Chapter 187 Streetlights and God (Part 1)

Most human thinking and behavior are regular and logical. What kind of thoughts and actions a person will have depends on the situation he is facing now.

It is not surprising that Strange has such a bold idea. At this time, he is a successful and wealthy man. Not only rich, but also very rich.

In the months before he came into contact with the Ancient One, his daily life was to deal with the richest and most powerful people in the world.

And he came into contact with magic not because of frustration that forced him to ask for help from magic. The invitation from the Ancient One to learn magic was more like an invitation to an academic exchange meeting in a new field.

Therefore, Strange at this time did not have any reverence for magic. His views were similar to Stark's. Magic was just another kind of energy that could be used. What magic was mainly depends on how people use it.

And Schiller helped him do an elimination method, allowing him to block Wang's so-called self-cultivation and practice, and let him find that sometimes, solving problems with violence is simple and crude, but very effective.

In this case, Strange will inevitably start thinking and try to find a simpler and more effective way than practicing hard in Kamar-Taj.

This is the inevitable thinking that will arise after human scientific education. The ultimate goal of all experiments is to improve efficiency and speed up production.

And it is not surprising that he would find Stark. Although the two had some conflicts before, things have developed to this point, and they have more common interests. Obviously, they will have greater common interests in the matter of magic.

Stark sat behind the lab table, his elbows on the table, his hands against his temples, saying: "That being said, this is just an idea at the moment, lacking too many necessary conditions for execution."

He waved his hand and said: "You walked in here, showed me what your magic is, and then the two of us started to think about those powerful aliens."

"I say, man, if you didn't come to me, Stark, who is full of genius and creativity, others would definitely kick you out as a lunatic."

"Humans haven't even built a spaceship yet, and we're thinking about borrowing money from aliens. This is really a bit crazy."

Strange sat on the other side of the lab table, he folded his arms and said: "This idea is indeed bold, but it is not impossible to achieve, it just takes some time."

"It takes a lot of time." Stark said to Strange: "Now I haven't touched the threshold of magic, and you, You are just a magic apprentice, and you haven't even used magic formally yet. "

"It seems that we really have to treat this as a long-term plan. By the way, did I remind you? Magic can't be told casually, so don't tell too many people about this plan. "

"Don't worry, even if it's not because of magic, I will prevent certain people from knowing your evil plan. They will definitely chatter about it, such as an old-fashioned person who always calls himself my uncle, and that silly boy who swings in the sky, and..."

Strange said: "I don't know who this plan is to guard against, but..."

Then he looked up at Stark, and Stark also looked at him as if he had a telepathic connection, and said: "... You must know that this plan must not guard against anyone."

In the SHIELD office, the light bulb above the head flickered, and under the light bulb was a square table with four corners, and a person sat on each of the four sides of the table.

Nick and Schiller looked at each other, and Nick said, "So, you are going to rob aliens?"

"Don't say it so harshly." Stark denied, "This is essentially borrowing, borrowing, do you understand?"

"Okay..." Nick opened his mouth to say something, but it seemed that he had too much to say, and he couldn't say it for a while.

After a pause, he put his hand on the table, made a calming gesture, and said: "I understand what you just said. There are some powerful creatures with magical energy in this universe. Ordinary people call them aliens, and magicians call them cosmic demons."

"They can lend power to humans in some way to let people cast magic, so the essence of magic is the power of cosmic demons."

"Now you plan to borrow some power to arm yourself, refuse to repay the debt, and then borrow more power."

"Regardless of whether it is technically feasible..."

Just as Nick said this, Stark interrupted him and said: "I know this is a bit unethical, but he proposed the plan."

Stark pointed at Strange and betrayed his teammates without any psychological burden. Strange was stunned and stared at him.

Nick was also stunned. He said, "What's so immoral about this?"

Nick and Schiller looked at Stark and Strange with doubt. Stark and Strange looked at each other, and then Stark said, "Well, we shouldn't overestimate your moral level."

Nick said in surprise, "So after you put aside the technical issues, the first issue you considered was the moral issue. This really surprised me."

"But what I want to talk about is not a moral issue, but a logical issue."

"First of all, according to what you said, the cosmic demons are intelligent and can communicate, which proves that they are not stupid."

