Chapter 2016: Lighting the Strange Dream in the Heart (Part 46)

Walt Disney was dressed in a slightly retro black tailcoat, wearing a black bowtie just like Gentleman Mickey, and sporting a tall top hat. He held a cane engraved with vine patterns in his hand. His movements and expressions were slightly comical, like the kind of rich man who only appears in cartoons.

He picked up a cup of tea from the small yellow round table beside him, sat down on the sofa, crossed his legs, and then looked up at Schiller and said, "You've come."

Schiller frowned slightly, but quickly composed his expression. He turned to the other three and said, "I would like to speak with Mr. Disney alone, if you don't mind?"

The other three said nothing and turned to leave. After exiting the small cabin, Nick shrugged, and Strange and Loki each pulled out a green Franklin and handed it to him.

"I told you he was in such a rush to find Disney; there must be something else going on. What do you think they'll talk about?"

"Hard to guess, but it must be more mysterious than we think." Loki blinked, twirled the staff in his hand, and said, "Schiller has too many secrets, but we don't need to understand every single one."

Inside the semi-circular house, Schiller sat on another sofa next to the round table, somewhat lost in his own thoughts. Walt's voice sounded in his ear again: "Don't you intend to ask anything?"

Schiller snapped out of it, then turned to look at Walt and said, "I guess things aren't the way I thought, right?"

"That depends on what kind of imagination you have regarding this." Walt took a sip of tea and said, "Whose story do you want to hear first?"

"What choices do I have?"

"Then let's start with my own." Walt sighed softly and said, "This is a very long story..."

"Then make it short." Schiller turned to look at him and said, "Obviously, I don't have much interest in it. I just need to know you're here."

Then he looked down at the teacup in his hand. Walt understood what he meant and also knew exactly which part of the story he wanted to hear.

"Before that, I must introduce someone to you." Walt turned to look behind him. Schiller turned at the same time, and then he saw a green figure walking from the back door of this strange cartoon cabin.

It was Loki, an aged Loki.

Schiller widened his eyes slightly. As if he had suddenly remembered something, he looked at this Loki and said, "God of Stories?"

"Not the one you are familiar with." The old man sat down on another sofa, sitting across from them. He placed his staff aside and also picked up a cup of tea from the table.

He took a light sip of tea, showing a satisfied expression, then gently flicked the lid of the cup, looked at Schiller, and said, "It has been three thousand years since I became the God of Stories."

Schiller widened his eyes slightly again. He looked at the elderly Loki and said, "So you are the old God of Stories?"

The elderly Loki nodded and said, "I have reached the end of the story."

Schiller leaned forward and looked at him: "What is there?"

The elderly Loki shook his head and began to tell his own story.

"After I became the God of Stories, I recorded all kinds of stories in various universes. A few hundred years later, my storybooks became very rich. A thousand years later, they filled almost every page. Two thousand years later, the storybooks became very thick, and I began to get bored."

"There is no story in this world that never ends, nor is there any story that is always original. The intelligent life capable of creating stories in the world is always repeating the same mistakes. Everything I spent two thousand years recording was nothing more than carving out countless identical tributaries on a long river."

"I felt deeply puzzled by this, not understanding why every universe was so similar. People always did the same things in the same situations and could never change."

"I had enough of this unoriginal repetition, so I began to investigate and experiment, trying to find the truth behind these stories."

Schiller listened intently, so when the elderly Loki paused, he instinctively asked, "What did you find?"

"I found nothing, but someone found me."

The elderly Loki shook his head gently and said, "In the process of searching for the truth, I took various measures, constantly backtracking time, trying to interfere with the stories, and influencing the protagonists of these stories, hoping they would make changes."

"I roamed through countless universes and made more attempts than I could count, and then I discovered that my influence was only temporary; the universe would eventually head in the same direction."

"And at this time, a mysterious existence found me. I have never witnessed his existence with my own eyes, but I suspect he is the Supreme God of this world."

Schiller frowned. He felt that this elderly Loki had likely met the OAA, but he didn't understand why the God of Stories would attract the attention of this supreme existence.

Traveling through various universes to twist story lines sounded astonishing, but there was no shortage of people doing this in the Marvel Universe. Or rather, Schiller was actually doing it too. Although he didn't manage as much, the depth of his influence was not much different.

Up until now, the OAA hadn't bothered Schiller, and could even be described as indulgent. So, the OAA finding the God of Stories must have had another purpose.

Sure enough, the elderly Loki said, "He told me not to do meaningless things anymore. I didn't understand, so I asked him for the reason, and he only said one sentence—'Recording stories is not as good as creating stories'."

