Chapter 1602

In the apartment room, Gwen Spider-Woman lay weakly on the table looking at the headache-inducing thesis vocabulary on the tablet. Shiler stood behind her left, and Seeing Natasha stood behind her right. Gwen Spider-Woman let out a long sigh and said.

"Are you kidding me! You two are dead and still won't let me go?! And I said, I pressed spell check, it's just that the software I use isn't that smart. I'm not a native of your universe, I don't understand your advanced AI error correction. You have to understand this point."

"Then what's with these word adhesions without spaces, missing periods, and word-internal segmentation? What's with all these soft returns that mess up the format?"

"Maybe I was dizzy and pressed the wrong button writing in the middle of the night." Gwen Spider-Woman searched her brains for excuses. She wailed, her whole body slapped on the table like a puddle of mud, and said: "Spare me! I'm just not cut out for studying! If it really doesn't work, why don't you go torment the Gwen of this universe? She would be very happy to have an academic discussion with you."

Shiler walked to the window of the apartment, sat in a chair, looked at Gwen Spider-Woman, and said: "You have to produce a decent article, otherwise what should I use to fob off Professor X? Only if he thinks you are learning well here will he temporarily dispel the idea of letting you transfer to his academy."

Gwen Spider-Woman sighed deeply, resigned to start revising her thesis. After she revised a version, Shiler looked at the details of her article on the tablet and asked: "I heard you are very interested in punk culture?"

"Partly." Gwen Spider-Woman handed the two cans of soda she had just brought over to Seeing Natasha and Shiler, and then said: "It's hard to avoid this if you play rock."

"Which band is your favorite?"

"Sex Pistols, a cliché." Gwen Spider-Woman sat on the edge of the bed, spread her legs, supported herself on the edge of the bed between her legs, and said while drinking soda: "I think they are revolutionary and far-reaching."

"Indeed so in the rock music world. Then, death punk?"

Gwen Spider-Woman thought for a while and said: "I rarely have the opportunity to discuss this, because as soon as people hear this term, they think it's something a group of hooligan youths with black lipstick, covered in nails, and idling on the street would do. People don't want to let themselves fall to this point, so they usually avoid talking about this topic."

"I heard you also have research on nihilism."

"Punk itself has nihilistic properties, but I want to correct a misunderstanding. Although I am also very interested in mysticism, the two are actually opposites. Mysticism emphasizes existence but unknowability, while nihilism emphasizes meaninglessness and non-existence."

"You said you don't often talk about this with people, so have you had the opportunity to chat about it before?"

Gwen Spider-Woman took a sip of soda, nodded, and said: "I still have a few friends. I often discuss this with the bassist in the band. Compared to the common nihilistic view that truth does not exist, the view I hold is more like 'truth is unreachable, so all pursuit is futile'."

"It's the same if you replace truth with any other term. There are too few things human beings can possess. Even if this universe is so rich, tragedy still appears and disappears in the life of an individual. It's better to give up and accept this fate that can only be empty and not fall into reality."

When Gwen Spider-Woman said these words, there was no decadence or sadness in her tone, just like academically stating her own views. And Shiler didn't want to refute or convince her, he just said: "Very interesting view. Have you heard of any famous people who hold similar views?"

"Too many, of course the most famous of which is Nietzsche, European nihilism, etc., but I am not very interested in politics and philosophy. I still prefer rock."

"Do you think the trend of thought singing the praises of nihilism is naturally produced?"

Facing this question, Gwen Spider-Woman was a bit stunned. She frowned, just wanting to say something, but Shiler shook his head and said: "I'm not saying this is some cult, I'm just asking, if not interfered with, do you think humans can recognize nihilism?"

Gwen Spider-Woman thought for a while, then said: "I can't be sure if we recognize nihilism now. Human understanding of the universe is originally very shallow. We interpret this as non-existence, perhaps just because we can only understand to this extent."

"Do you think you understand more deeply than others?"

"Uh... I..." Gwen was a bit confused by Shiler's questions. She scratched the long hair behind her head with her hand, sat cross-legged on the bed, looked at Shiler, and asked: "Why are you suddenly concerned about this? Dean Shiler, you don't look like someone who would be interested in punk."

"I think you should answer my question positively, especially when your thesis is still in my hands, miss."

Gwen Spider-Woman sighed, waved her hand in front of her face, and said: "I can't say I understand it very well. This isn't me being humble, it's just that I said I don't know much about philosophy, at most I understand some musical styles."

"Then how about writing a thesis starting from this?"

"Huh???"

Gwen Spider-Woman stared at Shiler, the expression on her face as if saying "Isn't your map of Yan a bit too short?"

Shiler looked at the content in the tablet in his hand and said: "I only mentioned the spelling errors and format problems of the thesis before, I haven't mentioned the content yet. If I have to evaluate it, this thesis will cause a quite significant blow to my educational career. I don't recommend letting anyone other than me see this article."

"Ah, is it really that bad?" Gwen Spider-Woman hummed a few times like fake crying. Shiler put the tablet on the table next to him, shook his head, and said: "I don't want to force you to learn things you can't understand either, so I wanted to find a topic you are interested in. You have to finish a thesis anyway."

