Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1045, Section 1041: Declaration of Destruction (First Update)

While the funeral was still underway, a major event occurred on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

The White House spokesperson suddenly held a press conference to explain the incident and losses suffered by the U.S. Sixth Fleet. While the statement omitted much of the truth, the spokesperson still claimed that the Department of Defense had identified the attackers from information recovered from the black boxes and testified that the brave Navy sailors fought to the last, perfectly demonstrating patriotism. The soon-to-be Vice President then went to the lawn to condemn the attackers and quoted Bush to state that this act was outright terrorism.

The Vice President first invited the families of Navy officers (including women and children) to the stage, expressing his gratitude and condolences. He then showed the cameras a medal and a list of Navy sailors, reiterating that the sailors on the aircraft carrier were brave patriots. Next, the President addressed the media, reading out the names of a series of countries, including Hungary, and stating that he would impose corresponding sanctions on these countries, including but not limited to raising tariffs, restricting imports and exports, and confiscating overseas assets, until these countries proved their innocence in the attack. More than a thousand sanctions were suddenly added to the list of sanctions against two countries that the United States dislikes most, and it appears that these sanctions may be gradually increased.

Meanwhile, Latvian Regent Viktor von Dum appeared in Serbia. Seemingly in response to the White House's sanctions plan, he made a high-profile claim that the US carrier strike groups were extremely weak, and that destroying three carrier strike groups without using weapons of mass destruction would have taken less than half an hour. He declared that Latvian would share the technology and intelligence obtained from the three nuclear-powered aircraft carriers with any willing country, including not only data stored in military satellites but also behind-the-scenes deals made by many Democratic and Republican politicians.

In addition, there are detailed records of all human experiments conducted by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa, including but not limited to using animals to spread viruses and modifying viral genes to target genetic defects in humans. The table of contents and appendices alone fill several large-capacity hard drives.

"This is not a demonstration, but utter destruction." His voice, transmitted through a vocal cord generator and microphone, reached the world. He declared that Latvia would begin a systematic and planned attack on American communications satellites. "Enjoy your last moments; soon you will live like you did during World War II. Latvia will not care about the threat of nuclear war, because we have the capability to drop nuclear bombs on the heads of anyone who intends to exploit the world and humanity to satisfy their own greed. Wherever you hide, we will drag you out of your safe houses one by one and cut off your heads."

Mycroft Holmes suddenly noticed that the hand holding the phone was trembling slightly.

He was completely unaware of this, neither the White House's decision nor Latvinia's. He quickly realized this was a new era of competition, a contest between overwhelming individual force and weapons of mass destruction, a cataclysmic event that would reshape the world order. Mycroft dared not tell anyone that he knew Salomon or his identity. He even planned to leave the funeral immediately, return home, and destroy all traces of Salomon, believing that if Salomon discovered his identity was exposed, he would likely retaliate immediately.

But he quickly calmed down.

After a few seconds, Mycroft, surrounded by whispers, sat down on the bench and came to his conclusion.

He first quickly assessed Salomon's personal strength, mobility, and resolve, concluding that if Salomon wanted to launch a swift decapitation strike alone, few in the world could stop him. A swift and devastating blow to the conglomerates controlling oil, finance, and high technology would force even the White House to consider the catastrophic economic downturn it would trigger. While the White House, as the conglomerates' representative, would be happy to see its leader die, it also meant the other side had the ability to storm the White House and kill everyone. Scorched earth policies and strategic depth were meaningless, because the opponent was only one person. If either side refused to back down, it meant the complete destruction of America's organizational structure, and no one could guarantee that this organization wouldn't frantically press the missile launch button before its demise, dragging all of humanity down with it.

The White House is currently unaware that Latvia's troop projection capabilities are similar to Asgard's, and is simply treating Latvia's announcement as a joke. Although the other side has demonstrated formidable combat capabilities, the number of US carrier strike groups is far greater than imagined. Following the speech in front of the White House, the Department of Defense received a surge in funding, the military-industrial complex is preparing for the upcoming frenzy, and politicians are ordering their campaign teams to write new speeches, portraying themselves as leaders with a tough stance against terrorism, thereby gaining votes and prestige. Now, nothing can stop these people from making money; they don't care whether the nation still exists.

He recalled a meeting held a few years prior at 10 Downing Street, involving MI5 and MI6, where the topic was how to defend against Asgardian decapitation strikes. The seminar's conclusions were pessimistic. According to S.H.I.E.L.D., the Asgardians possessed the capability for long-range, large-scale precision force projection. If the Asgardians wanted to rule Earth, they wouldn't need to conquer any towns to launch a devastating attack on an entire nation's organizational structure. Moreover, the so-called Rainbow Bridge was likely a planet-destroying weapon. Given the vast technological gap, the best solution was surrender and becoming a vassal state of the Asgardians; only in this way could they preserve their economy and power.

Following this, the seminar focused on how to manage public sentiment after announcing the surrender, how to downplay the economic impact of the tithe on Asgard, how to incite protests against Asgardian rule, and whether the Asgardians were capable of quelling colonial rebellions. The meeting covered a wide range of topics, with various departments offering their opinions. According to Mycroft, other countries had also held similar meetings, most of which were focused on gathering intelligence about Asgard and assessing the "suzerain state's" modus operandi.

Mycroft Holmes's initial idea was to incite people in other countries to storm government buildings and await the Asgardians' reaction. If the Asgardians were willing to wage a massacre to protect their colony (as had happened before, both in Europe and Asgard), then Britain would continue to obediently pay its tithes. If the Asgardians were unable to handle the protests, then Britain could seize the opportunity to become the leader of "human independence," using the pretext of "human independence" to coerce other countries into providing support.

In short, they lack the courage to rebel, but they have a great deal of audacity to use the name of rebellion to make money. These ideas are all good, but they can't be implemented; they remain mere fantasies. According to S.H.I.E.L.D., Heimdall has the ability to see what they are currently doing, and no conspiracy can escape his eyes. The Asgardian army that will be directly deployed afterward is unstoppable, so Mycroft believes that such contingency plans are best left as ideas; the troublesome tasks should be handled by the United States.

Mycroft was quite familiar with the temperament of American bureaucrats: the number of chins they had was inversely proportional to their competence, and directly proportional to their level of stupidity. Perhaps this is a common trait among politicians worldwide; it's quite possible that even if they knew that information, they would remain indifferent, or even more reckless. Ignorance is bliss, and choices made based on reckless, foolish thinking are highly likely to anger that person, leading to devastating consequences.

So far, only a few people have foreseen this, but Mycroft felt he had foreseen the disaster, seeing the world inevitably heading in another direction. He sighed deeply as the elegiac dirge played, pondering how to break the deadlock. He realized that the solutions he could come up with in a short time inevitably contained major flaws, flaws that could very well backfire and trigger another catastrophe. "This is definitely the most complicated funeral I've ever attended," he muttered softly, reluctantly sending a text message on his phone, "I've done what I had to do, don't bother me anymore."

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)