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At this point, Beckman, as if to regain some lost face in front of everyone, immediately puffed out his chest, waved his mechanical right arm assembled from unknown metals, and made a series of exaggerated fighting moves in the air, while continuing, "You didn't see that scene.
At that time, to cover Shanks' boarding, I fought Thor for three hundred rounds.
My Monomolecular Combat Knife was just a tiny bit… truly just a tiny bit, from hitting Thor's neck.
If it wasn't for mjolnir in his hand…"
"Oh, please," the fat pirate who returned with him directly interrupted Beckman's unrealistic bragging, tearing down his facade on the spot.
"You were scared senseless by Thor on the spot.
If Lucky Roo hadn't started the ship in time, we would have all been captured!"
"Hahahaha…"
The tavern erupted in laughter again.
Beckman's face flushed red, exposed, and he was about to retort when a middle-aged man with blue skin all over his body and a red Mechanical Fin Prosthesis on top of his head, sitting next to the man with the rooster comb haircut who had spoken first, asked coldly, "What about the others?
You went with nearly a thousand people this time.
Don't tell me all of them were captured?"
The laughter in the tavern abruptly ceased.
Everyone's gaze focused on the man who spoke—it was Yondu Udonta, the leader of another branch of the Marauders Organization!
Seeing the notorious Yondu look at them, Beckman and his two companions immediately became nervous, fearing they might accidentally anger him and be killed by his unpredictable Yaka Arrow, which kills invisibly.
"Actually, apart from those who were eliminated and those who surrendered to Thor, we managed to escape with two or three hundred people this time, but on the way back, we encountered another accident.
The others…"
At this point, Beckman subconsciously swallowed, his voice trembling slightly, "They were all left in the Warp!"
"The Warp?!"
Whispers immediately broke out among the crowd; clearly, some well-informed space pirates in the tavern were not unfamiliar with the term Warp!
"After escaping Vanaheim, we originally performed a Space Jump according to standard procedure when we reached a nearby Jump Point, but this time… this time it was different."
A trace of fear flashed in Beckman's eyes; due to excessive tension, his constantly trembling fingers began to unconsciously tap the table, producing a series of 'tap, tap-tap, tap' chaotic sounds, causing everyone's nerves to tighten along with him inadvertently.
"Behind the Jump Point was not the destination, but a… a place that shouldn't exist."
"The moment we entered that dimension, I even felt my body… no, it was as if even the spaceship was forcibly shrunk by some great power… And there was no light, no sound, nothing at all… but it also felt like everything was there!"
"You could feel something vast and terrifying in the void, observing you from the shadows, yet you could never see their full form."
Bechman's forehead began to exude a fine layer of cold sweat.
After wiping it away with a trembling hand, he continued, "I could clearly feel that those things… they were neither living beings nor machines.
They were more like… like… like fear itself?!"
"If you look out of the spaceship in that space… even just for a glance, you will stay there forever."
"The three of us, upon noticing the anomaly on the spaceship, immediately activated the autopilot function, then closed all portholes, letting the spaceship proceed automatically…"
Unbeknownst to anyone, the formerly noisy tavern had fallen into a deathly silence, where a pin drop could be heard.
These space pirates, who usually committed all sorts of evil and feared no death, instinctively felt a never-before-seen fear from Beckman's description.
It was an instinctive reaction from their genes to the unknown, the mysterious, and the powerful!
Only Yondu and a young man with golden curly short hair sitting to his right still maintained a calm demeanor.
"Wait a moment, I have a question?"
The golden-haired man tried to keep himself from laughing, asking with a slightly flippant tone, "How did you know that dimension was the Warp?!"
"No, we didn't know," Beckman and his two companions shook their heads in unison.
"But its name appeared directly in our minds!"
"Quill, that's enough," Yondu narrowed his eyes slightly and coldly interrupted Peter Quill, who was about to ask more questions.
He turned to Beckman, urging him impatiently, "Continue… what anomalies did you find there?!"
"Apart from the three of us, all the other crew members on the ship, they all…"
A look of pain appeared on Beckman's face, as if he was reluctant to recall the scene at the time, and his voice was tinged with a choke.
"They seemed to be lured by something, couldn't help but open the porthole and look outside… just one glance, and then I heard a series of screams.
When I opened my eyes again, I found they had… they had all turned into constantly twisting masses of flesh, surging back and forth in the cabin…"
By the end, Beckman abruptly covered his mouth, forcing down the urge to vomit, but he could no longer continue speaking.
The tavern immediately fell into an eerie silence.
Suddenly, a burly man with the same blue skin as Yondu but an ugly, demonic appearance, broke the deadlock with a laugh, "Oh, come on, Beckman, this must be a story you three cowards meticulously fabricated.
I've been traversing this starfield for almost twenty years, and I've never encountered a place like the one you described!"
"Shut up, you rookie!"
Yondu barked sternly, though a hint of doubt also flickered in his eyes, clearly harboring some reservations about the authenticity of this so-called Warp.
"I'm not lying, this is all true, it's our personal experience!"
Beckman's face flushed red as he stood up excitedly, loudly defending himself to the space pirates, "Haven't you also heard about the recent anomalies in the Nine Realms?"
"That sudden, giant vortex called the Eye of Fear is the entrance to the Hyperspace Dimension.
The entire Nine Realms were corrupted by the chaotic energy released from it, and it was Thor who finally suppressed it by forging obelisks with Black Stone…"
"Enough!"
