Chapter 1391 The Call of the Stars (Seventeen)_1

"Are we really going to make it?"

Rocket Raccoon stood on the edge of the sink, his pose slight dejected. He turned his gaze towards Star-Lord Quill's arm, or rather, the empty lower half of the sleeve.

Rocket Raccoon closed his eyes, pressing his eyelid with a claw. "I can't believe, mere hours ago, you conducted an amputation on yourself here. You really, you really…"

Unable to voice the latter half of his sentence, he wanted to ask, "Are you still lucid?" or perhaps, "Have you gone crazy?" But considering that he was the cause of Quill's predicaments, he could not bring himself to ask these sharp questions.

What transpired the previous night was terrifying. Rocket Raccoon didn't know what Quill saw; he just saw him scratching his arm crazily, yelling incoherently, while also convulsing painfully and frothing at the mouth. He then smashed his elbow with a piece of heavy concrete and cut off half his arm.

Rocket Raccoon was no stranger to horrifying encounters in the interstellar society, but this eerie situation was a first for him, which left him clueless about who the enemy was and how to retaliate.

Feeling guilty because he couldn't help, yet unable to suppress his self-consternation, Rocket Raccoon flicked his tail in despair. "Perhaps it will be my turn tomorrow, maybe we are going to die here," he put forth.

"Don't talk nonsense," Quill retorted as he used his remaining hand to scrape off his stubble using a blade, reflecting on the mirror perched on the washbasin.

He seemed far from somber. In fact, he seemed rather cheerful. The sun rays endowed him with an air that clashed with the oppressive atmosphere around.

"Actually, I think I know what's going on." Quill tilted his head sideways, touching his now smooth chin while peering at the mirror. "Don't you think there are too few monsters in this world?"

"This is few? You want them to fill the world and swallow us whole?!" Rocket Raccoon shouted back confusedly.

"Remember when we came here? Most of the bodies on the ground were left with only part of the trunk. The missing parts were, I guess, the hatching grounds of these monsters."

"If every human is parasitized and hatches a monster, then the number of monsters is too few. If not every human is parasitized, then considering the number of monsters, it's improbable there are no survivors."

"Although it sounds pessimistic, I'm inclined to believe that nearly every human had hatched a monster that vanished after having left the host."

After finishing shaving, Quill walked to the hospital window to look at the street below. While there were a few monsters dragging a part of a human body, it was far from a crowded scene. They moved slowly and didn't seem to be driven by an aggressive instinct to attack, as if they were just following their instinct to feed.

"I have this strange gut feeling." Quill, standing by the window, gazed at the damaged road. "The monsters that sprout within human bodies aren't here to attack us. This isn't a contagious virus."

"Good heavens! Listen to the nonsense you're babbling!" Rocket Raccoon hopped onto Quill's shoulder, spinning his head to face him. "The city is in ruins, and yet you're contemplating applauding these monsters?"

Quill shook his head and didn't offer further explanations. With a sigh, he turned around and began to pack his belongings with his remaining hand. He didn't have much to take, so he grabbed some medical supplies and canned food he found in patient's lockers and the storage room. Then, with his bag slung over his shoulder, he left the hospital.

Although the street was not heavily infested, avoiding the monsters was still quite a hassle. Quill relied on his agility and traversed mostly on low-rooftop buildings. Rocket Raccoon's small rocket cannon, affixed on his arm, managed to ward off monsters trying to climb up.

Thus, they meandered through the residential area of Queens, New York. Before nightfall, Quill climbed atop a skyscraper in the commercial district, looking over the entire city.

"My hypothesis was correct. These monsters seemed to move in a particular direction." Quill squinted into the distance, shielding his eyes from the bright sunshine.

This conclusion wasn't hard to deduce. The slime traces leftover on the ground and the buildings were sufficient proof. Recently, the monsters participated in a mass migration, with at least 90% moving towards a particular point in New York.

Quill sighed, "Too bad, I'm not a New Yorker, so I don't know their final destination. We can only take this one step at a time."

"Their destination is…where?"

Wanda held Jarvis's hand tightly and asked. By now, they had also left the residential area and ascended a skyscraper. Based on Xu Shang-Chi's recommendations, instead of going to the roof, they climbed to the upper floors and entered an abandoned office. They found a room with a window secured by a guardrail for a view.

With Wanda's question, Jarvis' expression changed slightly. He quickly regained his composure and uttered few words, "Central Park, New York."

"Good heavens, why would the monsters go there?" Wanda spread her hands in a helpless gesture: "Don't tell me, they're going there for sightseeing."

"I suppose, something there is luring them," Jarvis replied solemnly, staring out the window. Being the only uninfected member of the team, he had no choice but to assume the role of a leader, albeit reluctantly.

