Chapter 923: The Future Is Bright, Purple Sweet Potato Spirit (Part 2)

One week after the Spider Nebula terrorist attack, the leaders of the three empires met again, this time completely abandoning suspicion and caution, driven by fury to investigate this horrific act of terrorism.

Yes, the three empires defined this incident as a terrorist attack, because they knew that if the culprit were truly one of them, they would never resort to such a method, nor would they deliberately visit the crime scene afterward to announce their name.

Magic is an extraordinarily mysterious energy; when the investigation vessel that entered the Spider Nebula saw those words, the brightness they emitted was certainly insufficient to cross thousands of light-years and be clearly observed by other civilizations in the universe.

Yet, in the Clr Empire’s homeworld in the Large Magellanic Cloud, in the capital star of the New Skrull Empire, and in the core star region of the Shi’ar Empire, all could clearly see those words.

Although their observation equipment may be more advanced, it remains utterly incredible.

But this implies something even more terrifying: that many civilizations with comparable observational capabilities could also see those words.

It’s like someone slapping you across the face and then writing on that cheek, “This face just got slapped.”

The three empires could not conceive of any purpose behind this act other than humiliating them.

Among the three empires, there were no shortage of brilliant minds; powerful interstellar civilizations did not reach today’s status through luck alone—pure supreme intelligence could uncover many flaws in this series of events.

“Don’t you find all of this too coincidental?” asked the Supreme Intelligence.

“The audio file we received is absolutely authentic,” said the Skrull Empire’s Commander-in-Chief of Interstellar Colonization: “That was the signal transmitted by the Starship Polaris. The accent used matches exactly what Skrull travelers commonly speak—no linguistic irregularities whatsoever.”

“The Skrull Empire’s Traveling Era was uniquely special—we had no fixed homeworld, constantly moving forward, rejecting all outsiders and forbidding anyone from leaving the fleet.”

“It was a completely closed civilization period, making it nearly impossible for external spies to infiltrate, or for anyone to impersonate a Skrull citizen of the Traveling Era so convincingly.”

Across from the commander sat a woman wrapped in silver armor, her appearance more human-like, save for a triangular crest-like plume atop her head—she was a princess of the Shi’ar royal family and commander of the Shi’ar Empire’s Second Main Fleet. Her feathers trembled slightly as she spoke coldly:

“The problem must lie in the moment the ship crashed into Starport. You yourself admitted the Polaris was stolen by a thief for years—can you truly conclude, based solely on a black box recording, that this was merely an accident caused by internal Skrull Empire feuds?”

“Are you implying we did this on purpose?!” shouted the Skrull Commander-in-Chief, slamming his fist on the table. “The Skrull Empire has never resorted to sneak attacks! If we had done this, how could we have failed to prepare a next step—and lost a Deputy Commander-in-Chief and six generals during negotiations?”

As he spoke, the commander’s eyelid twitched—he was visibly pained. The losses in the previous negotiations were no minor officers; these were elite warriors painstakingly cultivated by the empire.

Their sudden deaths decimated nearly half of the interstellar colonization force’s high command—not only humiliating the empire externally, but also drawing fierce criticism internally.

The Supreme Intelligence’s projection spoke in a cold, emotionless tone: “The black box alone cannot reliably determine the ship’s motive. Faking audio recordings is not difficult.”

“But according to the Supreme Intelligence’s judgment, the mastermind behind the ship’s operation does not originate from any of the three empires. We have no reason to do this—it brings us no sufficient benefit.”

“Then what caused this three-way disaster?” asked the Shi’ar general, standing up. “The Shi’ar Empire is the most innocent here—we were invited to provide security, yet you never told me there was a terrifying terrorist named Thanos who dared ignite stars and blow up black holes!”

“Our security measures were at their peak—even our base located so close to the star remained unharmed during the star’s violent explosion. If not for that damned black hole...”

The general took a deep breath. “Now the Shi’ar Empire has lost face—every civilization is saying we’re sloppy and technologically inferior. Several civilizations that had already agreed to contracts with our industrial department are now hesitating. Do you know how much we’ve lost?”

Without needing the general to continue, the other two leaders understood: the Shi’ar Empire was the youngest of the three, and relatively the weakest.

Unlike the other two empires’ absolute militarism, the Shi’ar Empire was a civilization of multi-ethnic integration, poor in military strength but exceptional in foundational industry and commerce.

Commerce was vital to them—this was precisely why they had such prestige, able to invite so many civilizations as witnesses. But now, even if certain long-term clients didn’t speak out, they would surely doubt internally. For merchants, nothing hurt more than damaged reputation.

“We are all victims,” said the Supreme Intelligence. “Clearly, this is a trap—a meticulously layered, intricate trap. And the key to it all lies in one name. I believe you’ve already seen those words.”

