Shiller walked into the lab with Rocket Raccoon and successfully interrupted the argument between the two—they both screamed.
"Get out! Get out of here, you furry creature! Stay away from my cultures!!!"
"Shiller! Grab that raccoon and get out! His fur will stick to every piece of precision equipment and cause them to malfunction! Get him out of here!!"
Shiller, along with the raccoon, was thrown out of the lab, so he just patted the raccoon on the head and said, "I think you could totally sue them for race discrimination."
"That would mean I have to admit I'm a raccoon, right? You're not much better than them."
"What I'm saying is a fact, you are a raccoon."
At this moment, Stark and Reed both came to the door, and Shiller, through the lab's observation window, said to them, "We just wanted to ask how your research on the virus was going..."
They murmured something to each other inside for a bit, then Susan came out after a while. The blonde beauty smiled at Shiller, then said, "Mr. Richards has found that this is indeed a virus, but what's fascinating is that in mutants carrying the X-gene, it remains recessive, meaning it does not manifest."
"And then?"
"But the virus still continues to attack their immune system, and during this time, increased body temperature, cold sweats, and sneezing might occur, though it's not severe. After about a week, they'll develop antibodies to the virus."
"Antibodies?"
"Yes, that means they won't be infected by this virus anymore."
"It seems Laira was telling the truth," Shiller murmured, and then he continued to ask, "Did you find out anything else?"
"Of course, the most important piece of news is that this virus seems to be a branch of a larger virus class. Mr. Richards believes that by analysing the structure of the virus, it appears to be derived and specially cultivated from another virus."
"Was it artificially cultivated?"
"Yes, and the technique is very sophisticated, not something a non-professional could manage," Susan thought for a moment, then emphasized, "And by professional, I mean human, not some race that uses magic."
Susan didn't go into detail, probably because she thought Shiller wouldn't understand the technical terms, but Shiller understood her point.
There are many technologically advanced civilizations in the cosmos, and while they all ultimately converge, their paths and Earth's might not be the same; even though they all conduct chemical experiments, some civilizations take a completely different scientific approach.
For example, Asgard also has a Royal Research Institute and scientists who specialize in research, factories for building spaceships; the principles may seem similar, but they're actually far too different from humans', as they possess Divine Power, and the whole process of scientific development cannot be the same as that of humans without Divine Power.
Some traces of scientific research are unique to humans; perhaps Richards found some unique traces during his research on the virus, which led him to conclude that this virus was created by human scientists.
This also lined up with what the otter Laira had said, since Supreme Evolution was originally a human, even though he had evolved now, he probably still retained many human research habits.
So now the main question remaining was—why would Supreme Evolution do this?
Shiller left the lab with Rocket Raccoon and headed back to the Stone House where he saw Wanda and Jarvis shooting a video. Shiller greeted Wanda, who said somewhat embarrassingly,
"Sorry, Doctor, I'm borrowing your house for a bit."
Shiller waved it off nonchalantly, but soon he looked at Wanda and said, "Your voice sounds a bit hoarse. Do you have a cold?"
"Yes, I might have caught a chill last night," Wanda said helplessly. "But it's actually perfect for shooting a video about taking medicine."
Shiller didn't ask further and went upstairs with Rocket. Halfway up, he remembered—what were the symptoms mentioned for the virus when it established antibodies?
Could Wanda be infected too?
But it didn't make sense—the lab was sealed, the virus shouldn't have spread out… Wait a minute, with Reed in there, it's hard to say.
But the virus was harmless; it just established a type of antibody. Even if it was harmful, it could only affect the Scarlet Witch's human form, not The power of Scarlet, so Shiller didn't worry about it.
Upstairs in the guest room, Shiller and Rocket Raccoon found Laira, who was organizing her equipment. Seeing them approach, she waved at them.
Otters are definitely cuter than raccoons, especially when they rub their cheeks, but considering that Laira was a lady, Shiller, unfortunately, had to give up the idea of hugging her.
"Human, I can tell you wanted to hug me—don't blame me for not giving you the chance; I just wanted to remind you that an otter's fur is for repelling water, it's not nearly as soft as a raccoon's, it's prickly to the touch."
Shiller withdrew his stealthy hand, and Laira shook her head, saying, "There are quite a few races in the universe that like furry animals, but almost no one likes otter fur. Anyway, let's not talk about that, what did you come to see me for?"
"Since you've already spread the virus to the Andromeda Galaxy, you've essentially completed the mission—didn't Supreme Evolution contact you?"
"We've set a time because I don't think this guy will find me so easily," Laira glanced at Rocket beside her, then said, "In two days, we'll meet in Centaurus—are you planning to ambush him there?"
"Of course not, we just want to figure out why he's doing this. Do you think he's easy to deal with?"
