A certain American comic book's secondary profession master

Chapter 256 Technical Sharing

On the lakeside of the Wildlands Alliance base, Tony Stark sat leisurely in a deckchair, admiring the floating city in the distance, which was nearing completion thanks to the hard work of countless steel soldiers who toiled like bees.

The floating city was ultimately named Avalon by a vote of the Alliance members.

Dalaran had only crossed Li Wei's mind once, and he hadn't mentioned it at all.

Because he couldn't explain the meaning of the name Dalaran at all; it seemed too abrupt.

So I naturally voted for Avalon.

However, during the meeting before returning to Earth, the floating city named Avalon almost failed to be born.

After all, having acquired a large amount of technology from extraterrestrial civilizations, a floating city inside Earth no longer holds much significance for the Alliance.

In contrast, Tony prefers to rebuild a super space station in space to replace the floating city.

As for upgrading Avalon and sending it into space, they never even considered it.

Avalon is far too outdated compared to the super space station that needs to be built.

The cost of completely transforming it and then launching it into space is much higher than mining the necessary resources directly on the moon, processing them on-site, and then building a new city in space.

However, after discussion, Avalon's existence was ultimately preserved.

After all, according to the original calculations, the floating city was almost completed by the time they left, which was nearly a year later.

It would be a real shame to demolish it.

Moreover, for the current alliance, there is no shortage of resources and time in Avalon, as well as the issue of "manpower"—the cost of modifying the old steel soldiers is just as high as that of the floating city, so it is more cost-effective to build new ones.

So even if the Alliance doesn't really need Avalon in the future, it would be nice to use it as a resort—the view of the entire Wildlands from the sky would be quite impressive.

However, Tony is not here to see Avalon today.

There's not much to see in Avalon since it wasn't built.

After all, as the designer, he was intimately familiar with every corner of Avalon, and at most felt a tiny bit of a sense of accomplishment.

However, this sense of accomplishment is nothing compared to the super space station, City of a Thousand Planets, which has already been designed and is about to begin construction.

With a burst of sparks, a portal opened, and Levi and Wanda stepped out, unceremoniously lying down on the two lounge chairs next to Tony.

"What brings you to invite me for tea today?" After sitting down, Li Wei unceremoniously poured himself a cup using the tea set that had been laid out beforehand. He smelled it and realized it wasn't their usual "chrysanthemum tea," but rather a proper green tea.

He then took a sip and exclaimed, "Tsk, not bad at all. What kind of tea is it?"

"I heard it's some kind of Imperial Longjing tea. They know you like tea, so they specifically asked me to deliver it to you. Besides that, there's also some kind of Mother Tree Red Robe tea and stuff," Tony replied.

"Hehe, they've put in a lot of effort!" Li Wei nodded upon hearing this, showing no surprise whatsoever.

These items are undoubtedly state gifts from my hometown.

Given the current situation, it's perfectly normal for him to receive state gifts; besides him, Tony has received countless other gifts.

After returning to Earth, in addition to planning to recruit immigrants and build a space station, the Alliance did something else.

That is technology sharing.

After all, one of their purposes in leaving Earth was to improve Earth's technological level as much as possible through acquisitions.

The alliance has now received far more than planned, and has also gained a perfect "new home" on Earth.

But we must not forget our original aspirations.

However, sharing technology is also a very troublesome matter.

After all, the political situation on Earth is far too complicated.

If it were simply made public, the result would inevitably be war, and a massive civil war at that.

Those countries that already control the largest share of the global economy will absolutely not stand by and watch smaller countries that have acquired the technology grow stronger.

Smaller countries, once they possess advanced technology, may also want to redistribute the global pie. If they fail to achieve this, they might even resort to desperate measures like "Crow Brother" (a derogatory term implying a violent or disruptive reaction).

Therefore, war will be absolutely unavoidable at that time.

Admittedly, with the current strength of the alliance, it is capable of forcefully suppressing various countries with military force.

