novelRona Chapter 4749 X Royal Newcomer (28)
Chapter 4749 X Royal Newcomer (28)
Chapter 4749 X Royal Family: New Life (Twenty-Eight)
When Schiller entered Stark's room, he was leaning against the bed, looking at something, and his complexion didn't seem as bad as before. Schiller smiled at him, sat down by the window, and said, "How are you?"
“I’m fine,” Stark said. “I figured out a long time ago that the mutants were the ones who did it. Most of the scenes of weakness were just an act; I’m almost fully recovered.”
How did you figure that out?
“I had my suspicions before. I remember we discussed why the mutants, facing internal and external difficulties, chose to build a hot spring. Charles wouldn’t do something so irresponsible unless there’s another purpose behind building the hot spring.”
Stark paused for a moment before continuing, "But the key evidence is still the energy I extracted from the engine. Eric definitely put it in directly; I know that well."
“It’s a good thing you went down,” Schiller said. “If the local Iron Man had gone to extract the energy, he might have realized something was wrong.”
“He won’t find out,” Stark scoffed. “Charles isn’t that careless either. The energy he’s pumping into the engine is just enough to destroy a normal Iron Man suit, and that room will definitely be flooded with lava. Then there will be no way to prove anything.”
“However,” Stark sighed, “he’s not worried about Iron Man dying inside or the Avengers going crazy…”
“Of course he’s not worried. There are plenty of people who can save Iron Man, like me.” Schiller shook his head and said, “I saw through Charles’s scheme a long time ago, so I couldn’t let Iron Man die in there. The same goes for you and Strange. Charles only dared to take such a risky move because he knew we would cooperate.”
“It’s not a risky move for him,” Stark thought for a moment and said, “When I was in the council recently, I heard a lot of rumors that mutants are very powerful. They’ve been involved in the fact that the three empires are what they are today.”
“This proves that mutants still have great political potential,” Schiller said. “Professor X and Magneto are just too caught up in it and lack opportunities to practice. As long as the situation in Krakoa can stabilize, there is still hope for continued progress.”
“This deal should be done,” Stark asserted. “The situation in Krakoa will soon improve, and construction can finally begin.”
Stark was right. The volcanic eruption was a classic case of strategic retreat, achieving not only the expected results but also bringing many unexpected surprises.
After the Avengers returned to the United States, everyone was seething with resentment. They had experienced this far too many times before; each time, they were fighting hard on the front lines while the US government was relentlessly hindering them from behind.
Take this incident for example. Even the person least inclined to think the worst can only assume that S.H.I.E.L.D. or the US government eavesdropped on the Avengers' meeting, obtained information about building a hot spring resort from them, and then devised this plan. Subsequently, they contacted mutant agents lurking on Krakoa Island and carried out the plan.
What's most infuriating about this is that they completely disregarded the safety of the Avengers when dealing with mutants. It's important to remember that Krakoa Island already has restrictions on mutants; if they couldn't stop them and the volcano erupted, the mutants wouldn't be able to save them, and the Avengers might also be buried on the island.
And why did they have to mess with the water system's engine of all places? If the volcano really erupts, and most of the mutants are killed or wounded, will the survivors let Iron Man go? They'll probably hunt him down to the ends of the earth. Even if the Avengers survive, they absolutely cannot protect him, because the surviving mutants will be incredibly strong and furious. No one can withstand so many Omega-level and Alpha-level mutants working together to hunt him down; Iron Man will undoubtedly die.
Even if there are no casualties, as things stand now, the mutants will never trust them again; their relationship is completely over. Furthermore, if word gets out, the Avengers' reputation will be ruined. And with so many ambassadors present, this news is bound to get out.
In other words, all their hard work in handling so many crime cases in New York was rewarded with a conspiracy that was designed to harm them and even bury them alive. Who wouldn't be angry in that situation?
So when the Avengers returned, they caused a huge ruckus, almost blowing the roof off S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury managed to hold his own, but he couldn't stop the enraged Iron Man.
Iron Man went directly to Washington, demanding the revocation of the sanctions. Of course, the White House officials wouldn't listen to him. Although they suspected they might have been behind it, they all felt they were in the right. Taking a risk to wipe out all mutants, and almost achieving their goal, was their most accomplished and profitable conspiracy in recent decades. At this point, they should have pressed their advantage, not given up, so they completely ignored Iron Man.
But Iron Man is the kind of person who can only be appeased. He might have just wanted to help mutants out of guilt, but Washington's attitude made him furious and determined to go toe-to-toe with Congress.
