Chapter 724

Having just woken up, Shiler felt a deep sense of exhaustion. He had gone to such great lengths, only to end up without any compensation, which left him feeling extremely unpleasant.

When Shiler is in a bad mood, he tries to make others feel bad; as long as others are unhappy, he feels much better.

Since the universe had been reset, the contract he had negotiated with Death was gone. However, not long ago, he had just happened to acquire a new mobile phone—the Obelisk—so Shiler decided to make a few more calls to Death to reminisce about their pleasant cooperation.

But as soon as he picked up the Obelisk he had obtained earlier, Shiler discovered that the power belonging to Death had vanished from it. No matter how Shiler tried to activate it, the phone showed no reaction at all.

Shiler sat on the edge of the bed, placed the Obelisk on his nightstand, and stared at it, deep in thought.

Red Skull had once said that the Obelisk possessed the power to explain Death itself, and after getting his hands on it, Shiler found that to be true.

Based on the plot of the TV show *Agents of S. H. I. E. L. D. * and the fact that Coulson could be resurrected using the GH serum made by the Kree, it was highly likely that the Obelisk, much like the scales of the Egyptian pantheon, was a tool used by the Kree to communicate with Death.

If so, it should be able to serve as a phone to contact Death, just like the scales. Previously, Shiler hadn't used the Obelisk to call Death, so he hadn't confirmed whether the phone worked, but at the time, there was undoubtedly an aura of Death on the Obelisk.

But now, that aura had completely disappeared. Shiler didn't know what Eternity had done, nor did he know that Death had been warned for her unauthorized operations, causing all resurrection-related items to lose their original efficacy.

He assumed that Death knew he had gotten a new phone and, fearing he would harass her again, had smashed the phone.

After all, Death had a history of this; the scene of the scales being smashed was still fresh in Shiler's mind. Only this time, Death had taken preemptive measures, smashing the phone before Shiler could successfully place a harassing call.

This deduction was quite logical; after all, if the five great cosmic entities were so easy to deal with, they would have crashed and burned years ago.

Since he couldn't make Death unhappy, he naturally had to switch targets. Just as Shiler was pondering whose trouble he should stir up, Stark suddenly called. Shiler answered the phone and said:

"What? Miss Pepper?... What happened to Tony? Alright, I'll head over now."

After hanging up, he changed his clothes. When he walked to the front of Arkham Asylum, Jarvis had already arrived in a car to pick him up.

"How does it feel to drive for the first time?" Shiler turned his head to look at the robot sitting beside him. Jarvis, who was inhabiting the robotic body, shook his head and said, "Sir, this is not my first time driving."

"You certainly are, and you're driving without a license."

"No, I have a driver's license." After Jarvis finished speaking, he pulled a driver's license out of his pocket. After Shiler took it and looked it over, he raised an eyebrow, discovering that it wasn't Stark's license; the name on the license was indeed Jarvis.

"Did S. H. I. E. L. D. issue this to you?" Shiler asked, looking at the license.

"No, I passed the test myself."

Shiler opened his mouth, then turned to look Jarvis up and down. Jarvis was using a more everyday body, but even while wearing clothes like a human, one could tell at a glance that he was a robot. So, Shiler asked:

"What is the mental state of your driving instructor? Do you want to refer them to Arkham Asylum for treatment for a while?"

"This is a new law introduced by the Federation. All mechanical lifeforms traveling through the solar system must obtain a driver's license. The process is similar to humans taking a driving test, but stricter." Jarvis's tone was always gentle; although he lacked a bit of humor, he was no different from an ordinary human.

"Why is that?" Shiler asked, somewhat puzzled. "I know Stark has created many work robots to participate in the solar system construction project, but why do robots need a driver's license?"

"That goes back to the solar system traffic jam three days ago..." Jarvis said while turning the steering wheel:

"Every project manager hoped their exploration robots and transport robots would reach their destinations as quickly as possible, so they all set the shortest routes between planets for them, and then... the scene was quite tragic."

"Aren't there portals?" Shiler asked again. "I remember a portal had already been opened between Earth and Mercury. Why was there a traffic jam?"

"Yes, but that was another accident. Everyone in every department hoped to be the first to use the portal, and they all believed their experiments were the most important. But the portals require a cooldown period, so... the scene was also quite tragic."

Shiler shook his head helplessly. Although the solar system construction project was in full swing and humanity had united on various levels, it was precisely because of the pursuit of efficiency that small frictions had never ceased.

The car drove into the underground parking garage of Stark Tower. As soon as Shiler walked into the building, he saw Pepper looking anxious.

