A Difficult Choice

"There’s no need to be so nervous. I’m Worldmind. I control Quill’s body, and I obtained Quill’s authorization to do so."

Worldmind knew that these people were his host’s companions and potential candidates to become Nova warriors, so it showed no hostility.

"Impossible!" Rocket screamed. "How could an egomaniac like Quill ever allow someone else to control his body?"

"Tell us the truth. What did you do to Quill?"

Drax charged forward, brandishing his twin blades and intending to take Quill down first.

Groot hurried to help, smashing the table toward him before tightly wrapping Quill in his branches.

Rocket pulled out a stun gun, preparing to knock Quill out without hurting him.

But they were far too weak. With a casual movement, Worldmind broke Groot’s branches free.

The stun gun struck his body, sending sparks flashing, but it had no effect. As for Drax, Worldmind casually struck him down with a single hand, without the slightest effort.

Before they lost consciousness, they only saw Worldmind say something to the Kree warriors in the room.

Then he walked over and dragged them away with Nova Energy.

By the time Rocket woke up, it was already broad daylight the next morning. He looked around and saw everyone lying in the beds of their own bedrooms, as if what had happened the previous night had all been a dream.

In the bathroom, Quill was humming as he washed up. His Walkman was playing his favorite song, "Come and Get Your Love."

Rocket froze for a moment, then sprang up and charged into the bathroom, kicking the figure squarely in the butt.

Quill was completely unharmed, but the recoil numbed Rocket’s foot. With a shriek, he hugged his foot and hopped around in place.

"Haha… Rocket, you brought this on yourself!" Quill turned his head and, seeing Rocket’s miserable state, laughed mockingly.

Although Rocket was being ridiculed, he felt relieved. He carefully examined Quill’s eyes, confirming that the bastard in front of him was the Quill he knew, not Worldmind from the previous night.

"Quill, Worldmind has been controlling your body every night these past few days and going out to cause trouble. You have to dig that thing out of your head."

"Haha… Rocket, you’re still on about that? Have you come up with another excuse this time?" Quill teased Rocket cheerfully.

"I’m telling the truth! We secretly followed you last night and saw you go looking for a Kree warrior. We don’t know what you were plotting."

Rocket was genuinely anxious this time. His face flushed with urgency, and even the fur on his body looked ready to stand on end.

At that moment, Drax and Groot woke up one after another and also entered the bathroom.

Drax held Quill’s head and examined him carefully. Only after confirming that the person was Quill did he relax.

"Quill, Rocket is telling the truth this time. We all saw it last night. You weren’t sleepwalking. You were being controlled!"

"I am Groot!" Groot waved his branches and chimed in from the side.

Hearing that even Drax was saying the same thing, Quill finally realized how serious the problem was. He immediately calmed his mind and called out to Worldmind.

"Hey, WM, is what they’re saying true?" Quill asked tentatively, still clinging to a sliver of hope.

Worldmind’s indifferent reply instantly shattered that last hope.

"It is true. These past few nights, I have been searching for suitable candidates to become Nova warriors and persuading them to join us."

That sounded exactly like an excuse, and Quill immediately shouted, "You’ve got to be kidding! Every day lately, tons of people have come hoping to become Nova warriors, but you’ve rejected every one of them."

"That’s right. Those Ravagers do not meet Nova Energy’s requirements and are unqualified to become Nova warriors. However, many of those who do qualify are Kree warriors unwilling to join the Nova Corps. Therefore, I have to take the initiative and persuade them to join."

Quill knew that becoming a Nova warrior involved certain standards, so he believed Worldmind’s explanation. However, he found its behavior completely unacceptable.

"So you controlled my body?"

"I obtained your authorization, Quill," Worldmind said lightly.

Quill was stunned, but then he realized what Worldmind meant.

"That was during a battle. I needed your help. I thought the authorization would automatically be revoked after the battle ended."

"In fact, it was not." Worldmind did not want to come into conflict with its host, so it deliberately explained, "Every day, I only control your body after you enter a state of sleep to perform my work. This will not cause you any adverse effects."

"No! The fact that you controlled my body is itself the greatest adverse effect."

Quill was nearly driven mad. The difference in values between him and an intelligent life-form like Worldmind was simply too vast to put into words.

"Oh my god, I don’t even know what my own body did while I was asleep. Is there anything more terrifying than that in this world?"

Quill spun around angrily for a long while before finally making a decision.

"You have to leave my body. I’ll find you another host!"

Worldmind was naturally unwilling. "No host will be more suitable than you, Quill."

Quill had made up his mind and did not want to be controlled again. "Then I’ll send you back to the server first. We’ll talk after you’ve found another host."

"Quill, are you sure?" Worldmind’s emotionless voice echoed in Quill’s mind. "The reason the Nova Energy inside you is inexhaustible is entirely because of my existence. If you give me up, the energy inside you will disappear as well. You’ll turn back into the weakling you used to be."

Quill froze immediately.

If he had never experienced that kind of overwhelming power, he would not have cared about a superintelligent AI’s assistance or an unlimited supply of Nova Energy.

But whenever he thought of the nearly omnipotent power he had felt during his battle with Valkyrie, his mind grew intoxicated, and he found himself unable to let go.

In the past, he had never seen what a top-tier powerhouse was like. Among the powerful people he had encountered, the strongest had been his adoptive father, Yondu, who was invincible with a single Yaka Arrow.

Being born a Ravager had set the limit of his vision. He had always been short-sighted.

Although he later offended Ronan and Thanos because of the Orb, he had never truly realized how terrifying those two were.

Ronan was merely backed by a large number of subordinates and a powerful faction.

Thanos’s daughters, Gamora and Nebula, were nothing special either.

Only after he saw Zhan Liu effortlessly kill Yondu did he truly understand the importance of strength.

