Chapter 4171

Many people likely remember that Thanos previously invited the wolf into the house, directly installing Nick in a position at the Interstellar Security Council. Very unfortunately, during the previous multiverse war, a spaceship dispatched by the Interstellar Security Council to the Bazaar Planet went out of control, firing its main cannon at the ground and ultimately destroying a planet. Although everyone ran away quickly and no major casualties were caused, because that place was a gathering spot for all sorts of people, the news simply could not be suppressed. In order to give the various civilizations an explanation, the Interstellar Council had no choice but to remove Thanos from his post.

The saying goes, "With no tiger in the mountains, the monkey is king," but to be precise, Nick is the tiger. And now, there isn't even a decent monkey on this mountain; there is simply no one in the entire Interstellar Security Council who can challenge him. Therefore, the first human to gain a firm foothold in the Interstellar Council was not Strange, but Nick Fury.

If you were to ask what good deeds he has done since taking office, not a single one could be named; what contributions he has made to interstellar security, also none at all; and what progress the department has made under his leadership, that is even more non-existent. Yet, this very department has consumed 80% of the Security Force's budget, while the books are still made to look beautiful.

And quite coincidentally, the newly appointed Security Minister doesn't understand security at all, nor does he understand finance; he doesn't even look at the books, and Nick just bluffed his way through it like that.

No one knows exactly how much he took, only that the construction speed of the second human starship in the solar system is 320% of what it was, and it will likely be ready for sea trials in three months.

As soon as Nick put down the phone, he picked up Star-Lord's call. He said slowly to the slightly exasperated Star-Lord on the other end, "Don't be anxious. You know my character; would I let you suffer a loss? If you have time, come to the Interstellar Security Council to talk. Yes, right now. Some things must be said face-to-face."

Star-Lord was not polite either, or perhaps he was too angry; he didn't even fly his ship in his usual stingy way, but spent money to take a portal and soon arrived at the Ring Star Sector.

Nick sent him coordinates, and he took a public transport ship, making many turns before arriving at a rather prosperous outer-rim planet. Looking at the gorgeous decorations on the side of the road, Star-Lord said, "Where is this? This looks like the territory of the Shi'ar Empire."

"This is indeed the territory of the Shi'ar Empire." Nick led him into a cafe. It was similar to human cafes, just that perhaps because it was working hours, there weren't many people. The two of them found a quiet corner and sat down.

"What on earth is going on?" Star-Lord asked, "Yondu couldn't possibly have taken that much money. Twenty trillion, that's too exaggerated!"

"Of course he couldn't have taken that much money; to be honest, the Interstellar Council doesn't have that much money either." Nick shook his head and said, "The budget for one quarter is only eighty million; you calculate it yourself, how many quarters would it take to save up such a large sum of money? This is simply unrealistic."

"Then what is going on?" Star-Lord looked bewildered.

"The specific principles are a bit too complicated to explain, and you wouldn't understand even if I told you. How about we get straight to the point and make a deal?"

Star-Lord thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Fine, as long as this matter can be settled, anything is fine."

"Let Yondu admit to this sum of money."

"What?!" Star-Lord almost jumped out of his chair.

"Don't be anxious." Nick took the tray from the waiter, placed the drinks in front of the two of them, and said, "I didn't say let him take the blame for all of it. Even if he dared to say so, others wouldn't believe it."

"You've really confused me," Star-Lord said, "Once Yondu admits he took the money, he will definitely be besieged; neither the Interstellar Council nor other interstellar pirates will let him off."

"You've got one point wrong: it's precisely because he doesn't admit it now that others won't let him off. Because this official news wasn't announced, but leaked by informed sources, it has a very high degree of accuracy. It's useless for Yondu not to admit it."

"Then what do you suggest?"

Nick said somewhat helplessly, "When faced with something that cannot be explained, what would you do?"

"Of course, try my best to explain it. I don't believe there is anything in this world that cannot be explained. I will definitely find evidence."

"That's a good idea, but we usually adopt a simpler method." Nick took a sip of water and said, "When you encounter a frame-up where you can't defend yourself and can't find any evidence, the following rules can help you get out of a public opinion dilemma."

"What are they?" Star-Lord leaned forward and asked.

"First, control your emotions. Don't go crazy, and don't let extreme emotions manipulate you into over-denying the matter. Because the more you deny it, the easier it is for people to think you have a guilty conscience."

"But I didn't do it, why can't I deny it?"

"I didn't say don't deny it at all. Listen to me finish first," Nick said, "Step one, don't express complete denial, because this will make others feel you have lost an objective stance. Expressing a certain neutral attitude is to gain people's trust."

"Oh, I understand, it's just pretending to be reasonable."

"You could say that. Once you explode with extreme emotions and strongly deny it, people will feel that your subsequent statements are not objective enough, and the credibility of your statements will drop. So you must remain calm."

"Then what's the next step?"

"Find the parts of his words that can be affirmed, and affirm them."

"I don't understand, they are completely lying, what parts are worth affirming?"

"Let me ask you, are you very sure that all interstellar pirates have never taken money?"

