Slaughter

Chapter 161: Slaughter

Sakaar?

Hearing Bai Bo’s explanation, Kyle froze for a moment. He looked again at the mountains of garbage stretching across the landscape, and understanding finally dawned in his eyes.

No wonder it had looked so familiar. This was the lost land known as the "Cosmic Junkyard," where Hulk and Thor had both ended up.

Bai Bo pointed a claw overhead at the scattered small, colorful wormholes in the sky and added, "This planet’s space is extremely unstable. Countless wormholes surround and blanket the sky. These unstable wormholes occasionally connect to all parts of the universe, and some civilized planets even use them as perfect dumping grounds for garbage."

"You mean… when I crossed the stars, I passed through an opened wormhole and got dumped in here as trash?"

Kyle tugged at the corner of his mouth. As if recalling something, he spread open his left hand and looked at it. A clear burn mark left by the Space Primordial Stone remained on his palm, but the Infinity Stone itself was nowhere to be seen.

His thoughts quickly sank into Card Space. After confirming it to no avail, Kyle’s heart sank slightly.

Not only had he lost Venom and his equipment, but even the Space Primordial Stone, crucial for traveling through the stars?

Seeing that Kyle looked troubled, Bai Bo softly comforted him. "Sir, there’s no need to be sad. Any lost life, from high-ranking celestial gods to lowly creatures, once caught in a wormhole vortex, can hardly escape the fate of being exiled here."

Was that supposed to be comforting?

Kyle glanced at the little beast and shook his head helplessly. Looking toward the small wormhole that had returned to normal and the mountain of garbage he had crawled out of, he asked in confusion, "Wait. Another friend fell into the wormhole vortex with me. Why did only I appear here? Why didn’t it fall here with me?"

"That’s normal." Bai Bo raised a claw. Recalling the catastrophic scene of the giant wormhole vortex just now, it patted its chest in lingering fear. "That was a Crimson Warp Vortex, known as the ‘Devil’s Cave.’"

Bai Bo paused, then continued, "It formed from the collapse of a Neutron Star. Sometimes it isn’t purely a Space Wormhole; a Time Wormhole is often layered beneath it. Even if you fall into the eye of the vortex at the same time, though the destination is fixed here, there’s no telling who will arrive first or later."

"A Space-Time Wormhole?" Kyle had a slight headache, but he calmly asked, "How far apart could the time difference be?"

Bai Bo held up two little fingers. "One or two weeks…" Kyle was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when it quickly added, "Or one or two years."

Kyle: "…"

The gap between one or two years and one or two weeks was way too huge, wasn’t it?!

If Venom needed that long to arrive here, then before his Gene Disease could be treated, grass would already be three meters high over his grave!

"Forget it. Even though I haven’t arrived where I wanted to be, as long as this is a habitable planet with alien life, there’s a chance Ability Cards capable of changing fate exist here."

"For now, I should establish myself here first and explore this planet."

Once Kyle thought that through, his mood gradually calmed. His gaze fell on Bai Bo as he sized it up from head to toe.

Under that slightly sharp gaze, Bai Bo’s fur stood on end. It took a step back and trembled as it said, "Um, I’m only a low-grade modified creature. My meat doesn’t actually taste very good."

The universe was vast, and all sorts of bizarre races existed. Much less Sakaar, this lawless land—under the primal struggle for survival and resources, hunting creatures as food was commonplace.

"I’m not interested in eating you." Kyle shrugged. "Bai Bo, I’d like to make a deal with you."

"What deal?" Bai Bo’s ears perked up as it looked at Kyle suspiciously. "You just got here, so you probably don’t have Sakaar currency, and right now you…"

Bai Bo swept its gaze over Kyle, who wore nothing but underwear and held only two Laser Guns. It hesitated, not daring to say the words "poor bastard."

Kyle seemed to see through its thoughts. Raising his chin, he gestured toward the nearby garbage mountain. "I’ll use that garbage mountain to trade with you."

"What did you say?" Bai Bo jumped in anger. "I thought you were going to use the spoils from killing those five scavengers as the trade."

"From the beginning until now, you’ve been eyeing that garbage mountain, haven’t you? That new garbage mountain hasn’t been searched yet, so it’s worth quite a bit." Kyle looked calmly at Bai Bo and said meaningfully, "You didn’t show yourself earlier because you wanted to come back and collect trash after I left, right? You’re a scavenger too."

"This…" Having his little scheme exposed by Kyle, Bai Bo scratched its head awkwardly. After thinking it over, it gritted its teeth and said, "One High-Pressure Laser Gun, plus the first search rights to that new garbage mountain, and I’ll agree to the deal."

"No problem." Kyle readily tossed one of the Laser Guns in his hand over.

Bai Bo easily caught the Laser Gun, which was larger than its own body, and slung it diagonally across its back. It considered for a moment before saying, "You’re a pretty decent person. You didn’t force me. Tell me, what do I need to give?"

Kyle smiled. "I need a guide. A guide who can help me understand this planet and properly settle down here."

At an unknown time, in a junkyard somewhere on Sakaar.

As small wormholes in the sky sporadically scattered small pieces of trash, a spherical object pieced together from a metal bracer, a strange ring, an Energy Pistol, and other items fell from above. It crashed into a river of garbage, splashing up a few ripples.

"Hm?" A lone humanoid scavenger nearby looked up and happened to see it. It immediately rushed into the river, heedless of the filth as it frantically fished around in the water.

Before long, the humanoid scavenger excitedly pulled up the ball of fused objects and repeatedly wiped it clean with its cloak.

With a slight pull, the humanoid scavenger tore the Vibranium Bracer away from the spherical mass, dragging out several sticky black strands tangled around it. They were so tough that they could not be torn apart.

"There seems to be something inside?" the humanoid scavenger muttered in confusion. Holding the spherical object in both hands, it brought its eyes close to the opening, wanting to peer at what was inside.

Whoosh!

Black liquid burst from the spherical object like exploding pulp, clinging to the humanoid scavenger’s face like an octopus. Without even letting out a wail, the humanoid scavenger whimpered and fell stiffly into the garbage river, its limbs constantly struggling and flailing against the trash and water.

Gurgle, gurgle…

The humanoid scavenger’s body sank to the bottom, releasing a few bubbles. Then it suddenly shot upright again. A layer of black keratinous membrane covered its entire body. Its muscles bulged explosively, making it several times taller and stronger, while its facial features twisted into something monstrous and terrifying.

"Finally free of that man…"

The humanoid monster bared its fangs in a savage grin, its voice hoarse and violent. "I refuse to be Venom anymore!"

"I am—Carnage!!"