How Nations Around the World Responded

After saying that, Ryan used Teleportation magic and vanished from the spot with Sebas.

Seeing this, Nick Fury instinctively reached out, but his hand grasped only empty air.

"BOSS, what do we do next?"

Coulson wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and asked.

After struggling with the decision for quite a while, Nick said, "Pull out of this house. Remove every surveillance device. Be careful not to disturb anything. I'll report this to the World Security Council. The rest will depend on what the various countries decide. Damn it!"

Nick cursed and walked outside.

The information uncovered during that brief exchange with Ryan alone had left him deeply shaken.

An incredibly powerful body, telekinesis, communications technology beyond Earth's detection capabilities, the ability to open spatial wormholes at will—if all of that had been achieved through technology, then their technological level surpassed Earth's by far more than a hundred and eighty streets. If they truly wanted to do something to Earth, it would be like the modern United States dealing with Stone Age primitives. The result would be nothing but slaughter.

With such an overwhelming gap between them, even if Captain Marvel were summoned back, he had no confidence whatsoever that Earth could escape disaster.

After all, this was different from the Skrulls' invasion twenty years ago. Back then, they had merely faced extraterrestrial refugees, whose threat to Earth had not been as great as imagined. But this time...

Thinking of what Ryan had said before leaving, Nick's expression darkened and shifted.

United States.

White House.

Arguments filled the conference room.

Everyone who had gathered there at this hour was a decision-maker within the United States Government.

The president, vice president, secretary of state, secretary of defense, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation... along with emergency-summoned psychology experts, scientists, and scholars who had conducted special research into the wildly popular works released by Transporter Company.

After watching the recorded footage, everyone began arguing without end.

An alien—one who had been hiding among them, someone they knew and had even interacted with—was actually an alien. If this were not the White House, if the president had not gathered them here in the middle of the night, they would have thought it was some April Fools' joke.

But now, remembering Ryan's words about destroying Earth after he left, everyone felt a chill run through their hearts.

"Gentlemen, after our discussion, we believe that some of what the man in the video said was true, provided that his emotional expressions do not differ too greatly from those of humans."

After a group of psychologists and microexpression experts finished analyzing the footage, they pointed out, one by one, the parts they considered credible, questionable, and likely lies.

"So he really is an emperor?"

Looking at the conclusions provided by the experts before him, Robert, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, frowned.

"Yes, sir. We believe this statement can be trusted."

A psychologist nodded. There might have been doubts elsewhere, but nearly all of them believed this statement was genuine.

"Now that's interesting. Would an emperor of an interstellar empire really have so much free time that he could stay on a planet and casually play around for ten years?"

"And during that time, he was repeatedly assassinated without getting angry, instead using Earth's rules to settle the matter?"

"Honestly, I don't believe it. Just as I don't believe an emperor who holds absolute power could tolerate insults from a group of primitives."

"Though this may sound unpleasant, gentlemen, if their technology truly is as advanced as shown in the video, then we are primitives in their eyes. Even if he integrated himself among us for a while out of curiosity, I doubt he would last more than a year before becoming bored. Even if he truly possessed astonishing patience, would an emperor feel desire for primitives, or even respect some of them as though they were elders?"

"I believe there is absolutely something wrong here!"

The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation took out several documents and handed them to everyone present.

They contained detailed intelligence on Ryan Garcia, including but not limited to how many women he had been involved with, what he did every day, his medical records, an analysis of his personality, and his relationship with Annie and Mocha. This intelligence had been gathered long ago. The Federal Bureau of Investigation had not started watching Ryan recently; it had begun long before.

And it was precisely this intelligence that made Robert, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, utterly refuse to believe that Ryan was some alien emperor. He had to be using some kind of trick!

"You believe something is false here? But this operation was a surprise operation. Ryan Garcia could not possibly have known beforehand that someone would investigate his home, and the footage was all livestreamed. That much is certain."

After looking over the document in his hand, the president set it down and asked calmly.

"I'm not saying there is something wrong with the video. I'm saying there is something wrong with him. He may have been hiding some secret all along. He may even truly be an alien, but I don't believe he is the ruler of the civilization he belongs to, much less that their technological gap with Earth is really that vast."

Robert explained. He had investigated Ryan for quite some time. Unless the facts were laid directly before him, there was no way he would believe Ryan was the emperor of a civilization.

"What do the rest of you think?"

The president tapped the table and asked the others.

There were indeed many suspicious points, but Ryan's method of disappearing at the end, as well as the pressure that had blanketed dozens of kilometers earlier, were not fake.

"I believe we cannot take the risk. It would be best to comply with their demands and hand over those who broke the rules."

"This is a humiliation! The United States will not hand over its own citizens simply because of threats from foreign enemies!"

"Then what are you going to do? Fight the aliens?"

"So what if we fight? The United States military has the ability to ensure its citizens suffer no harm!"

"You're gambling with Earth's very survival!"

"That's still better than being an alien lapdog ready to kneel and lick their boots!"

"..."

"..."

"Enough!"

Watching everyone continue their own grandstanding even at a time like this, the president slammed the table in exhaustion.

"Let's put it to a vote. Do we resist, or do we give them an explanation in accordance with their wishes?"

Sheets of blank paper were distributed to everyone in order.

When the final vote was completed, the president glanced at the tally and revealed an expression of unsurprised resignation.

Almost every vote favored giving them an explanation. Only a few chose resistance.

Seeing this, the president could not be bothered to look any further. He addressed everyone directly. "The result is that giving them an explanation has the majority. Now, let us discuss how we should proceed..."

What happened in the White House also occurred one after another in several other major powers that had received the news. Without exception, every country chose to proceed cautiously.

There were many doubts surrounding this matter. They were not fully convinced of Ryan's identity and still harbored suspicions.

But they could not afford to gamble. Compared to the possibility of Earth's destruction, no one cared about the survival of a few business conglomerates, especially when those conglomerates were American and the losses would also fall upon the United States.

After emergency video conferences, the world's five nuclear powers all raised their military readiness levels without exception. One hidden trump card after another was activated.

At the same time, everyone connected to the plot against Ryan's life and Annie's kidnapping was arrested and imprisoned without exception. The groups they belonged to were also blacklisted. In an instant, several leading international conglomerates found themselves on the brink of collapse.

This caused a massive uproar across the world, sparking endless discussion.