Capítulo 3661: Chapter 2788: Star Core Rescue (39)

First, Lisa and Mr. and Mrs. Oakes had already been confirmed.

Beck's mental state was also abnormal, which Shiller had already confirmed through those forms. His personality was still relatively stable, but under such circumstances, his mental stability had reached an abnormal degree.

S.H.I.E.L.D. had been investigating continuously, and that Sophia around Beck was also abnormal; it was very possible that she had been continuously stimulating Beck's mind.

But it didn't end there. Another Beck, that is, Sandman, had also exhibited abnormal mental states. Shiller still remembered that he had been hypnotized to take revenge on Spider Man, which was why he had caused such great trouble.

One by one, Shiller excluded possibilities in his mind; first were those who couldn't possibly have their memories altered or be hypnotized due to their strength, like Professor X, and second were those who would surely show anomalies if hypnotized, like Mr. and Mrs. Oakes.

After considering each person in his head, Shiller believed that currently, the probable hypnotized individuals were the two Becks, Sophia, Lisa, and Mr. and Mrs. Oakes.

And they all had some connection to the space station.

Sandman was supposedly going to work at the space station, Sophia and Mysterio plotted to work on the space station, and Oakes had also smoothly entered the space station for work.

Was the space station the target of the Incubus?

Shiller believed it was impossible. First of all, Incubus wasn't a human antagonist and didn't live amongst human society all year round; he might not understand what the space station meant to humans, or even if he could understand, he didn't realize it. He didn't have that kind of mindset.

But more likely, just like Dormammu had no need to take action against the space station, such Type Demons didn't need to do such a petite and intricate act against Earth—that was a tactic only human antagonists with insufficient strength would resort to, like Mysterio.

Moreover, from what Shiller knew of Incubus, the antagonist, he wasn't the sort of demon god who wanted to destroy humanity. On the contrary, he was one of the few demon gods who did not wish for Earth's destruction because human dreams held special significance for him.

The Incubus's demand had always been to pull the whole world into dreams, or to say to expand the dream dimension to every dimension, to trap all living creatures in eternal dreams, not to kill everyone so that there are no more dreams. Without dreams, his powers would become useless, and destroying the world would be akin to suicide for him.

Yet now, all the clues seemed to point toward him, among them many unclear ones, mixing the false with the true, making it somewhat confusing.

It has been said before, Greed and Arrogant are completely opposite; he is not a detective-type player like Arrogant. He is the behind-the-scenes manipulator.

He does not wait until the puzzle lands on his head to start solving it, he weaves a large net in advance, waiting for all possible things to fall into it.

Shiller had already woven countless nets, but none caught this behind-the-scenes manipulator. Does this mean that the nets he wove were not tight enough?

No, on the contrary, it means that this entity is beyond normal reasoning.

Shiller was confident; all the arrangements he made in Marvel were enough to handle the arrival of all antagonists, including those powerful and incomparable abstract entities, for which he had also prepared in advance.

But this time, it didn't, and something happened that was beyond his expectations, which meant that the thing was alien.

Almost in that instant, Shiller's confidence and even arrogance led him to be certain that he'd missed nothing, thereby deducing that it wasn't that his arrangement wasn't flawless, but rather that the thing that snuck in did not belong to this world.

Shiller began to deduce from the beginning once more.

Six months ago, the Invisible Man appeared frequently in New York, committing minor crimes and was quickly caught.

Five months ago, Sandman Beck declared missing, and Shiller and his team went to the Himalayan Mountains; thereafter, the Invisible Man was lured by Shiller using a ruse to Kamar-Taj, the Cloak was stolen, and the Invisible Man Robbins escaped.

Four months ago, Stark's wedding documentary began filming, everyone converged in Los Angeles, the Sandman went out of control, traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast, and was successfully contained by superheroes.

Up to now, there was only one point of doubt, which was exactly how Robbins had managed to escape from Kamar-Taj.

This was nearly impossible; Robbins was just an ordinary person, it was by divinity that he'd acquired strength beyond normal humans, but how could a mere human who could even suffer from altitude sickness manage to best so many stationed Grand Mages, let alone sneak out? The protective shield of Kamar-Taj wasn't created without purpose.

Even if he found a way outside the protective shield, how could he alone descend successfully from such a high elevation to the ground and walk out of the Tibetan area, and even hide under the noses of the mages to this day without being found?

Now, looking at the series of events on the space station.

Beck was fired by Stark Group quite early on, but his team was probably only formed for around a year, meaning that a year ago, facing bankruptcy due to fines after being dismissed and thereby destitute, Beck suddenly changed his identity to Justin Balk and obtained an entry ticket to the space station.

Here, the doubt couldn't be clearer. In modern information society, changing one's identity isn't so easy, and more importantly, Balk's educational credentials must be real, as the staff auditing the space station would surely not allow someone with fake academic records to enter.

That is to say, Balk is not a fake identity, but a thoroughly real one that was made; unless the heads of America's various agencies personally intervened, it would be very difficult to create such a convincing false identity.

But now, almost all of America's law enforcement is united like steel, and even if Hydra still existed, there would not be a core individual to organize them for such an act; since neither Nick nor Shiller had done it, conjuring such an identity out of thin air is completely out of the question.

