Ronan’s Miserable Defeat

This time, the Grandmaster had gotten smarter. He teleported straight to the other side of Sakaar, then appeared before Zhan Liu through a projection.

"Your strength is formidable. There is no opponent on Sakaar capable of completing the Contest of Champions with you. What a pity."

"I hereby officially declare that you are the champion of this Contest of Champions!"

"Cheer, young man!"

"As your reward, I will grant your wish."

"The spaceship and star map you wanted are in the dock beneath Exit 46. You can go collect them whenever you like."

The Grandmaster’s shamelessness made Zhan Liu especially want to beat him up.

He had clearly been the one beaten senseless, yet he put on the airs of a game operator. His stubborn refusal to admit defeat was almost on par with Tony Stark’s.

All one could say was that a shameless person was invincible.

Zhan Liu was thinking about returning to Earth and had no time to waste here with him, but he was somewhat unwilling to let him off just like that. He glanced at the warships that kept bombarding him with their main guns, then his figure flickered. In an instant, he released more than ten thousand fireworks across the sky.

The shattered warships fell like rain, adding quite a bit of income to the wanderers below.

With these Grandmaster’s loyal lapdogs gone, it would be much harder for him to suppress the bottom-dwelling desperadoes. Zhan Liu spent a little more time clearing out all of the Grandmaster’s followers, then used another projection to deliver a speech to all the wanderers.

"All of you who were enslaved by that bastard, the Grandmaster!"

"I hereby officially announce to you!"

"The Grandmaster’s rule over Sakaar has come to a complete end!"

"You’re free!"

"If you want to leave, just find a spaceship and go!"

"Let that bastard Grandmaster stay alone on this lousy planet… and go play with himself!"

"Haha…"

Following Zhan Liu’s announcement, the wanderers indeed discovered that all the major forces that had once maintained order on the planet had disappeared. Everyone began cheering, their voices shaking the heavens.

Zhan Liu dusted off his hands and went to the dock beneath Passage 46 to collect his spaceship. As for the Grandmaster, unless he personally entered the fray, he could only go around arguing with those people about some sort of "revolution" for a draw, just like in the movie.

When he reached the dock, he discovered that the spaceship was quite luxurious.

The Grandmaster was quite generous, after all. The spaceship was equipped with every kind of entertainment device imaginable.

Once aboard, Zhan Liu discovered that there was already an unwelcome guest here.

Valkyrie wore a fawning smile.

"Boss, I think you might need a pilot… or a steward would work too."

She had slipped away at the very start of the battle. She had witnessed the power of top-tier experts in the past, so when everyone else rushed to surround Zhan Liu, she had hidden far away to watch the show.

Later, after the battle ended, the Grandmaster said that there was a warship here for Zhan Liu. She had an idea and ran over, hoping to hitch a ride off the planet with him.

Her fall to this place had been an accident, and she certainly did not want to remain here forever. However, her strength was insufficient to escape Sakaar, so she had been forced to endure it all this time. Now that she had seen an opportunity, she naturally would not miss it.

When Zhan Liu began clearing out the Grandmaster’s subordinates, Valkyrie felt a chill in her heart and was terrified in retrospect. If she had not hidden near the spaceship, she would surely have ended up like those unlucky bastards below and been cleared out as well.

As for staying here and risking Zhan Liu killing her when he saw her, she could only take a gamble. Even if it was dangerous, she had no other choice.

Fortunately, Valkyrie had won her gamble. Zhan Liu had no intention of killing her.

"Start the ship!"

"Destination: Earth."

When Valkyrie heard Zhan Liu’s order, she breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to start the ship.

Zhan Liu found a random place to sit and took a bottle of liquor. The color was quite vivid, and he had no idea what planet it came from. He took two sips straight from the bottle and found the taste quite good. It had to be said that after living for so many years, the Grandmaster was very particular about food and drink.

The spaceship started up rapidly and charged upstream through Passage 46.

Zhan Liu turned his head and looked down. A flow of people, tiny as ants, surged into the city’s skyscrapers and began looting everything in sight. Only a very small number of people went to pick through the wreckage of the warships and piece together new ones.

Even without the Grandmaster’s rule, the more likely outcome was the formation of new classes rather than people escaping on spaceships.

But whatever happened to this planet in the future was no longer Zhan Liu’s concern. He had already entered the spatial passage with the spaceship and begun a spatial jump.

After his spaceship left Sakaar, everyone was busy seizing weapons, food, luxuries, and other things they could usually only look at but never touch. They had long since forgotten the pile of metal junk that had first triggered all this upheaval.