After thinking for a bit, Laira said, "He's a bit strange. I think he's very strong, stronger than anyone else I've met, but he also seems very childish. His personality does not match his strength."
Shiller thought and felt it might be because Supreme Evolution had ascended, similar to how if Iron Demon God had chosen to ascend, his mental age wouldn't have grown much, and it would be normal to seem childish.
Human lifespans are really too short. According to Shiller, 80% of the races in the cosmos have an original lifespan much longer than humans, commonly 300 to 400 years, and even the shorter ones have more than 200 years. In their view, humans, who die in less than 100 years, are almost like ephemeral mayflies.
Because human lifespans are so short, naturally, the standard for adulthood has to be lowered. It's kind of a joke to become an adult at 40 when you only live about 80 years. Thus, adulthood is reached around 20.
Although humans' bodies fully develop in their twenties, their psychological age is actually far behind. It's not an exaggeration to say that humans only mature mentally at 40.
Theoretically, the longer the lifespan of a race in the cosmos, the stronger they are, like the Aesir Clan, who are all assumed to live at least ten or eight thousand years in the cosmos, some of whom have already lived that long.
But Supreme Evolution and their case are different. Shiller guessed he might be only thirty or forty years old, but he possessed strength far beyond ordinary people. Despite possibly still having the mind of a child, he was already stronger than many ancient creatures who had lived much longer, which made Laira feel uneasy.
The cosmos' view of humans is also mostly like this; to them, humans are a group of extremely destructive, immature-minded kids.
Since that's the case, Shiller felt it necessary to meet this Supreme Evolution because he always felt that this guy causing all this trouble on the Mutant's territory probably wasn't part of some grand scheme, but perhaps due to some ridiculous, trivial matter.
"Can you bring Rocket with you when you visit him? After all, they're both from the same place..."
"I am not a raccoon!"
"You are, and you're a North American Racoon, a native Earth species," Shiller said, absolutely sure.
Rocket Raccoon, not bothering to argue further, looked at Laira and said, "I also want to figure out what this guy wants. But I also know the industry rules..."
"Oh, it's okay, I can take you; he doesn't care at all."
"Why, is this guy not cautious?"
"When you visit Odin, does Odin stay cautious around you?" Laira said, "What about ten of you, or a hundred?"
"Do you think he's as strong as Odin?"
"To me, whether it's him or Odin, it's the same. I can't beat either, he isn't cautious around me anyway, so one more of you won't make a difference."
"Alright, then I'll come with you to see him."
Shiller didn't concern himself further with Rocket and Laira's affair, although he knew Rocket wanted to take this opportunity to rekindle an old flame, but it shouldn't delay other important matters. He had his own business to attend to.
Shiller also needed to continue filming his video.
He had not updated for just over a day, and people were already clamoring for more. Shiller had no choice but to quickly fulfill his promise to make a cooking video.
Shiller leafed through his previously collected recipes, many of which were authentic Chinese cuisines. However, considering most of his fans were from English-speaking countries, Shiller decided to find a few modified recipes to make and record a video.
Shiller decided to start recording from the preparation stage. Although he also wanted to film a video of shopping at the supermarket, the farm was too remote, and it seemed a little deliberate to make a trip to Los Angeles now.
Shiller's initial idea was good but ran into issues on the first step. He placed his phone at one side of the table and then started chopping vegetables. After recording a segment and checking the result, he realized the audio was poor.
That meant he either needed to prepare some audio recording gear for himself or do voiceovers after filming. Either way, Shiller found it to be a hassle.
With the farm being so remote, even ordering a microphone online would take several days to arrive, and doing voiceovers would require synchronizing the audio tracks to avoid desynchronization. Shiller didn't want to deal with editing.
In the end, Shiller thought for a moment and sought out his butler; Ultron was filming the landscape of the farm. When Shiller found him, he was introducing his audience to the cabbages in the field.
"Ultron! Ultron!" Shiller called him under the sun, pressing his straw hat down a bit lower.
Ultron turned around, saw it was Shiller, and immediately pointed the camera at him, then said to Shiller, "Doctor, how about saying hello to the audience?"
Shiller had grown quite accustomed to this kind of thing. He waved at the camera, then noticed something odd about Ultron's phone interface—it didn't quite seem like the interface for recording videos.
"Did you start a live stream?"
"Yes, my fans wanted to see the true side of a superhero, so I started a live stream, and they agreed."
Ultron said somewhat proudly, "Also, a mother of two among my fans provided some tips for easing morning sickness, which greatly helped Ms. Carter. She can finally get some good sleep now. Steve was happy to cooperate with me and shoot a video of Captain America greeting everyone."
You indeed have to rely on the wisdom of the masses, Shiller thought. Then he remembered his task and asked, "Ultron, do you have a spare microphone?"