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Master of American Comic Art
墨書 Inktalez
Chapter One: Crouching in the Grass
Earth, 1988, outside a hospital in a town in Missouri.
The night was dark and windy.
The traveler, Bai Luo, crouched silently in the shadow behind a large tree, waiting.
He felt a mix of excitement and nervousness.
At this very moment, he was waiting for Star-Lord—specifically, a child version of Star-Lord. Theoretically, at this point in time, Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, should only be about seven years old.
Of course, Bai Luo wasn’t much older himself.
At this moment, Bai Luo was nine and a half years old, standing at just one meter thirty.
This situation stemmed from the incident when Bai Luo crossed over; he fell into a well during his transition. The first step he took landed on the well cover without incident, but when he stepped down with his second foot, the cover collapsed. His fall into the well quickly transformed into a rebirth—he was born into this world as an infant.
During these long nine years, Bai Luo's memories had been quite chaotic. The memories from his previous life felt distant and blurry until recently when he finally became fully aware that he had indeed crossed over.
Moreover, he realized almost immediately that he might have crossed into the Marvel universe.
Because there couldn't be such coincidences in this world—his neighbor's child happened to be named Peter Quill, and that child's mother, Meredith Quill, was suffering from an incurable illness... The most crucial detail was that Bai Luo distinctly remembered hearing Peter Quill himself talk about listening to some catchy music tapes.
Wasn't this clearly Star-Lord?
Bai Luo initially planned to bide his time and build a good relationship with Star-Lord, after all, he was one of the main characters. However, today he discovered that Peter hadn’t shown up for class at all.
He realized that something was off.
Today was likely the day Peter's mother passed away, and according to the storyline of Guardians of the Galaxy, on the night Meredith Quill died, an overwhelmed Peter Quill ran out of the town hospital and was taken away from Earth by Yondu.
In other words, if Bai Luo didn’t do something, he might not see Peter Quill for decades.
So, he decided to come here in the middle of the night to wait for Peter Quill.
This was Earth, where Iron Man and Captain America were around; Bai Luo didn’t want to follow Peter Quill into space and start from scratch. But Star-Lord was at least an important mission, and he needed to leave a lasting impression on this future Star-Lord.
Now the question arose.
How could he make someone who barely knew him remember him forever in such a short time?
Just then, as Bai Luo crouched in the bushes, his eyes suddenly lit up.
He saw Peter Quill burst through the side door of the hospital.
In a split second, Bai Luo executed what a time traveler should do with precision. He dashed out from his carefully chosen spot and tackled Peter Quill from behind.
Peter, lost in his sorrow, never expected someone would jump out at that moment. He didn’t have any time to react before Bai Luo knocked him to the ground.
Bai Luo immediately started raining down punches on Peter’s face while shouting incoherent insults. His curses were completely nonsensical, switching between Chinese and English without any rhyme or reason.
Peter was completely stunned; he had no idea what was happening or why this person had jumped out of the bushes to beat him up. He couldn’t even process his thoughts in time to react.
Bai Luo was straightforward in his approach. After giving Peter Quill a good beating and hurling a barrage of insults, he jumped off Quill and shouted, "Come hit me!"
Then he turned and ran away.
It was that last taunt that infuriated Peter Quill the most. His face turned pale with anger, and despite the pain from the beating, he scrambled to his feet, ready to chase after him. But just then, a beam of light enveloped him…
Bai Luo, who had already run quite a distance, turned back to see a massive spaceship emerging from the darkness, slowly pulling Peter Quill inside. Even from afar, Bai Luo could hear Quill's furious shout: "Fu-k!"
At that moment, Bai Luo let out a long sigh of relief—he could guarantee that Mr. Peter Quill would remember him for many years to come.
Getting beaten up wasn’t such a big deal, but this kind of unprovoked assault—watching someone run away while being unable to retaliate—was what left the deepest impression.
After sending off Peter Quill, Bai Luo ran far away before finally stopping.
The night had grown quite deep by now, and there were no stars or moon in the sky. The small town was shrouded in a light mist, making everything appear somewhat blurred and dim.
Star-Lord's abduction had a dreamlike quality to it.
Truth be told, after giving Star-Lord a good thrashing, Bai Luo felt quite satisfied. However, by the next time they met, Peter Quill would have aged significantly.
At this point, the streets were deserted. Bai Luo trudged toward his home alone. His house was empty but was the only Easterners' household in the entire town. Unfortunately, his mother had died during childbirth, and his father had left shortly after. Since then, it had just been him and his older sister, who was eight years his senior.
This situation allowed Bai Luo to run out at such a late hour without worry because typically, at this time, his sister was working at a fast-food restaurant that operated late into the night to help support their household.
