Chapter 1862: The Madman's Journey (End)

Secret Wars can be considered one of the most important major events in Marvel history, as it was precisely this event that completely reshaped the Marvel Universe, creating the current All-New, All-Different reality.

In the past, no matter how great the crisis, the superheroes could always turn danger into safety, but in this major event, things were unexpectedly different; the heroes were almost powerless, perhaps because their opponents were simply too strong.

Shiler did not know whether the Beyonders' act of deploying the Molecule Man this time was laying the groundwork for a future move, or if they intended to go all out immediately to destroy the universe, but he understood that this might be the most powerful opponent he had ever encountered in the Marvel Universe.

In the original setup, the Beyonder's abilities were somewhat like the early Superman, centered on getting whatever he wished for; as long as he wanted an ability, he could have it, and he had no morality—most importantly, he had no morality.

Because he had no morality and no attachments, he could act without restraint. Shiler's usual methods of comparing moral bottom lines or using things the opponent cared about to restrain them were ineffective. Now, the only thing they could compete on was who was crazier.

In the past, Shiler's actions seemed crazy, but in reality, every step was meticulously designed. However, if one truly wanted to achieve the effect of extreme madness, it was inevitable that some parts would exceed expectations, which could lead to losses.

In this world, no one could ensure that every plan had a completely positive return. Shiler had previously tried to lean toward this effect, using a main plot and multiple subplots in a massive plan to achieve different goals, striving for a win-win situation.

But when dealing with the Beyonders, this mindset could not be used. Sometimes, sacrifice and abandonment were necessary, and even losses were acceptable.

However, there was a problem: Shiler having no morality did not mean the superheroes watching his actions had no morality. Even if they understood in their hearts that Shiler was acting for the greater good, their sense of morality would make them feel guilty for the victims.

Shiler had spent a great deal of effort polishing these "figurines" until they were shiny and beautiful; if they were damaged by the blade of guilt, it would be a loss that outweighed the gain. Therefore, Shiler still had to make some extra preparations, such as preparing a few "scapegoats" to immediately pin on someone else's head if necessary.

Upon learning from Ultron that the main universe's Iron Man and Spider-Man could not successfully build a cosmic engine to propel the universe due to insufficient computing power, Shiler knew that normal means would likely struggle to obtain enough power in such a short time.

Shiler knew this wasn't his strong suit, but he could find someone who excelled at it—he went to find the Superior Iron Man, commonly known as the "White Tank."

The Superior Iron Man was actually the main universe's Iron Man, only his morality had been reversed during the AXIS event, turning him from a hero into a narcissistic, unscrupulous businessman. But he had no morality—most importantly, he had no morality.

The White Tank was a possibility for the future of the main universe, so he naturally existed in the possibility universes generated by different choice branches. Shiler used the Time Variance Authority's authorization to drag him out and replace the main universe's Iron Man, letting him figure out how to solve the problem at hand.

It wasn't that Shiler didn't want to do it himself; the key was that he had more important things to do, which was to go into the universe and find a "lucky loser" to take the blame.

Shiler didn't think of Infinity Ultron first, but rather the Dark Doctor Strange who had previously taken a trip to the DC Universe inside Barry's mind—the Strange who used the Darkhold to continuously devour other Doctor Stranges across the multiverse.

He was a standard villain template; no one would be surprised by any evil act he committed. And because he was an evil version of the Sorcerer Supreme everyone was familiar with, he was even more hated, making him the perfect candidate for a scapegoat.

Shiler would bring Harley and Barry to this universe and say they were the key, precisely because the Dark Doctor Strange had once been in Barry's mind. After Barry awakened the Speed Force and gained some dark energy, he also awakened a sensitivity to mystical forces.

Barry could immediately distinguish the aura of that uninvited guest who had once been in his mind, and for Shiler, this allowed him to find the Dark Doctor Strange, who was hiding from the Ancient One, as quickly as possible.

When finding the Dark Doctor Strange, Shiler discovered an unexpected bonus: the Dark Doctor Strange actually had a connection with Infinity Ultron.

Shiler speculated that this might be because the Ancient One was pursuing the Dark Doctor Strange too closely, causing him to act out of desperation, increasing his efforts to search for and devour other Stranges to protect himself, and in the process, he found the universe where Infinity Ultron resided.

Or more likely, while the Dark Doctor Strange was eating the brain of that universe's Strange, he was caught red-handed by Infinity Ultron.

The two of them hit it off immediately. Infinity Ultron had just realized the existence of the Watcher and discovered that there were universes beyond the universe, intending to embark on a journey to destroy the multiverse, but he lacked guidance for his targets and had no established path.

The Dark Doctor Strange needed to go to more universes to devour power and needed to hide himself, but he lacked sufficient power and was too afraid of the Ancient One.

Just like that, the two sides reached a deal: the Dark Doctor Strange used the dream-walking ability brought by the Darkhold to point out the path of the multiverse for Infinity Ultron, while Infinity Ultron took him to other universes to devour power—it seemed like a perfect complement.

But unfortunately, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind; Shiler had already been peeking and listening from the side for a long time.

Upon hearing their evil plan, Shiler almost clapped in delight. If such a meticulous plan didn't succeed, it would be a crime against heaven. How could Shiler not help out?

However, pinning a scapegoat also required some finesse; mere verbal slander wouldn't work. It required human evidence, physical evidence, and catching them in the act.

