"Shiller!!!!!" Nick's roar echoed through the office, as if he was about to spew a ferocious sandstorm tornado from his mouth. The Chief of the SWORD Bureau beside him wore a look of helplessness.
Yet, Shiller nonchalantly dug his ear and said, "Alright, alright, I never said I wasn't the one who silenced them. Can't you all just confess and get leniency?"
Nick rolled his eyes in frustration.
"What did I say before this all started? What did I say?!! I said you could only get involved as a psychiatrist..."
"I did get involved as a psychiatrist, so now, this professional psychiatrist has some insights. Do you want to hear them?"
Nick's furious expression vanished in a second, replaced by a puzzled one. He had already discussed this with Zhengxian, and they believed it unlikely that Shiller orchestrated this because, as far as both of them understood, there were better ways for Shiller to achieve his goals and there was no need for him to resort to silencing witnesses, unless he did it on purpose.
Shiller briefly updated Nick and Zhengxian on the current situation, emphasizing the attributes of the behind-the-scenes manipulator and the mysterious contamination. He told them, without reservation, that some superheroes might already be contaminated.
Now both of them were freaking out. Looking at their expressions, Shiller knew that his psychological consulting fees were set to rise this quarter.
Of course, he wasn't a devil. Shiller soothed their anxiety a bit before saying, "What I can be sure of is this contamination must have a medium of transmission; it can't occur out of thin air. Now that we've found so many contaminated individuals and even got our hands on contaminated bodies, we have enough samples to speculate clues."
Nick then remembered what they needed to do. He turned and barked at Coulson, "Get someone to examine the bodies immediately, by any means necessary. We must figure out what this contamination is all about!"
While the two were off investigating, Shiller wasn't idle. He knew these seemingly trivial events might just be links in a plan, but no matter which link or what function it served, there was bound to be a final objective.
And Shiller didn't believe he was that ultimate goal.
Or it could be said that the ultimate goal might be him, but Mad Laugh wouldn't be foolish enough to think that causing such chaos would overwhelm him. In this stage of the events, the final target would not be Shiller; it would be something else.
This 'something else' must be key, playing a decisive role in the next phase of world development, allowing Mad Laugh to use it to influence the direction of the Marvel World.
Who has such ability?
After a mental search, Shiller found that there weren't many names or events left on the list.
Most importantly, the vast majority of superheroes had reached their full potential. They didn't - and didn't need to - evolve anymore. Their places in the cosmos were already set, and their roles in the next phase of cosmic development wouldn't change from the present.
The problem must lie with the next generation, who hold infinite possibilities.
First, Wanda had two children, Pepper was pregnant, and after Gwen got pregnant, the child went to Lisa. There might be a key amongst these children.
Shiller recalled Gaia's words: Wanda's control over the Chaotic Power was excessive. Part of it had been transferred to her children, a part the cosmos could not sustain. To bring chaos and order back into balance, the key lay in Lisa's womb, with the Child of Order.
However, to be on the safe side, Shiller still went to see Wanda first. He told her everything, because as a mother, he felt she had the right to know the current status of her children.
Wanda was not surprised; she just appeared very worried. Clearly, she might have sensed something before Shiller, but upon learning her children might be contaminated, she became unusually angry.
Fortunately, Wanda was now a mother. With much more at stake than before, even in her anger, she remained in control, looking at Shiller, she asked, "Do you think he would go after my children? Is there even the slightest possibility?"
Shiller knew that Wanda was asking because she was prepared to spare no expense to eliminate the behind-the-scenes manipulator first. While Wanda's powers were unreasonably strong, capable of annihilating any crap that invaded this universe, the source was not the issue, because what came over couldn't have been Mad Laugh's main body; catching anything but the source was pointless.
Shiller shook his head and said, "I think it's very unlikely. Given his understanding of us, you would not be his primary target. We all know how strong you are."
Wanda nodded and without false modesty agreed. She was certain, telling Shiller, "I also think it's impossible. These children are born of me; if there were something wrong with their bodies, I would have definitely noticed."
"Furthermore... I have to admit my children are special. The kind of power they possess isn't entirely the Chaotic Power I passed on to them. I don't know what it is, but I believe it's something even more fundamental."
"From what?" Shiller asked with curiosity.
"Remember that terrifying universe we went to?" Wanda said. "I looked It in the eye, and It might be coming back for me."
