Marvel: Hunter-Chapter 344: Back

Now that he had arrived and the solar system was not far away, Blaine took a short rest and casually waved his hand, opening another space rift.

At the same time, on Earth—in the United States, in the Queens villa district, in the backyard of Blaine's house—a crack suddenly appeared out of thin air. Inside it was pitch black, with occasional flickers of starlight.

The massive pull from within nearly destroyed all the plants in the back garden.

In the next second, a figure floated out from the rift.

After a while, the crack disappeared, leaving only scattered wreckage. The torn-up ground was the only proof that it had been there.

The rift vanished, but at the very spot where it had been, an eight-foot-tall man in a black robe and hood suddenly stood.

"What…"

"Finally home."

"Now I can finally rest properly."

"Bread, jam, bathtub, big bed… I missed you so much."

That person was none other than bounty hunter Blaine.

As soon as he got home, Blaine took off his Hunter suit and tossed it into Hunter Space. Then he took a comfortable bath and made himself something quick to eat.

When Blaine woke up, the sun was just rising in the east. The moment he returned home, his schedule had immediately reset.

With the milk and bread heating up, Blaine turned on the TV and listened to the news while washing up. It was a habit he couldn't break.

There hadn't been any major news lately, except that more monsters had been appearing in Queens. Fortunately, with little Spider-Man around, things were basically under control.

And ever since Captain America started the Civil War, Tony and little Spider-Man had been getting closer—almost like father and son. As a "father," Tony had even gifted little Spider-Man a new suit of armor, since the previous one had been mocked by Tony as pajamas—a pajama-wearing spider boy saving the world…

Needless to say, little Spider-Man's strength had improved by more than one level with the new suit, so these monsters were naturally being taken care of by him.

In fact, one monster had escaped before—Sandman—but little Spider-Man had turned him into glass with high heat and then crushed him.

There wasn't much useful news. American reporters loved stories of superheroes defeating monsters and saving the world, so they didn't bother digging for anything else.

Leaving the news playing on the TV, Blaine went straight into Hunter Space after filling his stomach.

The first thing he checked was the star cores. After all, collecting these had been the main purpose of his trip.

"Three level-0.1 star cores, one level-two, two level-three, two level-five, and one level-ten."

"Not bad."

In front of him lay a pile of star cores. The level-ten core in particular—two meters in diameter and radiating astonishing energy—was especially pleasing to the eye.

"Oh, what a pity."

"Only the two level-five cores and this level-ten core can be exchanged for money."

Blaine was reluctant to trade away the level-five and level-ten cores, but the remaining low-level ones weren't worth exchanging. It was truly frustrating.

Still, the star cores weren't going anywhere. There would be chances to use them sooner or later. Changing his thoughts, Blaine moved to another area.

At the same time, two more objects appeared in his hand—the two mysterious metal keys.

Blaine studied them as if deep in thought. Suddenly, as though making up his mind, his palm instantly turned golden. He steadily increased the force in his grip.

However, to Blaine's surprise, no matter how hard he tried—even using his Diamond Body—the metal fragments remained completely unchanged.

"Sure enough… they can withstand tremendous pressure."

You had to know, the strength in Blaine's single hand alone was measured in dozens of tons. Even without the Hunter suit, combined with his Diamond Body, crushing vibranium into shape would not be a problem for him.

Yet when he squeezed these metal fragments with that level of strength, nothing happened. One could only imagine how tough the material truly was.

When one plan failed, Blaine immediately tried another.

As Blaine rubbed his palms together, the five-pointed star in his eyes lit up. Suddenly, a cluster of sparks rose from his hand. The sparks grew brighter and brighter, gradually forming a raging flame.

Without hesitation, Blaine grabbed the metal and threw it into the fire.

Once again, something shocking happened. The flames burned for ten minutes, yet the metal still showed no change whatsoever.

"What the hell is this thing made of, meow?"

Without wasting time, Blaine reached out and took an advanced flame arrow.

Throwing it at his feet, the dancing fire serpent erupted violently. Upon closer sensing, the temperature inside the flames could reach tens of thousands—perhaps even hundreds of thousands—of degrees Celsius.

At this moment, even an armored vehicle thrown inside would instantly melt into liquid iron.

Of course, within Hunter Space, these flames could not harm Blaine.

However, Blaine neither deliberately controlled the flames nor specially protected the metal fragments. Because of this, he was even more shocked.

Not only were there no burn marks—the two metal fragments didn't even change color under such extreme heat. It was truly astonishing.

With a thought, Blaine extinguished the flames. Turning around, his silver-clad body appeared once more on the sofa in the villa.

The TV news was still playing, but Blaine's attention was no longer on it. Instead, he stared intently at the metal fragments in his hand. Since nothing he tried had any effect, he could only give up for now.

Then Blaine carefully held the two fragments and slowly brought them together. After repeatedly adjusting their position and angle, the two pieces finally clicked together in an exquisitely precise fit.

"The Collector really didn't lie to me."

"It really can form a whole."

"Could it actually be some kind of key?"

Picking up the combined piece, Blaine examined it carefully.

Because the two fragments matched perfectly, the patterns on them had essentially connected. It looked somewhat like unknown glyphs from Earth. The twisting lines and branch-like extensions made it appear even more intricate and mysterious.

"Could this be the language of some high-level civilization?"

"No… that's not right."

"Hm?"

"It doesn't look like that…"

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