"Just like the human credit system, if you borrow money from a bank for the first time and refuse to repay it, the bank will not lend you money again. If the amount is huge, other banks will also blacklist you."

"I know that this behavior is more like robbing a bank than borrowing money, but banks are immovable. If you have enough force, you can rob them repeatedly, but the cosmic demons are not without legs. If they find that you refuse to repay your debt and can't beat you, can't they just run away?"

Nick asked Strange in confusion: "According to what you said, your teacher borrowed power and didn't pay it back, and then killed all the creditors. If he is defeated, then all the cosmic demons will run away when they see him, so how can he borrow more power? "

"Is there a possibility?" Schiller looked at Nick and said, "Those who don't want to borrow his power can't escape even if they run."

Strange gave a more reasonable explanation: "The cosmic demons are not wandering in the universe. Some of the more powerful cosmic demons often have their own territories, such as...what? What dark dimension, and crimson dimension, these are all what I heard from Wang, these are equivalent to the territories of the cosmic demons. "

"That's a bit feasible." Nick touched his chin and said, "But there are still many problems, especially in the technical level."

Then, the three began to discuss how to borrow money to buy guns, and then use the money and guns to rob.

"I say..." Schiller knocked on the table, as if he couldn't bear it any longer, and said, "Why are your thoughts always so limited? Why do you always think about violent robbery? Can't you be a little more flexible?"

The other three looked at him, and Schiller said helplessly, "This is why I always don't get along with you. Do you know? Your speech just now is just like gathering in a farm warehouse, playing poker and yelling at rednecks."

"Give up your straightforward violent thinking. That is the most inefficient method. Bank robbery is no longer popular in this era. Buying guns, recruiting people, and preparing cars are all very simple. "It's really too much trouble to pack a car, refuel the car, scout the place in advance, plan an escape route, etc. "

"Just tell me what your plan is." Nick looked at Schiller and said, "I see you've been holding it in for a long time."

"Compared to robbery, we can completely change another way."

"What?"

"Cheat."

Schiller spread his hands and said, "What is the highest record of bank robbers? Millions of dollars? And what about scammers?"

"That depends on what kind of scammer you are talking about. If it's a successful scammer..." Nick looked at Strange and said, "You have to ask him."

"Why are you looking at me?" Strange said angrily: "Compared to some people, what kind of successful liar am I?"

He looked at Stark again, and Stark glared and said, "Why are you looking at me? I'm an industrialist, not a financial fraud, and the immortality factor is not something I invented..."

After that, he looked at Schiller, and the other two also looked at Schiller. Nick said, "For now, you can ask and answer this question yourself. I haven't seen a liar with a more brilliant record than you."

"Okay, I have a plan. Borrowing money and not paying it back is outdated. Let's change it to a fashionable term."

"For example?"

"For example, investment."

Schiller put his hands on the table. On the surface, he began his narration:

"You see, now the trading method of the Cosmic Demon God is one-to-one, which is very simple and primitive in the eyes of humans."

"They are still at the level of barter and face-to-face transactions, but modern finance has completely broken away from this level."

"The first step is to break away from the one-to-one transaction model. We can completely conduct one-to-many transactions, or many-to-many transactions. In simple terms, it is to let the Cosmic Demon God invest their power in us."

"Then what? There must be a return on investment, right?"

"Cosmic Demon God..." Schiller put his hand to the right.

"... Invest power..." He put his hand in the middle again.

"... give it to us." Finally, he put his hand to the left again, indicating that this is the third stage.

"More Cosmic Demon Gods, invest more power in us." Schiller made three more movements.

Under the curious gazes of the other three, he suddenly sped up his speech and quickly uttered a long paragraph:

"We use the power of other cosmic demons' investment to feed back to other cosmic demons as a return on investment, and tell them that the more they invest, the more they earn."

"Set up a ladder system, formulate promotion levels, and raise the returns layer by layer. If you attract a cosmic demon, you can draw 3 points from the transaction amount as a reward. If you attract two cosmic demons, you can draw 7 points. And so on. The more people you attract, the more you earn..."

"After expanding the base, we will start using later stage investments as a reward for early stage investors. The investment income and investment returns will increase. When the difference reaches an ideal value..."

