Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1655 Kamar-Taj Obsidian Tower

The Obsidian Tower is one of the tallest buildings in the Immortal City. This tower not only connects to the giant star disk above the dome and the landing pad for sentry drones, but also serves as the headquarters of the Royal Guard in the Immortal City. Through the hidden hydraulic mechanisms and silent gears, a large metal door slowly opened, and the Royal Guards, clad in golden armor, filed in. The room was extremely luxuriously furnished, with gilded black wooden wine cabinets and other furniture, along with magnificent thick carpets, placed throughout. Hundreds of giant smokeless candles burned in heavy crystal chandeliers. The height of the room and the scale of the furniture were perfectly suited to these demigods whose height and weight far exceeded that of ordinary people. This room, and indeed everything in the Obsidian Tower, was prepared for the Royal Guards. Even the servants dedicated to serving the Royal Guards had a dormitory nearby.

The guards, surrounding the round table, removed their helmets, revealing handsome, noble faces sculpted by meticulous genetic engineering. Their genetic origins trace back to numerous ancient civilizations on Earth; the sophisticated genetic science, incomprehensible to ordinary people, endowed them with extraordinary talents, while the wisdom gained from thousands of mind-to-mind infusions allowed them to sit at this round table.

"Is the New Territory a battlefield?"

Supiluliumas, fully armed, sat on a magnificent, high-backed chair carved from white marble, facing a massive round table in the center of the room made of moon marble, also quarried from the Carrara quarry—the same type of marble used in the Pantheon, Marcus Aurelius's Column, Trajan's Triumphal Column, and Michelangelo's David. This was a brief, impromptu meeting where the Praetorian Guards, holding equal authority, exchanged intelligence to ensure the Emperor's safety in the upcoming operation. This meant the Praetorian Guards had to have a comprehensive understanding of the enemy, memorize the terrain, and prepare contingency plans. Learn, analyze, counterattack, and then strike decisively—this was the Praetorian Guard's operational model. The knights were the Emperor's warhammer; the Praetorian Guards were his scalpel.

"This was the Regent's idea, but what are the reasons?" Supiluliumas was the first to question, a question shared by the other members of the Praetorian Guard. "How can we be certain that the New Territory, which has been under constant surveillance by Kamar-Taj and the Immortal City for years, is the battlefield? Strategic planning requires evidence, even the Regent needs evidence," he said. "I demand information sharing within my authority; there must be some information that prompted the Emperor and the Regent to make this judgment."

This is a debate, but not a stage for a contest of rhetoric, argumentation, and the art of public speaking.

If necessary, the Imperial Guards would not hesitate to showcase their debating skills, bringing their eloquent language to its fullest potential. However, this debate was a study group discussion. The Imperial Guard's study group would be divided into affirmative and negative sides, continuously offering opinions until the reasons for an action were sufficiently compelling and the preparations adequate, including the proper arrangement of contingency plans and other details—like polishing a marble slab until the friction coefficient was minimized. The Imperial Guards would focus solely on the facts; no linguistic flaws could hinder their pursuit of the truth. Compared to their demigod-like image with extraordinary physiques in the eyes of the world, the Imperial Guards sitting around the round table resembled scholars and advisors. Their primary role here was to offer suggestions to the Emperor and refine the details of the plan; their weapons were all handled by the servants behind them.

Apart from the Imperial Guards currently on duty protecting the Emperor's safety, all members of the study group are here.

"I agree to share." Constantine nodded in agreement.

"Intelligence indicates that the participants in Project Pegasus in 1995 not only created the hyperspace engine through their research on the Tesseract, but also created the dangerous target Carol Danvers. The entire project also involved the Skrulls and the Kree. However, this cannot be used as a reason to conclude that Project Pegasus's New Territory is the final battlefield. The New Territory has been back in the real universe for several years, and radar signals indicate that its return to the material universe did not trigger any anomalies." Hammurabi Badia shook his head. "Why not wait until NASA's rescue ship, which has been on a journey for six months, arrives at the New Territory, allowing us to investigate the situation before making a decision?"

"We cannot allow mortals to come into contact with a void spacecraft that uses no protective measures and performs hyperspace jumps."

Constantine pressed a button on the holographic projector, displaying several waveforms and scanned images of the New Territory. The spaceship remained silent, like a small asteroid floating in space; the starlight from the center of the Gamma-Star system had become extremely cold by the time it arrived.

