hotmtlnovel Chapter 3718 Doomsday (1)
Chapter 3718 Doomsday (1)
Chapter 3718 Doomsday (Part 11)
"I'm back!" Polaris called out as she pushed open the door, only to find Charles sitting in his office, looking at her with a complicated expression.
"What's wrong, Professor? Where's Eric?"
“He’s out in a meeting,” Charles said without blinking. “You know, two not-so-friendly countries recently scheduled executive visits, and he has to go to deal with them.”
Polaris's face immediately darkened, but clearly not at Eric. She scoffed, "Now you think of coming to visit us? When they were smearing Magneto and mutants on various websites, they never thought they'd want to establish diplomatic relations with us, huh?"
“Your father said that doesn’t count as smearing,” Charles said, sounding somewhat helpless. “After all, he did make quite a stir back then.”
"Is the commotion big enough to change his birthplace? To change his race? Or to reverse history so that he never went to a concentration camp and never fought those damned fascists?!"
“Calm down, Lorna,” Charles sighed. “We’re not children anymore, and going to extremes won’t do any good. Let them come if they want to; we’ll treat them like normal foreign guests.”
Polaris was clearly still a little unhappy. He sat there with his arms crossed, his mouth drooping as if he had two lead weights hanging from his lips.
“There’s one more thing I’d like to discuss with you,” Charles said, sounding somewhat hesitant. “I know it might sound a bit surprising, but… after Captain America’s 100th birthday, we’ll be starting preparations to relocate Earth…”
Amid Polaris's shocked expression, Charles briefly recounted China's "Earth Launch" program, which had been in the works for many years.
The plan was actually quite simple. When the Steel Demon appeared, it truly shocked the entire Earth, with the most shocked being none other than the great Eastern power.
China has certainly dealt with demons before, but most demons don't look like this. Anyone with a modern scientific education wouldn't immediately recognize a steel demon as a product of magic. What magician creates a ton of robots?
Their first reaction was that this must be a super weapon developed by the United States, so of course they were on high alert and tried every means to investigate the Iron Demon as quickly as possible.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. was no pushover either, and within a few days they figured out what was going on. But this didn't put them at ease; instead, it made them even more nervous.
If it was created by the United States, then it's actually not so bad. Don't be fooled by how powerful it seems on the surface; no matter who it ends up in, the other powers will be unwilling. If it's in the military's hands, Congress won't be willing; if it's in Congress's hands, the military won't be willing. In the end, just the infighting will weaken its combat power by half, and it might even end up being destroyed.
This is no exaggeration; it has happened more than once or twice in history. Whether in aerospace technology or industrialization, the United States has consistently employed a strategy of hindering and regressing progress on both sides. As long as it maintains its own stability, the other side can repeatedly punch itself in the back.
But the investigation revealed otherwise. This thing wasn't created by the US, nor even by a group of scientists; it was created by one person, and only one person could control it. This was arguably the worst possible outcome.
How are you going to gamble on human nature?
Yes, Stark seems normal now, but that doesn't mean he'll always be. He may appear to be the kind of scientist who wants to lead humanity forward, but that doesn't mean his ideas will always be so advanced. Throughout history, how many people have worked diligently in their youth, only to become senile and incompetent in their old age? This is arguably humanity's greatest weakness besides its fragile physical body.
Another point is that Stark has never been a benevolent businessman. His identity as a major capitalist predetermines him to be an exploiter, regardless of his true intentions. He is bound by too many interests. If he wavers even for a moment, if he harbors even a sliver of selfishness, and tries to use this power to rule ordinary people, it would be a catastrophe for everyone.
Some people might think that Magneto is very strong, and Professor X is very strong, so why aren't we worried about them using force to rule the Earth?
The problem is, there are also many very strong mutants in China. If a real fight broke out, they might not necessarily lose to the other mutants in terms of sheer force. But the Iron Demon is different. It is a completely new and overwhelmingly powerful being, which gives them a great sense of crisis.
But since the problem already existed, anxiety and panic were useless; they had to find a solution. After lengthy discussions and research, they finally discovered that direct combat was unlikely to work, and even if they could win, Earth would not fare well.
Following this line of thought, since the worst outcome is mutual destruction anyway, why not use the same approach as the mage and demon god who both perished, and simply kidnap the Earth?
However, the magic defense network cannot be used against the Steel Demon God, because this guy is on Earth and inside the magic defense network, so the magic defense network can only play a limited role, and may even be destroyed from the inside by him.
Moreover, the magical defense network is in the hands of mages, who don't consider themselves nationally independent and claim not to participate in conflicts between nations on Earth. They believe that no matter how good something from others is, it can't compare to their own. They decided to build their own deterrent, capable of, like the magical defense network, drawing everyone in the world onto their side when necessary.
Following this line of thought, the best thing to do would be to make a bomb, and say, "Whatever you dare to do, I'll blow up the Earth."