The elderly Loki opened his palm and placed it in front of him, and a shimmering quill appeared on his palm. Then he said, "We made a deal. I would no longer interfere with existing stories, and he gave me the right to create new stories in the universe."

Schiller had a vague premonition, so he looked at Walt Disney. Walt smiled and said, "And the first story he created was the life experience of Walt Disney."

Schiller's movements paused again, because he remembered the voice that told the story of Walt Disney's childhood after lighting the first Walt Disney statue.

That voice was a bit too old, and the Walt Disney he knew had actually died at the age of 60-something. This voice didn't sound like Walt; it sounded more like the elderly Loki who had just spoken.

So, Walt Disney's origin story in this universe was actually created by the God of Stories?

This couldn't be a coincidence. This story created by the God of Stories was something he, as a comic book character, could never have known. The only possibility was that this story was told to him by the OAA; this was one of the conditions of their deal.

One piece of favorable evidence was that Marvel had an infinite number of single universes. No matter how much the God of Stories destroyed and interfered, it wouldn't be enough to make the Big Boss come out to stop him.

The OAA's power was infinite. Even if he wanted to stop someone, he didn't need any deal; he could just erase them directly.

Then this deal might just be a cover. Giving this quill, which had the ability to create stories in the Marvel Universe, to the God of Stories and letting him create Walt Disney's origin story in the comic book world was very likely the purpose of the OAA finding the God of Stories.

Since it was creating Walt Disney's origin story, this matter must have been directed by Walt, or at least he couldn't be separated from it.

Schiller thought carefully again. The time of Walt Disney's death he knew from his previous life should be 1966, and Disney acquired Marvel in 2009. There was a time gap of more than 30 years. Could Walt have foreseen that Disney would acquire Marvel in the future?

Wait, Schiller realized with a shock, it wasn't that Walt Disney foresaw that Disney would acquire Marvel in the future and made such arrangements, but that he made such arrangements, and Disney chose to acquire Marvel.

Then Schiller thought of another key figure, Stan Lee, known as the father of Marvel superheroes.

After quickly reviewing Stan Lee's life in his mind, Schiller grasped the key.

In the late 1950s, DC Comics began to enter the superhero comic field, and Stan Lee, who was the editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics at that time, was asked by his boss to create a new superhero comic series.

In 1961, the Fantastic Four was born.

In the days that followed, world-famous superhero comics like Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, and the X-Men were created one after another.

As mentioned before, Walt Disney was still working hard until his death and did not rest due to illness or avoid the outside world. That is to say, in the few years before his death, it was possible that he had seen Marvel comics.

Actually, Walt Disney and Stan Lee were of the same generation, but one lived a short life and the other lived a long one, making people feel like they were several generations apart, but their life trajectories actually overlapped.

And the fields they worked in also had certain similarities. When Stan Lee was working at Marvel Comics, Walt Disney was launching cartoons that were popular all over the world and had won Oscars several times. Regardless of whether Walt had contact with Stan Lee, it was impossible for Stan Lee not to have heard of this world-famous animation director.

And at that time, Walt Disney, who became famous overnight with the image of Mickey and even ruled the world's animation field for several years, was the idol of every painter in the industry. Stan Lee was probably no exception.

So they had contact? Schiller speculated in his heart. And in the cognition of most people, Marvel's Supreme God OAA was actually the incarnation of the creator. To put it bluntly, before 2000, OAA was Stan Lee.

The inference seemed to be getting clearer and clearer. During Walt Disney's heyday, he had contact with Stan Lee, the father of Marvel superheroes.

Perhaps they had some kind of deal, or perhaps they just discussed comic plots together and gained inspiration. In any case, Stan Lee intended to draw Walt into the comics.

But Walt Disney's company was named after himself. Without authorization, Marvel Comics could not allow their editors to draw a superhero named after the founder of this company. This was a serious infringement.

But this problem ceased to exist after Disney acquired Marvel. Schiller speculated that Walt Disney might have made some arrangements, which eventually led to the removal of the barrier for Disney to acquire Marvel's copyright, and his story appeared in the comics.

So now only one last question remained: where did all the entanglements between Walt Disney and Stan Lee, and Disney and Marvel, take place?

Or to put it more bluntly, was it inside the fourth wall or outside the wall?

Schiller thought about this question while picking up the teacup in front of him and taking a sip of the scalding tea.

The next second, he froze.

The taste at the entrance was incomparably familiar; it was the Biluochun he loved to drink in his previous life. ===== CHAPTER 2017 =====