"The New Territory is completely silent. The probes we sent there indicate there is no life on board. The fact that the ship returned to the material universe after twenty years strongly suggests that all the crew members perished. Even NASA only sent a rescue ship to recover the technology. NASA is now unable to build the hyperspace engine because the head of Project Pegasus is a disguised Kree. NASA doesn't possess the core manufacturing technology and theoretical physics models, making the New Territory extremely important to the US military. However, you must note a few anomalies."

The Commander of the Guard pointed to a waveform graph and said, "First, the probe detected slight vibrations on the surface of the New Territories spacecraft. All the equipment inside the spacecraft is shut down, so it couldn't possibly be making any noise, nor could it be due to Neptune's gravity affecting the overall structure. This is an endogenous oscillation, and the source is noise. Second, the spacecraft's engine and crew compartments are equally cold; even sunlight couldn't create a temperature difference on the surface. Finally, the New Territories spacecraft remained undamaged by micrometeoroids for a full year, clearly indicating that the spacecraft has protective measures we cannot detect. These phenomena alone are enough to raise our vigilance."

"I agree to conduct a thorough exploration of the New Territory, but even if we set off now, we won't be able to catch up with the Couple rescue ship," Derrick said. "The Neptune-15 probe has already captured images of the Couple rescue ship, indicating that it has reached Neptune's rings and is about to approach the New Territory. In any case, we cannot prevent the crew of the Couple rescue ship from contacting the New Territory, and the crew of the Couple rescue ship will inevitably be exposed to contamination."

"Therefore, we must prepare for the voyage as soon as possible and end all the pollution as quickly as possible. The Stark Industries-made navigation system and low-level artificial intelligence are on board the Stark Industries-made spacecraft. If Stark Industries or NASA sends a command, the spacecraft will return to Earth on its own. We must prevent any pollution from corrupting back to Earth. This is the second priority mission. The Emperor believes that there is something on the New Territory that we must fight with all our might. The challenge He faces is the highest priority mission."

Constantine looked around. The expressions on the faces of every guard showed that they knew the seriousness of the mission, and they were waiting for the commander of the guard to give his opinion and explain why the emperor had to risk going to the New Territory.

"The being behind the veil knew that His Lord was going to protect humanity on Earth and activated the planetary defense system. The New Territory spaceship was the best excuse to lure Him out of Earth. He still had a lot of work to do, and He had to solve this problem, otherwise the other plans simply could not proceed, and He could not leave Earth to go to Asgard to carry out the most important plan."

"The Hlidskjalf (Throne) Project?"

"Project Hlidskjalf (Throne) will affect all of His plans for the future of humanity. Executing this plan means that He must temporarily leave Earth, and the existence of the New Territories destroys this possibility. He cannot leave Earth when there is a deadly threat to the solar system, but Ragnarok will not stop for Him. There is only one chance to execute Project Hlidskjalf (Throne), and He must make a choice."

Amon, who had remained silent all along, frowned, a rare look of worry appearing on his noble face.

"The entity behind the veil is forcing Him to go to the New Territory. The radio signals received by the probe from the New Territory... the analysts went mad after listening to them and even killed their own family. The interrogators of the Immortal City couldn't get any useful information from that mentally unstable analyst. The same thing will happen to NASA analysts. If we question the Malik family, we'll definitely get the same result. I hope to inform the Regent to take relevant measures against NASA to prevent the spread of dangerous memes."

"Agreed." Constantine nodded. "I believe the Malik family will handle the aftermath well."

"Fifteen hours until the Sky Carrier departs." Derrick extended a hand and tapped another document on the holographic projector. Several screens immediately popped up, displaying news reports and regular surveillance reports from intelligence agencies. Tony Stark was undoubtedly the protagonist of this surveillance operation; in fact, surveillance and wiretapping surrounding him had never ceased. The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and even other foreign intelligence agencies hoped to obtain intelligence from Tony Stark, including the intelligence agency of Regent Victor von Dum. "I request an operation; it's necessary for us to speak with the head of Stark Industries on his behalf, even at the risk of being discovered by the US authorities."

"Agreed." Constantine stood up. "I believe Tony Stark would be willing to discuss the New Frontier and the Rescue Couple. We need to obtain more information about those two ships from Stark Industries."

"What if he disagrees?" Derrick asked first. "Intelligence indicates that Tony Stark intends to withdraw from frontline research and development and plans to launch a breeding program."

"You mean, Tony Stark is planning to have a child?" Superuliumas said with a smile. "It seems that even Tony Stark can't escape the instinct to pass on his genes."

(End of this chapter)