Adam realized a severe problem.
When he was cleaning up the code "Mountain of Feces", the failure was not only because the more he cleaned, the more appeared, but also that he had dumped all the waste on himself.
If he hadn't attempted to assassinate Nick, Nick wouldn't have brought other universe's superheroes to this universe so quickly. They wouldn't have seen the face of this universe so quickly, and wouldn't have realized that there are universes with different destinies than theirs.
Although they might have already heard something about the Central Universe from Spider Man, after all, seeing is believing. Now, thousands of superheroes from other universes suddenly realized that they could live their lives differently.
Not every Avenger Alliance needs to go through a civil war, not every Spider Man needs to see his uncle and girlfriend die, not every Thanos is busy looking for Infinity Gems, and not every universe's Three Great Empires are holding each other back to the point of not being able to unite at the brink of cosmic existence.
Realizing differences is the first step in closing the information gap, but thinking about the reasons is the crucial and deadliest step.
When humans begin to question their existence and destiny, the spring thunder will ignite the first flame on the horizon. And the originally gentle spring breeze will turn into an unstoppable storm, pushing countless sparks to an unreachable distance.
Even if Adam does not understand some of these principles, he can imagine that if the existence in the universe are all pursuing their endless development possibilities, what they should resist should not be their kind who are manipulated by fate, right? And in the entire universe, how many existences can really jump out of their destiny?
Anyway, no matter how you divide it, there's always a part for Adam.
Then he suddenly realized that his previous actions not only had splattered the shit all over himself but also on countless colleagues in his own world.
So the question arises: When the superheroes from other universes who came to this universe regret their decision and start to reverse their universe's world lines, causing some of the gods who maintain the world lines to suffer, who is to blame?
Adam was completely stiff and when he slowly turned his eyes to the side, Shiller looked at him synchronously. In Shiller's eyes, Adam saw nothing but the pure joy of a successful fisherman catching a big fish.
"Mr. Adam Life Court, I didn't expect that you would be the first one to take action to reverse the world line." Shiller spoke calmly, causing Adam to shiver.
Leaning his head on the back of the chair, Shiller quietly watched the scene on the screen and said, "Ever since I began to interfere with the fate of the superheroes in this world, I knew that you would appear one day."
"You will wave the banner of smoothing the world line and ensuring the safety of the universe. Either persuading with reason and emotion, or using downright violence to stop. Of course, there is your best means — restarting the universe."
Laughing in his eyes, Shiller didn't show any anger but spoke peacefully as if in a scientific inquiry.
"At that time, I began to think about a question: Does the projections of these gods in each universe have independent thinking? Do they have a desire for their own survival? Or are they really altruistic, as long as it's for the good of the universe, their own existence or non-existence doesn't matter?"
"Eternity's performance gave me the answer." Shiller said in a light tone: "Like all intelligent creatures, you have emotions and can communicate, and you are also afraid of death."
"It's just that because of your deep binding with the universe, what you fear more is the destruction of the universe. Once the universe is destroyed, you'll cease to exist completely."
"This is my weapon to threaten you. Unlike other beings who claim to destroy the universe and were defeated by you, you couldn't figure out what I was doing until the very moment my chain device finally exploded."
"Even if you act as a thief for a thousand days, you can't protect it for a thousand days. Once you start worrying day and night about how I intend to destroy the universe, once you start paying too much attention to my actions, then my actions can guide your actions, just like I guide my own kind."
Shiller bowed his head slightly and said, "In case, the reckless actions you've taken to prevent me interfered with the interests of other universe's counterparts, can a god who commits a crime turn around?"
Adam's fingertips were shaking. He leaned his back against the chair, his shoulders and neck as stiff as steel plates. Pulling back the skin of his face to force a smile, he said, "You ambushed Eternity like that. You forced him to make a difficult choice, forcing him to betray all the interests of Eternity, thus he had no choice but to stand with you."
"Yes, this is the best way for humans to deal with gods and to deal with humans." Shiller laughed and looked at Adam, "Divide them, assimilate them, guide their behaviors to betray first, and then their thoughts and positions have to betray too."
At this time, Dr. Strange had already stood up from his chair. He stared at the chaotic battle at the New Area of the Large Teleportation Portal of the Western Empire on the screen, and said quickly: "Where is my Kamar-Taj? Where are my Grand Mages?!"
Just then, with a "bang", the door of the theater was closed. Shiller also stood up and walked to Dr. Strange and said, "Without your hand back, you won't be able to leave."
