civilwarnovels Chapter 3731 Doomsday (24)
Chapter 3731 Doomsday (24)
Chapter 3731 Doomsday (Twenty-Four)
While the battle raged in Asgard, what was Earth doing?
Of course, they went back to the solar system to celebrate.
Earth watched the spectacle from the edge for a while, then left only an observation station behind, slowly flying back into the solar system, returning to its original orbit, and bringing the moon back with it. Now it quietly rotates in its warm home.
Meanwhile, on Earth, a victory celebration was in full swing. This was the first victory in human history—the first interstellar war—and an undisputed, complete, and utter triumph: Earth suffered no losses whatsoever, while the enemy was utterly devastated.
More importantly, even without the later Phoenix's outburst, the results achieved were more than sufficient. The powerful superhumans were merely icing on the cake; most of the accomplishments were achieved by ordinary people.
The faster-than-light engine was basically built by ordinary people; the plan to go to Asgard to attend a banquet and then provoke the three great empires was also conceived by ordinary people; throughout the entire battle, all the decisions made on Earth were directed by ordinary people; and the operation of the engine was also completed by ordinary people.
In other words, at least 90% of the participants in this war were ordinary, vulnerable people on Earth, and they still achieved a complete and resounding victory. How could this not be something to celebrate?
Because the battle was fought on Earth, there was no communication blackout. Earth's operations, the enemy's reactions, and the final results were all reported in real time. The general public received the news only slightly later than the command center; they witnessed the entire war firsthand.
This greatly boosted the confidence of ordinary people: we may not be superhuman, but our contributions are also important to the planet. We are part of the planet, loyal and reliable warriors, not a burden.
This is the greatest significance of this war.
For a long time, humanity's image in interstellar society has been that of a race with an extremely large gap between its upper and lower limits, represented by superhumans. It is also widely believed on interstellar networks that humanity's strongest individuals cannot be equated with ordinary humans—they are the most important strategic deterrent, and ordinary people cannot possibly catch up with them.
Some even argue that once humanity masters gene-editing technology and can accurately select for the genes of superhumans, then ordinary people will become unnecessary, and the entire human race will ascend to become a superhuman species.
While most ordinary people on Earth are unaware of what interstellar society is discussing, these superhumans cannot deceive themselves. They know how interstellar society views them, what their speculations are, and it's inevitable that some of them will be tempted.
Regardless of the circumstances, the internet's ability to brainwash is very strong. Some young people with weak minds might see these kinds of comments and think that ordinary people are a burden: "If billions of people on Earth were all powerful superhumans, they would have conquered the universe long ago."
Such sentiments are not only occasionally heard within the mutant community, but also occasionally found among the Avengers' reserve team or among young New York superheroes.
Faced with this viewpoint, most Avengers members were helpless, because the reality was that the difference between ordinary humans and superhumans was simply too vast—they were practically not even the same species. Under such circumstances, how could one expect every superhuman to consider themselves a member of human society?
Schiller also understood that in this situation, the solution wasn't to suppress the taller party, but to lift up the shorter one. Both sides needed to understand that while ordinary individuals may be weak, their combined strength should not be underestimated.
S.H.I.E.L.D. shared his view. They seemed to have anticipated this problem early on and prepared for it. They sent Schiller to contact the Avengers and Kamar-Taj, not to get their approval for the plan or their help, but simply to inform them that they were going to carry it out and to ask them not to interfere.
That's right. Schiller contacted the Avengers and Kamar-Taj not to prepare them for war, but to tell them not to intervene and to leave the stage for the first interstellar war to ordinary people.
This can greatly boost the confidence of ordinary people, while also making these superhumans realize that ordinary people are not a burden; they too can use their minds and hands to create great achievements in civilization and defeat any invading enemies. Cooperation is better than hostility.
Those with extreme ideologies are, after all, a minority; most people only think about it in their minds. If you were to actually strip them of their Earth citizenship, they would be the first to object. Right now, ordinary people hold the Earth in their hands, essentially "using the emperor to command the princes." Even if these superhumans don't consider themselves human, they'd have to behave themselves for the sake of their home planet, Earth. This is better for both sides.
The plan seems to be working very well: ordinary society is celebrating wildly, and superhumans are also very happy, because Earth's excellent performance is clearly making them proud—"From now on, they'll be superior to everyone else: Can your home planet fly? Has your home planet ever destroyed the three great empires? After destroying the three great empires, could your home planet escape unscathed? Earth can!"
In short, the strategic objectives were basically achieved after this battle. The revelry lasted all night, and Schiller was also dragged over for drinks by the Avengers. Everyone celebrated wildly all night, but when he woke up the next day, he still felt a bit of a headache.
"Doctor!" Schiller had just opened his eyes when a dark figure descended from the sky. He instinctively rolled away. Helen grabbed his shoulder and shook him relentlessly, saying, "It's me, Doctor! I'm back!"
