Chapter 1049: Shock the World Commoners (Twenty-Six) _1

So, what is Thanos up to now?

It can be said, Shiller's timing was incredibly off, and he walked straight into the line of fire.

In our last episode, Thanos was once again a loner, returning to his solitary status. However, who is Thanos? His accomplished wit and ambition dictated that he will not be content with mediocrity.

After his last defeat, Thanos realized a lesson; the approach of quietly developing in remote locations is unreliable.

The cosmos is ever-changing, and at any moment, some natural or man-made disaster can occur. If it sweeps you up, you might end up back where you started overnight. Thanos had learned this the hard way.

His territory was inexplicably moved, making it challenging for him even to enter the cosmos, and impossible to return. Now lacking territory, soldiers, and generals, he was alone, barely holding on in the vast expanse of interstellar space.

So, Thanos decided to shift his strategy; he concluded he should start with a prosperous economic and social center. Transitioning from separatist thinking to integrationist thinking, he established many connections, gradually ingratiated himself with interstellar society, slowly amassed his own form of followers, and then gradually converted these followers into his loyalists.

Thanos was proactive, once he thought of this, he immediately put it into action.

However, to enter interstellar society, one still needed a door knocker. At this time, he was merely a loner and his previous reputation didn't do him any favors. To get a foot in the door, you need to have a ticket.

After examining some of the more prosperous new zones, he found a role he could easily exploit — the "Star Anti-Fraud Vanguard".

Thanos hadn't forgotten how he got there. If it was't for the damnable God of Mischief, Loki, would he have fallen to this point today?

Through his observations, he found many fraudsters in interstellar society. They didn't scam individuals within civilizations—they scammed entire civilizations. They even triggered wars between several civilizations to profit from the chaos.

When a civilization enters an economic society for the first time, everything around them indicates that this is an orderly society where everyone has a position and does what they must do.

The newly formed civilizations, eager to join the new family, will dress formally, don their hats, pick up the staff of civilization, and start to socialize, emulating the advanced civilizations.

At this stage, they tend to be gullible, thinking that various laws and advanced civilizations will protect them, and no major chaos can occur. But this group of con artists thriving in interstellar society will make them stumble hard.

When talking about these interstellar fraudsters, one naturally has to mention Loki. Loki is the highest-ranking, most capable, and most successful gold-standard con artist of this generation. The gold-standard con artist of the previous generation was Thanos.

If Thanos were to introduce himself as a gold-standard con artist, he might attract many forces. But Thanos thinks of transforming his followers into die-hard fans, and the title of cheat is not quite flattering.

So, Thanos transforms himself into an anti-fraud mentor within interstellar society, specifically targeting fraudsters active in the economic society.

He helped civilizations that had been deceived recover their losses, helped civilizations that not yet been deceived prevent fraud, and helped civilizations that wanted to learn how to prevent and counteract fraud establish their systems.

As a former gold-standard con artist, Thanos knew the tricks of the trade. Even the slightest inside news would make some advanced interstellar civilizations regard him as an honored guest.

Simply put, his business now was to sabotage the jobs of his contemporaries, yet surprisingly, he was doing well.

Never mind whether this crazy Titan has genuinely turned over a new leaf, at least the methods he teaches are effective, so why not learn?

In fact, many advanced civilizations are annoyed by the civilizations under their jurisdiction which come crying every few days.

Sometimes a fleet is tricked away, sometimes a reactor is conned off. The lawsuit goes to the great empires, and they have a hard time. If they judge, the fraudsters are not easy to catch. If they can't catch them, it inevitably undermines their dignity. But if they don't judge, it discourages their subordinates. They're always caught in a dilemma.

With the emergence of Thanos, the great empires had an idea. I pay him to give you a lecture, and you learn how to prevent and counteract fraud. If you're defrauded afterwards, it's your stupidity, and no one should come crying to me.

Thus, Thanos started to circulate among the banquets and dinners of major interstellar civilizations. In just a few months, he was back on stage again, but this time, he was playing the role of a conman's worst nightmare and a messenger of justice.

Sometimes, justice seems irrelevant, and only power is meaningful. But sometimes, justice is handy. At least now, Thanos stands on the side of justice. Before anyone makes a move on him, they have to consider whether it will damage their reputation.

Just when Thanos was at the peak of his career, Shiller suddenly contacted him through the contact method Loki had previously provided. Thanos saw this as a great opportunity! Was he not just short of a typical case to demonstrate to the entire interstellar society how to guard against telecommunication fraud?

Therefore, Shiller on the other end of the phone found that Thanos gave up his former domineering, ambitious image and replaced it with a strong focus on fraud prevention, giving no chances to others.

Shiller called him, and he didn't answer. When Shiller called him from a different number, he hung up again, quickly tracking the IP location, and then showcasing to interstellar society, see, I told you there were many fraudsters in the Nine Major Kingdoms!