Iron Man doesn't particularly enjoy political maneuvering, but he's a wealthy man with advisors and staff, all of whom are scheming and eager to impress their boss. Through their machinations, Washington is thrown into chaos.
Besides political maneuvering, Iron Man himself wasn't idle either. He understood best where America's lifeline lay, so he directly announced a medical research program for Stark Industries, mainly centered around the Cracoa Flower, to develop a series of new drugs, establish his own medical foundation, and claim to rebuild the American healthcare system.
This is truly a fatal blow. Stark was already a military-industrial complex, and now he wants to become a medical complex too. It's like he's getting all the good stuff, so why doesn't the US just give it to him?
The problem is that Iron Man isn't just making empty promises. His technology and research capabilities ensure that if he wants to research something, he can definitely do it. If he really develops and controls a panacea based on the Krakoa flower, then other pharmaceutical companies will be out of the game, and even health insurance companies will be out of the game.
How could these pharmaceutical and health insurance companies not panic? They'd better find out who's offended this tyrant. For so long, all they've done is tinker with his armor; how come they've suddenly become intelligent?
After making inquiries, they found out what was going on, and then they put pressure on each other, putting Washington in a very difficult position.
Following this came humanitarian aid from various countries. Upon hearing of the 10.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Krakya, many countries provided aid supplies, and some citizens also made donations.
This kind of thing is actually quite common. When a country experiences a major disaster, especially a severe one that occurs in a short period, many countries are willing to help. Those with money contribute financially, and those with resources contribute their efforts, and a series of aid and assistance agreements are subsequently signed. Simply put, after the recipient country resumes production, the government purchases their agricultural or industrial products to help them recover their economy.
This isn't entirely due to the goodwill of other countries. The main reason is that every country is both a producer and a market; some are specialized, others focus on production rather than consumption, and vice versa. Regardless, both play a role in international trade.
Producers in other countries are reluctant to see their markets destroyed and want their local economies to recover quickly so they can sell their goods; while buyers are worried about supply chain disruptions and also hope to quickly restore production in the country of origin, which is why they go to aid the affected countries.
The same applies to Krakoa. Wakanda hopes to monopolize high-end healthcare with Krakoa and also hopes that the Krakoa Flower can help Wakanda's healthcare reach new heights. Therefore, they will definitely help, because only if the mutants overcome their difficulties can the cooperation continue. China is the same; besides medical cooperation, they also value the living environment of mutants, so they also offer assistance.
There are dissenting opinions internationally, but the reason of humanitarian aid is so compelling that anyone who objects would appear heartless and damage their international reputation. The old leftists in Europe, in particular, have remained completely silent, and other countries have little to say.
However, Europe has adopted a different approach. They claim that the thick smoke containing volcanic ash from the eruption of the Krakoa volcano polluted the Earth's environment, especially the air quality in Europe, and that they should provide compensation, or at least hire environmental agencies to conduct testing.
This is certainly a trap, because European environmental agencies are all subject to government orders. If they conduct tests, the products will definitely fail to meet standards, leading to a series of troubles such as compensation claims.
But as mentioned before, the reason Cracoa became a nature reserve is precisely because environmental protection is a card that ordinary people can play, and mutants can play too. Cracoa countered by claiming that "rare and protected animals are being harmed by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions," soliciting donations from the public, especially at various environmental conferences in Europe, infuriating European environmentalists.
You say they are a nature reserve and that they should not act internationally as a nation, but they say nature reserves can also receive national aid; you say they are a nation and that they should be responsible for the Earth's environment, but they say they are rare and protected animals and that humans should be responsible for them.
Unfortunately, after so many years of government propaganda, the atmosphere in Europe is that of a big leftist, and many uninformed people actually believe that a beautiful island in the Atlantic Ocean full of rare animals has suffered a serious earthquake and volcanic eruption, and they donate money like crazy.
Even more outrageous, some people actually took to the streets to demand that European governments take responsibility for the earthquake in Krakow, claiming that human exploration activities in the ocean affected the geological conditions of Krakow, ultimately leading to abnormal volcanic activity. They argued that Krakow must pay for ecological restoration, otherwise it would be environmentally unfriendly.
It can only be said that Charles used the cryptocurrency from the mainland to its fullest potential. This has disgusted European politicians; they've been walking in the dark too many times and now they're encountering ghosts—even gorillas are playing the environmental card.