Chapter 4159: Yes, Sorcerer Supreme (X)

The morning in the ring star area is still busy. Countless standard spaceships come and go, light blue tail flames weave and overlap, drawing one beautiful arc after another. Among them are mixed with private spaceships of the three major empires. The spaceships of the Kree Empire and the Skrull Empire are very simple and unadorned, most of which are gray or black shuttle spaceships. Although the interior decoration is quite stylish and reveals a mechanical order beauty, if you really want to talk about gorgeousness, it has to be the private spaceship of the Shi'ar Empire.

The one Strange took when he went to the election was not even the most luxurious spaceship of the Shi'ar Empire, it could only be counted as a noble ship. And the most luxurious royal ship, not only is the volume much larger than the previous one, but the decoration is even more luxurious. The arch uses real gold. Don't look at the value of gold in the universe is not as good as on Earth, but it also belongs to rare precious metals. This thing is missing in every star system. This arch can even buy a whole set of mineral mining engineering equipment, or a civilian version of the gravity tractor.

Not to mention the 360-degree panoramic skylight in the rest area of the spaceship. This is not glass, but a kind of transparent crystal with very high strength. Not only is it clear and bright, but it does not affect the strength of the ship's body at all.

What's even more outrageous is that the metal used under the bed in the bedroom is vibranium alloy. The rarity of vibranium is several times higher than gold. Although Earth is not the hometown of vibranium, so far, even the three major empires have not found a place with more vibranium than Earth. Although Earth's vibranium alloy is now open for export and the three major empires have a certain amount of stock, this is still very rare. Using this thing as a bed board can be said to be a waste of a heavenly gift.

However, vibranium, also known as sound-absorbing steel, has the best shock resistance in the universe. Using this thing as a bed board, no matter how the spaceship bumps, the person sleeping on the bed will not have any feeling, which will be very comfortable.

Of course, there are all kinds of precious green plants. You know, green is rare in the universe, otherwise Earth would not be called a cosmic greenhouse. Two of the three major empires do not need any plants at all, and there are very few green plants to be seen in the civilizations and planets under their jurisdiction. The Shi'ar Empire is a bit better in this regard, but it is limited. Mainly because there are too few green plants that can adapt to the space environment and spaceship environment. Even the green plants used for decoration on starships built by humans who have the tradition of raising flowers and grass are basically fake flowers.

But this group of Shi'ar nobles can actually raise real plants on their spaceships, and they are of various varieties. Whether it is delicate grass or bright flowers, they are wrapped around the arch, and the golden decoration style complements each other, which can be called overlapping green and flowing gold.

What must be mentioned is the feather element that the Shi'ar Empire likes to use most. These hairs are not their own, but all kinds of feathers they search for in the universe. For example, peacock feathers on Earth, they can also get them, and decorate various patterns on the walls. This undoubtedly requires a lot of time and money. However, the Shi'ar Empire people don't think this is luxurious at all. The nobles raised by the power of

And just as the various ministers were heading to their new departments to take over their duties, a document was delivered to Strange's desk. Schiller greeted him: "Good morning, Sorcerer Supreme. The ministers have already gone to report to their departments. Beyond routine administrative affairs, this plan is the first long-term task we must complete. The workflow and summary are all here."

Strange took the document and looked at it; it was titled "Opinion Solicitation Regarding a Comprehensive Review of Interstellar Environmental Protection Standards."

This title was not hard to understand, and the keywords were even highlighted in bold. For someone relatively familiar with administrative work, they should be able to understand what it meant, but unfortunately, Strange was not only not a politician, he was even an American. So he asked: "So what is this task for? Is it meant to solicit opinions, or is it meant to review environmental protection?"

"Before reviewing environmental protection, we must solicit everyone's opinions."

"Why solicit their opinions?" Strange asked, somewhat puzzled. "If we want to review, we review. Why care whether they are willing or not?"

"This is a reminder," Schiller said. "It means giving them a chance to conduct a self-review first. Only then will we initiate the review procedure."

"In other words, regardless of whether they agree or not, we will still conduct the review?"

"That is not necessarily certain; it depends specifically on their performance."

Strange revealed a blank expression again. Schiller sat down opposite him, placed his hands on the table to gesture, and then said: "When we want to drive people to do something, the most incorrect method is to issue direct orders. I believe that with the Supreme Intelligence as the Secretary-General, none of your administrative decrees will ever be implemented."

"Then what should we do?"

"First, we must review."

"But if he doesn't want any of my decrees to be implemented, he can also choose not to review."

"That won't do," Schiller said. "If he doesn't want to implement your orders, he can find reasonable excuses within that thick code of laws."

"Then couldn't he use the same reasons to not implement the review?"

"He could, but we could immediately initiate a review of him. And once a review of him is initiated, he must recuse himself. Any excuse he finds will look like sophistry."

