Became a Cosmic Celebrity by Accident

A battered, unremarkable transport ship quietly departed Planet CY-27, vanishing without a trace as it passed through a spatial node.

It was the ship of Zereel, leader of the Chitauri. It had been disguised as an ancient vessel to avoid attracting attention, but its actual performance was formidable, armed to the teeth.

The transport ship was enormous. Russell moved the Cybertron jet fighter into its cargo hold and evacuated Planet CY-27 at top speed.

Earlier, he had gone all out in outer space and destroyed eight Black Order warships. The remaining ships surrounding the planet had all retreated. In truth, most of their fleet was still at the Chitauri homeworld; only a small portion had come here.

That was precisely why Russell wanted to leave quickly. Wars between cosmic civilizations were not limited to trading ship cannon fire. There were also gravity-collapse bombs capable of destroying entire planets.

He had several powerful cards on hand, but no matter how powerful they were, they could not withstand a black hole. A strategic retreat was the right call at a time like this!

Half a day later, dozens of Black Order warships surrounded Planet CY-27. Dense air and ground forces were deployed, and only after finding the broken Golden Blade did they begin withdrawing one by one.

At the far end of the starry expanse, within a sprawling asteroid field, lay the Sanctuary Dark Domain.

A black throne floated in midair. A purple-skinned figure clad entirely in golden armor stared into space. He possessed an extraordinarily powerful physique, and even while remaining perfectly still, his body constantly radiated suffocating, surging power.

Thanos!

A cosmic tyrant whose mighty strength intimidated the universe, a notoriously dangerous figure whom countless interstellar civilizations dared not provoke!

Several figures stood scattered beneath the throne, each emanating a powerful aura.

"Thanos, my master, we found Corvus Glaive, but… he has already fallen." A soldier knelt before the throne, holding the blade high above his head with both hands.

"That is impossible. Who killed him?"

A voluptuous female alien in battle armor stepped out from the shadows. She held a golden spear, her sky-blue hair tied behind her. Her helmet covered her face, revealing only a pair of eyes burning with rage.

Ebony Maw!

One of the Black Order, utterly loyal to Thanos—perhaps even the most loyal of them all. At the same time, she had been Corvus Glaive’s lover. Because of Russell, she was now a widow.

Widow was a bit of an exaggeration. It was more accurate to say she had lost her partner and was now forcibly single!

The floating throne turned around. Thanos coldly examined the broken blade, then glanced at the soldier prostrating himself on the ground. "Who was it? Who killed him?"

An immense pressure descended. The soldier did not dare speak and tremblingly activated his arm terminal, projecting footage recorded on Planet CY-27.

In the silent footage, Russell appeared. From the Outriders falling like dominoes, to him unleashing Infinite Reload Cero and Wolf Pack to crush the warships, and finally entering outer space to destroy all eight ships, every detail was displayed clearly.

The footage ended there, freezing on a magnified image of Russell’s face, his cold eyes chillingly sharp. Alien technology was impressive; the image quality was so clear that even his individual eyelashes could be counted.

The Sanctuary fell silent. The figures in the shadows were shocked by the terrifying destructive force Russell had displayed, while even Ebony Maw, who was the angriest of them all, said nothing.

Only Thanos’s expression remained unchanged. "Who is he? Have you discovered his identity?"

"We found one identity. His name is Jason, and he is Kree," the soldier hurriedly replied. "But after verification, we discovered it was a false identity. The Kree Empire has no such person."

"Keep looking. Expand the search. Turn the universe upside down if you must, but find him!"

"Yes, my master!"

The floating throne turned toward the starry universe. Light shone upon the Infinity Gauntlet on Thanos’s left hand, where a gem gleamed with deadly radiance.

"Have you found the Chitauri leader?"

"No. There has not been a single word of him."

"Destroy their homeworld. Send Corvus off properly…"

Kontraxia!

Russell received the batch of supplies he had ordered in planetary orbit. He was a celebrity now, and showing his face too easily would draw overwhelming attention.

The Black Order had issued a bounty across the galaxy. Russell’s head carried an astronomical reward, so huge that even he found it tempting to look at. If not for everyone’s earnest attempts to dissuade him, he would already have gone to Thanos to exchange himself for the money.

In addition to Russell, Natasha and Zereel were also placed on the bounty list, along with Jason. That deadpan face hidden beneath a mask was marked dead or alive.

Thanks to the Black Order’s publicity, Russell’s feat of single-handedly destroying nine warships and killing Corvus Glaive spread like wildfire throughout the galaxy. Countless factions were searching for him. Many coveted his strength and wanted to recruit or join him. Even more were after the money; as long as they discovered and confirmed his whereabouts, they could collect a massive reward from the Black Order.

"I accidentally became a cosmic celebrity. How am I supposed to maintain my usual low-profile style from now on? Tell me, would it be a good idea to take a selfie and send it to the Dark Church for some pocket money?" Russell swallowed hard as he stared at the reward amount before finally looking away.

Natasha turned her head, unwilling to offer an opinion. Her boss was acting like an idiot again. It happened several times a day, so she was used to it!

In truth, Russell was very wealthy now. Following the principle that a subordinate’s belongings belonged to the boss, while the boss’s belongings still belonged to the boss, Zereel’s entire private treasury had been confiscated and now bore Russell’s name.

The wealth accumulated by a civilization over countless years, intended as startup capital to revive their race—just thinking about it showed how substantial his assets were.

"Chief, all the equipment has been handed over. The quantities are correct. We inspected them, and there are no tracking devices aboard the transport ships. They are safe," the Chitauri soldier reported with a salute.

Hearing his subordinate’s report, Zereel nodded and waved him away. Turning back with a smile, he said, "My master, your supplies are ready. It is time to depart."

Russell put away his money-grubbing expression and asked coldly, "Have all the transport ships been taken over?"

"They have. We have replaced their crews with our own people."

"Good. Set off!" Russell nodded and snapped his fingers.

On Kontraxia, Selovi the Skrull—Russell’s first subordinate in space—suddenly became vacant-eyed and dazedly opened his office drawer.

He took out a miniature remote-controlled bomb, sat down on it, and pressed the button. He was blasted into the air and blown to pieces on the spot.

He was an unstable factor, and there was little point in taking him along. Aside from his identity as a black-market merchant, he had no value to Russell.

To prevent their whereabouts from being leaked, Selovi could only be asked to make this sacrifice!

"Scan for spatial nodes. We are returning to Earth. Natasha, you will pilot the ship. We are not in a hurry this time, so treat it as practice." After saying that, Russell closed his eyes to rest. Koyata Stark’s Character Card was extremely useful; the system had evaluated that he had learned a permanent skill.