In a corner forgotten by everyone, a pair of eyes flashed with a dim red light on a damaged metal head. On the other side of the trash heap, a strange insect slowly crawled out of the ground. Its antennae waved several times in the air, then it crawled forward, following the scent of blood.

After dozens of consecutive jumps, Valkyrie’s body was beginning to reach its limit. She switched the spaceship to autopilot, then dragged her exhausted body out of the cockpit and into the lounge. She took a large bottle of liquor from the cabinet and downed it in one go.

Only after finishing it did she let out a long breath. "Whew, I’m finally alive again!"

She staggered to the sofa, sat down beside Zhan Liu, and said with a giggle, "Boss, are you from Earth? Since when did Earth have someone as powerful as you? I feel like you’re even stronger than Odin, the All-Father."

"Odin was truly powerful when he was young. As for now… he’s old." Zhan Liu raised his glass toward Valkyrie. Drinking with two people was far more comfortable than drinking alone.

Having someone to drink with, especially a beautiful woman who had to carefully flatter and curry favor with him, made the liquor especially enjoyable.

The two drank happily and chatted about everything under the sun. The atmosphere grew better and better, and they sat closer and closer until they finally overlapped. Everything followed naturally, like water flowing into a channel. Zhan Liu was satisfied, and Valkyrie was relieved.

After establishing this intimate relationship, Valkyrie at least no longer had to worry all day that she would lose her usefulness and be slapped to death one day. Zhan Liu was merely satisfying his physical needs when Natasha was not around. The two were simply bedmates, just like Natasha—purely physical, with no emotional attachment.

Sakaar was in a remote corner of the universe, very far from Earth.

Despite making multiple jumps, they were still nowhere near their destination.

One day, after the jump ended and the spaceship switched back to autopilot, Zhan Liu and Valkyrie sat together again, drinking and flirting, having a wonderful time.

Just as their passion was reaching its height, the spaceship suddenly shook, and an alarm rang out.

"Damn it!"

Zhan Liu cursed under his breath, then got up and went with Valkyrie to the cockpit next door. Valkyrie operated the spaceship while Zhan Liu sat in the copilot’s seat.

Through the spaceship’s monitoring equipment, they saw a small craft fleeing desperately behind them, with a large group of fighter jets in pursuit. The fighters attacked with laser cannons as they chased it. The spaceship’s recent tremor had been caused by a stray shot.

It was pure bad luck.

The universe was vast, and the distances between spaceships were enormous. Even a carefully aimed shot might miss, so the fact that Zhan Liu’s spaceship had been hit by a stray shot could only be attributed to poor luck.

Zhan Liu impatiently waved his hand, signaling Valkyrie to move the spaceship aside.

The spaceship was luxurious enough, but it was a civilian vessel, not a warship, and had no weapons system installed. Besides, Zhan Liu could not be bothered with whatever dispute was happening behind them. Who was right or wrong had nothing to do with him.

But when a tree wanted peace, the wind kept blowing. There were always people in this world willing to court death.

The small spaceship flew past, but as the pursuing fighters passed by, several of them suddenly fired toward Zhan Liu’s spaceship.

It was like someone playing a game, passing a wild monster and casually firing a few shots at it.

Then Zhan Liu’s spaceship was unlucky enough to be hit again, and amid a roar from the engines, it lost power.

"Fuck!"

"You’re asking to die!"

Zhan Liu was furious. The earlier stray shot could be considered an accident. He had not gone after them, which was already showing them enough respect, yet they had actually come looking for trouble!

You’re… courting death!

Zhan Liu slapped the door-opening button in front of him, then unfastened his seat belt and shot out, propelled by the vacuum’s pull. Valkyrie was startled and hurriedly fumbled to close the door again.

The fighter group had already gone far away. In the boundless starry sky, they were no longer visible to the naked eye except for their direction. But with a burst of acceleration, Zhan Liu reached a near-light-speed state in the vacuum and quickly caught up.

He dropped directly into the fighter group. Reaching out, he grabbed a small warship and tore open the cockpit. To his surprise, there was no one inside. These powerful warships were all remotely controlled.

Zhan Liu immediately recognized them. They were warships from Sovereign, operated entirely by remote control.

The other warships also discovered their attacker. They scattered at once and unleashed a barrage at Zhan Liu. While he was still fuming, he waved his hand, creating a magnetic vortex that sucked all the remote-controlled fighters inside. They crashed into one another, and every one of them was destroyed in an instant.

Still seething, Zhan Liu flew back to the warship and said directly:

"Turn around and jump toward Sovereign. I’m going over there to settle accounts with them!"

