Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 4348 - 3443: Midnight Sons (5)

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"Knock, knock, knock." Shiller knocked on the door.

He pushed the door open and locked eyes with Stark.

"Whoosh," a pillow flew past Shiller's ear. Shiller rolled his eyes, picked up the pillow, and said, "What's wrong with you? We agreed on a fixed price of 80 bucks. It's too late to backtrack now, isn't it?"

"What nonsense!" Stark banged the table and said, "Another you killed me, ruining my mission. You bastard!"

Shiller opened his mouth, using all his might to suppress the corners of his mouth from lifting, and made a regretful expression.

"So the mission failed, huh." Shiller coughed twice, joined the fingertips of both hands together, and said, "You should know, I can't control their actions either..."

"But you could've at least warned us how dangerous they were!" Stark said through gritted teeth, "He even tried to tear the reactor from my chest. If I hadn't backed away quickly, I'd have died in agony on the spot!"

"I warned you." Shiller frowned and said, "What did I say before leaving? Don't trust any version of me, and don't turn your back on anyone. You didn't follow any of those, did you?!"

Stark opened his mouth and said, "You call that a warning?"

"And I've said before, that thing embedded in your chest is unreliable. It does nothing but give you an extra weakness. You're just keeping it for the shock value of seeing Iron Man from other universes, and it's completely self-inflicted!"

"Aren't you just trying to shift the blame?!" Stark was stunned and said, "Even if you can't control the actions of your other personalities, you should have at least provided us with enough information..."

"I told you already," Shiller emphasized once more, "Don't trust them, and don't turn your back on them. Why would you think I know more about them than you do?"

Stark was even more surprised; he said, "But they're all Shiller."

"Iron Men from other universes are also Iron Men. Can you say you know the Mechanical Overlord well?"

Stark was speechless. After a moment, he turned his head and said, "I thought you did it deliberately."

"What?"

"You'd want the other you to win. Would you?"

Shiller looked at him with some helplessness and said, "Would you want another version of yourself to win, even if it means killing me?"

"Of course not!" Stark raised his voice, "Their wins or losses have nothing to do with me. But you're my friend... You're different. At least you've known us longer."

"Then why do you have a poor relationship with your dad?"

Stark was stumped again.

Shiller sighed and said, "I fully understand the fear that sudden death brings and the resentment from a failed game. I can't say I didn't foresee this outcome at all. But it's absolutely not what I wanted."

"Even if I hoped you'd fail, it wouldn't be because I wanted someone else to succeed more, but just to see you unlucky. My attitude towards all my friends is not determined by others, or by another version of myself."

"I didn't withhold information about the other you that you encountered, not because I was biased and wanted him to win and you to lose. I've already told you the most crucial parts, and I really don't know the rest."

"If you took a moment to use your genius brain, you'd realize I have no motive to withhold information. Because in the game, we play different roles. It's the roles' stance that is our final stance. Letting real-world stances influence your game stance will lead to total failure. I would never make such a foolish choice."

"No matter who you or your opponent is, if you are my enemy in the game, I will strike hard; if you are my ally in the game, I will do my best to help. This is the right way to win the game."

"Then if one day I played the role of your enemy?" Stark asked with wide eyes, "Would you choose to rip the reactor from my chest?"

Shiller was completely helpless. Stark was the typical high-maintenance friend, always needing to confirm his place in your heart, while being incredibly childish. In his eyes, the world was a big ole 'if you want to play with me, then you can't play with him.'

"I wouldn't do that, Tony," Shiller said, "Nor would I do that to any Iron Man."

"Why not?"

"Because it's a cruel thing to do," Shiller seemed to not understand why he was asking, "To win, I need to defeat you, maybe even kill you. But for whatever reason, I have no need to use cruel means to torture you. It wouldn't benefit me, so why would I do it?"

"Really?" Stark was skeptical.

"You've dealt with quite a few other versions of me. Didn't you notice, I'm far less cruel and cold-hearted than they are?"

Shiller admitted he was flattering himself a bit, with a hint of elevating one while lowering the other. But who cares, who hasn't told a little lie to comfort others? It's important to clear your own name first.

Stark turned his head to look at him, turned his eyes back, then quickly turned around and said, "You used to be one person... I mean, before you split, which side was dominant?"