"But he shouldn't be afraid of being investigated," Strange said, frowning. "He shouldn't be that stupid; the entire Interstellar Council is under the control of the three great empires. He has no need to do things that give people leverage."

"That is precisely the essence of a review. You don't have to actually find anything; you just have to keep investigating. As long as you keep investigating, he must keep recusing himself and won't be able to do anything."

"But how can one keep investigating indefinitely?"

"A person is the sum of their social relations, so the things that can be investigated are endless. And the higher the position one holds, the more things there are to investigate. Who they met by the coffee machine on a certain day, month, or year, what they talked about, and where they went afterward—all of these can become objects of investigation. As long as it hasn't been cleared up for a day, he cannot resume work for a day."

"So it's just threatening him by investigating him?"

"Yes. When we play the 'review' card, he can imagine that if he doesn't agree, we will shift the object of the review. So he has no choice but to investigate."

"But what if he doesn't investigate properly?"

"Of course he won't investigate properly. But we don't need him to investigate properly either, because we don't actually want to find anything; we just want to get people to do certain things."

"I'm a bit confused again," Strange said. "You say we want to review, but you don't want to find anything. But if we don't find any evidence, how can we urge people to do certain things?"

"The review itself is a signal, meaning that for the next period of time, we are going to work on this task. And if we want the work to have results, we must inevitably make an example of someone. No one wants to be the bird that sticks its head out and gets shot, so they will restrain themselves, and some might even do things in line with the direction of the review. In this way, our goal is achieved."

"I understand," Strange said, suddenly enlightened. "We are just sending out a signal that we are looking for their faults, and they will naturally conduct self-reviews and reflect. But I don't understand why we don't actually investigate? We should be able to find something, right?"

"Of course we could. But if we actually investigate and find something, we have to deal with it. If we don't deal with it, that's negligence. But if we do deal with it, we must grasp the scale—neither too light nor too heavy—and formulate different strategies according to different types of people. If even one link isn't handled well, we would be the ones making a laughingstock of ourselves."

"I get it," Strange said. "Actually dealing with them is too much trouble, so just scaring them is enough."

"Exactly, especially on issues like environmental protection. Whether interstellar society is environmentally friendly or not has nothing to do with us, so there is no need to actually investigate; just scaring them into self-review is enough."

"But why make them self-review environmental issues?"

"You and I both know that self-review can never be effective. They might restrain themselves slightly, and they might do some superficial work in the short term, but they absolutely cannot change the essence. It will definitely be the same after the self-review as it was before."

"Right, so what is the point of doing this?"

"This allows us to have a more legitimate reason," Schiller said with a smile. "In administrative work, this is a very important point. If you directly catch them in the act and then want to deal with them, it might make people feel that you are making a mountain out of a molehill and are being unreasonable. Especially when the other party is very powerful, many people will definitely come out to plead for them, eventually making it seem like you are using a chicken feather as a token of authority, insisting on stirring up trouble."

"But if, before moving against them, you launch a series of well-known review and warning activities, issuing repeated orders and instructions, and demonstrating an extremely serious attitude and grand momentum, then if someone offends again, it is acting in defiance of the wind. It is also being lawless and arrogant, simply not putting you, the Sorcerer Supreme, in their eyes."

"If someone pleads for him at this time, they become the same bird that sticks its head out. Again, no one wants to be that bird. Especially since you are not only the Speaker of the Interstellar Council but also the Sorcerer Supreme. Anyone must weigh the consequences before offending you, and even fewer will stand out to help those who violate the rules. We cannot let them fall into a situation of being isolated and helpless."

"I understand," Strange also started to smile. "In other words, we need to repeat a task over and over, increase the publicity for this task, and then make an example of someone, and the other party won't be able to escape."

"Exactly, that is precisely it. And to prevent them from actually being able to correct themselves, we must bury these things in long, tedious administrative decrees like the document in your hand, making them feel that you are just looking for something to do to show off your authority, just a new official's three fires. In that case, it is even more impossible for them to change, and when they are caught, there will be no room for sophistry."

"Alright, then who is your target?" After asking, Strange thought for a moment and said, "We should solve the Kree Empire first, right? After all, that robot Secretary-General controlled by the Supreme Intelligence is really annoying. If we pull him down, you can become the Secretary-General."

"No, we cannot move against the Kree Empire now. Once something happens to the Supreme Intelligence, everyone will know it was you. This kind of behavior of eliminating dissidents must be done perfectly, without leaving any loose ends. It would be best if he resigned himself."

Strange seemed to be listening to a fantasy. He said: "For the thousands of years before we arrived, this place has been the territory of the three great empires, and the Secretary-General has always been the same electronic life form. You actually want him to voluntarily quit? How is that possible?"

Schiller pulled his hand back, sat up slightly, gave Strange another smile, and said: "You know, he has no other choice."