When Shiller heard that name, he remembered that there was still a significant character in their cosmos yet to appear.
The character of Supreme Evolution in the comics was mighty, capable of manually creating ecosystems in the cosmos, similar to Marvel's version of Doctor Manhattan.
However, as everyone knows, Marvel's settings are one thing, but their portrayal is another. Magneto once said in the comics that he could create a cosmos, but when it came time to face a setback, it still had to be faced, and Supreme Evolution was no exception.
He had few impressive appearances in the comics; he exerted some effort when fighting against Ultron, and another notable instance was when the invincible Swallow Uncle fell again.
Supreme Evolution created a virtual Earth and, within a few minutes, evolved a complete ecosystem on it, only for it to be discovered by Swallow Uncle. The planet devourer attempted to eat it as a tasty little snack but failed, proving Supreme Evolution to be stronger than Galactus.
However, Supreme Evolution was not really an abstract entity of the cosmos; he was originally a human, and a scientist graduated from Oxford University at that. Ostracized by his peers for his experimental theories, he isolated himself to conduct his research and eventually elevated himself, later even creating a knighthood and crafting a planet for his knights.
All in all, this person didn't make many appearances, his power remains uncertain, and he mostly just served as a background figure. If he hadn't shown up all of a sudden, Shiller would have almost forgotten such a person existed.
"Then why did he hire you to do these things?" Shiller asked.
Otter Laira shook her head and said, "I don't know, I'm just a bounty hunter, I get paid to do jobs. I wouldn't know this much if it weren't for a loose-lipped employer. Otherwise, I'd be clueless."
But Rocket Raccoon knew his old lover quite well; he stood with his arms folded, tail swiping at the ground, then said, "You better wise up, Laira. I'm not joking with you. You better come clean while Doctor Shiller still has some patience, otherwise, I can't save you."
Otter then turned back to look at Shiller, but looking left and right, she still couldn't see anything special about this human. At that moment, Rocket Raccoon pressed further, saying, "I think just money alone wouldn't be enough to make you mess with mutants. Did Supreme Evolution tell you something?"
Laira wasn't surprised and, curling her lip, rubbed her cheeks and said, "You know how we were transformed in the first place. Do you honestly believe a robot serving in a psychiatric hospital had the capacity to transform all the pets and small animals into robots? Where did that technology come from, then?"
Rocket Raccoon stepped closer, slightly furrowing his brows and said, "Wasn't it those doctors? They directed the robots to transform us."
"Then where did their technology come from?"
"That's not exactly an advanced technology," Rocket Raccoon said. "Many higher civilizations have experience in transforming living beings."
"Yes, but haven't you noticed how unusually strong we are?" Laira took a couple of steps forward, looking into Rocket Raccoon's eyes, "Over the years, I've traveled almost every corner of the cosmos and never found any transformed being as intelligent and powerful as us. Don't you find that strange?"
Rocket Raccoon lowered his eyelids, gently shook his head, and replied, "It's been so long, what's the point of delving into these matters now?"
"Of course, there's a point. Do you think the group that stormed into the psychiatric hospital was after your little master?"
"Wasn't it?" Mention of Rocket Raccoon's former little master clearly agitated him; he continued, "I told you before, they would definitely come to silence us. We should have prepared earlier, but you…"
"I did deceive you," Laira interjected. "I made you transfer the underlying protocols of that robot which carried the secret treaty into your own body to divert the pursuers and allow me to escape. But I knew they wouldn't catch you."
Rocket Raccoon looked at Laira with a puzzled expression, not to question why she thought so but perplexed as to why she'd brought up the matter.
Shiller, who had been listening by the side, began to piece together the story.
When he first met Rocket Raccoon, he had heard his story. It boiled down that Rocket was once just an ordinary raccoon in the Half-World Insane Asylum, a pet of a little girl named Angelina.
Then one day, a star near the Half-World Insane Asylum exploded, the radiation awakening self-awareness in the robots caring for the patients, who then rebelled and transformed the small animals into mechanical animals to care for the patients instead.
That should have been the end of it, but not long after, the asylum was overwhelmed with failed experimental subjects causing a war, most doctors and patients either dying or escaping. Rocket Raccoon's little master and the doctor who looked after them likely died in this disaster too.
Rocket Raccoon killed one of the robots that transformed them and incorporated its underlying protocols into his own, which were actually related to the Shi'ar Empire's prized M'Kraan Crystal.
