Chapter 397

Heh… You know quite a lot, huh. Indeed, I didn't misjudge you. Now I have no reason not to be frank with everyone. So let's lay out the case, of course… I'll also throw in the story of that Mikhail.

——

Marvel Universe.

I've had enough!

Star-Lord slammed a can of beer onto the table, his angry voice echoing throughout the Milano.

"If we can't find the Eternal Fire Manor, that's fine—" he turned to look out the window; in the distant light curtain of space, Ji Zi and the others were about to learn Mikhail's story, they were extremely close to the truth, yet they still couldn't find Pinokangni's coordinates, just going in circles in space.

"If we don't find Pinokangni soon, the watchmaker's legacy will be found by them! Then we won't even be able to suck the train's exhaust! Damn…… they're not in the galaxy, are they? How can they not even locate a tourist planet? Damn, could this thing be broken?"

Star-Lord angrily tapped the navigation console, trying to physically 'fix' this secondhand junk he'd snatched from the collector.

Drax sat cross-legged in his chair, sharpening his beloved dagger, he looked up and asked: "Could it be that Pinokangni doesn't even exist?"

"You mean… it's an illusion?" Mantis popped her head out from behind the potted plant.

"Not likely." Gamora stared at the floating light curtain in the sky, "We can genuinely feel the influence of the Yellow Spring; that's enough to prove the world inside the light curtain is real—even the light curtain itself might be the work of a star god. Moreover, the light curtain seems to carry a hint of a star god's power; otherwise… we wouldn't have piloted our ship for two months without even brushing against the light curtain's edge."

"I get it!"

Rocket suddenly poked his head out of the cockpit, face full of excitement: "It's a parallel universe! I should've thought of that earlier! The employees of the Interstellar Peace Company inside the light curtain were just about to slap ads on toilet seats, yet we haven't seen a single ad. How could that be?"

"Well, indeed…"

Rocket's words did indeed offer a more reasonable explanation. His adoptive father Thanos had roamed countless star systems, yet she had never heard from him about "star gods" or the "Interstellar Peace Company"; if the light curtain hadn't suddenly appeared in the universe, she would likely still know nothing about star gods to this day.

"OK, then the objective changes—we should immediately find a way to the parallel universe." Star-Lord shouted, raising his arms.

"Hey hey hey, are you crazy?!" Gamora stepped in front of him, "Do you realize their universe is far more dangerous than ours? Their star gods need only a slight gesture to easily destroy countless star systems—do you think we could survive such a catastrophe? We might be cruising in our spaceship one day and be wiped out the next second!!"

"Of course~" Star-Lord pulled out a palm-sized box from behind him; everyone present fell silent at once, they all knew what was inside.

——Power Gem.

"Gamora, don't rush…… we have this." Star-Lord proudly waved the box in front of Gamora, "We're not planning to do anything evil, but with this thing, we won't say we'll kill the emissaries, but at least we can save our lives in a crisis."

"In a crisis…… are you referring to the universal locust plague or the battle between the emissaries?" Gamora glared at him angrily, "If we truly reach the 'crisis' you speak of, will you even have the chance to pull this thing out?"

——

""First, let's state the conclusion: based on the family's clues, this Liuying is definitely not a local, nor an invited guest. In other words… she is a bona fide stowaway.""

""Jia La He sighed helplessly: 'I was also fooled by this girl, truly showing my age. However, at the Star of Celebration, stowaway isn't that rare, nor is it hard to investigate. Afterwards we started tracking from both dreams and reality, but the result… there's only one piece of bad news, and it's the most headache-inducing.''"

""This little girl has vanished from the human world, leaving no trace in dreams, and her body cannot be found in reality—it's as if she never came to Pinokangni.""

"San Yue Qi covered her mouth in shock: 'Ah? This doesn't mean…'"

""【Death】 completely annihilated her…"

""Impossible." Jia La He shook his head in denial, "The problem now isn't 'she died,' but 'she seems to have never appeared.' I'll say it straight: this girl's situation… let alone you, even the Hound family has never seen anything like this."

"Ji Zi keenly noticed the clue in the words: '【First time】… so in Pinokangni, does 【Death】 indeed exist?'"

""You've all seen it; what's there to hide? A city with a glamorous façade surely has an unsavory underside—I needn't say more about adult matters."

"Jia La He shook his head: 'But if you just base your doubts on this, it's too naïve. Even in sweet dreams there are accidental deaths—so what? This extremely low-probability event… would affect only a handful of people.'"

""If you truly want to dig into this case, you first need to understand the family's real 【difficulty】."

——

Silver Soul.

"Nooo—!!"

"The Odd-Jobs Agency again let out an inhuman wail, startling the few birds perched on the eaves; passersby were all startled, but lately they've grown accustomed to it."

"If she's gone, who's gonna fill the vacancy for that heavenly‑descended girl I lack? Now she and Xing are doing great!"

"Shen Le chewed on pickled kelp calmly beside them: 'Yin Sang, she's not dead—she's just completely vanished, A Lu.'"

"Hey, you listening to yourself? Is that even human speech? Total disappearance is worse than death." Yin Shi sprang up from the sofa with a koi‑fish flip, "If she died, at least there'd be a chance to revive in Pinokangni's dreams, but if her body's gone, does that mean… she doesn't even have ashes left?! Ahhh, memory‑domain meme, give me back my Liuying!"

"Xin Ba adjusted his glasses: 'If this heavenly‑descended Liuying disappears, does that mean… the childhood‑sweetheart side wins completely?'"

"Who's the childhood sweetheart?" Yin Shi stared blankly at Xin Ba.

"Somewhat… uh, kinda fits the condition… probably San Yue Qi?"

"Yin Shi shook Xin Ba's shoulders violently, trying to even out his brains: 'Damn it! San Yue Qi is Xing's close sister‑brother! What are you thinking?!'"

"Yin Sang, but at this point Liuying's heavenly‑descended identity can't possibly protect her anymore, right?" Shen Le spread her hands, "Unless she obtains an identity that's invincible in all those party‑conflict animations—just having it guarantees a massive win—the heavenly‑descended childhood sweetheart!"