Chapter 5012: Advance York Advance (Forty-Eight)

Unexpectedly, the Revival Alliance simply turned the tables, directly pinning the blame on Loki as the chief culprit. On one hand, this could explain Thor's mistreatment of his brother; on the other, it could relieve their own investigative pressure, giving an explanation for all the previous accidental events.

As the mastermind behind this series of conspiracies, Iron Man naturally knew it wasn't Loki's doing. That was precisely why he came to the press conference, intending to expose the Revival Alliance there, accuse them of negligence and harboring a criminal, while continuing to charge Thor with mistreating his brother.

Unexpectedly, Thor still couldn't get past his conscience; he simply had no way to tell a bald-faced lie in front of so many people. Even though the person he was to slander was Loki, that brother who caused him trouble daily and nearly got him killed several times, he still couldn't bring himself to shut his eyes and shove all responsibility onto him.

With Thor's own confession, the whole arsenal of rhetoric Iron Man had prepared to expose them was rendered useless. The originally envisioned scene — Thor finishes apologizing, Iron Man slams the table and rises, produces a string of ironclad evidence, and logically and sharply tears away the Revival Alliance's true face of shirking responsibility — could no longer happen. This infuriated Iron Man considerably.

This was originally his best chance for a return. Having instigated the Civil War before, he bore responsibility, feared retrospective retribution, and had no choice but to feign madness to avoid the limelight. Now, having seized the Revival Alliance's weak point and dealt a heavy blow to their prestige, if the Revival Alliance and Thor wanted to settle scores with him again, it would easily be understood as retaliation.

At that time, the more hostile they were to Iron Man, the more he could win public support, becoming a righteous scholar unafraid of power who exposes the truth. Thor and the Revival Alliance, meanwhile, would become dictators who fool the masses and cover the sky with one hand, thereby nailed to the pillar of shame.

With these plans fallen through, how could Iron Man not be angry?

As his emotions surged here, certain mental defenses sprang a leak. Professor X learned the truth almost instantly. He had just wanted to step forward and speak, when Magneto gave him a barely perceptible shake of the head.

Magneto casually removed his helmet. No one was paying attention to him in the current scene; all eyes were on Thor. The two communicated mentally, Professor X wore a thoughtful expression, and then fell silent.

Shiler, who had long guessed the truth, also had no intention of exposing Iron Man. He simply watched as reporters rushed from their seats, surged before Thor, and began pressing him on the meaning of his words just now.

Whether from inexperience or a reckless "smash the pot" attitude, Thor simply said whatever came to mind, telling everything he knew. But in fact, he didn't know much — especially, who the true culprit of the Seafood Incident was, he simply hadn't had time to investigate, and really couldn't say anything.

He merely kept emphasizing that Loki had been locked up by him all along and couldn't possibly be the culprit. He bore responsibility for negligence and was willing to answer for it. The other superheroes exchanged glances, all wearing helpless expressions.

This wasn't because Thor was shielding his brother, but because they should have long realized Thor had no way to slander anyone like this, no matter who the target was. Lei Shen's straightforward personality of saying whatever he thinks has its downsides, but also its upsides.

Once he sets his mind on something, others can hardly persuade him otherwise — just like insisting on bringing Loki back. But by the same token, his conscience and bottom line are equally unyielding. No amount of grand reasoning can convince him to fabricate lies.

Fortunately, they hadn't originally intended to shirk responsibility by fabricating lies either; this was itself a fishing scheme. And now it looks like the fish they've hooked is a pufferfish about to explode from rage.

Iron Man's face was gloomy, as if hesitating, also as if weighing whether his trump cards were enough to shake the current situation.

But clearly, this weighing wasn't rational enough. Because he had endured for too long; feigning mental illness to escape sanctions could only delay the inevitable. If he left today without any progress, being liquidated was only a matter of time — he had to find a way to destabilize Thor and the Revival Alliance.

As for why Iron Man feared liquidation so much, naturally it was because he had no confidence he could beat Thor; once bound by the Divine Power Chains and cuffed, it would be all over. If he could win a fight, he wouldn't be this conflicted.

Iron Man took a deep breath and coughed heavily, drawing everyone's attention.

"Stop playing the good guy, Thor. You think I don't know? You've been secretly arresting scientists and superheroes on Earth and locking them all up in a prison on Jotunheim. Just to keep this from being discovered, you stirred up all this commotion to divert public attention. Your conspiracy will not succeed!"

The reporters were stunned; they immediately swarmed toward Iron Man. Nick's face darkened, and Captain America's expression changed even more drastically. But the others were relatively fine, especially the mutant side — both leaders wore looks of tacit understanding; apparently this was Iron Man's trump card.

Iron Man directly extended a hand, and a photograph projected onto the wall. Amidst Jotunheim's ice and snow, beneath a pale blue magical shield, a dark gray building stood in the snow, looking from afar exactly like a prison.

"As far as I know, many outstanding human scientists have been arrested and taken to this prison, and even superheroes are locked up here. Among them are the well-known Fantastic Four..."

"What? The Fantastic Four were secretly arrested?!"

"But aren't they superheroes? They just saved New York before, how dare he..."

"Human scientists were arrested too? Does he intend to sever human civilization?"

"This photo doesn't look fake. How many superheroes were arrested? Could it be only the ones present here are left?"

"Even the ones here might not be real; maybe they were really arrested long ago, and these are just puppets..."

