Chapter 189 Kamar-Taj "Enlightenment" (Part 1)

The bitter cold wind over the Himalayas never dissipates all year round, and the snowflakes blown by the wind are like pure white knife lights, passing through the lonely and vast valleys.

The sound of the wind is like the whimper of the earth, covering the horn blown by the traveler at the end of the sky. He turned his head and looked back. Behind the layers of peaks, there was curling smoke floating up, like rising incense sticks.

When the last stick of incense in the incense burner burned to the bottom, when the fire went out, the straight incense stick also dissipated. At the last moment when the smoke dissipated, the clear sound of the chess piece hitting the chessboard echoed in the quiet room.

A white and slender hand twisted the chess piece and gently placed it on the chessboard. There was no trace of time on the Supreme Mage's hand, but it had the rough texture left by the farming years. The lines spread along the back of her hand. Gu Yi looked at the chessboard with a calm look.

She turned her head slightly, glanced at the incense that had burned out, and said, "Let's stop here today."

Strange, who made the last move, looked at the chessboard. The game was not intense. Obviously, both sides were a little absent-minded.

Ancient One brushed her robe lightly, and some dust rose around her. She stood up and slowly walked to the incense table and lit another stick of incense. Strange could smell that the fragrance of the incense became lighter.

Wang came in with a tray. Strange put away the chess pieces and chessboard on the table and put them under the table. Wang took out tea and snacks from the tray.

Strange thought that Kamar-Taj could be called a holy place for a reason. This was a completely different feeling from living in New York.

He looked around the room. It was not big, there were few furniture, and the floor was a rough felt. The entire wall opposite was a wooden museum shelf. There was an incense table in front, and paintings were hanging on the walls on both sides. There were two bonsai in the middle.

There is a low table in the middle of the room. The chessboard and chess pieces are usually stored under the table. After Strange finishes practicing magic, he will play a game of chess with Ancient One here.

Strange didn't know how to play Go originally, but after practicing for a few days, he was quite good at it.

There was no winner in the game with Ancient One, only time was counted. After a stick of incense, they would put away the chessboard, drink tea and chat. It was during this time that Strange learned about the mysteries of the universe from Ancient One.

The atmosphere here is completely different from what Strange had imagined before he came.

In Western mythology, the concept of holy land often appears magnificent and grand, the building must be magnificent and the atmosphere must be mysterious.

But Kamar-Taj is not like this. Although it is a miracle to have such a building in the deep mountains of the Himalayas, the temperament here is more simple and natural, rather than sacred.

But Strange had to admit that such an atmosphere gave him a long-lost tranquility and relaxation, and his brain, which was almost overwhelmed by money, gradually calmed down.

But in this atmosphere, Strange felt that it was not easy to start what he was going to say next.

He looked around the room again. Although the furnishings here were simple, each one was just right, and the traces of the vicissitudes of time could be seen.

Everyone here, whether it was the Supreme Sorcerer or the newly-initiated apprentice, had a calm and lively temperament. In comparison, Strange always seemed out of place.

And his next words might make him even more out of place.

"I see you are a little absent-minded." Gu Yi sat back down, blew the tea, and said to Strange.

"Sorry, teacher."

"I can see that you have something to say. You don't have to be shy. There is nothing you can't say here."

Ancient One's tone always carries a calm power that makes people believe what she says involuntarily. Strange took a deep breath first, then sighed, and said, "Okay, but it's really hard to say it."

He looked at the tea leaves spinning in the teacup, trying to imagine this place as the financial center of Wall Street, and then said, "Here's the thing, we have a plan..."

At this point, Strange regretted it. He always felt that he would be thrown out of this place in a short time.

So he paused, pressed his eyebrows, and tried to convince himself to bite the bullet and continue.

"The teacher told me about how to get along with the dimensional demons before. After listening to it, I was quite impressed, so I discussed it with a few friends. They all agreed that the prosperity of the earth today is inseparable from the firm belief of the Supreme Sorcerer..."

In order to prevent himself from being thrown out in an ugly posture, Strange still laid the groundwork first.

"But humans have never been a race that sits and waits for death. We don't want to rely entirely on the protection of others for our own safety, so..." Strange sighed again and said, "Sorry, since the next turn may be a bit shocking, you'd better not drink tea."

