Chapter 263: Earth-shattering Reversal! Thanos Snapped to Protect Earth!

"I thought we were heroes, turns out we're the villains," Gilgamesh said.

"Aren't we the bad guys?" Jin Guo retorted, "We're helping the Celestials expand life in the universe, that's not something bad guys do; only good people do that."

"Sacrificing innocent lives for greater gains is always wrong. We must stop the manifestation of gods," Sesi said.

The screen darkened, and the video ended at this point.

"Miss Sesi is indeed on our human side," after watching the video, Tony Stark finally believed in Sesi.

"Miss Sesi's desire to stop the manifestation of gods is good news, but compared to the bad news of the gods' manifestation, this good news is trivial," Stephen Strange sighed. "Can we really stop the manifestation of gods? Can we really challenge the beings like the Celestials who created the universe?"

"More than humans, Thor and Loki, those two gods, are no different from ants in front of the Celestials," Scott Lang remarked.

"Indeed, compared to Thor, the Celestials who created the universe are even more god-like," Natasha Romanoff said.

"From a macro perspective, the Celestials created the sun, created the galaxy; without them, the world would perish. Preventing their manifestation makes us criminals of the universe," Bruce Banner said after a moment of silence. "But from the human perspective, I can't just stand by and watch the gods manifest."

"Our universe is a constant exchange of energy, an infinite cycle of creation and destruction," Clint Barton shrugged. "What you said makes sense, I can't argue with that."

"Yeah, not only does it make sense, but it also challenges theories like the Big Bang. It's a slap in the face for many experts and scholars," Tony Stark said. "But, like Bruce said, I won't willingly become fodder for birthing new Celestials."

"No one would willingly do that, but how can we stop it?" Scott Lang wondered. "They're the Celestials! The sun above our heads was created by them! The universe we live in was created by them! How can we possibly defeat such an enemy?"

"It's actually quite simple," Loki spoke up.

"Simple?" Nick Fury said, "Give us a plan."

"Wasn't it clear in the video? The Celestials need the energy of numerous intelligent beings to give birth. Earth's population has already reached the requirement. So, as long as we prevent the population from meeting the requirement, isn't that enough?" Loki grinned wickedly, "So, let's cause a genocide! Bring out your most powerful weapons, launch them at the most populous cities! As long as a large number of humans die, the Celestials won't be born, and the manifestation will be prevented."

"Loki, you're so clever, does Odin know about this?" Tony Stark asked.

"I think he probably doesn't. If he did, he would have passed the throne to me," Loki said. "Why don't you give him a call and let him know?"

"No way!" James Rhodes suddenly exclaimed.

"What did you think of?" Tony Stark asked.

"Loki just said that reducing the human population would prevent the manifestation. I suddenly realized, that madman Thanos, with a snap of his fingers, wiped out half of Earth's population. Could it be that this action actually prevented the manifestation?" James Rhodes said.

As Scott Lang said this, an eerie silence fell over the scene.

Isn't that the case? Earth's current population has just reached the requirement. If this population is halved, it definitely won't meet the requirement, isn't this exactly preventing the manifestation?

Ever since everyone knew that Thanos wiped out half of Earth's population, they regarded him as an executioner, a lunatic, and a cancer of the universe, Earth's number one enemy.

But now, it turns out that this number one enemy actually saved Earth?

"Could it be that Thanos' massacre was actually to prevent the manifestation?" after a long while, Scott Lang spoke in disbelief.

"How could that be? That madman Thanos and his theory of universal balance, you've heard of it, right?" Clint Barton immediately said, "As for coincidentally preventing the manifestation, that's just a fluke."

"If it's only about preventing the manifestation, then killing half of Earth's population would suffice. Yet, Thanos swung the blade of annihilation across the entire universe," Peter Quill scoffed at the idea, "Clearly, he's just a lunatic."

"Perhaps it was just a diversion, or rather, a divine diversion," Scott Lang said. "Preventing the manifestation of gods means opposing the Celestials. They created the universe we exist in. Who could possibly stand against them? So, maybe Thanos decided to pretend to be a lunatic, exterminating half the life in the universe to conceal his true purpose!"

"Quill, after this test is over, take Scott to find Thanos on the ship and bring two bottles of whiskey, no, a case of whiskey. The two of them need a good drink," Tony Stark stared at Scott Lang as if he was looking at a fool. "Perhaps after a happy drink with his Earth acquaintance, Thanos will spare Earth."

"Scott's words were just a joke, but they reminded us," Nick Fury said solemnly, "That is, until we find a way to solve the manifestation, maybe we shouldn't stop Thanos."

"What? Don't stop Thanos?" Stephen Strange exclaimed, "Are you crazy? Do you know what you're saying? Thanos wants to kill half of Earth's population, and you're saying not to stop him!"

"But after he killed them, didn't we bring everyone back?" Nick Fury said, "In the video, we didn't know about the manifestation of gods, so we brought everyone back early. But now we know about the manifestation, we know that there's a Celestial baby in Earth that could explode the whole planet at any moment. We can definitely wait until we solve the manifestation before bringing people back."

"If that's the case, why let Thanos snap his fingers?" Peter Quill spoke up, "We can do it ourselves. We already have five Infinity Stones; we're just missing the last one! The Infinity Gauntlet was originally made by the dwarves of Thor's realm. We can have them make another one. So, we can definitely do this ourselves."

"We can do it ourselves?" Natasha Romanoff questioned, "Quill, this is about killing billions of people. Who in human history has ever been the greatest executioner? Are you volunteering for that role?"

"Well, I mean, it's not really being an executioner, right?" Peter Quill said, "After all, they'll be resurrected."

