The control room, which was bustling with people just moments ago, was now left in shambles, with various sizes of bloody footprints gradually turning black over time.
"Come here, Tanis, use this time to teach me Kree language," Su Ming sat by the long table below the throne, fiddling with the terminal panel.
Tanis looked at him, reluctantly walking over, "You've driven everyone crazy, and now you're in the mood to learn a language?"
"If someone teaches me, I'll learn a language much faster." Su Ming nonchalantly kicked a chair over to her.
"It's not about speed..." Although Tanis sat down, she still looked down at the child in her arms, a hesitant expression on her face.
Su Ming tapped the table, his helmet retracting from his face, "You're thinking about your husband, who rushed to help me capture someone without even saying a word to you, right?"
"I'm fine, it's just that he didn't even hold the child." Tanis sighed slowly.
"That's reality. From a human perspective, he's a competent politician; you're not." Su Ming crossed his arms, looking at Hel, who seemed to be asleep on the other side of the room, "And I think now is not the time for you to deal with emotional issues."
Hel was half-dead, she didn't really need to sleep, she was just too lazy to open her eyes.
But come to think of it, the Netherworld was always dark, apart from a few flashes of green lightning, there was nothing interesting. Over the years, what else could she do but pretend to sleep?
"Alright, how should I teach you?" Tanis silently nodded, accepting her fate and changing the topic.
"Do you have anything like a dictionary? Let's start with pronunciation."
............
The infants were soon returned, and Su Ming signaled Tanis to count them. However, many of the infants were taken from their mothers' wombs, so the numbers definitely wouldn't match.
She could only rely on her intuition, feeling that there were more rather than fewer, and nodded to Deathstroke.
Su Ming promptly handed over a crystal to the former Speaker's subordinates.
The crystal, like a prism, spun in the air and fell into the hands of the Inhumans' small leader, followed by a deep voice.
"Wish the Speaker a safe journey for me."
The subordinate who came to trade infants was startled; how did Deathstroke know the Speaker planned to leave now? The Speaker had previously said he would help capture people, which the other Elders obviously believed.
But after getting away from there, the Speaker called his subordinates to issue orders, trading the crystals immediately, then retreating.
Staying here too long could easily lead to complications; Deathstroke was one thing, but the Kree fleet was also a threat. If they got detained here, wouldn't they be buried with Atlan?
So if they were to run, they needed to run quickly. What was said before was just a blinding technique, to trap the other Elders in pointless competition, thus buying time for their own faction.
Yet Deathstroke saw through them; are humans really so terrifying?
Also having blue skin, but looking like a troll, the Inhumans stored the crystal, shaking their head continuously, "I don't know what you're talking about, we are busy searching for your people."
Su Ming didn't lift his eyes from the projected dictionary; he let out a short chuckle, as if he heard a joke, casually waving his hand.
"Well, good luck with that."
The people immediately flooded out of the room.
The infants were all placed in pods that resembled pea pods, and by pressing a few buttons, these pods could float, following the caregiver's movements.
Tanis checked the data on these infant pods one by one. Based on her experience, it's an optimistic estimate that half of them would survive.
She let the pods float up, first securing them to one wall of the control room, to be handled after things concluded.
Although she was the head of the infant nurturing center, she was more like a foreman, responsible for managing slaves and low-tier personnel. She wasn't a doctor and couldn't save these children, and Deathstroke clearly wouldn't let her leave.
Even though he claimed to be on the side of Westmark, holding hostages was still a must. Though he never said it, she knew that she and the children were indeed hostages.
In truth, Su Ming never even considered the issue of hostages. When dealing with rational opponents, it was enough to grasp their human nature; hostages weren't necessary.
"How could you let him go? He's killed so many people." Though she understood in her heart, she couldn't help but complain.
"If I go back on my word, how will others trust me? I said I'd let them leave, so let them leave, and I don't care if they flee to any corner of the cosmos."
The tentacle of Strangulation nudged the terminal, and the images floating in the air paged rapidly; Su Ming's eyes stayed on the bizarre symbols, never looking at Tanis.
"But..." Tanis frowned.
"Shut up, you foolish woman." Hel on the sofa suddenly spoke up, still with her eyes closed, slightly turning her body: "They're doomed."
Su Ming chuckled noncommittally.
When the former Speaker left, he would take followers, technological data, food, water, building materials, and other necessities.
Only this way, if they found a place to settle in the future, they could continue to survive.
But needing to move these items wasn't something a few with flying abilities could accomplish; after all, Marvel didn't originally have any storage space-like tools. Wanting to escape in the cosmos, they surely needed a starship.
From the underground transport boats at Atlan, it's clear that Atlan didn't have the ability to manufacture large anti-gravity tools, let alone starships. Otherwise, their transport boats could have been made larger, rather than having several small transport boats run side by side in tunnels, which was just a last resort.
In other words, the former speaker would escape with a large number of small ships.
