Chapter 4172

Star-Lord started thinking again, but his brain really wasn't enough. After thinking for a long time without finding the way, he could only look at Nick eagerly.

Nick pursed his lips and said, "So much money cannot be spent in a day or two. If it were all spent at once, it would even cause a shock to the currency market; it must have been accumulated bit by bit over many years..."

A flash of inspiration suddenly appeared in Star-Lord's mind, and he said, "The day before yesterday, Rocket bought a part on the black market, and he told me it would cost three hundred. As a result, I searched online and it only cost one hundred eighty. Later he told me that he actually took the money to buy a gift for that otter! Really, I'm not such an unreasonable person; if he wants to buy a gift for his girlfriend, he should just say so. Would I not give him money?"

Then he rolled his eyes and said, "So it's possible the Interstellar Council is like this too. They bought a lot of things that far exceeded their actual value, then reported the accounts according to that very high price, owed a lot of money, and after they couldn't pay it back, they said it was taken to fund interstellar pirates."

Nick sighed; Star-Lord's brain really wasn't enough. He said, "What you said is indeed a method of corruption, but this time it's not. Forget it, I'll just say it directly."

So he told Star-Lord about the Interstellar Council's overspending and borrowing money. Star-Lord obviously didn't fully understand either, but he understood the most critical point, and he said, "They have no money to pay back, and the three major empires don't want them to pay back the money, so can't everyone just calculate it together and wipe out the account?"

"Yes, they originally intended to do that. As long as you find someone who is best at accounting—the key is not to expose this matter—and then balance the books, you don't need to involve any money transactions at all. But very unfortunately, the person they found who is very good at accounting is Schiller."

Star-Lord couldn't help but cover his forehead and said, "Does the Supreme Intelligence not go online?"

"Everyone underestimates Schiller's lethality, don't they?" Nick smiled again and said, "With us interfering, they want to balance the books so easily? Dream on!"

"Oh, I understand. They wanted to balance the books quietly, but you didn't want them to get their wish, so you exposed this matter and even harmed us."

"I've said so much, why don't you understand yet? It's not to harm you, but to give you a chance to cooperate, because we know that only by pinning this account on you will you admit it, because you are our friends."

Star-Lord's brain obviously crashed for a few seconds. Nick continued, "Yondu is a smart man; he has been able to stand firm for so many years amidst the siege of the three major empires, not hesitating to bear the infamy to protect his hometown. He has never truly become a bandit, but is waiting for an opportunity in a more shrewd way."

"Opportunity? What opportunity?"

"The opportunity to strike the three major empires with one blow." Nick's expression became serious, and he said, "He understands very well that being a hero can never shake the rule of the three major empires. Even if it's humans, even if we have defeated the three major empires several times and even pressed them to the ground to beat them, the order of interstellar society will not collapse so easily. We need an opportunity, like a crack on the ground; as long as there is this crack, the bugs can drill in. Understand?"

Star-Lord seemed to finally have some realization and said, "So, we have common interests, right? We all want to deal with the three major empires."

"That's right. The Ravagers, like humans, have had enough of the arrogant hegemony of the three major empires. We want to overthrow the existing order and establish a new order. Therefore, no matter how hard this wall is, we must chisel out a crack, even if we are injured and bleed for it. Do you think someone who has been a space pirate for so many years would be afraid of bearing another infamy?"

"I understand. So Yondu's first reaction upon receiving this news was not to clarify, nor to explain, but to find his friends in the council, wanting to figure out what was going on. He probably also felt that this might be an opportunity."

"This is an opportunity." Nick said, "Everything I told you before, you stood from the perspective of the Ravagers to substitute. But didn't you notice? The biggest victim of the Interstellar Council funding pirates is not the pirates."

Hearing this in Star-Lord's ears felt like a wake-up call. He found that he was indeed too emotional; he got angry as soon as he thought the Ravagers might be framed.

But in fact, after this news was exposed, who had the worst luck?

Interstellar pirates are pirates to begin with, and they don't have a good reputation; they can do anything, and no one has any expectations of them. But the Interstellar Council and the three major empires are different.

Don't look at the three major empires controlling the entire interstellar society behind the scenes; that is also behind the scenes. Politics is originally a game where everyone knows the answer but will never ask questions that shouldn't be asked. They know the three major empires control interstellar society, but they won't ask, because this represents stability. They are vested interests, so they won't destroy this stability.

But if this question is asked, and even put on the table for discussion, then the collapse of order is not far away.

A giant that is strong enough will never allow others to discuss whether it is strong, let alone allow others to discuss whether it is just. And once the discussion spreads, everyone is asking questions and seeking answers, which means this giant has already declined.

The three major empires are just like this. After this news was exposed, it should have been a tacit silence, because everyone knows that the Interstellar Council is backed by the three major empires, and the three major empires chose to fund interstellar pirates; no one can comment.

