These words instantly silenced the already tense meeting room.
The air seemed to freeze instantly.
All the Avengers around them instinctively lowered their breathing; no one dared to speak or move.
Carol, however, was suddenly stunned. Her pupils contracted sharply, and the calm on her face shattered completely, replaced by utter disbelief.
Her first reaction wasn't doubt, but rather, "Impossible, absolutely impossible."
In her many years of understanding of the universe, the Skrulls have always been complete victims.
Their home planet was shattered, their home destroyed, and their people scattered and fled, hunted by the Kree for countless years, living a life of wandering and homelessness.
How could these refugees, who have suffered so much from war and slaughter, possibly secretly infiltrate Earth, devour humanity, and plot to take its place?
Carol didn't believe it at all.
Her brows were furrowed deeply, her long golden hair cascading over her shoulders, her expression both urgent and serious, clearly showing her disapproval.
Are you kidding me?
She looked up and stared directly at Rimuru, her tone resolute, carrying a deep-seated, ingrained belief.
" The Skrulls are space refugees, the victims of invasion and Carnage; they are the victims from beginning to end!"
"Having interacted with them in the universe for so long, I know their customs and habits better than anyone else. They have absolutely no ambition for aggression!"
In Carol's eyes, the whole thing was a complete blunder.
It's highly likely that S.H.I.E.L.D..'s intelligence was flawed, or that a few Skrulls made a mistake that was blown out of proportion and generalized.
She looked at Rimuru, her tone clearly showing disapproval, and even a hint of indignation on behalf of the Skrulls.
"Even if a minority of people do act recklessly or do outrageous things in private, they are just a few scoundrels."
"Why should the faults of a few individuals be attributed to the entire ethnic group?"
"Hundreds of thousands of ordinary people, including the elderly, children, and commoners who just want to live peacefully, are you going to exterminate them all because of the problems of a small group of people?"
"This is not a solution to the crisis; this is extreme Carnage, the most absurd form of racial prejudice!"
Carol found this conclusion completely unacceptable.
In her worldview, the victims are always the weaker party, and the fleeing groups only seek to survive; they would never turn around and devour the Earth that accepted them.
She even subconsciously felt that the young girl in front of her, who looked so young but had such a special aura, was too sensitive and too decisive, and had misjudged the nature of the whole matter.
Tony, Banner, and their group sat around the round table, their expressions growing increasingly complicated.
They assessed the situation and knew that it was neither a misunderstanding nor an isolated incident.
It is a slow replacement plan that is tacitly agreed upon by the entire ethnic group and involves the entire system, like boiling a frog in lukewarm water, silently destroying human civilization.
But they couldn't immediately refute Carol.
From Carol's perspective, her understanding is entirely reasonable.
No one would believe that a refugee race nearly wiped out by hunting would harbor ambitions to overthrow a civilization.
Rimuru met Carol's disbelief and skepticism with composure, showing no sign of anger or urgency to defend himself.
She knew Carol's thoughts all too well.
What I encountered while adrift on another planet were Skrull refugees, displaced and struggling to survive.
What Carol couldn't see was their instinct for survival, hidden beneath their docile exterior.
Rimuru slowly, his voice clear and resonant in the quiet conference room.
Rimuru met Carol's assertive gaze without flinching, his eyes calm to the point of being indifferent.
There was no anger, no excitement, just a simple statement of facts.
I know you sympathize with them.
"I also know that most Skrulls don't intentionally do evil; they just want to survive."
Rimuru doesn't deny this; she didn't intend to stand on a moral high ground and kill indiscriminately, nor was she bloodthirsty.
"But Ms. Carol, you've misunderstood a crucial point."
"Goodwill is conditional, and survival is exclusive."
She raised her eyes, spoke slowly, and each word pierced the heart.
"The existence of the Skrulls is not about refuge, but about replacement."
"They quietly steal human identities, seize human social resources, and crowd out human living space."
"Over time, Earth ceased to be humanity's Earth, and instead became the new home of the Skrulls."
"Humanity will be gradually and completely assimilated, replaced, and extinct; there will not even be wars anymore, and it will eventually disappear silently into history."
"You pity the displaced Skrulls, but who will pity humanity, which is about to be completely replaced?"
Carol was momentarily stunned by the question, speechless for a moment.
She was accustomed to conflicts on a cosmic scale, and to sheltering vulnerable refugees.
But she never considered this issue from the perspective of Earth's fundamental nature and the survival of the human race.
In that instant when she froze, everyone in the room knew exactly what was going on.
Rimuru's logic is cruel.
Cruel, but right.
Nick Fury sat on the sidelines pretending to be dead the whole time, keeping his head buried as low as possible.
He knew best that the root of the problem lay with him; it was he who had brought the Skrulls to Earth and tacitly allowed them to infiltrate.
He was only thinking about taking in refugees and making a good relationship; he never considered the long-term, terrifying consequences of racial replacement and the destruction of civilization.
Now things are really messed up; both sides are in the right, and both sides are in the same boat.
He was the one who felt most embarrassed.
The atmosphere in the round table conference room had become extremely tense.
