Chapter 1137: Distress Call

Whoosh!

In the next moment, Lin Rui, who had disappeared from his previous location with Peter, reappeared in a nearby alley. Peter, who had been pulled along by Lin Rui, was now casually tossed aside by him.

Peter wore a perplexed expression, seemingly lost in confusion. Given Peter’s reflexes, he should have reacted to Lin Rui pulling him over, but this was something that couldn’t have happened just a few days ago.

Seeing that Lin Rui had pulled him over, Peter curiously asked as he approached, “Jackson, what’s this? Why did you bring me here?”

Beep Beep Beep ~

However, Lin Rui paid no attention to Peter, his gaze filled with astonishment and a hint of delight, fixed on the metallic disc in his hand. The metal disc emitted a dazzling red light, accompanied by a series of beeping sounds.

Observing Lin Rui’s serious expression, Peter also fell silent, his breathing gradually calming down. Then, he witnessed the red light on the metal disc in Lin Rui’s hand fade away, replaced by a projection of a screen displaying rows of text.

“This is… a message from Star-Lord!” After Peter quieted down, staring at the text projected by the radiant light, Lin Rui’s voice trembled slightly.

As Peter heard Lin Rui finally speak, he sighed in relief. However, why did the name “Star-Lord” that Lin Rui just mentioned sound somewhat familiar to him?

“Jackson, is this Star-Lord you’re talking about… the fellow Earthman you encountered on that alien planet after being transported away from Earth?'” After pondering for a moment in his mind, Peter’s eyes lit up as he suddenly asked.

Lin Rui’s description of the experience of being unexpectedly transported to another universe was quite brief. He only briefly mentioned his own encounters. However, Deadpool, who had been transported with Lin Rui, had enthusiastically shared their adventures all around.

That’s why Peter and the others were quite aware of Lin Rui and Deadpool’s extraordinary journey on the alien planet.

“That’s right, it’s the same Star-Lord!” Lin Rui nodded and earnestly replied.

“But isn’t he in space? And you mentioned before that our Earth, even the entire Nine Realms, is somewhat remote in the universe. Most cosmic civilizations wouldn’t bother coming here. So, how did he manage to send a message?” With Lin Rui’s confirmation, Peter became even more puzzled.

Based on Peter’s understanding of this universe, along with Lin Rui’s past explanations, he knew that if a civilization from one universe wanted to communicate with another, the most basic requirement was entering the Interstellar Age of Exploration. Of course, Earth’s situation was quite unique and exceptional in the vast universe.

Considering the distance between Earth and the star regions where major civilizations congregated in the universe, it would take countless light-years for a message to travel to Earth. Moreover, cosmic phenomena like stellar explosions could interfere with even stable signals.

If unlucky enough, the message might encounter a black hole during transmission, getting devoured. That’s why Peter found it incredibly surprising that Lin Rui received a message from Star-Lord. Unless… unless Star-Lord had already returned to Earth!

Just as Peter was about to speak again, the screen in front of them underwent a change. The rows of text that had adorned the screen disappeared, replaced by a smaller version of the cosmic sky. Within this starry sky, two particularly bright light points were close to each other.

“It truly is a message from Star-Lord, and… they’re not far from Earth!” Seeing Peter’s bewildered expression, Lin Rui suppressed his excitement and continued.

Through deciphering the message from Star-Lord, Lin Rui’s instrument automatically analyzed it and presented it in the most intuitive way for them. Surprisingly, the rows of text from earlier had actually formed a set of coordinates, a cosmic coordinate.

In the cosmic star map before Lin Rui and Peter, the two bright light points represented their current positions. One was where Star-Lord and his group were, while the adjacent light point was none other than Earth. In other words, Star-Lord was genuinely close to Earth; he had returned!

“This can’t be Earth, right?!… And this must be Star-Lord?!” Peter exclaimed in disbelief as he looked at the scaled-down version of the cosmic star map before them.

“That’s correct!”

Lin Rui’s excitement was palpable too. A few months ago, when Lin Rui unexpectedly encountered Star-Lord and his group on that alien planet, he hadn’t thought that Star-Lord would actually return to Earth.

After all, the distance between Earth and Star-Lord’s location was immense, and there was hardly anyone on Earth worth revisiting for him. So, when Lin Rui and Star-Lord had parted ways back then, he hadn’t expected to meet Star-Lord again so soon.

Beep Beep Beep!

Just as Lin Rui was excited about receiving Star-Lord’s location message, the metallic disc in his hand emitted urgent beeping sounds. The previously non-blinking red light lit up once more, indicating that Star-Lord had sent another message!

Exhaling deeply, the red light faded, and the cosmic star map before them transformed back into a screen, displaying rows of text once again. This time, there was no need for decryption; the text was in English.

However, as Lin Rui and the others read the English text, their initial excitement was abruptly dampened, as if they had been splashed with cold water.

“Encountered unknown S-level or higher lifeform, Spaceship sustains severe damage. They are currently fleeing for their lives. This is a distress call!” Lin Rui’s tone turned solemn as he deciphered the message.

An S-level or higher lifeform was an existence whose strength couldn’t be underestimated. On the alien planet where Lin Rui and Star-Lord had met, there was an S-level tentacle lifeform sealed by a powerful cosmic civilization using advanced technology.

This meant that a portion of an S-level lifeform’s power could easily annihilate an Interstellar pirate crew, let alone one that surpassed S-level.

“Could it be… that Star-Lord and his group encountered Dormammu!?” Though posed as a question, the certainty in Lin Rui’s voice indicated that he was almost convinced that the entity Star-Lord had encountered was Dormammu.

“What do we do?! While Star-Lord and his group aren’t far from Earth in cosmic terms, the distance is still immense. Even if we could reach near-Earth orbit, we wouldn’t be able to provide assistance,” Peter said with anxiety. Despite Earth’s rapid development, it hadn’t yet entered the Interstellar Age of exploration.

“If we can contact the Ancient One, they might be able to assist Star-Lord and his group!” Lin Rui started contacting the Sorcerers he knew while speaking.

Although they had severed ties with the Sorcerer before, Lin Rui still had the contact information of Sorcerer David.

……

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