Chapter 1613: No Time to Die (Part 12)

In a slightly dim conference room, several people sat around a round conference table. Strange sat in the main seat, holding a stack of materials. He stood up and waved to the left and right, and the others nodded at him.

Schiller, who was sitting beside Strange, put his hands on the table and said: "The reason everyone was summoned this time is because His Excellency the Sorcerer Supreme from another universe has some opinions to express about the magic situation in this universe. At the same time, everyone should be very curious about the situation of the magic world in other universes. Professor Strange will explain it to everyone in detail."

Strange nodded. He stood up and began to describe how the universe he was in, the Sanctum Sanctorum, Kamar-Taj, and the entire magic world of the Marvel world operated while pacing in front of the conference room.

Because the situation was a bit complicated, Strange spoke for a full forty minutes before he finished, and it wasn't even very detailed, just talking about the general structure.

Besides magic world figures like Constantine, Zatanna, Master Andrew, and Madame Xanadu, the Justice League's big three—Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman—were all there. Green Lantern Hal and Green Arrow Oliver also came. Even Falcone Jr., Cobblepot, and Cat Getan Mayor Luo Yin, all these ordinary people, were sitting around the conference table.

After all, to build a magic academy in Cat Getan, the situation of the magic world was closely related to these people. And except for Bruce, Luo Yin, and Alberto, who understood a part of what Strange said, everyone else was confused.

The main reason was that if Strange only talked about economics, most people could understand. If he only talked about the magic world, most people could also understand. But when these two were combined, there was a chaotic beauty like grafting a green onion onto an apple tree. Many people didn't react for a while.

They digested it for another half hour before they barely understood a part of it. Then Strange stood in front of the table, rolled the documents in his hand into a scroll, tapped the table, and said: "Wake up, friends. Humanity is about to be destroyed in your hands. How come you aren't anxious at all?"

"Now the magic world has experienced a great catastrophe, and the number of people has plummeted. Do you think those demons and angels will accept the result of their income plummeting? It is foreseeable that they will definitely try every means to lure more humans into this scam."

"But they won't say it's their fault. They have a very good excuse, which is that human mages played themselves to death so much, so it's only natural for them to replenish believers. They might even ask us for compensation."

"How can we let them bully humans like this?" Green Arrow Oliver slapped the table, stood up, and said: "It's truly lawless! Can no one manage them?"

Hal was also hearing about the situation of the magic world for the first time. He pursed his lips and said: "It's not that I'm making sarcastic remarks, but how could mages wait until the situation deteriorated to this point before reacting?"

"They haven't even fully reacted yet." Constantine turned his head to the side and said: "As far as I know, London has started to popularize some middle school magic societies, and community middle schools have started to popularize graffiti spray painting of the Mother of Darkness. But even if I know this isn't children's play at all, there's no way to do anything."

"Have you realized what exactly caused the completely passive situation we are in now?" Strange raised a question.

Suddenly, everyone started answering at once. Some said demons were too cunning, some said angels weren't fulfilling their responsibilities, and some said human nature was inherently depraved. Strange looked helpless.

"Haven't you discovered the biggest difference between the magic worlds of our two worlds? — The Earth I am in has a magic defense network."

The room went silent instantly. Everyone cast their gaze toward Strange, and the smarter ones among them realized something. Bruce spoke up: "Can you elaborate?"

"In ancient times, the great mages of Earth exhausted almost all their energy, and even sacrificed their own lives, to build the initial magic defense network. The most important role of this network was to ensure that no demon god could spy on Earth at will."

"Is your defense network powerful enough to kill all demon gods?" Constantine asked.

"On the contrary, it's powerful enough to kill all humans."

The room suddenly fell into a dead silence. Strange straightened his body, lifted his chin slightly, and said in a cold tone: "From beginning to end, the purpose of mages building this magic network was to take all humans on Earth to die together."

"Demon gods can of course attack this magic network at will, but they are very clear that once mages can no longer resist them, we will directly detonate the Earth's magic defense network and drag all humans to die together. They won't get anything."

"Human faith is special. We have value." Strange lowered his head slightly and said: "The uniqueness of humanity itself is the most important resource we can utilize. We must make all life outside of humanity realize that if they force humans, they will get nothing but destruction."

"It's very difficult to destroy these powerful existences, but it's very simple to destroy humans." Strange returned his gaze to the table and continued: "As long as you make them realize that you may destroy yourself at any time, how can they dare to be so arrogant?"

Seeing the atmosphere in the room quiet down, the first to speak was Bruce. He coughed with his fist against his mouth and said: "Building a protective shield for Earth doesn't just have these effects. In case other alien life forms invade, it can also be used as a final line of defense."

"That's true." Hal said: "The universe isn't as safe as you think."

"We don't necessarily have to really detonate it, right?" Clark leaned forward and said: "Just like nuclear bombs, the greatest value is the deterrent power when it hasn't exploded."

