For the next few days, Shiller acted more and more distracted. Initially, Ultimate Iron Man introduced him to some notable figures who had some clues, letting Shiller hear the clues himself. Later, Ultimate Iron Man relayed the information on his behalf, but he concealed a lot and even relayed some false news.
At the same time, Ultimate Iron Man used his charm and means to create a fairly large temporary circle and leveraged this temporary network to search for Owen's whereabouts in advance.
The thing is, to monopolize someone's emotions, you can't allow them other sources of reliance. Although many clues were false, if Shiller was lucky, he could still find Owen. But Ultimate Iron Man wanted to completely avoid this scenario.
And Shiller, as Ultimate Iron Man had predicted, started relying on him more and more. At first, he would consult his friends to confirm the information. However, under Ultimate Iron Man's careful observation, all clues were verified.
Shiller then almost stopped asking questions, showing complete trust in the clues provided by Ultimate Iron Man. Based on Shiller's descriptions, Ultimate Iron Man even found a slight trace of Spider Silk.
But one day, Shiller knocked on the door of Ultimate Iron Man with anger. Ultimate Iron Man noticed that the screen of the phone in his hand was showing a private conversation window from the Spider App.
Ultimate Iron Man's pupils contracted sharply. He immediately thought that it was likely that Spider Man had messaged revealing a leak. He steadied his mind immediately, opened the door, and said, "Please come in."
Shiller almost rushed in, and as soon as he entered, he turned his head and stared at Ultimate Iron Man, "Your Cosmic Spider Man just sent me a message saying that you have suspended the operation of the Universal Propulsion Engine before leaving. You never intended to build it!"
Ultimate Iron Man's heart stumbled. He knew the worst situation had occurred. He was able to gain Shiller's trust at first because his behavior was distinctly different from that of Shiller's Superhero friends.
Shiller's Superhero friends were unwilling to believe him, but Ultimate Iron Man, a stranger whom Shiller had only met a few times, was willing to believe Shiller's end-of-the-world theory and take decisive action.
It could be said that almost all subsequent trust was built upon this foundation. But his Cosmic Spider Man had sabotaged this, pulling away the cornerstone of trust.
If Ultimate Iron Man only appeared to be making an effort while indeed was taking no real actions, this might be a more egregious deception than that of the Superheroes.
Claiming disbelief but not taking any actions, procrastinating, and deceiving emotions and trust with this approach, all these considerations combined, are an unforgivable crime.
"Can you hear me out first, Shiller?" Ultimate Iron Man did not seem very eager to explain. He stood by the door with his hands hanging down, looking very shocked as if deeply offended by Shiller's rude behavior.
Shiller hesitated for a moment and turned to look at him. Although Ultimate Iron Man was relieved, he didn't relax the tension in his heart. He said, "I don't know if you understand the principle of scientific experiments, but when manufacturing a new device, the calculation process is very important and valuable. If I'm not present during the calculation, I can't update the calculation method based on the gaps in the process..."
"Then why don't you go back?!!" Shiller exclaimed in anger. He quickly realized he misspoke and turned to hide his face, trying hard to suppress his emotions, "I didn't mean that, I just..."
"Of course, I understand." Ultimate Iron Man stepped forward, his hand on Shiller's shoulder, leaning in to him, almost whispering in his ear: "Relax a bit, Doctor, things aren't as bad as they seem, are they?"
"Although my arrival has put the work of the Universal Propulsion Engine on hold, at least you have a clue about your brother. You said your brother can make a significant contribution to saving the universe, shouldn't that also be considered progress?"
Shiller obviously hesitated, somewhat irritable, he walked towards the window. Ultimate Iron Man didn't follow him, but stood in his place, "Of course, I understand the pressure you're under right now, but believe me, I've always been on your side, I..."
As soon as he said this, the "ding dong" sound of a message notification interrupted Ultimate Iron Man's words. He immediately knew something was amiss, but the phone was in Shiller's hands. In less than a second, Shiller lit up the screen and looked at the new message.
"He killed Captain America!!!"
A shocked emoji followed the message. Ultimate Iron Man had already stepped behind Shiller and saw the message.
Shiller suddenly turned his head to look at Ultimate Iron Man behind him. Ultimate Iron Man, however, furrowed his brow and said with a puzzled expression, "Is he talking about me? I killed Captain America?"
"Did you do it?" Shiller demanded.
"Of course not. I'm right here. How could I kill Captain America? And why would I want to kill him?"
Shiller hesitated and reached for the phone, intending to send a message to ask. But he saw the shocked and saddened expression on the face of Ultimate Iron Man. After hesitating for a bit, he put down the phone and said: "Of course, I hope this isn't true, but Captain America is my friend..."