civilwarnovels Chapter 4182 is about the Supreme Sorcerer (22)
Chapter 4182 is about the Supreme Sorcerer (22)
Chapter 4182 is about the Supreme Mage (Twenty-Two).
Many will remember that Thanos let Nick Fury into the fold, placing him on the Interstellar Security Council's team. Unfortunately, during the multiverse war, the Council's ship sent to Marketplace malfunctioned, firing its main cannon at the planet and destroying it. Although everyone escaped quickly, minimizing casualties, the news couldn't be contained because Marketplace was a gathering place for all sorts of people. To appease the various civilizations, the Interstellar Council had no choice but to dismiss Thanos.
The saying goes, "When the cat's away, the mice will play," but to be precise, Nick Fury is the real tiger. And right now, there isn't even a decent monkey on this mountain; no one in the entire Interstellar Security Council can challenge him. Therefore, the first human to gain a foothold in the Interstellar Council wasn't Strange, but Nick Fury.
If you ask him what good things he's done since taking office, he can't name a single one; he hasn't made any contributions to interstellar security whatsoever; and the department hasn't made any progress under his leadership whatsoever. Yet, this very department consumes 80% of the Security Department's budget, and its accounts still look perfect.
Quite coincidentally, the newly appointed Secretary of State for Security knew nothing about security, or even finance. He didn't even look at the books, and Nick was easily fooled.
No one knows exactly how much he took, but it is known that the construction speed of the second human starship in the solar system is 320% of the original, and it will probably be able to conduct a trial voyage in three months.
Nick had just hung up the phone when he picked up Star-Lord's call. He slowly spoke to the slightly exasperated Star-Lord on the other end, "Don't rush me. You know what kind of person I am. Do you think I would let you suffer a loss? If you have time, come to the Interstellar Security Committee to talk. Yes, right now. Some things have to be said face to face."
Star-Lord wasn't polite at all, or perhaps he was too angry. He didn't even bother to fly his spaceship as he usually did, but instead paid to use a portal and quickly arrived in the Ring Sector.
Nick sent him coordinates, and after taking a public transport ship and winding his way through many twists and turns, he finally arrived at a rather prosperous outer planet. Star-Lord looked at the ornate decorations along the roadside and said, "Where is this? This looks like the Shi'ar Empire."
“This is the territory of the Shi'ar Empire.” Nick led him into a coffee shop. It was similar to a human coffee shop, except that there weren't many people, probably because it was working hours. The two of them found a quiet corner to sit down.
"What exactly happened?" Star-Lord asked. "Yondu couldn't possibly have that much money. Twenty trillion? That's outrageous!"
“Of course he couldn’t possibly have that much money. To be honest, the Interstellar Council doesn’t have that much money either.” Nick shook his head and said, “The budget for a quarter is only 80 million. Do the math yourself, how many quarters would it take to save up such a large sum of money? It’s simply unrealistic.”
"Then what exactly is going on?" Star-Lord asked, looking completely bewildered.
"The specific principles are a bit too complicated to explain, and you wouldn't understand even if I explained them. How about we get straight to the point and make a deal?"
Star-Lord thought for a moment and then nodded, saying, "Okay, anything is fine as long as this can be resolved."
"Make Yondu acknowledge the money."
"What?!" Star-Lord nearly jumped out of his chair.
“Don’t rush me.” Nick took the tray from the waiter, placed the drinks in front of the two of them, and said, “I never said he would take all the blame. Even if he dared to say it, no one would believe him.”
“You’re really confusing me,” Star-Lord said. “Once Yondu admits he took the money, he’ll be hunted down. Neither the Star Council nor any other space pirates will let him go.”
“You’ve got one thing wrong: even if he denies it now, the others won’t let him off the hook. This is because this official information wasn’t released publicly; it was leaked by an insider, making it highly accurate. Yondu’s denial won’t change anything.”
"Then what do you think we should do?"
Nick said somewhat helplessly, "What do you do when faced with something that can't be explained?"
"Of course I'll try my best to explain. I refuse to believe there's nothing in this world that can't be explained. I'm sure I'll find evidence."
“The idea is good, but we usually take a simpler approach,” Nick said, taking a sip of water. “When you’re framed and have no way to defend yourself, and you can’t find any evidence at all, here are a few rules that can help you get out of a public relations crisis.”
"What?" Star-Lord asked, leaning forward.
"First, control your emotions. Don't go crazy, and don't let extreme emotions control you to deny the matter excessively. Because the more you deny it, the easier it is for people to think you are guilty."
"But I didn't do it in the first place, so why can't I deny it?"
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t deny it at all. Let me finish,” Nick said. “The first step is not to express complete denial, because that will make others feel that you have lost your objectivity. Expressing a certain degree of neutrality is to gain people’s trust.”
"Oh, I see, it means to pretend to be serious."
"That's one way to put it. Once you erupt in extreme emotions and strongly deny something, people will feel that your subsequent statements are not objective enough, and the credibility of your statements will decrease. So you must stay calm."
"What's next?"
“Identify the parts of his words that can be affirmed, and affirm them.”
