Just like that, the speech ended, and the next round of voting began, this time with a public ballot. In fact, even before the election began, it was already predetermined which civilization would vote for whom, and this part was merely a formality.
But because of Strange's speech, what was originally a very dull process actually turned into something quite thrilling.
Those who were originally scheduled to vote for Strange worried that voting so decisively for the human race might trigger further suspicion from the Three Great Empires, making them think that they were swayed by the chips Strange offered; whereas those who were not supposed to vote for him were worried about offending Strange, fearing that future secret dealings might become more troublesome.
Everyone harbored their own thoughts, and the atmosphere in the conference hall was so lively that it was more than just undercurrents surging below the surface. The election, which had been stagnant for thousands of years, indeed turned into a fierce competition.
During the voting, there were many exchanged glances; during the ballot counting, each vote read out would cause a commotion. Everyone's brains were almost smoking as they tried to decipher what it meant for a civilization to vote for this person, whether Strange accepted the chips, and whether he was considering the Three Great Empires or simply uninterested.
Though the political situation of the cosmos had been a dead calm for thousands of years, many young politicians lacked real electoral experience, yet being able to rise from their own kind to reach this position required wits. Their brains sufficed when it came to thinking, and most understood that the Three Great Empires had already lost once.
Sure enough, when the votes were counted, the faces of the Three Great Empires were extremely grim.
Of course, they had arranged for Strange to win, but not in such a crushing manner. The result showed that Strange's votes outweighed those for the other four combined.
The plan was for Strange to win narrowly, and the person with votes close to his would be placed in a permanent position to specifically oppose him.
Now with Strange's overwhelming victory, not only did the others seem useless, but those who didn't vote for him would start to feel pressured. If the majority hadn't voted for him, he couldn't remember them anyway, and what he did remember couldn't be dealt with collectively as a flaw; but with so few not voting, he could definitely remember them. Though the Council Chairman didn't hold much power, being the Supreme Magician, it wouldn't be hard for him to trouble these few civilizations later.
Sure enough, as soon as the results were announced, some people's faces turned fearful. They began to look for people from the Three Great Empires among the crowd, seeking support and strength from them.
Strange opened his eyes and glanced at the voting results, letting out a cold laugh. He was actually mocking how the Three Great Empires weren't even pretending anymore, desperately wanting everyone to vote for him, then pinning the blame on him.
But to those who didn't vote for him, that laugh was like the whisper of the God of Death. This revenge list was so short that it wouldn't take long to reach them, whether flipping from the front or the back.
However, the Three Great Empires remained silent. Though the result was unexpected, it was still within their control. Having had a bad start today, they needed to quickly regain footing and had no time to bother with the small civilizations.
This increased the pressure on those civilizations. Seeing that the Three Great Empires weren't addressing them, they desperately wanted to make amends. To avoid Strange holding a grudge, they had to find ways to appease him. They hurriedly contacted their kin, thinking they could handle small tasks even if they couldn't manage the big ones.
Thus, when Strange was led to the Councilman's office, he found the office to be quite decent.
The office was a giant oval, with the left side being a work area equipped with a desk and some office machinery; the right side featured a 270-degree panoramic skylight, perfectly showcasing views of the other two planets. The planet's shield shimmered faintly as numerous standard ships traveled back and forth, weaving a beautiful net with their pale blue trails.
More strangely, the anticipated show of force never arrived. The desk was spotless, the machines worked smoothly, the mainframe's voice was loud, and even the hot water in the dispenser was ready.
Strange was truly puzzled—could this be the sugar-coated deception from the Three Great Empires? First, they used seemingly normal, even considerate, arrangements to numb him, and then they would catch him off guard?
While he pondered this, the mainframe beeped and a familiar voice sounded:
"Hello, I'm JARVIS. I just accessed the office surveillance and found three groups came to clean up. From their physical features and genes, they appear to be from three different civilizations. I've sent the names and locations of these civilizations to your desktop."
"JARVIS, what brings you here?" Strange asked in surprise, "How's Wanda? Your little daughter should be due around Christmas, right?"
"Yes, Wanda doesn't plan on delaying it any longer. She can take advantage of the Christmas holiday to rest. I also have three days off at Christmas, and we're planning to vacation on Long Island."
"Not bad." Strange threw himself into the swivel chair behind the desk, putting his feet up, and said, "So you're here to assist me as Councilman, right?"
"Yes, I'm temporarily your electronic private secretary. Considering you're not good at paperwork, I'll handle that part. You just need to sign off."
"Alright then, let's get started. Which documents need signing?"
"Look down to the monitor in front of you, which displays the main content of the documents. There's a smaller monitor to your right, with a pen floating next to it for signing. I'll help you switch content. After a glance, just sign there."
Strange straightened up, looking at the screen on the desk. The text had already been translated into English, but unfortunately, as a typical American, he couldn't fully understand English either.
"My God, what is this?!" Strange couldn't help but say, "What does 'Pan-Huan Star Zone Political Centralized Reform Systemic Work's Coupling Degree Coordination Suggestion' even mean? What on earth is that?"
"If you don't understand it, just sign."
"How can I sign if I don't understand?"
"It's normal not to understand it. Documents written in this way are meant to be incomprehensible."
"But what if I sign without understanding and approve some highly harmful measures?"
"Highly harmful measures won't be written this way. They'll be simplified so that when you don't understand them but sign, it's not on them."
"But if I understood, I wouldn't sign."
"Understanding requires that you read. To my knowledge, your last thirteen predecessors took an average of 0.02 seconds to read a document; frankly, faster than me."
"They basically didn't read it at all!"
"Yes, if the Three Great Empires weren't plotting something, you wouldn't have to read it either. Anyway, any harmful measures would most likely harm them."
"Makes sense." Strange tilted his head, signed the document with a big flourish.