Chapter 914: A Visit (Part I) (Patreon)

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"Hello, sir. I'm not sure what you're talking about. This is a human base located on Mercury. We are a civilization that has just ventured out of Saturn and is currently learning how to extract resources from the stars," stated a human representative.

"I'm sorry, but we currently lack the capability to send you back home. However, the door of human friendship will always be open to you," they continued.

Schiller stood beside the sickbed, smiling at Ronan. However, Ronan remained unmoved. He turned his head and looked outside the observation room at several humans.

One of them appeared quite young, wearing a sweatshirt adorned with cartoon patterns. They curiously peered through the observation window.

Another person wore a uniform and held a red and blue shield, engaged in a heated argument with someone in Mech armor. A few others, dressed in researcher uniforms, were comparing data while holding materials.

Outside the entire hospital room, everything appeared quite normal. Everyone had their tasks, and communication flowed smoothly. Just looking at the scene could make one believe they had truly been rescued by strangers and brought to a hospital.

However, Ronan sat up from the sickbed, wearing a smirk on his face. He then spoke in a cold tone, "Skrulls, you're always so clever, yet you fail to see the glaring flaws. Your actions and the way you've set up this scenario have already revealed your immaturity. This trap is so laughably simplistic."

"You claim to be human, yet upon seeing me for the first time, you accurately identified my race and even discerned my rank."

"Throughout the vast expanse of space, there are many civilizations that have heard of the Kree Empire's reputation. But most have only scratched the surface. Only one race truly understands us, because we engaged in a war that lasted for a thousand years, didn't we? The lackeys of the Skrull Empire?"

Ronan appeared relaxed, showing no signs of weakness. He leaned against the wall behind the sickbed and said, "This is just your first serious mistake. The second flaw is your claim of being human."

"Human... human..." Ronan repeated the race's name with a touch of emphasis. He then continued, "Perhaps, in the far reaches of space, not many have heard of this race. But among the civilizations within this star system, who hasn't heard of humans?"

"Too many Cosmic Gods hail from Earth, and there are powerful cosmic entities tied to Earth. What's truly intriguing is that this is an exceptionally weak race, one that hasn't ventured beyond their homeworld. It has become a legendary tale within this star system, even known by the most remote indigenous species."

"Yes, from the Skrulls' perspective, a civilization that remains so underdeveloped, resorting to building a base near the Sun, using primitive life support systems to sustain ordinary humans, and relying on archaic ceiling lamps for illumination... How much more primitive can it get?"

Ronan sneered and continued, "But what you fail to realize is that humans are a race that has yet to step out of their homeworld, much like the Kree once were. Forget about constructing a base on a planet near the Sun; they would even take a considerable amount of time to launch a rocket with chemical fuel to their nearest satellite."

"The heat of the stars may be inconsequential to you, Skrulls, but for humans, it is deadly. A life support system capable of sustaining life in extremely high-temperature environments is considered basic technology for Skrulls. Yet, for humans, it is an unattainable feat."

Seeing Schiller's increasingly dark expression, Ronan seized the opportunity, saying, "…Not to mention, your oversight in the details."

"I am using an undamaged Kree Empire officer translation system, which has recorded thousands of languages used by interstellar societies within this star system, including human languages."

"But what you don't know is that humans are a multilingual civilization. While we have included many languages spoken by human civilizations, multilingual members often use transliterated terms from other languages in their communication with peers. Especially with newly coined terms, after undergoing modulation and pitch changes, they cannot be perfectly translated by a translator."

"Just moments ago, while I was lying here listening to your greetings, the conversations of all the people outside the observation room were translated flawlessly by the translator, without any difficult words or unique intonation."
Ronan spread his hands and said, "What does this indicate? It shows that your database of human civilization's vocabulary is the same as ours. Therefore, those localized terms, you wouldn't know them either."

He shook his head, adding, "This is the typical irony of your Skrulls, being clever but outsmarted."

"You wanted to disguise yourselves as weak humans to lower my guard, to gain my favor. But who doesn't know that the shape-shifting Skrull race possesses the unique ability to mimic any race within space?"

