After meeting the Primary Universe Batman, Shiller knew that the current era of the cosmos had reached the New 52, which meant the number of universes was determined by the setting of the New 52.
However, whether it was New 52 or not, there had never been a universe with the same number as Shiller's. At first, he thought this was Earth No. 1, but later evidence proved it was not.
Of course, it could also be Earth Negative One, but the problem was that the Ravager still appeared later; the universe he was in was Earth Negative One, not the one Bruce was in.
And from certain beings with a hyper-dimensional view, including Lucifer, and even Bruce who had become an Angel, Shiller found no possible corresponding number for this universe, meaning it was not one of the universes within the comics.
If one were to ask Shiller to identify who might have altered the direction and plot of the universe within the comics, the clear answer would be the enigmatic original Shiller, who certainly caused a major stir in this universe.
The changes that occurred in Shiller's universe and other universes were all due to the butterfly effect of actions taken by the original Shiller; thus, it was very likely that Mad Laugh was also affected by the butterfly effect, prompting him to do things he would not have done in the original work, such as planting the Laughing Egg within various Batmen.
As mentioned above, the Laughing Egg wasn't an overtly aggressive move; on the contrary, it seemed very much like making a backup, a true backup, meaning a spare embryo.
Laughing Bat took great pains to create these things but surely not for mere aesthetic reasons. He also went through the trouble of hiding them inside many Batmen for a reason; otherwise, why not just stick them in a freezer?
Therefore, Shiller speculated that the Laughing Egg might not be a contaminant but something worse – it was an embryo used for Mad Laugh's resurrection.
Then the question arose: who had prompted Mad Laugh to begin preparations for resurrection?
This was the most perplexing question Shiller had faced in recent days. How dire must Mad Laugh's situation have been for him to immediately embark on a series of resurrection plans?
At the same time, it made Shiller realize that many of his precautionary measures against Mad Laugh might have been in vain, as it was very plausible that someone had already 'completed' this version of Mad Laugh, and that phrase, "Give my regards to Dr. Anatoli," sounded like impotent fury.
Now, Shiller pondered another significant issue: knowing that the changes could have been caused by the original Shiller, but the last thing Mad Laugh did was send his regards to Dr. Anatoli, and considering that both happened to be Soviet, could they be the same person?
It sounded like a preposterous suggestion because from the perspective of a comic transmigrator, one was a character from the real world before transmigration, and the other from the comic world after transmigration – how could they be the same person?
But the issue was that the original Shiller was also a transmigrator, not an original inhabitant of the DC Universe, but another victim in the exhaustive machinations of the father-son duo, God and Lucifer.
However, one point of doubt was that Lucifer himself had said that the soul he had brought over and placed in Shiller's body was that of a general who had committed suicide following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, yet the Dr. Anatoli that Shiller knew did not have a military background and had always been involved in medical research, having nothing to do with the military.
Moreover, the timelines did not match. In Shiller's memory, Dr. Anatoli was still alive and well after the breakup of the Soviet Union, which had happened like a puff of smoke and had not really affected either of them.
Another possibility was that for beings like Lucifer and God, especially the universal God common to all universes, timelines weren't really a problem.
Thus, it was also possible that Dr. Anatoli had first transmigrated to a time when the Soviet Union was still intact, becoming a general and, after committing suicide, ending up in Shiller's body.
But this proposal bred a new problem: Shiller remembered Dr. Anatoli being very indifferent to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, so how it was possible for him to commit suicide over the dissolution after transmigrating to a time before it occurred? It made no sense.
However, by also considering the experiences of the original Shiller in the DC Universe, a possibility emerged.
Actually, the general who committed suicide over the dissolution of the Soviet Union belonged to the earliest time; the experiences of the original Shiller in the DC Universe came second, and the real-world events were the latest.
That is to say, Dr. Anatoli was originally a general from an alternate universe where the Soviet Union hadn't collapsed, who killed himself due to the collapse of his beliefs and was then pulled by Lucifer into Shiller's original body. After completing his mission in the DC, he transmigrated to the modern universe that Shiller was in, becoming Dr. Anatoli.
Some might think that Shiller was pulled through the moment original Shiller exploded in DC, but then how could the original Shiller go to the real universe and still face a younger Shiller and become his doctor?
Again, for beings like God, time is not linear; transmigration to the past doesn't necessarily land at the corresponding point in time, but can occur at an earlier time.
But Shiller had a different theory; he thought that if this was indeed the case, then the original Shiller, who chose not to die but to transmigrate to the real universe, was actually targeting himself.
There was a closed loop: the original Shiller had borrowed heavily, condensed the energy, and left it in his original body; so why did he insist on pulling back Shiller's soul to inherit this energy rather than simply choosing someone more trustworthy?
