Chapter 3438: Midnight Sons (48)

Seeing Danny's emotions slowly calm down, Schiller went to get a paper cup, poured himself a glass of water, and began to narrate slowly:

"Since it's just a normal chat, I won't talk about those hard-to-understand terms. To answer your question, we must start from the essence of superheroes."

"Human society has never had a perfect system. The existence of the human race is destined to be unable to design and execute a perfect system. If this is seen as a given condition, then the birth of heroes is almost inevitable."

"Since the system isn't perfect, there must be people who check for gaps and fill them for the system. They push the era or society forward, and because they bring a better life to ordinary people, ordinary people call them heroes."

"You can understand superheroes as heroes with superpowers. They are a branch of heroes. Since they are a branch, their nature is very similar to other existences in this group. They are a supplement to an imperfect system."

"Then what is the difference between supervillains and superheroes? Obviously, supervillains break the law. Most supervillains significantly endanger the life safety of others. Whether from the legal or moral level, they are evil. They are the group of people who destroy the system. So even if they have superpowers, they are supervillains, not superheroes."

"But if a person has superpowers but hasn't committed a crime, yet hasn't done anything to make society better, can they be called a superhero?"

"I don't think so. The threshold for heroes isn't that low. We can only say that such a person isn't a supervillain, but we can't say they are a superhero."

"Looking at it this way, whether they have used their superpowers to make society better is the standard for superheroes, and it's the only standard."

"Whether this superhero is staying in the laboratory pushing technological progress or catching petty thieves on the street, they can be called superheroes, because they have all made society better."

Danny nodded. Schiller said it very clearly and understandably, and he could understand it. But the next question from Schiller was a bit complex.

"Then if a superhero's behavior endangers this society, what should be done?"

"Then he isn't a superhero." Danny said, "Not only did he not make society better, he also endangered others, he should count as a supervillain."

"Yes, that's it. People who make this society better are heroes. Then if you want to be a hero, you have to make this society better. You also agree with this point, right?"

Danny nodded.

"Then if a superhero wants to make society better, but the method is wrong and endangers this society, what should be done?"

Danny started thinking, and after a while, he opened his mouth and said: "Maybe his idea is good, but if it endangers others, maybe it can't be called a hero either. At least to that victim, it isn't."

"That's right. Although his idea is good, his behavior endangered society, so he can't be considered a superhero. Then does he count as a supervillain?"

Danny was silent for a while before saying: "I feel maybe he counts too. After all, his behavior is indeed wrong."

"Then if this superhero has been saving people all along, saved many people, but only this time had a problem, can we treat him according to the method of dealing with supervillains?"

Danny shook his head and said: "No. This is too ruthless. It's also a fact that he saved many people; we can't treat him as a heinous criminal just because of this one mistake."

Then he fell into thought, and after a while, he opened his mouth and said: "Are you trying to tell me that the reason superheroes appear so hesitant and don't take the most efficient method to act is to avoid becoming criminals themselves?"

"But the methods I mentioned before aren't exactly crimes, right? Iron Man can control his robots well, and Captain America's influence isn't something to avoid. Is it really just to avoid making mistakes that they would rather sacrifice efficiency and do everything slowly?"

Schiller smiled lightly and said: "Don't be anxious, listen to me slowly."

"You might feel that the harm I mentioned in these examples refers to superpowers losing control and killing many people, or running around and disturbing social life order. But no, these are just the most superficial harms."

Danny turned his head to look at him.

"The harm that true superheroes should try their best to avoid is destroying stability." Schiller's two hands were folded together, and he used one hand to rub the joints of the other hand.

"Life and health rights are the first natural rights of humanity. To put it simply, every person has the right to live healthily. Then what is the second right? I think it is the right to develop oneself."

"To develop oneself, one must have the conditions for self-development. For example, receiving education, exercising the body, enriching horizons, increasing knowledge—these are all conditions that can allow a person to develop."

"Society must first guarantee the realization of the first right of humanity, which is to let everyone survive. On this basis, it must strive to guarantee the realization of the second right, which is to let people have the above conditions to develop themselves."

"And to have these conditions, society must maintain stability. Schools must be able to conduct normal teaching activities every day, shops must be able to open every day to let people buy what they want, and transportation facilities must be able to operate normally every day to let people go where they want to go."

"And if stability is lost, schools might stop classes seven days a week, shops might not dare to open, and transportation facilities might be completely paralyzed, then everyone can only hide at home. Their psychological and physical conditions might also stagnate because of this; this is losing the right to develop oneself."

"Then what might lead to the loss of stability? The most likely, of course, is large-scale thermal weapon warfare, followed by terrorist riots, plague rampant, poor management, etc."

