Chapter 4678: House of X: Destruction (6)

"Where did you get these things?" Shiler looked at the data on Stark's desk with some surprise.

The two's guest rooms were suites, that is, two bedrooms leading to the same living room. At this time, Stark was studying the data covering the round table in the center of the living room.

Most of them were very complex drawings, with so many numbers and letters that it made people dizzy, and some weren't even English, but some strange characters from somewhere, which seemed to be alien languages. Shiler felt familiar, but couldn't remember.

When Stark was studying, Shiler was sizing up the whole living room. The living room's decoration was still full of naturalistic style. At the far left was a floor-to-ceiling window. Although it was already night, the moonlight was still very bright, and the glowing plants were swaying slightly.

The round table was placed by the window, with bookshelves on both sides, while the sofa was placed on the side near the door, one bedroom on the left and right. Most of the furniture was wooden, carved with vine and flower patterns.

The chandelier hanging above the round table was very beautiful, composed of six lily-of-the-valley-shaped lampshades, emitting bright but soft light. This light didn't look like it was produced by light bulbs produced by modern technology; the lampshades clearly focused light downward, but there was no very obvious light spot boundary, looking more like a magical product.

I don't know if it was Shiler's illusion, but he saw the vines on the lamp move slightly, as if they were saying hello to him. Shiler also waved at him, but the vines didn't move again.

He withdrew his gaze, and just at this time, Stark reached out to him. Shiler took out the monocle from his pocket and handed it to him. Stark snapped the monocle into his eye socket, and then asked: "How did you talk to the Professor?"

"Same old. The conservatives think the radicals are too conservative," Shiler sighed, "Mutants are always very naive. Perhaps what they can't share with humans is their degree of understanding of the sinister nature of the human heart. How about you? Did you meet the main universe people?"

"They are still the same," Stark said without raising his head, "The multiverse war has made them more mature, but clearly not enough. I suspect they might do something stupid."

"For example?"

"Dragging it out until the Mother Mold completely wakes up, and the mutants are at the brink of life and death, and then they will turn the tide."

"They think they can save it successfully?"

"They came out in full force this time, and Doctor Strange also came," Stark raised his eyes and said, "If they sincerely help mutants, maybe they can reverse the situation, but we all know this is impossible."

Shiler also knew very clearly that this bunch of people in the main universe came to fish for reputation, not to sincerely help mutants, or rather, they were also very wary of mutants themselves. After all, the Avengers are on the side of humans, and the maximum help they can provide is just mediation. Whether mutants can successfully build a country, and what price they have to pay for it, they don't care.

This kind of thinking is not difficult to understand. Because it seems that humans and mutants are a zero-sum game, and the relationship is growing and waning. Helping mutants gain an advantage means that the Avengers of this universe might be suppressed. This is not good news for the Avengers of other universes. Especially for this kind of universe that has no ability to compete with them for the leading position, it must be more about pulling and helping than suppression.

But they didn't want to give up this rare active request for help, so they still came under the name of help. They wanted reputation, but didn't want to sincerely help, so they just dragged it on.

"Can you expose them?" Shiler asked.

"It's hard," Stark said, "The Orchis factory has technical content. This isn't entirely human technology; it seems to have a certain relationship with the Shi'ar Empire. Seriously, the main universe Iron Man can't come up with a perfect solution, I'm not surprised at all."

"Why? Because his technical level is insufficient?"

Stark shook his head and said: "The main universe is still too young, they haven't carried out galaxy-level major projects, which will limit his vision. It can also be seen from the content of his research data that he is trying to understand the principle of the Mother Mold."

"Isn't this right?"

Stark shook his head and said: "He seems to be trying to destroy the remaining pillar. It looks like this is the best way, because there is only one left after all. If mutants attack as a whole, it's not completely impossible. As for sacrifice, it's not in their consideration."

"But mutants can't agree."

"Then they can say that mutants are afraid of sacrifice, not that their plan has problems," Stark said, "This plan is a win no matter how you look at it for them. If mutants really do it according to this plan, they will definitely suffer heavy losses, and even if they build a country, I'm afraid they won't be able to compete with the Avengers. If they are unwilling to do it, then they can't blame the reinforcements, and they

"That sounds pretty good," Schiller said. "Although I don't sympathize with mutants, we have to find a way to stop the main universe. Otherwise, the fact that I've been ghostwriting medical records for Strange will be exposed sooner or later."

Stark rolled his eyes. He took off his glasses and said, "I actually have a better plan, but you should go first."

"I do have a plan, but I think you should go first."

"How about we both say it together."

The two of them looked at each other and said in unison, "The Sun!"