Yet Quill still could not accurately judge the gap between himself and Zhan Liu. He continued to believe that he could complete his revenge through various tricks and powerful weapons.

It was not until his previous face-to-face battle with Valkyrie that he truly understood what a top-tier powerhouse was, how strong one could be, and what such a person could accomplish.

He also learned for the first time how enormous the gap between top-tier powerhouses could be.

He had thought that Valkyrie, who had displayed such exaggerated combat power, was already inhumanly powerful.

Worldmind, which had assisted this novice like him in overwhelming Valkyrie, was far beyond the limits of strength he could even imagine.

However, according to Worldmind, he still ranked only second aboard the warship.

The true strongest was, without a doubt, Zhan Liu, who idly rolled the Power Stone around like a walnut.

Ignorance was fearlessness.

Precisely because he now truly understood the gap between them, Quill knew that without Worldmind’s help, he would never be able to avenge himself in this lifetime.

Seeing Quill hesitate, Worldmind fell silent, leaving him sufficient time to think.

Rocket and the others watched Quill’s expression shift constantly as he paced around the bathroom with a frown, and they were all worried about him.

"Quill, that mechanical life-form can’t be trusted. You can’t let it stay in your head anymore. Let’s figure out how to dig it out!"

"Let me think about it! Let me think it through!" Quill waved his hand, deeply conflicted.

"What is there to think about?" Rocket was even more anxious than him. "Anything left behind by those mad scientists is bad news. Whatever he says, don’t believe a word of it. He’s definitely trying to deceive you!"

Rocket himself had been created by certain scientists as a laboratory animal, so he was deeply hostile toward many scientific creations that were not weapons.

"Worldmind, I can allow you to continue staying in my mind, but from now on, you cannot control my body on your own without my authorization!"

Quill ultimately compromised. He could not do without the Nova Energy Worldmind provided or the assistance of its supercomputer.

"All right. I agree to your request. I won’t control your body without permission again."

Quill let out a long breath and said to the others, "All right, everyone, don’t worry. WM and I have reached an agreement. He won’t control my body without permission again."

"Hey, Quill!" Rocket was frantic, afraid that Quill had been deceived. He jumped in front of him, spread his arms, and urged, "Don’t believe the promises he makes to you. They’re definitely lies!"

"If he could control you without permission once, he’ll definitely do it a second time. With this kind of thing, there’s only zero times or countless times!"

"All right, Rocket." Quill knew that Rocket meant well, so he hugged him and soothed him. "Thanks for worrying about me, but he controlled my body because I authorized him during my last battle and forgot to revoke the authorization afterward. I’ll be more careful from now on and won’t forget to revoke it again."

"You really did authorize him?"

Rocket was an engineer, so of course he understood the role of permissions in technology. Remembering that Worldmind had personally said the previous night that it had obtained Quill’s authorization, it seemed that the mechanical life-form truly had not gone out of control. Rocket felt somewhat reassured, but he still did not really trust Worldmind’s promise.

"Are you sure he didn’t bypass the authorization and slip some other terms into the agreement?"

"Uh… Rocket, WM isn’t a simple computer program. He’s a supercomputer, an intelligent life-form, and he has wisdom. We have a verbal agreement between us. There aren’t any contracts or clauses."

"That’s even worse. It means he can learn to lie just like humans!"

"I believe him, Rocket. WM needs me to help rebuild the Nova Corps and restore Xandar. He won’t lie to me." Quill knew he could not abandon Worldmind, so he could only choose to trust it. Now he began persuading Rocket instead.

Hearing Quill say that, Rocket had no choice but to give up. He drooped his ears, listlessly hopped down from the counter, and sighed. "When you get cheated and suffer for it, you’ll remember that I warned you."

"I will, Rocket." Quill was very familiar with Rocket’s temperament, so he hurriedly smoothed his fur and comforted him. "If WM deceives me, I’ll ask you for help. We’ll dig him out of my head and smash him to pieces."

"All right."

Rocket quickly recovered from his dejection. His goofy nature returned in full force as he suddenly realized something.

"Quill, so… the reason you were so powerful last time, strong enough to beat that violent Valkyrie woman, was entirely because you activated a cheat?"

Quill was embarrassed by Rocket suddenly bringing up the subject, but he remained adamant. He absolutely could not admit it.

"Uh… ahem, well, it was mainly thanks to my own efforts. WM only provided a little assistance."

Just as Quill understood Rocket, Rocket understood Quill. The moment he saw Quill’s expression, he knew the truth.

"Hehe, guess whether I believe you?" Rocket nudged Quill with his elbow and grinned mischievously.

"Doesn’t it feel strange to have an extra life inside your body? Like being pregnant."

"Uh…" Quill did find it somewhat strange, but the benefits were simply too great for him to give up.

Drax and Groot also burst out laughing when they heard Rocket use pregnancy to describe Quill’s current condition. After resolving the danger Quill posed, they were more than happy to watch him make a fool of himself.

The group of malicious friends mocked each other for a while before finally putting the matter behind them. They left the room arm in arm and headed to the dining hall together.

Because of the agreement between Worldmind and Quill, it could no longer go out at night to recruit Nova warriors. It had no choice but to accompany Quill during the day and visit the various areas of the warship to persuade people.

As a result, Quill spent far less time with Rocket and the others during the day, only returning to sleep at night.

But precisely because of this, the group’s wariness toward Worldmind gradually decreased instead.

That night, once again, the warship fell into silence in the dead of night.

Quill, fast asleep, suddenly opened his eyes again. His fingertips moved lightly, and a strange stream of Nova Energy spread from them, covering the others in the room and making their already deep sleep even deeper.

A moment later, Quill rose, quietly put on his clothes, opened the door again, and left the bedroom.