Chapter 191: Lamppost and God (Part 1)

Most human thinking and behavior have rules and logic. What kind of thoughts and actions a person will have depends on the situation he is facing now.

It is not strange that Strange has such a bold idea. At this time, he is a successful rich man, not only rich, but very rich.

In the few months before he came into contact with Gu Yi, his daily life was dealing with the richest and most powerful people in the world.

And his contact with magic was not because setbacks forced him to seek help from magic. Gu Yi's invitation to learn magic was more like an invitation to an academic exchange meeting in a brand-new field.

Therefore, Strange at this time has no reverence for magic. His view is similar to Stark's. Magic is just another kind of energy that can be used. What magic is mainly depends on how people use it.

And Shiler helped him do a process of elimination, shielding him from Wang's so-called cultivation of heart and practice, peace and peace, and let him discover that sometimes, solving problems by violence is simple and rude, but very effective.

In this case, Strange will inevitably start thinking, trying to find a path that is simpler and more effective than burying his head in hard practice at Kamar-Taj.

This is an inevitable thinking generated after experiencing human scientific education. The ultimate goal of all experiments is to improve efficiency and accelerate production.

And it is not strange that he would find Stark. Although the two had some conflicts before, things have developed to this point, more of it is common interests. Obviously, in the matter of magic, they will have greater common interests.

Stark sat behind the experimental table, his elbows on the table, holding his temples with his hands and said: "That said, this is currently just an idea, lacking too many necessary conditions for execution."

He waved his hand and said: "You walked in here, showed me what your magic is, and then the two of us started to hit the idea of those powerful aliens."

"If I were to say, brother, but if you didn't come to me, not the Stark full of genius ideas, others would definitely treat you as a madman and blow you out."

"Humans haven't even built a spaceship yet, and we started thinking about borrowing money from aliens. This is really a bit crazy."

Strange sat on the other side of the experimental table, hugging his arms and said: "This idea is indeed bold, but it is not impossible to achieve, it just needs some time."

"It needs a lot of time." Stark said to Strange: "Now I haven't touched the threshold of magic, and you, you are just a magic apprentice, and haven't even officially used magic."

"It seems that we really have to treat this as a long-term plan. By the way, have I reminded you? Magic cannot be said casually, so this plan should not be told to too many people."

"Don't worry, even if it's not because of magic, I will prevent certain people from knowing your wicked plan. They will definitely chatter endlessly because of this, for example, a certain old fogey who always calls himself my uncle, and that silly boy who will swing in the sky, and..."

Strange opened his mouth: "Who this plan should be guarded against, I don't know, but..."

Then he looked up at Stark, and Stark also looked at him as if they had a tacit understanding, and said: "... you definitely know who this plan must not be guarded against."

In the S. H. I. E. L. D. office, the light bulb on the head flickered on and off. Under the light bulb was a square table with four corners, and four people sat on the four sides of the table.

Nick and Shiler looked at each other, and Nick said: "So, you plan to rob aliens?"

"Don't say it so ugly." Stark denied: "This is essentially borrowing, borrowing, do you understand?"

"Alright..." Nick opened his mouth to say something, but it seemed that there were too many things to say, and he couldn't say it for a while.

After a pause, he put his hands on the desktop, made a gesture of not being impatient, and said: "I have understood everything you just said. There are some powerful creatures with magic energy in this universe. Ordinary people call them aliens, and magicians call them cosmic demons."

"They can lend power to humans through some method, allowing people to perform magic, so the essence of magic is the power of cosmic demons."

"Now you plan to borrow some power to arm yourself, then refuse to pay back the debt, and then go to borrow more power."

"Let's not discuss whether the technical level works..."

Just as Nick said this, Stark interrupted him and said: "I know this is a bit wicked, but the plan was proposed by him."

Stark pointed to Strange, and sold his teammate without any psychological burden. Strange was stunned, then glared at him.

Nick was also stunned. He said: "Wicked, what's wicked about this?"

Nick and Shiler looked at Stark and Strange full of doubts. Stark and Strange looked at each other, and then Stark said: "Alright, we shouldn't overestimate the moral level of you two."

Nick said very surprisingly: "It turns out that after setting aside the technical level problems, the first problem you considered was the moral problem, which really surprised me a bit."

"But what I want to say is not a moral problem, but a logical problem."