"Do you think I wouldn't be on guard against this?" Ronan looked at Schiller and continued, "Instead of making me believe that a feeble race like humans would go to the Kree Empire's sector, land on an atmosphereless planet, still inside an exploding spaceship, and rescue me against all odds, it's better to make me believe that the Skrull Empire has stooped to launching covert suicide attacks on other star ports..."

"...Enough, you thief!" Schiller's expression grew colder, and he squinted his eyes as he addressed Ronan. "Shut your mouth and stay put."

"Thief, thief, thief... That's the only word you seem to know. You've been repeating it for thousands of years, as if you're innocent victims," Ronan's tone grew lower as he continued, "Your education has ensured that you will never understand that the so-called gifts you bestow upon other races aren't meant to help space prosper, but to create more carnage and genocide."

Ronan interlocked his fingers and lowered his head, saying, "The reason for that thousand-year war, which you thought was the Kree stealing your science and technology and retaliating, was quite different."

"If you truly had such power and benevolence, you wouldn't have had to make a choice between the Kree and the Kortati."

"You had us both construct wonders to assess the potential of our civilizations. We built the magnificent Blue City, and they created the Kothatian Garden."

"Who was superior between the two buildings is no longer relevant. But your choice of the Kortati as the winners wasn't because their garden was truly more beautiful, but because they were willing to flatter you, willing to lay down their weapons and become unarmed gardeners."

"You didn't choose the civilization with greater potential; you chose the sycophants more beneficial to you."

"You thought that by aiding the Kortati, you were providing space with more new vitality, making it flourish. But have you ever considered what the Kortati would do once they possessed more advanced weapons than us?"

"They wouldn't chant ideals like you do," Ronan shook his head. "No, they would just use the resources and science and technology you provided to raise a blade against us. The more you give them, the more Kree will face slaughter."

"The Kree are not sacrificial lambs. Faced with such a foreseeable grim future, we must resist with everything we have against the impending destruction."

"We took your spaceship and science and technology, not as theft and plunder, but as the price you should pay for your perpetually superior posture and the inevitable cost of your arrogance, which will eventually lead to your destruction."

Schiller looked at Ronan, and the individuals outside the observation window also stopped their conversations and actions, gazing at Ronan in silence. Ronan didn't direct his gaze towards them; he simply continued speaking.

"If you don't give enough, then don't give at all. All civilizations struggle in darkness, and without a savior, they won't resent anyone. Hatred serves no purpose."

"But if you descend from above, offering them hope and allowing them a brief period of prosperity, only to plunge them into deeper despair, you've achieved nothing."

Ronan's eyes were filled with profound darkness as he stared at Schiller. "Skrulls want to be the benevolent fathers of space, but all the resources and science and technology you've lavishly distributed won't yield anything except a pack of wolves like us."

"If you're not truly selfless, if you still make choices among different civilizations, selecting the one most advantageous to you, then you will only reap one thousand years of war after another, and ultimately, extinction."

Schiller fell silent for a moment, then pushed his glasses up gently and said, "Perhaps the Skrull Empire isn't oblivious to the fact that by aiding the Kortati civilization, it has already dug the grave for the Kree Civilization."

"Perhaps, in their times of pragmatic difficulty, when they had to make a choice between two civilizations, selecting the one more beneficial to themselves while abandoning the other, the ideal you heard about is nothing more than a slogan."

"But when you witnessed the Skrull Empire's flagship collide with the Kree Empire's first star port without any declaration... Were you not feeling happy?"

Schiller observed that when he asked this question, Ronan's fingertips twitched slightly.

"Because such shameless actions have put an end to the era when they still had ideals for their homeworld."

"From the moment they initiated this war, starting to display their might, the former Skrull Empire had already perished."

"Now, Mr. Ronan," Schiller turned to Ronan, his voice softening to a whisper, "I just want to ask you one question..."

"Before all this, before you could be certain, when you still believed that he might be alive, that he might still fulfill his ideals, what exactly were you afraid of?"

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