#648 - Reed's thoughts

After Yang Le returned to Earth, he found the New York ruins to be much more lively than he had imagined.

To be precise, the Viper Gang's base was very lively. Because he was still in the X-Men state, Yang Le could know all the information he wanted with a single thought.

For example, Yang Le wanted to know how long it had been since he left Earth, and a string of numbers immediately appeared in his mind, numbers so precise that they exceeded human comprehension of time.

Perhaps for some aliens, like the Clock King, the more precise the time, the better. But Yang Le only needed to know the minute, and at most glance at the second.

33 minutes and 43 seconds. Well, if based purely on human perception, Yang Le thought only about 10 minutes had passed. It seems the flow of time outside the multiverse is different from that within the universe.

And in the 33 minutes Yang Le was gone, the Viper Gang's base was attacked again. This time, they were attacked by Yang Le's old acquaintance, Reed and his group.

This surprised Yang Le. He never expected Reed and the others to provoke the number one gang in the New York ruins. This was somewhat inconsistent with the Reed he remembered, who preferred to strike later.

When a question appeared in Yang Le's mind, the answer followed immediately. This was the benefit of being an X-Man, omniscient and omnipotent, but it was also its drawback, as some people don't like skipping the process to get the result.

Through omniscience, Yang Le learned that the commotion caused by his battle with the Viper Gang was too great. After all, his Swampfire clone had only encompassed a few districts of the original New York. Although this place wasn't small, it certainly wasn't that big.

And the commotion caused by Yang Le and the Gaboon Viper fighting was definitely not small. Think about it, two monsters over ten meters long were fighting. Even if people were a few blocks away and couldn't see what was happening, there was no reason they couldn't hear the earthquake-like noise.

Reed and the others naturally heard this noise. Johnny, the fastest, was sent to investigate and returned with news that the Viper Gang had been attacked by an unknown superhuman and suffered heavy losses.

After confirming with Johnny several times, Reed calculated, based on the situation Johnny brought back, that at least three of the Viper Gang's leaders had been severely injured. Based on this conclusion, he further planned a surprise attack on the Viper Gang.

This plan was very bold and was rejected by everyone except Johnny. Even Quentin, who seemed cynical, didn't agree with this plan, which sounded no different from suicide.

Yes, a suicide attack. That's how Quentin evaluated it. He even jokingly asked Reed if he had Japanese blood, but no one paid attention to this dark joke. (Except Johnny, but Susan glared at him before he could respond.)

Rejected by everyone, Reed didn't get angry like the father with a bad relationship with his child in '12 Angry Men.' Instead, like the engineer who initially disagreed with the guilty verdict, he spoke eloquently, refuting everyone with theoretical basis.

"The Viper Gang has been severely damaged, that's undeniable," Reed said, tapping the blueprints he had drawn. "We don't know why that unknown superhuman made a scene with the Viper Gang, but his actions undoubtedly provide us with convenience."

"First of all, the Viper Gang has set its sights on us. I won't discuss why we were targeted, as it won't do us any good other than creating suspicion among us."

The others nodded, agreeing with Reed's point. Everyone knew why these things happened, so there was no need to say it.

"Then, because we resisted the Viper Gang's first wave of attack, I estimate that, according to the Viper Gang's style, we should be in an irreconcilable relationship. In other words, there are only two ways to resolve the current situation."

Reed raised his right hand as he spoke.

"First, we submit to the Viper Gang. I estimate that, with our group's superpowers, the Viper Gang, eager for talents, shouldn't mind giving us a chance. As long as the Viper Gang's leader isn't an idiot, he can distinguish the importance of a Rock Python and seven superhumans with different abilities."

Reed finished speaking and held up one finger, then continued after seeing no one interrupt.

"Second, we overthrow the entire Viper Gang. Before they eliminate us, we eliminate them first. As long as it's handled properly, there's no need to worry about subsequent revenge."

Reed slowly lowered his right hand with two fingers raised. Now he had finished stating the directions, and it was time for everyone to choose, or rather, he was forcing everyone to make a choice.

Generally, when a highly knowledgeable person talks eloquently about something you must understand, most people will choose to listen. And when this person lists two methods for you to choose from, you will likely be trapped by the choices he gives you.

Among this group of people, the most knowledgeable person is undoubtedly Reed, but he doesn't have high credibility, so he has to spend some effort to guide the result to the one he wants.

That's right, Reed wants to destroy the Viper Gang. There are many reasons, so I won't list them one by one. In short, Reed wants to achieve this idea that everyone opposes.

To achieve this goal, Reed has to use some techniques that he used to despise, using words to incite others.

Changing a group of people's minds is both simple and difficult. First, Reed needs to find those who are easily swayed, so he directly throws out his ideas instead of proceeding gradually.

The start was good, someone supported him, but unfortunately that person was Johnny, and it was thanks to that person being Johnny.

Unlike Reed and the others, Tandy and the others didn't know Johnny well. Their deepest impression of Johnny might be that fire just now. Those flames represented Johnny's strength and also represented the weight he could gain in Tandy and the others' hearts.

And now, Reed boldly speculated that the most weighted person in Tandy and the others' hearts in terms of martial force should be Johnny, after all, he had just shown his power, and his degrees obtained during some boring times should be able to occupy the weight of knowledge in their hearts.

At this time, Johnny, who likes to show off, is on his side, then this lobbying becomes much simpler. At this time, Tandy and the three are not the top priority, how to convince Susan and Ben is the problem Reed should consider.

Of course, Reed can use his and Johnny's safety to coerce the two and force them to carry out his ideas, but Reed doesn't want to do that. His calculations are for outsiders, and he should be more emotional with his own people.