Star-Lord opened his mouth wide, took a breath, was silent for a moment in a dilemma, and then said, "To be honest, I don't deal with interstellar pirates much, and apart from the Ravagers, I don't know any other pirates."

"Then do you think Yondu dares to make this guarantee?"

Star-Lord didn't answer, but he knew in his heart that it was probably not the case. Because Yondu had already hinted that the three major empires were not incapable of eliminating interstellar pirates; keeping them was just to nurture them for their own benefit. Even if they didn't give money, they must have provided convenience in many ways.

The Ravagers team is almost the only one among interstellar pirate groups that has a bottom line, and it is difficult to sway them, but other pirates are not so picky. If they could be dismissed with a little money, the three major empires would certainly be happy to do so; after all, at worst, they could just launch a round of bandit suppression and take the money back.

"So it is possible," Nick continued, "that there might be pirates who took money from the three major empires, right? Then you affirm that part."

"You mean, let Yondu admit that some interstellar pirates took money."

"Yes. And without us reminding him, he will definitely say so. He will tell those reporters that his peers are all money-grubbing bastards, and no one can guarantee that they haven't taken money from the Interstellar Council."

"But what if the reporters keep pressing? They will definitely ask Yondu if he took money."

"This is the second rule." Nick rubbed the handle of his cup with his fingers and said, "After neutrally affirming a part of the other party's view that can be affirmed, the next step is to express your own view. What you need to do is continue to maintain an seemingly objective attitude, but use methods like confusing the public or swapping concepts to distance yourself."

"How do I do that?" Star-Lord asked.

"First, question the authenticity of the news. For example, you can say, 'I really don't know where you heard such news,' or 'This news is great, I wonder who spread it.' Note, at this time, don't insist that this is fake news, but be as vague as possible while making a questioning gesture."

Star-Lord nodded and continued, "And then?"

"Take the opportunity to start questioning the person who provided the news source." Nick extended a few fingers again and started giving examples, "But use a tone of excusing them, for example, 'I know, government staff are also very hard-working, it's nothing for gossip to spread below, I won't mind,' or 'The interstellar internet is becoming more and more developed, everyone is pursuing explosive points; after all, if a video goes viral, maybe you can earn hundreds of thousands.' This way, you not only question the person who provided the news source but also pointlessly pin a motive on them. There are many useful motives; I usually use 'making up rumors to relieve stress,' 'wanting to attract attention through explosive remarks,' or 'deliberately suppressing me because of some good deed I did before that affected his interests,' and so on."

Star-Lord showed an expression of sudden realization and said, "I feel like all these points can be used: government staff made up an outrageous lie because of too much work pressure, posted it online, wanting to earn traffic, and at the same time, disgust the Ravagers. I'll go discuss this with Yondu!"

He stood up and was about to leave. Nick grabbed him and sighed, saying, "What's the use of you just learning the superficial skills? You are far worse than your adoptive father. Do you think he doesn't know these things?"

Star-Lord was a bit confused. Nick shook his head and said, "If he didn't know how to deal with politicians, he would have died hundreds of times over. He can think of all these, and he can do them too. But what follows is the key point I want to tell you."

"What?"

"The part about questioning others' motives must be done just right; stop while you're ahead. And after that, the key point comes: you must hit the nail on the head and point out that after someone is harmed by rumors, who will benefit—especially say it to those who are related to this interest."

"For example: a subordinate is framed and embarrassed, that is losing the leader's face; a person makes a work mistake, it may implicate the department in being criticized; the matter of stealing is not investigated clearly, everyone may be suspected of being a thief; being slandered for saying things that were never said, there are villains wanting to sow discord and destroy the harmony of the entire team."

"Social interaction has many complex techniques, but all roads lead to the same destination; the underlying logic is 'how to make others listen to you.' And people will only listen to others seriously in one situation, and that is when it relates to their own interests."

"Since there is no room for positive defense, then you can only drag more people into the water and make others take an attitude of listening. Only when they listen seriously is it possible to be moved, and that is also the key point for your comeback."

"I understand," Star-Lord said, "If everyone believes the Ravagers took the money, who will be the biggest winner?"

Star-Lord asked and answered himself. He originally wanted to say interstellar pirates, because after most civilizations know that interstellar pirates took so much money, they will definitely feel they are very threatening and find ways to wipe them out; or it could be that they are greedy for the money this group took and want to scrape something off their corpses. In short, pirates must be the first to have bad luck.

But thinking carefully, he felt it was wrong, because he thought of the words Yondu said to him before: interstellar pirates can run rampant in the stars, which is inseparable from the indulgence of the three major empires. If other civilizations dared to pull the tiger's whiskers of the three major empires and wipe out the interstellar pirates, they would have done so long ago; could they still allow interstellar pirates, who are not even comparable to third-rate civilizations, to be rampant?

The backer of interstellar pirates is the three major empires, so no one dares to touch them. No one dared to touch them before, and no one will dare to touch them after the news is exposed; they shouldn't go extinct because of this.

Star-Lord scratched his head hard, really unable to think of it. So Nick smiled at him and said, "I said, this amount is very exaggerated and is absolutely impossible to achieve. Then why is it such an exaggerated amount?"