Shiller was caught off guard by the question, he said, "...before splitting?"

"I mean, if you never split, what kind of person would you be? More like you or more like them?"

"You sound like a philosopher," Shiller said, "I don't think it's meaningful to assume something that won't happen."

"I'm just a bit curious," Stark said, "Is it possible?"

Shiller shook his head and said, "That happened when I was very young..."

Before Shiller could finish, Stark said, "What if you had a different upbringing? Like a normal family. What would you be like?"

"I'm afraid there wouldn't be much change." After thinking it over, Shiller still said, "My mental issues are innate, not something external forces can correct. When I was very young, my living environment wasn't as bad as you think, it was actually quite good. But I still ended up this way."

Stark was silent for a few seconds, then opened his mouth to say, "So it's inevitable?"

"I think so." Shiller nodded and said, then smiled again, "I don't feel pain from it, so there's no need for healing. You're not still thinking..."

"I have another concern." Stark pointed at his temple, and then said, "One day you appear in front of me, and you're no longer you."

"What do you mean?"

"You suddenly disappear."

"Why would I suddenly disappear?"

"Because you're just a fragment." Stark looked into Shiller's eyes and said, "Can you be called a complete soul? I don't know. If you're not complete, can you exist forever?"

"Or like some diseases, suddenly it heals. And for me, it's like my friend suddenly disappeared."

"You're getting anxious again, Tony." Shiller lightly frowned and said, "I'm not a parasite living off someone else, I won't disappear due to immune system actions or medication."

"What if someone kills you?"

"Are you worried that other personalities will kill me?" Shiller looked at him with some helplessness and said, "What's the point of that?"

"They could control the body to do those cruel things they like."

"Do you think I'm the superhero among the Shillers?"

Stark was completely bewildered. Clearly, Shiller's complex situation was beyond his understanding.

"In your understanding, we have a society. Each personality has its role, some are superheroes, some are super villains. Both sides are always in conflict, and one side will eventually eliminate the other."

"But it's not like that in reality. There is no such society. We don't fight each other, nor do we annihilate each other..."

"Has a personality ever vanished?"

Shiller went silent.

"So there has been. Why?"

"Because it wasn't entirely a part of our personality traits." Shiller said, "That was the Joker. And he didn't completely disappear, he just merged with another personality trait."

"Would you merge with others as well?"

"I wouldn't." Shiller denied again and said, "Because it doesn't make sense."

"Then why was the disappearing personality trait merged?"

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Shiller found Stark trapped in a loop. He couldn't understand his own existence, so he applied societal structures he understood to himself.

In his perception of human society, there are killings, so he thought a personality trait might be killed. In human society, there is good and evil, so Shiller's personality traits had alignments.

And in human society, if something has happened, it will inevitably happen again. So he thought if a personality trait had disappeared, eventually, one day he would disappear too.

Shiller tried hard to explain to him. After a lot of effort, he found it completely unsolvable, and thought it was better to make something up.

"Okay, maybe one day we will merge," Shiller said, "All the personality traits of me that you've seen will merge together to become a complete Shiller."

"And then?"

"There's no 'then.' We wouldn't extract your reactor, that thing is just trash to us."

Stark seemed to get smarter, wasn't distracted by the change of topic, just turned around anxiously and said, "Maybe one day you'll really merge, but as long as you remain the same, none of us would know."

"As long as I remain the same, wouldn't that be equivalent to no change?"

"No, it's completely different."

Shiller couldn't help but rub his brow and couldn't resist saying, "Which one of us is really crazy?... Tony, Tony!"

Stark suddenly snapped back, as if nothing had happened, turned to look at Shiller and said, "What are you here for?"

"Don't change the subject, Tony." Shiller today insisted on clarifying things with him, saying, "If one day we merge, but after merging Shiller still has the same memories and treats you all the same way, what would be wrong with that?"

"Of course it would be wrong!" Stark said somewhat irritably, "That would mean you've died, wouldn't it?"

"No!" Shiller also raised his voice and said, "We are originally one person. Didn't you consider when trying to heal my dissociative identity disorder, that if I were healed, I would just be like an ordinary person, with a singular and independent personality?"

Stark fell into bewilderment again.

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