Shiller descended the spiral staircase, looking somewhat helplessly at the scene before shaking his head and saying, "I think I've figured out the truth about why the Life Factor can no longer regenerate."
All three of them stared at him, and Shiller said with a hint of helplessness, "I can't directly tell you, because I don't know how to do so without causing problems that would involve the entire cosmos, but there might be someone who can."
Batman looked at him intently as Shiller said, "Where did you take Deadpool? "
"I locked him in the workshop of the chemical factory, he was just too noisy."
"There's a good side to being noisy. Release them, we all need to take a trip to the chemical factory and bring Deadpool back, only he can explain to you what's really going on."
Batman watched him for a bit, then pressed the remote control in his hand, releasing Wonder Woman first. She just reached for the Lasso of Truth at her waist when Shiller suddenly raised his voice, "As you can see, I am the new psychologist hired by Batman."
Wonder Woman paused in her movement, looking at Shiller she said, "Batman needs a psychologist now? Clark, this is all your doing! He must be feeling heartbroken because he thinks we had a party without him!"
After the Kryptonite was put away, Superman took flight again. He didn't take action but just looked at Primary Universe Batman coldly.
"You might have found his recent behavior a bit odd, and that's because I taught him some social skills, and he's just trying to use them to win your hearts back."
"We haven't changed our hearts." Wonder Woman said, "It was just necessary for the plan."
"But you know how heartbroken he can get."
Superman and Wonder Woman exchanged a look, then Wonder Woman said, "Alright, you've convinced me, but you have to assure me that the person you said who can tell the truth is not a joke, we really don't have much time."
"According to the original plan, this party was supposed to be a meeting to discuss how to completely deal with the criminals in the Phantom Prison and Arkham Asylum. We hoped to eliminate as many criminals as possible before we were thrown into the Recycling Pool, to free up Batman to investigate the truth about the origin of the world. But unexpectedly..."
"Don't be too discouraged." Shiller said, "I think the current situation is just fine, you'll understand after you know the truth."
Everyone fell silent, no one wanted to argue anymore. Batman started up a small fighter, taking him and Shiller towards the direction of the chemical factory, while Superman and Wonder Woman followed by flying on their own.
In a remote workshop of the chemical factory, they finally found Deadpool, whose mouth was gagged and who was still cursing. But seeing the triumvirate of the Justice League assembled, Deadpool completely forgot his anger from when Batman had kidnapped him. He excitedly jumped up and said, "Is this the trial to join the Justice League? Can I become an intern now?!"
Then, out of nowhere, he produced a camera and began frantically taking pictures with the trio, and Batman almost wished he could tie him up again.
"Alright, Wade." Shiller called out his name, then said, "Now, I need you to tell them something."
"What's that?" Deadpool was taken aback.
"First off, why do you want to join the Justice League? Because you're so just?"
"Of course, it's for the popularity! You know, here we have Superman, the pioneer of superheroes, and the most popular superhero Batman, and the most popular female superhero Wonder Woman! Of course, I want to join them, so I can instantly become a top hero, the hottest of hotshots!"
"So, popularity is important to you, right?" Shiller gently prodded.
"Of course!" Deadpool exclaimed, eyes widening, but then he slyly looked around, lowered his voice, and whispered to the air, "Popularity is important, let me tell you secretly, without it, it can end up being quite tragic!"
"What crazy talk is he saying?" Wonder Woman asked, frowning, the other two also seemed puzzled.
"So, tell us, what happens when you have no popularity?" Shiller continued to guide Deadpool.
"What else could happen, if you're completely forgotten, that's soul disintegration, if it's just lack of popularity, you probably get forgotten in some corner and rot away. Those who once had popularity but fell from favor, it's like their life is forever stuck at that moment, never moving forward again."
In his mind, Shiller thought, indeed, Deadpool couldn't be too explicit. He couldn't outright say that comics without popularity get cancelled, movies without popularity don't get sequels, toys without popularity don't get bought or played with, so naturally, there's only one path left—to be forgotten and slowly decay in a corner.
"And what if you have popularity?"
"Of course, it means being like me, the red-hot celebrity!" Deadpool jumped up excitedly and began speaking to the air above his head again, "Even though my own comic isn't making much progress, I recently got into a movie, you all saw it, right? I'm the standard leading man. As for that guy with the long claws, huh, he's just reheating old leftovers!"