Thanos successfully set a trend in the social circles of interstellar society. This put Loki, who was once again roaming in prosperous star zones, in trouble. He was blacklisted by many interstellar civilizations and became a target for everyone.

To protect himself, Loki had no choice but to confront Thanos. One was the God of Mischief, the other was the Anti-Fraud Vanguard. The two used every trick in the book within interstellar society. The back and forth was remarkable.

Once these two got busy, they had even less time to answer Shiller's calls.

Not only that, Thor, afraid that his brother would be taken advantage of, and Frigga, worried about her son, also got involved. Mother and sons teamed up.

Thanos wasn't to be outdone either. He roped in two out of the Three Great Empires, and a wave of telecommunication scam caution swept through the interstellar society.

Yes, for Shiller, this was nothing but chaos.

The two are slugging it out, stirring up such a fuss that the entire interstellar society knows about it. Now Silver-winged glider and Star Eater have heard about it, too. So have the universal powers represented by the High Lord on the Elder Council.

All the villains in the cosmos have been forced to strengthen their fraud awareness, and Shiller, the latest generation of gold medal fraudsters, has walked right into the crossfire. The two colleagues fighting each other exposed all the industry's dirty secrets.

While Shiller was earnestly scamming on the one hand, they were unabashedly exposing him on the other. As a result, Shiller rushed around tirelessly, not fooling a single villain in the universe.

After several attempts, Shiller realized that the interstellar approach was unlikely to work. So, he turned his sights back to Earth.

Being familiar with comics and movies, Shiller knew of several villains who hadn't entirely reformed yet.

Shiller first reached out to the most accessible Kingpin since Kingpin was on the East Coast.

They had previously met over the Eternal Life Factor industry. Then, Shiller had pitted Kingpin and Hand Union against each other using the Eternal Life Factor. Still, when he visited Kingpin again, he was welcomed as an honored guest.

Being of Kingpin's caliber, he certainly had a stake in the Solar System's development plan. Overlooking his extensive grey market presence in the whole of America, he was one of the wealthiest people in the country. No one would want to stop him if he wanted to participate in it.

The closer he got to the center of power, the more information he could access, including info about Shiller. He knew the crucial role that this doctor, hailed as the "Miracle Man" by Stark, played. Therefore, Kingpin was extra cordial when Shiller visited him.

They had a drink together and discussed international and interstellar situations for several hours. Shiller was surprised to find that Kingpin was quite healthy.

Not only was Kingpin physically strong, but his mental state was also stable, almost to the extent of Matt. His logic was wholly consistent.

Perhaps it was Kingpin's low morals that made him less complicated than most superheroes. His life revolved only around money and power, for which he could stoop to any means, leaving no room for internal conflicts.

It gave Shiller some sense of security. Kingpin had profound insights into international and interstellar situations and had foresight. Besides his identity, chatting with him was quite interesting.

After leaving satisfied, within three minutes, Stark's mecha surrounded Kingpin's private residence. When Shiller made a return visit the next day, he was directly denied entry.

Though it was enjoyable to chat with Shiller, the general agency right for Molten Steel was more tempting. After a brief struggle, Kingpin decided to follow the money.

Being rejected by Kingpin was infuriating enough for Shiller. However, he was facing a more severe situation at that time. That is, suddenly going from a high feedback state to zero feedback, he was suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms.

For a few days, Shiller couldn't treat any patients or listen to any emotions, and didn't get any feedback on the situation. The emptiness inside made him almost go insane.

Without any suitable targets, he used alcohol to numb himself. If it weren't for the Gray mist secretly helping him break down some of the alcohol while he was drunk, he would probably have become a severe alcoholic by now.

Even so, it couldn't erase the sense of loss brought by the sudden drop.

Shiller was like a junkie of emotions, suddenly losing all the abundant and rich emotions of the superheroes. Endless emptiness and loss filled his world.

So he had to make a frustrating downgrade. If Kingpin, a well-known villain, denied him access, he could still approach some less famous villains, right?

So, during this period, New York's villains had some bad luck. They were first sought out by a strange psychotherapist asking if they were sick, if they needed medicine, and dragging them back if they tried to escape, forcing them to undergo psychological treatment.

Shiller had been pent up for too long and was not gentle with them. If the New York Church had been a monastery, he would have probably already made many of them monks.

After being psychologically tortured, they had to endure a round of firepower from Iron Man.

Didn't they see that everyone was quietly sucking up and helping the doctor get better? Why did they have to make a fuss about getting medical treatment?

Tracking Shiller's trajectory, Stark also noticed that Shiller was specifically picking on villains, wasn't he?

So wherever Shiller went, his mecha army followed. After the mecha army swept through, SHIELD Agents came in to sweep up, followed immediately by the New York Police Department, to consolidate public order.

For a moment, the villains of New York were terrified. The powerless ones fled while the powerful ones faced payback. In just a week, the public order in New York was much improved.