“Your ship was destroyed too quickly to transmit a signal, but before my projection vanished, I heard the attacker whisper that name—‘Thanos.’”

The Skrull Commander-in-Chief frowned. “Who is Thanos? Some backwater bumpkin from nowhere? Who dares orchestrate a scheme that humiliates all three empires?”

The Supreme Intelligence’s massive green face narrowed its eyes. “Interstellar civilizations are countless; the three empires cannot possibly know every one. We are unfamiliar with the name Thanos—but the things he mentioned in those words already tell us who he is.”

The Skrull Commander-in-Chief and the Shi’ar general exchanged glances and spoke in unison: “The Infinity Stones!”

“Oh, I remember now!” the general suddenly raised her voice. “He’s that mad Titan, isn’t he? I clearly recall my father mentioning him...”

“Supposedly, there was a mad Titan who wiped out the entire Eternal Titan race, then went on a cosmic rampage searching for the Infinity Stones,” the general shook her head. “But that’s a legend from the Milky Way—I heard it vaguely. We all know the Milky Way is full of lunatics; I can’t even remember that Titan’s name...”

“The Eternal Titans were a branch of the Eternals, right?” the Skrull Commander-in-Chief frowned. “I recall they were like the Asgardians—a race born with divine strength...”

“According to the Kree Empire’s database, they were never a prosperous race. Most of their activities never left the Milky Way, and they never developed a true interstellar civilization like the three empires.”

“Before their interstellar colonization began, certain of their activities suddenly ceased. Later, we learned the Eternal Titan race had been exterminated—but the name Thanos was never officially recorded in our database.”

“Later, one of our sentinel robots placed in the Solar System was destroyed. Kree General Ronan of the Accusers traveled to Uranus to investigate, where we encountered an attack by Eternal Titan survivors. Only then did we add the name ‘Uranus’ to our database, and later recorded that his son was named Thanos...”

“Subsequently, word came from the Cosmic Elders: a purple-skinned Eternal Titan had been roaming the cosmos, hunting down scattered Infinity Stones, having attacked numerous civilizations...”

The Supreme Intelligence’s voice remained cold and unchanging throughout, yet it laid out the facts with perfect clarity.

Thanos’s origins were simple: the Celestials descended upon Earth, modifying life and creating the Eternals. A branch of them, the Eternal Titans, engaged in civil war, slaughtering ninety percent of their own population.

But that had little to do with Thanos—he was simply mentally unstable, or perhaps already corrupted by Death, and personally exterminated the entire Eternal Titan race.

After hearing the Supreme Intelligence’s summary, the Shi’ar general frowned. “If he wants the Stones, let him find them—why target us? We don’t even possess any Infinity Stones. Wait—you don’t mean...”

The general narrowed her eyes, expressing distrust. She was certain the Shi’ar Empire had no such stones—but she wasn’t sure whether the other two held them.

In her logic, Thanos wouldn’t have orchestrated such a grand scheme without cause. His deliberate message must have been grounded in fact—perhaps the Kree and Skrull Empires possessed the Infinity Stones, which is why Thanos targeted them.

The general snorted coldly. “Don’t think I don’t know—you’ve always planned to build the Cosmic Cube. Now you’re coveting the Infinity Stones? Ordinary interstellar wars no longer satisfy your ambitions?”

The other two also harbored suspicions. The Supreme Intelligence knew the Kree Empire had no stones—he could eavesdrop on every member’s mind, so he had no fear of hidden secrets.

But the Skrull Commander-in-Chief could not be certain his empire lacked the stones, for beyond the Interstellar Colonization Force, the Skrull Empire had the Guard Force, the Construction Force, and others.

The New Skrull Empire’s structure was extremely complex, with many institutions checking each other’s power. Even the Commander-in-Chief did not know if someone within his own ranks had acquired an Infinity Stone and drawn Thanos’s attention.

“Regardless, he should never have dared provoke the three empires. If we do not retaliate now, the names of the three empires will be trampled under the feet of a purple-skinned madman.”

With the Skrull Commander-in-Chief’s declaration, the other two nodded. Whether or not the other two factions possessed the stones was irrelevant—Thanos’s terrorist attack, which humiliated everyone, was unacceptable.

Even if they had countless debts to settle among themselves, they must first crush the buzzing, insolent mosquito at their ears.

The general snorted first. “I will persuade my father to use the Shi’ar Empire’s commercial networks to track Thanos’s whereabouts. Eventually, we will dig him out...”

“That’s too slow,” said the Supreme Intelligence. “When the Kree Accusers traveled to the Solar System, they brought back the corpse of an Eternal. We have studied and sampled its DNA.”

“I believe we possess sufficient technology to trace this genetic signature and directly locate Thanos—then let him know the three empires cannot be defied.”