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"Ah, this… this…"
Carol Danvers' body visibly trembled slightly with Karl's snap, because she knew very well that the other party was definitely not speaking idly or deliberately teasing her.
For a long time, there has been a legend circulating in the Universe: whoever can gather all six infinity stones will possess powerful divine power, capable of destroying or creating a Planet in the blink of an eye!
So…
If someone could truly gather six infinity stones, then it might really be possible, as that man just said, to simply snap their fingers and directly wipe out half of the life in the Universe.
Σ(⊙▽⊙"a???
Hiss~~
How terrifying!
Carol Danvers suddenly didn't dare to think further.
"Mr. Karl, I want to know, why would the madman you mentioned do such a thing?" Carol Danvers asked with a heavy tone after a moment of silence.
She even began to consider in her mind the possibility that the madman Karl spoke of might be himself.
After all, Nick Fury's reputation for this man was not very good.
Even though Carol always had her own judgment standards for certain things or people, and would never blindly believe others' one-sided accounts.
But out of trust for her old friend, she subconsciously didn't trust Karl much, so it was normal to suspect Karl first.
"You might not believe the reason when I tell you, or you might never be able to understand it."
Karl reined in the smile on his face, replacing it with a slightly serious expression, and said lightly:
"The reason that madman wants to kill half of the life in the Universe is merely for an extreme environmental concept… He wants to help the Universe maintain resource balance!"
"So he plans to make this Universe vibrant again by wiping out half of all life."
"Huh?!!!"
Carol Danvers was truly 'shocked' this time, and her eyes subconsciously flashed with a look of 'you're probably lying to me'.
She had never heard of such an extreme, such an absurd reason!
However, it was precisely this seemingly absurd reason that made her truly choose to believe Karl's words.
Because in Carol's view, if the man opposite really wanted to deceive her, he could have fabricated some more reliable reasons that didn't sound so anti-human.
And the simpler the lie, the easier it is to be exposed.
As long as the other party wasn't a brainless idiot, they would never do such a thing.
But the question is, would anyone really be so insane as to want to kill half of the life in the Universe for such an utterly absurd reason?
Is this even something a human can do?
Compared to this madman, members of those extreme environmental organizations could almost be considered law-abiding 'honest people'.
Seemingly seeing what Carol was thinking, Karl continued:
"Because the other party felt that the efficiency of slaughtering one Planet or one galaxy was too low, he actively collected the infinity stones, wanting to use a single snap to take away half of the life in the Universe once and for all."
"Damn it, how can such a boring madman exist?"
Just hearing it, Carol Danvers was already a little angry, so she looked at Karl and pressed: "I will never allow such a thing to happen… Mr. Karl, please tell me who that madman is?"
Apparently, she had the idea of eliminating the opponent in advance to prevent the tragedy from unfolding.
Killing to stop killing is the simplest and most brutal method, and also the most effective!
Over the past decade or so, although Carol Danvers had been upholding justice and helping the weak in the Universe, she was not a traditional superhero in the conventional sense.
She never rejected solving problems through violence.
It was precisely because of this that interstellar pirate organizations like the Raiders feared her so much.
Because she truly kills!!
"His name is Thanos…"
Karl stopped beating around the bush and said directly: "The Chitauri Legion that invaded Earth with Loki before was one of his vanguard legions."
"And this time, Ronan was originally supposed to hand over the Power Stone to Thanos immediately after obtaining it… However, after obtaining the Power Stone, the ambitious Ronan ultimately chose to keep and use it himself."
Finally, Karl, whether out of goodwill or some other consideration, reminded her meaningfully:
"Miss Danvers, although your strength is evident to all, I still want to advise you, it's best not to think about facing Thanos alone.
Firstly, you might not be his match in a one-on-one fight, and secondly, if you encounter the siege of Thanos's Black Order, you probably won't gain much advantage…"
The reason Karl said that she might not be Thanos's match in a one-on-one fight was definitely not to deliberately belittle Carol Danvers.
Although in Avengers: Endgame, during the final decisive battle between all of the Avengers and Thanos, Carol Danvers, who arrived to save the day, seemingly displayed a very powerful highlight moment—she stood firm against Thanos, who was wearing the Infinity Gauntlet fully equipped with all six infinity stones, and even subtly gained the upper hand in the fight, forcing Thanos to remove the Power Stone from the Infinity Gauntlet and blast her away.
But if one looks closely, they will find that before Carol Danvers displayed that highlight moment, which was when she first fought Thanos, Thanos had not yet officially put on the fully equipped Infinity Gauntlet.
And Carol Danvers immediately seized the initiative, launching a series of attacks.
However, her several attacks not only failed to cause any substantial damage to Thanos, but couldn't even break his defense; she herself was instead directly flung far away by Thanos with a single-handed 360-degree spin.
The reason why Carol Danvers was able to show a powerful momentum that suppressed Thanos in their subsequent second battle, Karl analyzed, was entirely due to a certain special passive attribute on her body playing a crucial role.
That is Energy Absorption!!
That's right, when Thanos put on the Infinity Gauntlet and tried to push Carol Danvers, who was stopping him from snapping his fingers, to the ground, the latter, while in an absolutely disadvantaged situation, used her own Energy Absorption attribute to continuously draw energy from the Infinity Gauntlet, which is why she was able to temporarily suppress Thanos.