When Gu Yi heard this, he put down his teacup, but Wang was distracted when Strange started talking, and he continued to drink slowly. He blew on the hot tea, and just as he was "slurping" a mouthful, he heard Strange say: "...We have made a financial fraud plan against the dimensional demon."

"Puff!"

Wang sprayed the tea in his mouth all over the table.

Strange quickly took out a rag to wipe the table. He said helplessly: "I warned you that the next turn may be amazing..."

"But this is too amazing! Ahem!" Wang said with a cough.

Gu Yi was very calm, and even seemed quite interested. She asked Strange: "Financial fraud plan? Tell me in detail."

Strange took out a small projection device from his pocket and put it on the table.

When the three of them focused their eyes on the device, a projection suddenly popped up. It still showed Strange's face. He waved at the camera and said, "Hello, I'm Strange, and I'm also the narrator of this plan..."

Wang looked at the projection, then at Strange who was sitting next to him. He asked in confusion, "Can't you just sit here and talk to us? Why do you need a projection?"

Strange pointed at the projection and motioned Wang to continue looking down.

At this time, the camera shot by the projection paused. Just when Wang and Gu Yi thought that the lecture was about to begin, the camera suddenly pulled away and shot the entire conference room. Both sides of the long table were people in suits and leather shoes.

Then, the content of the projection video fully, in detail and concisely explained to Gu Yi and Wang what the Cosmic Demon Financial Fraud Plan was.

The plan discussed in the SHIELD conference room at that time could only be regarded as a prototype. In fact, any such scam involves very complex numerical calculations, such as how should the requirements for promotion be set? What should be the ratio of initial investment to later returns? How should the timeline of each step be arranged?

Since none of the four people involved in the discussion had a background in financial education, after completing the initial plan, SHIELD found some powerful financial practitioners to help them improve the plan.

Most of these people were rescued from prison, their moral bottom line had been tested, and many of them had practical experience, so the plan quickly became very complete.

They explained how the scam worked in the most meticulous and easy-to-understand way possible.

The so-called Ponzi scheme, also known as pyramid selling, is the most classic financial fraud routine and the oldest one, but among all financial fraud routines, this routine can be said to be enduring and endless, with people engaging in it from generation to generation and being fooled from generation to generation.

Moreover, as this routine has evolved to today, the people who are fooled have changed from the original nouveau riche with low education and no knowledge of economics and finance to the current young people with knowledge, ability and education.

There are even many people who know that this is a Ponzi scheme, and can even explain the history and principles of this scam, but they will eventually be fooled.

The reason is that this scam precisely attacks the weakness of intelligent creatures, that is, profit-seeking and fluke mentality.

Low investment, high return, intelligent creatures are always pursuing profit, and many people know that this tower will collapse sooner or later, and they always feel that they will be the one who takes the money and runs away.

After the explanation of these professional financial personnel, this principle has become easier to understand and more feasible.

They cited several examples that have happened before, as well as various variants based on this, and even Wang, who has no interest in finance and economics, listened with relish.

While listening to the class, he glanced at the Supreme Sorcerer from time to time with his peripheral vision. He found that Ancient One's eyes were getting brighter and brighter. Wang instinctively leaned to the other side, and found that his other side was Strange, who proposed this plan, and the future Supreme Sorcerer.

There was a very tacit electric wave between the two generations of Supreme Sorcerers, one old and one young, and Wang now had only one idea - the Cosmic Demon, Danger.

After the projection ended, Ancient One calmed himself down for a moment, then said, "I didn't expect you to surprise me like this, Stephen."

"Well, I know this plan is unethical, but... wait, surprise???" Strange looked at Ancient One in confusion, and found that Ancient One's eyes were indeed full of appreciation and surprise.

Ancient One picked up the teacup, drank a sip of tea, and said with satisfaction: "It seems that my previous story was not told in vain. I really didn't expect that you could find the key to the current situation from these fragmentary stories."

"Well..." Strange was choked. He actually wanted to ask what the key was, but it was obvious that Ancient One had something else to say.

Ancient One sighed, and then said: "I mentioned in the story I told before that there are demons in this world, and there are many of them."

"Just like humans, they are intelligent, can communicate, have their own interests and positions, and have different personalities and personalities."

"They are born strong, with powers that humans cannot understand. Most of them have their own domains, distributed in various corners of the universe."

"And to explain who they are, we have to mention what the universe is."

Then, Strange learned the truth about the whole world from the narration of the Supreme Sorcerer Ancient One.