Chapter 1047: Startling Mundane World (Twenty-four) (Patreon)

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On the other side, Stark found Schiller in the corridor of Sanctum Sanctorum. Despite appearing unharmed, Stark squinted his eyes. Standing at the corner of the corridor, he lightly pressed a button on his watch.

At that moment, while JARVIS was engrossed in Schiller's narrative of his intellectual confrontation with Deathgoddess, Stark interrupted with a couple of coughs, saying, "Apologies, Dr. Schiller. Mr. Howard, who just returned, wishes to see the latest model of the combat suit. I'll step away for a moment. If possible, I'd like to invite you to Stark Tower in a few days for a more in-depth discussion..."

Schiller seemed to be in good spirits, smiling as he waved his hand and replied, "Certainly, go ahead. Another day, I'll come to your place for drinks..."

Manipulating the latest Iron armor, JARVIS approached the corner. After Stark entered the combat suit, JARVIS sent him the recording of Schiller's storytelling session.

Initially, Stark was engrossed in the narrative until he heard Schiller mention grabbing his own arm to seek Deathgoddess. Though Stark didn't understand, he was profoundly shaken. Turning to JARVIS, he exclaimed, "Are you sure he's not just babbling nonsensically???"

"Sir, regardless of whether Dr. Schiller is speaking nonsense, it indicates that his mental state is undoubtedly unstable. If he didn't grab his own arm to seek Deathgoddess, it suggests he may be experiencing hallucinations. If he did indeed do so, his soul's injuries are likely more severe..."

"Switch the magic power core for me!" Stark decisively ordered.

JARVIS replaced the Mech armor's power core with a magic one. However, instead of immediate activation, Stark found Loki, who had remained bewildered until now, and said to him, "Let's take a trip to Asgard together, then ascend above space. I need to take a look ahead in the timeline."

Loki nodded, adding, "But first, I need to bring Helen over. My mother is going mad not being able to see her granddaughter."

"It's a granddaughter-in-law," Stark corrected as he directed JARVIS to fetch Helen. After a while, Helen was brought over by the Mech armor. Before landing, she was holding a book. After she landed, she pushed her glasses up and asked, "What's going on?"

Ignoring her momentarily, Stark inspected the book in her hands. To his surprise, it was a book on Space Dynamics, essentially about how to build rocket engines.

Immediately, Stark realized a more troublesome issue. Turning to Loki, he said, "My parents have been resurrected. Now the question arises, how do I explain Helen to them?"

"Hmm..." Loki hesitated before suggesting, "I could initially operate under a female guise. But then how would you explain Pepper to them? You can't simply say we divorced, and you found someone else!"

"No, absolutely not!" Stark immediately denied. "My mother would go insane. She would say I'm an irresponsible husband and father!"

Stark rubbed his forehead, feeling his head buzzing. He knew Helen's background issue would inevitably explode someday. After a moment of thought, Loki proposed, "Why not blame it on Schiller? After all, it was his doing."

"Come on, he's not like you. He's a man; wouldn't that be even more absurd?"

"Who says?" Loki rolled his eyes. "With his mind palace housing so many personalities, who knows if there's a female one? Besides, he's practically a fog, determining his gender is up to him."

Stark sighed deeply. "Just now, Maria was so happy about introducing me to a friend with such a deep bond, and now this... If I tell her it's love, she'll go even crazier!"

Shaking his head, Stark said, "Forget about that for now. Let's first figure out how much Schiller paid to resurrect my parents..."

Both of them traveled via Bifrost to Asgard. After dropping off Helen with Frigga, they ascended above space together. Loki helped Stark cover up the fluctuations caused by their presence while Stark looked ahead in the timeline.

Then they witnessed Schiller grabbing his own arm to find Deathgoddess.

After descending from above space, Stark once again rubbed his forehead and said, "Either Schiller or I must be losing it! Could I be hallucinating???"

Loki looked at him, and Stark continued, "Schiller indeed sacrificed a part of his soul to resurrect my parents. And judging from the energy fluctuations of that part, it's a formidable force."

Frowning, Stark asked, "...Why would he do that?"

Loki hesitated for a moment. Standing from an observer's perspective, he recalled Schiller's previous psychological treatments for him. Then he asked, "Did you happen to mention anything to him during your sessions?"

Stark thought for a moment, but he couldn't recall exactly what he had said. During his panic attacks, his consciousness wasn't clear. But logically thinking now, he believed his words must have revolved around a few things—money, masculinity, and his relationship with his father.

Then, as if realizing something, Stark muttered to himself, "It couldn't be that I..."

"I think it's very likely that during your psychological sessions, you repeatedly mentioned your parents. Schiller's conventional verbal guidance wasn't effective, and he felt your pain was too much to bear, so he was willing to pay such a high price to bring your parents back," Loki suggested.

Stark rubbed his face with both hands. "Moreover, just now, I noticed a wound on Schiller's neck that hasn't healed. While his physical wounds disappeared, he probably didn't want us to see the wounds on his soul..."

Loki advised from the sidelines, "I don't think you should just let him be. Knowing that he may have mental issues and not taking any firm measures, letting him do as he pleases, isn't it unreasonable for things to deteriorate?"

With a sigh, Stark unusually affirmed Loki's suggestion directly. "We always put Schiller in the position of a doctor, accustomed to turning to him for any troubles."

"I don't even have to think about it. I just know that Steve, Peter, Matt, the bunch from S.H.I.E.L.D., and the mutants, definitely go to him every day to complain about various trivial matters. They're already a troublesome bunch, a pile of nonsense that can't be explained clearly. If Schiller doesn't end up mentally ill from all the exhaustion, it would be a miracle."

