Chapter 1396 The Return of the Old Ones (Part Four) (Patreon)

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In front of the round Zen window, the light was hazy and gentle, casting a halo around the silhouettes of the two men. Stark looked at Strange's angry expression with some bewilderment.

In fact, Stark had rarely seen Stephen so angry before. Strange's bad temper was a common consensus, but it was mostly manifested in his impatience, poor social skills, and the fastidious and affected quirks he had picked up from his profession as a surgeon.

But Stark felt this might be the first time he had seen Strange truly enraged. Dressed in his Suit, Strange had directly stood up from the sofa. Yes, he was not wearing his robe, and Stark had also rarely seen Strange in his robe, as it seemed he only wore the attire of the Sorcerer Supreme during large-scale battles.

At other times, he mostly wore a Suit, but it didn't seem to be to present himself as a member of the upper class. Stark vaguely remembered that Strange had once said he hated casual wear, mainly because of the sense of relaxation it brought, and perhaps the robe was also too loose for him.

How could there be people in this world who dislike relaxation?

Stark's knowledge of psychology and behavioral science told him that there was a certain type of person who constantly needed a sense of anxiety and tension, and this was most common in professions of great importance, a typical example being surgeons.

In Stark's psychological profile of Strange, there was no doubt that he was a neurotic on par with Schiller, and this doctor duo was equally mentally abnormal and morally unfathomable.

Stark's anger at the scenes recorded in the notebook was justified and reasonable, as Captain America Steve was his friend, and even a Captain America from another world should not have suffered such a fate, being turned into a monster.

But Strange and Steve were not exactly on good terms either. They were the typical conflict between desk workers and security personnel, with Strange thinking Steve was reckless and Steve finding Strange affected. Not to mention that this was a Steve from another Space, and in this case, Strange should have shown a sense of Schadenfreude, which he had indeed done.

Where did the turning point occur then? It seemed to be because in the scene recorded in the notebook, the monster-turned Captain America Steve was easily toyed with by the notebook's owner and an unknown animal.

Did Strange feel that Steve was too weak?

Stark thought about Strange's last words, that they had paid so much but gained so little, so was he feeling that this transaction was unfair?

But that was the affair of another Space, so why would it provoke such a strong reaction from him? And regarding the previous dream Space incident, was Strange's view a bit too extreme?

As Stark voiced this question, the Strange standing by the bookshelf could barely suppress the anger and malice in his tone, spitting out like a venomous snake:

"What truly angers and humiliates me is that the humans in that dream Space offered up their own bodies, intellect, and character, yet gained nothing in return - not even the normal order of society, huh?"

"Am I supposed to praise these fools for still being able to delude themselves? Am I supposed to write a paean for their weak-willed representatives who sold out everything for just a few scraps? I can only say 'Damn fools!' They deserve to die, that's all!"

"That's too extreme," Stark commented rather conservatively.

"Far from enough! Tony Stark!" Strange turned around and stared into Stark's eyes, asking, "You've been a businessman before, so I ask you, when you've sold a product for a hundred dollars but no one buys it, who do you hate the most?"

"The ignorant buyers?" Stark tentatively said, though he wasn't particularly skilled in business.

"Wrong, it's the competitors selling for fifty dollars!" Strange gritted his teeth and said, "Their reason for needing to die is that they've driven down the price we can get for our traded goods, including the form, intellect, and quality of human beings!"

"They've fattened the appetites of those gods by their own baseness, making them think I'm overpricing! "

Strange took a deep breath and explained further, "Humans must be valuable enough. The heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys of my people, all Sorcerer Supremes, all sorcerers, all human civilization, must be worth enough! This is the bargaining chip for all negotiations, this is all I care about!"

"Whoever kneels first, dies, it's that simple!"

Stark fell silent. As a former and current global capitalist, and with another such capitalist in his mind, he, they, understood better than anyone the immense profits that monopolistic collusion could bring. This was essentially what all the Sorcerer Supremes were doing - in a sense, holding all of humanity hostage and then demanding exorbitant prices.

Any demon gods wanting to lay a hand on humans had to go through the slaughtering knife of the Sorcerer Supremes, the magic defense network that blanketed the Earth. They had to spill enough blood, leave enough profit, then the sorcerers would use it to demand even higher prices. For thousands and thousands of years, this was how Kamar-Taj had operated.

If demon gods tried to invade Earth by force to plunder humans, they would find that what they plundered was far less than what they had to expend in the bloody battle, because the sorcerers would fight to the death, even resorting to taking Earth down with them if necessary, making it completely not worth it. So they could only sit down and talk, as the saying goes, to be fleeced.

This was the established convention over the millennia, and by now, almost no demon gods would suddenly develop the urge to attack Earth by force. To a certain extent, they had been tamed by the rules and order.