However, as he walked along lost in thought, Bai Luo wasn't contemplating their recent financial situation; instead, he recalled the cold electronic synthesized voice that had echoed in his mind just moments ago.
[You have completed a non-System task on your own. Reward: One Old White Rabbit Milk Candy (Collect nine hundred ninety-nine pieces and consume them all at once for an unexpected magical event.)]
Currently, Old White Rabbit Milk Candy quantity: 6.
Bai Luo listened to the electronic synthesized voice of the System saying "yo," feeling a deep sense of frustration. As for the miraculous events... Bai Luo was already too exhausted to complain—eating nine hundred and ninety pieces of White Rabbit Candy would definitely lead to diabetes!
At this point, I believe you have already guessed that this System has been with Bai Luo for quite a long time.
In fact, this System was obtained about two weeks ago, just before Bai Luo regained full autonomy, and it is called the 【Weakened Rune Achievement Guide System】.
Well, it sounds pretty lame, right?
Bai Luo thought so too, and the reality was just as such.
This so-called System has only three functions: issuing tasks, providing ready-made Talisman and methods for writing Talisman, and giving out White Rabbit Candy—the intelligence level of this System is quite low; even its ability to respond to Bai Luo's inquiries is poor. However, things like Old White Rabbit Milk Candy seem to be advertised by this System, which always finds a way to “reward” him with one, whether he wants it or not.
Looking at the Old White Rabbit Milk Candy that suddenly appeared in his palm, Bai Luo sighed deeply.
However, this System is not entirely useless; its most crucial function for Bai Luo lies in the area of Talisman.
As long as Bai Luo completes tasks assigned by the System or defeats certain specific units, he will earn Old White Rabbit Candy Points—he genuinely suspects that this Old White Rabbit Milk Candy is sponsored by the System.
With these points, Bai Luo can exchange for various Talisman from the exchange list of the System.
The most powerful feature of this System, despite its claim of being a weakened version, is the variety of items available within it. From the lowest-level Swift Movement Technique, which allows for quick movement, to high-level items like the Thunder Talisman, there are even formidable Talisman capable of destroying a planet.
In addition to that, one can also exchange for methods to write Talisman, materials, and some uniquely functional elixirs.
The System initially gifted him a hundred points. Since Bai Luo couldn't afford high-level items, he first exchanged for a Swift Movement Talisman, which cost ten points each. However, frustratingly enough, after redeeming the Talisman, he found out he also needed to exchange for something called “Talisman Usage Constitution.”
Bai Luo reluctantly spent sixty points to exchange for a "Weak Talisman Usage Physique," just barely meeting the requirements to use the Swift Movement Talisman.
Having spent a total of seventy points, Bai Luo looked at the thirty points he had left and hesitated to use the Swift Movement Talisman for testing. He decided to wait for the System to release a mission so he could earn some more points.
However...
Bai Luo never expected that he had received this System for over two weeks, even sending Star-Lord away, yet he hadn't received a single legitimate System mission.
Is this really a System? It feels more like a joke!
What frustrated him the most was that whenever he inquired, the System responded sluggishly and indifferently. Although Bai Luo understood that this was due to the System's low intelligence, he couldn't help but feel anxious—who wouldn't be worried when their impressive golden finger was useless?
Bai Luo tucked the White Rabbit Candy into his pocket and browsed through the System's Talisman menu. What he really wanted to exchange for was an Item Storage Talisman; that thing could serve as storage space and was incredibly useful and convenient.
Just as Bai Luo was lost in thought, his phone suddenly rang.
Furrowing his brow, Bai Luo remembered that this phone had been forcefully given to him by his older sister, who had spent quite a bit of money on it just to ensure she could reach him anytime, anywhere.
Despite his cheap sister's antics, Bai Luo actually had a decent impression of her.
He thought for a moment and pulled out the phone. It was an old flip phone, but what surprised him was that the caller ID displayed his own phone number, with the time showing five minutes later.
What... is there something wrong with the phone?
As someone from the twenty-first century, Bai Luo truly couldn't praise the technological standards of this era's living facilities. But when he answered the call, he immediately sensed something was off.
The moment he picked up, there was silence on the other end. After a brief moment, a sharp screech of brakes pierced through the quiet, followed by an incredibly mournful scream.
Bai Luo stood frozen in place, clutching the phone, as the agonizing scream echoed in his ears—it was his own voice!
At almost the same moment, a notification sound rang out in his mind.
[Mission Mode successfully activated.]
[Mission Objective: Control or resolve the Ghost Call Crisis.]
[Mission Reward: 00 points Old White Rabbit Candy Points, six pieces of Old White Rabbit Milk Candy.]
[Failure Penalty: Erasure.]
……
……
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