Chapter 4183: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (I)

Asgard. The World Tree was still as magnificent and lush as ever, thick heat rose from the hot springs below, and the distant snow-capped mountains were resplendent in the morning light. Strange immersed himself in the slightly hot hot spring water and let out a satisfied sigh.

Schiller was neatly arranging the fruits on the fruit platter and then eating them one by one from left to right; Loki held a glass of wine, looking at the distant skyline while drinking; Nick, wrapped in a bath towel, finally returned from the bathroom and bent down by the pool, testing the water temperature with his hand.

"What are you dawdling for?" Strange said with some impatience, "If you think it's too hot, go over there, don't stir things up here."

"Our Speaker's temper is really getting bigger and bigger." Nick laughed as he walked into the pool, hissing from the heat, constantly splashing water on himself.

Loki half-squinted his eyes, opened the one closer to Nick, glanced at him, and then said: "We've been busy in the universe for a long time, but you've managed to enjoy leisure."

"My work is still to come," Nick said, "You'd better respect me. When bargaining, you still have to look at my performance."

"I really didn't expect that we could still receive money from the three major empires," Loki said with some emotion, "Although we have robbed them of quite a bit before, this time they gave it voluntarily. This feeling is really good."

"Selling the land is just the first step," Schiller forked a piece of cantaloupe and threw it into his mouth, then said, "We are thinking of moving the political center to our own territory and controlling it; how could the three major empires not want to take this opportunity to infiltrate the Nine Realms? This battle will be a long one."

"Has the location been selected?" Strange asked.

"There are three options, but they shouldn't choose the other two, so in the end, it should be Acrux in the Southern Cross."

Strange was stunned for a moment and said: "Why there?"

"The concentration of dark matter in the Milky Way is too high. If they don't choose a bright star, I'm afraid they will still have to artificially create a light source. The overall brightness of the Southern Cross is relatively high, and Acrux is a binary star system, with one hot star, two semi-hot stars, and one cold star. There are also three planets slightly larger than Earth that possess primitive life. With enough planets and a large enough place, of course, this place is more cost-effective."

Strange thought about it and remembered. In fact, the Southern Cross is very famous in European and American countries, mainly because the Southern Cross looks just like a cross when viewed from Earth, and is considered one of God's miracles. Many European and American countries even have the Southern Cross on their flags, such as Australia.

It's just that humans didn't know much about this constellation before, only knowing that it was very bright; after starting interstellar colonization, they drove their spaceships to take a look, and what was more surprising was that the Southern Cross had life.

The temperature of Acrux's cold star is about the same as the sun, and the distance and orbit of two planets are just right. The level of life there is about the same as the Late Triassic on Earth, but in the universe, it can already be considered a planet with a quite good environment.

And the hot star in this binary star system has a large mass and high brightness, making it a very good morning star. In cosmic navigation, lighthouses are also needed. The larger the mass and the higher the temperature of a planet, the easier it is to be captured by radar. Therefore, a prosperous star sector is best to have a super-bright star to serve as a navigation landmark.

And those two semi-hot stars are the best sources of energy. They are not as hot as the hot star, and their radiation is higher than the cold star. Mining them is not difficult, and the energy is relatively sufficient. Most advanced civilizations will choose this kind of star to extract energy.

As for how hot the hot star is and how cold the cold star is, it can only be said that the sun belongs to the cold star and is a star with relatively low heat in the universe. Basically, only such stars can nurture carbon-based organisms. And because the dark matter concentration in the Milky Way is relatively high, the heat of the stars diffuses slowly, so in fact, the standard for nurturing life should be lower. The stars possessed by most civilizations are colder than the sun.

Acrux's cold star is about the same as the sun. If there are no accidents, those two planets should also evolve life similar to humans, but that will probably be a matter of millions of years later.

Thinking of this, Strange frowned slightly and said: "Then what about the life on those two planets?"

"There are no humanoid creatures on it," Nick said, "There isn't even any true intelligent life, only some reptiles and theropods."

Loki could understand Strange's thoughts. He didn't really care whether the dinosaurs would go extinct, but he had long regarded the Milky Way as human property—so no matter what was on the planet, it belonged to the subjects under human rule. Just because no decent civilization has developed now doesn't mean it won't in the future; if they are exterminated now, what will happen later? These are all potential strengths of the galaxy and cannot be left to outsiders to destroy.

"What do you think I established the Environmental Protection Department for?" Schiller yawned, threw another cherry tomato into his mouth, chewed it, and said, "The council has already passed a series of relevant environmental protection regulations. The Interstellar Council must pay us about 30 million general coins every year for environmental protection and biological protection fees. At the same time, all activities of council officials here cannot harm any native animals and plants in this galaxy, otherwise, they will be sentenced."

"What about poachers?" Strange asked, "They didn't come here before because the routes were blocked and they were afraid of being discovered by Asgard; but now that so many people are coming, what if they sneak in?"