Both of them continued walking towards the Celestial Palace. Holding his staff, Loki said, "Anyway, if it were me, I would definitely have him involuntarily hospitalized for treatment for a while."

"The problem is, even if it were you, could you get him involuntarily hospitalized for treatment?" Stark turned his head to Loki and said, "Who could lock him up in a hospital? Even Odin wouldn't have a chance, right?"

"In the face of such a problem, the All-Father would just strike down with lightning, telling us to go fight on the front lines for a couple of days. Everything would be healed," Loki shrugged,

with a hint of self-mockery in his tone, indicating he had already let go.

"The way you Asgardians handle illnesses is too crude. Even if Odin were to intervene with Schiller, all you would get is a string of convoluted compensation bills," Stark shook his head.

"I understand Schiller too well; he's all about money over everything," he added.

"Well... then why not make sure he has no money to earn?" Loki squinted, mischief swirling in his mind, as the God of Mischief began to concoct his schemes.

Loki knew he couldn't help with healing as an evil god, but when it came to plotting conspiracies based on others' weaknesses, he had plenty to offer.

"If Schiller is willing to devote his time and health to treat you, sacrificing himself, it shows that he truly enjoys this job and finds happiness in it," Loki said. "But too much joy, like poison, like what you humans call... what? Drugs? Yes, drugs!"

"The constant stream of pleasure will make him want more and more, disregarding his own physical and mental well-being, until he collapses," Loki continued.

"He would resort to such extreme measures simply because he feels that conventional language guidance no longer qualifies as treatment. He starts taking unconventional methods beyond the norm to deal with the root of the problem, completely disregarding whether he himself gets hurt in the process."

Stark looked at Loki, surprised by his conclusion. "I didn't realize you and Schiller were so close?"

Loki shook his head. "Don't forget, it's how I make a living. Being the God of Mischief means reading others' minds, exploiting their weaknesses, and creating illusions that cause them to defeat themselves."

"Schiller has come this far primarily because of his greed," Loki concluded decisively. "Initially, the feedback from ordinary hypnosis and verbal guidance satisfied him."

"Later, being confined to innocent psychological chambers was no longer enough. He started planning bigger conspiracies to satisfy everyone's needs, transforming your mental state from the roots and turning from a psychologist to a spiritual mentor for superheroes."

"Then, even this was not enough for him. He began to drive forward the progress of the entire human race, building a grander ideal to replace your somewhat fragile spiritual pillars from the most fundamental level, dealing with the flaws in your minds."

"Meanwhile, with the development of society and the acquisition of resources, he temporarily patched up some conflicts, making your mental state more stable and your psychological defenses stronger."

"However, in the end, even this feedback from treatment wasn't enough for him. So, he even began to burn himself out, trying to compensate for everyone's every sadness..."

Loki sighed, shaking his head. "But in reality, this is simply impossible."

"It's like your parents coming back, but can you erase the time they ignored you from your memory? Can you delete the memories of your grief over their death? Can the differences between your personalities and educational philosophies disappear?"

Stark also sighed lightly. "It's impossible. I can imagine that Howard and I will still argue, Maria will still worry about my marriage, and who knows, we might have disagreements about Helen's upbringing."

"This isn't an illness, and it doesn't need treatment."

"But Schiller's excessive greed makes him want to create a completely perfect future for every patient, every person who can provide emotional feedback for him," Loki emphasized.

"It's because this is an utterly unattainable goal that, in the end, the result is Schiller burning himself out in an endless greed, becoming the greatest 'sadly' in everyone's life."

"What do you think we should do?" Stark stopped and looked at Loki, seriously asking for his opinion, because he realized that Loki's expertise in psychology was much higher than anyone else's except Schiller.

"It's the same old saying. If he wants to make money, just make sure he can't earn any, and then he'll naturally rest," Loki lifted his lips, revealing a somewhat fierce expression, and then said, "Sometimes, I also support the All-Father's philosophy. Indulgence only leads to slow death; better to end it quickly."

"If you don't force him to rest, he'll never rest. In that case, why not let him have nothing to do but rest?"

After thinking for a moment, Stark said, "He's willing to pay such a great price for me, for all of us, so we should also take on the responsibility of saving him."

"This is not just lip service..." Stark lowered his eyelids, speaking with a firm tone. "To do this, first, we have to ensure that those idiots stop bothering Schiller with those trivial matters."

"Not only that, you have to ensure that anyone around him no longer seeks treatment from him, giving him sufficient rest to return his threshold to a normal state, rather than an endless craving for stimulation."

"Just like you detoxify drug addicts," Loki concluded.

Stark's finger twitched, taking a deep breath. He said to JARVIS, "Summon all of Schiller's friends. I have something to say to them!"

Half an hour later, in the Sanctum Sanctorum, Schiller, who had just finished telling his story, was connected to several telephones.

"Hello? This is Schiller. Oh, Nick, what's wrong? Is something happening at S.H.I.E.L.D.? I'll come over right away... What did you say??? I'm fired??? What nonsense are you talking about??? Hello? Hello?!"

"I am... I am Schiller, JARVIS, what's going on? Is Tony... What? I'm no longer serving as the psychological counselor for Stark Industries??? You're firing me??? Wait a minute, what did I do wrong? I haven't made any mistakes at work. How could you... Hello? Hello?!"

"Hello? Sanctum Sanctorum? You're not saying you're... You're firing me too??!!! Are you crazy??!!! Christmas is coming soon!! Our new season Member Gifts... Hello?? Hello hello??!!"

"Hello?! Loki! This is Schiller! These people are going crazy!!! You have no idea what they... What? You're busy??? Hold on! Hello? Hello? Hello hello??!!"

Putting down the phone, Schiller stood still, as if struck by lightning.

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

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 1048: Startling Mundane Beings (Twenty-Five)