After this period of rectification and development, the war-torn country of Sokovia was finally slowly getting on the right track.
The buildings that were once riddled with holes by artillery fire had basically all been torn down and rebuilt.
Walking on the streets of the capital, one could see brand new buildings everywhere. The streets were clean and tidy, and green trees had been planted along the sides. It was impossible to tell that this had once been a place ravaged by war.
The lives of the citizens had also become much more stable. Now they did not have to live in fear all day long. The government ensured the supply of basic necessities, and food, clothing, housing, and transportation were all guaranteed.
Most importantly, as long as they were willing to work hard, they could receive the remuneration they deserved on time. No one dared to arbitrarily plunder the fruits of their labor.
In addition, all children in Sokovia could enjoy free education provided by the government. The teaching content mainly focused on science. Any outstanding adult student had the opportunity to receive personal guidance from HYDRA researchers and various practical opportunities.
If these things were placed a few months ago, they would be things that one wouldn't even dare to imagine!
In the eyes of the Sokovians, all these changes came from the grace of God Doom.
The large cathedral originally located in the city center of Novigrad had now been completely demolished.
Replacing it was a giant statue tens of meters high.
Wearing a simple hooded robe and a mysterious magic mask on his face, the entire statue exuded an awe-inspiring aura.
This behemoth stood in the center of the city like a God descending to the mortal World, quietly overlooking the entire Sokovia with those cold, stone-carved eyes.
This giant statue was naturally the God Doom image of Darian.
Every day, many Sokovians came to the statue spontaneously to worship, thanking Darian for the peace and hope he brought them.
Darian felt that this was too high-profile, so he ordered a statue to be built in every city so that the people wouldn't have to run all the way here to worship.
There was no other way; who made him a good king who cared for the people?
Although compared to those powerful nations in the World, the overall strength of Sokovia was still a cut below, this did not mean it was backward.
Various high-tech products could be seen everywhere in the city. Some came from the research team under Baron Strucker, and others were purchased by Darian from the Nova Empire. Even the civilians in Sokovia had many useful and convenient civilian technological devices in their hands.
After all, they were his own people, so Darian naturally wouldn't treat them poorly.
He wouldn't deliberately let his citizens pretend to be poor and backward, or hide away to suffer, just because he was worried that the technology was too strong and would attract prying eyes from the outside World. In his view, there was no need for such things just to cover up the truth and let his own people suffer grievances.
Darian even dared to touch those interstellar forces; would he be afraid of these countries on Earth?
Besides, Sokovia was not a soft persimmon that could be easily squeezed.
Don't look at the fact that Sokovia's population was not large now, but with the stability of life, the citizens' nutrition had fully caught up. Coupled with the bonus brought by the title of King, the physique of Sokovians was getting better day by day, and it had already surpassed the standard of ordinary Earthlings.
Not to mention the soldiers who had undergone special training in the Sokovian army; the bonus effect on them was even more obvious.
Developing at this rate, perhaps in the future, Sokovians might be able to wrestle with Asgardians and shout, "For Sokovia!"
With this group of soldiers whose physical fitness exceeded that of ordinary people, coupled with uniform alien technological equipment, the combat effectiveness of the Sokovian army was enough to crush the vast majority of troops on Earth.
Of course, Darian's gaze was no longer on Earth, but was cast towards the vast starry sky.
In his view, fighting with other countries on Earth was really meaningless; compared to the entire Universe, it was just a newbie village.
However, to roam the Universe, walking on two legs definitely wouldn't work.
Before that, he had to build a spaceship that could break through the atmosphere and travel freely among the stars.
Although he had a ready-made spaceship parked in the Nova Empire, that place was too far from Earth.
If he really wanted to fly it back, just a one-way trip would take an unknown number of days. As for that pile of spaceships hidden in Vanaheim, there was no need to even think about it; it was even further away than the Nova Empire.
Moreover, Darian knew very well that relying on snatched spaceships was not a long-term solution. If Sokovia wanted to truly gain a foothold in the Universe, it had to learn to build its own spaceships.