Even if Shiller was the original soul of that body, from a moral perspective, returning the body to Shiller would seem a kinder choice. However, with so much energy stored within the body, it clearly wasn't just a matter of morality.
Stepping back ten thousand steps, even if the Shiller we pulled back is a complete lunatic who wants to destroy the world, would that mean this energy in his hands is what the original Shiller wanted?
Unless the original Shiller was a hundred percent certain that the Shiller brought back would not misuse this power and could even complete his unfinished business.
So where would such certainty come from?
That's why it's very likely that this was indeed the original Shiller's plan. He staged that explosion as a distraction, but he didn't perish. Instead, he traveled to modern society, to the era when Shiller was still young, and became his doctor, saving Shiller's fate.
Shiller remembered, and he had mentioned before, that the treatment at the time was very unsuccessful. In that era, in that country, there was almost no concept of mental health care; no one had ever seen such a case, and many people were simply helpless.
The mainstream view in the hospital at the time was conservative treatment, in simple terms—just nursing him along to see if he could recover on his own. As for other treatment methods, they could neither think of them nor had the capacity to implement them.
It is foreseeable that with Shiller's mental state at the time, conservative treatment definitely wouldn't cure much. Without help, the reconstruction of the High Tower was an indefinite prospect. More likely, as with most severe mental illness patients, he would be hospitalized for life.
But Dr. Anatoli's arrival changed that. It's not that he had any rich experience in treating such conditions; he was just an expert from the Soviet Union. People from that era in the hospital were very superstitious about Soviet expertise; if he said it was possible, then it was possible, and everyone saw hope.
But Shiller remembered seeing shock and confusion on Anatoli's face more than once. Clearly, the doctor was not as confident as he seemed; Shiller's condition was also a difficult diagnosis for him.
Although it may sound cold and heartless, if there's no blood or emotional bond, Dr. Anatoli had no need to make bold claims out of sympathy for Shiller, asserting that he had a solution, and acting all confident and assured.
Obviously, the symptoms were too complex and difficult to treat. The difficulty of undertaking treatment was high, along with substantial responsibility, because once the claim was made, failure would not only be embarrassing but could also affect relations between the two countries.
Based on what Shiller knew about Dr. Anatoli, what would make Dr. Anatoli dare to make such a commitment was definitely not something like sympathy. He had to do it; he had no other choice.
Thinking about this, Shiller couldn't help laughing. If things really were as he suspected, then Dr. Anatoli, who hastily traveled through time with fireworks, definitely did not anticipate facing such a situation—Shiller blowing himself into pieces so soon.
In a sense, how could this not be considered pushing the duck onto the perch? The plan had already gone this far, and it was too late for regrets. Shiller's illness had to be treated, whether it could be cured or not. What else could be done but to forge ahead and treat it?
One must say, luck is really just a series of coincidences. If it weren't for a Soviet person with the belief that "it must be done" who just happened to be a "disciple of the Pope," it's likely that no one could have treated a difficult case like Shiller's.
After realizing this, Shiller, drawing on his understanding of Dr. Anatoli, did a 180-degree turn in his attitude towards the Laughing bat.
Plans, nesting dolls, predicting like a god, strategizing behind the scenes, destroying the Multiverse—none of that mattered now. Shiller just really wanted to know what had happened to the Laughing bat; he couldn't miss such a grand spectacle, or he'd regret it until next year.
"So, you want me to use the brainwave Amplifier for a wide-area search?" Charles looked at Shiller in surprise and said, "You know he can predict anything, yet you still want to find him, or do you already have a plan against him?"
"Yes, I have a perfect plan," Shiller nodded, and both Aisha and Charles narrowed their eyes because they instinctively felt Shiller was lying.
"Are you sure you can handle him?" Aisha asked worriedly, "What if he's as formidable as you say? Could you be in danger?"
"Pfft..." Shiller couldn't hold back his laughter, and both of them stared at him in astonishment.
"Cough, cough, cough," Shiller coughed several times with his hand covering his mouth and said, "...the one likely to be in danger isn't me. Anyway, just do as I say, my plans are always perfect."
"But why do you hate him so much?" Aisha posed a fundamental question because she felt that Shiller was someone adept at turning enemies into allies. Why was he targeting this particular Batman so persistently?
As if he anticipated their question, Shiller turned around, pulled out a box of crayons from the drawer at his side, and began to write and draw on a piece of paper.
After a while, he held up the paper. Aisha and Charles both leaned in to see that the center had been blacked out with a black crayon, with a sentence written in red capital letters, all crooked—"Can you see what I wrote?"
"I can't see anything at all," Aisha said. "My eyes hurt."
"Isn't that a coincidence? So do mine," said Shiller.