Shiller spread his hands and said, "... the industry is facing some difficulties caused by force majeure. We can only say goodbye to everyone temporarily. We deeply regret this."

After he finished speaking, the conference room was silent for a minute. Stark spoke first: "It's really a creative concept... Bullshit, isn't this a Ponzi scheme???"

Nick also looked at Schiller and said, "Although I have estimated as low as possible Your moral bottom line, but its flexibility is still frightening.

Schiller suddenly said seriously: "I have always believed that for humans to move towards the universe, what they need is not only the essence of human civilization, but also some dregs.

"Garbage is just a resource placed in the wrong place. The essence is the driving force for moving towards the universe, and the dregs are weapons. After all, I am afraid that no cosmic civilization will have as much dregs as humans."

"Of course, this is just an entry-level method." Schiller shrugged and said: "After expanding the concept of one-to-many or many-to-many transactions, we have to change the previous The current situation of bartering is a thing of the primitive age. Without a general equivalent, how dare they call themselves powerful and developed aliens? "

"With a general equivalent, there is the concept of currency, followed by the market, supply and demand, crowdfunding, companies, stocks, futures..."

"Humans should not be buyers who don't pay their debts, nor villains who treat creditors violently, but dealers with good reputation and image, praised by the whole universe, and fair and conscientious. "

"And force is only a necessary means to ensure fairness. We can even promise that we will never use the Supreme Mage first. "

"Then if they refuse to join, let the Supreme Master knock on his door, right?"

"Don't say that. The Supreme Master has already knocked on his door, and he still has a chance to survive. This is already a great progress. We are simply the pioneer organization against violence in the universe."

"When we have both force and reason, we can start to establish a trading system, formulate trading rules, and then divide the class, subdivide it layer by layer, and it will be justified and logical..."

The other three looked at each other, but Schiller acted very calmly, not like a conspirator who intends to capitalize the entire universe.

"Of course, these things are all later. Let's talk about the first plan first. There are many benefits to doing this."

"In fact, this can't be considered a scam, because in the later stage, those early investors will know the truth, but they will not stop. For their own sunk costs, they will help us keep this secret. Not only will they keep the secret, but they will also take the initiative to help us find more people."

"This solves the problem of information isolation on Earth. Although we don't know the Cosmic Demon, the Cosmic Demon must know the Cosmic Demon."

"You don't have to explain the principle of the Ponzi scheme. We all know it, but the biggest problem with this scam is that when you run away with the money, you must have a way to hide yourself and launder the money."

"If this is an individual, it may be easier to hide and change your identity, but the earth can't escape. We can't give up the entire solar system just to fleece the Cosmic Demon, right?" Nick raised a question.

"If we really start to operate, it may be difficult to hide ourselves, but there is another idea, that is to find a strong enough backer, promise him benefits, and let him help us avoid the trouble after running away with the money."

Speaking, Schiller looked at Strange and said, "You said before that your teacher, the Supreme Sorcerer, once mentioned to you that she was busy with the birth of a new god recently?"

"Yes, as I told you before, it seems that a mysterious existence who has been trading with him told her that something is about to be born near the earth, and she is preparing for it."

"Is the mysterious existence behind her interested in participating?" Schiller moved his elbows on the table and continued, "Using the reputation of the Supreme Sorcerer as a guarantee for the opening, the existence behind her will be the host, first pull a few little demons to join, use the power of their investment to make a play, and pull out a positive example for publicity. ”

“When more people join the group and the power is accumulated, we will focus on attacking a big demon, spend money to open the way, promise him a high rate of return, let him join first, and then taste the sweetness, so as to deceive more big demons.”

“When these powerful demons join the group, we will propose the principle of attracting people, let them help us to squeeze the smaller demons, and we will give them a commission.”

“When we are ready to run away, we will return the big ones in full, and we will chop up the meat of the less powerful ones together, pay protection fees to the existence behind the Supreme Mage, and keep the other part for ourselves.”

“When the small demons in the universe grow up, we can use this part of the power as capital to cut another wave.”

“There is a question…” Stark frowned and said, “You also know that a very important point of the Ponzi scheme is that there must be physical objects to deceive investment in the early stage. What do you plan to use as the object of deceiving them to invest?”