Yondu mercilessly cut him off, and before getting up to leave, he patted the other's shoulder, softly comforting him, "Child, I believe you.
It's your luck to have survived.
Now, go and relax here for a while!"
Then he turned to the other pirates in the tavern, saying with fierce eyes, "Regardless of whether the rumors about the Warp are true or not, this matter ends here… If I find anyone trying to take advantage of this to make a fortune at the Eye of Fear, don't blame me for being impolite!"
The other pirates immediately fell silent.
After all, a man's name, a tree's shadow; the notoriously fierce Yondu still commanded that much respect.
"Quill, let's go!"
Yondu urged the young man who was still sitting on the sofa, but the latter shook his head with a grin, refusing, "You go ahead, I want to stay and have a couple more drinks!"
Yondu knew this subordinate better than anyone… no, to be precise, he had always regarded him as his own son, though without any blood relation.
The reason he didn't want to leave now was probably because he was up to something mischievous.
However, with so many people around, he couldn't say much, so he warned with a cold face, "Quill, I'm warning you, boy, you'd better not mess around…"
"Don't worry."
Peter Quill nodded, deliberately feigning obedience.
However, before leaving, Yondu still keenly noticed that a few young pirates in the corner of the tavern were whispering, their eyes flashing with danger and curiosity.
Yondu knew very well that these naive rookies would most likely not listen to his advice… They would secretly go near the Eye of Fear to verify the truth of this 'legend' for the sake of ridiculous adventure and bragging rights to others.
But good advice is lost on the doomed; Yondu believed he had done what an old Raider should do, and the rest was up to fate!
It was late.
The crowd in the tavern gradually dispersed.
Beckman, sitting in the corner, glanced at his two teammates who were already dead drunk and sprawled out on the floor, snoring, and shook his head helplessly.
Then he raised his glass, only to find it empty, and the bartender behind the bar shrugged at him, indicating that all the liquor for the day had been sold out.
Beckman sighed deeply, then drained the last drops of cheap liquor from the bottom of his glass, stood up, and staggered out of the tavern.
Gazing at the brilliant galaxy, the terrifying scene he witnessed while traversing the Warp reappeared before his eyes.
What he hadn't told everyone just now was that he, too, hadn't been able to resist his curiosity at the time and had secretly peeked out of a partially opened porthole…
He still couldn't forget those twisted Shadows, those indescribably terrifying existences, and the desperate screams and grotesque laughter of his companions in the cabin…
But what made Beckman incredibly perplexed and fortunate was that he hadn't died instantly like his other companions, or turned into a terrifying monster of flesh and blood; instead, he had escaped that terrifying space alive.
Was it luck?
Or… was it related to the gigantic six-ringed palace he had glimpsed behind the shadows?
But even Beckman himself couldn't be sure if the illusory palace he had glimpsed at that time truly existed?!
However, one thing he was absolutely certain of was that… he felt an unprecedented pull towards that palace!
It was as if something within it could elevate his soul to the ultimate, giving him an involuntary urge to explore it again.
"Cackle, cackle, cackle…"
Hiss~~
The night wind blew, and Beckman shivered abruptly, startled by his strange thought and the alluring laughter, which he couldn't tell if it was an illusion.
"Clap, clap, clap—"
Raising his hand, he slapped his cheeks a few times, and Beckman immediately decided that no matter what, he would get another glass of strong liquor from the bartender later.
Tonight, he needed alcohol to numb his nerves so he could temporarily forget that terrifying experience!
…
At the same time.
Several young space pirates were huddled in a cluttered room, holding a secret meeting.
The pirate leading them, with shoulder-length short hair, was a very experienced navigator; his eyes were now gleaming with madness.
"Hey, guys, aren't you curious?"
"Is that so-called Warp and the Eye of Fear really as dangerous as Beckman, that useless good-for-nothing, said?"
"But Jack, Yondu said…" A space pirate's face showed some hesitation.
"To hell with Yondu!"
The shoulder-length-haired pirate, known as Jack, rudely interrupted him, then deliberately lowered his voice, saying, "We're not his subordinates.
We are the new generation of Raiders; exploring the unknown is our calling, and besides… those spaceships that successfully escaped from Vanaheim must be filled with rare treasures plundered from that Planet.
As long as we can salvage one wrecked ship from the Eye of Fear, we won't have to go on missions for the entire second half of the year; we can enjoy ourselves every day!"
In his opinion, Beckman's chilling words in the tavern were probably just an excuse to prevent others from going to the Eye of Fear to salvage those lost ships.
Otherwise, why did everyone else die in the Warp, but only those three good-for-nothings came back alive?
This clearly wasn't logical!
At this moment, Peter Quill, who had somehow slipped in, suddenly stepped forward and said with a smile, "That's right, I heard that a large Nova Empire merchant ship suddenly disappeared a few days ago while passing through the route near the Eye of Fear…"
(Note: Nova Empire can also be translated as Nova Empire, with its capital on Xandar.)
"You are… Star-Lord?!"
After recognizing Peter Quill's face, Jack immediately felt as if he was facing a formidable enemy, and directly placed his hand on the Plasma Pistol at his waist.
After all, the other party was a core cadre under Yondu, and he had just cursed the other party's boss, so he questioned with an unfriendly tone, "Star-Lord, why are you here?
I don't recall inviting you!"