After the turmoil surrounding the replacement of the second-tier elites was completely quelled, the entire purge operation finally moved into its final and most challenging phase.
Level 3 clearing target.
This group also comprised the largest number of people, posed the greatest risks, and had the most unsolvable hidden dangers in the entire plan.
The previous high-level executives and industry elites were, in the end, a minority.
With dozens of people at the top level and thousands of elites at the second level, even if problems arise, they are all within a controllable range.
But the third level is not a level at all.
The ordinary Skrull people, scattered across the globe, number in the hundreds of thousands.
They have no power.
No connections.
They do not control any industry resources.
They are the most grassroots and ordinary ethnic groups, clustered together and hidden on the outskirts of cities, in wilderness settlements, and in remote towns.
But there were just too many people.
A scale of hundreds of thousands, on Earth, would be an unavoidable major problem.
Even worse, the rumors had already started to change.
Top military and political officials have vanished without a trace.
Elite figures from all walks of life have undergone drastic personality changes and had their identities quietly replaced.
Even though Fury tried his best to suppress the news and quell the rumors.
Anyone who isn't a fool can sense the impending crisis among these Skrulls at the bottom of society.
The high-ranking members of the clan are gone.
The middle-level backbone is gone.
The entire superstructure of the tribe collapsed completely overnight.
Fear is contagious.
Hundreds of thousands of ordinary Skrulls around the world are now on edge.
They didn't know what humanity was going to do or what would happen next.
But they knew very well that they were being watched, and that something bad was about to happen to their community.
Amidst widespread panic, a large-scale counterattack could erupt at any moment.
Even a rabbit will bite when cornered, let alone hundreds of thousands of Skrulls with their shapeshifting, fighting, and alien physiques.
The choices left to everyone instantly created a vicious cycle.
Prioritize clearing out settlements near cities and densely populated areas?
It can quickly eliminate close-range threats and prevent sudden Riot from harming civilians.
It can be used for large-scale and rapid suppression; the commotion will be impossible to suppress.
Gunfire, suppression, and mass disappearances can instantly ignite the entire internet.
The top-secret purge plan, which has been in preparation for so long, has been completely exposed.
Conversely, should we clear out the remaining areas slowly, discreetly, and piecemeal?
That won't do either.
Giving them a buffer period gives them the opportunity to band together, organize, and stage a collective uprising.
Once hundreds of thousands of people unite their minds and fight back with their lives.
That would lead to simultaneous Riot in multiple locations around the world, and the situation would spiral out of control.
Clean it up quickly, or it will be exposed.
Slow and indecisive action will lead to Riot.
Either way, it's a dead end.
In the command center, Rimuru at the massive number of tiny, globally-spreading dots on the screen, his brow furrowed.
He was just feeling resentful about being made a scapegoat, but now that little bit of resentment has completely disappeared.
All that's left is a real headache.
Steve pursed his lips, remaining silent.
Tony repeatedly swiped the data panel, his fingertips becoming slightly stiff.
Even Rhodey, who had always maintained composure, now had an extremely serious expression.
The trouble doesn't stop at just the exposure and Riot.
In everyone's heart, there is an even more real and suffocating problem.
What to do with hundreds of thousands of corpses?
The first two waves involved several thousand people; they could be easily dismantled, secretly destroyed, or disposed of harmlessly on the spot. S.H.I.E.L.D. means.
It could be hundreds of thousands.
Hundreds of thousands of alien bodies, piled up, would form a mountain.
It cannot be burned out, buried, hidden, or eliminated.
No matter how you do it, it will leave behind a huge amount of traces.
Once discovered by the outside world, it simply cannot be explained.
Conspiracy theories, alien invasion, official secret censorship—all these public opinions will explode in an instant.
The atmosphere remained tense for a full half minute.
After a moment of reflection, everyone turned their heads in unison.
Their focus was precisely on Nick Fury, who was responsible for covering up the whole thing, taking the blame, and cleaning up the mess.
The meaning is obvious.
The blame lies with S.H.I.E.L.D..
You spearheaded this effort.
You've got to figure out what to do about this mess.
Fury was stared at by more than a dozen eyes, and he was instantly paralyzed with fear.
What could he do?
He was helpless too.
The plan was made by everyone together, and the situation is predetermined by the future.
As a result, he created the most difficult mess, and in the end, he was the one who suffered criticism, had to find solutions, and bear the pressure.
Fury silently rubbed his temples, obediently accepting everyone's "judgmental gaze."
It's truly like a mute eating bitter melon—unable to express their suffering.
After a brief silence following the criticism session, Rhodey spoke first, breaking the deadlock in the room.
He climbed his way up from the military system and understands best the operational logic of large-scale purges.
"Now that the top echelons and elites have been completely purged, the net above has been completely broken."
"The remaining lower-ranking clansmen have no power, no influence, and no leadership; frankly, they're just a disorganized mess."
"Or should we just deploy the regular army?"
Everyone immediately looked over.
Rhodey continued to explain his plan.
"Be more decisive and ruthless."
"No need to hide anything, just use full-scale military force to wipe them out."
"It's easier to handle the external reputation as well."
"Or classify it as a comprehensive counter-terrorism operation."
"Either take full responsibility and publicly declare that they have eliminated the remaining Hydra armed forces worldwide."
After these words were spoken, the command room fell completely silent.
No one immediately refuted it, nor did anyone agree.
That makes sense.
Given that the remnants of Hydra have been scattered around the world for years, causing trouble in secret, it is perfectly logical for them to suddenly launch a large-scale purge.
The pretext of counterterrorism is a universal excuse, enough to suppress the doubts of ordinary people.
But everyone knows one thing in their hearts.
The excuse is fine, the problem is the scale.
Normally, operations to eliminate Hydra and counter-terrorism involve sporadic arrests and small-scale sweeps.
The amount involved in the cleanup was in the hundreds of thousands.
This reason is far too crude and forced.
Anyone with a modicum of knowledge, from intelligence circles in various countries, or from military enthusiasts, could immediately tell something was amiss.
Too abnormal, too deliberate, too much of a cover-up.
But then I thought about it again.
In this Extremis where every option is fraught with difficulties, this is actually the only feasible solution.
Everyone fell silent, each caught in a difficult internal struggle.
The room remained silent for a long time.
Rhodey's plan may be rough, but it is indeed the only feasible approach at present.
With a scale of only a few hundred thousand, forcibly applying counter-terrorism or Hydra would be too easy for flaws to be exposed.
Tony shook his head first, breaking the silence.
"No, Hydra can't sustain something this large. Eliminating hundreds of thousands of people at once would arouse suspicion from intelligence agencies worldwide."
Steve chimed in.
"The excuse is too far-fetched. Once it's exposed, public trust will collapse, and the losses will outweigh the gains."
One by one, everyone voiced their opinions, overturning their previous ideas.
It's easy to veto a proposal, but too difficult to come up with a new one.
There are pitfalls no matter which way you look at it, and everyone is stuck in this dead end where they have no choice but to move forward or backward.
Just then, Tony's eyes lit up, and he suddenly thought of a perfect breakthrough.
"Since there isn't a sufficiently large and reasonable case that can implicate countless people."
"Then let's fabricate a major case."