But if an outlier emerged, allowing the gods to easily obtain what they wanted, it would arouse the suspicion and ambition of all the other demon gods, who might then try to replace them.

Strange returned to the armchair and sat down, his angry emotions seemingly having been digested, but a deeper, colder look had emerged on his face, icy and sorrowful, indifferent yet compassionate.

How contradictory, Stark thought, and yet remarkably harmonious.

"They not only sold out their own interests, but ours as well. The moment they made that Deal - I'm sorry, whether they were willing or not, they were no longer our own kind, and I will destroy them."

Stark was certain that Strange spoke these words without a shred of guilt, not even a tiny bit.

The expression on Stark's face gradually changed, and another deeper thing that did not belong to him appeared on his face, which was another darker soul. He was almost eager to join the conversation and asked in a deep tone:

"Even if it violates fairness?"

"It is foolish to seek fairness from demon gods."

"I'm talking about the destroyed humans."

"Equally foolish, the trolley problem, I choose to kill one, because I have no morals."

A straightforward answer that would even choke Batman, the simple and straightforward people of this world are frightening in their righteousness.

"What if that 'one' could be you one day?"

"I will go rob power to prevent myself from being tied up, and if I'm unlucky, I'll adjust my posture to derail the train that kills me, and we'll all die together, also because I have no morals."

Equally selfish and unobjectionable Pride.

If a person has no morals, then there is no moral dilemma, whoever implicates me should die, as long as I don't die, whoever dies doesn't matter, if I die, I'll drag everyone down, if I don't die, I'll mock whoever dies, a perfect logical closed loop of moral vacuum.

"So are you protecting all 'humanity' or just the humans on this Earth?" Batman asked again.

"I am one with the humans on this Earth, I am them, and they are me." Strange had no hesitation.

"Do you think you represent them?"

"I'm not a party leader." Strange began to show a lot of impatience, as if the person in front of him had asked a stupid question.

"Aren't you going to say that even if one human doesn't approve of me, I can't represent them, aren't you going to say that we should establish a Kamar-Taj opposition party, and then the two of us take turns governing, so that we can represent the will of all people, which is true democracy?"

"There is no such democracy! My complete unity with humans is because I don't need to do these things, you understand? I can let the demon gods plunder at will, since they won't hurt me, my contribution is my stance, my justice is my democracy!"

A very shocking speech, but Batman could still find loopholes in it, he was very good at these logical games, and he was confident that no one could beat him.

"Of course you won't let it happen, because you are also enjoying the order of the Earth, you are not just making one-sided contributions and sacrifices." Batman pointed out.

"Of course, I'm not that great."

"So your contribution is not only to defend the public interest, but also to defend your own interests, then the humans don't have to be grateful to you."

"Of course."

The people in this space have a kind of bewildering frankness that Batman finds confusing, whether the answer is affirmative or negative, they will not leave any middle ground, and they do not know how to leave room for reason in the conversation.

"Then why..."

"Because I have no morals."

Closed loop again.

"I won't shape myself into a great person who is devoted to the public good, whether you believe it or not, I don't care about my reputation, I don't care how the people who are destroyed or survive because of my choices see me."

Strange leaned his body forward, elbows on his knees, looking into Stark's eyes, or rather Batman's eyes, and said.

"I'm not contributing to some people or things, not pursuing meaning and morals, only pursuing the smooth flow of thoughts and the fulfillment of the mind. As long as I can convince myself, there's no need to try to convince anyone else."

Ultimate subjectivism, this is very understandable, so Batman said, "I see." - but he actually understood it from the beginning, better than anyone else.

They are like looking in a mirror, but because of Batman's much stronger, at the other extreme, sense of morality, they are also like enemies.

After Batman left, Stark, who had listened to their conversation, also pondered, but his thinking was completely different from Batman's. He looked at Strange and asked, "So the Ancient One could restore her peace of mind without any guilt even after destroying the entire 'humanity' of the Earth?"

"That was just an accident, but even if it wasn't, it would still be the case. We are the same kind of people, this is her choice, my most important reason."

"If one day we..." Stark was as pessimistic as ever.

"Everything we do is to prevent the 'if one day we' from happening." Strange emphasized.

"Isn't this a gamble?"

"Yes, Schiller has been gambling from start to finish, and I am too, from the Sanctum Sanctorum to Asgard, from S.H.I.E.L.D. to mutants, there has not been a single time that it was not, even at the very beginning, when we had not yet reached the pinnacle of humanity, in terms of power and wisdom, we were not qualified to represent ordinary people."

"But we have never, not even for a second, been troubled by whether all of humanity agrees or not, we have no guilt about the possible sacrifices on this road, nor do we have any apologies for the sands eliminated in the tide of the times."

"Why?"

"Because we have no morals... we must have no morals."

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter ->Chapter 1397 The Return of the Old Ones (Part Five)