In the office of the Time Management Bureau, Shiller, leaning on his chair, yawned and stretched, saying, "I'm going to rest for a bit, don't call me if it's not necessary."
Dr. Strange waved his hand to signal him to hurry up and go. He was engrossed in reviewing the homework of the young wizards sent by Wong, the head steward of Kamar-Taj, and was too busy to deal with Shiller for the time being.
Dr. Strange was not worried about Shiller escaping—currently, the space around the Time Management Bureau was sealed by him. It was impossible for Shiller to open a portal here, and Strange would notice any other forms of teleportation.
Dr. Strange thought that Shiller could run away, but he couldn't escape from the temple. However, Shiller planned to abandon the temple altogether.
Moving was a bit troublesome, but Shiller had a good helper: Professor Charles, who was navigating the Ship of the Underworld in the Dreamworld.
Standing on the deck, Charles gave a wry smile. After the ship stabilized completely, he disembarked, embraced Shiller, and said, "The day has finally come—it is later than I had expected. I thought you couldn't wait."
"A good meal is worth waiting for," Shiller replied cheerfully. "I feel it's a bit early, actually. I prefer being a psychologist, but I have no choice."
At this point, Ye Meng Jia De had already coiled around the ship's mast, constantly whipping its tail and shouting, "Set sail! Set sail quickly! I don't want to stay here for another second!"
Charles patted Shiller on the shoulder and asked, "How many people are planning to go this time? Who will they be?"
"You might not be familiar with the people this time," Shiller replied as he and Charles headed towards the ship. "In addition to me, there are a few newcomers. Let's board the ship first."
The group boarded the ship. The Ship of the Underworld sailed through the Dreamworld, gradually entering a thick fog, and beyond the fog lay a brand new Consciousness Space.
The Skrulls' Consciousness Space was slightly different from that of the human race. Their memory and comprehension organs were far more developed, hence their Consciousness Space was more organized.
The human Consciousness Space resembled fragments strung together by a thread, with instinct, memory, and thought chaotically intertwined, often appearing and disappearing simultaneously.
The Skrulls evolution paved a more advanced path in this regard. They were innately able to introspect their consciousness, build their individual Consciousness Space, memory, and thoughts. These weren't abstract concepts for the Skrulls but real constructs they could visualize in their minds.
This made Shiller's upcoming task easier, which was to first set up a temporary camp here and then rebuild a tall tower.
It wasn't that Shiller had to go all in with his act. The problem was that over the years, Shiller had become accustomed to this way of thinking. Therefore, he decided to stick to his old methods and first build a tall tower.
Ye Meng Jia De had been circling the area for a while. It coiled around the organized filing cabinets that represented memories, forming a large ring. At the same time, Shiller's team officially commenced their Tower Building Project Phase II.
However, while they were busy setting up, they still had to follow through with the main task at hand: investigating Spider Man's situation. Fortunately, given the divided personality traits, while others worked in the Consciousness Space, Greed could go about doing the actual work.
Before leaving for their destination, Shiller had one more thing to do: summon the Gray Mist.
Since he temporarily didn't need that body, he had to summon the Gray Mist, which was an important component in constructing Shiller's new identity.
Ever since Shiller thought of building a new identity, he had been incessantly reminding the Gray Mist that it was a magical creature and not to be preoccupied with physical movements, but instead to exhibit some mystical attributes.
Gray Mist was aware that its existence was unique. Neither was it like the material life in the cosmos, nor was it purely energy-based like the Cosmic Sorcerer. Instead, it was a combination of the two.
However, because it thought it was a symbiont, it focused all its points into abilities that a symbiont would possess, even highlighting its own weaknesses.
Once it realized that it wasn't a symbiont, Gray Mist began to pay more attention to its instincts.
But it found that its instincts couldn't be unleashed while inside Shiller's body. When it was inside Shiller, it really was a symbiont.
It had to expand the gray mist factor and envelop a region before some anomalies would gradually appear.
Gray Mist was still unclear as to what these anomalies were useful for, but for Shiller, this was enough. For him, the most important thing about magic was the special effects.
Whether one could really perform magic didn't matter. As long as others believed you could, it was enough.
During their discussion about abilities with the Gray Mist, they began to ponder what kind of image and abilities could intimidate others and better differentiate from their current persona of a psychologist, allowing themselves to participate in the game in a new identity without being exposed and blacklisted by others.
In the end, they found that conjuring frightening images in the conventional sense seemed too pedestrian. True fear always stemmed from the unknown, and with this realization, Shiller had a bold idea.
Afterwards, Shiller, armed with his new identity, went to the White Can's cosmos to investigate Spider Man's death case.
However, there was one problem: showing up directly would make Shiller an alien visitor, and without an official identity, it would be hard for him to deal with the locals. But such challenges never deterred Shiller.
