Chapter 390

As the sun set, the New York coastline was blanketed in the glow of the twilight, as if a heavy snow made of gold leaf had fallen the night before. Not far from the shore, a cruise ship was moving slowly.

One could tell from its exterior that this was a luxury cruise ship. As the light gradually faded, brilliant radiance lit up within the cabins. The people who had taken the yacht out to sea were quietly admiring the approaching night.

On the terrace of a restaurant in a prime location on the second deck, two figures in suits were sitting at a table near the edge. Grant was fiddling with the food on his plate, somewhat absent-mindedly. Schiller had already finished his meal and was leaning back in his chair, watching the sunset while the sea breeze blew.

After a while, he stood up. Grant said nothing and followed behind him. Schiller walked quickly through the restaurant and across the bustling dance floor, passing through the hazy lights reflected by the elegant gentlemen and ladies in their fine attire and the exquisite glassware.

He arrived in the corridor of the cruise ship's cabins. After stopping in front of a door, he knocked. Schiller's voice and the sound of the door opening rang out simultaneously. He said, "The moment you saw me, you must have thought you were discovered by S. H. I. E. L. D., but on the contrary, Nick tracked you down, yet I covered for you, Alexander Pierce."

Behind the door appeared an old man with hair already half-white. He was stunned after hearing Schiller's words, but upon seeing Grant Ward standing outside the door with his gun already in hand, he knew he had no other choice.

In an instant, Pierce seemed to age several years; he no longer possessed that high-spirited demeanor he had in his seat on the Security Council. He retreated slowly a few steps, letting Schiller walk in.

Schiller raised his head, looking around the guest room, and said, "I know you want to tell me that 'the most dangerous place is the safest place,' but in reality, it's just that you aren't willing to suffer in those dark and damp underground bunkers, so you paint the act of taking the risk to hide on a cruise ship as your own far-sightedness and god-like foresight."

"You know full well that whenever you did this sort of thing in the past, you were holding onto a fluke mentality. Every time you survived, you would warn yourself that next time you must change your approach, but after so many years, you still only know this one trick. Pierce, why you are able to live to this day, both you and I are clear."

Pierce's complexion became extremely ugly. In his entire life, he had never heard such sharp words that pierced directly into his heart. Agents like to be straightforward and dislike wasting time, but they dislike prying into others' inner thoughts even more, and they rarely bring up this topic in conversation.

Yet, the psychologist in front of him seemed to have no such scruples, which also just went to show that he had come with ill intent.

Pierce quickly adjusted his state. He knew that a fierce battle was waiting for him next. The fact that Schiller hadn't shot him dead the moment he opened the door meant that the two of them still had plenty to discuss.

In the same night, Stark had taken off his armor and was reading a book in front of his workbench. He rubbed his philtrum with his fingers, shook his head, and said, "If I hadn't memorized all those messy game theory textbooks overnight in the past, I really might not have the patience to sit here now, reading these books related to mental illness and psychology."

"Sir, I suggest you do not become too immersed. People often like to project the cases in psychology and psychiatry onto themselves; this may affect your mood."

"It seems your level is much higher than mine now, but I want to say, I will catch up to you soon, Jarvis." Stark didn't take it to heart at all.

"Originally, I had no interest in this sort of thing at all, but Schiller's performance today makes me very suspicious. Just like the conclusion you reached, he seems to have completely changed into a different person. This doesn't seem to be something that multiple personalities can explain, and you said his body has no problems; the vein and nerve structures are completely identical in the scan."

"If he is truly sick, then I will find a way to cure his illness. If he was replaced by Hydra, then I will expose this conspiracy and then save him. Just think about how wonderful his expression will be, haha!"

Stark laughed twice and continued reading, but as he read, his expression became a bit off. He flipped the book pages back and forth between two fingers and asked with some hesitation, "Jarvis, did you learn the part about anxiety disorders?"

"Yes, I have more detailed information here. Would you like to hear it?"

"No, no need." Stark answered immediately. He bit the inside of his lower lip, shook his neck slightly, straightened his spine, and then spoke at a faster pace, "I'm fine now. If you had learned this set of things earlier, maybe I wouldn't have had to be blackmailed by that vampire doctor."

Jarvis remained silent. Stark tried hard to shift his attention back and continued reading, but as he read, he asked again, "What kind of illness is this? Narcissistic personality disorder? Does narcissism count as an illness too?"

"Malignant narcissism may lead to violent behavior, referring to being extremely self-centered, thereby harming others..."

Stark was silent for a moment and said, "Do you think I'm narcissistic?"

"I cannot answer that question."

"Alright, I get it, you don't need to say it." Stark rested his elbows on the table, pressed his fingers against his forehead, and said, "I admit, I am a little bit, but it shouldn't reach the level of being malignant, right?"

Then he continued reading further down. After a while, he said again, "Bipolar disorder? How come this also seems a bit..."

Stark shook his head and sighed while flipping down. After a while, he said:

"Post-traumatic stress disorder... You know what? The symptoms written here..."

Stark pointed at a few lines of text in the book with his fingertip and said, "Post-traumatic re-experiencing, increased alertness, avoidance, etc. This reminds me of someone..."

Tomato Novel

Stark fell silent again. In less than two minutes, he slammed the book shut with a "pop," then leaned his back against the chair and tilted his head up, saying, "Jarvis, you were right. I shouldn't be reading these at night."