This is completely different from nuclear weapons. To say that humanity's nuclear capabilities are merely a tickle to the Earth is an understatement. Nuclear weapons can only destroy humanity, not the Earth itself; they could plow the entire globe, but would only scratch the surface. To truly destroy the Earth, you'd need a super-duper, invincible bomb.
However, developing such a large bomb would require an investment many times greater than that of a nuclear weapon, and it would also take a tremendous amount of effort. Once it is developed, it would need to be maintained as long as it is not in use, which would be another astronomical expense.
The memory of how the Soviet Union was dragged down by the arms race is still fresh in everyone's mind. Spending so much money on super weapons that were highly unlikely to be used was simply courting disaster.
This is a dead end—doing it doesn't work, and not doing it doesn't work either. But actually, the solution is quite simple: create a bomb that has other functions besides exploding.
It sounds absurd, but humans have actually had this for a long time. Isn't a car engine just a giant bomb that keeps detonating but never actually explodes? Normally, we can drive cars as a means of transportation, but when necessary, we can use specialized techniques to detonate them as weapons. Isn't that the best solution?
Although it sounds absurd, it is also reasonable—they decided to install an engine on the Earth so that it could be driven around normally, and if something happened inside the Earth, it could be used as a strategic weapon to unite the vast majority of people.
This was no easy feat. While superheroes in another country across the ocean were embarking on various adventures, ordinary human scientists, mutants, and superpowered individuals here united as one, some conducting research, others creating materials, and it took them a full ten years to finally complete the first step of the project—building the engine.
That's right, in the entire Earth Launch Project, building the engine is only the first step.
The second step is to target Asgard. Don't be fooled by the fact that Thor and Loki primarily deal with the Americans; S.H.I.E.L.D. has essentially figured out what this closest alien civilization to Earth is all about. The first test, of course, is to go to the vicinity of this nearby and well-connected alien civilization.
Announcing your research achievements to the other party is secondary; the most important thing is that in case of any accident, the other party should lend a hand, both morally and logically.
Although all preparations were made, no one could say for sure that problems wouldn't arise, so a final layer of insurance was needed: Asgard. If something went wrong and Earth was to explode, Thor would have to intervene, both for the sake of the Avengers and to prevent Asgard from being destroyed.
After the three great empires went to war, China astutely realized that they could escalate this incident from a test flight to gain even more benefits.
It may sound risky, but for a civilization or a race, perpetual conservatism leads nowhere. Only by daring to make crucial decisions at critical moments can one seize the most crucial benefits at key junctures; hesitation leads to defeat.
Thus, a seemingly insane plan gradually took shape, but its execution went remarkably smoothly. The reason is simple: humanity is inherently a mad race, perpetually hungry and insatiable. Although their exploration of the solar system was far from complete, they had already begun to dream of a more prosperous universe.
Saturn and Jupiter certainly have abundant resources, but are they as rich as the warehouses of the three great empires? The Milky Way is indeed beautiful, but is its geographical location as good as the ring systems? Asgard is a decent lord, but who would want to be subservient to someone else when they can be their own emperor?
Schiller had only heard the beginning of what Zheng Xian was saying about the faster-than-light engine from the director of the S.H.I.E.L.D. when he stopped Zheng Xian from continuing and offered to help.
Schiller didn't need to know where they were taking Earth; the very act of launching Earth was enough to make his help worthwhile. Come on, this wasn't forced wandering; it was a proactive move. The thought of Earth bouncing around in space like a billiard ball meant Schiller had to pull out all the stops to convince Kamar-Taj and the Avengers.
Since it's a subtle way to deceive them, you can't just tell them directly. Besides, Schiller knows Strange and his gang well; if he goes over and tells them directly, they'll feel like they're getting a huge mess, and they might even become rebellious and uncooperative.
However, by bringing up the topic during conversation, they gradually guided Strange and Steve's thinking in that direction, and then let Strange investigate on his own. What he found out was much more credible and shocking than what he had been told.
The fact that Strange was able to take a peek into the Himalayas shows that the other side had been preparing for this for a long time. They were even able to build such a massive structure right under Strange's nose; if they truly didn't want him to know, they could have kept it a secret forever. The fact that they let him see it means they never intended to keep it a secret.
Strange and Steve lived up to expectations, successfully persuading Kamar-Taj and the Avengers to agree to the plan. Schiller, on the other hand, shared the same thought as the Chinese side: since they were going to open a road anyway, why not open one directly to Asgard—that would maximize their profits?
On the mutant side, in order to gain more benefits for mutants in this incident, they took the initiative to use Mystique to put pressure on Asgard, giving this launch the perfect pretext.
Thus, through the combined efforts of many, Earth successfully embarked on its journey from the solar system and arrived above Asgard. Even so, the entire plan had only progressed to its second step. Next, the focus would shift to the three great empires.