Valkyrie sighed. "Sigh, then you’ll have to be patient. The spaceship’s engine is broken."

Zhan Liu was speechless. He could fly to Sovereign himself at near-light speed, but that would be exhausting and take far too long. Using the spaceship to make a spatial jump would be much easier and save a great deal of distance and time.

"…How long will it take to repair?"

"That question is beyond me. I’m a warrior, not a mechanical engineer." Valkyrie spread her hands and began slacking off.

Zhan Liu sighed and began missing Tony Stark. Someone who could hammer together Iron Armor with nothing but a wrench should have no trouble repairing a broken engine.

"So what do we do now? Is there any way?"

"I’ve already sent out distress signals to the surrounding area. As long as a spaceship passes through this region of space, it will receive the signal and come rescue us." Valkyrie lifted the bottle and began drinking again.

"So we’re just going to wait here?" Zhan Liu was very displeased.

"If you don’t want to wait, there’s another quick way." After taking several sips, Valkyrie handed him the bottle and said with a smile, "According to the star map, the nearest planet with intelligent life is Xandar. You can get out and push the spaceship there. You should arrive in about a month."

Since getting involved with Zhan Liu, Valkyrie had become much more casual when speaking to him. She even dared to tease him now.

Zhan Liu rolled his eyes at her and began wondering whether he should really get out and push the spaceship.

At the same time that the fighter group was completely destroyed, faraway Sovereign’s fleet was watching the fighters pursue their enemy. When the fleet commander saw that every fighter had been wiped out, he flew into a rage.

"Where did that guy come from?"

The adjutant hesitated. "Perhaps he’s an accomplice of the Ravagers? Maybe they ambushed us here in advance?"

"I don’t care whether he’s an accomplice or not. Put out a universal bounty for all of them!"

And so, without knowing it, Zhan Liu became a Ravager.

After spending several days playing every entertainment game on the spaceship with Valkyrie, Zhan Liu finally grew impatient and decided to go to Xandar.

Of course, he was not going to push the spaceship there. That would be absurd. Zhan Liu prepared a spacesuit and enough oxygen for Valkyrie, then carried her as he flew toward Xandar. Without the spaceship weighing him down, they only needed a few days to reach their destination.

Valkyrie was actually quite unwilling, but her arms could not overcome his leg. She could only obediently serve as a leg-hanging accessory while Zhan Liu carried her through space.

Spaceflight was boring to begin with. On the spaceship, they could at least drink and amuse themselves. But when flying through space in a human body, they could not even speak.

Valkyrie had it easy. Carried in his hand, she did not need to do anything. Before setting out, she got herself drunk, closed her eyes, and went to sleep. Zhan Liu could not do that. He had to fly at full speed while keeping track of his direction. Though he had a star map, getting lost in space would make it extremely difficult to find another planet with life.

After flying continuously for two days, Zhan Liu also found it extremely tedious. Then he suddenly discovered a gigantic spaceship traveling in the distant space ahead. His spirits rose, and he hurried over, planning to hitch a ride.

"Accuser, two people are flying toward the mothership. They’re moving very quickly."

Ronan was stroking the warhammer in his hand, immersed in beautiful visions of destroying Xandar and completing his revenge. When he heard the report, he did not even look up and said flatly, "Destroy them."

The adjutant hesitated before explaining, "One of them can fly through space using his physical body. He should be very powerful."

Having found a way to use the Power Stone, Ronan had become so inflated that he believed himself invincible. He even dared provoke Thanos, so how could he care about anyone else? He glanced at the adjutant and said unhappily, "Do I need to care who the enemy is?"

The adjutant shuddered and hurriedly lowered his head. "Understood."

Zhan Liu soon approached the spaceship and could clearly see that it was a massive warship, practically a giant city. But he did not care and charged straight over. Then he saw the warship abruptly open numerous hatches, releasing tens of thousands of fighters. They formed up like a swarm of bees and rushed at him, firing a concentrated barrage.

In the vast universe, there were few truly kind people. Zhan Liu had long expected that the other side would not readily allow him to hitch a ride, and he had never planned to use ordinary means to do so. He had been prepared for battle from the beginning.

Zhan Liu released Astral Energy, enveloping Valkyrie in his hand as well. Without slowing down, he charged straight through the fighters’ laser fire and rammed into the mothership.

Ronan’s mothership was also one of the Kree Empire’s top warships, but its defensive shield was as fragile as an eggshell before Zhan Liu’s impact and was easily shattered.

After breaking through the defensive shield, Zhan Liu stopped beside the warship, cut a hole in its hull with his hand, and crawled inside. He had not rammed straight through because he was afraid of accidentally damaging the warship. He did not want to keep flying through space. It was too tedious.