Although most of what Deadpool said was crazy talk, they began to recall Shiller's words that there was someone who could reveal the truth. Could this be it? What exactly is this 'popularity' he's talking about?
Shiller also became almost clear on what could and couldn't be said, so he just stated, "You might understand it as if we're currently in a game..."
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Shiller stopped Batman and said, "I'm not talking about the Battleworld game, but their cosmos."
"Imagine if in higher dimensions, there was a group of people who decided the life and death of universes by voting. What do you think would happen to the universes that didn't receive enough votes?"
Superman seemed to gradually understand and said, "You mean we're the one that got dropped by the votes?"
"You might have just not been chosen, or perhaps you were chosen but then more and more universes got pitched, and you were neglected." Shiller chose his words carefully, firmly avoiding any direct mention of the harsh truths about their world, speaking only in analogies.
"So our world's origin power won't regenerate anymore." Wonder Woman said incredulously, "How could they be so cruel?!"
"Sorry, ma'am, but it is that cruel."
Shiller couldn't explain to them that it was market selection, with business behavior always being cruel; if there's a good response, the shooting continues, if not, it's forgotten, without a sequel, products won't sell, and how can there be anything new?
Shiller spread his hands out and said, "If I'm not mistaken, now the world's origin is just unable to regenerate, and later it will gradually fade, slowly dying until every part is completely decayed, and then this universe will no longer exist."
"What should we do?" Wonder Woman asked anxiously, "How can we get them to vote for us?!"
Shiller stroked his chin, thinking that actually, Battleworld was a good place to turn a universe popular again. Since this Lego World had already been included in the range of copies, it was actually possible to become popular again.
But since this was their first encounter with a copy, how to make these nearly forgotten universes come back to life was something they had no practical experience with.
After thinking it over, Shiller still offered a solution from his perspective and said, "You can think of these voters as beings who only care about pleasure, who simply seek joy from observing the states of various universes."
"So are you saying our universe's state is no longer making them happy? But we clearly haven't done anything." Wonder Woman argued.
"No, you have done something," the Primary Universe Batman suddenly interjected, having been silently reflecting for a while now. Even as an involved party, he had keenly grasped the essence of the situation with his astonishing wisdom.
"Your predecessors chose self-sacrifice to replenish the Life Factor. If I'm not wrong, they went directly into a vat of chemicals."
"Yes, but that was for the sake of..."
"No, no matter the reason, that act has already become unacceptable." Inspired by Batman, Shiller said, "You can think of it as the voters being from various age groups, your universe only appealed to one age group, and people from that age group do not accept such stories, so..."
"So they didn't give us their votes," Superman concluded. "Because we just wanted to keep the world going, to fight for our existence."
"I'm afraid they can't understand," Shiller said. "They only see what you did as dark and terrifying, so they don't want to choose you anymore."
"So should we just give in?" Superman asked. "Pretend we know nothing and continue to live this happy life?"
"You're thinking about it wrong," Shiller walked over and put an arm around Superman's shoulders, "Who doesn't face hardship at work? Isn't it all for earning money? Once you've earned enough, won't you live the way you want?"
"Besides, can it be worse than all of you jumping into that vat of chemicals together? We're just putting on a show for those people, which is much easier than what many other universes have to do."
Superman was skeptical, while Shiller added, "At least you should consider, if Batman went through with your original plan and was left alone, how lonely he would be, knowing how afraid he is of loneliness."
"Plus, don't you want to see Batman's progress?" Shiller looked at Superman and said, "Getting along with the him just now is already much more comfortable, right? If you keep interacting, I believe you'll find it surprising."
Superman appeared hesitant, but Wonder Woman took a more relaxed view. "No matter the method, as long as it can save the world, I'll accept it. But I still have no clue how to get them to vote for us?"
"Of course, keep to your previous style," Shiller suggested. "Forget that cruel raw material Recycling Pool plan, let's rewrite everything to be a bit more light-hearted."
"But the previous generation of superheroes will never come back," Superman said with pursed lips. "Mr. and Mrs. Wayne, too."
"That's not necessarily true," Shiller smiled and said. "Everything can have a lighter explanation."
"You mean to lie? But lies are lies, dead people can't come back to life; it will eventually be exposed."
"That's not necessarily true," Shiller smiled again, and he exchanged a glance with the Primary Universe Batman, both thinking of the same solution.
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