Ten hours later, a 100-meter-long, fully metal yacht was teleported into the uninhabited waters of Antarctica, where it began sailing toward the South Pacific.
William opened a portal, transferring all the ship equipment and luxury facilities that Sunday had pre-ordered onto the yacht. He then waited for the engineering robots to complete the final installations.
Once the yacht reached the warm waters of the South Pacific, he finally notified Nissa and Selene, who—overjoyed—clung to him excitedly, refusing to let go as they teleported onboard.
For a full day, they enjoyed themselves at sea.
It wasn't until Sunday alerted William that Carol's spaceship had returned to Earth's orbit that he left the yacht and boarded her ship alone.
With two days to cool down, their meeting was much less awkward than before.
After exchanging greetings, Carol simply stared at him without speaking.
Feeling a bit guilty, William rubbed his nose and said,
"So… what do you think of the ship I built for you?"
"It's not bad, thanks."
Hearing this, Carol finally smiled slightly.
"But… doesn't storing 1,000 energy crystals on such a small ship seem a bit… excessive?"
"Haha, no problem. As long as you like it, that's all that matters."
For William, building spaceships neither required effort nor cost anything extra—the ship's interior decorations were all made from materials on X-17.
If a single ship could keep Carol close, he wouldn't mind building 100 more.
Of course, that was just wishful thinking.
Seeing Carol still watching him silently, William suddenly felt uneasy.
Was it possible that her interest in him was because of the Tesseract's energy inside his body?
If so, that would explain why someone like Carol Danvers—who normally had no patience for playboys—would suddenly take an interest in him.
Realizing this, William quickly changed the subject.
"If you really believe the Skrulls won't cause trouble, I can release them for your sake.
But if I find out they're causing problems in England again or targeting me, I won't be so forgiving next time."
Carol nodded without hesitation.
"That's fair.
Besides, after what just happened, if they're stupid enough to provoke you again, they won't survive long in the universe anyway."
Then, she fixed her gaze on William again.
This time, William felt truly awkward.
He had stolen her superpowers—even if she wasn't outright attacking him, things shouldn't be this… friendly, right?
"Do you have any other requests?" he asked cautiously.
"If not, I'll take you to pick up the Skrulls."
Seeing William's shameless attempt to avoid further discussion, Carol clenched her fist in frustration.
She took a deep breath, reminding herself to stay calm.
But then she realized—dealing with a shameless bastard like William, if she didn't push back, he would walk all over her.
So, she took a firm stance.
"Help me three times in the future, and I'll forget about you stealing my powers."
"Deal."
But before Carol could feel satisfied, William immediately added,
"As long as it's within my power and doesn't endanger my life, I'll be there whenever you need me."
"'Doesn't endanger your life'?" Carol scoffed, narrowing her eyes.
"So you get to decide whether it's dangerous or not?
Damn it, William Devonshire—you really are a coward."
Then, a suspicious look crossed her face.
"Wait… no.
If you were that afraid of danger, you wouldn't have taken the risk of banishing Set.
Son of a—you really were plotting against me, weren't you?!"
William simply grinned awkwardly.
Now that he was sure Carol wouldn't hurt him, he didn't bother denying it.
Opening a portal, he led a still-annoyed Carol to the Martian settlement.
There, he teleported in the hastily rebuilt Skrull spaceship and turned to their leader, Talos.
"I need a favor—or rather, I want to hire you to find someone for me or deliver a message."
Talos glanced at Carol beside William, his mind filling with admiration.
This was Carol Danvers—the legendary Captain Marvel, one of the strongest beings in the galaxy.
And yet, she seemed… completely subdued by William?
In fact, she almost looked eager to be near him.
Talos's respect for William skyrocketed.
"Of course, Mr. Devonshire!"
"I want you to find Yondu Udonta.
Tell him I have a 50,000-credit job for him and ask if he's interested."
Talos hesitated for a second.
Like most people, he didn't want to deal with Ravagers.
But when he saw William frowning, he immediately nodded.
"Understood, Mr. Devonshire. As soon as we depart, we'll go straight to Yondu."
"Good."
William grinned and handed Talos a small box.
"There are 200 energy crystals inside. Consider it your payment and compensation."
Before Talos could even refuse, William tossed the box onto him.
"Looking forward to hearing from you."
"Of course! Of course!"
With money in hand, Talos suddenly felt much better.
He nodded to both William and Carol before boarding the ship.
Once Talos was gone, Carol crossed her arms.
"Why are you looking for Yondu?"
William shrugged.
"Just business—nothing involving Earth or any major planets.
So you don't need to worry—go handle your own affairs."
Carol hesitated for a moment, then said,
"…Bye?"
"Yeah, bye."
BOOM!
Without warning, Carol punched him, sending him flying into the dirt before leaving the solar system.
### Back on the Yacht
Climbing out of a crater, William let out a long sigh and teleported back to his yacht in the Pacific.
For an entire week, he enjoyed the ocean with Nissa and Selene.
On their final stop in the North Pacific, they were observing right whales when the yacht's radio suddenly picked up a distress signal.
At first, William didn't care, assuming it was just a fishing boat in trouble—
But after hearing the voice several times, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.
"Sunday," he said, frowning,
"Lara Croft mentioned she was looking for her father, right?
So why hasn't she returned to London or checked in with me or Kingsman?"
"One moment, SIR. Attempting to contact Miss Croft now."
But after ten minutes, Sunday still had no response.
"I apologize, SIR—I am unable to contact Lara Croft at this time."
"What?!"
Hearing this, William's expression darkened.
He immediately looked at the yacht's radio, then strode into the cockpit, grabbing the transceiver.
"This is Devonshire, do you copy?
Devonshire here, respond."
"Zzzzz—zzzzz—"
Static.
No response.
Just the same distress call repeating over and over.
[A special discount will be available from December 30th until Three Kings' Day.]
[Use 37B44 to get 33% off all levels until January 6th]
[Unlock +20 Advanced Chapters on Patre on. com /Mutter]
[For every 50 Power Stones, 1 Bonus Chapter will be released]
[Thank you for reading!]