But how long can they maintain this suppression?
Moreover, by doing this, the alliance might end up becoming the target of criticism from the entire planet.

Moreover, most small countries simply do not have the national potential to rapidly improve their technology—many of them don't even have a basic industrial system, so giving them technology would be like giving it away for free.

Therefore, this option had already been ruled out before they left Earth.

So how exactly should the technology sharing plan be implemented?

This issue has been discussed for a long time within the alliance.

Although the current alliance, as an organization that has entered the universe, does not have any bias.

However, as former members of various countries on Earth, the members of each alliance still have some degree of bias.

For example, although Li Wei is an American international figure in this world, his core is still yellow.

My own father works there.

Therefore, during the discussion, the bias was more or less towards that side.

Jessica and other American members, unsurprisingly, sided with their own country.

Melina and others from the Russian faction, although not very close to the current United States due to their own experiences, are still willing to say a few words in support of the United States, their adopted home. And this is definitely not because of Levi's suggestion.

The most surprising thing was that Tony, the world's richest man who once had the closest relationship with the US government, seemed to be biased towards Dongfang and Daxiong in his words.

So the final result of the discussion was to maintain the current global order, with the five major mobile merchants as the core, gradually spreading technology, letting the rich lead the way... cough cough, let the strong lead the weak, and ultimately achieve technological advancement for the entire planet.

Admittedly, this approach still cannot completely prevent disputes.

In particular, four of the merchants will most likely continue to invade those smaller countries for their own benefit.

However, based on past experience, the likelihood of a large-scale war is much smaller under this situation.

While there are differences in strength among the various nations, they are not disparate, and each has its own strategies, thus exhibiting relative restraint when faced with challenges. Moreover, although their strengths vary, they are all generally powerful nations with the potential for rapid development.

It is far superior to those small countries.

It might not even require much conflict for all five to have already ventured into space.

As for whether the five factions will separate or unite after they reach the universe, that's not important to the alliance.

For the Alliance, the most important thing is to get humanity out there; whether or not they agree is irrelevant.

It would be a good thing if the five major merchants could each form new civilizations—who knows, they might even gain more seats in the Galactic Council in the future.

Moreover, giving the technology only to the five major merchants will save the alliance a lot of trouble—because if something bad happens, they can just contact these five directly.

As for the interests of small countries... well, there's nothing we can do about it.

In the course of history, there are always sacrifices that must be made.

Moreover, regardless of whether the world is unified in the future or develops in some other way, these small and sparsely populated countries are unlikely to be able to maintain their status for long.

As long as things don't go too far or involve large-scale inhumane acts, the alliance will turn a blind eye.

Of course, if anyone goes too far, the league doesn't mind sanctioning them. Tony's brand-new Iron Soldier design hasn't even undergone real-world testing yet.

Doing some degreasing work is quite easy.

So, not long ago, Tony, in the name of the Alliance, invited representatives of the five major merchants to a secret meeting, where he revealed some specific details about the galaxy to the five nations and finalized a preliminary plan for technology sharing.

First of all, technology sharing is not free, and it is impossible for the alliance to share all the technology it possesses.

Although the current alliance has everything that other countries on Earth lack.

After all, the resources in the universe are much richer than those on Earth.

However, things that are free are often not appreciated – the idea that free things are the most valuable has a prerequisite; the league doesn't have the habit of sowing seeds before reaping the harvest.

Moreover, these technologies were acquired by the alliance at real money.

Therefore, a certain fee will definitely be charged, and the scope of sharing will mainly be the more basic technologies that Li Wei and his group purchased in Xandar.

However, the fee the alliance is asking for is not money, but some other conditions.

For example, publicly acknowledging the Alliance's status and allowing it to open offices in major cities around the world—essentially embassies. Of course, the Alliance currently lacks personnel, so this task will temporarily be handled by Stark Industries' employees worldwide. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing for these employees, as they will be the second batch of recruits for the Anti-Earth Citizens program.

