"Hello, sir. I'm not sure what you're talking about. This is a human base on Mercury; we are a civilization that has just stepped out from our home planet and are learning how to extract resources from stars,"
"I'm sorry, but we don't have the ability to send you home right now. However, the doors of human friendship will always be open to you."
Shiller stood by the bedside, smiling at Ronan. But Ronan remained unmoved. He turned his head to look at the humans outside the observation room.
One looked quite young, wearing a jacket with cartoon patterns on it, curiously peering in through the observation window.
Another was dressed in uniform, holding a red and blue shield, arguing with another individual wearing a mecha. Several others in research uniforms were comparing data with each other.
Outside the whole ward, everything seemed quite normal. Everyone had their tasks, and communication was fluid. Just looking at this scene, one might have thought they'd been rescued by strangers and taken to a hospital.
But Ronan sat up in bed. He smirked, then said coldly:
"Skrulls, you're always so self-conceited, yet you are unaware of how immense your weaknesses, revealed in your speech, mannerisms and scenario setups, are. This trap is so naive it's laughable."
"You call yourselves humans, yet in the first instant you saw me, you accurately identified my race and even discerned my rank."
"There are many civilizations in the universe that have heard the reputation of the Kree Empire, but most only know a fraction. There's only one race that knows us so well, because we've been in a war for a thousand years, isn't that right, Skrull Empire's dogs?"
Ronan appeared relaxed, showing no signs of weakness. He leaned against the wall behind the bed and said, "This is just the first severe mistake you've made. The second is that you call yourselves 'humans.'"
"Humanity... humanity...", Ronan repeated the name of the race, then began, "Perhaps in more distant parts of universe space, not many have heard of this race, but who in our galaxy hasn't heard of humans?"
"Many cosmic entities originate from Earth, and many powerful cosmic existences have connections with Earth. Interestingly, this is a relatively weak race that hasn't yet managed to leave their home planet. This has become a universal fable in our galaxy, even the most primitive species at the end of the spiral arm have heard this legend."
"Indeed, from your Skrull perspective, how backward could a civilization possibly be if it can't even mine the sun? Isn't it primitive enough to have to build its base on Mercury?"
With a disdainful laugh, Ronan said, "But all of this is just your presumption. Too many historical fragments have been scattered throughout the cosmos after you fled your own galactic system like a stray dog. Therefore, your understanding of history is just conjecture."
"You think that humans, such a weak race, can only construct a base near the sun in this nearest star system, can only develop a life-supporting system that allows ordinary humans to survive, can only use the primitive lanterns hanging from the ceiling for illumination"
"But you are unaware that humans should be a race that hasn't yet stepped out of their home planet, just like the Kree once were. It would take them a long time just to throw a chemical-fueled rocket onto their nearest satellite, let alone construct a base on a planet near the sun."
"The heat of stars does not matter much to you, but to humans it's deadly. A life-support system that can maintain life in extreme high temperature is a basic technology for Skrulls. But for humans, it's something as difficult as reaching the sky."
Seeing Shiller's face darken, Ronan seized the advantage. ".... Not to mention the details you've missed."
"What I'm using is the unscathed officer translation system from Kree Empire. It's translated several thousands of languages used by interstellar societies, including that of humans."
"However, what you don't know is that humans are multi-lingual. Though we have recorded many languages used by humanity, while communicating, members of a multi-lingual civilization tend to use phonetic translations of some words from other languages. After voice changes and modulation, these can't be perfectly translated by the translator."
"Yet, when I was lying here listening to your greetings just now, all the conversations of the people outside the observation room were mistranslated by the translator. There wasn't a single difficult word nor any unique speech indicators."
Ronan shrugged. "What does this mean? It means that the human language you are using is identical to ours, so you don't know any native words."
Ronan shook his head and said, "This is typical of you Skrulls: being hurt by your own wit."
"You want to disguise yourselves as weak humans to lower my guard and win my favor. But who doesn't know that the shape-shifting Skrulls possess a special ability that allows them to disguise themselves as any species in the cosmos?"
