nownovels Chapter 5765 - 4788: X Royal Family: Rebirth (28)
Chapter 5765 - 4788: X Royal Family: Rebirth (28)
Shiller walked into Stark’s room just as he was leaning against the bed, looking at something, his face not as bad as before. Shiller smiled at him, sat down by the window, and then said, "How are you doing?""I’m fine," Stark said. "I figured it out a long time ago. It must have been the mutants themselves who did it. Most of the weak scenes were just an act, and I’ve been pretty much recovered."
"How did you find out?"
"I had suspicions before. Remember when we discussed why mutants, surrounded by enemies, chose to build a hot spring? Charles wouldn’t do something so urgent unless there was another purpose behind it."
Stark paused for a moment and then continued, "But the key evidence is the energy I extracted from the engine. It was definitely put in by Erik directly, and I’m familiar with it."
"It’s a good thing you went down," Shiller said. "If the local Iron Man went to extract the energy, he might’ve noticed something was off."
"He wouldn’t have noticed," Stark snorted. "Charles isn’t that careless. The energy he injected into the engine was enough to destroy the average Iron Man’s battle armor, and the room would certainly be flooded with lava, leaving no evidence."
"However," Stark sighed and said, "he’s not worried about Iron Man dying in there, with The Avengers going berserk..."
"He’s not worried at all. There are too many people who can save Iron Man, like me," Shiller shook his head and said. "I figured it was Charles’s handiwork long ago, so there’s no way I’d let Iron Man die in there. You and Strange are the same. Charles knew we’d cooperate, so he dared to take the risky move."
"To him, it’s not even a risky move," Stark thought for a moment and said. "I’ve heard a lot of rumors during my time in Congress recently. Mutants are indeed impressive. They played a big part in how the Three Great Empires ended up like this."
"This proves mutants still have considerable political potential," Shiller said. "Professor X and Magneto are more about not turning the corner, lacking opportunities for practice. As long as Krakoa’s situation stabilizes, there’s still hope for further progress."
"This time, it’s a success," Stark asserted. "Krakoa’s situation will improve soon, and construction can finally be put on the agenda."
Stark’s prediction was correct. The volcano eruption thing was entirely a strategic retreat. Not only did it achieve the expected effect, but there were also many pleasant surprises.
When The Avengers returned to America, everyone was holding back frustration. They’ve gone through this kind of situation too many times—fighting hard on the front lines while the US government dragged them down from behind.
Take this incident, for instance. Even those most reluctant to think negatively could only conclude that S.H.I.E.L.D. or the US government eavesdropped on The Avengers’ meeting, got wind of the hot spring bathhouse construction, and then devised such a plan, contacting mutant agents lurking on Krakoa Island to complete the plan.
The most frustrating part of this situation is their disregard for The Avengers’ safety in dealing with mutants. Krakoa Island already has limitations on mutants, and if the volcano couldn’t be stopped during the eruption, mutants couldn’t save them, potentially burying The Avengers on the island as well.
And choosing the engine of the water system as the target was, indeed, poorly thought out. Once the volcano truly erupted, a large portion of the mutants would be dead or wounded. Would the remaining ones spare Iron Man? They might chase him to the ends of the earth. Even if The Avengers survived, they couldn’t protect him, as the surviving mutants would be exceptionally strong and filled with rage. No one could withstand the combined pursuit of so many Omega-Level and Alpha-Level mutants. Iron Man would be doomed to die.
Even now, with no casualties among the mutants, they will never trust them again, and their relationship is completely over. If this incident were to spread, The Avengers’ credibility would also be finished. With so many ambassadors present, there’s no way it wouldn’t leak.
In other words, they’ve diligently handled so many security cases in New York, only to end up with a conspiracy aimed at hurting them, potentially burying them together. Who wouldn’t be angry?
So after returning, The Avengers caused a scene, almost tearing the roof off at S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury barely held it together, but he couldn’t stop an enraged Iron Man.
Iron Man went straight to Washington, demanding the repeal of the sanction orders. Of course, the folks at the White House wouldn’t listen to him; they even thought it might have indeed been their own doing. They felt justified. Taking some risks to wipe out mutants was close to achieving their goal, as it was one of the most successful conspiracies they had accomplished in recent decades. They believed they should capitalize on this victory rather than abandon it, so they outright ignored Iron Man.
Iron Man is the kind of person you have to handle gently. Initially, he might have been motivated by guilt to help mutants, but Washington’s attitude made him furious, and he insisted on wrestling with Congress.
