Chapter 4039: Chapter 3148: "Romantic" Wedding Season (32)

Shiller walked outside while pulling out his phone to call Professor X. Last night before going to sleep, Professor X had called him, requesting his help to investigate what was wrong with Magneto lately.

In the words of Professor X, it seemed Magneto was quite ill recently, and the situation with the Andromeda Galaxy's creature rebellion wasn't optimistic. Before, that workaholic would insist on working 24 hours a day, eager to catch the behind-the-scenes manipulator as soon as possible.

But recently, he seemed distracted and even agreed to spend hours on a family meeting yesterday—something unimaginable to any sane person that Magneto would sit down for a family meeting with his children.

Professor X had intended to inquire himself, but Magneto simply ignored him, and moreover, wore that harassment-preventing helmet every day, clearly not planning on communicating with Professor X.

Magneto was all too familiar with Professor X, guarding against him like against a thief. Thus, if a roundabout investigation was needed, they had to ask someone else for help, and Professor X turned to Shiller.

Upon hearing that something was off with Magneto, Shiller initially thought something big had happened. But after asking Professor X a few questions, he already had a pretty good guess.

Professor X had been quite busy lately, especially since he had liberated many personalities from the Legion, stabilizing it. Now, Professor X was personally teaching him, hoping he too could become a beacon for Mutants one day.

Then there was the matter of Queen Lilandra of the Shi'ar Empire, who although had died at a banquet, it was only her physical body; her spirit resided within Professor X's Psychic Battlefield.

Because Professor X had placed restrictions on her, she didn't realize she'd been replaced and still hoped someone would help her become queen again.

Keeping the queen around was useful, and Professor X had to pacify her to avoid arousing suspicion.

In addition to the Andromeda Galaxy creature rebellion, Professor X also had to divert his attention to monitor outsiders' movements within the entire star system, leaving him basically no time to deal with Magneto.

At this point, Shiller guessed that Magneto probably wasn't happy about it. As if to say, "You go play with other friends and do not hang out with me, then I'll also find others to play with," like a child acting stubborn.

However, since he had taken on Professor X's request, he needed to produce some evidence. Seeing Magneto turning up in Wanda's video conference, he knew the old man must be at his wits' end. Perhaps overwhelmed by thoughts during the day, he could succumb to dreams at night. And so, Shiller had Dream Power Doctor Strange make a visit.

Sure enough, Magneto talked a bunch of half-truths with his fantasy pal, Charles, in his dreams. To sum it up, it was essentially that Charles hadn't been paying attention to him recently, and it upset him.

Despite Magneto wearing a helmet every day, wearing the helmet was rather curious. It's akin to "Professor X will definitely invade my brain, so I must wear a helmet," with the underlying confidence that Professor X would indeed come.

From Shiller's perspective, the helmet screamed, "I am Professor X's greatest enemy, and I am proud of it."

Concerning whether the helmet could block Professor X's mental invasion, Shiller had discussed this with some others before, among them Stark raised a question that stumped Shiller.

Who said mind-invasion-preventing devices must be worn on the head?

Shiller had never considered this before, because it indeed made sense: a device to prevent brain invasion should naturally be attached to the head.

But on closer reflection, something seemed off. Brain waves surely emit from the head, true, but does it necessariily need to be fastened to the scalp? How far away are the shoulders and chest anyway? If not, why not wear it like a collar around the neck?

If the technology exists to create a brainwave-blocking device, making it into a vest that one could wear shouldn't be too difficult. A vest could not only prevent it from being stolen but also serve as a bulletproof shield in critical moments.

Even if you were to wear a helmet on your head, couldn't it be tied down with a strap like a safety helmet? Surely, a fastening strap wouldn't impact its efficiency.

With any sort of fastening mechanism, by the time someone tried to pull the helmet off his head, Magneto would have crushed them a thousand times over.

Shiller couldn't believe that among so many members of the Mutant Brotherhood, not one perceived the issue. But why no one brought it up was worth pondering.

Even more bizarre was that no one from the X-Men questioned this. Didn't anyone care?

Moreover, it's not like Magneto hadn't suffered loss before—with scenes in both movies and comics where the X-Men worked together to remove Magneto's helmet.

So why didn't he just tie a strap to it? Is fashion truly more important than life safety, or is it that this matter never actually concerned life safety from the beginning?

Shiller dared not think too deeply about it nor ask further questions.

Shiller sent the imagery Dream Power Doctor Strange had seen to Professor X without another word, though he believed Professor X would soon be able to coax Magneto around.

And he had asked Dream Power Doctor Strange for so many favors—after all, Strange didn't help for nothing. Dream Power Doctor Strange was willing to assist Shiller because he also needed something from Shiller.

Dream Power Doctor Strange wanted to establish a Dream Bureau.

Why he wanted to do this specifically, Shiller wasn't entirely clear.

