Chapter 1899: The Madman's Journey (End) _1

The Secret War can be considered the most significant event in Marvel's history because it completely reshaped the Marvel Universe, creating the all-new, all-different present day.

In past crises, no matter how grave, superheroes always managed to pull through. However, in this event, things were unexpected. The heroes were almost ineffective, perhaps because their adversaries were too formidable.

Shiller didn't know if the Beyond Gods' deployment of Nano-Humans was a prelude to an actual attack or an immediate plan to annihilate the cosmos. However, he understood that this might be the most powerful enemy he's encountered in the Marvel Universe.

The Transcendent, as initially conceived, had abilities similar to early Superman, having whatever abilities he could imagine. The main characteristic was that he lacked morals — morals were completely absent.

Without morals or concerns, the Transcendent could act without restraint. Shiller's usual strategy of moralistic competition or controlling the adversary using something they cared about would not work this time. The only thing to contest now was who was more ruthless.

Shiller's actions might have seemed manic in the past, but each step was carefully designed. However, achieving extreme madness might lead to unforeseen variables in the scheme, potentially leading to losses.

No one in the world can guarantee that every plan will yield only positive outcomes. Shiller tried to align his results as close to this effect as possible, using a large plan involving one main line and several branches to accomplish various goals, aiming for win-win outcomes.

However, this approach wouldn't work against the Beyond Gods. Sometimes sacrifices and abandonments are necessary, and even losses are acceptable.

However, a problem remains. Just because Shiller has no morals doesn't mean the superheroes observing his actions don't have morals. They may understand that Shiller is thinking for the greater good, but their sense of morality makes them feel guilty for the sacrifices made.

Shiller had put in a lot of effort to keep his figures spotless, so they would not compensate for the losses if they were tarnished by the Guilt Knife. Therefore, Shiller had to make additional preparations, such as preparing several scapegoats ready to take the blame, if necessary.

When Shiller learned from Ultron that the Iron Man and Spider Man from the Prime Universe failed to create the Universal Engine due to insufficient computational power, he knew conventional methods might not provide substantial computational power within a short time.

Shiller was aware this was not his forte, but he could find someone who was skilled in it — he sought the Ultimate Iron Man, also colloquially known as the White Can.

The Ultimate Iron Man was also the Iron Man from the Prime Universe who became a self-absorbed villain following the reversal of good and evil during a major event. He lacked morality — morality was entirely absent.

The White Can represented a possibility in the future of the Prime Universe, so it naturally existed within the potential universes created by different choices. Shiller utilized the authority of the Time Management Bureau to pull him out and replace the Iron Man of the Prime Universe. He left it up to the White Can to resolve the issue at hand.

It wasn't that Shiller didn't want to get his hands dirty, but he had more crucial matters to attend to — finding the unfortunate scapegoat in the cosmos.

The first option Shiller thought of was not Infinite Ultron, but the Darkened Doctor Strange, who had been in Barry's mind on a trip to the DC Universe, the Strange that is constantly devouring other Stranges in different universes, with the aid of The Book of Dark God.

He was the standard villain template, and any wicked thing he did wouldn't surprise people. Being an evil version of the familiar Supreme Magician, he was even more despised, making him the perfect candidate for scapegoating.

Shiller brought Harley and Barry to this universe and claimed that they were the key, because Darkened Doctor Strange had been inside Barry's mind. When Barry gained divine speed and some dark energy, he became sensitive to mystical powers.

Barry could immediately recognize the aura of the uninvited guest who had been in his mind, and for Shiller, this allowed him to find Darkened Doctor Strange, who had gone into hiding from The Ancient One, as soon as possible.

When Shiller found Darkened Doctor Strange, he discovered an unexpected advantage. Darkened Doctor Strange had connections with Infinite Ultron.

Shiller speculated that this might be because The Ancient One was chasing Darkened Doctor Strange too closely. In desperation, Darkened Doctor Strange intensified his efforts to find and devour other Stranges from different universes for self-protection, and in the process, he found the universe where Infinite Ultron resided.

Or more likely, when Darkened Doctor Strange was eating the brain of the Strange in this universe, he was caught red-handed by Infinite Ultron.

They both hit it off. Infinite Ultron had just become aware of the existence of Observers and discovered that there were other universes beyond this one. He planned to embark on a journey of destroying the multiverse, but lacked some directional guidance and a formal path.

The Darkened Doctor Strange needed to go to multiple universes to devour power and hide himself, but he didn't have enough power and was too afraid of The Ancient One.

Thus, both sides struck a deal. Darkened Doctor Strange used the sleepwalking ability brought by The Book of Dark God to show Infinite Ultron the path to the multiverse, while Infinite Ultron took him to other universes to devour power, seeming like a perfectly fitting arrangement.

Unfortunately, when a praying mantis is catching a cicada, there is a canary lying in wait. Shiller had been eavesdropping for quite some time.

Hearing the duo's wicked plan made Shiller clap his hands in glee. If their meticulous plan failed, the heavens would be in disorder, how could Shiller not lend a helping hand?

But there are some rules about scapegoating. It can't be done by just smearing someone's reputation. One must find personal evidence, physical evidence, and catch the perpetrator in the act.

