Chapter 160 Slaughter

Sakaar?

Hearing Baibo's explanation, Kyle paused, then looked around once more at the endless mountains of trash. A glimmer of understanding finally dawned in his eyes.

No wonder it looked so familiar; this was the legendary lost world known as the "cosmic dumping ground," where both the Hulk and Thor had once ended up.

Baibo pointed a claw toward the sky at the scattered, small, colorful wormholes, adding, "The space around this planet is extremely unstable, with countless wormholes enveloping the skies. These unstable wormholes connect to various parts of the universe from time to time, and certain civilized worlds use them as the perfect garbage disposal sites."

"You mean, when I was crossing interstellar space, I passed through an active wormhole and was dumped here like trash?"

Twitching the corner of his mouth as if recalling something, Kyle spread open his left hand. A faint burn mark left by the Space Stone still lingered on his palm, but the Infinity Stone itself was nowhere to be found.

Quickly plunging his consciousness into the card space to double-check with no results, Kyle felt his heart sink.

Not only were Venom and his equipment missing, but even the Space Stone, which was crucial for traversing the stars, was lost?

Seeing Kyle's gloomy expression, Baibo offered gentle comfort, "Mister, do not be sad. All lost lives, from higher Celestials down to lower organisms, once they encounter a wormhole vortex, cannot escape the fate of being exiled here."

Was that supposed to be comforting?

Kyle glanced at the small beast, shook his head helplessly, and looked back at the small wormhole that had returned to its original state and the mountain of trash he had just climbed out of. He asked doubtfully, "Wait. Another companion of mine fell into the wormhole vortex with me. Why am I the only one who appeared here? It didn't drop down with me."

"That is normal." Baibo raised a paw, recalling the catastrophic scene of the giant wormhole vortex just moments ago, and patted its chest with lingering fear. "That was the crimson transport vortex known as the 'Devil's Cave'."

Baibo paused, then continued, "It is formed by the collapse of a cosmic neutron star. Sometimes it is not a purely spatial wormhole; temporal wormholes are frequently stacked beneath it. Even if one falls into the vortex eye simultaneously, the exit point here is fixed, but who arrives sooner or later is completely unpredictable."

"A spacetime wormhole?" Kyle felt a slight headache and calmly asked, "What is the potential time gap?"

Baibo held up two small fingers. "One or two weeks..." Just as Kyle was about to breathe a sigh of relief, it quickly added, "Or a year or two."

Kyle: "..."

The difference between a year or two and a week or two was just a bit too massive!

If Venom took that long to get here, he, still uncured of his genetic disease by then, would already have grass growing three meters high on his grave!

"Never mind that for now. Although this isn't an ideal location, as long as it's a habitable planet with alien life forms, there's a probability of obtaining ability cards that can rewrite my fate."

"For now, I need to get a foothold here first, explore, and study this planet."

With this thought, Kyle's mood gradually settled. His gaze fell back on Baibo, and he looked it up and down.

Under that sharp, piercing gaze, Baibo's fur stood on end, and it took a step back, trembling slightly, "Um, I'm just a low-level modified organism, and my meat doesn't actually taste very good."

The outer space universe was vast, filled with all sorts of bizarre species, let alone an outlawed place like Sakaar. Amidst a primitive struggle for survival and resources, being hunted as food was a common occurrence.

"I have no interest in eating you." Kyle shrugged and said, "Baibo, I want to strike a deal with you."

"What kind of deal?" Baibo pricked up its ears, looking at Kyle suspiciously. "You just arrived here, so you probably don't have any Sakaaran currency, and right now you..."

Baibo swept its gaze over Kyle, who was wearing only a pair of shorts and holding two laser firearms, trailing off. It didn't dare voice the word "pauper."

As if reading its thoughts, Kyle raised his chin, gestured toward the neighboring pile of trash, and said, "I'll trade this mountain of trash with you."

"What did you say?" Baibo jumped up, indignantly saying, "I thought you were going to use the spoils from taking down those five scavengers just now as currency."

"From the moment we met, haven't you been eyeing that mountain of trash? That new mountain hasn't been scavenged yet, and its gold content shouldn't be low." Kyle looked calmly at Baibo, speaking meaningfully, "You didn't show up earlier because you intended to wait until I left before coming back to collect the trash—you must be a scavenger yourself."

"This..." Having his little scheme seen through by Kyle, Baibo awkwardly scratched its head. After thinking for a moment, it gritted its teeth and said, "One high-pressure laser firearm, plus the primary scavenging rights to this new trash mountain, and I'll agree to the deal."

"No problem." Kyle readily tossed one of the laser firearms in his hand across.

Baibo easily caught the laser gun, which was larger than its own body, slung it diagonally across its back, and mused, "You're a pretty good guy for not forcing me. Tell me, what do I need to do?"

Kyle smiled and said earnestly, "I need a tour guide, someone who can help me understand this planet and officially establish a foothold here."

...

At an unknown time, in a certain scrapyard on Sakaar.

As small pieces of debris drifted down sporadically from the small wormholes in the sky, a spherical object composed of interlocking metal armbraces, strange rings, and energy pistols plunged downward, splashing into a river of trash.

"Hmm?" A lone humanoid scavenger nearby raised his head just in time to see this scene. Unable to resist, he rushed hurriedly into the channel, too busy to care about the filth as he frantically fished around in the water.

After a short moment, the humanoid scavenger excitedly hauled up the clumped, assembled object, rubbing it clean with his cloak.

With a firm tug, the humanoid scavenger ripped the vibranium armbrace away from the spherical object, pulling along several resilient, sticky black threads wrapped around the armbrace that refused to snap.

"It looks like there's something inside?" the humanoid scavenger muttered in confusion. Holding the spherical object with both hands, he brought his eyes close to the gap, trying to peek at what was inside.

*Whoosh!*

Black liquid erupted from the spherical object like an explosion, instantly latching onto the humanoid scavenger's face like an octopus. The humanoid scavenger didn't even have time to scream before he whimpered and toppled straight into the river channel, his limbs twitching and thrashing against the debris and water.

*Glub, glub...*

The humanoid scavenger's body sank to the bottom of the river, emitting a few bubbles, before suddenly surging back up. His entire body was now covered by a layer of black chitinous membrane, his muscles bulging massively. He looked several times taller and stronger, and his facial features were monstrously ferocious and terrifying.

"Finally got rid of that man..."

The humanoid monster grinned ferociously, making a hoarse, feral sound, "I refuse to be Venom ever again!"

"I am—Carnage!!"