Schiller silently cast his gaze over. Clark saw his expression and gave him a slightly apologetic, bright smile, even reaching out to pull his arm. Schiller could only shake his head helplessly.

"But how are we going to add a cover to Earth?" Zatanna scratched her head hard and said: "If the human mages in their prime united, it might be possible, but now everyone is dead or injured, and the rest are fighting on their own, not united at all."

"Since it's not to forcibly block demon gods, we don't necessarily have to use magic to build a protective shield." Constantine touched his chin and said: "Anyway, it's just a deterrent. Building an electric grid that can destroy Earth is also fine."

"The problem is we can't let ordinary people know." Diana frowned and said: "That will cause panic. And to have both concealment and a certain degree of protection, only magic can do it."

"Not necessarily." When Schiller spoke, everyone's gaze fell on him, but Schiller turned to look at Hal.

Hal was stunned. Bruce's eyes rolled and said: "Indeed, we still have a fairly convenient energy, very suitable for building an Earth defense network, both very hidden and protective."

"You mean Green Lantern energy?" Diana opened her mouth in surprise. She thought for a while and said: "When building the space station, I saw Hal use this energy. It indeed meets the requirements for building a defense network. But where are we going to get so much Green Lantern energy?"

Hal stiffened for a moment, then shrugged and said: "I'm afraid we don't need to get more Green Lantern energy."

"What do you mean..."

With a "clatter," the entire room was swallowed by green light. Green Lantern energy crystals like mountains were released by Hal.

Then, Hal hugged his arms and stared at Schiller, saying: "Don't tell me you thought of this day long ago."

Everyone's gaze fell on Schiller's face again, but Schiller's expression remained calm. He said: "Thinking of it before everyone else wasn't my wish."

Quite euphemistic, but easy to understand. Constantine smiled at Schiller and said: "We will try our best to catch up to half as smart as you, Professor Schiller, but only next time."

"What's going on?" Strange said with some surprise: "Is it that hard to say 'thank you' and 'thanks to you'? Also, what about me?"

Bruce stood up and shook hands with Strange, looking at him with those blue eyes, and said very sincerely: "Although you said before that you weren't being humble, I still have to say that in terms of incisively analyzing the key to problems, you are somewhat self-deprecating."

Alberto even walked quickly to Strange's side, shook his hand forcefully, and said: "Your wisdom and experience will bring gospel to Cat Getan and the entire magic world, Your Excellency Sorcerer Supreme."

Others took turns shaking hands with him. Strange was as busy as a spinning top. When everyone left due to preparations for the magic defense network, he let out a long breath, shrugged at Schiller, and said: "I've never heard so many complex adjectives in my life. They all have more than seven letters, right?"

"At least twelve." Schiller stood up, waved at Strange, and said: "Although we have to build a defense network, recruitment can't be delayed. It seems they are all very busy, and some chores need us to handle them ourselves."

Strange followed Schiller to another room. It looked like a room in the castle specifically used for sending and receiving letters, with several heavy-looking dark brown writing desks and bookshelves that were so huge they occupied an entire wall, piled full of letters.

"These are all the admission notices we need to send out. Now we need to put them into envelopes, fix them with the messengers, and send them to the students to be admitted."

Strange nodded, not understanding what there was to explain about such a simple process, but soon Schiller led him through a door from this room into another room.

Just as he stepped into this room, Strange was stunned, because in this entire Gothic-style spire hall, there were tens of thousands of bats.

The bats were densely hanging on the spire dome, some were still constantly circling in mid-air. A bat brushed past the back of Strange's head, causing him to stagger forward, and immediately after, a bat hit his face.

"Bang!"

"Ouch!"

Strange danced on the spot as if electrocuted, then darted back into the other room with a "whoosh." He looked at the hall full of bats in horror and shouted: "This wouldn't be the messenger you mentioned, would it?!

... Why are they bats???"

Schiller stood in the middle of a pile of bats and also looked helpless. He sighed and said: "You might not believe it, but the only creatures in this city that won't go crazy after being cast with magic are bats, so we can only use this."

"What about owls? Doesn't the magic academy in your Tower of Thought use owls?"

"People here are allergic to owls. Don't mention owls."

And when Strange saw the box of bat-shaped envelopes, bat-patterned wax, and bat-shaped dolls gifted with the admission notices that Schiller moved out from a pile of bookshelves, he widened his eyes and looked at Schiller, as if he didn't recognize him.

"Don't look at me like that. I don't know why he likes bats so much either."

"Who?"

"The rich man who sponsored the entire school. The school you see, and even the entire city, were built by him—he is the student of mine you saw earlier."

"Hiss..." Strange gasped.

"If you really can't accept the image of bats, you can stand there, and then I..."

"No, I want to ask, if I can make more bat toys for him, can he sponsor the Sanctum Sanctorum?" ===== CHAPTER 1614 =====