Before Shiler could ask, Pepper spilled the beans:

"Tony's anxiety has flared up again, and it's worse than ever. Now he even has trouble eating, and his hands won't stop shaking. If it weren't an emergency, I wouldn't want to disturb your rest..."

"Yes, I understand." Shiler nodded. The two stepped into the elevator and arrived outside the laboratory. Shiler looked at Pepper and said:

"I have already guessed the cause of his illness, but it is difficult to explain. If you really want to understand his condition..."

"No, Dr. Shiler, I only care about whether he is healthy." Pepper smoothed her hair and looked at Shiler. "You don't need to explain the reason to me. I just want to see a normal Tony Stark, not him plagued by the pain of anxiety. I believe you feel the same, don't you?"

Shiler didn't say anything more and turned to push open the laboratory door. Stark was sitting at the workbench as usual, fiddling with some models. When Shiler walked over, he didn't even turn his head, just saying:

"You're here? Pepper called you? She always loves to make a fuss; women are all like that..."

"If you weren't shaking your right arm while saying that, it would be more convincing." Shiler walked to the opposite side of Stark, sat down, and looked at Stark, asking: "Did you see something? Just when this universe was changing..."

Stark turned his head away, seemingly not wanting to discuss this issue. Shiler continued: "If we stand on the same level, it means we will both face such problems. Perhaps my solution will give you some inspiration, won't it?"

Stark pursed his lips, his fingers constantly turning the model in his hand, but from his eyes, it was clear that his attention was not focused on any research project; he was lost in thought.

After a while, he finally opened his mouth to ask:

"Is everything we experience destined? Is it arranged by a higher existence?"

"A very interesting question. What do you think?"

Stark opened his mouth, but closed it again. He thought for a while, then said: "That day, I saw a... a magnificent, indescribable existence. I don't know if he is God or something else, but all the universes are tiny compared to him..."

"I saw that everything happening in all universes has an inseparable connection to him. I don't know how to describe it... but perhaps I am the same..."

"Probably." To Stark's surprise, Shiler nodded and said: "Perhaps everything we are doing now, everything we are thinking about, is arranged. There is a higher existence that has been deciding these things, arranging the future direction of the universe."

Shiler's tone was calm when he said this. Stark looked at him, puzzled, and asked: "Don't you find this absurd? Don't you want to resist?"

"No, because I understand that there is no truly independent person in this world. As long as they have emotions, they will definitely be influenced, and they will perform certain behaviors to satisfy the expectations of others."

"For example, to satisfy the expectations of parents, one will study hard; to satisfy the expectations of friends, one will carefully prepare for a party; to satisfy the expectations of a lover, one will change their career trajectory and choose to stay with her. All these influences combined become a person's life."

"If so, then whether life is arranged by a higher existence or changed by family, friendship, and love is actually not that important."

Shiler looked into Stark's eyes and said: "You think every choice you make is independent, but in reality, the motivation and personality that drive you to make this choice are all influenced by external factors... In this world, no one is an island."

"This..." Stark wanted to refute. Since it's destined to be influenced, then being influenced by anyone is the same. This logic was a bit of a cop-out, but when he thought about it carefully, it seemed to be true.

Shiler tapped the table with his hand and said:

"You think you are just yourself, but in fact, you are a microcosm of countless people."

"Parents, teachers, classmates, friends—their influence on you will eventually become a part of you."

"As long as one lives in society, no one can be completely independent. Your personality has already been engraved with the names of everyone you are familiar with."

"If they influenced me by 50%, and that higher existence influenced me by 99% or 100%, there is no difference; it couldn't be 0 anyway."

"As long as it's not 0, no matter how low it drops, it has no meaning." Shiler shook his head, appearing not to care much.

"I just find it absurd. This existence can manipulate our universe at any time, which makes me feel..." Stark paused and didn't continue, but Shiler could see a sense of decadence on his face.

After all, anyone who knows that their hard work is considered worthless by other existences and can be easily erased at any time would be hit hard, especially a genius like Stark.

Ordinary people might think, "Anyway, I haven't done anything great, and I can't contribute to this world, so if it's gone, it's gone." But Stark was different. He firmly believed that he was changing the world, and he firmly believed that he had a responsibility to the world and a mission to lead humanity toward a beautiful future. But once this belief collapsed, his personality would be in jeopardy.

Shiler guided Stark very calmly, and his words did indeed comfort Stark. After experiencing so many things, Stark was no longer the playboy who was tough on the outside but fragile on the inside.

Seeing his complexion improve, Shiler took his leave at the right time, leaving him time to think alone.

And as soon as he walked out the door, Shiler's calm expression couldn't be maintained. He gritted his teeth and whispered:

"If you had just sent some compensation, would I be like this?... Damn developer, you just wait."