Shiller's psychiatrist office is located on the top floor of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new base, with an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling windows providing excellent natural light. From the outside of the building, one can see the doctor's silhouette standing in front of the window. If the view were to drop three stories below, the atmosphere in the Spider Corps base would be far more heated.
"Oh my god, they just posted another new article on their weekly web seminar!!" exclaimed Miles as he typed on his computer. "They are really claiming that critical philosophy developed in Europe was inspired by the God of Nihilism? The entire article is riddled with fallacies!"
"Where is it? Let me have a look." Gwen Spiderman quickly ran over, browsing through lines of text indicated by Miles's mouse pointer with furrowed brows. She exhaled through her nose and said: "Move aside and let me reply, they need to know how completely out of line they are."
"They responded to me again, oh god," another Spider-Man shouted. "How can they make such wildly unrealistic criticisms on every single word I said? I can't stand it any longer!"
"Come over here, look at this, here's another outrageous statement; they are calling us the new NAZIs that are full of extreme theories! I'm seriously about to lose it and start cussing them out."
"I'm under attack! I'm under attack!" yet another anguished cry came from a workstation: "Four or five of them are taking turns replying to me, I can't keep up! I need backup now!!"
"The New York Times' Twitter is infested. Somebody needs to write a script or something to push them down, this is absurd."
Shouts could be heard from one end to the other in the Spider Corp base. After a while, middle-aged Peter Parker, whose wrists hurt from all the typing, stood up, shaking his hands and said: "I'm sorry folks, my shift is up, who wants to take over for me? I must go to parent-teacher meeting with Mayde."
"I got to go, too. Mr. Stark invited me over tonight to test the new battle suit." said another younger Spider-Man, standing up.
Quickly, two people replaced them. Middle-aged Peter used the Spider Totem to teleport back to his cosmos and hurriedly drove to the kindergarten attended by Mayde, only to find Mary Jane already there.
"Oh, you're here, didn't you say you couldn't take leave today?"
"Stop joking, this is our daughter's first parent-teacher meeting since she started kindergarten."
"I assumed you'd be too busy in that universe and won't be able to make it..."
As the two whispered and walked towards the classroom, thinking of his job, middle-aged Peter couldn't help complaining, "Work isn't particularly busy, but it's too ridiculous. It's hard to describe, but anyway…"
"Tell me in detail. Don't tell me you think I won't understand?"
"No, it's just that I think you'll be angry. The thing is, that universe is undergoing its third industrial revolution, with the ideology also undergoing a transformation. We have joined in the work of public opinion control, transmitting positive thoughts to the ordinary people of that world."
"Yet there's this annoying oddball church, called the Church of Nihilism, spreading nihilism. You know what nihilism is, right? It's basically..."
In Stark Building of another universe, Stark looked curiously at daydreaming Peter Parker. Laying down the battlesuit parts in his hand, he could not help but ask, "What's wrong? Peter, you've been zoned out since you got here. Is there something going on? Did anyone bully you in that universe?"
"It's not exactly bullying," Peter shook his head, his face complex. He took a deep breath and said, "I feel as though I've been bullied by logic. Mr. Stark, I can't begin to tell you the kind of weirdos I've come across..."
Once the box of a Spider-Man's complaints was opened, no one could stop them. They poured everything out in one go. Each one of them was exasperated by the internet trolls. Each Peter Parker was the type that couldn't express themselves well without someone trustworthy, but once they find someone to vent at, they just wouldn't stop.
Almost all Peter Parkers who had to return to his universe during this time due to certain circumstances would inevitably complain about their peculiar job in that universe, primarily discussing the Church of Nihilism and nihilism.
Most of Peter Parker's friends did not understand philosophy much, so when these kinds of problems were discussed, Peter had to explain it to them, which meant that certain words and definitions had to be referred to again and again. Spider-Men, however, were incredibly chatty. Even when only narrating events, it was essential to bring up and repeat previous definitions.
As is well known, faith and prayers of the human race hold special significance, which is a basic setting of the comic. Most gods that seemingly have high integrity would squabble over these insignificant earthlings' faith.
This also leads to a situation where rule-bound gods like Death and Oblivion sense human prayers.
Shiller instructed Hydra to disseminate a large number of articles regarding nihilism, which contained things similar to prayers. Of course, praying only by a few Hydra members wouldn't mean anything. However, the Spider-Men inevitably had to quote these articles when refuting their points of view.
To refute them, the Spider-Men were required to study the development of nihilism, existentialism, or similar cultures during the human development journey, compile them into their own language, and output it. In some ways, this was considered a prayer.
