hotmtlnovel Chapter 4220 A Guide to Wandering the Galaxy (27)
Chapter 4220 A Guide to Wandering the Galaxy (27)
Chapter 4220 A Guide to Wandering the Galaxy (Twenty-Seven)
"So it was you all along!" Schiller glared at Reed and said, "Why didn't you say so before?"
“But you didn’t ask,” Reed glared at him. “Besides, your performance was exceptional and valuable for reference. I was just using you as an interesting guinea pig. I have no obligation to explain anything to you.”
With a "bang," Schiller punched him.
"Sorry, it slipped," he said.
Reed covered his nose, stood up from under the bar, and said with considerable displeasure, "I simply skipped over the part where you exposed my lie and went straight to the truth. Why are you reacting so strongly?"
Schiller carefully observed Reed's expression and realized that Reed genuinely didn't find it impolite to call someone an experiment. Moreover, judging from his attitude, Reed probably considered it a high compliment to Schiller.
"I just skipped the part where I argued with you and reminded you to be polite, and fast-forwarded directly to the part where my hand slipped."
Reed sniffed and said, "You don't need to overreact. You know I created Pikachu, so you should know I can't compile you. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to get in in the first place."
Schiller's hand paused again. He immediately realized that, given Reed's character, if he were capable of doing anything to Schiller, he certainly wouldn't have just created a Pikachu to observe him. He must have already made his move, but failed.
Thinking of this, Schiller couldn't help but cover his forehead. So, after all this time, his biggest adversary in both universes was still you, this troublemaker?!
To be honest, since his transmigration, Schiller hasn't encountered any power that could truly threaten him. Many times, the losses he suffered were simply due to his methods; it was a matter of give and take, not a matter of being forced into a corner.
Even so, Reed's action against him was undoubtedly the most dangerous. Schiller was completely unaware of it, let alone able to defend himself. If Reed hadn't failed for some unknown reason, the trouble would have been immense.
"So why didn't you succeed back then?" Schiller asked.
“I don’t know either,” Reed shook his head and said, “At that time, I was still in the exploratory stage. There weren’t many technologies available, and they weren’t very mature. I was just trying them out casually. Maybe I was stopped.”
"Stopped? Who stopped you?"
“You,” Reed said, “who else could it be but you?”
Schiller was stunned for a moment, then a surge of rage welled up within him. He returned to the tower and roared, "Superego!!!"
A figure slowly walked out of the office, looking up. Greedy pounded on the railing and shouted, "You know Reed attacked me?!"
"Yes."
"Why isn't this mentioned in the memory bank?!"
"I deleted it."
"you……"
Greed swallowed all his words. He gritted his teeth and slammed his fist on the railing, but before he could say anything, Reed's voice brought him back to reality.
“Speaking of Pikachu, I have to explain,” Reed continued, “that I can’t actually monitor you through him.”
“I can see that,” Schiller said.
"Your memories gave him a soul, and your power gave him a body, but I was the one who orchestrated the process. So it's essentially a clone of yourself. Only after I finished creating it did I realize that I had absolutely no control over it."
Schiller naturally understood what had happened. Reed's intention was to use his power to create a surveillance camera, but because it used Schiller's memories and his own power, and Schiller himself was unaware of this, the blond rat was freed.
It's somewhat similar to Schiller's memory traits, like Talking Tom and SpongeBob SquarePants, who have an independent body, just like what happened in the Infinite Event, except Pikachu arrived earlier.
"Then what were you after?" Schiller couldn't help but ask. "You didn't succeed in taking action, and you didn't manage to keep an eye on things either."
“That process is what makes it meaningful,” Reed said. “I observed all of this, and even did some hands-on work, and that’s the biggest significance. To be honest, without this, I might not have reached where I am today.”
Schiller wanted to punch him again. But Reed said quite sincerely, "Of course, I think it's mainly thanks to that magical power you possess. Seriously, you didn't create that thing, did you?"
"How did you tell?"
“It’s an intuition,” Reed said. “If you need a reason, you actually feel the exact opposite of that power.”
"Feel?"
“A transcendent cognitive stance,” Reed said, “a kind of cognition that is completely detached from human senses. In the instant of contact, I can feel the emotion within the power.”
"What is it?"
“Love.” Reed ran his fingers along the table and said, looking down, “The person who gave you this power loves you very much.”
Schiller silently withdrew his fist, then said, "Then why do you say it's the complete opposite of me?"
“Because your love isn’t like that,” Reed said, shaking his head. “You are completely different.”
Schiller paused for a moment before saying, "That's what he wanted."
“Can I meet him?” Reed asked, staring into Schiller’s eyes. “I think we’d get along very well. We could discuss…”
"Stop!" Schiller quickly interrupted him, "No."
“Why?” Reed stared intently into Schiller’s eyes. Those grey eyes were incredibly dangerous to others; most people wouldn’t choose to look directly into them, but Reed seemed oblivious. He was like a blind man when it came to emotions.
"It doesn't work anyway."
Schiller couldn't very well say, "Anatole's work is already big enough, and your work is also quite big. If you two are put together, how can God survive?"