Then after that, Beck's small group caused trouble on the space station, successfully causing half of the station to plummet, while the other half experienced an oxygen crisis, and the mysterious superhero Mysterio emerged, becoming an internet sensation.

The doubts surfaced once again, you either let half of the space station fall, then you go save that half, or you cause an oxygen crisis on the space station, then you go save the group that lacks oxygen. Why would you let half fall and the other group lack oxygen? This isn't some dilemma where you're blocked on both ends. Why not operate on two fronts? Besides creating trouble for oneself, what other meaning is there?

Maybe he intended to create a dilemma like being blocked on both ends, but Shiller couldn't see any possibility for Mysterio to handle the falling space station pieces securely, certainly not with his drones.

Does this mean that if Shiller didn't call Clark, Mysterio was prepared to just let the space station fall? Compared to the greatest disaster in the history of human space exploration, wouldn't his glorious rescue be overshadowed? If he intended to write a hero script, why wouldn't he save everyone? It's not an impossible condition to meet, just don't destroy the other half of the spacecraft's hovering power system.

Speaking of which, another doubt arises: how was the hover power system sabotaged and, just like the photovoltaic integrated device, how exactly was it burned?

Both share a common feature: their casings are made of molten steel, and currently on Earth, there is no technology capable of directly burning through such an alloy, at least not quickly enough to destroy them. So where did Mysterio get such technology?

Four layers of doubt, corresponding to Magic Tech, social relations, artistic creation, and scientific technology.

To let Robbins escape, one would have to deceive the eyes of many Grand Mages, proving that the opponent is exceptionally skilled in magic.

To fabricate a flawless identity for Beck, one would have to navigate through a myriad of social connections, proving that the opponent can manipulate ordinary human society at will.

To destroy the hover power system and the photovoltaic integrated device would require technology far ahead of the human race.

And the breakthrough in the case, the flaw in all the behind-the-scenes manipulator's schemes, lies in the one aspect not mentioned above: artistic creation.

The Magic Tech could be considered perfect, the social relations watertight, the scientific technology way ahead, but one aspect revealed his utter lack of artistic sense: he foolishly caused half of the space station to fall.

Shiller smiled lightly, and everyone looked at him with a sense of shock, not understanding how he could still smile under these circumstances.

Professor X asked tentatively, "What's going on, Shiller? Have you thought of a good method?"

"I just thought of something interesting."

"What is it?"

"Have you heard of a joke?"

"What joke?"

"Do you know why Batman never graduates?"

The abrupt shift in topic left everyone puzzled.

"Because he's not good at psychology and insists on tackling it," Shiller didn't leave them hanging and provided the answer straight away. Then he said, "All the Batmans in the world really are the same."

"What does this have to do with Batman?"

"Someone who is not good at psychology insists on studying it, and someone who is not good at art insists on being involved in it, quite a stubborn bunch."

"What exactly are you talking about?" Professor X almost thought Shiller was feverish because it was unlikely that he was so nervous he had become delusional. He continued, "Do you know who is directing all this from behind?"

"Don't use the word 'director'; that's an insult to directors," Shiller said, squinting slightly as if most of his attention wasn't on the conversation but was focused far away.

"Let me think about what to do..." Shiller said. Just as Professor X was about to say they wouldn't disturb him any further, Shiller, who seemed to suddenly have an idea, raised his voice and said, "Then let's play along with his drama. In the end, he may get what he wants, but maybe not."

"What do you mean?"

"Where's Eddie?" Shiller suddenly turned and asked.

"Uh, he should be editing season three of the Stark romantic wedding trip documentary."

"Forget about cutting some boring wedding trip documentary. I've got a better subject. Tell me his workplace; I'll go give him some new inspiration."

After Shiller left, the others exchanged glances, not understanding what he was going on about. Meanwhile, Shiller rushed to Eddie's studio, where they were testing special effects equipment during a work break.

"What brings you here, Doctor? I did submit my psychological assessment report on time," Eddie said half-jokingly.

"I'm not here to give you a check-up this time," Shiller said. "Here's the thing: a friend of mine who loves screenwriting and directing has brought some video material. Can you help me turn it into a movie?"

Eddie looked puzzled but still reached out and took what Shiller had brought over. Plugging the hard drive into the computer, he was surprised to find that the videos were from surveillance camera angles.

"This won't do," Eddie said. "These angles are a disaster for film. A couple of scenes like this might work, but any more than that would be uneditable."

"Can you use the special effects equipment to recreate the scene as it was and then shoot that moment in the style of a movie?"

"Technically, yes, but what's the point?" As Eddie browsed through more surveillance camera angles, he realized it seemed related to their investigation of the Invisible Man case, with all the footage being clues about the Invisible Man.

Further down was footage of Sandman, then Kamar-Taj, followed by Los Angeles, and... even the space station?

Eddie was completely lost and said, "What's all this?"

"Just follow the chronological order, recreate all these events with special effects, and then shoot it as a movie. I'll pay you well for it," Shiller said.

Still clueless, but tempted by the offer of money, Eddie nodded and took on the bizarre job.

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