"First. According to what you said, cosmic demons have wisdom and can communicate, which proves that they are not stupid."

"Just like the human credit system, if you borrow a loan from a bank for the first time and refuse to return it, then the bank cannot lend to you again. If the amount is huge, other banks will also blacklist you."

"I know, this kind of behavior is more like robbing a bank than borrowing a loan, but the bank is not moving. If your force is sufficient, you can indeed rob it repeatedly, but cosmic demons don't have legs. If they find that you refuse to return the debt and can't beat you, can't they just run away?"

Nick asked Strange quite suspiciously: "According to what you said, your teacher borrowed power and didn't return it, and then beat all the creditors down. Wouldn't all cosmic demons run far away when they see him? Then how can he borrow more power?"

"Is there a possibility?" Shiler looked at Nick and said: "Those who don't want to lend him power can't run away."

Strange gave a more reasonable explanation: "Cosmic demons are not wandering in the universe. Some relatively powerful cosmic demons often have their own territory, for example... what is it? What dark dimension, and crimson dimension, these are all I heard from Wang. These are equivalent to the territory of cosmic demons."

"That is a bit feasible." Nick touched his chin and said: "But there are still many problems, especially the technical level."

Then, the four people started to discuss how to borrow money to buy guns, and then take the money and guns to rob.

"I say..." Shiler tapped the table, as if he couldn't listen anymore and said: "Why is your thinking always so limited? Why do you always think about violent robbery, can't you be a little flexible?"

The other three people looked at him. Shiler said helplessly: "This is why I am always out of tune with you, do you know? Your speeches just now are simply like rednecks gathered in a farm warehouse playing poker and shouting loudly."

"Give up your straight-forward violent thinking, that is the least efficient method. In this era, robbing banks is no longer popular. Buying guns, pulling people, preparing cars, refueling cars, stepping on points in advance, formulating escape routes, etc., this is really too troublesome."

"If you have any plan, just say it." Nick looked at Shiler and said: "I see you have been holding back for a long time."

"Compared to robbery, we can completely change a way."

"What?"

"Cheat."

Shiler spread his hands and said: "What is the highest record of bank robbers? Millions of dollars? And what about liars?"

"That depends on what kind of liar you are talking about. If it is that kind of successful liar..." Nick looked at Strange and said: "You have to ask him."

"Why look at me?" Strange said irritably: "Compared to some people, what kind of successful liar am I?"

He looked at Stark again. Stark stared and said: "Why look at me? I am an industrialist, I don't engage in financial fraud, and besides, the immortality factor was not created by me..."

After speaking, he looked at Shiler. The other two also looked at Shiler together. Nick said: "Currently, you can ask and answer this question yourself. I haven't seen a liar with a more brilliant record than you for the time being."

"Alright, I have a plan. The routine of borrowing money and not returning it is outdated. Let's change it to a fashionable statement."

"For example?"

"For example, investment."

Shiler put his hands on the desktop and began his narration:

"Look, now the trading mode of cosmic demons is one-on-one. This trading mode is really very simple and primitive in the eyes of humans."

"They are still stuck at the level of barter and face-to-face trading, but modern finance has completely broken away from this level."

"The first step is to break away from this one-on-one trading mode. We can completely conduct one-to-many trading, or many-to-many trading. Simply put, let cosmic demons invest their power in us."

"Then what? Investment must have a return, right?"

"Cosmic demons..." Shiler put his hands on the right side.

"... invest power..." He put his hands in the middle.

"... to us." Finally, he put his hands on the left side, indicating that this is three stages.

"More cosmic demons, invest more power in us." Shiler made three more movements.

In the curious eyes of the other three, he suddenly accelerated his speech, spitting out a long paragraph of words quickly:

"We use the power invested by other cosmic demons to feed back to other cosmic demons as investment returns, and tell them that the more you invest, the more you earn."

"Set up a ladder system, formulate promotion ranks, raise returns layer by layer, pull one cosmic demon, you can draw 3 points from the transaction amount as a return, pull two cosmic demons, you can draw 7 points, and so on, the more people you pull, the more you earn..."

"After making the basic disk bigger, start using late-stage investment as the return for early-stage investors. Investment income is getting more and more, and investment returns are getting more and more. When the difference reaches an ideal value..."

