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Chapter 526: Schiller's Origin Story (1)

Watching the visibly irritable Schiller, Loki wasn't angered. He smiled, sat down, and placed the briefcase on his lap, saying, "Were the two proposals I gave you not successful?"

"It's not just the two proposals you gave me. Yesterday, Sanctum Sanctorum held two meetings and presented over a dozen sales proposals. Only two of them showed interest, and we still couldn't finalize a deal."

Schiller covered one eye with his palm and sighed, "This is the most difficult client I've encountered."

Loki sat down and patted Schiller's shoulder, saying, "Hang in there. It's just this one deal. After it's done, I'll treat you to a soak in the hot springs beneath the World Tree."

Taking a deep breath, Schiller said, "Well, they've provided me with a ready excuse to stay here and sleep all day. Otherwise, if I were to work at S.H.I.E.L.D. during the daytime and do sales in my dreams at night, I'd be exhausted."

"But it seems like they've misunderstood something..." Loki looked up at the door Steve had left through. Schiller shook his head, dispelling the drowsiness from just waking up from a dream, and then said, "Whatever. Once I finish this deal with Death, they'll forget about it a few days after I'm discharged..."

Loki's mouth twitched, as if he wanted to say something. Steve's serious expression before leaving didn't seem like something that would be forgotten in a few days. However, seeing Schiller's irritated mood due to frequent rejections, he ultimately decided not to say anything.

"... Are you really okay?" Loki hesitated for a moment and then asked.

Because Schiller's current expression couldn't be described as serene or peaceful; it was more like gritted teeth and seething anger.

After taking a deep breath and exhaling, Schiller took another deep breath. He then gave a half-hearted smile, saying, "I'm fine, just feeling a little homicidal."

"Honestly, you explained to me that concept of Death you mentioned, and it sounds interesting. But I don't think you need to be so fixated on it. After all, from what I can see, her impact on human civilization isn't that significant at this stage. There's no need to rush like this..."

Holding his arms, Schiller clenched his teeth and said, "Do you think I care right now whether she brings interest to human civilization?"

Loki patted Schiller's shoulder again and said, "Enough said, I understand, I really do."

Indeed, Schiller's symptoms of narcolepsy were because he truly was addicted to sleep, or rather, addicted to dreaming.

After obtaining the Judgment Balance that allowed him to bother Death through the telephone, Schiller almost never stopped dialing Death's number to pitch his ideas to her.

At the beginning, Death didn't respond at all. However, perhaps she grew annoyed by Schiller's persistence, and she began to subtly convey some information, such as affirming or rejecting certain cooperative approaches Schiller proposed.

But Schiller's irritability stemmed from the fact that 99% of his methods were rejected by Death.

Schiller wasn't an innocent con artist, and he didn't consider the cost of time. At this stage, things had progressed beyond the point of interest. The competition between Schiller and Death was both about supremacy and survival.

Furthermore, Schiller wanted to find out why Death didn't let him die...

If one were to say that Death's transactions with Odin and Osiris were meant to bring her more followers, the premise was that Odin and Osiris held devout attitudes. It's more accurate to say that they worked for her rather than trading with her, just like Thanos.

It could be said that if Odin and Osiris were to bother Death through the telephone like Schiller did, the current Asgard and Egyptian pantheons might not even exist anymore.

The perspective on time for the long-lived and short-lived is completely different. The hippopotamus goddess might think it's incredibly frequent for her children to call her once a week, but she isn't truly immortal, only long-lived. And her children call her once a week.

Death is an abstract concept; she is truly immortal. As long as space exists, she will continue to exist. Schiller doesn't call her once a week; he calls her dozens of times a day.

Even so, Death hasn't been annoyed enough by him to kill him. There must be some reason Schiller doesn't know about. For this reason, he wants to uncover the secret reason Death isn't collecting him.

And to uncover this secret, he naturally needs to call Death. So, these days, Schiller hasn't done anything else. Whenever he has free time, he sleeps and dreams, then takes the Balance and pesters Death with calls.

Of course, based on his current performance, neither of these efforts is going smoothly. While Schiller receives calls, most of the time he's the one talking. She occasionally responds, but most of the time, she's silent.

Now, Schiller finally understands why Death was able to bewilder Thanos. If she remained completely unresponsive and silent, Schiller would likely give up. But now, Death is clearly telling Schiller that she not only possesses personality and wisdom but also analyzes gains and losses.