"What if something goes wrong, and they can't be resurrected?" Natasha Romanoff asked.

"Such a thing is impossible," Steve Rogers interjected, "If we were to do that, what would distinguish us from Thanos? Isn't his motive for wielding the blade against the universe also for the greater good?"

"Damn it, how do we deal with this Tyamute?" Tony Stark frowned.

"Deal with Tyamute?" Upon hearing this, Sesi shook her head repeatedly, "No, we can't kill a Celestial."

"Indeed, we can't kill him. If Tyamute dies, Aresym will probably tear Earth apart in anger," Phil Coulson said.

"Even if it's not because of Aresym, we still can't kill Tyamute," Sesi said. "The Celestials aren't some super villains; they are the creators of the universe. If Tyamute is killed and the new Celestials aren't born, then new worlds won't be born either. What about the billions of lives that won't be born due to the absence of new Celestials? We would essentially be killing them. We'd become executioners responsible for killing billions."

"Sorry, Miss, but your logic is off. If they're not born, then how can they die?" Tony Stark retorted.

"For the sake of another world, sacrificing our own world. Forgive me, but I'm not that noble," Stephen Strange said.

"No one wants to sacrifice Earth," Sesi said, "I also don't want harm to come to humans."

"Can't kill Tyamute, and don't want humans to die," Nick Fury said, "Miss Sesi, do you have any good ideas?"

[The third question begins. Please be prepared.]

[During the rescue of Janet van Dyne, also known as the first Wasp, in order to retrieve the stolen laboratory, what was Ant-Man Scott Lang's maximum height while enlarging?]

[A 20 feet]

[B 40 feet]

[C 60 feet]

[D 80 feet]

[Answering this question correctly rewards the user with the Mystic Insect Tornado. Answering incorrectly deducts one year of lifespan.]

"Scott, what's your maximum height when you enlarge now?" Tony Stark asked.

"Probably around 30 feet," Scott Lang replied.

"30 feet?" Clint Barton looked surprised, "Can you really get that big?"

"Yes," Scott Lang shrugged, "I never thought I'd grow this big one day."

"So, when you were at the German airport, you were just 'testing the waters'," Natasha Romanoff commented.

"We roughly know about your timeline involving the rescue of Janet with Hank Pym. It's after the Civil War and before Thanos' snap," Tony Stark said, "Since you got the Ant-Man suit and can now grow up to 30 feet, based on the timeline of rescuing Janet, estimate how tall you could be."

"At least 80 feet," Scott Lang calculated and arrived at the answer.

"An 80-foot giant?" Steve Rogers admired, "You're the real giant here. The Hulk compared to you is just a small bean."

"Why not practice a bit more, grow taller, and match the height of that Celestial? Then you can arm-wrestle with them," Thor suggested.

"I might as well. Depending on you is less reliable than hoping the Celestials change their minds and commit suicide. The success rate of that would be much higher," Scott Lang said.

"So, for this question, I choose D!" Scott Lang made his choice.

[Answer correct! Reward distributed!]

A dense mass of insects appeared on the ground, crawling towards Scott Lang and entering his clothes before disappearing completely.

"Ugh, that's disgusting." Wanda Maximoff looked at it and felt a bit nauseous, "So many bugs crawling on you, isn't it uncomfortable?"

"It's not uncomfortable," Scott Lang said, "Don't underestimate these bugs; they have a significant role."

"I've never seen these before, what kind of bugs are they?" Bruce Banner asked.

"Parasitic bugs," Scott Lang explained, "These aren't bugs from our world; our world originally didn't even have Chakras."

Soon, the video started playing.

At first, it was in a car, with Scott Lang in the driver's seat, Hope van Dyne in the passenger seat, and Hank Pym in the back.

"The energy readings show they haven't used the tunnel yet," Hank Pym said.

"We're running out of time," Hope van Dyne said, "My mom's position is about to change, and we're about to lose her."

"But before that, we have a lot to do. My dad always said, if you want to do something, make a list. We should do that." Scott Lang began listing one by one, "One, we need to break into the lab. Two, we need to drive Foster and Ghost away. Three, we should fight Ghost... that should be part of Two, 2A, fight Ghost, 2A."

"And also, we need to make sure the lab returns to its original size," Scott Lang remembered something and told Hank Pym, "So you can come out."

"Scott!" Hank Pym protested, "I'll go. For us to succeed, you two need to protect the tunnel from the outside. Let me go, Hope, please."

"I think he's right," Scott Lang said.

Hank Pym and the others discussed how to reclaim the lab, while inside the lab, Ava Starr and Bill Foster had already started the lab's activation.

They saw Bill Foster push a lever, clank clank clank, and a large propeller-like part inside the lab started to spin.

But almost immediately after it started spinning, the propeller stopped.

"What's going on?" Ava Starr asked.

"I don't know," Bill Foster admitted sincerely.

Then the two bent down to look, only to find a nest of ants destroying the circuits beneath the control panel. No wonder the lab couldn't start properly when it was just activated.

"They must be nearby," Ava Starr put on her helmet and went outside.

Inside the lab, Bill Foster encountered many ants and was surrounded by them like a pack of dogs.

After using ants to immobilize Bill Foster, Hank Pym began putting on the prepared suits for entering the quantum tunnel.

"I just want to save Ava," Bill Foster, surrounded by the swarm of ants, dared not move. He told Hank Pym, "She's facing death or something even worse, she's terrified."

"After I come back, I'll find a way to help you, I promise," Hank Pym said, "We'll figure something out together."

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[END OF CHAPTER]