"That is indeed a problem," Schiller thought for a while and said, "Fighting poachers should be the work of the Security Department."

"The entire Interstellar Council has stopped working," Strange said, "This is all thanks to you. If you count on them, there won't be a single animal left on those planets."

"I will find a way," Schiller said.

"Next, we have to talk about the issue of stationing troops," Loki said, "Last night I discussed it with the God King and God Queen, and they decided to send a hundred-man squad of the Royal Guard over. What do you think?"

"One hundred people? And it's the Royal Guard?! The Supreme Intelligence won't be able to sleep now," Strange said with some schadenfreude.

"The Supreme Intelligence doesn't need to sleep anyway," Loki smiled, "But it's not like he just started not being able to sleep today."

His words seemed to have a hidden meaning. Strange was stunned, then immediately reacted and said: "That liar who cheated the Supreme Intelligence, it wouldn't be you again, would it?!"

Loki covered his mouth with a wine glass and said: "What do you mean 'again'? This is my first time cheating an electronic lifeform."

"But it won't be the last, right?"

Loki smiled and didn't speak. Nick seemed to have soaked until he was hot, then went up, and began to circle the pool, wiping his face with a towel while gasping from the cold.

"When are they planning to start work?" Nick asked again, "You must remember to sign the local labor protection agreement. I have a bunch of people waiting for work."

"What kind of thing is that?" Strange asked.

"It means that if you want to build a project in a certain place, you must hire a certain proportion of local people to participate in the work. This is to provide local employment positions. There was no such law in the Interstellar Council before, but there is one after the Interstellar Code was updated. Our tentative proportion is 30%, because the work humans can do is very limited."

"How can that work? Increase it to at least 50%," Nick said, "We can provide hundreds of symbiote agents, as well as special laborers like Electro and Sandman, and Spider-Man! Those energetic little bastards cause trouble for me every day, they must be given some work to do!"

"Alright, I should be able to get them to increase it to at least 40%," Schiller said, "And the buildings must be built according to the style of the local main ethnic group. They cannot be too abrupt or out of place, and they cannot destroy the city skyline—although there are no cities on those two planets for the time being, they still have to be built according to Earth's style."

"Why not Asgard?" Loki asked.

"You know how expensive your own buildings are," Schiller rolled his eyes a bit irritably and said, "If you can use cheap reinforced concrete, why use those magic-energy metals and magic stone slabs? Most interstellar officials won't jump and stomp through the roof!"

Loki had nothing to say. He also knew that Asgard used such luxurious materials mainly because the gods were too destructive—if you didn't use good materials, you would destroy half the city just by fighting.

"Of course, the quotation can be based on Asgard's buildings," Schiller changed the subject and said, "Perfectly integrating the styles of the two main civilizations, reflecting the Interstellar Council's respect for the lords."

Now it was Loki's turn to roll his eyes.

"By the way, what's going on with the Supreme Intelligence? Why is there no movement?" Strange asked again, "He doesn't want to move to the Milky Way. I thought he would make a final death struggle."

"I don't know," Schiller shook his head and said, "He asked for a week's leave, I don't know what he went to do; he came back yesterday morning and extended it for another week. I feel like he's resisting in vain and is just out of sight, out of mind."

"Anyway, he still has to come to work in the end, unless he doesn't want to be this Secretary-General anymore." Strange thought of something happy and said, "Since we've moved to the Milky Way, shouldn't the electronic office system also use Earth specialties, such as Jarvis?"

"That won't work. The law stipulates that the electronic office system cannot be in the form of artificial intelligence, otherwise, the Supreme Intelligence wouldn't need to be this Secretary-General and could just transform into the office system directly. Besides, Jarvis might not be willing to do it. His daughter was born not long ago, and he's busy."

"It's hard to imagine, Wanda already has three children," Loki reached out and said with emotion, "And my little niece is still in her mother's belly, it's estimated that it will take decades to be born."

"Is it confirmed to be a girl?"

"Of course, I knew the moment she was conceived. Asgard is about to welcome a queen," Loki said happily, "Helen doesn't like wearing jewelry. Giving her a necklace is like taking her life—my jewelry will finally have its heir!"

"Seriously, we should go to the Southern Cross to take a look," Nick said, "I'm afraid someone will make trouble before the construction team enters. I have no doubt that those electronic lifeforms might take the opportunity to play tricks."

"Alright, then you send someone."

"No, if I let S. H. I. E. L. D. employees participate in the project, I must train them to prevent those spider kids from yelling and jumping around like ignorant bumpkins when they see large space construction machinery, losing face for humans."

"Then I'll send someone," Loki said, "It just so happens to find a good stationing point for the Royal Guard in advance..."

"No, if the gods go, they will definitely scare away those who only know how to plot. Send a small squad to wander around, it's best if you can catch them in the act."

Everyone's eyes fell on Schiller's face. Schiller raised his hand helplessly and said: "Alright, I'll find someone, okay?" ===== CHAPTER 4184 =====