What would it be like for an abstract concept to possess personality? How did her personality form? Would she be influenced by external factors like humanity? What's the difference in psychological state between divinely created beings and naturally born ones? Once an abstract concept with near limitless power possesses likes, dislikes, and the ability to analyze gains and losses, what changes will it bring to space?

These questions pique Schiller's curiosity. Essentially, Schiller, embodying the trait of greedy curiosity, is eager to make Death a subject of study and gain power from analyzing her personality and emotional characteristics.

And a research subject that's half-dead and rarely responds would make any researcher feel frustrated. Schiller is currently in a very frustrated state.

Loki keenly sensed this, so he hastily left behind the proposal and rushed back to Asgard without looking back. As he was on the road fleeing, he was still pondering: Which unlucky person will happen to fall into Schiller's crosshairs? He must make sure to be on Bifrost on time to enjoy the show.

Another individual who knew this truth was the Supreme Sorcerer Strange. At this moment, he was in the Avengers' base, participating in a meeting hosted by Steve.

"...In conclusion, I believe that Schiller might have experienced some stimulus, causing a recurrence of his mental disorder, and the situation is quite grim."

Steve sighed, his expression more serious than ever. He said, "Aside from considering the suffering he might be going through, we also have to think about the potential destruction if he suddenly becomes mentally unstable..."

Saying this, he glanced at Stark. Stark clenched his fist against his lips and then coughed, saying, "I acknowledge, I shouldn't have provoked him yesterday. But I didn't expect it to worsen so quickly."

"Can't we find a doctor?" Peter raised his hand to ask.

"That's the problem." Matt tapped the table with his finger and said, "We don't have a doctor right now who can provide him with treatment, and he might not even cooperate with the treatment."

"Starting from yesterday, during our communications, he exhibited strong aggression toward me. Today, he's developed symptoms of narcolepsy and appears quite irritable, with some signs of depression..."

"If this continues, his mental state might deteriorate step by step. No one knows how it will end."

Stark sighed and continued, "Moreover, the issue is that mental problems are different from physical trauma; we can't use magical power to treat them..."

"Indeed, we practically have no methods right now that can affect a person's mental state. And even if we do, it's not guaranteed to work on Schiller."

"Cough, cough..." Strange cleared his throat. He touched his face and then said, "Are you really sure it's a mental issue?"

Matt and Steve looked at him, and then Steve said, "Oh, I forgot, you weren't there when we described what we saw in Schiller's Temple of Thought."

Steve explained to Strange what they had seen there, Schiller's childhood and adolescent experiences.

Upon hearing this, Strange had a sudden realization on his face.

Suddenly, Strange brought up, "Have you noticed, there's a contradiction in all of this?"

Stark and Steve exchanged a glance, both of them furrowing their brows, then they looked at Strange together.

"If, as you guys said, Schiller might have suffered mental trauma during childhood, leading him to develop an anti-society personality during his adolescence..."

"But the Schiller we saw before was a normal person. You guys aren't saying that all of his normal behaviors back then were a disguise for a murderer, are you?"

"Impossible." Peter denied this first. He said, "I lived with Schiller and Dr. Connors for quite a while, and I have Spider-Sense. If he was pretending, I would have definitely sensed it."

"I don't think so either." Matt agreed, saying, "His mental issues at that time were much more severe. If he was truly a killer, he wouldn't have needed to save me."

"He was facing more serious mental problems back then than he is now. So how did he get better?" Strange asked.

The group exchanged glances, then turned to look at Strange together. Strange continued, "Or to put it differently, if someone was able to cure Schiller's severe mental issues back then, then maybe we can cure him now in the same way?"

Stark rubbed his chin, pondering for a moment, then said, "There's a reason. Now it seems like he might be experiencing a bipolar episode, but his mental issues might have been worse before. So, who cured him?"

At this point, Strange suddenly spoke up, "Do you guys remember when I first met Schiller, I told you he was wearing a ring?"

Everyone's gaze returned to Strange's face once again. Clearing his throat, Strange said, "And then there's that cryogenic technology that shouldn't belong to this era, as well as the significant salary that Schiller's whereabouts were unclear about, as mentioned by Nick before..."

"But I remember, Schiller explained." Peter scratched his head, recalling, and then said, "I remember he told Dr. Connors that freezing his wife was the story of a friend of his. That friend was a Cryogenic Scientist who invented such powerful cryogenic technology specifically to freeze his wife suffering from degenerative disease..."

At this point, Stark stood up, summoned his combat suit, and then said, "JARVIS, search for global Cryogenic Scientists' records, filter according to the conditions Peter just mentioned."

"Searching... Search complete..."

"No results found."