The voice coming from the other end is Stark's, but judging by his tone, he must not be the Stark from Shiller's universe. The question then is, which Stark is it? This is a very important matter.
"You're mistaken, I'm not Shiller."
"Don't try to deceive me again, you damned liar! Why would your number appear here? Are the games still interconnected?"
"I guess so." Shiller answered nonchalantly. With just these few sentences, he still couldn't confirm which Stark it was.
"You need anything?" Shiller asked.
"Um... I don't know what's going on here... Alright, things are a bit complicated. Are you free to talk right now?"
"I'm free, but I don't know if I should be talking to you. I think you're the real liar here."
Stark on the other end cursed, his anger evident as he spat out, "You've been using me from the very start. You intentionally piqued my interest in you and your brother to get me to help you find him..."
"And you were only interested in my abilities." Shiller sneered, "You're all the same."
"If that's the case, let's be frank. If you know I'm not a good person, then why did you call me?"
Shiller knew he was on the line with White Can. He probably realized that Shiller was tricking him too.
But he wasn't overly upset. It had been a while and he'd probably cooled off. On one hand, he couldn't claim innocence, as he'd been trying to trap Shiller. On the other, it's not unheard of for villains to trick each other.
But, just like during the Cold War, whoever spoke first, lost. Now that White Can had taken the initiative to call Shiller, Shiller couldn't help but gloat, "See, you care about me more, don't you?"
Shiller could tell by the tone of White Can's voice that he was on the verge of losing his temper. He promptly offered, "Alright, let bygones be bygones. Regardless of what you planned to do to me, you didn't succeed. Go ahead, what's the matter?"
White Can was visibly more upset. Before he had a chance to snap, Shiller had already forgiven him. How was that logical?
But it seemed like he still had some sense. So, after a pause, he said, "Where are you now?"
"In a game."
"I know you're in a game. I meant in terms of your current environment."
"A locked room."
"And where's the room?"
"I don't know."
"Shiller!"
"I really don't know, our car had an accident and when I regained consciousness, I was here."
"You're a habitual liar."
"That's just who I am. If you need, I can create a detailed story for you. On the clock though."
"Listen, I need an address, they told me you'd know."
"Who?"
"Someone in this game. He said there's an important item that needs to be collected there. My partners and I are going. Yes, the three of us."
Shiller immediately understood that White Can was pretending to be Iron Man, or, more precisely, the superhero Iron Man. He probably also discovered that identical selves could impersonate one other, but in many cases, pretending to be a good guy before stabbing someone in the back was more advantageous.
Otherwise, why would White Can need teammates? In this kind of game, he'd surely stab everyone and let them die.
"If you insist on the name of a place, I just heard one." Shiller switched the phone to his other hand, "Pele Awhite Manor in Maryland State. Someone else told me."
"That's it." White Can snapped his fingers.
"Don't rush, they told me something else." Shiller sighed, "There's a small town called Lodersan near this manor. The town disappeared overnight because of a cultist who brought back a necklace from the old ruins of The city of Ragusa in Italy. A 19-year-old girl died in the sacrificial ceremony and the cultist disappeared."
"What's all this about?"
"I'm just relaying what I was told. You'll have to do your own research from here."
"Wait, what else do you know?"
"That's all." Shiller sneered, "Remember, you owe me one."
With that, he hung up.
Only then did he turn his attention to the anomaly that had occurred a few minutes ago. The room was getting hotter and hotter.
The rate of temperature increase seemed to be accelerating. From feeling normal to a slight heat took about ten minutes. It only took a matter of seconds to get from that slight heat to the point where he began to sweat.
Shiller felt that the walls around him were heating up. It was only then that he put down the phone, walked to the door, and saw that it was secured with a three-digit combination lock.
Three calls had just come in, each representing a number, but Shiller had never asked about it.
Once the game rules were recited, he knew what this doll was up to.
Peter first suggested that Shiller should have a password, but Shiller didn't have one. Hence, it was highly likely that the person on the other end also didn't know the password.
This would then create a chain of suspicion.
The person who left the note for Peter already stated that Shiller was a psychologist, and once the call came in, Shiller turned out to be a psychologist. Peter would certainly believe what the note said.
If Peter asked Shiller for the password and Shiller said he didn't know, it would clash with the note. In such case, without knowing Shiller, Peter would lean more towards trusting the note.
It would be quite hard for Shiller to guess the password within such a short time, and if he ultimately didn't tell Peter the password, when he asked Peter for the password, Peter would definitely resist, all the more so since Peter likely didn't know the password either, to prevent Shiller from asking first.
