Thirty – Inventory

"Wow, I knew I wasn't wrong about you. You're that legendary twisted lolicon, aren't you? Out for just one night and you bring back a dark-skinned loli?"

When Jos returned home, Lilith glanced up at him, and from the cold smirk on her face, he immediately read this message.

Whether it was just her squirrel-like face or the fact that she simply never bothered to hide her thoughts, she wore everything she was thinking right on her face.

"Ahem, don't look at me like that. She's like you—a convert who abandoned the darkness for the light, left behind the wickedness of capitalism for the nobility of socialism, got it?"

Unfortunately, Lilith paid him no mind. She merely shot him a glance before turning back to the television, ignoring his attempts at explanation.

"I mean… you're basically under house arrest here, so why do I feel like you respect me less and less?"

Lilith just rolled her eyes and let out a cold snort, refusing to speak further.

"Tch… all the Liliths I know, the ones with wings and that name, are supposed to be adorable juice-succubi. Why doesn't that work here?"

With a sigh, Jos glanced at the little dark-skinned girl beside him, growing even more aggrieved.

"Tch, even on the Moon there's a tsundere Lilith. Why can't you learn from her? Tsundere flat-chested girls are so cute!"

"Is he always like this?" The little dark-skinned girl shot Jos a sidelong look, then turned to Lilith.

"Pretty much, though lately it's gotten worse. In every way, really," Lilith replied with surprising seriousness, for someone who usually ignored Jos.

"Tch, you've really picked a remarkable host this time, in a way," the girl muttered, shaking her head before plopping down beside Lilith to watch TV.

"Hey! How did you two become friends already? Just two hours ago you were a sticky two-meter brute, always preoccupied with where to find your next meal!"

Watching the two inexplicably hit it off while he was left out, Jos could only silently tally up the spoils of his latest venture.

The greatest gain was, of course, Venom—or rather, the little dark-skinned girl now under his roof. At least for now, Jos was completely invincible among his peers.

Not that this world had any universally acknowledged or reasonable ranking system, but the idea was the same.

With this genuine cheat code at his side, Jos didn’t even need to get his own hands dirty in a fight if he didn’t want to.

Though, well, some things still needed a… personal touch.

Speaking of which, Jos realized just how terrifyingly adaptable humans could be. As the saying goes, once you taste social security, you never want to go back.

When he’d first acquired this power, he was determined never to use it, convinced he’d never stoop to such things. But after witnessing the might of the Flash Fruit, he had tossed his inhibitions aside without a second thought.

For Jos, choosing between integrity and power was never something worth agonizing over.

Of course, there was also the not-so-minor matter of the debt he’d racked up thanks to a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Although he could still use the points he earned for draws instead of having them automatically deducted for repayment, Jos didn’t dare spend a single extra one.

Beyond these tangible gains, his biggest achievement this time was finally making contact with the Midnight Sons.

After all, he’d saved Blade’s life; surely, they wouldn’t refuse such a simple request.

So, when Jos carried Blade home and the man finally woke, Jos asked to meet the Midnight Sons. Blade agreed without hesitation.

"Still, even with contact made, I doubt the whole group will show up, given the Avengers' current state," Jos mused.

The real reason he wanted to approach the Midnight Sons was for the sake of the two heavyweights among them: Ghost Rider and Doctor Strange.

But considering the Avengers’ timeline was in chaos, other organizations probably weren’t faring much better.

"Well, I still can’t reach them for now, but I should mention to Nick about expanding the Avengers’ roster."

The lack of Avengers members was always a headache. If possible, Jos wanted to gather all the original movie members together.

After all, with the current lineup, the strongest weren’t even present. When the big events came, they’d be woefully shorthanded.

"Tch, but then again, if Thor doesn’t come to Earth, will Loki actually lead an attack? That’s not a given."

Jos rubbed his brow, then shook his head. "No, Loki must have acted on Earth during the war era, maybe even earlier. The Tesseract affair clearly bore his mark."

Causality could be infuriating. Everything was interlinked, but you never knew what piece would matter until the very end.

Jos didn’t bother worrying about things he couldn’t figure out—or rather, these weren’t really his problems to solve.

"Right… if I want to pull more people in—cough, recruit more members, I could do this!"

Jos slapped his thigh in realization, making the little dark-skinned girl jump up, ready to fight him. He had to use a command seal to send her back to the TV.

"Hmm, nice feel… I mean, good idea!"

He smoothly withdrew his hand, pulled out his phone, and called Nick Fury.

After connecting, Jos gave a routine mission report. In the real world, unlike the perfect worlds of comics and movies where nobody ever needed a bathroom break, there was plenty of paperwork.

He did, however, gloss over the matter of Venom, claiming the symbiote had escaped and its whereabouts were unknown, omitting the detail that he’d kept it for himself.

The Venom you’re looking for—what does that have to do with my little one at home?

"Alright, Nick, that’s all the work stuff. I wanted to talk about the Avengers," Jos intoned in a deliberately solemn voice.

But on the other end, Nick Fury sounded genuinely surprised, his voice rising, "Oh? What a coincidence. I have something to discuss with you too. Let’s meet outside and talk in person."

"Hmm?" Jos swore he could smell trouble brewing.