Star-Lord started thinking again, but his brain really was not up to the task. After pondering for ages without figuring anything out, he could only look eagerly at Nick.
Nick pursed his lips and said, "That much money couldn't have been spent overnight. If they spent it all in one go, it might even impact the currency market. It had to have accumulated bit by bit over many years..."
A spark suddenly flashed through Star-Lord's mind. He said, "The day before yesterday, Rocket bought a part on the black market. He told me it cost three hundred. But I looked it up on the Web, and it only cost one eighty. Later, he told me he'd actually used the money to buy a gift for that otter! Honestly, I'm not that unreasonable. If he wanted to buy his girlfriend a gift, he could've just said so. Would I really have refused to give him the money?"
Then his eyes rolled as he added, "So the Interstellar Council might have done the same thing. They bought a lot of things at prices far above their actual value, submitted the expenses at those inflated prices, racked up huge debts, and when they couldn't pay them back, claimed the money had gone to fund space pirates."
Nick sighed. Star-Lord's brain really was not enough. He said, "What you described is indeed one form of embezzlement, but that wasn't what happened this time. Forget it, I'll be direct."
So he explained the Interstellar Council's overspending and borrowing to Star-Lord. Star-Lord obviously did not fully understand, but he grasped the most important point. He said, "They don't have the money to repay it, and the Three Great Empires don't want them to repay it. So why don't they just work it out together and wipe