But Shiller thought it could be the Supreme Magician's instincts kicking in, wanting to slap a Magic Defense Network on everything he saw. Or maybe it was because he had been grossed out by the Mad Laugh's slobber, after all, he watched the 11-hour director's cut first.

Shiller felt that Dream Power Doctor Strange would be a good assistant, so he decided to help him. The dream part Doctor Strange could handle on his own, the only troublesome part was the matter involving the cosmic constants.

Simply put, it required the help of an Abstract Entity, and knowing that Shiller was well acquainted with some of them, Doctor Strange wanted to ask for his assistance in facilitating this.

Taking advantage of having nothing else to do that day, Shiller went with Doctor Strange to the Eternal Temple. However, they discussed the specific details between them, and Shiller didn't go in.

The Eternal Temple was situated within a separate dimensional space, but it wasn't completely closed off as there were many entrances and exits, one of which was located in the Andromeda Galaxy. Thinking they would probably talk for a long time, Shiller decided to first visit the Andromeda Galaxy to check on the Mutants' situation.

As Shiller emerged from the dimensional exit, he found himself surrounded by darkness. He had traveled this route before and clearly remembered there being a star here. Had it exploded again?

He transformed into a mist and drifted through space, wondering if he might encounter some clues about a biological uprising along the way.

Shiller had not actually taken part in this biological uprising, but he had a vague premonition that the behind-the-scenes manipulator's intention wasn't just to destroy the Mutants and stir up trouble between the Mutants and the Three Great Empires; there seemed to be another purpose.

From Shiller's perspective, if the opponent could mutate life forms with such precision, they could have made the mutations even more terrifying. Simply being able to bite or whip with a vine—what kind of mutation was that? They didn't even need to go as far as Godzilla or Aliens; a couple of Headhunter Crabs would also do the job.

You could say this biological uprising was severe, but the animals and plants that revolted on a single planet might not even be a match for a Mutant. Those coming to the Andromeda Star System were all skilled practitioners. The idea that a bunch of crazed plants and animals could defeat them seemed a bit far-fetched.

Yet, you can't say the biological uprising wasn't serious either, as the contagiousness was particularly strong, and no one could figure out the reason behind it. There was something odd about this whole affair at every turn.

Shiller felt that the breakthrough might still lie in Reed's research findings. If he could determine whether it was a so-called genetic virus, then perhaps he could resolve this biological uprising.

As Shiller pondered this, he flew towards Sky Island, the capital of the Andromeda Galaxy. All the planets he passed along the way seemed desolate and silent, suggesting that those previously teeming with life had been infected and were probably now cleansed.

While it wasn't a matter of life and death, the loss must have been significant. Although these planets had not developed anything resembling a notable civilization, they were still valuable biological resources of the star system, and it was a pity to lose them like this.

As Shiller flew, he spotted another barren planet quietly rotating in the vast expanse of space. He only glanced at it casually, but the Gray Mist suddenly informed him that there were signs of life on the planet.

When Shiller transformed into mist, his senses merged with those of the Gray Mist. Practically nothing could escape its detection, particularly when it came to brain waves, which it used to identify intelligent life with near-perfect accuracy.

But this time, Shiller hadn't sensed any brain waves, nor had Gray Mist's senses provided any feedback about signs of life. It was only when Gray Mist spoke up that Shiller became aware of it.

"Signs of life, how did you feel it?"

With their senses interconnected, Shiller should have felt what Gray Mist did, but since he didn't notice anything, how had Gray Mist known?

"Instinct," replied Gray Mist succinctly.

"You have instincts?"

"Please respect the Nameless Fog. All Outer Gods are instinctive."

With that explanation, Shiller was somewhat convinced. Gray Mist wasn't entirely a life form of science, so it made sense that it possessed the capability to judge beyond its senses.

Shiller flew towards the planet and, upon landing on its surface, he still didn't feel anything was amiss.

But this lack of sensation meant that there might be something here.

Because if there were indeed someone who had come here to poison the place, they would have been discovered a long time ago if they didn't have the ability to hide themselves. Magneto and Professor X working together would have few adversaries who could evade their scrutiny.

Shiller flew over the surface of the planet and didn't find anything. He figured the individual might be hiding underground, so he directed the Gray Mist to cover the whole planet and then seep down toward the core.

The planetary geology wasn't much different from Earth's, being slightly larger. As he neared the core, Shiller found an anomaly.

The mist began to thin, not because Shiller was leaving, but because he wanted to conceal himself. He moved gradually toward that anomalous geological structure and discovered a spaceship at the bottom of the mantle layer.

"Is there a life sign in the spaceship?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell what race it is?"

"Why not go and find out?"

Shiller hesitated no longer, directly entering the interior of the ship. The spaceship seemed to have malfunctioned, the engine had stopped working, and even the lighting system was off.

In the dimly lit cockpit, illuminated by the faint emergency lights, Shiller found a seemingly alive figure. But it wasn't a humanoid...was it an otter?

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