Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1722 The Special Inhuman Race

The expeditionary force's strategic plan was extremely detailed, and several Elidu agents who joined the Brotherhood of the Shield kept meticulous records of Egypt's cultural landscape, geographical location, and climate at the time. Egypt was still in the "Predynastic Period," with Upper Egypt located on the upper Nile River in southern Egypt, serving as the agricultural, population, and cultural center of the Nile River basin, while Lower Egypt occupied the fertile Nile Delta in northern Egypt.

At this time, the Badari civilization of Upper Egypt, a Neolithic period, was still in its early stages, and its people relied on simple agriculture, fishing, and animal husbandry for survival. Eridu's itinerant merchants often sailed their finest small boats along the Mediterranean coast, transporting turquoise from the Sinai Peninsula to the Nile Delta, then upstream to the vicinity of the Badari civilization in Lower Egypt. There, they would exchange the unpolished turquoise for barley, wheat, and lentils, returning along the same route. From there, they would use a series of logistics channels arranged by the emperor to transport the grain to Eridu's various outposts in the Sinai Peninsula.

Compared to transporting grain from the Mesopotamian plain to the Sinai Peninsula and Egypt, this method was clearly more economical. This was also a reluctant move by the emperor; in this new era, he could only trust that the officials in charge of the temple education at each stronghold possessed sufficient loyalty and would not interfere with the expeditionary force's plans.

At this time, Egypt had no concept of a nation, no name "Egypt," and no distinction between Upper and Lower Egypt. The largest administrative unit was simply the proto-nom, a village community. The Cree's main research base was located in a proto-nom in Lower Egypt. In the pre-dynastic period, only agricultural areas had a sufficient population for experimental subjects. The nom, as an administrative unit and territorial division, was a loose community composed of several closely spaced villages. It was only during the pre-dynastic period that these population clusters began to unify, eventually forming the two distinct kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Elidu agents sent some of the human skeletal remains to a local temple for study. By comparing dental features and limb proportions, the Shield's biological research department concluded that this "Nome" was closely related to East African populations, rather than the sub-Saharan Africans commonly believed—in fact, this was only the opinion of no more than twenty people in the Shield's biological department. The biological research department also discovered that some unique human skeletal samples did not possess the tropical physique of the Badari people and did not conform to the spatiotemporal model of biological distance patterns. In other words, these humans were not native to the area, but rather a population plundered by the Kree from other parts of the Earth.

During the Cree's centuries-long experimentation, these humans from other regions interbred and merged with the local population, forming the unique North African race of the Badarian culture in Lower Egypt. Perhaps it is these genes from Southern Europe, North Africa, Western Europe, and South Asia that led to perplexing conclusions in 21st-century genetic testing of Egyptian mummies. This is a crucial piece of information, suggesting that the Badarian "nome," as the Cree's experimental ground, differed significantly from the surrounding "nomes." In a small-scale, agrarian society where survival depended on mutual support, even slight racial differences implied flaws in the Cree's organizational structure, built on slave soldiers and the use of force to suppress the local population. This meant that several villages surrounding the Badarian "nome" could potentially side with the Eriduian expedition.

Before the expeditionary force set off, the temple's traveling merchants arrived in these villages with the emperor's gift—a larger supply of turquoise—and purchased more grain. By sending armed men to support the ruling class of these "nomes," they quietly completed the encirclement of the Kree right under their noses.

The expeditionary force set its sights on one of the "norms" belonging to Eridu. It was close to the Kree's experimental sites, but not too close, and advance scouts and diplomats ensured that news of the expeditionary force's arrival would not leak. Captain Miller did not believe that his main force would encounter resistance from the locals before reaching their destination; the Brotherhood of the Shield believed the Kree were indifferent to human resistance.

In the eyes of the Kree, only the enslaved soldiers—the Inhumans who had undergone bio-engineering—posed a threat. The Kree completely disregarded the potential role of the unarmed locals, and even the Kree headhunters scouting nearby ignored the local natives relaying information between villages. The Kree headhunters were the superiors of the enslaved soldiers and were also responsible for guarding the Inhumans until they underwent bio-psychological modification. According to the special agents' investigation, all bio-psychological modification involved accepting the parasitism of a special enslaved soldier, manipulating their neural circuits to make them obey Kree commands.

In the future, that special slave soldier is called Hive, and is the origin of the Hydra organization's cult.

Captain Miller was the only one in the expeditionary force who knew the truth, yet he couldn't confide in anyone. He had heard the story of Captain America fighting Hydra during World War II, knew about the news of Hydra's downfall of S.H.I.E.L.D., and knew about the US government's secret operation to eliminate Hydra. But until the Emperor told him that Hydra's origins lay in the land before him, he believed that Hydra was merely a terrorist organization originating from the Third Reich, not a secret religious society with pagan beliefs that had lasted for millennia.