But this time it was different. Perhaps it was the failure of several wars that shook the prestige of the three major empires, or perhaps someone was fueling the flames behind the scenes; in short, the moment the news was exposed, it triggered a full-network discussion.

The public opinion propaganda of the three major empires is done quite well; you can only see their positive information on the interstellar internet. This kind of information blockade has lasted for a long time, and various species may have changed several generations; some people were born and lived in such an information cocoon, and they believe that the three major empires are synonymous with strength and justice; they don't believe such news, or rather, most people don't believe it.

However, in every civilization, there are not only such controlled and fooled people, but also elite classes who know the truth. This group of people is the most powerful when they turn against them.

Funding interstellar pirates is not a big deal; anyone with a brain knows this is the three major empires nurturing bandits for their own benefit. The key lies in the amount: where the hell did the Interstellar Council get twenty trillion?!

No one knows the answer to this question. And this group of elite classes with information sources is not that they haven't thought about questioning, feeling that this data should be exaggerated or fabricated, but precisely because they have information sources, they know that this was said by the Minister of Propaganda himself, and even recorded in the system.

The one who invaded the system to change the data that day was Jarvis; the Supreme Intelligence didn't catch him at the time, and naturally couldn't do anything about him later, so the data remained the same. As mentioned before, this system was made full of loopholes for the convenience of modification, and now it has met its retribution. The system is leaking like a sieve, and anyone can come in and take a look; anyone who sees that long string of numbers has to slap their thighs twice.

The focus of these elites shifted from funding interstellar pirates to "where did this money come from." Or rather, they are more concerned about where this money actually went?

That's not ten or twenty million or one or two hundred million; that's a full twenty trillion. If this money really existed, leaking a little bit from the fingers would be enough for them to eat, drink, and be merry.

Even if this money had long been divided up, at least they had to know whose hands it fell into, right? They had already reached the core position of the cosmic political circle, and they didn't even have any news about such a big thing; this is what makes them feel most panicked.

It doesn't matter if they take it or not, but what if it falls into the hands of their political enemies? What if it falls into the hands of hostile civilizations? Taking a step back, it won't work if it falls into the hands of interstellar pirates; who knows what these lunatics will use this money to buy?

Fear drove everyone to rush to investigate. But it is obvious that the three major empires don't want them to investigate, because investigating this matter itself is very dangerous; who knows what will be found out while investigating, what if something is really found out?

So the three major empires hurriedly stopped them from investigating. And there is a good saying: what the official denies is the truth. It would be fine if they didn't stop it, but doesn't this stop confirm that there really are twenty trillion?

If you aren't afraid of people knowing, why stop the investigation?

The smart people among them also have some doubts in their hearts. Honestly, they don't quite believe that there would be other politicians, or some interstellar pirates, who got all the money. They are more inclined to believe that perhaps the three major empires took out a sum of money to do something, but didn't want them to know, so they lied and said it was funding interstellar pirates.

This kind of thing cannot be thought about in detail. Because things like funding interstellar pirates that could damage the reputation of the Interstellar Council and the three major empires have become a smokescreen, then how big is the real thing they want to do?

These people who have long been mixed into the core political circle, of course, know about the inhumane experiments the three major empires are doing in the universe. They know that these experiments are even just small troubles; the three major empires have never given up on the pursuit of laws and source power. Could it be that this money is used here?

Then suddenly someone thought: the Sorcerer Supreme was invited by them to be the Speaker. You must know that the two sides just finished a big fight, and you put the other party in the position of the number one person in the universe; don't the three major empires want face?

This matter cannot be thought about in detail either. To make the three major empires not even want face and still have to bring the Sorcerer Supreme over, they are probably plotting something big.

Connected, all connected. These little smarties immediately discovered that the three major empires have traces to follow in doing these things; the whereabouts of that large sum of money and the arrival of the Sorcerer Supreme are probably inevitably linked, and this kind of connection points to one direction, and that is the mysterious source power.

Good, good, good, the three major empires see they can't beat humans, so they are preparing to learn human methods, learning from the barbarians' skills to control the barbarians, right?

Those with active minds immediately thought: you can learn, why can't I? What's the use of spending so much money? I haven't seen any progress, otherwise, I wouldn't have to invite the Sorcerer Supreme over; this thing doesn't look at financial resources, but talent. The Sorcerer Supreme is now the Speaker; you can see him, and I can see him too.

You three major empires have blocked the universe with technology for so long, which can be considered hitting an iron plate. Since everyone is now on the same starting line, why am I worse than you? The Kree Empire and the Skrull Empire are still mechanical civilizations, very far from the source power itself; maybe if I learn more, I'll be stronger than them!

So, not even a day after the news was announced, Strange completely ended his leisurely life of slacking off and instead fell into a busy schedule of working around the clock.