Imbibing new personas was supposed to be challenging—otherwise it wouldn't be fun. Therefore, Shiller didn't use any privileges to create an identity for himself. He planned to start from scratch and get his footing.
Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters office, Nick scowls at the file in his hand, which addresses the recent abnormalities experienced by San Francisco residents over the past month.
As he recalls the process of tucking Nick Fury from this universe into the safe house, he makes sure no details have slipped through the cracks before refocusing his attention on the file.
"Boss, you need to take a look at this."
Coulson strides in, standing beside the large silver conference table. Nick Fury looks at him, about to rebuke him for not knocking as usual, before he sees the somber expression on Coulson's face.
Nick immediately senses something serious must have occurred. He turns a keen eye to Coulson's countenance while picking up the report Coulson delivered.
The photos in the report immediately catch his attention. He brings the file a bit closer, scrutinizing the image it contains.
It's a two-story building with a red rooftop. To Nick's eye, it likely belongs to an average family in a middle-class neighborhood in New York. It looks perfectly ordinary, and the building age might not exceed 20 years, so it's rather new.
But the focus isn't the house itself, but the mysterious column of smoke rising from the woods in the background of the shot.
"Coulson, are you trying to break through to the level seven agent evaluation threshold again?" Nick puts down the file, looks at Coulson, and questions, "You're bringing these unclear reports of mysterious flying objects to me?"
"It's not unclear," Coulson sighs, placing a bulging briefcase on the table. He points at it and continues, "In just one week, there have been over two hundred sighting reports in New York State, almost all at different times and places, observed in different manners."
Coulson picks up the file Nick set down, flips through a few pages, and hands it back to Nick. This time, Nick's pupils constrict because the photo doesn't depict a distant, obscure column of smoke anymore.
This shot displays a forest. Dense bushes and lofty birch trees barely hide the reflective surface of a pond, while the thick fog lingering in the sky above the pond hides a massive eyeball.
Optical parallax, Nick thinks. During his years as the S.H.I.E.L.D Director, he has dealt with many similar cases, rarely related to mysteries, and mostly involving optical illusions and phenomena.
However, flipping to the next page makes this conclusion seem a bit shaky because this picture depicts an old factory— seemingly thermally powered and equipped with chimneys.
It seems to be a view grabbed by surveillance cameras. In the pitch-black night, several towering chimneys emit thick fog, within which another eyeball seems to faintly form.
Nick flips back to the previous picture and compares the shapes of the two eyes, thinking it's hardly a coincidence. If these are indeed optical phenomena based on the Tyndall effect, wouldn't these two eyes look a bit too similar?
If one had to describe the shape of this eye, it's not overly realistic. It lacks the three-dimensional structure of an eye, so it's not particularly frightening.
It seems more like a mural composed of thick fog—mysterious and peculiar—more similar to a religious totem than a horrifying supernatural being.
As Nick flips further, his suspicion increases. No wonder Coulson looked so grave—this thing might not be a simple unidentified flying object afterp>
The next picture is even clearer—it's a group of college students cycling on a scenic road, taking a commemorative photo.
Endless mountains stretch out behind them. The autumn sky is clear and eerily blue, while the distant forest shows a mix of red, yellow, green, and purple. In the foreground, a group of lively students smile and huddle together.
At first glance, it's a perfectly normal tourist snapshot, reminiscent of youthful adventures.
But upon a second glance, it's slightly unnerving, because a vague silhouette stands at the edge of the grassy area behind the road, in front of the woods.
As the picture was taken at sunrise, a layer of thin fog blankets the moist grassland and forest due to the diurnal temperature variation. The figure stands at the end of the fog, indistinct and ephemeral, as though it could dissipate at the merest gust of wind.
Nick's years of experience managing supernatural events help him discern that this silhouette isn't formed by a coincidental alteration in the air or fog. The figure simply stands there, seemingly staring directly into the camera as if trying to convey a message.
As he flips further, he finds that the supposed supernatural phenomena witnessed fall into four categories: giant eyes, huge mouths, mysterious columns of smoke, and obscure figures standing amid thin layers of fog.
After finishing the report, Nick pulls out his phone and makes a call, saying, "Hello? Steven, is Shiller with you?"
"He's sleeping, are you sure? Go check... okay, he really is."
"No, nothing, I just need to confirm first that he's not responsible for this. You know, even though it seems unrelated to him, who knows?"
"What? He's awake? Let him answer the phone! Hello? Shiller, I... okay, okay, calm down..."
"No, you're dreaming! I have nothing to consult, and I definitely won't pay you a consultation fee, goodbye!"
Nick hangs up the call, glances at Coulson across the table, and then at the file again. He takes a deep sigh, and announces,
"I suspect this may be related to the mutations of the San Francisco residents. Prioritize this case to the highest level and prepare to initiate the project, codename... 'Guest in the Fog'."