"I assure you, the Inhumans that Hydra worships will be destroyed."

When the Emperor arrived in the Gnomes from the Black Desert, where the main force of the expeditionary force was located, Captain Miller's offensive had already begun. The Royal Guard, leading another thousand expeditionary soldiers, had routed several Kree experimental material collection sites in the nearby Gnomes. Captured Kree headhunters were being interrogated and imprisoned after being injected with large doses of tranquilizers, in an effort to extract more intelligence.

Kree headhunters are the lowest-ranking noble unit in the Kree military tradition, originating from the ancient hunting culture of the Kree. This title is often bestowed upon soldiers with exceptional reconnaissance and individual combat abilities. The Kree Empire equips Kree headhunters with light bulletproof armor and monomolecular longswords, allowing them freedom of movement on the front lines to help soldiers break through defenses or decapitate enemy commanders. This is a consistent Kree tactic; almost all Kree headhunters belong to the ancient military nobility, rather than the official Kree military command system.

Although the Kree headhunters wore only light ballistic armor, the expeditionary force's weapons, limited by the production technology of the time, were hardly effective against them. Therefore, every squad tasked with attacking Kree strongholds had to be led by the Guard; no matter how many Kree headhunters were stationed at a stronghold to capture experimental subjects, a single Guardian could annihilate them all. The expeditionary force's primary objective was not to kill the Kree headhunters, but rather to eliminate the mutant slave soldiers with various special abilities.

Within a week, Captain Miller was forced to take over as commander of the main force of the expeditionary force.

The Kree have discovered a way to unlock a portion of humanity's psionic potential. They've used physical mutations to create a large number of slave soldiers, intending to have them conduct a low-intensity combat exercise on Earth first. These slave soldiers' diverse abilities have inflicted considerable casualties on the expeditionary force; compared to the Kree headhunters, the slave soldiers pose a greater threat. If it weren't for the presence of four Guardians in the main force, the expeditionary force would likely have suffered defeat here—as for recording the Inhumans' abilities, that would be a complete waste of time. No two Inhumans possess identical abilities; the soldiers can only roughly estimate their capabilities based on their physical mutations.

This situation was exactly the same as when the Emperor's genetically modified warriors attacked Attilan.

"I've been worried about that particular Inhuman for a long time!"

Captain Miller felt his blood pressure soaring; he had never felt so agitated. The expeditionary force's medics were helpless against some of the wounds inflicted by the Inhumans. They lacked artificial skin for treating extensive burns and other drugs that had only emerged in the 20th century. These things couldn't be produced in this era, and the medics' surgical skills were stuck in the World War I era, unable to minimize casualties. These were the best doctors the Emperor had trained; in an era without refrigeration, these doctors could only practice anatomy on corpses. Now, without sufficient effective drugs, the medics had to resort to psionic healing. The side effects of psionic healing were not a concern for the time being.

Fortunately, this era had not yet been influenced by monotheism, and all magic was linked to deities. Soldiers were not as resistant to the magic of the temple priests. The emperor had inspected the medical camp, so at least the military doctors had enough L-norepinephrine; the temple laboratory's small-scale production could handle it.

"Our casualties here far exceed those at other outposts!" Captain Miller said impatiently. "Your tactics worked; the Kree are starting to tighten their defenses. But all the Inhumans have come here!"

"I believe that Inhuman won't be an obstacle for us," the Emperor gently reassured Captain Miller. "It was my mistake. I killed him in the future, so I failed to value him in this era."

Captain Miller, still furious, demanded, "How did you eliminate him?"

"With a hydrogen bomb, on another planet."

"That guy deserved it. A hydrogen bomb...didn't it kill him too quickly?" Captain Miller sighed, seemingly quite satisfied with the Inhuman commander's fate. "You said Hydra worshipped that Inhuman. So what about Hydra?"

"Don't pry too much into the future; some secrets are not for you to know. You just need to know not to completely trust the propaganda of the entertainment industry. Not all Hydra is our enemy, but not all Hydra is our ally either."

"This confuses me."

"That's irrelevant; Hydra is merely a tool." The Emperor waved his hand, indicating that it was not the right time to discuss Hydra.

"Are you sure there's no way to help those Inhumans break free from their control?" Captain Miller asked. "If we encounter so many terrifying enemies in the upcoming battles, I'll doubt whether the soldiers will have the will to persevere. This is a holy war for them; they believe they are fighting for God and for this world. You can't waste their lives and passion."