In Karl's opinion, this not only does not indicate that Carol Danvers' own strength is superior to Thanos, but rather highlights Thanos's power even more!
Even without the enhancement of the infinity stones, he is still not someone these superheroes can easily challenge!
What's more, before Thanos fought Carol Danvers, he had already fought the 'Avengers Trio' and a host of other Earth heroes for a long time, including Thor, who had fully awakened the Thunder God Power, Captain America, who was fully equipped with mjolnir, Iron Man, who was wearing the most advanced nano-battlesuit, and Wanda, whose rage had stacked to the max.
So, by the time it was Carol Danvers' turn to fight, Thanos was probably only at about 'half health' compared to the start of the battle.
But even so, Carol Danvers still couldn't win.
In Karl's opinion, this was enough to explain the problem!
"And who knows, Thanos might already have one of the infinity stones in his possession right now."
Karl glanced at Carol Danvers, whose expression was gradually becoming unusually solemn, and waved his hand, saying:
"Alright, I've said everything I needed to say. Now, whether you fight or leave, you decide."
"Mr. Karl, thank you for your reminder."
A slightly stiff smile appeared on Carol Danvers' generous face as she shook her head helplessly, saying, "I've said before that I didn't come to Sokovia to cause trouble..."
"However, next, I will first verify the situations you just mentioned. If everything is true, then it is obviously much safer and more reassuring to have the Power Stone in your hands than in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s."
These were Carol Danvers' true thoughts.
However, she naturally wouldn't easily believe everything Karl had just said based solely on his word.
Furthermore, she was actually not unfamiliar with Thanos' name; although they had never met, she was very familiar with his deeds and reputation.
But often, the words that accompanied Thanos' name were all chilling terms like plunder, destruction, and slaughter.
Moreover, Thanos' forces were extremely vast; even for someone like Carol Danvers, who feared nothing, Thanos was like an insurmountable mountain, making one feel suffocated!
So she had to meticulously verify the situation beforehand to decide whether to go to war with Thanos.
Or, perhaps, collect the infinity stones before he does?
"Oh, right..."
Just as Carol Danvers turned to leave, she heard Karl's playful voice from behind her:
"Remember to tell Nick Fury that instead of coveting the Power Stone in my hand, he should reflect on why he couldn't hold onto the infinity stones in his possession..."
"Huh?" Carol Danvers was slightly stunned, about to ask when S.H.I.E.L.D. ever had infinity stones.
But then she heard the man on the Golden Throne continue, "Actually, S.H.I.E.L.D. once possessed two infinity stones."
"What?"
A puzzled expression appeared on Carol Danvers' face. S.H.I.E.L.D. had actually possessed two infinity stones?
Why hadn't Nick Fury told her about this?
But before she could ask, she heard Karl continue:
"Speaking of which, one of those infinity stones has a great connection to your superpowers... I'm sure you've already guessed it... Yes, it's the Tesseract!"
"The infinity stone inside the Tesseract is called the Space Stone, and the infinity stone inside loki's scepter is called the mind stone."
"Previously, both of these infinity stones were in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands, but they didn't cherish them properly..."
Karl naturally wouldn't tell her that both of these infinity stones were now in his possession.
The reason he wanted Carol to relay this message to Nick Fury was simply to see the black man's exasperated reaction after being provoked.
"Wait a minute, you mean..."
When Carol Danvers heard that the Space Stone was actually inside the Tesseract, she was stunned at first, then fell into deep thought.
All the past events of gaining her superpowers over a decade ago resurfaced, flashing before her eyes like a revolving lantern.
The questions that had troubled her for so long were now being resolved one by one with the 'answer' Karl provided.
So her abilities originated from the Space Stone?
This also explained why her mentor, Dr. Lawson, was able to successfully develop a new 'interstellar drive engine' that even the Kree Empire coveted and feared, in such a short time, using Earth's backward technology.
So it was with the help of the Tesseract's power...
Thinking of this, a look of gratitude couldn't help but appear in Carol Danvers' eyes.
However, she clearly also guessed Karl's true intention in revealing this information. With a slightly amused expression, she said, "You're really mischievous," and then left the Hyperspace Group.
At this point, Karl was finally free and could begin to tally his gains from this venture.
First, there was the 'protection fee' totaling hundreds of billions. Although only a few countries were actually affected, nearly a hundred countries were scared out of their wits, so Karl made a huge profit this time.
It must be said, 'alien invasion' is simply the perfect script for violent wealth accumulation!
If it could happen every now and then, that would be great...
Besides money, Karl also gained a certain amount of high-quality souls, such as Ronan's, as well as the Dark Aster with its interstellar jump capability, and the crucial Power Stone!
Compared to the long-term value that other gains could bring to the Hyperspace Group, hundreds of billions of 'dollars' became the most insignificant among them.
The reason Karl valued the Power Stone so much was that he knew, in the combination of the infinity stones, the Power Stone was undoubtedly the one that always occupied the central position.
It was like a super engine, continuously providing strong and stable support for the other infinity stones.
Therefore, with the addition of the Power Stone, the combination of infinity stones in Karl's hands would inevitably undergo Earth-shattering changes, definitely not just a simple '3+1' mode of improvement!
Instead, it would be a geometric increase!
Correspondingly, Karl's strength would undoubtedly be enhanced once again.
"This time, the harvest has been truly bountiful... It seems the plan can be accelerated a little."