Tony grew increasingly frustrated and, unable to contain his anger any longer, he unleashed a torrent of curses.
It's impossible for Nick Fury alone to have kept an entire alien race hidden on Earth for twenty years without anyone noticing.
This doesn't make any sense at all.
While S.H.I.E.L.D.. is indeed an independent agency, it is still subject to the constraints of the United Nations Council. Such a highly classified project, spanning two decades and kept secret from the entire world, cannot be suppressed by a single head of intelligence.
The only explanation is that the level of secrecy surrounding this matter was exceptionally high.
No wonder he had JARVIS search the entire internet countless times, but never found the slightest Silk of anything.
Looking back now, it makes sense; these kinds of top-secret information would never be entered into any network system.
The entire process is documented using only paper documents, physically isolated, and manually sealed, completely avoiding the internet. Even the most advanced artificial intelligence cannot find anything.
To achieve this, there must be high-ranking government officials involved in protecting, approving, and covering for the perpetrators.
"A bunch of idiots!" Tony said, his voice filled with disgust. "Gambling humanity's fate on their own ambitions, they've been playing with fire from the very beginning!"
As Rhodey listened to his angry outburst, he too felt a surge of anger, yet utterly helpless.
As a high-ranking military officer, he knew these people's style of doing things best.
At this moment, he had only a humble prayer in his heart, hoping that those Skrulls had not yet truly infiltrated the highest levels of the military and political leadership.
Otherwise, everything will truly be beyond repair.
After the two had vented their emotions, Rimuru slowly spoke to comfort them and calm their agitated state.
Don't panic.
"The chaos of large-scale infiltration and replacement of everyone in the original timeline didn't fully erupt until ten years later. It's still early now; they've been lying in wait for twenty years, but the extent of their infiltration is far less dramatic than it will be in the future, and their foundations are still unstable."
If we take action in advance, there's still time to turn things around.
After saying this, the group calmed down and faced the most pressing problem at hand.
There are only two core issues.
First, how to accurately distinguish a disguised Skrulls from countless ordinary people.
Second, how to safely eliminate these lurking individuals without causing major chaos.
They have been entrenched on Earth for nearly twenty years, and their numbers are certainly considerable.
If a large-scale violent purge is carried out directly using force, the commotion will inevitably be enormous.
The Skrulls ' original ultimate plan was to sow discord, create conflict, incite civil Civil War among humans, and then seize the opportunity to reap the benefits and replace them.
If they are driven to the Extremis and become completely desperate, prematurely triggering internal strife, the consequences will be unimaginable.
Once Tony and Rhodey calmed down, they fully realized how complicated the situation was.
To put it bluntly, everything depends on finding the right person first.
But how do we find it? This first step has stumped everyone.
The room was silent for a few seconds. Tony lowered his head and quickly pondered the principle behind it. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he slapped his thigh.
"Got it!"
"No matter how much they imitate or perfectly replicate humans, it's just a disguise of appearance and memory. In essence, their physical structure and genetics are completely different from humans; there are fundamental differences."
By grasping this core difference, we can find a breakthrough.
"I can build a specialized directional detection device."
Tony spoke rapidly and with crystal-clear logic, "No complicated procedures are needed. Just a simple scan and identification will precisely expose these green-skinned people's disguise and reveal their true forms."
"Once we can accurately locate the lurking Skrulls, the subsequent cleanup will be much simpler. It's just a matter of taking some time to handle it steadily, without resorting to radical risks or provoking them to cause trouble."
Rhodey nodded immediately, his eyes brightening slightly.
"This method works."
Rimuru agreed with Tony's idea.
But as soon as he finished explaining the plan, Tony immediately poured cold water on it, frowning and shrugging.
"The idea is good, but there's a major problem now."
"I don't have a single reference material. To build a testing device, you need samples, right? Even a drop of blood or a piece of genetic tissue would do. You can't build it just by having theory."
Without the biological data of the Skrulls, it's all just empty talk.
Rimuru listened calmly.
"That's easy."
"I'll go talk to Nick Fury. He definitely has the samples from back then. I'll have a good talk with him, appealing to his emotions and reasoning with him; he'll definitely cooperate."
Tony and Rhodey exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with the same helplessness and understanding.
Let's talk things out.
Just take that with a grain of salt.
Both of them knew perfectly well that the so-called persuasion was most likely just Rimuru going through the motions.
If Fury knows what's good for him, that'll be fine. But if he dares not cooperate, this little devil will definitely not hesitate to use some tricks to force him to tell the truth.
However, there was no better solution at the moment, so the three of them immediately decided on a division of labor.
Rimuru himself, dealt with Nick Fury, and obtained the Skrulls sample.
Tony stayed in the workshop, focusing on developing the detection device.
Rhodey, who was standing to the side, pointed to himself and asked the question.
"What about me? Should I apply to have the army mobilized to assist in the investigation?"
Tony hesitated for two seconds, then shook his head.
"Just don't cause any trouble."
"The most important thing at this stage is to stabilize the military and maintain internal order, and absolutely prevent them from acting recklessly or taking unnecessary actions."
Upon hearing this, Rhodey gave a bitter smile, his heart heavy.
He understood Tony's concerns better than anyone else.
No one can tell the extent of the infiltration yet; the military may already have Skrulls hidden within its ranks.
If military training is rashly mobilized, it could easily be instigated and exploited by those in the shadows. If it were to escalate into internal strife, then all would be lost.
He wanted to help, but felt constrained at every turn, a sense of powerlessness that made Rhodey feel particularly frustrated.
With everything arranged, Rimuru prepared to set off to find Fury.
Before leaving, he turned to look at Pepper, worried that she might overthink things if she was left alone, and gently comforted her.
You don't need to worry too much.
"In the end, these Skrulls are nothing but sneaky troublemakers, a bunch of insignificant bastards. When it comes to real strength, they're not worth mentioning at all."
"The reason I'm being so cautious is simply to avoid involving ordinary people. Otherwise, all of them combined wouldn't be enough for me to fight with one hand."
Pepper found his confident and composed demeanor somewhat amusing.
She truly believed in Rimuru's strength.
He could easily defeat an overwhelming alien army like the Chitauri, so how could these green-skinned aliens who only know how to imitate and disguise themselves and dare not confront him head-on possibly pose a threat to him?
He was just afraid that Rimuru cause too much trouble and make things uncontrollable.
Before leaving, Rimuru left Pepper a few bodyguards.
The Jazz had already returned to Cybertron, leaving one less layer of protection around him. Rimuru was worried about Pepper's safety, so he left several Ultimate Nullifier robots to guard the area.
With constant close protection and 24-hour vigilance, all potential risks will be eliminated, and no one, including any infiltrator, will be allowed to get even a fraction of a distance from Pepper.
Having arranged all the contingency plans, Rimuru finally felt relieved, turned around, and headed straight for S.H.I.E.L.D..
The remaining three also calmed down and waited for the next move.