Nova Empire, Xandar!
Darian walked through the streets with ease, turned into an inconspicuous alley, and found the old broker who had traded the Cosmic Orb.
"Welcome... It's you!?"
The broker saw clearly who had walked in, his words stuck in his throat instantly, and his face suddenly turned surprised and scared.
How could he forget Darian? It was the man in front of him who had fleeced him of 400,000 units of currency last time. That was nearly half of his savings he had accumulated over many years. Every time he thought of this account, his heart ached.
But no matter how much his heart ached, he didn't dare to report this to the Nova Corps.
The reason was simple. He later heard some terrible news on the streets. It was said that a ruthless person not only killed many Ravagers, but even Korath, Ronan's most capable subordinate, died at his hands.
One could figure it out with their toes that this ruthless person must be Darian, who possessed the Cosmic Orb.
As for why it wasn't Quill?
Don't joke; that guy looked like a dork; how could he possibly have this kind of strength!
Darian even dared to provoke the Ravagers and Ronan. A small broker like him wouldn't dare to challenge such a ruthless person.
"Relax, I came here this time to talk about a business with you," Darian said happily.
The broker was suffering internally.
If possible, he didn't want to have any further dealings with Darian at all.
But forced by Darian's intimidation, the broker still braced himself and asked: "May... may I ask what business?"
Darian was straightforward: "I want to buy blueprints for building a spaceship."
When the broker heard this, his whole face immediately wrinkled into a bitter melon: "You really found the wrong person for this. My small business wouldn't dare to touch spaceship design blueprints. The Nova Empire has very strict controls on the export of such technology. If they find out, it's a serious crime; at the very least, you'll have to spend over a dozen years in an interstellar prison!"
"That serious?"
Darian frowned upon hearing this.
Although the Nova Empire had good public security and was relatively safe, the regulations were also relatively strict. It was as difficult as ascending to heaven to get sensitive technology here.
The broker observed his expression, fearing that Darian would get angry, and hurriedly leaned closer and lowered his voice: "However... if you are really in urgent need, I do have a suggestion. You can go to the Knowhere."
"Knowhere?"
"That's right, that place is on the edge of the Universe, a lawless land, not under the jurisdiction of any force. It is the largest black market exchange in the entire Milky Way Galaxy. As long as you have enough money, you can basically get anything."
"There's such a good place."
Darian became interested immediately and requested: "Send me the coordinates of the Knowhere."
The broker didn't dare to delay at all, hurriedly operated on his data pad a few times, and sent a string of interstellar coordinates to Darian's portable device.
After getting the interstellar coordinates, Darian didn't make things difficult for the broker and turned to leave the shop.
Very soon, he returned to the spaceship parked at the Xandar port, entered the coordinates he had just obtained into the navigator, and set the spaceship to automatic cruise mode.
The spaceship slowly ascended, then broke through the atmosphere of Xandar and headed towards the location of the Knowhere.
The journey to the Knowhere this time was not short; according to estimates, it would take about three days.
Taking advantage of this time, Darian took out the dark divine book, put on the daigua ring, played the Emma CG animation, and started learning mode.
Knowhere!
This place was not a Planet at all, but a giant head floating in the Universe. It was said to come from some ancient God. The diameter of the eye socket alone was enough for several spaceships to pass through side by side.
It was hard to imagine how huge the owner of this head must have been when alive!
What was even more terrifying to think about was what kind of existence could cut off the head of such a God?
Darian piloted the spaceship, passed through the eye socket of the head, and entered the interior. The whole process did not receive any obstruction; it was a style of accepting all comers.
Very soon, the view in front opened up.
This was completely a hollowed-out World. The towering skull formed a natural dome. Countless mining ships, like a swarm of bees, were attached to those huge bones and residual brain tissue, constantly mining the organic matter remaining in this ancient head.
Darian found a remote corner to park the spaceship securely.
With a wave of his hand, several steel robots appeared in the cabin, their eyes glowing red, and they began to automatically execute guard duties.
In this place without any order, if some guy with no eyes took advantage of his absence to steal the spaceship, where would he put his face?
