood a similar logic—especially when this client could bring them a massive payday of four billion. That made them even more enthusiastic.

Seeing the others follow along, Li Daniù had no choice but to tag behind. He didn't have a single penny to his name. While his individual strength was formidable, in the interstellar era, it truly wasn't enough to stand out. If he were left behind alone, the dangers he might encounter could very well be even worse than running into Ronan.

Following the alien woman, the group arrived at a massive building. After entering the door and passing through several security measures, they were stunned by the bizarre spectacle before their eyes.

Except for Li Daniù, the rest of the crew were veterans of the stars, well-traveled and widely experienced, yet they had never encountered a place that housed so many strange and unusual things all at once.

Countless glass cabinets were stacked all around. Inside every single glass case was either an extinct creature or the remains of some long-gone species.

The alien woman introduced, "This is the largest collection in the entire galaxy, housing many precious creatures and remains."

When the group reached the very center of the museum, they saw a person wearing a coat resembling mink fur standing with his back to them.

The alien woman made an exaggerated gesture and said, "Allow me to introduce to you the greatest collector in the universe—Taneleer Tivan."

After his attendant finished the introduction, Taneleer turned around and looked at Li Daniù's group. Almost the exact moment he turned back, his gaze was captured by the tree-man.

Walking slowly over to the tree-man, Taneleer inspected him closely, then said with a smile, "When you die, please sell your body to me. I can pay a deposit in advance."

If not for the fact that the other party was about to pay them four billion, the raccoon definitely would have flipped out instantly. He and the tree-man had depended on each other for survival for many years and had long since established a deep bond. How could he just let someone curse the tree-man to death and even offer to buy his corpse?

Still, the raccoon couldn't help biting back, "What do you want his corpse for? To use as a stool?"

Taneleer ignored the raccoon, simply offering him a smile before turning to Gamora to ask, "Where is the item?"

Gamora gave Star-Lord a subtle look, and Star-Lord pulled a metallic orb out of his bag. Taneleer accepted the orb with a deeply reverent posture, walked over to a control console, and mounted the orb onto a piece of instrumentation.

The raccoon couldn't help chiming in, "Hey, you haven't paid yet."

"Don't be impatient!" Taneleer operated the console to open the orb. Instantly, purple light radiated outward from inside.

It was also the raccoon's first time seeing what was inside the orb, and he couldn't help muttering a critique, "A glowing rock?"

"No..." Taneleer stared entranced at the stone, saying, "This is no ordinary rock. It is one of the six Infinity Stones born alongside the universe, possessing infinite power—the Power Stone, possessing truly world-destroying might."

As he spoke, Taneleer pressed a button on the control console, and a projection appeared in the air. In the projection, a figure clad in armor held the Power Stone high and slammed it into the ground. Then, boundless purple light spread out from the Power Stone, sweeping across the entire planet in just a few short minutes and utterly obliterating everything on the planet's surface.

"Holy shit!"

Everyone was stunned by the footage on screen. This genuinely was cataclysmic power.

The raccoon was the first to snap back to reality, saying, "With something this powerful, isn't four billion a bit too cheap?"

Taneleer shook his head and said, "Its power is not something mortals can control. Throughout history, almost everyone who has acquired this stone has been destroyed by its power. Once, five extremely powerful beings even tried to jointly harness the power contained within the Power Stone, and the result was that they all turned to ash simultaneously. Tell me, how much is a Power Stone worth when no one can control it and it will only kill you in the end?"

That price was indeed hard to gauge. The raccoon then remembered that the person standing in front of him was named Tivan, and the corporation operating this celestial skull was also called Tivan, so he asked directly, "So, you've inspected the merchandise. Shouldn't you pay up now?"

"Of course!" Taneleer smiled. "The money I use here is in bearer currency cards, which can be cashed out in almost every interstellar nation across the galaxy. Do you think that's acceptable?"

The raccoon rubbed his hands together and said, "Extremely acceptable. Why don't you just give us four cards worth one billion each? That way it's just right for the four of us."

"No problem!" With that, Taneleer walked over to a nearby cabinet and opened it to reveal a neatly arranged row of cards.

Just as everyone's attention was drawn to the financial cards, Li Daniù stepped directly in front of the female attendant who had already walked over to the side of the control console.

According to the plot, in order to break free from Taneleer's control, this attendant would grab the Power Stone. Although she herself would be consumed and destroyed by the Power Stone's energy, it would trigger a massive explosion that nearly destroyed the entirety of Knowhere.

"What do you think you're doing?" Li Daniù blocked her path. Of course he wasn't doing it to save her—they were complete strangers, and Li Daniù was no saint; why would he save her? He simply didn't want to be blown to pieces by the Power Stone's energy.

"What do I want to do?" The attendant wore an ecstatic expression as she said, "Naturally, it's to possess power of my own, so I never have to be anyone else's servant or anyone else's collection piece again."

Although Star-Lord and the others had noticed the commotion over here, they had absolute confidence in Li Daniù's strength. Just an attendant—with Li Daniù already blocking her path, what kind of accident could possibly happen?

However, Taneleer, who had just taken out the four bearer cards, cried out in alarm, "No! You cannot possibly withstand its power."

Li Daniù reacted swiftly. Since he had already taken control of the situation and Taneleer was still showing such extreme shock, it meant this alien woman possessed something bizarre. Therefore, without a moment of hesitation, he struck out with a palm toward the attendant, aiming to send her flying.

To Li Daniù's surprise, however, his strike hit empty air.

Turning his head back, he saw that the attendant had already reached out her hand directly toward the Power Stone.

Damn it!

There was no time to figure out how the attendant had pulled that off; Li Daniù rushed straight toward Taneleer. His goal, of course, wasn't to snatch the currency cards, but rather because Taneleer himself was quite miraculous.

Nicknamed the Collector, one of his defining traits was immortality!

Though he didn't know why Taneleer's precognitive and spacetime-travel abilities in the comics hadn't warned him that his attendant would grab the Power Stone, sheltering behind Taneleer when the Power Stone detonated was undoubtedly the wisest course of action.

Just as Li Daniù lunged behind Taneleer, he felt an overwhelmingly terrifying surge of energy erupt behind him.

Before he even had a chance to turn around, Li Daniù felt Taneleer's body crash into him.

With a reverse grip, Li Daniù pinned Taneleer against his back and dived straight into a hollowed-out recess just ahead of them.

"Boom, rumble..."

When the dust finally settled and everything grew quiet, Li Daniù climbed to his feet and discovered that Taneleer had actually passed out, with extensive burns covering his upper body. However, those very wounds were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Li Daniù looked toward the control console and saw that the attendant had completely vanished, while the Power Stone remained steadily suspended between the two metallic hemispheres.

"Good thing that attendant failed to pull the Power Stone completely out; just touching it unleashed a force this immense. If it had hit the floor, then..."

Star-Lord and Gamora, having emerged from wherever they had taken cover, ran over to the control console, snapped the two hemispheres shut, shouted at Li Daniù, and turned to bolt.

Just as Li Daniù prepared to follow, he suddenly noticed that Taneleer was still clutching four intact currency cards in his hand.

"Take them, or leave them?" (To be continued.)