"Do you think I would let my guard down?" Ronan looked at Shiller and said, "It would be easier for me to believe that the Skrull Empire has stooped to launching stealth suicide attacks on others' star ports rather than believe that such a weak race of humans traveled all the way to the Kree Empire's star region to rescue me from the ship that was still exploding on an airless planet."
"...Enough, you thief!" Shiller's face grew colder, he squinted his eyes, looking at Ronan and said, "Shut up and stay here quietly."
"Thief, thief, thief ... You've been repeating this word for thousands of years, as though you're simply innocent victims." Ronan's tone sank as he continued to speak:
"The education you've received ensures that you will never understand that your so-called benevolence towards other races is not contributing to the prosperity of the cosmos, but rather, instigating more carnage and genocides."
Ronan interlaced his fingers, lowered his head and said, "The cause of that millennium-long war, you think, was because the Kree stole your technology and bit back."
"But in fact, if you were truly as powerful and kind as you claim to be, you should not have to choose between the Kree and the Cotati."
"You asked us to each build a marvel to judge the potential for civilization development, we built the magnificent Blue City, while they built the Cotati Garden."
"Which of these constructions is truly superior is no longer discernible, but you selected the Cotati as winners not because their garden was more beautiful, but because they chose to flatter you, willingly laid down their weapons and became unarmed gardeners."
"What you chose wasn't a more promising seed of civilization, but the underlings who were more beneficial to you."
"You thought helping the Cotati was to bring more vitality to the cosmos, leading to prosperity, but did you ever consider what they'd do after obtaining weapons more advanced than ours?"
"Would they, like you, shout out their ideals?" Ronan shook his head, "No, they would use the resources and technology you provided to turn upon us, to slaughter us. The more you give, the more Kree will be butchered."
"The Kree are not lambs waiting to be slaughtered. Facing this foreseeable tragic future we must resist with all our might, resist the destruction that's to come."
"Us taking your ships and technology isn't theft or plunder, it's the price you need to pay for your enduring arrogance and ultimately your own destruction."
Shiller looked at Ronan. The people outside the window also stopped their conversations and movements. They all looked at Ronan in silent awe, and Ronan didn't put his eyes on them, he simply said:
"If you're not going to give enough, then don't give at all. All civilizations struggle in the dark, if there is no savior, no one can be blamed, there's no meaning in resentment."
"But if you descend upon them, giving them hope and a brief period of luxurious life, yet unable to truly save them, it will only push them into deeper despair."
Ronan's eyes, under his eyelids, were plunged into deep darkness, "You Skrulls wish to play the benevolent father of the cosmos, but the resources and technology you scatter around recklessly can only raise another pack of wolves like us, and nothing else."
"If you're not truly selfless, if you have to choose between civilizations that you'll help, choosing the one that's more beneficial to you, then all you'd reap is one millennium-long war after another, ultimately you'll be doomed to extinction for not being selfless enough, nor selfish enough."
Shiller was silent for a moment, then he lightly pushed his glasses, and said, "Perhaps, when the Skrull Empire chose to aid Cotati civilization, they were already digging a grave for the Kree."
"Maybe, when faced with the reality that they had to choose between two civilizations, choosing the one beneficial to them and abandoning the other while burying themselves in strategical consideration and profit assessment, your so-called ideals just becomes nothing more than a slogan.
"But then, when you saw the Skrull Empire's flagship crashed into the No.1 Starport of the Kree Empire without any declarations... did you feel a sense of joy?"
Shiller saw that the moment he asked the question, Ronan's fingertips slightly tensed.
"Because such ignoble actions would, finally, end the era of their Mother Star, where ideals were still alive."
"From the moment they instigated the war to display their might, the Skrull Empire as we once knew it, was already dead."
"So, Mr. Ronan..." Shiller looked at Ronan, speaking in an almost muttering tone, "I merely wish to ask you one question..."
"Before this moment, before you can confirm this fact, when you were under the impression that they could still potentially fulfill their ideals, what were you really afraid of?"