Dr. Strange widened his eyes and looked at Shiller who was laughing with his arms folded, "Now who's holding who back, Dr. Strange?"
"I can cast magic without hands." Dr. Strange gritted his teeth and said, "Moreover, I don't have time for surgery."
"Indeed, I do have a grand objective." Shiller raised an eyebrow and said, "But that doesn't prevent the process of realizing it from also satisfying my personal hobbies. You can understand that while I defend the rights of the group, I also consider each individual as my collection. Don't you think a displayed collection should present its most perfect side?"
However, to everyone's surprise, Dr. Strange took a deep breath and said, "If you don't let me leave, I would take it as we Mages and everything we stand for have no significance in your grand scheme. This universe doesn't need us, none of the universes need us. Then why should we even exist?"
Dr. Strange took a step forward, even closer to Shiller, and gazing straight into his eyes, he said, "Don't tell me, you still think I am incapable of destroying Kamar-Taj."
Shiller narrowed his eyes, and just as he was about to say something, Dr. Strange interrupted him, "Of course, I'd regret cutting off my own arm, and of course, I'd feel pain destroying Kamar-Taj. But since for the sake of your grand scheme, you could sacrifice a part of your soul, why couldn't you just let go and let us suffer, sacrificing our interests?"
"Because you are the foundation. If it isn't to free you from your destined fate, everything I do is meaningless."
"Then why couldn't it be that we, too, are striving to free ourselves from our destined fate, to save you from some twisted psychology. If you can't be saved, our change is also meaningless?"
Shiller found himself unable to unravel Dr. Strange's logic for a moment. This is a rare occurrence, generally occurring when the opponent is even more extreme than himself.
"You want to save us, so you don't want us to suffer. We want to save you, so we don't want you to suffer. So how did things develop to this point today?"
Dr. Strange looked at Shiller's eyes and said, "It's because you haven't realized that your pain will cause us pain too. Because you, suffering from loneliness, can't feel the pain of others, can you?"
Shiller widened his eyes slightly, while Dr. Strange confidently said, "The first thing you noticed when you found out I cut off my arm was that all my efforts over the years had been in vain, not whether I was in pain."
"Because understanding the result of futile efforts comes from logical analysis, while feeling others' pain comes from empathy. You have never empathized with the anxiety and pain we feel when we see you hurting yourself."
"And the anxiety you showed when I harmed myself, was just you imitating normal people's emotions. Because society told you that when a friend is hurt, we should empathize as much as possible, comfort them, and try to help solve their troubles-- but you didn't actually feel anything."
"Where does greed stem from?" Dr. Strange tilted his head, looking deeper into Shiller's eyes, and asked, "What is the truth about feeding on emotion? Is it truly experiencing those intense emotions, or is it only after you have observed them closely, that you can then mimic?"
"..."
"The latter."
Shiller's voice came, but not from in front of Dr. Strange. Dr. Strange abruptly turned around and saw another upright figure at the railing of the second floor of the theater.
"I must first have an interest, a desire for these abundant emotions that I completely can't understand, to pay attention, to understand, and then to perfectly replicate them onto myself."
The deep voice accompanied the light sound of dress shoes stepping on the stairs. As the desolate grey eyes emerged from the dark stairwell, Dr. Strange felt a chill running down his spine.
"When I realized that I had to live in this society as an ordinary person, I knew I had to maintain my greed for normal human emotions."
"The more greedy, the more focused, the better the imitation, the more able to deceive ordinary people, less noticeable for abnormalities."
Dr. Strange found that he could not look away from those unfocused grey eyes, because his intuition was telling him that some answers were hidden there, and to explore them was like trying to remove chestnuts from a fire.
"When there is no hope for healing, pretense becomes the only choice. When I needed an unwavering anchor to become myself, arrogant contempt for ordinary people was born. And when I needed a human skin to adapt to society and draw others, greed was born."
When Morbid stood in front of Dr. Strange, he finally realized that what Shiller usually revealed to them was only the tip of the iceberg.
But something, maybe it was Shiller's presumptuous attitude, or maybe it was some vocabulary he used, ignited a speck of anger in Dr. Strange, which in turn ignited his highly flammable extremism and madness.
In this extreme madness, Dr. Strange actually became calm and looked into Morbid's eyes and said.
"Then, the one he should rebel against most is you. You have chosen his destined fate for him, not unlimited possibilities—when he defends our rights, we must also defend his."
In an instant, the dispersed grey eyes focused.