The method Shiller adopted was the one that was ultimately exposed by Venom, that is, the classic decoy.

When Loki and Helen returned from the Time Management Bureau, they brought many Infinity Gems. Although the Infinity Gems cannot be used outside their own universe, they look exactly the same as real gems, and you can't tell whether they are real or not when set into the gloves.

After seeing the appearance of Infinite Ultron, Shiller had his butler, Ultron, dress up exactly like Infinite Ultron, flaunting a pair of Infinity Gauntlet, up to no good and creating resentment in the public.

Just at this time, the pragmatic White Can came up with the best method of stealing computational power, which was to create a mini nanobot virus to invade human brains and steal their unused computational power.

The battlesuit of Ultimate Iron Man was made of symbiotes, taken from the symbiote sample he found on Earth. All the symbiote progeny on Earth were actually from Venom, so his battle armor was also using Venom's progeny factor.

White Can used the same principle to modify the same Venom progeny factor, turning them into a zombie virus. Ultron took the sphere loaded with the zombie virus to the Zombie Universe and Magneto released the virus.

By chance, the Observer of that universe saw Ultron's appearance. Ultron was indeed Ultron and the Infinity Gem was indeed the Infinity Gem. There was no difference at all from the essence to the external outfit and equipment. The Observer took one look and thought Ultron was Infinite Ultron.

Thus, the testimonies from the Observers of Infinite Ultron's birth universe and the Zombie Universe coincided. This was perfect evidence.

The real Infinite Ultron and Darkened Doctor Strange weren't idle either. They chose a few universes as base points for their massive advancement. But, Darkened Doctor Strange was more cautious. He believed that they must first eliminate the formidable rivals in each universe to prevent anyone from popping up to harm them while they were indulging themselves.

Darkened Doctor Strange is able to enter dreams and use the Book of Dark God, and his dreamwalking technique can control people's minds unknowingly. Infinite Ultron can also use this power to hack into electronic devices, making the conclusion Jarvis reached about another Jarvis hacking into him in the revenge universe where Hank Pym resides not entirely without reason.

At that time, Shiller was adventuring in the Zombie Universe with Stark, but then Shiller didn't know that this was actually White Can's method of stealing computational power. He thought it was just a normal comic plotline.

Shiller took Stark there for one purpose only, of course, that same old purpose. He had a super cool grand plan, but he couldn't let Stark know about it first. A cyclic, enclosed universe was the perfect place for this.

However, even though he had trapped Stark, he couldn't trap himself. He still needed to check accounts with his butler Ultron and supervise the progress of the plan in real time. Thus, he began discussing the phantom radio wave theory with Stark.

Shiller was not interested in phantoms, he was interested in radio waves. But if he hadn't used a gluttonous appetite as a cover, how could he have had Stark build a cage that could confine phantoms with radio waves, allowing him to use radio waves to communicate with Ultron?

The cage that Stark built, which seemed like a trap for predators, was actually a communication device for Ultron to transmit brainwaves to Shiller.

Just as Stark finished making the cage and Ultron told Shiller the nature of the zombie virus and about the two unlucky ones causing havoc outside, Shiller realized this was a golden opportunity to turn the blame on others. As soon as he settled matters in the zombie world, he immediately dragged Stark to find the observer of the Zombie Universe for a testimony.

Sure enough, the Observer thought that the Ultron who threw the virus in the Zombie Universe and the Infinite Ultron who committed massive killings in some universe were the same Ultron. The testimonies were a perfect match.

Next, of course, was to capture the culprit. Shiller knew which universe Infinite Ultron and Darkened Doctor Strange were in, but in order for everyone to see more evidence, he had to arrange a so-called identification journey.

As a result, Stephen Strange, who had just returned to the Marvel Universe from DC and hadn't had a few days of leisure, became a fake Darkened Doctor Strange, constantly leaving traces of his power in various universes. This would allow Stark to use his energy tracking device to arrive at the universes that had been afflicted by Darkened Doctor Strange, and reinforce the existence of physical evidence.

Darkened Doctor Strange, who was constantly being chased by The Ancient One, would not possibly wander around each universe openly. Wouldn't this be waiting for The Ancient One to show up?

But Strange was also Doctor Strange. The energy they used was of the same origin and homologous, and their soul breaths were exactly the same. Stark never thought there would be a plot like the fake Monkey King, he only trusted the machines he made.

In this way, everyone was led by Shiller's two six-eared macaques and toured various universes, further deepening their impression of the two behind-the-scenes culprits doing no good.

In the end, the Star Devouring Engine flew to the final point, and this wild journey was nearing its end. Like every detective story, the ending always presents an obvious answer.

The culprit, Infinite Ultron, mentioned in the Observer's testimony, and Darkened Doctor Strange, the user of the purple energy they witnessed, appeared before everyone in an evil villain's stance.

During this journey, all the madness people saw was just a splash of water from the waves of Shiller's grand plan.

He only won in his heart, because the greatest madness is not in the large destructive results, but in every step of the plan, in the arrogance of being right about everything, in greed where it is hard to have the best of both worlds.