Su Ming had said that if they fled to any corner of the cosmos, he would not care anymore.
This was actually a mental suggestion, directing them to choose the cosmos as their escape route rather than Earth.
What might be in the cosmos now, Su Ming couldn't say for sure, but it was certain that the Kree's visitor fleet was constantly watching Atlan.
And if some small ships were to fly out of Atlan, looking as if they were trying to escape into space, what would happen?
Atlan would definitely still be under surveillance, and the Kree's perception would be that the smaller the ship, the fewer the people. When comparing Atlan as the watermelon and the small fleet as the sesame, the result is self-evident.
The Kree would choose to eliminate the small fleet as a deterrent to Atlan, telling the Inhumans that escape is a dead end, thereby compelling more people to choose surrender.
This is the Kree style; they love showing off their muscles the most.
After the show of force, they would continue to monitor Atlan's reaction, and at least until the other factions wipe out the Kree-supported surrender faction, Atlan would remain safe.
As for the former speaker and his group being killed by the Kree, what does that have to do with Deathstroke?
He could deal with hidden dangers and destroy some crystals in the cosmos without exerting any effort, just continue learning the language.
Tanis didn't understand, and Su Ming wouldn't explain it to her, but Hel, being befitting the Netherworld Goddess, had a higher perspective on the situation and actually saw through his strategy.
No, she even had her eyes closed, very relaxed in her demeanor.
Time ticked by, and after learning the Kree language, Su Ming was able to grasp the simple words and phrases. The terminals were mostly foolproof, and he quickly moved to the main control panel, manipulating various city facilities on different devices.
First, he restored the energy supply to the underground power-cut areas, then restored the surveillance equipment on the ground.
As his fingers danced across the terminal, the walls of the central control room lit up, much like a computer desktop, splitting into small images that could be accessed at will, transmitting the surface conditions here.
Coinciding with his anticipated timing, almost as soon as he directed the camera towards the landing pad area, he saw dozens of medium-sized ships successively lift off.
The acceleration was so rapid that they vanished into the sky almost instantly, leaving a cloud of water vapor in their wake on the ground.
Su Ming redirected the camera to the sky, where faint flames and light lines were visible, clear enough in the night.
They were already breaking through the atmosphere at high speed; probably the speaker was in a good mood by now? As long as they escaped the gravitational pull of Earth and the Moon, they could initiate the jump if they had the technology, and truly be free.
Tanis too observed the scene in the holographic projection, biting her lip hard, wondering if these murderers would just leave like this.
But after being berated by Hel, she was very afraid and didn't dare to say anything.
Soon after, as the flames dimmed, and they entered Earth's synchronous orbit, both of them saw a meteor shower.
A large cluster of lights in various colors collided directly with this small fleet, followed by small sparks, like the furthest stars flashing once in the night sky.
"The Kree killed them, you testify for me." Su Ming instructed Tanis calmly.
"I..." Tanis opened her mouth, her expression both fearful and joyful, so much so that she couldn't speak.
Su Ming didn't wait for her answer, proceeding to manipulate the terminal to call up the Solar System star map.
The Kree fleet used an energy weapon similar to a laser; the trajectory of the attack was almost a straight line.
By firing, they essentially revealed their location; Su Ming only needed to trace back along these rays to find the Kree fleet.
After analyzing the angle of attack through the terminal, Su Ming calculated further, drawing a long ray on the galactic coordinate map; if necessary, he might chase beyond the Solar System, as the range of the Kree's attack was uncertain.
He stood up, fitting the mask over his face: "Hel, I'm going out for a while. If someone captures the person I want, help me detain them, it's a space ability user."
"Such a hassle, can't I just kill them?" Hel rubbed her eyes and propped her head up.
"I need them, can't kill." Su Ming floated up, the weapon in his hand flowing: "Just touch him lightly, so he can't resist."
As the Netherworld Goddess, Hel's touch could directly strip away a human's soul, if she chose to do so.
If not for Strangulation acting as a cushion, Su Ming wouldn't dare get so close to Hel last time.
Even though she seldom used this ability, after all, Earth's souls belong to Mephisto, her intervention almost guarantees war, but occasionally swallowing one or two might not be a problem.
Moreover, it seems the Inhumans' souls do not belong to any Hell Lord, likely being directly controlled by 'Death'.
But even if not intending to seize souls, Hel's netherworld touch still holds tremendous deterrent power over souls, almost freezing one's soul, halting thoughts.
This essentially frightens the mind into a short circuit, and the injection of netherworld Qi into a living body causes substantial psychological trauma, the cold anomaly inciting a natural fear response.
Since Inhumans evolved from primal humans, they would be similarly affected.
Hearing Deathstroke's words, Hel reluctantly nodded, feeling like Deathstroke seemed to know everything about her, leaving her heart exhausted...
Su Ming shrugged at her, the Magic Floating Cloak taking him swiftly out the door.