For a long time, he had been merely Stark's assistant, a sentient being adept at following orders. The idea of being a team leader with complete decision-making authority was a groundbreaking first for JARVIS, going against his nature entirely.

Nevertheless, he had no choice but to do so. His team, in its present state, was hardly functional. Riley could not hear, Wanda could not see, and Xu Shang-Chi could not speak. They were all simultaneously vulnerable to the mysterious force that was triggering the chaos, and he was uncertain whether they could survive another night.

After some thought, JARVIS said, "We should head towards Central Park, New York. But first, we need to find a vehicle."

With no objections raised, they proceeded downstairs. Fortuitously, they were not far from an exhibition center, which was currently hosting a car exhibition.

The group swiftly headed to the exhibition hall, hoping they could find an intact vehicle. To their surprise, not only were there functioning cars, but there were more than they could have hoped for, with almost none of them damaged.

If you disregarded the horrific sludge on the car surfaces and the assorted corpses on the ground, the cars were in surprisingly good condition. Many of the vehicles used for test drives were filled with gas, something that left them utterly perplexed.

Usually, in an apocalypse, various modes of transportation were the first casualties, especially civil passenger vehicles. They were not designed with defense in mind, and even a minor scrape - one beyond ordinary human strength - could result in devastating damages.

Strong mutants like Wanda could effortlessly destroy several cars just by waving her hand. The well-preserved state of the vehicles here was certainly an anomaly.

"What is going on? These monsters don't attack cars?" Wanda asked, puzzled, after hearing JARVIS' description. She added, "If they attack indiscriminately, these cars should have sustained more damage than buildings. If they planned to cause mass destruction, they would have prioritized attacking transportation to prevent human escape."

"They might not have thought to attack."

Riley uttered this cryptic sentence and fell silent. Wanda followed suit, leaving JARVIS clueless about their insinuations. Eventually, he picked out what he thought was the best vehicle. After inspecting it and finding no issues, they all got into the car.

On their journey, they didn't encounter any monsters. However, their nagging doubts only thickened with each passing minute. The city was destroyed, with aspects of decay visible everywhere, evoking distressing glimpses of the apocalypse. But the conspicuous lack of monsters and their non-aggressive behavior was unusual. Resources were not scarce, and the corpses showed no signs of riots having occurred.

In fact, many stores with generators still had their lights on. The shelves were well-stocked, seemingly untouched by looting. The mutilated bodies had no bullet wounds or injuries indicative of modern weaponry. This situation defied all logic.

If the monsters hatched from something like a zombie virus outbreak, it would have incited panic among people. Regular folks, upon seeing the monsters, would desperately flee. The police would attempt to maintain order, attacking the monsters. If word got out, it would result in widespread panic and hoarding of resources.

Yet, the current scene was drastically different, almost as though people were merely carrying on with their normal lives until the moment they died.

This, in fact, was even more terrifying than chaotic destruction.

The greatest fear stems from the unknown. Everyone there had seen their fair share of zombie films - depressive, anger-inducing, yet digestible. The calm before the storm, however, was breeding a deeper dread within everyone's hearts.

With a squeal, the car halted.

The three individuals with sight lifted their heads to see a massive temple of alien design in the heart of Central Park, New York.

"My God, what is that?!" Even Riley couldn't help but exclaim. JARVIS blinked, a glimmer in his eyes. "It appears to have an Eastern style, wait, that decorative pattern looks familiar... It's Kamar-Taj!"

Upon hearing this, Wanda let out a shocked gasp, "Oh right, what about the mages? Are they still alive if the world is coming to an end?"

"The Time Gem, if the Supreme Magician still possesses the Time Gem, we might be able to..."

Wanda cut herself off mid-sentence, realizing that if the Supreme Magician could reverse the current situation with the Time Gem, he would have done so already. The fact that he hadn't signaled that all was lost.

Wanda took a deep breath, then let it out with a sigh. She clutched JARVIS' hand tightly, leaning against him for comfort. Miss Witch, as dignified as ever, rarely let her guard down like this. Her despair was palpable.

JARVIS wrapped his arm around her, his hand on her back, his head buried in the crook of her neck. "It's okay, Wanda. We'll survive," he reassured her.

"But nightfall is soon," Wanda said, her voice trembling. "Night is falling again; can we really make it through this night?"

Xu Shang-Chi and Riley fell silent. None of them felt confident enough to answer. They had been here for a mere three days, yet the torment and darkness that they experienced far surpassed that of their entire lives combined.

"We will." JARVIS raised his head, quietly observing the setting sun on the horizon. His eyes glowed with an indescribable light. "No matter what, I will ensure our survival."