When they returned to their respective universes, of course they would gripe about it to their family and friends. A Spider-Man would not limit themselves to only one complaint — they would typically keep going on and on for at least half an hour. The Central Universe was the convergence point for thousands of Spider-Men from countless multiverses.
Suddenly, Oblivion was rudely awakened from his slumber, as though receiving thousands of harassing calls all, all at once. What's going on? Is it New Year's?
Unaware of what was happening, Oblivion took a look and nearly jumped. Why would there be people praying—or rather, cursing at me—in every multiverse upon waking up?
Oblivion, not yet fully awake, was confounded. Who had he offended? What had happened?
The reason why Oblivion rarely appears is because the being representing nihilism itself has a certain degree of lethargy. They lack motivation to do anything and lack curiosity, essentially staying dormant most of the time.
So when Oblivion noticed something odd, his first response was not to trace the origin like other gods. Instead, he exclaimed in surprise and then went back to sleep.
But Shiller is always good at setting an alarm clock to wake up all living beings. Each alarm clock is custom-made and suits their nature, it almost always wakes up the intended object 100% of the time.
The adequacy of the alarm clock Shiller set for Oblivion is that it isn't notably loud, but it lasts a very long time. As long as Shiller and his gang keep angering Spider-Man, the Spider-Men of the Multiverse will never stop complaining, and Oblivion will always hear some rustling noises in his ear.
Now, Spider-Man is like a mosquito in the summer, apart from the annoying buzzing sound it makes near your ear when you sleep, you can't help but wonder where it comes from and where it is. This vague thought in sleep is most unsettling.
Oblivion wakes and falls asleep, half asleep and half awake hearing noises but can't get up, getting up only to lie back down due to sleepiness. He tosses and turns for who knows how long, until finally Oblivion couldn't stand it anymore.
He fully woke up, and quite angrily traced along the timeline to find the culprit - Shiller.
"What the hell are you trying to do?!" Oblivion roared at Shiller.
Shiller, sitting behind his desk, gave Oblivion a smile and said, "Nothing much, I couldn't reach you by phone, so I had to use this method to invite you over for a chat."
"What do you want to talk about?"
"You don't know? In the desolate land at the end of time, you and your herald hindered me for so long, I thought you had a lot to talk with me about."
"Uh..." Oblivion thought Shiller had some emergency that he had to wake him up in this way. He didn't expect there would be no official business mixed in his personal grudge.
Oblivion heaved a deep sigh, looking at Shiller and said: "Very well, you've achieved your goal, this must be the most uncomfortable sleep I've had in my life!"
After saying that, he disappeared. In his perspective, other gods would fall into Shiller's traps over and over again just because they refused to admit defeat. Oblivion has one big advantage - he never thinks "why me".
As the saying goes, if I lie down fast enough, there's nothing in this world that could be considered a problem. Shiller can take his revenge, after all, I can't die. After he's taken his revenge, I'll just go back to sleep.
But obviously, he underestimated the extent of Shiller's pettiness and the wisdom he could demonstrate in his acts of revenge. After Oblivion left, Shiller dialed Infinity's number and made an accusation.
Shiller directly reported Oblivion for illegally preaching on Earth, seriously affecting the life of the superhero Spider-Man, interfering with the development of the world timeline, and damaging the reputation of our universe.
Infinity, who was already overwhelmed with many tasks and grievances, was infuriated when he heard that the lazy dog who usually slept on the job was also causing trouble. He instantly exploded, hitting Oblivion with a barrage of calls.
If the prayers of Spider-Man to Oblivion are like the sounds of a mosquito, then the call from his own coworker is truly like the final alarm clock ringing at 8 in the morning. After waking Oblivion up, Infinity didn't utter any more surplus words, he just left a roar in the voice mailbox.
"Go sort out Shiller!!!"
Oblivion reluctantly sought out Shiller once again. This time, he truly couldn't play dead anymore because he realized; if he doesn't sort out Shiller, this man will find all sorts of ways to cause all kinds of problems that would disrupt his tranquility.
"Spill it, what the hell do you want?" Oblivion said angrily staring at Shiller.
"I heard, you are the strongest among the five gods?"
"I am not, I don't have, don't talk nonsense."
"I heard, mastering the power of nihilism is mastering the supreme power that can devour this world?"
"Complete nonsense."
"I heard, the other four major gods manage the matters within the universe, while Oblivion can manage the nothingness outside of each universe?"
"Partially true."
"Now, we are outside the great world, what are your thoughts on the great world and the void between the great worlds?"
"...What are you trying to do?"