It's hard to say whether the Creator cared before, but after you two joined forces, the Creator had to shut down all of its technology overnight.
“Don’t even think about it,” Schiller repeated. “Besides, he’s not your type. You’d have a hard time getting along.”
"Science itself is a language, regardless of our personalities or experiences. As long as we share the same knowledge, we'll definitely have something to talk about. It's okay if you don't introduce it to me; I can find it myself..."
Schiller carefully considered the risk of Reed finding Anatoly, and then he realized that there was an insurmountable obstacle in Reed's search for Anatoly: Batman. For the time being, Reed probably had no way to deal with Batman.
Feeling a little relieved, Schiller sat back down at the bar. He truly hadn't expected that a casual chat would uncover such a huge secret.
Sometimes people say Stark is a show-off, that he has to bring up everything, but now it seems that a little show-off is necessary. How could Reed have kept it a secret for so long? Schiller is starting to admire him.
“I’m curious,” Schiller asked, looking at Reed, “don’t you really have any intention of deliberately hiding anything?”
"Hide what?"
"This happened when I traveled back in time."
“It’s not a big deal,” Reed said. “In fact, I forgot about it for two or three days after I found out Pikachu wasn’t very useful. I wouldn’t have remembered it if we hadn’t brought it up today.”
Then he hesitated for a moment, glanced at Schiller, and then at the bar.
"Just say whatever you want to say."
"You have to make sure you don't slip up this time."
"Okay, I promise."
“You’re not that important,” Reed said. “I admit, you are somewhat special. After all, it’s amazing enough that you’ve crashed into the cosmic barrier like a missile. And you can directly compile cosmic data. For me at that time, that was really amazing.”
"However, not everyone stays at the age of playing with toy cars forever, even if the toy car has a cool paint job. I have more important things to do. I want to go from elementary school to middle school, finish university and then get a doctorate, continue my research, and complete my career. It's perfectly normal for toys from long ago to be forgotten in a corner."
With a "bang," Schiller punched him again.
"Didn't I say I wouldn't slip up this time?!"
“Reed Richards,” Schiller said, holding up a finger, “this is the first time I’ve ever said this to someone so seriously, you are really rude.”
“Sorry, but you’re not the first person to say that to me.” Reed touched his bruised cheek again and said, “I know I can be a bit harsh, but I can’t help it.”
"But I remember I taught you some speaking skills before."
“It’s precisely because you taught me that I’m useless, because you can see right through me,” Reed said, shaking his head. “Besides, lying to a psychologist isn’t a good habit. That’s what they all say.”
Schiller was speechless for a moment. He took a sip of his drink and then said, "So you just simply forgot."
Reed nodded and said, "When I saw you again later, I didn't recognize you at first. Because, you know, seeing you from that perspective is quite different from seeing you in real life. If I hadn't seen Pikachu later, I might not have recognized you at all."
Reed pointed to his head and said, “There is too much to store here. If I were to use your spiritual form to shape my own spiritual world, the tower would stretch upwards without end. Even though I am the only resident in this tower, all the rooms would need to be used to store knowledge until one day, like a nail, it pierces through my skull, grows out, and reaches straight to the sky.”
The analogy was so vivid that Schiller almost immediately pictured it. He didn't want to punch Reed now; he wanted to throw him out of the tavern.
“But now you’re important again,” Reed said. “While I don’t think my plan needs a safety net, I really don’t want to deal with that lunatic Stark. I can tell him that my insurance is you, that even if all of humanity is wiped out, you won’t be wiped out, and then you can turn the tide. And sure enough, he stopped bothering me.”
“This had better be true, not some excuse you came up with to appease Tony,” Schiller said, looking Reed into the eyes.
“That’s certainly true,” Reed said, looking him in the eye. “While I did intend to fob off Stark, if even I can’t compile your code, then absolutely no one else can. I can guarantee that with 100% certainty.”
Schiller looked at Reed. Surprisingly, it was difficult to see any arrogance or conceit in his eyes; even psychoanalysis couldn't detect any haughtiness in him.
In some ways, Reed was a very simple person. His standard for judging everything was himself; what was useful to him was important, and what was useless to him was unimportant.
Forgetting someone like Schiller is difficult, but Reed so readily forgot it all. Schiller could tell he wasn't lying. That day, a turning point for Schiller, was merely a fleeting moment in his otherwise tedious and mundane research, not worth remembering.
In Reed, Schiller sensed something that others had sensed in him, as if he were facing not a person, but a concept—representing knowledge, science, and endless exploration.
Humans always perceive their own insignificance when confronted with the grand. In that instant, Schiller heard the engine's roar begin to subside, the parts slowed their rotation, and silence followed.
For Schiller, this was a rather novel experience. His vast and ineffable thoughts began to converge on a single point, and then, slowly, very slowly, were truly projected onto what he was doing now, as if a detached soul had suddenly returned to its place.
Schiller picked up his glass, took a sip, pursed his lips, looked down at the wine, and muttered to himself, "...So this is what it tastes like."
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