Iron Man doesn’t particularly enjoy political maneuvers, but since he’s a billionaire, he has advisers and staff, all eagerly waiting to prove themselves in front of their boss. Under their operations, Washington was turned upside down.
Apart from political maneuvers, Iron Man wasn’t idle himself. He knows well where America’s lifeline lies, thus directly announcing a medical research plan for Stark Group, centered around the Flower of Krakoa, launching a series of new drugs, and establishing his own medical foundation, claiming to rebuild America’s medical system.
This really stabbed right at the artery. Stark was already a military-industrial complex, now he wants to be a medical-industrial complex too, taking all the benefits for himself, with America at his feet?
The issue is, Iron Man isn’t making empty promises. His technology and research capabilities ensure that whatever he wants to research, he can indeed achieve. If he successfully develops the Universal Divine Medicine from the Flower of Krakoa, controlling it, other pharmaceutical companies, and even medical insurance companies won’t stand a chance.
Can these pharmaceutical and medical insurance companies not panic? They hurriedly sought out who upset this venerable figure. For so long, he’s only been tinkering with his battle armor, why did he suddenly get enlightened?
After probing around, they understood the whole story. It was the damned Congress again. To prevent Iron Man from going berserk and impacting their business, the medical establishment collectively pressured Congress to revoke sanctions to appease Iron Man.
While they were at a stalemate, other countries weren’t idle either. Wakanda and China, upon learning that Krakoya Island was hit by a 10.0 magnitude earthquake, offered humanitarian aid, deploying dozens of rescue ships, numerous rescue personnel, sending various medical supplies, and under the banner of humanitarian aid, launched a series of trade support plans.
This kind of thing is quite common. Once a country suffers a huge disaster, especially those sudden catastrophic ones, many countries are willing to help, typically providing money, labor, and later signing support agreements. Simply put, after the affected country resumes production, they purchase agricultural or industrial products to help recover the economy.
It’s not entirely because countries are benevolent. Mainly, every country is both a producer and a market; some lean heavily on production, consuming less, others consume a lot producing little. Regardless, international trade plays a role.
Producers in other countries don’t want their markets destroyed, pushing local economies to recover quickly for selling goods; buyers worry about supply chain interruptions, wishing for rapid recovery of original production areas, thus aiding disaster-stricken countries.
Krakoa is the same. Wakanda looks to monopolize high-end medical with Krakoa, hoping the Flower of Krakoa improves Wakanda’s healthcare further, so they have to help because only if mutants overcome hardships quickly can cooperation continue. China does likewise, valuing mutant living environments alongside medical collaboration, offering help.
While there aren’t international objections, the humanitarian aid argument is too strong. Opposing it makes one seem heartless, affecting international reputation. Especially those old White Leftists in Europe are utterly silent, other countries have nothing to say either.
However, Europe changed tactics. They claim Krakoya Island’s volcanic eruptions with ash-filled smoke polluted Earth’s environment, particularly Europe’s air quality, demanding compensation, at least employing environmental agencies to conduct tests.
This is a trap, as European environmental agencies are government-influenced, and once they conduct tests, results will definitely be unfavorable, leading to compensation troubles immediately afterwards.
Yet, the point remains: Krakoa’s designation as a nature reserve suggests that environmental cards are playable by ordinary and mutant individuals alike. Krakoa countered with "Rare protection species suffering earthquake and volcanic threats," seeking public donations, especially at European environmental conferences, enraging European environmentalists.
Tell them it’s a nature reserve, barring state-level international activities; they claim nature reserves can receive state aid. Accuse them of being a country shouldering global environmental responsibilities; they argue that as rare protected species, humans should be responsible for them.
After years of government propaganda, Europe’s atmosphere is conspicuously White Left, with numerous clueless citizens believing a beautiful island in the Atlantic full of rare animals suffered severe earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, donating enthusiastically.
More ridiculous still, people marched demanding European governments take responsibility for Krakoya Island’s earthquakes, alleging human ocean exploration affected Krakoya Island’s geological conditions, triggering volcanic anomalies, necessitating funding to restore Krakoya Island’s ecology. Otherwise, it’d be environmentally unfriendly.
All that can be said is Charles perfectly utilized the cryptocurrency on the mainland. This made European politicians thoroughly disgusted, like belatedly encountering a ghost after countless night walks, even gorillas playing the environmental card.