The Kree Empire was one of the three great empires, with immense military power. As the Accuser, Ronan commanded nothing but elite troops. The moment Zhan Liu entered, he was surrounded by a large number of Kree soldiers, who launched an attack.

These cannon fodder attacks were useless against Zhan Liu, and he could not even be bothered to kill them. Valkyrie, however, became energized. She removed her spacesuit, revealing the battle suit beneath, and pounced at the group of warriors.

Since he had already entered the warship, Zhan Liu claimed ownership of it for himself. He stopped attacking and simply ambled along behind Valkyrie. To her, Zhan Liu was no different from a rabbit, but when clearing out miscellaneous soldiers and monsters, she fought as if she had activated an ultimate battle mode.

By the time the two reached the command center, corpses covered the floor behind them.

Ronan’s face darkened as he looked at the two intruders, thoroughly displeased.

As the Kree Empire’s Accuser, Ronan’s warship had always been synonymous with slaughter and the embodiment of fear. When had an enemy ever killed their way aboard his flagship like this?

He gave a cold snort and slowly rose from the captain’s seat, lifting the warhammer set with the Power Stone. Pointing it at Zhan Liu, he shouted angrily, "You ignorant fool! I will sever all four of your limbs, strip off your skin, let you howl for seven days and seven nights, and then smash your head to pieces!"

Zhan Liu had no Interstellar Translator and was not learned enough to understand the Kree language. He turned to Valkyrie and asked, "What is this idiot saying?"

Valkyrie twirled the short blade in her hand and casually translated it for him.

She had been trapped on Sakaar for many years. When Ronan’s reputation had resounded throughout the universe, she had been drunk every day and had never paid attention. Thus, she only knew that these people were Kree. She did not know that the black-robed man before her was the famous Accuser.

Of course, even if she had known, she would not have cared. After witnessing Zhan Liu’s strength on Sakaar, she no longer took the vast majority of enemies in the universe seriously.

After hearing her translation, Zhan Liu gave a contemptuous laugh. His figure flashed, and he appeared behind Ronan. With his palm held like a blade, he swung several times, instantly severing all four of Ronan’s limbs. The entire process was so fast that Ronan did not react at all.

Only when Ronan’s body crashed heavily to the floor did he realize that his limbs were gone. Excruciating pain reached his mind, and Ronan let out a high-pitched scream.

"Ah… no…"

Ronan lay sprawled on the floor, pale blue blood spreading everywhere. He turned his head and stared at the warhammer lying within arm’s reach. The Power Stone set into it radiated a brilliant purple glow.

Ronan wriggled his body, trying to crawl toward the warhammer, but without his limbs, even moving was difficult.

The other warriors aboard the warship hurriedly attacked the two of them and charged forward, trying to rescue their commander. The remaining soldiers were not worth Zhan Liu’s effort. He found a random place to sit and watched Valkyrie unleash her fury, slaughtering every warrior in the command room.

But the warship was enormous, and warriors continued streaming toward them. Leading them was a bald woman whose body was extremely cyberpunk, with metal and flesh grafted together in countless places. She was quite capable as well, and she fought Valkyrie to a standstill.

Zhan Liu was not idle either. He pointed at Ronan, and Ronan’s skin suddenly split open on its own and peeled outward. Amid Ronan’s repeated screams, it came off his body like a piece of clothing.

"Severing your limbs, stripping your skin, making you howl for seven days and seven nights, smashing your head… These are all the way you chose to die. I will respect your final choice!"

An ordinary person in Ronan’s current state would not live for long. But under the power of Magnetic Field Rotation, he would not die in seven days and seven nights—not even in seven years.

Nearby, Nebula grew more and more alarmed as she fought.

She knew very well how powerful Ronan was. The reason she obediently followed Ronan’s orders was partly because of her adoptive father Thanos’s command, and partly because Ronan’s strength could easily subdue her.

Only a very short time had passed between the enemy boarding the ship and her rushing over to fight. Yet Ronan had already been knocked to the ground. Judging from the state of the floor, his limbs had been severed with ease, leaving him no chance to resist. He had not even had the opportunity to use the Power Stone.

Moreover, this enemy was exceptionally brutal. He actually enjoyed torturing his enemies, making him even more cruel than her adoptive father Thanos.

Nebula was deeply worried that if she fell into the enemy’s hands, her fate would be even worse than Ronan’s.

At present, there was only one hope of turning things around: Ronan’s warhammer lying on the floor. With the Power Stone embedded in it, perhaps it could defeat the enemy. At the very least, it might allow them to die together.