Chapter 1361: The Mystery of the Feast (XI)

"After humans gradually stepped onto the interstellar stage, the Sanctum Sanctorum gained more information channels. We also thought about referring to the portal development routes of other civilizations to see if we can learn from each other and strengthen Kamar-Taj's large portal technology."

Schiller blinked and thought, "I think portal technology should be very important to all civilizations. Will they easily trade this technology with us?"

"Of course not, but there are other ways." Strange glanced around. There was no one on either side. Although there were many guests, they were not densely distributed on the third floor.

Strange still lowered his voice and said, "Just like on Earth, many contraband items are said to be unavailable, but as long as you have money and connections, you can still get a little bit of it."

"You mean... the black market?" Schiller immediately understood.

Strange nodded and said, "Of course there is a black market in interstellar society. Orderly society will definitely need an outlet to dump chaos, and within the jurisdiction of the three empires, this outlet is in Centaurus."

Strange stretched out a hand and drew a pattern on the back of the chair in front of him, and said, "Look, this is the ring area, that is, the area where the three empires meet, the political and cultural center of the three empires, and this is Centaurus... Did you find it? They are diagonal and facing each other from a distance. This is definitely the result of the deliberate guidance of the three empires."

"They understand that it is better to loosen than to block. Even the most highly centralized military state cannot be completely crime-free. Even if the Supreme Wisdom controls almost all the main ethnic members of the Kree, the scope and population of their rule determine that crime is bound to occur."

"In this case, it is better to lead these people who bring chaos to a distance. As long as it does not affect the core area, it doesn't matter at all."

Schiller nodded. He certainly understood what Strange meant. In fact, it is the same on Earth. Many so-called no-man's lands, are these big countries really incapable of managing? I'm afraid it's not the case.

First, it is not cost-effective to use manpower and material resources to clear them out. Second, after committing crimes, some extremely dangerous elements know that they have places to run, so they will run away. But if there is no such place for them to run, and they are forced to fight to the death in the country, how big a mess will it cause?

Therefore, in most orderly societies, the measures taken to deal with such people are that as long as you don't mess around in the society and take the initiative to give up your social identity and run away, most officials will not make a big fuss for a rat shit.

It seems that Centaurus is such a place, Schiller thought, and the Golden Triangle of the universe belongs to it.

"So you got the technology there?" Schiller asked a little curiously.

But Strange smiled mysteriously, shook his head and said, "We didn't get any useful technology, but we did make some other discoveries."

"What is that?" Schiller leaned over and made a gesture of listening attentively, but Strange smiled and shook his head and said, "You'll know when the time comes."

At this time, Strange changed the subject and continued:

"In addition to the Sanctum Sanctorum, the Kamar-Taj wizards have also actively strengthened exchanges with other pantheons."

"Not only the pantheons that walked out of the earth, there are also many powerful gods in the universe. They are different from Eternity or Death, who are completely the embodiment of the rules of the universe, but they are not completely composed of energy. It can be said that they are a combination of the two."

Hearing Strange's words, Schiller thought of what Thanos mentioned before, that after the patriarch of the Eternals blew up his own home, he abandoned his body and combined with some of the rules of the universe to become the embodiment of time.

Schiller didn't have a deep impression of this character. He just vaguely remembered that he seemed to be unable to defeat Thanos. If he had been a little useful, Thanos would not have been able to destroy Titan. According to Strange, there are many such beings in the universe.

"These so-called gods are not as fragile as the devil. They are almost as long-lived as the universe and can live for a long time. They are all high-quality customers in the future, so the wizards pay special attention to them." Strange shook the wine glass and said after taking a sip of wine.

"In addition, we have also collected a lot of information about the gods in the universe, mainly provided to us by some of our customers."

"Although we didn't buy the teleportation technology, we did find some information related to it... You should know the Great Teleportation Gate of the Shi'ar Empire, right?"

Schiller nodded and said, "It's too famous, it's hard not to know it."

"The Shi'ar Empire is very special." Strange stretched out a finger, put the wine glass on the table next to him, changed his posture, and said very seriously: "It was mentioned before that the teleportation technology of the Kree Empire and the Skrull Empire was developed on the technological side, but the Shi'ar Empire is a bit like humans, and their Great Teleportation Gate is not entirely a product of the technological side."

"From the appearance of their main empire, the Fierce Feathers, it can be seen that most of the Kree and Skrulls have undergone some mechanized transformation. Even if their bodies have not moved, they are generally wearing mechanical armor and holding firearms."

"But the Fierce Feathers, especially the royal family and nobles of the Fierce Feathers, almost never wear heavy armor. Even when they go to the battlefield, they only wear a layer of light and thin armor for decoration. This is because they are also a magical race with magic shields, so they don't need heavy armor to protect themselves."

Schiller nodded. This was the first time he heard of it. Then he remembered that the Fierce Feathers' spaceship that landed at the Asgard Starport he had seen before was indeed different from the spaceships of other technological civilizations.

The specific manifestation is that the shape is strange, there are more useless decorations, and the appearance does not conform to the laws of dynamics. If there is no magic, it is a bit difficult to make such a spaceship fly steadily.

"Where does their magic come from? Are they born to use the energy of the origin of the universe like Asgard?" Schiller asked.

"Of course not. What if they were like the Aesir?" Strange shook his head and said, "They are much weaker than the Asgardian gods. The reason is that they can't use the energy of the origin of the universe themselves, but their 'gods' can give them energy."

"Oh, just like the believers of the Egyptian pantheon, right?" Schiller immediately gave a very appropriate example.

