Seeing his parents before him once more, Stark froze completely. His father, Howard, and his mother, Maria, were exactly the same as the last time he saw them.
Maria threw the bag she was holding to Howard, rushed up to her son, and began to cry.
Stark stood rooted to the spot, with no idea how to respond. It was not until Maria began to recount his childhood that he was certain. These were truly his parents, not some illusion or substitute.
Howard stood there, holding Maria's bag, looking at Stark, who now appeared to be around his age, and heaved a somewhat regretful sigh.
The others exchanged careful glances and slowly withdrew. Strange pulled Shiller aside and asked quietly, "What's going on? How did you bring the Starks back? They didn't just fake their deaths, did they?"
Shiller shook his head and said, "Of course not, they really died. They were simply resurrected. Also, come with me, there's someone else you need to meet."
As Shiller led Strange to an office nearby, Strange pulled away, as if guessing something. He said, "What are you up to? Grand reopening? Didn't you say you've used up all the resurrection quotas for this year?"
Shiller ignored him and pushed open the door. Inside were Strange's younger brother, Victor, and his father, Eugene. Eugene scowled, but Victor quickly restrained him.
Strange looked a bit awkward. Eugene rose from his chair, his face red with fury, and shouted,
"Steven! You spendthrift! What did I say to you before I fell unconscious?!! Not to turn on that damn expensive machine!! What's the use? You spent so much money! And yet I still died, didn't I?!!"
Strange's eyes widened as he didn't expect his father's first words after resurrection would be these. He sighed helplessly and said, "The artificial lung was a necessary treatment for your lung failure, and it wasn't considered expensive..."
"Don't give me that! You promised me! Steven, you're always like this! No credibility! Just like these deceitful New Yorkers!"
"How can you say that? I was trying to save you!"
Listening to the ongoing argument inside, Shiller quietly closed the door. Matt walked up to him and worriedly said, "What on earth is going on? Shiller..."
Then Peter, who had waited at the door, and JARVIS, who controlled Stark's Iron Armor, also came over. They too were curious, unable to grasp how Shiller had achieved all this.
Shiller glanced at JARVIS and said, "Do you remember what I said? Turn nothing into something, win big with little, make huge returns on a small investment."
"A long time ago, I discovered that an unparalleled power lay dormant within me. But those conservative fools simply let it rot. How could that ever beat inflation?"
"Such immense power should be used to make investment. Unfortunately, the administrator managing this power was a rigid old fossil. He would never allow me to access it. Did he really think I'd just swallow it?!"
Shiller walked to the other side of the corridor, displaying an absurd expression. He said, "I am Greed, not a fool. Knowing that I would explode, why would I do such a foolish thing?"
"Such a prime asset that can be converted into resources should be used to invest in excellent projects... which is you."
Spreading his arms, Shiller looked at the people in front of him. Under the cold light of the hospital, he seemed like a god declaring to them,
"You... my friends! Superheroes! The most energetic, compassionate, and greatest group of people in this world!"
"Your joy and anger, grief and happiness are the most precious treasures to me. I will always love you! Always——"
"For this, I'm willing to sacrifice a lot, including myself. When I decided to invest in you, I wasn't just creating a beautiful future for you, but also for myself."
"Reliving traumas, getting hurt, even death, or eternal oblivion, are nothing to me. As long as my wealth has a forever bright future, everyone can have the perfect ending, and I'll give up everything!"
"I don't represent greed, I am…Greed itself!"
With Shiller's smile, his gray eyes ignited a golden glow. It seemed as if the gold sand in the starry sea had turned into a gray dam under the call of the endless sea wind, flickering like golden brilliance.
The pupils' pattern gradually changed, becoming more orderly, like the patterns carved on Roman columns.
Inside the Eternal Temple, Shiller sat opposite Eternity, looking at Eternity's starlight-composed body as it said,
"...That's how things are. This power has the ability to partially change reality. That is, I can directly punch a hole in the Temple of Eternity, linking to where you originally work. This way, you can quickly move between the two points, without spending much time traveling every time you return for a meeting."
Eternity on the opposite side, although faceless and expressionless, seemed to be pondering.
Just a moment ago, Shiller had found him in his temple, proposing a trade. Eternity had wanted to leave, but the terms Shiller offered had piqued his interest.
Shiller told Eternity that he possessed a form of energy unknown to all established universes. This energy was adept at forming a rapid transit route between two universes, which could solve Eternity's problem of a long commute.
In Shiller's universe, now pushed out by the OAA and hanging by the barriers on the edge of the larger Marvel Universe, each time the Court of Adam Life convened all Eternities for a meeting, the Eternity of his world had to travel through mountains and across vast distances to attend.
To put it simply, Eternity's daily commute was second only to each parent's tale of the challenges they faced getting to school when they were children.