"I don't understand, they're completely lying, what part of it is commendable?"
"I'm asking you, are you absolutely certain that none of the space pirates took the money?"
Star-Lord's mouth dropped open. He took a breath, paused for a moment with some embarrassment, and then said, "To be honest, I don't have much dealing with space pirates. Apart from the raiders, I don't know any other pirates."
"Do you think Yondu would dare to make that guarantee?"
Star-Lord didn't answer, but he knew in his heart that it probably wasn't like that. Yondu had already hinted that the three great empires weren't incapable of eliminating space pirates; they were just keeping them around to maintain their own power. Even if they hadn't paid them, they must have certainly done them favors in many ways.
The Raiders are almost the only space pirate group with a modicum of decency; it's quite difficult to sway them. Other pirates, however, are much less picky. If they could be appeased with a little money, the three great empires would certainly be happy to do so, since they could simply launch a raid and reclaim the money.
“So it’s possible,” Nick continued. “There might be pirates who took money from the three great empires, right? Then you should affirm that part.”
"You mean, you want Yondu to admit that space pirates took the money?"
"Yes. And he'll say that even without us reminding him. He'll tell those reporters that his colleagues are a bunch of money-grubbing bastards, and no one can guarantee they haven't taken money from the Interstellar Council."
"But what if the reporters keep pressing? They'll definitely keep asking whether Yondu received any money."
“That’s the second point,” Nick said, stroking the handle of his glass. “After neutrally acknowledging some of the other person’s valid points, the next step is to express your own. What you need to do is maintain a seemingly objective attitude, but distance yourself from the issue by using methods such as misleading or subverting the concept.”
“What do we do?” Star-Lord asked.
"First, question the veracity of the news. For example, you can say, 'I really don't know where you heard this news from,' or 'This news is amazing, I wonder who spread it. Note that at this time, you should never immediately claim that it is fake news, but rather be as vague as possible, while making a questioning gesture."
Star-Lord nodded, then said, "And then?"
“Then start questioning the person who provided the information.” Nick held up a few more fingers and began to give examples. “But you have to use a tone that defends them, like, ‘I know government workers work hard too, it’s okay for them to gossip a little, I don’t mind,’ or ‘The interstellar internet is becoming more and more advanced, everyone is chasing sensationalism, after all, if a video goes viral, they might earn hundreds of thousands.’ This way, you both question the person who provided the information and point a motive at them for no reason. There are many useful motives, but I usually use ‘spreading rumors to relieve stress,’ ‘wanting to attract attention with explosive statements,’ ‘deliberately trying to suppress me because of a good deed I did that affected their interests,’ and so on.”
Star-Lord looked enlightened and said, "I think all of these points are applicable: a government employee made up an outrageous lie because of work stress and posted it online to gain traffic and also to annoy the raiders. I'll go talk to Yondu about it right now!"
He stood up to leave. Nick grabbed him, sighed, and said, "What's the use of just learning superficial skills? You're far inferior to your adoptive father. Do you think he didn't know these things?"
Star-Lord looked puzzled. Nick shook his head and said, "If he didn't know how to deal with politicians, he would have died hundreds of times over. He can think of these things and he can do them. But what I'm about to tell you is the key point."
"what?"
"The step of questioning others' motives must be done just right, knowing when to stop. And after that, the key point comes: you must point out incisively who benefits from the fact that someone has been harmed by the rumors—especially to those who have a stake in it."
"For example: if a subordinate is framed and embarrassed, it is a loss of face for the leader; if one person makes a mistake at work, the whole department may be criticized; if the theft is not thoroughly investigated, everyone may be suspected of being the thief; if someone is falsely accused of saying something they never said, it means that a villain is trying to sow discord and disrupt the harmony of the entire team."
"Social skills are complex, but they all boil down to the same thing: how to get others to listen to you. And people will only listen to others seriously in one situation: when it is related to their own interests."
"Since there's no room for a direct defense, the only option is to drag more people down with you and get them to listen attentively. Only when they listen carefully can they be moved, which is the key to turning the tide."
“I see,” Star-Lord said. “If everyone believes the raiders took the money, who will be the biggest winner?”
Star-Lord answered his own question. He had originally intended to say space pirates, because most civilizations, knowing that space pirates had taken so much money, would definitely consider them a threat and try to wipe them out; or perhaps they would be envious of the money these people had taken and want to plunder their corpses. In short, pirates would definitely be the first to suffer.
But upon closer reflection, something didn't seem right. He recalled what Yondu had told him earlier: the ability of space pirates to roam freely in space was due to the indulgence of the three great empires. If other civilizations dared to provoke the three great empires and eliminate the space pirates, they would have done so long ago. Would they still allow space pirates, who were no match for even third-rate civilizations, to run rampant?
The space pirates are backed by the three great empires, which is why no one dares to touch them. No one dared to touch them before, and no one dared to touch them after the news broke; they probably won't be wiped out because of it.
Star-Lord scratched his head vigorously, completely stumped. Nick Fury smiled at him and said, "I told you, this amount is outrageous, absolutely impossible. So why is it such an outrageous amount?"