"Oh, Helen, you're back." Schiller rubbed his eyes, got up to pour himself a glass of water, and then said, "I messaged you a while ago, why are you so late?"
“I spent some more time there,” Helen said with a smile. “You know what, things are really interesting back home now. The one ruling the solar system is an electronic life form called Brainiac. He’s so rigid; he won’t even let me eat an extra bite on the Kuiper Belt…”
"Let's not talk about that now," Schiller said, rubbing his forehead. "Have you finished practicing what I was told to practice?"
Helen casually picked up the little black cat that was sleeping on the table, rubbed its head and said, "Gugu and I discussed it for a long time, and he even ate me once. Unfortunately, I seemed to upset his stomach a bit, and he threw me up in the end. I think I have a general idea now."
"That probably won't work. You should know that your mother and uncle are counting on you this time."
"Don't worry," Helen said, giving him a thumbs up. "I didn't waste all those neutron stars and the sun. To complete the mission, I compressed all my accumulated energy to the limit, blasting out a giant black hole, and then, taking inspiration from Gugu, I created a rift space. It seems pretty stable so far. Why don't you go in and take a look?"
“Never mind, I need to prepare some insurance for you,” Schiller said. “In case you can’t swallow it, or you get an upset stomach halfway through, someone has to take over this huge mess. I’m currently exploring the area beneath the Ring of Refinement.”
"So what did you find out?" Helen asked curiously.
“I can’t go down,” Schiller said. “There’s an obstacle at a certain height, like an invisible wall separating the island above from the huge city below. No matter what I do, I can’t reach the city below.”
"That's a bit strange." Helen said this, but didn't think much of it. She said, "There should be enough space up there. And I won't cause any problems on my end, so you can rest assured."
"Alright. Don't leave yet. Although I don't intend to let you swallow me, you do have to help me bring something over."
"What to bring?"
Helen turned her head and saw Jormungandr's enormous vertical pupils. Schiller gestured for her to proceed, and Helen swallowed hard.
"What are you doing so early in the morning?" Jormungandr, who had just been released, was still confused—his physical body was gone, and now only his spirit remained, but because he had eaten so well, his spirit was almost solidified. Before he could react, Helen swallowed him whole.
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!"
As the night passed, the fighting on the borders of the nine kingdoms became increasingly intense. The Asgardians, known for their blitzkrieg and surprise attacks, were now forced into a defensive posture, meaning the battle was being dragged on indefinitely. They weren't immune to fatigue, so after the initial all-out attack, they rotated their forces, focusing on maintaining the defensive line.
But the situation isn't actually very optimistic. While they can barely maintain their defensive line, the three great empires are constantly reinforcing their troops here—their production rate is faster than their destruction rate. If this continues, they'll eventually advance into the Nine Kingdoms.
Although there are rules restricting entry to the true Nine Realms, requiring the approval of the God-King, the three great empires also possess dimensional bombs—capable of creating rifts between dimensions, allowing their armies to force their way through. Once pushed to a dimensional node, Asgard would be in grave danger.
Although the situation was critical, Odin wasn't in a hurry. Thor and Loki had been acting mysteriously lately, constantly asking him about the World Tree. Odin had some guesses about their intentions. With these safeguards in place, he could fight with unrestrained force, employing a variety of unexpected tactics that prevented the three great empires from conquering it for the time being.
As for the three great empires, to be honest, the war was rather ugly—when they attacked Earth, they were outmaneuvered by their high mobility and suffered a humiliating defeat; when they attacked Asgard, they initially wanted to sweep through with overwhelming force, but after fighting for a long time, they couldn't break through.
In fact, there was already movement in their rear. While they were deploying troops to the nine great kingdoms, many advanced civilizations were secretly causing trouble in their rear: sometimes they would fire a couple of shots at the base station, sometimes they would intercept the transport convoy, and sometimes they would tear up the mining agreement and secretly go to the mining areas of the three great empires to mine rare metals, making the supreme rulers of the three great empires grit their teeth in anger.
Apart from the Kree Empire, the other empires are struggling to fight on multiple fronts. Faced with these underhanded tactics, they can only shrink their defenses and hold on as much as possible. But that would be even more humiliating—the three great empires have dominated the universe for thousands of years and have never suffered such a great loss.
"This can't go on any longer," Emperor Skrull said through gritted teeth. "Prepare for a full-scale attack, Lilandra, the High Intelligence. I don't believe you don't have some trump cards up your sleeve. Just blow open the Nine Realms and we'll go in and fight!"
The other two sides clearly knew they couldn't delay any longer. The Supreme Intelligence said in a deep voice, "Have your people move further away from point 1322, at least enough to hold off Odin's forces for three minutes. I will place dimensional cutters; once the operation is complete, all forces will break into the Nine Realms through the dimensional portals created!"
(End of this chapter)