Now that Laira had arrived, Shiller finally understood the full scope of the issue. What initially seemed likepliance on Rocket Raccoon's part to integrate the underlying protocols might have actually been deception by Laira, aimed at drawing the pursuers after Rocket Raccoon to allow her to break free.
This was, in essence, setting Rocket Raccoon up for potential death, but from his tone, though slightly resentful
"Maybe, but it's not entirely like that. You should think about where that treaty came from?"
Rocket Raccoon looked at Shiller, remembering when they had analyzed it together. Although the treaty bore the signature of the Shi'ar Empire, as the saying goes, no one doing bad deeds would sign their name on it. It could have been framed by the other two empires.
But at that time, because they discussed it briefly due to the involvement of Crystal, it wasn't explored in detail. Nonetheless, as Laira mentioned it, it seemed she knew some insider information.
"The Scolrue Empire did it." Laira said, "I knew it even before we left the insane asylum. Can you guess how I found out?"
"Since you know the truth, just tell me! Stop making me guess!" Rocket Raccoon became very irritable, obviously having guessed something.
"Doctor Duracar told me," Laira sighed and said, "Your little master has a special identity. Over the years, they have never stopped pursuing her. Half-World has also experienced many disasters because of this, and Doctor Duracar has been secretly protecting her until that insane calamity."
"So?"
"Your little master couldn't possibly escape, she herself, Doctor Duracar, and I knew this. She was doomed, with nowhere to go, but that doesn't mean we have nothing to do."
Rocket turned his head, looking puzzled, he said, "Aren't you going to take revenge on them?"
Laira looked at him.
Well, his enemies were almost all dead. Rocket Raccoon had to admit, the Old Strul Empire didn't even exist anymore. What revenge was there to talk about?
But Laira shook her head and continued, "Seeking revenge on specific people is meaningless now. Too much time has passed, and many of those people died in the coup. However, the political outcomes they left behind must be eradicated."
"You mean..."
"The Cosmic Life Integration Project."
"So it was orchestrated by the Skrulls? But those machines bear the distinct traces of Shi'ar magic..."
Speaking of this, Rocket Raccoon remembered what Shiller had told him, this matter might not be entirely unrelated to the Shi'ar Empire.
As everyone knows, the Three Great Empires all did some shady dealings, conducting sinister experiments in secret, hoping to defeat each other through an arms race.
The insane experimental products that triggered the war after entering the insane asylum might have come from the Shi'ar Empire, but this didn't mean the other two empires hadn't done such things; it was just that Rocket Raccoon hadn't stumbled upon them.
The Cosmic Life Integration Project bore the name of the Shi'ar Empire, but in this case, where framing was possible, it could just as well have been the doing of the other two empires.
How could one frame others for something they hadn't done themselves?
"Okay, I have a few questions," Rocket Raccoon said, "First, was this project created by the Old Skrull Empire?"
Laira nodded and said, "Sort of."
"Okay, why would they do that?" This was the most puzzling question for Rocket Raccoon. He said, "I remember the Old Skrull Empire was a mechanical civilization, right? Why would they want to integrate cosmic life?"
"Don't forget, at that time, their civilization was nearly at its end," Laira said. "During the chaos of the empire's twilight, anything could happen."
Rocket Raccoon was still confused, but Shiller already understood. If the Old Skrull Empire was likened to the Soviet Union, then during that period there definitely would have been a group who were the "All-Negation Party."
Simply put, now that we're dying, it proves that this path is completely unworkable, without any merits, so we should completely overturn it and take the opposite path to succeed.
The former Old Skrull Empire was a purely mechanical civilization, so naturally, when the empire was falling apart, there would be people who felt this path was unworkable and thus moved to another extreme.
Like the Soviet Union, which, finding its independent system unworkable, wanted to completely westernize and join Europe.
Shiller explained this simply to Rocket Raccoon, and he understood. He looked at Laira and said, "So you and Doctor Duracar, both of you knew about this?"
Laira nodded and said, "Actually, your little master knows too, but she just doesn't want to get involved."
Rocket Raccoon didn't know what to say. The Old Skrull Empire should have been his little master's enemies since they had overthrown the nobility era, but seeing their final fate, his little master didn't seem pleased either.
The group that created the Old Skrull Empire, if they were such perverts and lunatics from the beginning, how could they possibly have overthrown noble rule to establish a new era?
In other words, if the nobility had once been indulgent, evil-doing characters themselves, how could they have become nobles to begin with?