Shiler spread his hands and said: "... the industry faces some difficulties caused by force majeure, and can only say goodbye to everyone for the time being. We express deep regret for this."

After he finished speaking, the conference room was quiet for a minute. The first to speak was Stark: "It is indeed a concept with some creativity... my ass, isn't this a Ponzi scheme???"

Nick also looked at Shiler and said: "Although I have estimated your moral bottom line as low as possible, its flexibility is still scary."

Shiler suddenly said very seriously: "I have always believed that for humans to move towards the universe, what is needed is not only the essence of human civilization, but also some dross."

"Trash is just a resource in the wrong place. Essence is the driving force towards the universe, while dross is a weapon. After all, I am afraid that no cosmic civilization will have as many dross as humans."

"Of course, this is just an entry-level method." Shiler shrugged and said: "After expanding the concept of one-to-many or many-to-many trading, we must change the status quo of barter. Those are things from the primitive era. Without a general equivalent, they still have the face to call themselves powerful and developed aliens?"

"With a general equivalent, there is a currency concept, followed by market, supply and demand, crowdfunding, company, stock, futures..."

"What humans have to do is not a buyer who owes money and doesn't return it, nor a villain who treats creditors violently, but a dealer with good reputation and image, praised by the whole universe, fair and conscientious."

"And force is just a necessary means to ensure fairness. We can even promise not to use the Supreme Sorcerer first."

"Then if they refuse to join, let the Supreme Sorcerer go to his house to knock on the door, right?"

"Don't say that. The Supreme Sorcerer has gone to his house to knock on the door, and he even has a chance to live. This is already a big progress. We are simply the universe's anti-violence pioneer organization."

"When we have both force and reason, we can start to establish a trading system, formulate trading rules, and then carry out class division, layer by layer, famous and justified, logical and smooth..."

The other three looked at each other, but Shiler appeared very calm, not at all like a conspirator who intended to capitalize the whole universe.

"Of course, these things are all later words. Let's talk about the first plan. There are many benefits to doing this."

"Actually, this cannot be considered a scam, because in the later stage, those early investors will know the truth, but they will not stop. For the sake of their sunk costs, they will help us keep this secret. Not only keep the secret, but also take the initiative to help us find more people."

"This solves the problem of Earth's information blockage. Although we don't understand cosmic demons, cosmic demons definitely understand cosmic demons."

"Regarding the principle of Ponzi scheme, you don't need to explain it again. We all know it, but the biggest problem with this scam is that when you roll money and run away, you must have a way to hide yourself and wash the money white."

"If this is an individual, perhaps hiding and changing an identity will be simpler, but Earth cannot run away. We can't give up the entire solar system just to pluck the wool of cosmic demons, right?" Nick raised a question.

"If we really start to manipulate the market, hiding ourselves may indeed be difficult, but there is another idea, which is to find a sufficiently powerful backer, promise him benefits, and let him help us block the trouble after rolling money and running away."

As he spoke, Shiler looked at Strange and said: "Before you said, your teacher, the Supreme Sorcerer, once mentioned to you, what new god is being born recently?"

"That's right, just like I told you before, it seems that a mysterious existence that has been trading with him told her that something is about to be born near Earth, and she is preparing for it."

"Does the mysterious existence behind her have any interest in participating?" Shiler moved his elbows supporting on the table and continued: "With the reputation of the Supreme Sorcerer as the guarantee for opening the market, the existence behind her acts as the host, first pull a few small demons to join, use the power they invested to make a play, and pull out a positive typical for publicity."

"After more people join, and more power is accumulated, then focus on attacking a big demon, smash money to open the way, promise him a high rate of return, let him enter the market first, and then taste some sweetness, so as to fool a few more big demons."

"After these powerful demons join, then put forward the principle of pulling people, let them help us squeeze those smaller demons, and we give them a commission."

"When preparing to run away, return the big fists in full, and for those who are worse, everyone will chop them up to eat meat together. Part of it is given to the existence behind the Supreme Sorcerer as protection money, and the other part is kept by ourselves."

"When the small demons in the universe grow up again, we can use this part of power as capital to cut another wave."

"There is a problem..." Stark frowned and said: "You also know that a very important point of Ponzi scheme is that there must be real objects to cheat investment in the early stage. What do you intend to use as the object to fool them into investing?"

"Didn't Stephen mention it before? The existence behind the Supreme Sorcerer told him that a new beast totem is being born."