The Egyptian pantheon is a pantheon that likes to lend its power to believers. Not to mention Khonsu's group of spokespersons, Black Panther must also find an agent in the human world, and sometimes it's not just one, but a whole tribe.

Strange nodded and continued to explain: "You may think that such behavior is not good for God, but the strange thing is that the greatest doctrine of the Shi'ar Empire is 'fusion'."

"It is rumored that the Shi'ar gods do not love each other at all, and they do not want to be together, but after being forced to be together, they found strength in this combination. So, the Shi'ar Empire imitated the Shi'ar gods and forcibly integrated other ethnic groups and found strength in this fusion."

"Here we go again." Schiller covered his forehead and said, "You are talking about other wizards, don't you also talk about this kind of supernatural legend all day long?"

Strange smiled helplessly and said, "If this is also called supernatural, then if you listen to those great wizards talking, you can fall asleep on the spot."

"Okay, let me explain it more clearly. In fact, there is no romantic mythology at all. Everything is driven by interests."

"The Shi'ar gods said to their believers , after the forced combination, we have gained powerful power, so in order to gain power, you should also integrate other ethnic groups, which is actually just whitewashing your own aggression. "

"The Shia gods lend their power to believers, let them invade other countries, and then brainwash the believers of other gods in other countries, let them submit to the Shia gods, so that the Shia gods can have more believers. "

"More importantly, the Shia gods can follow these believers to find the gods of other ethnic groups. They can forcibly integrate the power of these gods into themselves and completely devour them. This is what they call the method of "finding power in combination." "

Schiller looked up and nodded. He understood the operation method of the Shia pantheon. To put it bluntly, it is to use mortals to fish. Once the gods of other ethnic groups follow the guidance of their believers to check the situation, three hundred swordsmen will immediately jump out to chop the other party, and then directly serve it on the table to eat.

Suddenly Schiller was stunned for a moment, because he thought of the relationship between this behavior of the Shia pantheon and the great portal.

The development history of civilization in the universe can correspond to the development history of mankind.

At a certain stage of human development, there was no such thing as business. Most people lived on their own small plots of land, with men farming and women weaving and being self-sufficient.

But with the development of productivity, people produced more and more things, which completely exceeded their own survival needs, so they began to have the need to exchange with each other.

The extra cloth I weave can be exchanged for the extra food you grow, or I will be responsible for weaving and you will be responsible for growing food, and we will exchange regularly, so business emerged.

The same is true in cosmic civilization. When most interstellar civilizations were not so developed, business was not so prosperous, but as more and more civilizations entered the interstellar society, everyone also hoped to exchange what they had.

At this time, the Shi'ar Empire stood up and claimed that they could provide a fair trading platform for other civilizations in the universe. Simply put, if you all come to me to trade, I can not only ensure the fairness of the transaction, but also cover your travel expenses.

The so-called travel expenses are actually large portals.

The Shi'ar Empire is the first civilization in the universe to build a large portal for countless interstellar civilizations to pass through, which gives them a unique advantage in commercial trade.

For example, if you have a bag of rice that you want to sell, do you walk 2 kilometers to the neighboring village to find two possible buyers, or go to the post station and use the free portal to go to a town 20 kilometers away and wait for a hundred potential buyers to make bids?

It is the nature of merchants to pursue profit. A place with convenient travel and more potential buyers means that it may be sold at a higher price. Therefore, caravans from various civilizations in the interstellar space continue to gather towards the large portal star area of ​​the Shi'ar Empire.

The Shi'ar twin gods who helped the Shi'ar Empire build the large portal squatted above the Shi'ar Empire's territory, tied their napkins, took their knives and forks, and waited for dishes to be transported out of the portal.

They let their believers go to negotiate business with the other party when they like a dish. Once the business is negotiated, the other party admires the cultural atmosphere of the Shi'ar Empire and is willing to join the multi-ethnic family of the Shi'ar Empire. What can others say?

If the other two empires are conquered by force, then the Shi'ar Empire is more like a cultural invasion. This method is slower, but more secure, and it is not easy to cause public condemnation. It is more hidden and more subtle.

Now, Schiller understands why the Shi'ar Empire does not have the strong ruling power of the Kree Empire and the Skrull Empire, but it can still stand proudly in the economic society for many years and maintain its transcendent status among the three empires.

"The Shi'ar gods have bestowed their power on the royal family and nobles of the Fierce Feathers for many years. Perhaps you don't know that no matter how careful they are, the energy of the gods will continue to erode and transform the bodies of mortals."

Strange stared at the wine shaking in his hand and said, "Mortals have to pay a price for borrowing the energy of the gods. The more they borrow, the more erosion, the thicker the blood, and the more power flowing in the blood."

Strange narrowed his eyes slightly, and a dark light flowed in his eyes. The Supreme Sorcerer has never been a spokesperson for light and upright magic. They also delve into the dark magic that is kept secret, and are even more proficient in it than those black magicians.

Strange's tone became lower and lower: "The Great Portal of the Shi'ar Empire is the product of the power of the Shi'ar Twin Gods, and this power flows in the blood of the Fierce Feathers. Perhaps, the secret of the Great Portal is in the blood of the Fierce Feathers."

"Boom, boom, boom."

The rapid drumbeats at the beginning of the concert sounded in Schiller's ears, and then turned into his clear and rhythmic heartbeat.

Schiller, who was still standing on the dance floor, turned his head. Through the hazy light, he saw the glass of wine that had just been put down by Strange on the tray in the hands of the waiter not far away.

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