Of course, Eternity had the ability to form a route between his universe and a given spot in the larger world, but the problem was he couldn't do that. There were too many of his higher-ups within the bigger world.
It would be imprudent for one to break through all the leaders' offices, simply because their own office was too far from the company's front door, thereby creating the shortest possible distance, right? The Court of Adam Life certainly wouldn't let him bore holes indiscriminately.
But, if Shiller were to do it, there wouldn't be an issue. After all, Shiller was already known as a notorious terrorist. He wanted to get back into the major world for a particular reason, and doing so by simply drilling a hole to get there seemed reasonable, right?
At that point, all Eternity had to do was ensure that no one filled the hole, and he, along with the other conceptual gods within his universe, would have their own express route home, making everything a lot easier.
The only thing that gave Eternity some hesitation was Shiller's condition. Shiller picked up his cup, drank some water, looked at Eternity and said, "The Goddess of Death has been hoping that I could go and speak with her. I understand her feelings, as when the United Heaven was first established, things were a bit rushed, and some of the articles were not clearly defined. We need to reconfirm them..."
Eternity didn't have to listen any further to understand that behind Shiller's officialese was simply: I want to go into negotiations with Death for some unspeakable transactions, and you will turn a blind eye and let it go—it's better for everyone.
Eternity hesitated because he had previously forced Death to desist from illegal activities. But if he turned a blind eye when Shiller went to engage in illegal activities with her, that wouldn't be good, would it?
However, Shiller immediately said, "I come with sincerity, Your Majesty Eternity. I can pay the price in advance to help you forge the path."
"You've been away from home for so long, you probably miss it. You could go on vacation and check on your brothers and sisters; that shouldn't be a problem, should it?"
Eternity coughed twice without responding, and when Shiller started making the hole in his Temple of Eternity with that power, he simply vanished, feigning ignorance.
Thus, the deal was smoothly completed, and next, Shiller arrived in the Land of Death.
When Death saw Shiller, her blood pressure rocketed. After the completion of United Heaven, she was going through the contract she had signed with Shiller and had discovered all sorts of traps, which had infuriated her enough to dissuade her from her date with Deadpool.
Upon seeing that Shiller still dared to show his face, Death felt like throwing him out. However, in the next second, Shiller extended his hand and said, "I have brought some rare ingredients. Might I have the honor of joining the Goddess of Death for dinner?"
Just when Death was about to refuse, she saw Shiller pull out a human arm seemingly from thin air.
Death frowned, then realized a moment later that the arm seemed to be a part of Shiller's soul.
Ten minutes later, Death was sitting across the dinner table from Shiller. She said, "Over billions of years, I have taken in countless human souls and have seen countless madmen and perverts in your words, but you still stand out, or I should say, your kind are unheard of."
Upon saying this, she stared at the arm in the middle of the table, very much certain that it was Shiller's arm. Being the Goddess of Death herself, she wouldn't be wrong about a human's soul.
Shiller came to have dinner with her, not only bringing his own ingredients but also bringing his own arm. For the first time, Death felt the worry often expressed by human females, "I haven't run into a pervert, have I?"
However, she soon understood Shiller's intentions. This so-called arm, although part of Shiller's soul, was actually driven by a power not belonging to this universe, and moreover, it carried the aura of Death from another world.
Death doesn't require any energy herself; abstract entities are the root of the cosmos, and all energy originates from them. Just like oil on Earth, Earth itself doesn't require oil to function—humans need oil.
The aura of Death from another world had some appeal to Death. All Death yearned for was more death, and the presence of Death from another world was like a good book to her—it didn't fill her up, but it did provide a certain kind of spiritual fulfillment.
Shiller's condition was simply to resurrect several humans, which made Death reconsider.
If this universe were still part of the original Marvel Universe, Death would not be able to proceed like this. Once a certain route deviated, her superiors would definitely not let her off the hook.
But now that the universe had been kicked out anyway, Death thought to herself with reckless abandon, "So what if the path diverges? Even if I'm fired, could my former boss still drag me back to give me a dressing down?"
With this thought, Death agreed to Shiller's deal. The first to be resurrected were the parents of Stark, Howard Stark, and Maria Stark, and then Eugene Strange, Strange's father...
When Shiller mentioned this, he read out a name and Death resurrected a person. However, thereafter, Shiller just pulled out a sheet of paper and started reading.
It included the biological parents of Peter Parker, Matt's father, Steve's girlfriend Peggy Carter, Natasha's ex-husband, among others. Even relatives and friends of Shiller's friends who had died were on the list, which included Ben's goldfish and Bucky's dog from his childhood...
Accompanying Death's expulsion of Shiller from the Land of Death, a thunderous cry of anger echoed throughout the realm—
"GET OUT!!!!!"