Everyone lowered their heads and watched silently, no one daring to interrupt.
On one side is Captain Marvel, who returned from outer space, cares for all living beings, and has spent her life protecting vulnerable refugees.
On one side is Rimuru, who holds the reins of everything, sees through the future, and fiercely defends the bottom line of human civilization.
The conflict between the two is not a conflict between good and evil, right and wrong, but a head-on clash between two completely opposite philosophies of survival.
Suppressing her shock, Carol still couldn't agree with this extreme plan. With a determined and stubborn look in her blonde eyes, she spoke first.
There is nothing wrong with any race wanting to survive and continue its lineage.
" The Skrulls lost their home planet, and their people wandered the universe for countless years, slaughtered, hunted, and homeless. Their struggle for the survival of their race is an instinct, an innate quality of all living beings."
Carol looked directly at Rimuru, her tone firm and resolute.
"Just because they are trying to survive and secretly searching for a place to live, they are to be completely slaughtered?"
"Even if they made mistakes, they can be punished, expelled, or supervised. But to purge hundreds of thousands of their clansmen is too cruel and too extreme."
"What crime is it for a weak race to seek survival? Must humanity use its own anxiety about survival to completely exterminate another entire race?"
These words left everyone with mixed feelings.
The truth is real, and so is the kindness.
From the perspective of equality for all beings, Carol is completely right.
It is only natural for refugees to seek survival.
After listening, Rimuru simply shook his head slightly, his eyes calm yet cold.
"I admit you're right."
"A race's desire to survive and continue is not inherently wrong, and is absolutely not wrong."
Rimuru readily agreed with this statement, because it was something that all species were searching for.
But the next second, she abruptly changed her tone, tearing away the veneer of warmth.
"The problem is that resources for survival are limited, and the continuation of civilization is exclusive."
" The Skrulls need to live, to reproduce, and to have a stable homeland."
"Humanity must live, must continue, and must protect its only home planet."
"Out of pity, goodwill, and tolerance, humanity initially accepted them when they had nowhere else to turn."
"Humans gave them a place to stay, a stable living environment, and peace from being hunted down."
Rimuru looked directly at Carol, his tone calm but perfectly clear.
"But their way of repaying human kindness is not through gratitude and sojourn, but through infiltration, replacement, encroachment, and usurpation."
"They did not wage war, nor did they raise weapons; they used the gentlest and most intractable methods to slowly replace human identity, encroach on human society, and squeeze the space for human survival."
"You think they're just trying to survive?"
"But in my eyes, their existence comes at the cost of humanity's slow extinction."
Carol frowned deeply and immediately retorted.
Even if a few people have ambitions, it doesn't represent the whole! Most ordinary Skrulls just want to live a peaceful life; they are innocent!
You're saying they're innocent?
Rimuru asked softly in return.
"They know their race is replacing humans, devouring them, and squeezing the very foundation of the indigenous people's survival."
"They were fully aware of the situation, yet they all tacitly accepted that everyone benefited and enjoyed this secretly acquired, stable life."
Not a single Skrulls stood up to refuse, resist, or withdraw from this replacement plan.
"If a race tacitly agrees to the annexation of another civilization, then the entire race must share the ultimate cost."
She paused, then uttered the most crucial and unsolvable question in this debate.
"Ms. Carol, you have compassion for the survival of other races."
"Then let me ask you this: when the survival of other races depends on the extinction of humanity, shouldn't humanity protect itself?"
"Human beings should have pity on them, accept them, and treat them kindly."
"But goodwill doesn't beget goodwill; it only leads to humanity's slow demise."
"Is it wrong for humanity to be ruthless just once in order to preserve its civilization and the future of its race?"
Carol was momentarily speechless, her chest heaving slightly as she felt a sharp internal struggle.
She admitted that the reality Rimuru described was harsh.
But she still couldn't get over that hurdle in her heart.
"Even if it's about self-preservation, you can expel, isolate, or control people. There's no need to slaughter hundreds of thousands of lives; it's too tragic."
Rimuru nodded slightly, his expression calm.
"It's very cruel."
"Extremely cruel."
"I have never denied the cruelty of this matter from the very beginning."
"You know that the Skrulls ' technology is more advanced than ours. If we drive them away today, who can guarantee that they won't turn around and attack us in the future?"
"I don't enjoy killing, I'm not bloodthirsty, I know better than anyone that this is the cruelest and most inhumane choice."
"But the price of gentleness is humanity's peaceful demise. The price of cruelty is the continuation of human civilization."
If I absolutely had to choose one...
I choose to live.
A deathly silence fell around the round table.
Everyone fell completely silent.
Looking at the frighteningly calm young man before her, Carol realized for the first time.
Rimuru is not extreme, not Coldblood, and does not kill indiscriminately.
She stood on the side of human civilization, abandoning pointless kindness and choosing the most rational and self-preserving cruelty.
There was no winner or loser in this debate.
There are only two truths.
The Skrulls are trying to survive, that's right.
Human beings are seeking survival, and that's perfectly understandable.
It's just a pity that the two races can no longer coexist.