Having successfully played Stark as a fool, Shiller was in high spirits. But after returning to his own universe, he felt a wave of emptiness.
Being the puppeteer behind the scenes was not a long-term solution. There were no fools among the gods and superheroes in the cosmos. One or two intricate schemes were enough to surprise everyone, but as the number of schemes kept increasing, even a fool would figure out who was pulling the strings.
Initially, whenever anything happened in New York, everyone knew Shiller was responsible. Then, if anything happened on Earth, everyone knew it was because of Shiller. Later, if anything happened in the Individual Universe, even Eternity knew it was because of Shiller. Now, probably if anything happened in the Multiverse, all the gods would know that Shiller was behind it.
With things progressing to this point, a simple regex solution would be adopted to deal with these complex yarn ball schemes: they would straightaway seek Shiller.
But Shiller's worry was not that he wouldn't be able to benefit from his plans anymore. After the system matured, even if he did nothing, there would still be a constant inflow of energy. A virtuous cycle already formed, so there was no need to micro-manage everything.
The main thing he missed was the amusement of watching a bunch of superheroes and gods being manipulated and spinning in circles until they found out he was the puppetmaster.
Now, whether anyone encountered any abnormal situations, they called Shiller. It was no longer entertaining, and Shiller felt bored.
Although Arrogant in the DC World was always stuck circling in Gotham, falling far short of the progress in the Marvel World, the fun generated by any world was fixed. If greedily consumed quickly in the early phase, there'll be nothing left to enjoy later.
Shiller let out a sigh internally. Was this, he wondered, what people typically referred to as the grass growing period?
With nothing else to do, Shiller planned to check his gains. However, just as he returned to the sanitarium, he got a call from Professor X.
"Hello? Professor Charles, what's the matter? Everything should still be going smoothly on your end, right?" Shiller asked cheerily while flipping through his account statements. However, he was met with Charles's slightly confused voice from the other end.
"Shiller, I'm calling to ask if you and Nick have made any specific arrangements concerning the Klinter Star where the Symbiont resides?"
Shiller let out another sigh, thinking, see, even honest Professor X has figured it out, there's no wrong turn when it comes to finding him.
However, after contemplating what Professor X had said and reviewing all his plans, Shiller was left somewhat confused.
"The Klinter Star?"
It had been a while since Shiller last heard the name of that planet. The last time was probably when Nick planned to recruit the Symbiont. He didn't presently have any plans involving the Klinter Star, so then why would Professor X ask him about it?
Previously, Nick had mentioned that because of changes in the Andromeda Galaxy situation, the Godtar Race plans to seek asylum with the human race. Nick was considering arranging for them to join with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. This would not only improve the combat capabilities of the human agents but also provide a support network for the Symbiont Race.
So Shiller truthfully told Charles: "Yes, Nick does have some ideas, though I wouldn't call them arrangements, per se. More accurately, it's a cooperation between humans and the Symbiont Race."
"Um…" Charles responded with an awkward sound, then delicately said, "Doctor Schiller, I assure you I have no intentions of criticizing you or casting doubt on your wisdom, or Nick's. I also understand that some less honorable means may be required on humanity's path toward becoming an interstellar civilization. I completely understand that and I have no intentions of criticism."
"What's wrong, Professor?" Shiller asked somewhat puzzled, not quite understanding what Charles was getting at already.
"What I mean is…" Charles paused before continuing, "Even if you did want to collect some compensation from the cooperation, surely you wouldn't just tow away their home planet, would you?"
"Huh?" Shiller was left with a tone of confusion. Charles continued, "A cosmic agent symbiote has just rushed to the capital of the Andromeda Galaxy, which is also the Sky Island where the mutants reside. They said that when they got back from patrolling Centaurus, they found that the Klinter Star had disappeared."
"Huh???" Shiller's tone was even more confused and he repeated, "The Klinter Star is gone? Pardon me if I misunderstood, but are you being literal? The home planet of the Symbiots has disappeared?"
"That's right," Charles replied, sounding just as surprised as Shiller was. "You didn't know about this? That is indeed strange. Erik and I discussed it and we thought perhaps you and Nick felt the Symbiots' home planet was taking up too much space, so you moved them."
Shiller was left speechless. He said, "If their home planet was taking up too much space, why would I wait until now to move them?"
Realizing how his words might have been perceived, he hurriedly corrected himself, "What I meant was, why would I move them without their consent?"
"It seems this isn't part of your plan. How strange indeed. How about this, why don't you come over to the Dreamland Base?"
"Okay, I'll be right there."
A few minutes later, Shiller was in the lobby of the Dreamland Base. He walked over to Charles, who sat in a wheelchair, and with an air of surprise asked, "What's going on? Where is the Klinter Star?"
"I don't know." Charles helplessly shook his head, then looked at Magneto standing next to him. With an emotionless expression, Magneto cleared his throat and said with his usual half-dead tone, "The cosmic agent said that they had gone to patrol Centaurus, and when they returned to their own system, they found that the entire Klinter Star was gone."