Chapter 406: Galactic Spy Squad (Second Update)

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"What? They're after the Cosmic Cube?"

George set down the magical artifact he was crafting, his expression turning to one of surprise upon hearing Charles's report.

Charles had used his telepathic abilities to read the memories of the captured aliens, discovering the true reason behind this large-scale alien invasion of Earth.

He had immediately come to report to George.

As one of the core members of the Superpower Academy, Charles was among the few who knew that George used the Cosmic Cube as the emergency energy source for the floating island.

"A billion-credit bounty to retrieve the Cosmic Cube from Earth? Who would go that far? Could it be the Collector?"

After Charles left, George couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

This event wasn't something he recalled—at least not from the movies—so he couldn't rely on his past life memories to determine who was behind it.

However, based on what he knew, there weren't many entities in the universe capable of placing a billion-credit bounty. Only major powers could afford something like that.

First, he ruled out the Nova Empire and the Kree Empire. If they wanted the Cosmic Cube, they wouldn't bother with bounties—they'd just send fleets to Earth directly.

Second, only a few knew of the Cube's existence, and even fewer knew it was on Earth.

So his first guess was the Collector.

The Collector was incredibly wealthy—he was even willing to pay four billion for the Orb—and had always shown interest in the other Infinity Stones. A ten-billion bounty to collect the Cosmic Cube wasn't out of the question.

But after thinking it over, George ruled that out too.

The Collector had ties with Asgard. He was aware of their existence and knew that Odin had placed the Cosmic Cube on Earth. If he moved against it, he would be challenging Odin directly.

Moreover, as one of the oldest beings in the universe, the Collector would undoubtedly know of the Ancient One and the Sorcerer Supreme's presence on Earth.

If he were truly set on obtaining the Cube regardless of those threats, he wouldn't have waited until now.

"Ruling out the Collector, that only leaves one option."

George's brow furrowed as he finally deduced the mastermind behind the bounty.

"Thanos."

According to the movies, at this point in time, Thanos was using Loki to lead the Chitauri army in an invasion of Earth—both to test Odin and the Ancient One, and to seize the Cosmic Cube.

But due to George's presence, everything had changed.

Still, Thanos's desire for the Cube wouldn't have. A billion-credit bounty sent to attract bounty hunters and ravagers to Earth, both to probe its defenses and to capture the Cube, made perfect sense.

"Forget it. I'll just wait and see."

Even though he had guessed that Thanos was behind it, George didn't plan to take any immediate action.

No matter how many bounty hunters and ravagers came, the Superpower Academy could handle them. Once the galaxy realized how dangerous Earth was, they'd naturally stop coming.

He didn't even need to step in personally—the Academy was more than capable—so it wouldn't affect him at all.

In truth, the main issue was that hunting down Thanos would be troublesome. Otherwise, George wouldn't mind heading straight to the source and dealing with Thanos now, which would eliminate any future threat.

With his current strength, taking on Thanos—who only had one Infinity Stone—and his fleet gave George a very high chance of victory.

But the universe was vast, and Thanos's fleet was always on the move. There was no guarantee he'd be sitting idle on Titan. If George got unlucky, it could take years to locate him.

That would be a massive waste of time. He'd rather focus on studying magic and wait for the enemy to come to him.

Unless someone could lead him directly to Thanos, he wouldn't consider making a move.

After all, his very presence had already altered many events, so he couldn't guarantee what Thanos's strength would be when he eventually did come to Earth. If it was just a few Infinity Stones, that would be manageable.

But if Thanos showed up wielding the Heart of the Universe, that would be a real disaster.

In the following days, the Superpower Academy, in cooperation with the new S.H.I.E.L.D. and various world governments, continued to apprehend several more hidden aliens and successfully captured a few fully functional spaceships capable of interstellar travel.

Through interrogation of the captured aliens, they quickly figured out how to operate these alien vessels.

The top scientists from around the world began studying the alien weapons and ships, hoping to acquire more advanced technologies that could help them detect aliens who were even better at hiding.

Perhaps because most of the initial wave of bounty hunters and ravagers had already been dealt with, the ones arriving later became far more cautious, avoiding direct and open landings on Earth.

To George, however, all of this—which was considered monumental by various nations—was of no concern. He neither paid attention to nor interfered with these developments.

If scientists could truly use this opportunity to boost Earth's technology—advancing it to the point where humanity could leave the planet and interact with other civilizations—then that might not be such a bad thing.

After all, having a common enemy tends to unite people, and humans have always been that way.

Now that they were aware of alien civilizations and interstellar warfare, nations were less likely to continue fighting over the limited resources of Earth. Instead, they might band together to face external threats.

As for the potential dangers of interacting with other galactic civilizations?

In truth, George believed that some threats in the universe might still pale in comparison to the dangers lurking within Earth itself—a planet that had given birth to countless Old Gods.

He thought back to his earlier speculation: this universe could very well be the one where Dark Strange existed. And if that guy alone could ruin the entire universe, how many beings across the galaxy could boast the same destructive power?

And so, day after day, George continued researching magic and experimenting with alchemy, steadily building up his strength.

A month after the alien invasion event, peace had fully returned to the outside world. That day, the professor reached out to George with a telepathic message.

"Several people have come to the academy recently to apply for jobs as teachers and security staff. Their files look promising. They're coming to the island for interviews today."

"All right, I'll go take a look."

George responded to the mental message.

He usually didn't concern himself too much with incoming students. After all, students might not remain at the academy after graduation—they could choose to live as ordinary people or join other organizations.

But for those who graduated and stayed at the academy, he would pay closer attention. That meant secretly checking their memories.

However, when it came to teachers and staff, George always did a thorough background check. Teachers were part of the academy's leadership and had access to many of its secrets.

As for the staff, they handled countless tasks and were directly tied to student safety.

Technically, this kind of background check could be done by Professor X as well, but the professor disliked reading people's memories without their consent—especially when it involved potential future colleagues.

So in most cases, George handled it personally.

Besides, as the headmaster, how could he not personally get to know the academy's new teachers and employees?

However, when he arrived at the principal's office and saw the files Professor X handed him, he couldn't help but laugh.

"What is this? The Galactic Spy Squad?"

From the photos, abilities, and names listed in the files, George could already tell with high probability that the applicants were Gamora, Star-Lord, Yondu, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot.

(End of Chapter)