Getting Back to His Old Trade Meant Having Fun

Getting Back to His Old Trade Meant Having Fun. In Duva's view, no matter what it was, once mutants got involved, simple matters always became complicated.

Politics and social issues were only one aspect. Judging purely by strength, there were also several troublesome figures among mutants whose limits were hard to gauge.

The most typical examples were Omega-Level Mutants. They possessed limitless potential, but interestingly, the same mutant might be Omega-Level in one universe while their counterpart in another universe was mediocre and utterly unremarkable, with only average potential.

The X-Gene originating from the Deviants was always full of every kind of variable.

Juggernaut happened to be one of those who required attention—strictly speaking, Juggernaut was not a mutant at all.

In most universes, Juggernaut's power came from an ancient, powerful, ultimate terror—the greatest demon of the multiverse, Cyttorak, who resided in the Crimson Cosmos beyond the dimensions of the multiverse! Many of Kamar-Taj's powerful spells drew upon Cyttorak's power.

Who knew whether Cyttorak had some peculiar obsession with the Infinity Stones or simply a twisted sense of humor? Cyttorak generally did not care when others used a little of Cyttorak's power, but Cyttorak did enjoy scattering Crimson Gems personally created by Cyttorak throughout the multiverse.

Every Crimson Gem was equivalent to an anchor point, capable of directly establishing a connection with Cyttorak and receiving the immense power transmitted by Cyttorak.

And in the overwhelming majority of universes, the person who bore the power of a Crimson Gem was precisely... Juggernaut!

"The Deviants possess the ability to absorb the life force and genes of all kinds of living beings, and they can alter their forms according to the genes they absorb. You all know that, right? I'd guess quite a few of your fellow mutants have been absorbed by the Deviants," Duva said.

Raven sneered. "And what does that prove? That ability is despicable, but compared to you, it's still far behind."

Duva shrugged. "Be wary of the Deviants Leader who captured Juggernaut. Why don't you guess again—why did that leader capture Juggernaut instead of someone else? If you're unlucky, it won't be long before you have to face an unimaginably powerful enemy."

"The Deviant that absorbed Juggernaut?" Magneto clearly did not believe him.

He knew Juggernaut's strength all too well. At most, it would make the Deviants Leader's body indestructible. It was not as though that made the leader impossible to deal with.

Still, disbelief was one thing. Magneto had weathered countless storms and had complete confidence in his own power, but since the mysterious Duva had specifically brought it up, he had already raised his guard.

"Let's begin the trade. You asked one question, and I've answered it. Now send me ten—no, five Deviants. I still trust the credibility of one of the two poles of mutantkind," Duva said.

"What exactly happened between that batch of Eternals and Deviants twenty thousand years ago?" Magneto asked his question.

"The two sides fought over control of Earth."

"And the result?"

"That's another question. Hand over the down payment first."

"?"

"Don't go silent. Even if I tell you who won and who lost, you'll definitely ask about the fate of those two races and why they vanished from Earth. The intelligence involved is worth far more than you imagine," Duva replied.

It involved the Celestials, beings whose baseline was Skyfather Level. Information like that was worth trading for several more batches of Deviants.

The two sides stopped talking.

As for Raven, Magneto never mentioned asking Duva to release her. Both sides understood that anyone with half a brain would not cut off a channel of communication while beginning an initial partnership.

As long as Raven was alive, she could serve as a messenger for Duva and observe him at close range. If she uncovered any valuable secrets, she could report them to Magneto immediately.

Duva stood up and stretched, signaling the Xenomorphs to release Raven.

"Figure out how to bandage yourself." Duva casually glanced at the puncture wound through Raven's shoulder.

Raven's expression did not change. She merely controlled the nearby muscle cells, making them squirm and reshape until the injury was roughly repaired.

"You seem anxious. I believe it's not because of Erik, but because of Juggernaut." Raven studied Duva's expression, her gaze sharp and perceptive.

Duva paused, then admitted frankly, "For a moment, I was. Just as I said, you know nothing about Juggernaut, nor do you understand what might happen in the future."

"It will only happen if we're unlucky. You mentioned luck as well. What I'm more curious about is this: what exactly is there about Juggernaut that concerns you so much?"

An indestructible body? That ability was not worth mentioning before Magneto. He only needed to bury Juggernaut underground and pile enough metal on top of him. No matter how hard his body was, it would be useless.

Duva smiled faintly without responding. Instead, he took out a Xenomorph Egg and placed it before Raven.

"I've wanted to sneak underground and inspect the situation for a long time, but the Xenomorphs have always stopped me. This time, I should be able to, right?" Raven looked at the opening egg, her heart skipping a beat. Outwardly, however, she feigned calm as she spoke.

Only when the Facehugger lunged at her face did Raven, experiencing this for the first time, finally lose her composure. She instinctively raised a hand to swat it away.

Bang! Duva threw a punch into Raven's stomach. That single blow was enough to let the Facehugger leap onto her face and complete the implantation.

After a while, when Raven woke up, the first thing she did was inspect her body.

"So it seems that, just like that little woman beside you, I've become your slave."

Raven moved with elegance and tried to approach Duva, but before she could act, Duva cut her off. "If you're thinking of taking the chance to leave me, find somewhere to perform chest surgery on yourself, and remove the Xenomorph, give up. I won't give you the opportunity."

Raven's expression stiffened. The smile on her face slowly faded, and malice churned in her eyes.

But she could do nothing. Everything she wanted to do had been blocked off by Duva.

"I need to increase my strength as quickly as possible... Not only my own strength—I need to build an army of sufficient scale in a short time."

Duva pondered this. To rapidly expand the Xenomorphs, first, he had to consider the Queen's egg-laying rate. She currently laid roughly five to ten eggs a day, though that rate was increasing over time. Duva guessed it was because this Queen had transformed midway from an ordinary Xenomorph and was innately deficient in reproduction.

Second, he needed a stable and reliable source of hosts.

There was no point parasitizing ordinary animals. The resulting Courier Xenomorphs were too weak.

Parasitizing large numbers of humans was even less feasible. Duva was human himself, and doing something like that at this time would provoke the hostility of the entire world.

Only parasitizing death-row prisoners was not especially meaningful either. So the most cost-effective targets were those whose base locations and population distribution Duva had already mastered...

Vampires!