And the method Shiler adopted was exactly the one that was eventually seen through by Venom—the most classic "civets for the prince" swap.

When Loki and Helen returned from the Time Variance Authority, they brought many Infinity Stones. Although Infinity Stones couldn't be used outside their own universe, they looked exactly like the real ones, and when set in a gauntlet, one couldn't tell the difference.

Shiler had seen the appearance of Infinity Ultron, so he had his butler Ultron dress exactly like Infinity Ultron, wearing an Infinity Stone gauntlet and strutting around doing evil things. This was to create public outrage.

Just at this time, the White Tank, who had no moral bottom line, came up with the best way to steal computing power: creating a micro-nanobot virus to invade human brains and steal their unused computing power.

The Superior Iron Man's suit was made of symbiotes, coming from a symbiote sample he found on Earth. Since all symbiote descendants on Earth actually came from Venom, his suit actually used Venom's descendant factors.

The White Tank used the same principle to modify the same Venom descendant factors, turning them into a zombie virus, while Ultron took the sphere loaded with the zombie virus to the Zombie Universe, where Magneto released the virus.

Coincidentally, the Watcher of this universe saw Ultron's appearance. Ultron was originally Ultron, and the Infinity Stones were also Infinity Stones; from essence to appearance to external equipment, there was no difference. The Watcher took one look and assumed Ultron was Infinity Ultron.

In this way, the testimonies of the Watcher of Infinity Ultron's birth universe and the Watcher of the Zombie Universe matched—this was perfect human evidence.

And the real Infinity Ultron and the Darkhold Strange weren't idle either. They selected several universes as footholds for their army's advance, but the Dark Doctor Strange was more cautious; he believed they must first eliminate the rivals in each universe to prevent someone from ambushing him while he was feasting.

The Dark Doctor Strange could use the Darkhold to enter dreams; his dream-walking technique could control people's minds unknowingly, and Infinity Ultron could also borrow this power to hack into electronic equipment.

And in the universe where Hank Pym took revenge, Jarvis concluding that another Jarvis hacked him wasn't entirely unreasonable. In the universe where Infinity Ultron was born, Infinity Ultron was Vision, and his creator was Stark.

At that time, Shiler was adventuring with Stark in the Zombie Universe, but Shiler didn't know then that this was actually the White Tank's method of stealing computing power; he still thought this was a normal comic plot.

Shiler brought Stark there for only one purpose, and of course, it was still that one purpose: he had a super cool big plan, but first, it couldn't be known by Stark. A closed-loop universe was the best place to go.

But he had closed Stark off, yet he couldn't close himself off. He still had to reconcile accounts with his butler Ultron and supervise the progress of the plan in real-time, so he began to discuss the "radio ghost theory" with Stark.

Shiler was completely uninterested in ghosts; he was interested in radio waves. But if he didn't use "gluttonous hunger" as an excuse to have Stark build him a cage that could imprison ghosts with radio waves, how could he borrow radio waves to communicate with Ultron?

The cage Stark built looked like a predator trap, but in reality, it was Ultron's brainwave transmitter for Shiler.

And just when Stark finished building the cage, and Ultron told Shiler the essence of the zombie virus and that those two "lucky losers" were causing trouble outside, Shiler realized this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pin a scapegoat. So, after the matter in the zombie world was resolved, he didn't stop to rest and immediately dragged Stark to find the Watcher of the Zombie Universe for testimony.

Sure enough, the Watcher thought the Ultron who threw the virus in the Zombie Universe and the Infinity Ultron who was slaughtering in a certain universe were the same Ultron, and the testimonies matched.

Next, of course, was to apprehend the culprits. Shiler knew which universe Infinity Ultron and the Dark Doctor Strange were in, but to let everyone see more evidence of their crimes, he had to arrange a "search for evidence" trip.

Thus, Stephen Strange, who had just returned to the Marvel Universe from DC and had a few days of leisure, became a fake Dark Doctor Strange again, continuously leaving traces of his power in various universes, so as to lead Stark to use his energy-searching device to come to the universes that had been ravaged by the Dark Doctor Strange, strengthening the presence of physical evidence.

The Dark Doctor Strange was being chased by the Ancient One; how could he possibly pee in every universe with such swagger? Wasn't that just waiting for the Ancient One to find him?

But it couldn't be helped that Strange was also Doctor Strange; the energy they used was of the same origin, and their soul auras were exactly the same. Stark never thought there would be a "true and false Monkey King" situation; he only believed in the machine he built.

Just like that, everyone was led by the two "six-eared macaques" Shiler created to visit various universes, deepening their impression that these two behind-the-scenes masterminds were up to no good.

In the end, the Galactus engine flew to its destination, and this crazy journey also neared its end. And just like every detective story, the ending always presented an obvious answer.

The culprit Infinity Ultron from the Watcher's testimony and the Dark Doctor Strange, the user of purple energy they saw with their own eyes, appeared before everyone in the posture of evil villains.

And in this journey, all the madness people saw was nothing but water droplets splashed out by the tide of the greatest madman Shiler's plan.

He only won a complete victory in his heart, because the greatest madness never lies in the massive destructive results, but in the arrogance of every step of the conception where nothing predicted was wrong, and the greed of wanting to have one's cake and eat it too. ===== CHAPTER 1863 =====