Shiller was slightly taken aback; he hadn't expected to be involved in this matter, but it seemed to be a good thing for the moment. Although the K-series was equally dangerous, it could at least ensure that things of a lower existence level than theirs would not pose any harm to the children.
"So, if we think about it the other way around," Shiller said, "I believe he would choose to target ordinary people, at least those who are considered ordinary compared to you."
A glimmer of brilliance flashed in Wanda's eyes as she said, "Gwen!"
"If, according to Gaia, the child inside Gwen is the Child of Order, then as long as the Child of Order loses control, chaos and order will both become unbalanced. Attacking my child would achieve the same effect, but it's countless times simpler."
In this regard, Wanda showed remarkable wisdom. She said, "You mentioned that a monster called Incubus was approaching Lisa in her dreams; it might not be trying to get close to Lisa, but rather the child in her womb."
"But that child's soul has not been ignited."
"And that's precisely why monsters are drawn in." Wanda leaned forward, grabbing Shiller's wrist and said, "It's possible that someone wants to replace Aux in igniting the soul of Lisa's child!"
"We can't dismiss that possibility," Shiller contemplated before saying, "But why Gwen?"
"Perhaps it doesn't have to be Gwen, she's just easier to target," Wanda quickly replied, "Maybe it's because Gwen is close enough to the source of pollution, making her the easiest target, so..."
"Are you suggesting there's a problem with Peter Parker?"
Wanda was just about to say something but hesitated slightly. She released Shiller's wrist and brought her hand back in front of her, tapping lightly before saying, "I know you, Doctor, would be reluctant to suspect him, and I'm just positing a possibility..."
Shiller looked at Wanda and suddenly smiled, then said, "You've really changed a lot, ma'am."
"I still miss the days when you called me 'miss,'" Wanda replied with a smile, "Those were such carefree times."
"In fact, if we're talking about contamination, everyone who participated in Battleworld has an equal amount of suspicion; it doesn't exempt someone because he's Peter Parker or Spider-Man," Shiller objectively stated, "Even I should be a suspect."
"No, Doctor, you're not," Wanda said earnestly, her analysis not sounding like flattery. "You said that this contamination is something that affects the mind through the body, but the existence of your mind is unlike any of ours. I've learned from Professor that you have virtually explored every corner of your Psychic_Battlefield. If you were contaminated and affected, you would not fail to notice it, at least your chances of detecting it are the highest among all of us."
"But that's not the case with Peter Parker," Wanda sighed softly and said, "I have some understanding of Spider-Man's abilities, and I've never heard of him having anything special in terms of the mind. Of course, maybe his Spider-sense could find a way, but it's hard to say."
"Spider-sense would definitely be able to detect it," Shiller asserted confidently, "Especially at the instant the other party strikes, Peter wouldn't possibly be unaware."
However, Wanda proposed another possibility, "Can the Spider-sense precisely differentiate the source of danger? What I mean is, if at the same time, from the same direction, the same object poses two different threats, can the Spider-sense perfectly distinguish between them?"
After careful consideration, Shiller still shook his head, saying, "Probably not. If two dangers are nearly perfectly superimposed, even if the Spider-sense alerts with slight variations, Peter might not have noticed them. After all, Spider-sense is just a sense; the real analysis of danger is done by Peter's brain."
"Then the probability is quite significant," Wanda concluded, "Captain America Steve mentioned to me that they took part in a dangerous spatial game in Battleworld."
Shiller naturally remembered that game; he wasn't present himself and had only heard a few remarks from Peter about it. The game's rule was to complete tasks within a constantly flipping space; I heard it was extremely perilous and that they won the game at the last second.
That was indeed one of the rare times Peter was not under Shiller's watchful eye. If something had gone wrong during that time, it would make sense.
Shiller began to analyze from the beginning once again; he said, "Based on the timeline, among this series of events, the earliest incident that occurred was actually the dismissal event of Mysterio."
Wanda nodded, looking at the notebook in front of her with notes she had taken earlier while listening to Shiller. She pointed to something and said, "Look here, Doctor, you mentioned that this guy called Beck was promoted to the head of the research team and planned to lead his group in continuing the research on the Illusion Device."
Shiller nodded, and then Wanda continued, "You also said that later, Stark Group mass-produced this device, even launching some kind of directors' club to market the device."
Shiller nodded again.
"That means Stark Group sees commercial value in the device, so why did Mysterio resign in the first place?"
"Actually, he didn't resign," Shiller corrected himself, "He was fired because he suddenly went mad and destroyed an extremely important piece of equipment."