"What, for the Cosmic Cube?"
George put down the magical prop he was making and looked surprised upon hearing Charles' report.
Charles used his mental abilities to read the memories of the captured aliens, also knowing the true reason why so many aliens invaded Earth this time.
So he immediately came to report to George.
As one of the core teachers at the Superhuman Academy, he is one of a few who know that George uses the Cosmic Cube as an emergency energy source for the floating islands.
"A $1 billion bounty to retrieve the Cosmic Cube on Earth? Who would do something like that? Could it be the Collector?"
After Charles left, George couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
This incident is one he doesn't have in his memory, at least not in the movies, so he can't know who the mastermind is through past lives.
But according to his knowledge, there are not many who can spend ten billion to put a bounty on something in space, and they are mostly big powers.
Firstly, exclude the New Star Empire and the Kree Empire. If they wanted the Cosmic Cube, they wouldn't choose to put out a bounty; they would just send their fleets to Earth instead.
Secondly, knowing the existence of the Cosmic Cube and knowing where it is on Earth is not many.
So, the first one he thought of was the Universe Collector.
The Universe Collector is very wealthy, even willing to spend forty billion to acquire the Universe Orb, and also has aspirations for the other Infinity Gems. It's not impossible for him to put out a bounty of ten billion to collect the Cosmic Cube.
But after thinking about it, he excluded this possibility.
The Universe Collector has connections with the Realm of the Gods, knows of its existence, and also knows that the Cosmic Cube was placed on Earth by Odin. If he does this, it would be like going against Odin.
Moreover, as one of the longest-lived beings in the universe, he could not possibly be unaware of Ancient One, or that the Master of the Mystic Arts is on Earth.
If he really didn't care about these things, he wouldn't have waited until now.
"Excluding the Collector, there's only one left."
George raised an eyebrow, already guessing who was behind the bounty.
"Thanos!"
According to the development in the movie, at this time, Thanos used Loki to let the Chitauri army invade Earth, thus probing Odin and Ancient One, and obtaining the Cosmic Cube.
But with his arrival, everything has changed.
However, Thanos's desire to obtain the Cosmic Cube is definitely unchanged. It's possible that he spent ten billion on a bounty to let these bounty hunters and scavengers come to Earth to probe and steal the Cosmic Cube at the same time.
"Never mind, just watch and see what happens."
Although he has guessed the main force behind the scenes is Thanos, he doesn't plan to do anything.
He will eliminate as many bounty hunters and scavengers as come. Once everyone knows the danger on Earth, they won't dare to come anymore.
He doesn't even need to lift a finger; the Superhuman Academy can handle it all, so it doesn't affect him at all.
In fact, it's mainly troublesome to find Thanos. Otherwise, he wouldn't mind going to the source right now and solving the problem directly, just killing Thanos without worrying about future invasions.
With his current strength, he has a high chance of victory in fighting against Thanos with only one gem and his fleet.
The universe is vast, and Thanos's fleet moves around constantly; it's not guaranteed to stay on Titan. If he's unlucky, he might not find them for years.
This is too time-consuming. It's better to study magic and wait for them to come. Except if someone can bring him directly to Thanos, then he can consider it.
Mostly, his existence has caused many things to change, and he cannot guarantee that Thanos's strength when invading Earth will be at the time of possessing several Infinity Stones.
If they end up creating a Thanos with the Heart of the Universe, it'll be a big problem.
Over the next few days, the Superhuman Academy, in cooperation with the new S.H.I.E.L.D. and various governments, caught some hidden aliens one after another, capturing complete spacecraft capable of interstellar travel.
Through the interrogation of those aliens, it wasn't long before they learned how to operate those ships.
The world's top scientists began to study those alien weapons and spacecraft, hoping to obtain more advanced technology to detect even more deeply hidden aliens.
Perhaps it's because the invaders, bounty hunters, and scavengers were mostly dealt with, so the later arrivals became more cautious and no longer landed on Earth openly.
George paid no attention to these big events in the eyes of various countries and didn't interfere.
If those scientists really achieve breakthroughs in Earth's technology through research on alien technology, even if it allows Earth to leave its orbit and contact other civilizations, it's not a bad thing.
It's only with a common enemy that people become more united, which has always been the case with humanity.
Knowing alien civilizations and alien wars, humanity's various countries will no longer fight for a little bit of resources on Earth and will instead unite to face the enemy together.
As for the potential dangers of contacting civilizations in the universe.
In reality, he thought that some of the dangers in the universe might not be as great as the internal dangers within this planet that gave birth to countless ancient gods.
Just think about before he guessed that this universe was the one controlled by Blackpool, and this guy, alone, completely ruined the entire universe. How many people in the universe can do that?
Study magic, experiment alchemy, day by day, constantly accumulating strength.
One month after the alien invasion incident, things had completely calmed down outside. That day, the professor initiated a mental transmission to George.
"There have been a few people applying for teaching and security jobs at the school recently, their CVs look good. They're having their first day of interviews today."
"Alright, I'll take a look."
George replied through mental transmission.
George usually doesn't interfere with students entering the school, because after graduation, they may not necessarily stay at the school, they may choose to be ordinary people or join some factions.
Only those who choose to stay at the school after graduation, he will pay extra attention to them, which is to secretly check their memories.
But for every teacher and staff member who enters the school, he definitely needs to get a grasp of their background, as teachers are part of the school's management and can access quite a few secrets of the school.
Those staff members are responsible for many trivial matters related to students' safety.
Actually, Professor X can also do this kind of probing, but he doesn't like doing it when others don't agree, especially if this person might be a future colleague.
So, it's usually handled by him personally.
Moreover, as the principal, how could he possibly not be familiar with the new teachers and employees?
However, when he arrived at the principal's office and saw the material handed over by Professor X, he couldn't help but laugh.
"What is this? A galaxy intelligence team?"
It turned out that through the photo features, abilities, and names in the materials, he recognized that several people were most likely Star-Lord, Gamora, Yondu, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot.
(Chapter ends)