"If there are no such big events, then some small things might also lead to local chaos. And because it's not a big deal, everyone is negligent and doesn't care, making it easier to repeat, causing stability to be repeatedly broken, and society to remain in a long-term state of disorder."

"Schools might not be permanently closed, but at least four or five times a month; shops aren't always closed, but might be closed for two or three days a week; transportation facilities are good one day and bad the next, but if you are lucky, you can still travel."

"It feels like there's no problem, but in reality, this is also a serious restriction on humanity's own right to develop. Not to mention, when some places are like this, other places are fine."

"Ultimately, it leads to people in some places being severely restricted in their own development, while others can develop almost infinitely. Society is torn into two halves, and half of the people, or even more than half, have to endure injustice forever."

"Superpowers themselves easily lead to these small things. Campus tragedies, commercial street attacks, traffic destruction, etc., brought about by superpower loss of control are common. Considering the evil consequences I just mentioned, this must attract attention."

"Superheroes are to check for gaps and fill them for this society, not to become the person who digs the hole. One superhero might not be much, ten might not bring much harm either. But just counting the ones I know, there are more than two thousand superheroes in New York. If each one does one small thing, the harm caused won't be less than a thermal war breaking out in New York."

"In summary, the efficiency of superheroes isn't limited by their abilities or mentality, but by the requirements of this society for stability. The upper limit of their efficiency isn't themselves, but the limit of ordinary people."

"However, the limit of ordinary people is much lower than you imagine. To be precise, they are quite fragile."

"It's not just when a knife cuts them or a bullet hits them that it's called hurting them. That's just physical injury. What they also can't bear is mental injury."

"The shock brought by sudden accidents, or life habits maintained for many years suddenly being broken, are all mental injuries to them. It might make them anxious, depressed, or even fall into a mental predicament they can't extricate themselves from, unable to integrate into normal social life, limiting their own development."

"Superheroes must try their best to avoid them receiving physical injury, and also must do their best to avoid them receiving mental injury, because both are equally painful."

"Even if it's not for the purpose of guaranteeing their right to develop, superheroes should do this, because 'allowing weakness' is the core of humanistic care."

"If a group doesn't give enough care and protection to the vulnerable, but ignores or eliminates them, then no one will be willing to stand up, sacrifice their own interests, and push society and the era forward. There won't be any more heroes, only speculators and criminals will remain, and society will almost never move forward again."

"So let's talk about the methods you mentioned. Iron Man can send robots into the Bronx with great fanfare, but what do you let the residents of the Bronx think?"

"Is Iron Man coming to invade us? Are the robots going to rebel against humanity? Who are the weapons mounted on them dealing with? Will they beat me to death because I went out to take out the trash today?"

"It sounds ridiculous, but you have no reliable reason to convince others not to think so."

"Captain America is the same. Everyone knows how much influence he has. Once he holds a press conference, people will definitely guess: Is Hydra going to make a comeback? Is their headquarters hidden in the Bronx? Will I run into terrorists when I go out to buy things?"

"People will feel panic because of this. They will worry and be afraid, won't sleep well, will be trembling when they go out, and will have such thoughts from time to time when studying and working, completely unable to concentrate. Isn't this a harm to them?"

"Years of experience as a psychologist tell me that ordinary people rarely have any great disasters in their lives. Most of the things that linger in their brains, entangle their souls, and make them sit in front of me with painful faces come from these small tribulations."

Danny looked at Schiller blankly. These words were like a breeze drilling in from a crack when the window wasn't closed tightly, becoming more intense through the narrow passage, and after rushing into the brain from the ear canal, becoming deafening and making one dizzy.

Schiller's words and expression made him seem to have been suddenly grabbed by something, sent into the high sky. Standing from such a detached perspective like a god, he looked down at the common people.

When standing high, those things he once thought were amazing all became blurred. But there were too many things to see here, and he discovered the laws of operation of the subtle details he couldn't see normally, giving birth to an unprecedented, vast compassion for this.

Finally, he heard Schiller's faint sigh:

"In human history, there has never been a heroic legend that has been playing all along. Except for the birds that have already rushed into the clouds, after seeing the mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas, and the vastness of heaven and earth, when every grain of sand chooses to stumble and run toward its ordinary destination, they still choose to fly over their heads, shielding them from the scorching sun, becoming the most relaxed and pleasant journey they encounter along the way."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3439 =====

"In human history, there has never been a heroic legend that plays out forever. Except for the birds that have already soared into the clouds, who, after witnessing the mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, and the vastness of heaven and earth, still choose to fly over the heads of every grain of sand that chooses to stumble toward its ordinary destination, shielding them from the scorching sun and becoming the most relaxed and pleasant breeze they encounter along the way."

(End of Chapter)