Peter would definitely blame Shiller for not saving people, while Shiller would suspect that Peter was deliberately withholding the password out of spite.
In the situation where both sides cannot meet, this dilemma of suspicion is hard to unravel because neither can provide enough evidence for the other to trust them.
So, Shiller chose to bluff.
Bluffing is the best way to answer most of the questions you cannot answer. You cannot say you don't know because the other party won't believe you, nor can you make rational guesses because if the other party acts according to your guess and gets it wrong, the responsibility lands on your shoulders.
You only need to introduce a bit of bluffing into the equation, and the issue is solved. Even though I don't know the answer, I'm telling you this is the answer anyway. If I'm wrong, I did it on purpose. Don't go delving into matters that are too deep for you.
Yet, Shiller's bluffing has a basis in psychology. It's known that Peter is a good man, even a saintly one. If he didn't get the password from Shiller, and then the person died, Peter would feel responsible.
But if Shiller purposely gave him a wrong password, then the responsibility would fall onto Shiller, not Peter.
From the reaction of his teammates, one can see that the girl who initially angrily snatched Peter's phone also had a hint of accusing Peter in her. However, once Shiller started by saying that he did it deliberately, the girl immediately vented her anger towards Shiller.
Then, at this point, Shiller concocted a story, rationalizing and justifying his actions. I had no choice, I had my difficulties, but what goes around comes around. Blame it on the disputes of the previous generation.
Next, he shifted the blame to his colleague, saying he knew I had a grudge with the victim and still left my number- isn't he trying to stab someone with a borrowed knife?
And before long, Peter and the other girl should start to sense something was wrong.
At least Shiller was brave enough to claim his killing hands, stating that he was avenging a grudge. In contrast, the one who left the note inevitably seemed like a rat in the sewer, wanting to harm others but not daring to do it himself.
Shiller understood that young people like Peter and that girl don't like any bad guys. But if they had to compare, they would prefer straightforward bad guys who at least bear the responsibilities. The kind of treacherous, back-stabbing villains is what they detest the most.
Moreover, their imagination was strong, connecting to the scenes in the game they are playing, once their attention was diverted, they wouldn't be so heartbroken about their team member's death.
There was also an obvious trap with Steve's team. Steve asked Shiller for treatment methods, clearly someone told him that Shiller could treat it.
But Shiller guessed that as soon as he started the treatment, Coulson would definitely go mad and deteriorate. This would result in the chain of suspicion again, regardless of whether the other party knew the password or not, they would never tell it to him again.
So Shiller directly told him that it wasn't within his treatment range, not to look for a doctor, and to go pray to God instead.
After hearing Nick's voice, Shiller deliberately guided him towards the supernatural because he knew that's what S.H.I.E.L.D did. In the real world, if a small town disappeared out of the blue, it would definitely fall within the jurisdiction of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Once they're in Nick's familiar turf, he wouldn't feel lost anymore. The subsequent performance also proved that Shiller's guidance was effective. Nick decisively subdued Coulson.
Because compared to a mentally ill person, the S.H.I.E.L.D Director was more adept at dealing with people possessed by ghosts.
If Coulson were a mental patient, Nick wouldn't have much to say, after all, he's not a doctor. Faced with Captain America, he necessarily had to consider some humanitarian concerns. He can't be too heavy-handed and can only delay.
But if it's ghost possession, then the S.H.I.E.L.D Director's commands carry more weight. Since whatever is in Coulson now isn't even a person, why worry about patient welfare? Just knock him out and that's the end of it.
As for the last white can, Shiller's flow of nonsensical talk had a hint of personal vengeance. But he really didn't get any address. What else could he do if not making things up?
As for the passcode he needed, Shiller stood up, walked over to the door, and punched in a few numbers on the code lock.
"Click", the lock opened.
Shiller entered the hallway, recollecting a few sentences he heard during the phone call.
"The one who left us the note definitely has bad intentions. If he 'two of us' gets to it first...."
"We have 'four people' here, but even with the other three together, it's hard to suppress him…"
"I'll go with my partners, yes, 'three of us' together…"
The answer could only be the number of people in these three team, making the password 2, 4, 3.
Shiller opened the door and walked out. Outside was a pitch-dark corridor, and only a green light was shining in front of a room opposite, seemingly indicating to Shiller where to head.
At the end of the corridor, Shiller saw a TV hanging. After the TV flickered a couple times with snow, the doll reappeared. Shiller stood in the middle of the corridor and turned back to look at it.
"You got what you wanted, but what did it cost?" A faint and desolate voice rang out.
"The cost is that these few teams have to recalculate half a night's accounts."