Strange rolled his eyes and left.
Meanwhile, Shiller, who stayed alone in the Councilman's office, awaited the slightly worn-out Supreme Wisdom. Logically speaking, he was an electronic life form, controlling robots, so it wouldn't be noticeable if he seemed worn out. However, it was possible that the cooling modules of this batch of robots weren't designed to handle this situation, as he still emitted a faint scorched smell. It was uncertain how long this new body would last.
"Good morning, Mr. Secretary-General." Shiller stepped forward and shook hands with him, then asked, "How's your health recently?"
Supreme Wisdom tried hard to control the speed of his cooling fan, gnashing his teeth as he said, "Not bad."
"You seem quite busy lately, haven't been to the Councilman's office much, and I think it's a good thing. Everyone should do their part and complete their work, contributing to the Interstellar Society."
Supreme Wisdom genuinely couldn't help it; his cooling module started whirring again. He couldn't help but wonder how Shiller, a carbon-based life form, could utter such cold words.
The twenty trillion that Shiller conjured up nearly exhausted him. He was busy suppressing public opinion on one hand and clarifying facts on the other, but it was all to no avail.
Supreme Wisdom already understood the kind of trap Shiller had set, or at least he thought he did.
Actually, the key to this matter was to make the fate of this gigantic sum unknown. Don't be fooled by Nick egging on Star Lord, and Star Lord consulting with Yondu, leading the Ravager Team to take the blame. But through Yondu's ambiguous response, the issue remained unresolved.
Still, the saying goes: the official denial is always true. When Yondu stood up and claimed he swallowed this sum, even more people Didn't believe it. On the one hand, the Ravagers couldn't provide evidence of spending so much money, as their equipment was always tattered and their living conditions poor. Yondu was a model leader, never indulging in vices, so no one had ever seen him squander wealth, making this claim untenable.
Furthermore, Yondu ambiguously said things, which were what Nick passed on to Star Lord. One moment doubting motives, another trying to drag others down, almost openly saying, "This isn't what I wanted to admit." Everyone is smart; who doesn't understand the subtext?
And through his words, many people became convinced that there was indeed such a sum of money. This matter became more suspenseful, and the secret investigation initiated by the upper echelons further confirmed the existence of this enormous sum.
Unfortunately, this sum was indeed fabricated, regardless of how much it was investigated; it couldn't be traced where it came from or went. But due to the guided thinking, they wouldn't consider the money as digital figures punched out. After all, first the propaganda department minister blew the whistle, then the insiders leaked information, the official denial, and then the interstellar pirates had to take the blame. This sequence is the standard process for real insider tips. How could it be fake?
Since the money truly exists but can't be traced, the only possibility is that the Three Great Empires tampered because only they have the capacity to erase the traces cleanly. So everyone speculated what the Three Great Empires did with this sum.
Anyway, it surely wasn't anything good. Despite their dissatisfaction with the control of the Three Great Empires, they wouldn't be happy if the Empires secretly did something without them.
Although the Three Great Empires have been controlling the Interstellar Society, for stability, they indeed supported some civilizations. Although it was the kind of help akin to drinking poison to quench thirst, they still provided resources.
Many such civilizations would think: You Three Great Empires plan to ditch us and go solo, right? Planning to research some particularly advanced technology but not share it with us. Who are you guarding against?
Anyway, as these things circulated, it wasn't just advanced civilizations that knew about it; the lower civilizations also knew that the Three Great Empires spent a huge sum to create a big project, and since the accounts couldn't be matched, the blame had to fall on the interstellar pirates.
Some civilizations wanted to confront the Three Great Empires, while others were purely worried that this big project might threaten them. But similarly, they all started distancing themselves from the Three Great Empires' camp, feeling no guilt at all.
This was actually a form of psychological guidance. Shiller devised a plan with all elements interconnected, resulting in the Three Great Empires being perceived as the first to make a mistake. All civilizations would feel that it was the Three Great Empires who were dishonest first, started dangerous items first, and it was them being threatened that prompted a counterattack, which was justified self-defense.
This provided other civilizations with great psychological comfort, making them feel like they were on the right side, the just side, while placing the Three Great Empires on the opposing side, the evil side, creating a scenario of stark opposition.
Since they stood on the opposing side of the Three Great Empires, it wasn't a question of whom to ally with, was it? Now the only ones who could rival the Three Great Empires were the Human race. Coincidentally, the current Councilman was human, why not cozy up now?
These people brainwashed themselves: anyway, it was all about cozying up. Cozying up to the Three Great Empires was cozying up, cozying up to the Human race was cozying up, and humans, being carbon-based life forms like most of them, were much better than those robots, making it more comfortable to cozy up.
Thus, at the morning meeting, as Strange entered, everyone stood up in unison, startling him.
"God, What are you guys doing?!" Strange cursed, "What's with the sudden enthusiasm this early morning?"
The Finance Minister immediately ingratiated himself, then said, "Extending our sincerest greetings to you, sir. Did you sleep well last night?"
Strange looked at him like he was looking at a mental patient. What the heck is with this Oxford, England accent?! America's been independent for how many years!
"Oh, please don't listen to this old guy's nonsense. We mean no offense. Just to show our respect for you, we spent the night learning your homeland's language and made a series of adaptive adjustments regarding accents and grammar. What do you think?"
"So your adaptive adjustments mean you've all turned to an English accent?"
"Honestly, we believe this accent and form of expression perfectly suit political work within the interstellar council, with its filler words, subjunctive mood, ambiguous expressions, complex sentence structures, and diverse vocabulary sources being a divine miracle for politics. We have to admit, it's practically a language born for politics! Let's toast to English!"
"Cheers!" everyone cheered.
Strange was dumbfounded. But they had already adapted, and it seemed he didn't have much room to change things. So he could only go to the table and say, "Sit down, let's start the meeting."
"Yes, Supreme Magician."