Why not the first batch? Because during the initial recruitment phase, they had to stay on Earth to work...

In addition, the alliance needs to recruit personnel or implement plans that are beneficial to human civilization as a whole, and the five major merchants need to cooperate.

In the initial stages of encountering extraterrestrial civilizations, we must listen to the opinions of the Alliance and adhere to a series of conditions, such as not harming human interests.

Of course, many details are still under discussion.

This has led to Tony being extremely busy lately, flying all over the world every few days.

Of course, he wasn't the only one; after all, there are quite a few idle people in the league.

Personnel recruitment and engineering construction do not require the participation of the Alliance's main combat personnel, so since they were idle anyway, they simply followed Tony to the five major merchants to sit and get acquainted with them.

For example, when they went to England, they brought along Pietro, the newly joined Captain Britain, Peggy Carter. After returning to Earth, the Alliance did not hide anything from him about the situation in the universe. After learning about the current situation of the Alliance, Captain Britain took the initiative to request to join the Alliance.

Given this "elder's" past assistance to the league and his unconventional mindset, Tony and Levi unanimously decided to approve his application to join the league.

As for her husband, the former Captain America?
A retired old man like Deng shouldn't get involved in this; he should just focus on taking good care of his wife.

When Tony went to Russia, he brought along the former Black Widow trio—but their first meeting with the Russians didn't go well.

Because the Russians had the audacity to invite the Winter Guard, who had recently gained a lot of attention.

Although Tony and Ivan no longer hold grudges about what happened to their fathers back then.

However, some verbal exchanges were inevitable, so you can imagine the atmosphere at the time.

Well, negotiating with the US side is the easiest, but it's also the most troublesome for Tony.

The journey to the East was actually the most pleasant for Tony, and almost the entire league was mobilized except for Levi.

As for why Li Wei, who was the most important person, didn't go.

Hey, wasn't that to avoid suspicion?

Moreover, as the sorcerer of Kamar-Taj and the future Sorcerer Supreme, Livy also needs to maintain his detachment and avoid too much contact with the secular world's officials.

Besides, whether he appears or not doesn't affect the overall situation. With his father around, Li Wei only needs to ask him to pass on a message if anything happens.

It was precisely because Tony was traveling all over the world as a representative of the league that he was able to achieve this.

So, in order to better build a closer relationship, the five merchants have been sending Tony, the representative of the alliance, a lot of state gifts during this period.

Therefore, it's perfectly normal to give someone some tea as a gift.

Although these tea leaves are precious, they are nothing compared to the technology provided by the Alliance.

Hmm, wait a minute, isn't something missing here?
Hey, never mind, nothing else matters!
"Let's get down to business. You didn't just come here to have tea, did you?" Li Wei asked Tony after finishing two cups of tea.

"So you really just wanted to have tea with me? But didn't I say I was only letting you come alone? Why did you bring Wanda along?" Tony glanced at Wanda, who was looking at Avalon with great interest, and whispered to Levi.

“I have nothing to hide from Wanda. What I know, she knows too!” Levi said after glancing at Tony.

Well, except for the fact that I'm a time traveler! Li Wei silently added in his mind.

"...So, she knows about the content of this future topic too?" Tony's eyes widened upon hearing Li Wei's words. "Good heavens, you two have only been together a short time, and she's already treating you to everything? If you're not henpecked, I'll change my surname to yours!"

Li Wei rolled his eyes at him and didn't say anything.

However, Wanda chimed in, "I can't say whether Victor has bronchitis or not, but Tony, you definitely do!"

"You can hear me?" Tony was instantly horrified upon hearing this, and even forgot to ask Wanda about his bronchitis.

"Hehe, after she obtained the bloodline of the high elves, her hearing was greatly enhanced, far surpassing ours," Li Wei said with a smile.

The long ears of high elves are not just pretty decorations!
(End of this chapter)