"Didn't Stephen mention it before? The existence behind the Supreme Sorcerer told him that a new beast totem is being born."

"Speaking of which, what is going on?" Nick asked Strange: "What is the beast totem? Will it have any bad influence on us if it is born on Earth?"

Strange shook his head and said: "According to my teacher, it is a symbol of cosmic power, all of which are mystical things. Although it was born on Earth, it has nothing to do with people on Earth."

Nick touched his forehead and said: "I guess it must be related to the big bat last time?"

As he said, he looked at Schiller, who gave him an affirmative look and said: "This thing can be used to do something."

"The new totem power of the universe is rising, I need your help. Giving roses to others will leave a sweet fragrance on your hands. The return on investment during the birth of the new god is 200%. Join the Totem God Cult and embark on a successful life of magic. How about it? "

Stark and Strange stretched out their hands to applaud. Nick commented: "In theory, it does work. The great demons with the ability to retaliate are also vested interests, and those small demons whose power has been taken away will definitely not be able to beat these united strong men."

"Plus the existence behind the Supreme Sorcerer ensures that no one dares to extend a dirty hand, and the exploitation and harvesting chain is basically closed."

Nick sighed and said: "The plan is good, but the risk is still great. The disadvantages of the earth are too great. The human beings here are too fragile and the civilization is still backward. If we don't rely on the power of others, we can hardly compete with any cosmic power. Once we are chased back home, we will have no resistance. "

"I always think..." Stark said firmly: "If one day, the earth is facing a catastrophe and we are unable to resist, then at least we should have the ability to avenge it, so..."

"Stop!" Schiller interrupted Stark's next words and said: "Don't say such unlucky things, and the earth is not powerless to resist."

"Maybe in your opinion, the force of resistance must be force. I admit that there must be enough force to make us qualified to sit at the negotiation table."

"But when we really can't develop enough force in a short period of time, it is not shameful to use other means to accumulate resources and buy time for us, just like what we just planned "

"Actually, I think your thinking is limited." Strange continued Schiller's words: "You think that the nuclear bombs made by humans with science may not be able to effectively kill those strange aliens, but we can actually change our thinking, for example, use magic to make one."

"If we can really trick those cosmic demons... I mean borrow enough power, then it can also become our weapon to defend the earth. The two are actually just different routes, and there is no essential difference."

Nick sighed again, and he continued: "Everything is difficult at the beginning. We have a plan, but where do we start?"

"We do know too little about things outside the earth." Stark also said: "Anyway, I don't know those cosmic demons."

Strange shrugged and said: "I can go back and discuss it with my teacher, but I always feel that such a wicked plan..."

He also sighed, and then said: "This will definitely seriously lower my image in her eyes and make her think that I am an unlearned liar. "

"And I'm not sure if she will really go to the person behind him to tell him about this. After all, no matter what, this is a bit too unethical..."

"The most urgent task now is to find someone who has a full understanding of things outside the earth, especially those demons and other forces in the universe, to help us solve the puzzles so that we can select the first batch of victims... I mean the list of participants." Schiller proposed.

"It's not that easy. The vast majority of people on Earth don't believe in the existence of aliens. Even the space agency and astronauts can't know about those mysterious things." Nick said, holding his forehead.

"Even if you can find him, you have to make sure he is not dangerous and can communicate normally with humans." Stark added,

"It's best if his IQ is lower, so that we can get him to talk and he won't guess our purpose." Strange also added.

The three sighed together, thinking they were daydreaming.

Just then, Nick's phone rang suddenly. After he picked it up, he said, "Yes, that's right... What's wrong?"

"What did you say? ...Are you sure? "

"Really? What else?"

After Nick hung up the phone, he repeated the report he received on the phone: "Alien debris is suspected to have been found in New Mexico. At the same time, the state also reported that a self-proclaimed psychopath attacked the staff who went to investigate the scene."

"He claimed to be a god from Asgard, and the alien debris that fell was his weapon. Since he was deprived of all his divine power, he could not pick up his weapon..."

At this point, the four people looked at each other and said like a chain:

"An alien?"

"An alien who has lost his power?"

"An alien that has lost its power and weapons..."

An alien that has lost its power, weapons, and seems to be not very smart!!!"