"Speaking of which, what is going on? What is a beast totem? Will it have any bad influence on us if it is born on Earth?" Nick asked Strange: "What is a beast totem?"

Strange shook his head and said: "According to my teacher, it is a symbol of cosmic power, all mysterious things. Although it is born on Earth, it has nothing to do with people on Earth."

Nick touched his forehead and said: "I guess, it must have something to do with that big bat last time, right?"

As he spoke, he looked at Shiler, and Shiler gave him a positive look, then said: "This thing can be used to make some articles."

"Envy Origin"

"The new totem power of the universe is rising, and it is in need of your help. Giving roses, hands have lingering fragrance. Investment return rate is 200% during the birth of the new god. Join the Totem God Sect and embark on a successful demon life. How about it?"

Stark and Strange reached out and applauded. Nick commented: "Theoretically, it is indeed feasible. Powerful cosmic demons are also vested interests, and those small demons whose power is circled must not be able to beat these united strongmen."

"Plus the existence behind the Supreme Sorcerer, ensuring that no one dares to extend a black hand, the exploitation and harvesting chain is basically closed."

Nick sighed and said: "The plan is good, but the risk is still very large. Earth's disadvantage is too big. Humans here are too fragile, and civilization is still backward. If you don't borrow other people's power, you can hardly play against any cosmic power. Once you are chased to your home, there is no resistance power that can be taken out."

"I have always believed..." Stark said firmly: "If one day, Earth faces the disaster of extinction, and we are unable to resist, then at least we must have the ability to avenge it, so..."

"Stop!" Shiler directly interrupted what Stark was about to say next. He said: "Don't say such unlucky things, and Earth is not unable to resist."

"Maybe in your opinion, the power of resistance must be force. I admit that there must be enough force to give us the qualification to sit at the negotiating table."

"But when we really can't develop enough force in a short time, it is not shameful to use other means to accumulate resources and fight for time for us, just like we just planned."

"Actually, I think your thinking is limited." Strange continued Shiler's words: "You think that nuclear bombs made by humans with science may not be able to effectively kill those strange aliens, but we can actually change our thinking, for example, use magic to make one."

"If we can really cheat... I mean borrow enough power from those cosmic demons, then it can also become our weapon to guard Earth. These two are actually just different routes, and there is no essential difference."

Nick sighed again, and he continued: "Everything is difficult at the beginning, the plan is there, but where do we start?"

"We indeed know too little about things outside Earth." Stark also said: "Anyway, I don't know those cosmic demons."

Strange shrugged and said: "I can go back and discuss with my teacher, but I always feel that such a wicked plan..."

He also sighed, and then said: "This will definitely seriously lower my image in her eyes, making her feel that I am an ignorant liar."

"And I am not sure if she will really go to the existence behind him to say this. After all, no matter how you say it, this is a bit too wicked..."

"The most urgent task now is to find someone who has a full understanding of things outside Earth, especially someone who has an understanding of those demons in the universe and various other forces, to solve our doubts, so that we can screen out the list of the first batch of victims... I mean participants." Shiler proposed.

"It's not that easy. Most people on Earth don't believe in the existence of aliens. Even the space agency and astronauts can't have any understanding of those mysterious things." Nick held his forehead and said.

"Even if you can find it, you have to ensure that he has no danger and can communicate with humans normally." Stark added,

"It's best if the IQ is lower, so it's easy for us to set words, and won't guess our purpose." Strange also added.

The four sighed together, feeling that they were daydreaming.

Just then, Nick's phone rang suddenly. After he answered, he said: "Yes, that's right... what's wrong?"

"What did you say?... Are you sure?"

"Really? What else?"

After Nick hung up the phone, he repeated the content reported to him on the phone: "An alien falling object was suspected to be found in New Mexico. At the same time, the state also reported a mental patient who claimed to be a god, who attacked the staff who went to investigate the scene."

"He claimed to be a god from Asgard, and the fallen alien object was his weapon. Because he was deprived of all divine power, he couldn't pick up his weapon..."

Speaking of this, the four people looked at each other, and said like a chain:

"An alien?"

"An alien who lost his power?"

"An alien who lost his power and has no weapon..."

"An alien who lost his power, has no weapon, and looks like his brain is not very good!!!" ===== CHAPTER 192 =====