Then both of them laughed, looking slightly helpless. Stark threw his pen down, put one hand on his hip, and said, "Schiller, you really are incorrigible, you damn universe-destroying engine!"

"You're not much better yourself," Schiller said, as if he had been laughed into a state of irritation. "Mr. Mad Scientist!"

The two laughed for a long time before they started talking about business again.

"The best way isn't to dismantle the Red Gate Orchid factory, but to find a way to control the sun. To be precise, use the sun as a hostage to threaten humanity. For mutants, this shouldn't be hard to do, right?"

"You're wrong about that," Schiller said. "The humans in this universe are more formidable than you think, otherwise they wouldn't have pushed the mutants to this point. They not only have perfect anti-mind control devices, but also magnetic field correction equipment, as well as the ultimate weapon against mutants: the Sentinel robots."

"I understand the first two, but what's the situation with the last one?"

"You only need to know that even Jean Grey, who possessed the Phoenix, was killed silently by Sentinel robots," Schiller shook his head and said. "No mutant can escape the Sentinel robots. Jean Grey, Magneto, Scarlet Witch—they are all the same."

"That powerful?!" Stark said, somewhat incredulously. "Even those Omega-level mutants can't escape?"

Schiller nodded and said, "Yes, just understand it this way: Sentinels are a rule-based power that indiscriminately suppresses all mutants. They are the natural enemy of their race. In front of a Sentinel, all mutants are as fragile as paper. That's all you need to know."

Schiller's description was not an exaggeration. In most mutant comics, Sentinels really are that strong; they are more like a weakness that the editors forcibly added to mutants to prevent their power levels from inflating.

Regardless of Unified Field Theory, Chaos Magic, or the Phoenix Force, as long as the one using these powers is a mutant, they are no match for a Sentinel. You can understand it as Sentinels being specifically targeted at the X-gene; as long as one has this gene, they can be easily killed by a Sentinel.

This is why, even though the assault team had Jean Grey, they were still wiped out, and the Phoenix Force didn't even erupt. Because when the last pillar was teetering on the brink, humanity deployed the Sentinel robots.

"This is a bit troublesome," Stark said. "It seems I underestimated the strength of the mutants in this universe; they are weaker than I imagined."

"You can't say that either. The mutants in our universe act lawlessly because no one uses Sentinel robots to hunt them down. On the contrary, when they are suppressed by the three major empires, ordinary people still help them, which allows them to unleash their full strength. But the mutants in this universe are isolated and helpless."

Stark nodded, clearly agreeing with this assessment. The mutants in this universe really are beset by enemies on all sides. They want to unleash their powerful individual strength, but they worry about the Sentinels wiping them out. Without teammates they can trust to watch their backs, many things are very difficult to do.

"But it's not without a solution," Stark said. "If a direct assault won't work, we have to use some tricks. However, we need to convince the mutant leaders first."

"Professor X and Magneto are easy to deal with. But the person currently in charge of Krakoa's diplomacy is the White Queen. This lady is very tough, but her efforts are misdirected. It will take some effort to convince her."

"What do you plan to do?"

"We can contact someone else, her nemesis, the Black King Sebastian, and organize a secret meeting," Schiller thought for a moment and said. "I need to go talk to Magneto."

"Sebastian?" Magneto frowned and said, "The White Queen spent a great deal of effort to get rid of the Black King. If he is invited back to Krakoa at this juncture, the White Queen will likely be very angry."

"That's exactly what we want—to make her angry," Schiller said. "We can't let her go to the United Nations General Assembly."

Magneto narrowed his eyes and said, "Not let the White Queen go to the UN General Assembly? Then who will represent us to propose and witness the vote?"

"No one will go," Schiller said. "And you need to release news to the outside world that there has been infighting among the mutants, and that there are even signs of a collapse; I'm afraid nation-building will be difficult."

"Why do this?" Magneto's expression turned cold. It seemed that if it weren't for the good impression Schiller had left on him earlier, he might have already wanted to tell the other party to get lost. "This is the critical moment for nation-building. How can we boost others' morale and destroy our own?"

Bruce widened his eyes, gestured with his hand, and then said: "So those organizers are..."

"All Battleworld administrators," Shiler said. "They aren't NPCs designed for the game; they are the behind-the-scenes level designers themselves."

Bruce opened his mouth, took some time to accept this shocking fact, and then understood why Stark also said that was the way to clear the level. Because under normal circumstances, the cultist plot might be a mandatory part to play, so Stark, with his god's-eye view, felt that this level had to be cleared that way.

"Wait," Bruce found another unreasonable point. He said, "So he intentionally broke in just to block Batman and the others outside? That's too self-sacrificing, right?"

Shiler shook his head and said: "Do you remember what the penalty for losing the lantern level was?"