The Emperor glanced at him. No one knew when Captain Miller had changed his mind and agreed to let the Emperor use the temple's name to rally the soldiers' fighting spirit. Before that, he had insisted on telling the soldiers the truth: it wasn't demons harming humanity, but aliens. Perhaps Captain Miller realized that, to humanity in this era, there wasn't much difference between aliens and demons. In any case, the soldiers believed they were saving the world and overthrowing a terrifying enemy for future generations.

The emperor's appeal alone is not enough to persuade these men who till the land to leave their families and join the army.

"Only a minority of Inhumans possess combat capabilities, Captain Miller. The Kree do not have the technology to induce psionic genes. That particular Inhuman commander was merely an accidental product of an experiment. I believe they haven't yet summarized the relevant experience, otherwise there wouldn't be only Headhunters in the other outposts."

"Can we carry out a decapitation strike?" Captain Miller said. "Both the Kree and the Inhumans have ignored the role of the local inhabitants. They've even forced the villagers to deliver food to them. Our agents have already figured out the situation at that outpost and the location of the Inhuman commander. I know you'll kill it in the future, but for now, I only ask that this particular Inhuman lose his command capabilities. This won't change history."

"You can't change history. This is history, we just know the truth now."

"Okay, that's a novel perspective."

Once the new tactics were proposed, the Expeditionary Force Staff and the Imperial Guard immediately began calculations.

This outpost was 120 kilometers from the Kree's homeland, "Nome." It would take the main cavalry force of 1,000 men and a logistics and reconnaissance unit of 600 men a full day to reach the designated battle position and establish the outpost with its wooden watchtowers and low walls. If, after a day's march, a small squad led by the Guards were sent to capture that particular Inhuman and break the Kree's mind control over him, this tactic would be worth trying, provided the expedition's elite troops still had sufficient strength after that day's march.

The General Staff had to adjust the entire marching plan. The marching plan of the Eriduian expedition was very similar to that of the Roman Empire, ensuring that the next camp had sufficient defenses and food by the end of the day, and that they could react quickly to any enemy activity along the way. Therefore, the departure time and order were strictly arranged for each day. The commander-in-chief would receive a timetable to ensure that the chain of command would not be too far from the incident site in the event of an emergency.

"Don't get your hopes up too high," the Emperor warned Captain Miller. "Those Inhumans are complete slaves. Even without bio-control, they will still obey their masters' orders. They are not human and will never stand with us against the Kree."

"I know," Captain Miller replied.

"You know what? When the Battle of New York ended, I didn't go straight back to my quarters. Instead, I went to the hospital because I wanted to investigate the true death toll. You know how the US government operates—insurance companies and private hospitals try to get away with anything." The Emperor suddenly brought up another matter, and Captain Miller looked up curiously. "At that time, New York's power hadn't been restored yet. The emergency room was in chaos, filled with wounded people, and the morgue was overflowing with bodies that the cold storage couldn't hold. They mistook me for a doctor from another hospital, so I put on protective gear and started treating the seriously wounded. Before that, I had only received theoretical training; I hadn't attended medical school, had no medical school professors, and had no residency experience. But I did a good job, saving many lives, not with swords and guns, but with scalpels, hemostats, and syringes."

"In the past thirty years, you've never said a word of comfort to me, Your Majesty," Captain Miller asked meaningfully, crossing his arms. "Is anything different today?"

"Call me Salomon, at least for now. Both I and you face new challenges that day." He paused. "No one knows that I wept for the dead that day. But that wasn't all that happened. I couldn't save everyone, even though I knew I could have used magic to save the dying, but I didn't. I watched them die before my eyes."

Captain Miller wanted to say something more, but he found himself unable to utter a single word.

"We have a responsibility to the expeditionary force, but I want you to know why we have a responsibility to it, and why I want you to officially take command of this army—we are here to drive out the invaders, that's why we've assembled this army—I've prepared for this for thirty years, gathering all the steel and food, establishing several logistical routes and a functioning administrative system. The expeditionary force has spent ten years training, patrolling and fighting around Elidu, with people dying almost every year. This is your first time commanding such a large force, even though you have no relevant experience… Don't waste their lives, but as long as you believe your decisions are correct enough, don't worry that their sacrifices have been in vain."

Salomon chuckled self-deprecatingly. "That example isn't quite right, is it? My mentor wanted me to experience the pain of death and compassion, which is why he asked me to conduct that investigation. I did. You can call me a cold-blooded person, I won't object."

"I have a much deeper understanding of your madness than I have in the last thirty years," Captain Miller shrugged. "But the name Salomon sounds like a human being, which puts me at ease. What happened to bring your humanity back to this world?"

It's too long now, the battle will have to wait until the next chapter.