One can't blame the Advance York City reporters for their rich imagination; mainly, the old Earth-616 has simply experienced too much. In famous major events, such plots play out in rotation — either superheroes are impersonated, or secretly arrested, or someone betrays them and nearly wipes everyone out in one nest.

The moment Iron Man spoke, the New York reporters' conspiracy theories surged forth instantly. And his words were very skillful — both "human scientist" and "superhero" are identities Reed Richards possesses. That is to say, even if only he alone was arrested, it still counts as arresting a human scientist and a superhero.

He didn't elaborate, probably because he wasn't too clear on who exactly was in Jotunheim either. So he used this method to misdirect the gaze, but the effect was good — it sounded like they'd arrested a lot of people.

Nick's originally tense expression relaxed; this veteran spy chief immediately realized Iron Man's hand wasn't strong, and he likely didn't even know the specifics of Jotunheim. That made things much easier.

"Quiet, quiet!" Nick shouted into the microphone, "If you don't return to your seats, I'll call security!"

This threat was very effective; no one wanted to miss this earth-shattering scoop. The reporters slowly returned to their seats, eyes roving among everyone, as if that could reveal their innermost thoughts.

Clearly, although a commotion was stirred, this still wasn't the climax of the game. Nick leaned forward, pressed to the microphone, rolled his eye upward, and stared at Iron Man with his single remaining eye: "How do you know Thor secretly arrested humans?"

"The detectors I left in Jotunheim detected abnormal energy activity. Do you want me to release the surveillance data?"

Nick weighed it in his heart; he dared say this, so it was probably true. So he said: "Then you're mistaken. It wasn't Thor who secretly arrested them. That building wasn't built by him either, but by the Revival Alliance."

An uproar went through the hall. Iron Man was also startled inside; hearing Nick admit it, he felt no joy, only the realization that Nick might have long been prepared, with traps still waiting ahead.

"He's not wrong," Magneto spoke up. "The building on Jotunheim was commissioned by the Revival Alliance and built by mutants; I participated in it. I've already sent people to fetch the architectural blueprints and construction drawings."

The reporters erupted in heated discussion again. Iron Man's face changed. He actually wasn't too clear on how that building was constructed either. After all, at the time he was busy thinking of ways to exonerate himself, already with his back against the wall. The Revival Alliance even appointed him Minister of Strategic Security, piled a mountain of official work on him, and he juggled public duties and private schemes — by the time he came to his senses, it was already built.

Most people believed Magneto's explanation. On one hand, Magneto is a hard man to deal with; getting him to speak up in support is difficult. On the other hand, mutants don't fall under the Revival Alliance's jurisdiction, none of them joined the Revival Alliance, and relations could even be called delicate — mutants have no reason to help the Revival Alliance out of a siege; not gloating is already good enough.

Shiler assessed in his heart that Magneto was likely telling the truth; if it were impromptu support, he couldn't possibly produce blueprints and construction drawings. Those things can't be fabricated on the spot — after all, Iron Man has photos too. Whether the drawings match the photos is obvious at a glance. They can't be fabricated that seamlessly on the fly.

So the Revival Alliance actually had mutants build the prison back then; looks like they guarded against this move long ago. Dragging mutants into the water was to find a third-party witness; they weren't trying to persecute Reed — sure enough, the people of the old Earth-616 are still crafty.

"You're mistaken on one point," Magneto looked at Iron Man and said, "That isn't a prison, but a high-energy physics laboratory."

"Others may not know, but you still don't know?" Captain America stared at Iron Man and said, "Dr. Reed Richards' high-energy physics experiments nearly caused the collapse of the entire universal structure, bringing us an extremely powerful enemy. If we didn't establish a laboratory with higher specifications, farther from human habitation, Earth couldn't withstand his tossing about."

The reporters faithfully recorded these words, especially after Quicksilver brought the blueprints and engineering drawings, most people leaned toward believing the Revival Alliance and Magneto.

First, the drawings match the photos. And since the photos were released by Iron Man, that essentially verifies the building was indeed built by mutants, with no possibility of collusion to fabricate.

Second, even without understanding architecture, one can tell this isn't a prison. The difference between a prison and a laboratory is still too great; one look shows they're not the same.

"This building may indeed be a laboratory, you didn't imprison Dr. Richards, but you placed him under house arrest. The outer shield is proof you restricted his personal freedom," Iron Man said again.

He knew in his heart that shield should mainly serve a protective function, but he believed it couldn't have zero restrictive function. Given the Revival Alliance's extreme wariness of Richards at the time, that shield was certainly both protective and restrictive.

Nick's heart tightened; he looked at Thor, and Thor shook his head slightly at him. That was indeed an Asgardian divine power shield, and it did indeed have a restrictive function. He wasn't afraid of publicizing the technology, but not afraid of those who don't understand — he feared those who truly understand, especially Iron Man understanding.

Iron Man is very likely to understand. Thor didn't dare gamble; if he really publicized the technical principles, but Iron Man discovered this shield truly could restrict human entry and exit, then it would be indefensible.

Both sides were probing what cards the other held, but neither dared gamble on whether the other held a counter to their own. Therefore information was thrown out with extreme caution.

What card comes next? Nick's gaze swept across everyone's faces, suddenly spotting Shiler standing in the reporter throng, and mouthed to him: "Antimatter Universe."