Gwen Spider-Woman hesitated and said: "Writing it out is no problem, but I haven't written this kind of subject matter either. Maybe I'll write it even worse?"

"Punk culture and nihilism is a relatively niche subject matter. As long as you have your own views and have something to say, it won't be too bad. It's better than you insisting on opening a new track in mature disciplines like sociology and international relations, right?"

Gwen Spider-Woman had to agree. She didn't want to really transfer to the academy where Professor X was. Charles was a very experienced teacher who was very strict about studying. By then, Gwen Spider-Woman wouldn't be able to fish for three days and dry the net for two like now, and still earn enough credits.

Just when Gwen Spider-Woman was thinking about how to open the topic, Shiler spoke again: "Have you considered the relationship between nihilism and religious studies and theology?"

Gwen Spider-Woman widened her eyes slightly, but she still shook her head and said: "I don't know much about these two aspects either. Do I have to write a similar subject matter?"

"I think you can start the analysis from these two aspects. You mentioned before that nihilism and mysticism are diametrically opposed, and mysticism is inseparable from religious studies and theology. Cutting in from this should be a good idea."

Gwen Spider-Woman nodded while thinking, feeling that what Shiler said made sense. At this time, Shiler stood up, picked up the tablet computer on the table, handed it to Gwen Spider-Woman, and said: "We have some other things to do, so we'll leave first. I hope that when I come here next time, I can see your masterpiece, Miss Gwen."

"Uh, about when is that?"

"Three days later, how about that?"

"Oh my god! This time is too short!"

"This is compensation for the time you wasted in the past. Go."

Regardless of Gwen Spider-Woman's squealing, Shiler and Seeing Natasha left the apartment Gwen Spider-Woman rented, returned to Arkham Asylum, took a car out from the underground parking lot, and drove toward Manhattan.

On the way to the next destination, Seeing Natasha asked curiously: "Punk, nihilism, and Gwen Spider-Woman, and the thesis that I can't understand the most. Shiler, what are you doing again?"

"I'm also curious about what you are doing, Dr. Shiler."

A voice came from the back seat. Shiler turned his eyes slightly and saw Hela appearing in the back seat from the rearview mirror.

Hela was still dressed as if she had just walked off the runway. She reached out to gather the hem of her thick fur coat, revealed an imperceptible smile at Shiler, and then said.

"People who have just died will be stained with the breath of Death, and I recently obtained the duty of receiving souls in the Nine Realms. You are also within my reception range. Want to go to the Underworld to sit for a while? Your friends probably won't think you are there."

"If it were any other time, I would be very happy." Shiler revealed an apologetic smile at the rearview mirror and said: "But I'm a bit busy right now, ma'am."

When Shiler said this, he couldn't help but stare at the rearview mirror. Hela's face reflected on the mirror surface appeared paler. Compared to Frigga, Hela was more like Odin in both appearance and temperament.

It's not that she wasn't beautiful enough, it's just that the sharp temperament with offensive power was far more attention-grabbing than her appearance. But if you look closely at her appearance and features, it also has a unique flavor.

Hela has a very typical Nordic appearance: full forehead, flat face, and the expansion of the mandible is very obvious, forming a clear cheek depression with the cheekbones, which is usually considered a sign of sexiness.

Perhaps because she has lived in the Underworld full of the breath of Death for many years, her hair and eyebrows are thick black. Her eyebrows are raised high on the brow bone, her eye sockets are deep, and she wears dark green, slightly pearlescent cut-crease smoky makeup, and her lip color is also greenish black.

Such an image might be a bit strange on a human, not conforming to public aesthetics, but if it were on a god-race female warrior nearly 1.9 meters tall, it would be quite reasonable.

Shiler slowly stopped the car, circled around the back of an apartment building, returned to the ramp where he had turned before, and then turned to another direction. Seeing Natasha in the passenger seat raised an eyebrow and asked: "What's wrong? Why change the route?"

"Because I just thought of a better method, Your Highness Hela. Since you didn't notify my friends the first time you found me, I suppose we are on the same side. Since that's the case, can you do me a favor?"

Hela met Shiler's gaze in the rearview mirror as if quite interested. She flicked her fingers lightly and asked: "If I help you, how do you plan to repay me?"

Seeing Natasha immediately gasped. She looked at Hela from the gap between the two headrests of the passenger seat and said: "I advise you to put away that bold idea. Guess why I am here?"

"I saw the scene after the two of you had a passionate exchange. It was quite interesting. Are you interested in other people's internal organs?" Hela asked, looking at Shiler's eyes in the rearview mirror.

"I'm only interested in the internal organs of fish." Shiler shook his head lightly, turned the steering wheel, and said in a gesture of polite refusal: "Chasing other anglers with a fishing rod because you can't fish up a fish is not elegant enough."

Hela laughed deeply. She understood Shiler's meaning of refusal, just felt amused by this description. She sighed lightly and said.

"Alright, then what favor do you want me to do?"

"Do you mind being a star for once? Ma'am?"