Suddenly, he sat up straight again, then reopened the book, flipped through the previous pages, and plunged into the ocean of knowledge until dawn.

The next morning, Steve had just walked into the S. H. I. E. L. D. cafeteria when he saw Stark poking his head around behind the buffet counter. He walked over and patted Stark, asking him, "What's wrong with you?"

Stark rolled his eyes, looked him up and down, and said, "Nothing, I'm just waiting for you."

"Waiting for me? What are you waiting for me for?"

"Did you forget? We still have one very important thing we haven't talked about, and that's regarding that good friend of yours..."

Steve turned to get a tray and did not respond to the topic. Stark narrowed his eyes and said, "Even if he was brainwashed by Hydra, it cannot erase the fact that he once harmed innocent people."

"But he saved more people. He was once a heroic soldier; he just encountered an accident..." Steve picked up the food tongs to select bread. Stark stood on the other side of the buffet counter, pressed his earphone, and whispered, "Jarvis, did you see that? He just picked up the same piece of bread and put it back down three times."

"But what if, among the innocent people he killed, there was another friend of yours?"

"Impossible." Steve denied it subconsciously, but Stark continued, "Is it really impossible, or are you just unwilling to imagine it?"

"Let's not talk about this." Steve turned around to put down the food tongs. He said at an extremely fast pace, "It's not suitable to talk about this topic while eating. Let's go sit over there."

Stark was surprised to find that when discussing this issue again, he was looking at Steve's reaction from a more objective, or rather, scrutinizing perspective. He discovered more clues in it, details he had never noticed before.

The two walked to the dining table and sat down. In the past, Captain America would have been the more talkative one, but today the situation seemed to have reversed. Stark took the initiative to speak: "How did you and him meet? Did you two join the army together?"

If it were in the past, Steve would have enthusiastically talked about the story of how he was almost eliminated when he joined the army but was luckily selected. He had told Peter this story countless times, and every time he talked about it, he was in high spirits.

But this time, Steve just lowered his head and took a bite of his sandwich. When the lettuce leaf inside fell out, he subconsciously wanted to catch it with his mouth, but suddenly stopped his movement, seemingly feeling that this was a bit unseemly.

Stark had been staring at his movements. He discovered that Steve was currently in a state of anxious defensive posture, clenching his arms, resting his elbows on the table, and blocking his front with his arms. Although he was holding a sandwich, one could tell from the tense muscles on his arms that he was feeling nervous.

Stark had rarely seen Steve in this state. Captain America always seemed sunny, confident, and talkative, able to chat about any topic, humorous, and approachable.

But now, he was in a state Stark was very familiar with, because he was like this when his anxiety attacks occurred.

He carefully recalled, it wasn't the first time he had seen Steve in this state, it was just that in the past, he had ignored all these details.

Then, Stark connected it to himself. Was he like this when facing the psychologist? Almost writing the symptoms on his face?"

Suddenly, he felt a sense of being unable to laugh or cry. He seemed to be able to empathize with the feeling of absurdity and helplessness Schiller felt the first time he asked if he had mind-reading powers.

Stark suddenly discovered that the sentence currently hovering in his mouth, if spat out, should be able to stimulate Steve just right, making him fall into an even more extreme state of anxiety, just like a sharp sword piercing his soft underbelly.

This was actually more painful for him to feel than the bombardment of hundreds or thousands of missiles, but Stark ultimately did not speak.

He changed the subject and said, "Let's talk about the work of the Avengers. How are we going to target Hydra next?"

Steve took a big bite of the sandwich, tried hard to chew, and then swallowed. That state was as if he didn't know what to do now, so he poured all his energy into a very simple thing to make himself appear to have something to do.

"You said before that the assassination of the key personnel might be related to Hydra?" Steve asked.

"That's right. I don't think it would be such a coincidence that just as we were dealing a heavy blow to Hydra, so many assassination cases happened to appear."

"Then let's start from here. As long as it's murder, it will definitely leave traces. Finding out who the murderer is might clarify the reason for these changes in Hydra."

Stark discovered that after arriving in a field he was more proficient in, Steve's tense state eased a bit. He placed his elbows wider, held the sandwich lower, and then revealed his face.

He suddenly remembered when Schiller talked to him about the armor. Stark had a strange feeling, as if that time and moment were exactly like this time and moment.

"There is one more point. Do you remember you told me before that if you find a person suddenly becoming a bit unfamiliar, then you cannot rule out the possibility that he has been replaced by Hydra."

"Yesterday, I used Jarvis to analyze Schiller's behavioral logic. Jarvis's data told me that the overlap rate of his behavior with the Schiller we knew in the past is very low."

Steve shook his head, which was beyond Stark's expectations, and then he heard Steve say, "If he was really replaced, then it's impossible for the overlap rate to be this low. He would definitely disguise himself to be very similar to the original Dr. Schiller, just with some clues being different."

"And it's impossible for the whole person to be like they were replaced by someone else. Wouldn't that be obviously telling us he was replaced?"

"Then what if they anticipated our anticipation?"

"Then Hydra has already ruled the world."

------------------Side Note------------------

I love writing DC Schiller so much.

A mental patient says whatever he wants. jpg