Chapter 711: U: Infinite Event (27)

In Spider-Man's base, Silk sat in a chair, hand pressed to her forehead, looking weak; Spider-Woman placed a warm towel on her brow, but her complexion showed no improvement.

Amazing Spider-Man stepped forward, stroking her back, and said, "Even in an emergency, we cannot harm our own teammate."

"It's fine, Amazing Spider-Man," Silk shook her head. "I asked for this. If this can truly resolve the Inheritor family, a little extra labor is worth it."

"What do you mean? What do you mean by capturing Shiler?! What happened to Doctor Shiler?!" On the other side, Peter chased after Captain Universe.

Captain Universe Spider-Man sighed. "I don't know. Eternity didn't clarify. His message to me was frantic—he said this man named Shiler caused him great trouble…"

Then Captain Universe looked at Peter and asked, "Doctor Shiler? Do you know this person?"

To his surprise, Peter stepped back two paces, his gaze toward Captain Universe now wary and distrustful.

Captain Universe Spider-Man arrived only after Shiler's arrival, so he didn't know Peter's relationship with Shiler—but Amazing Spider-Man did.

He stepped forward and said to Captain Universe Spider-Man, "In his universe, Shiler was his teacher—and previously died saving him. If you can't give a valid reason, I consider this pursuit unjust."

Captain Universe Spider-Man shook his head. "Eternity didn't say much, but I don't intend to hunt anyone down. I want to understand what's happening. If Shiler truly is a Spider-Man's teacher, as you say, I won't pursue him—it would be unjust."

"Can you contact Eternity and ask for details?" Peter said. After his anger over hunting Shiler subsided, he realized something was wrong.

On a future timeline, two Shilers appeared. Based on Strange and Shiler's conversation, there may be even more—meaning something must have happened on this timeline.

Peter knew Shiler's Mind Palace contained many Shilers. Could it be that after Shiler died, all those versions escaped?

Captain Universe Spider-Man said nothing more, sat aside, and began communicating with Eternity again.

His power came from Eternity, so with focused meditation, he could reach Eternity's Cosmic Temple. But when he arrived again, Eternity's avatar was gone.

As one of the Five Cosmic Entities, Eternity had no fixed form, but when communicating with believers, he usually appeared as their own race. Captain Universe Spider-Man saw Eternity as a human Ma Lei, his entire body covered in mysterious starlight.

Eternity usually hovered above the fountain in the temple's center, radiating holiness. But this time, as Captain Universe entered, he saw only an empty fountain—Eternity was nowhere to be found.

Just as Captain Universe was baffled, Eternity's figure reappeared above the fountain—but along with it came a flood of chaotic thoughts flooding into his mind.

"Caught it! Caught it! My god… there's more?! Two more over here… Grab them… Grab them…"

"Again… two more… Get them out of this universe!"

»

"More and more… Where are these coming from?!"

"This one won't do… He can't appear here… It'll cause cosmic collapse—grab him now!"

!

"And where did this one come from? Oh my god…"

As this torrent of thoughts slammed into Captain Universe's mind, he grew even more confused. He spoke up: "Eternity, what's going on? Why did you summon me? To capture Peter Parker's teacher?"

"Forgive me, but I cannot harm a Spider-Man's loved one from another universe. Without a valid reason, I will not accept this mission," Captain Universe Spider-Man declared firmly.

Was it his imagination? He thought he heard Eternity sigh. Eternity's solemn voice echoed in his mind:

"That man named Shiler created infinite dream universes and released every version of himself from all universes. You must return these counterparts to their origins…"

"I don't understand," Captain Universe Spider-Man said, bewildered. "There are many Spider-Men—one in every universe. We gathered together without violating cosmic rules. Why can't different universe's Shilers gather?"

"There is only one Shiler. But he created countless dream versions of himself—and the content within those dreams…" Eternity paused, unsure how to explain this to Captain Universe Spider-Man.

