Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 885 Heinous Crimes (First Update)

Lorna and Salomon's argument lasted less than twenty seconds.

Even if the girl harbored deep resentment towards Salomon's brutal methods, she had to admit that Athena's approval of her brother's actions must have had its reasons. She was accustomed to listening to the wisdom of others, a habit ingrained from living among far-sighted sages. Her so-called dissatisfaction stemmed merely from her belief that Salomon's methods could have been gentler, not from the fact that her current living environment suppressed little Lorna's nature, preventing her from even having rebellious thoughts.

There are two main reasons for this.

First, Salomon's logic is also very clear.

Rejecting the Inhumans' value as slaves while elevating their dignity and treating them as a respectable race before taking hostile measures is far better than some people demanding sacrifices from them while simultaneously discriminating against them. Given that Coulson's team has recently resumed operations under the S.H.I.E.L.D. name, the issue of attitudes towards superhumans and their social status will inevitably come to the forefront sooner or later. Whether a group possesses dignity or not is a matter of two different states; she could find relevant examples in human society during her studies, using this as a basis for her school assignment on "racial discrimination." Much of the report's content reflected ideas Salomon had instilled in the orphanage children.

That's why Salomon went to pick up little Lorna from school that time.

While her report was truthful, it didn't align with the mainstream political correctness of Europe and America, making it unacceptable to both the left and right wings. Salomon, acting on behalf of her parents, negotiated with the teachers at the private high school. Although few knew the details of the negotiation (argument), little Lorna walked out of the school gate with her chin held high, and heart-wrenching sobs could still be heard from behind the office. Ever since the teacher who rejected the report was driven to madness and resigned by Salomon's rejection, no teacher dared to reject little Lorna's extracurricular reports—at least, that's what little Lorna thought. But the truth was that Salomon secretly invested a large sum of money in the school board afterward; otherwise, his sophistry and speeches wouldn't have been able to protect little Lorna from public criticism in the heavily politically correct atmosphere of the private school. She still had to go to university; being accused of political leanings now could easily lead to rejection by American universities with opposing political views.

Given the philosophy instilled by Salomon, it is virtually impossible for Lorna to be admitted to any Ivy League school in the United States.

Secondly, Athena's educational methods were quite enlightened.

She would tell her child all the possible outcomes of a situation and offer her advice, after which she would let the child make the choice they wanted. Even if the child refused her advice and things didn't go as planned, Athena wouldn't criticize them afterwards; instead, she would offer further advice to help them minimize the damage. This wasn't due to a repressive environment, but because under Athena's parenting style, even teenagers didn't rebel. After all, the child knew from the beginning that all possibilities and outcomes were their own choices, and they couldn't blame anyone else—for example, when little Lorna wanted to get a tattoo, Athena would tell her that with her current allowance, she couldn't afford to hire a good artist to create a beautiful design. Furthermore, tattoos would deform as the body grows; if she wanted to run around with a large, severely deformed patch of color in the future, then she could do whatever she wanted.

"I want a rose tattooed on my ankle," little Lorna told Salomon. She still seemed determined to get a tattoo. "I want you to paint a Baroque-style rose for me; I remember you're best at that style."

"As long as it's not cloyingly Rococo, it'll be fine. I'll go sketch out a draft in a bit, I guarantee you'll be satisfied." Salomon chuckled and patted her head. "Go on in, you still have a workbook to finish!"

"Are you staying for dinner this time? Or do you have something to kill?" Little Lorna wrinkled her cute little nose, seemingly trying to sniff out a lie from Salomon. "I have a feeling you're behind the two recent mass murders in New York. I can tell from your expression, don't try to lie to me. What's your reason for doing so?"

Salomon's educational philosophy mirrored Athena's; he didn't mind explaining his ideas to those he was instilling them with. After all, any theory or behavior needs to be discussed, otherwise it simply doesn't hold water, and he always believed his theories were sound. The Kamar-Taj education he received, based entirely on survival, the continuation of the race, and the free will of humanity, stripped away all the emotional elements of human society, revealing the most simplistic thoughts, the most bloody lessons, and the most absolute rationality. Like a cold, hard chain of logic—like a razor-sharp obsidian dagger—it would never err. Once he activated this chain of logic in his mind, you would never see much compassion or humanity in Salomon, because a beast driven solely by survival lacks humanity—a fact he had to accept.

Nevertheless, he hoped that his efforts would inspire others to have humanity.

Aside from that, he is very easy to get along with, a fact that all ordinary people who do not know his true identity can attest to.

"Just an out-of-control magical black market and drug cartels occupying the territory of extradimensional creatures," Salomon shrugged casually. He deeply understood the core principles of Kamar-Taj and spared no effort in teaching them to every potential follower. "If you encounter those people, you must kill them too. That is our mission."

Even as Salomon uttered these words, the killings carried out in his name were still ongoing.

While Sofia and Tita methodically carried out their recruitment plans, they each led their teams out of the Immortal City for training. This was long-term, combat-oriented training, primarily to prepare for the next war. Salomon had already told everyone that the next war would be far more brutal than the Battle of Finnbowent, whose costs were negligible in comparison. Under this pressure, an incredibly arduous and brutal training program began—Salomon had already prepared opponents for them, so well-equipped combat squads would occasionally appear on the Middle Eastern battlefield, sweeping across the battlefield with the goal of eliminating all militants, regardless of faction. Equipped with extremely advanced anti-aircraft weapons and the mobility of assault transport boats, the air superiority of the Western powers was effectively neutralized, and the war was pulled back to the ground battlefield, where soldiers' skills were most crucially tested.

Fortunately, the Immortal City has not always appeared in one place, so it has not been besieged so far.

After the soldiers of the Immortal City won the war, military clerks from the Ministry of the Interior would come to this shattered land to collect children of school age and bring them back to the invisible sky carriers for initial resettlement. Once a certain number of children had been collected, the sky carriers would return to the Immortal City, where the hospitals and schools established in advance by the Ministry of the Interior would treat and educate the children. Hydra's educational methods would erase religious beliefs from the children's minds and instill Salomon's ideas of "humanity's destiny to rule the galaxy," "science is truth," and "loyalty." Salomon entrusted this important task of building the future backbone of the Immortal City entirely to Stephanie Malik. The Wakandans were completely unsure how to judge this behavior. Even Princess Shuri could only reluctantly acknowledge the legitimacy of Salomon's actions, but she still persistently protested to Salomon, demanding that his educational methods be gentler and that the children be given a path to pursue their dreams.

Salomon ignored her protests.

Because those children's dreams were safety and food, Salomon had given them everything they wanted most, and even things they dared not hope for.

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(End of this chapter)