Darian walked off the spaceship, and the noisy sounds from all directions reached his ears instantly. All kinds of alien creatures were walking through the streets made of huge bones.
All kinds of illegal trades could be seen everywhere here, yellow, gambling, and drugs were all available, all openly displayed. Among them, there were even slave trades taking place. It was completely a lawless land of sin.
Darian hadn't walked a few steps when he clearly felt many malicious gazes cast towards him, giving him a sense of intimacy of returning to New York.
It really was the right place!
Darian deliberately pretended to be nervous, walking forward while looking around uneasily, clutching his coat tightly, looking like a fat sheep who had just arrived and was afraid of being robbed.
Seeing this scene, immediately more than a dozen figures followed quietly behind Darian.
Darian pretended not to notice, turned into an alley with few people, and the dozen or so figures followed in without thinking too much.
In less than half a minute.
Darian walked out of the alley alone, his expression unchanged, and continued to stroll on the street.
After a few rounds, Darian's equipment warehouse was expanded again, and his wallet was much fuller.
Unfortunately, good times didn't last long. When he walked into an alley again, he found that only sporadic footsteps came from behind, and a hand tapped his shoulder.
Darian didn't even think about it, turned around and threw a straight punch!
"Wait! I am Qui..."
Bang!
This punch landed solidly on the opponent's face, forcing the second half of the sentence back.
Darian followed up with a combo, beating the opponent until he wailed, scaring the others who wanted to step forward, not even daring to breathe out loud.
"Fellow countryman! Stop! It's me, I am Quill!"
The person being beaten shouted miserably while holding his head.
"Quill?"
Darian stopped, carefully examining the guy with a bruised and swollen face in front of him, and said in surprise: "You are that Quill who had a bounty of 40,000 units of currency?"
Quill: "..."
Could it be that only the bounty could make you remember me?
"It's me."
To avoid further beating, Quill had to admit it.
"Jeez!"
Darian hurriedly stopped, curiously saying: "Quill, it's been a while, why are you swollen like a pig's head? I couldn't even recognize you."
Quill's mouth twitched. Wasn't this all because you just beat me?
He suspected: "You were definitely doing it on purpose, right?"
"How could that be."
Darian shook his head. He was definitely doing it on purpose.
However, Quill didn't suffer this beating unjustly. He really thought he didn't know what this guy was thinking; he must have wanted to sneak up behind him to scare him.
Darian changed the subject: "Speaking of which, weren't you caught by the Nova Corps and sent to prison? How did you get out so quickly?"
Quill's expression stiffened instantly, stammering: "Uh, that's a long story, better not talk about it..."
However, Darian didn't cooperate at all, looking at Quill with suspicious eyes.
"Quill, you wouldn't have broken out of prison, would you..."
"Ahem!"
Quill hurriedly interrupted him, leaned closer and lowered his voice: "Let's not talk about this first. I came to find you this time because there is actually a big business!"
"What big business?"
Darian narrowed his eyes. Intuition told him that this business must have something to do with him.
"Move aside, let me tell him."
Quill was about to explain when he was suddenly pushed away by a woman who looked healthy and fresh.
This person was none other than Gamora, who was sent to prison with Quill.
And behind them, there were the nature combination Darian had seen before, Rocket Raccoon and Treant Groot, as well as a burly man who looked fierce.
[NPC: Drax]
[Codename: Destroyer]
[Favorability: 20]
[Evaluation: Big smart, doesn't understand metaphors, King of sassy talk]
Fine, this was obviously another dork.
"Hey, this matter should be discussed by me; I'm more familiar with him."
Quill was very dissatisfied: "And don't think I didn't notice, when I was getting beaten just now, you guys were actually all watching the show on the sidelines!"
"We weren't watching the show, we just didn't react in time."
Rocket Raccoon explained while not hiding the mockery on his face.
Groot echoed: "I am Groot."
Drax was even more blunt: "The way you went up and took the beating proactively was so funny, hahaha!"
Quill: "..."
Damn it, this temporary team really couldn't be stayed in any longer!