Besides, this wasn't even his order—it was OAA's. The one truly panicked now wasn't Eternity, but OAA, the supreme boss of the Marvel Universe.

The multiverse contains infinite single universes, each with identical characters: Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America. Some may gather for reasons—like the Spider-Army.

This doesn't disrupt cosmic balance and isn't within OAA's scope for correction. But the problem is, the dream versions Shiler created aren't just single universes.

In short: many of these dreams aren't Marvel's intellectual property.

The Shiler from Hogwarts' Potions Professor is tolerable—his IP's film rights at least overlap with Marvel's. But the cylindrical-headed Shiler, the blue-and-red-plated pipe-wielding plumber Shiler, the chest-lit red-and-blue Shiler—those are impossible to justify.

Though Marvel joined the copyright-obsessed family after being acquired by Mickey, even within one company, different departments can't infringe on each other. Classic childhood icons can't appear in comics without original team authorization.

Shiler had Professor X add windows to every room, then shipped in bizarre Shilers by the boatload, scattering them across the multiverse like pepper—this wasn't selfish; it was "if I die, everyone dies."

OAA had barely rested two days when he looked at the multiverse and nearly jumped out of his skin.

As previously stated, OAA is the supreme entity across all Marvel universes, with many subordinates.

Among them, the one overseeing the multiverse is Eternity of this universe. Whenever the Living Tribunal convenes cosmic events, he gathers the universe's deities—and Eternity is always indispensable.

So OAA, via the Living Tribunal, urgently summoned Eternity of this multiverse and ordered him to remove these bizarre entities immediately.

Yes, remove—not destroy. Killing another company's comic characters and inserting them into your own? That would spark fan outrage.

OAA, bound by reader and editor will, wanted this mess resolved fast. He reviewed and found all these dangerous entities originated from Shiler's memories.

Three days, two major disasters. OAA wanted to grab Shiler by the collar and throw him out of this world—but the problem was, Shilers were everywhere. No one knew which was the original.

Fundamentally, any traveler arriving in Marvel must face one enemy: OAA. To cause trouble in the Marvel Universe, you cannot escape cosmic rules.

One path: obey the rules. Only act within permitted boundaries. For orderly-aligned travelers, this works—just follow the Avengers' main plot. With enough self-preservation, you can thrive.

Another path: break the rules. Fight monsters, level up, upgrade gear. Ascend from single universe to multiverse, then to omnipotence. Erase every god within sight—and you're no longer bound by rules.

Generally, travelers choose one of these two paths.

But Shiler was different. He understood one truth: to make cosmic rules open a window for you, you must first rip off the ceiling.

Shiler's single universe had advanced to the stage of building the Solar System—but a sword still hung above everyone's heads.

If cosmic rules dictated this was a superhero comic, and all superheroes must punch enemies head-on, then this universe's direction would easily attract cosmic rules' attention.

If one day, cosmic rules noticed this universe's path differed entirely from others, what would OAA do?

As he watched infinite streams of stars rush past during a reboot, Shiler understood: for such soulless, rule-bound entities, nothing in any universe deserved pity.

To him, countless universes were merely a program. Any error must be corrected.

But the countless beings living here weren't rules or programs like him. They had emotions, beliefs, aspirations.

Yet as long as they remained within cosmic rules, any change in the universe's direction would erase, in an instant, the efforts of countless generations.

A thousand stars shining together, a brilliant constellation—might take humanity tens of thousands of years. But erasing it all? Cosmic rules need only one second.

Shiler always believed: complex-emotion beings cannot be bound by rigid, lifeless programs. Absolute rules are not the ultimate answer to all problems.

But resisting rules through power alone isn't simple. Even exhausting all multiverse resources might not let you touch OAA. Such rule-bound entities cannot be reached by strength alone.

To confront OAA, Shiler had no intention of following any known path.

Though Shiler had a system like other travelers, and means to strengthen himself—he could choose to fight monsters and level up.

But he understood something deeper—

The power of the masses is infinite.