However, those were not what Ellis was worried about.
What he truly wanted right now was to round up those bastards and beat them senseless.
According to the intelligence he had received, those cowardly politicians—who never dared to step forward when things actually mattered—had already begun lobbying members of both houses of Congress.
What were they trying to do?
The answer was obvious.
They wanted to push through that special bill.
And judging by the current situation, the chances of success were extremely high.
After all, the timing, the circumstances, and the public sentiment were all perfectly aligned.
Timing: A series of major global crises had occurred.
Circumstances: New York had been completely destroyed.
Public sentiment: Lucas had defeated the Skrull god.
Everything was already in place.
All that remained was for Congress to vote.
If the bill passed, Ellis suspected that unless his health suddenly failed—or he voluntarily resigned—he might remain in his current position for a very long time.
Of course, holding power wasn't as simple as it sounded.
Everyone knew that America's political system operated under the separation of powers.
Ellis only controlled the executive branch and military authority.
Congress handled legislation and kept watch over the White House.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court simply acted as a referee whenever the other two branches clashed.
Because of that, Ellis's job as president was often far from comfortable.
Sometimes he even felt like little more than a ceremonial mascot.
Or worse—just a middleman between the U.S. government and Lucas.
Still, he was the President of the United States.
And as someone who had built his entire career in politics, he simply couldn't bring himself to walk away from that position.
So he could only swallow his frustrations and endure them silently.
---
"I understand. You may return to your duties."
Ellis waved his subordinate away.
After thinking for a moment, he decided to call Lucas's private number.
---
"Ellis?"
A virtual screen appeared before him, and Lucas's face showed up on it.
"Lucas, are you alright?" Ellis asked quickly, his voice filled with concern.
"I'm fine," Lucas replied with a laugh.
"That Skrull god wasn't strong enough to seriously hurt me."
"That's good to hear."
Ellis finally relaxed.
"Thank you for stepping in. Earth is facing more and more threats lately. In many cases, conventional weapons and military forces simply aren't enough anymore."
Then he asked cautiously:
"By the way… what happened to those one million Skrulls you captured earlier?"
Ellis was clearly concerned.
After all, they were still over a million extraterrestrials.
And he also had a small ulterior motive in asking.
Lucas immediately noticed the intent behind the question.
Smiling faintly, he replied,
"Don't worry. Those Skrulls will never get another chance to threaten Earth again."
Ellis paused.
Inside his mind, he thought:
'It seems Lucas must have eliminated them all.'
But the truth was different.
Lucas had not killed those one million Skrulls.
Instead, after screening them carefully, he kept a portion of the top Skrull scientists.
Those scientists were extremely valuable.
After all, the Skrull civilization had once been a galactic empire.
Their technological knowledge far surpassed that of most human scientists.
Lucas was confident that with their help, Saiyan Corporation would soon develop many groundbreaking technologies.
As for the risk of them rebelling or refusing to cooperate—
Lucas had already taken precautions.
He deliberately kept their family members, partners, and children.
Only those who could be effectively controlled were kept.
The rest were sent to Asgard.
According to his earlier agreement with Hela, some Skrulls would be selected to remain in Asgard.
The rest would be sold on the cosmic market.
The descendants of the former Skrull Empire were highly valuable in that market.
Not only for their technological knowledge—
But also for their shape-shifting ability, which many galactic factions desired.
Previously, because a Skrull god protected them, most forces had not dared to touch them.
But now things were different.
When those Skrulls were sold, Lucas would receive a huge amount of universal cosmic currency.
That currency could be used for many purposes:
Purchasing intelligence
Acquiring advanced technologies
Buying slaves or specialists
It was extremely useful in the broader galactic market.
---
After hearing Lucas's answer, Ellis didn't think much more about it.
As long as the Skrulls wouldn't threaten Earth again, that was enough.
He bowed slightly and said sincerely,
"Lucas, please don't think this is unnecessary. Once again, on behalf of the people of Earth, thank you for stepping in."
"It's nothing," Lucas replied with a slightly embarrassed smile.
"Actually, I should be the one apologizing. After all, New York was destroyed during my battle."
Ellis shook his head immediately.
"No, Lucas. You have nothing to apologize for. Everyone knows you fought for the safety of the entire planet."
"You already tried your best to minimize the destruction. We all saw that."
Lucas knew those were mostly polite words.
Still, hearing them felt somewhat reassuring.
Ellis continued:
"Fortunately, you had civilians evacuated beforehand. Casualties were almost nonexistent."
"That made the public relations situation much easier."
"Actually, the leadership in New York State is even thanking you."
Lucas raised an eyebrow.
Ellis explained:
"Ever since the construction of New Los Angeles, New York's status in America has been challenged."
"They've been looking for an opportunity to cooperate with your company to rebuild or upgrade New York."
"But the city and state governments didn't have enough money to do it alone. They would have needed approval from both the White House and Congress."
"Your battle with the Skrull god gave them the perfect excuse."
"Now they can openly request funding from Congress and the Treasury."
Lucas smiled, completely unsurprised.
"That's human nature," he said.
"It's not their own money anyway. And there's huge profit waiting for them at the end."
Ellis sighed.
"The real problem now is the civilians in New York."
"According to the FBI, some groups are already planning protests."
"If it weren't for your reputation keeping people in check, there would probably already be riots and demonstrations."
Lucas shrugged.
"That doesn't surprise me. Americans have always been like that."
Then he said calmly,
"Riots won't happen."
"Neither my reputation nor the people backing those groups would allow things to escalate that far."
....
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