Chapter 70: Return to Blue Star

On Xandar, after purchasing a cosmic communicator, a universal translator, and some materials unavailable on Blue Star, Harvey took a step and left the planet in an instant. Without pause, he landed in a starfield littered with dead worlds, gazing down across the Milky Way to swiftly locate Blue Star, before descending through the void. In less than a few minutes, he had traversed more than a thousand light-years and returned to the Moon. Another step brought him directly back to his estate in New York.

Having been away for a month, Harvey switched on his computer to find messages Tony had left for him. Most of them were inquiries about whether he had returned, with Tony hoping to chat. Seeing these, Harvey couldn’t help but smile, though he didn’t reply immediately. Instead, he removed his golden battle armor, took a shower, and changed clothes before making a call.

Meanwhile, at the Stark estate in New York, Tony was moodily eating—not because the food was lacking, but because his research had hit a bottleneck. His Iron Man suits had reached their twenty-fifth iteration, but with no better materials for development, the upgrades were mostly functional, failing to achieve any true leap forward. When Harvey was on Blue Star, Tony could always turn to him for advice. Now that Harvey had left, even finding someone to talk to was a challenge.

It was then that a voice spoke: “Sir, Mr. Harvey is calling. Would you like to take the call?” Jarvis’s voice was one Tony had heard countless times, but this particular news was music to his ears.

“Put him through,” Tony said, eyes widening before quickly recovering himself.

With Tony’s word, Jarvis connected the call.

“Harvey, when did you get back?” Tony asked, seeing Harvey’s image appear on the video feed. He had many questions but settled for a greeting first.

“About half an hour ago. I saw your messages,” Harvey replied. “I’m reaching out to see if you’re busy right now.”

Seeing Tony’s delighted expression on the screen, Harvey smiled and continued, “If there’s ever a time I’m too busy for visitors, it’d be in the evening, not the afternoon.”

“At this hour? No way I’d be too busy,” Tony said, grinning.

“You’re still brave enough to be busy in the evenings?” Harvey asked with feigned surprise. “Aren’t you worried about Pepper getting jealous?”

“Don’t bring her up,” Tony replied with a helpless smile. “She’s the reason I’m busy at night.” Ever since Tony had perfected the arc reactor, Stark Industries had gotten back on track. Pepper was now managing the company’s affairs with ease; she no longer had to run around, as others were eager to reach out to Stark Industries. Her workload was lighter than ever.

After joining the Void, Pepper had grown increasingly beautiful and powerful, her flexibility rivaling that of professional dancers. As the saying goes, when life is comfortable, one’s mind turns to pleasures. With Pepper having much free time in the evenings, she enjoyed keeping Tony occupied with activities she loved. Fortunately, Tony had also joined the Void; without it, he feared Pepper’s enthusiasm would have left him thoroughly drained.

“I see. Well, I brought you some things. Is it convenient if I come over now?” Harvey asked, catching the hint of joy on Tony’s face despite his feigned resignation.

“Of course,” Tony replied at once.

As Tony nodded, a violet void portal appeared, and Harvey stepped through, carrying a large case.

“These are gifts for you,” Harvey said. “There’s a universal translator, a cosmic communicator, and some rare and special materials from the universe.”

He tossed the case over as he entered.

“A universal translator?” Tony caught the case with a quick movement, his surprise evident. “Does it translate every language?”

Currently, most translators on Blue Star relied on Google, and even then, the translations were only roughly understandable, lacking precision. To have a truly powerful translator would mean unimaginable fortune.

“I haven’t studied it in detail myself, so I can’t say how many languages it can handle,” Harvey replied, “but with this, any language you can’t read will be instantly translated into something you understand.”

Taking a seat on the sofa as if he were at home, Harvey explained.

Tony opened the case to find what looked like a wristband, a transparent panel, some minerals and materials he’d never seen before, and a few books. The writing in the books was entirely unfamiliar.

“Which one is the universal translator?” Tony asked, delighted by the contents. For a scientist, the chance to explore knowledge from beyond Blue Star was exhilarating.

“The wristband,” Harvey replied. “Just put it on and it’ll recognize languages automatically.”

Tony wasted no time slipping the band onto his wrist. The moment he did, he exclaimed, “This is incredible.” All the once-unreadable books were now rendered in English. He marveled at the transformation.

“What’s C53?” As soon as he spoke, a projection appeared above the wristband, displaying the code C53.

“The universal translator identifies the origin of any spoken language in the universe and marks it. Blue Star’s designation is C53,” Harvey explained. He hadn’t specifically looked into this, but after spending a month on Xandar, handling bounty missions and interacting with many people, he’d picked up this common knowledge.

“That’s really convenient… But doesn’t that mean, in space, it’s impossible to hide where you’re from?” Tony was astounded by the feature, but quickly realized its implications.

“The universal translator only shows which language you’re speaking—it can’t fully prove your origin,” Harvey clarified. “If you want to hide your background, you’ll need to learn other languages when you’re out in the universe. Because anyone else with a universal translator will instantly know where your language comes from.”

As for his own background, Harvey had no fear of being exposed as from Blue Star. By now, the universe was rife with rumors about his origins.