In front of the circular Zen window, the light was hazy and soft, casting a halo on the silhouettes of the two men. Stark looked at the angry expression on Strange's face with some confusion.
In fact, he has rarely seen Stephen so angry. It is common knowledge that Strange has a bad temper, but most of it is just manifested in impatience, poor social interaction, and the picky and pretentious problems he brought from his career as a surgeon.
But it seemed that this was the first time Stark had seen him get really angry. Strange, who was wearing a suit, stood up directly from the sofa. Yes, he was not wearing a robe, and Stark rarely saw Strange.
Qi wears robes, and it seems that he only wears the Supreme Mage's attire when engaging in large-scale battle scenes.
Most of the other time, he wore a suit, but it didn't seem to be to show that he was an upper-class person. Stark vaguely remembered that he seemed to have said that he hated casual clothes, mainly because he hated the sense of relaxation that casual clothes brought. Maybe
The robe is too loose for him.
How could anyone in this world hate relaxing?
Stark's knowledge of psychology and behavior told him that there is a type of person who needs anxiety and tension all the time, and this most often occurs in high-stakes professions. One of the typical examples is surgeons.
In Stark's profile of Strange, there is no doubt that he is a lunatic on par with Schiller. The two doctors have the same mental disorder and the same bottomless morals.
The scene written in Stark's angry notebook is because Captain America Steve is his friend. Even Captain America in another world should not have suffered this disaster and been turned into a monster. His anger is quite legitimate and valid.
Reasonable.
But Strange and Steve are not easy to deal with. They are also a typical conflict between civilian personnel and security personnel. Strange thinks Steve is reckless, and Steve thinks Strange is pretentious, not to mention
This is Steve from another universe. In this case, Strange should show gloating, and he did.
Where does the turning point come from? It seems to be because in the scene recorded in the notebook, Captain America Steve, who turned into a monster, was easily played by the owner of the notebook and an unknown little animal.
Strange thinks Steve is too weak?
Stark thought of Strange's last words. They had paid so much but only received so little, so did he think this deal was unfair?
But that is also a matter of another universe. As for him reacting so bigly? And what happened in the previous dream universe, is Strange's view a bit too extreme?
When Stark asked this question, Strange, who was standing next to the shelf, could hardly suppress the anger and viciousness in his tone. He said like a poisonous snake spitting venom:
"What really makes me feel angry and humiliated is that the humans in that dream universe offered their bodies, wisdom and character, but got nothing in exchange - normal social order, huh?"
"Do you want me to praise these idiots for remembering to deceive themselves? Do you want me to write a hymn for them or their representatives who cowardly sold everything for just a little bit of scraps? All I can say is 'Damn idiots!
',They deserve to die! This is the only one!"
"It's too extreme." Stark commented rather conservatively.
"Not enough! Tony Stark!" Strange turned around, stared into Stark's eyes and asked: "You have also been a businessman. Let me ask you, when you sell a product to
Who do you hate the most when you pay 100 yuan but no one buys it?"
"Ignorant buyer?" Stark asked tentatively, but he was actually not very good at business.
"Wrong, it's the colleagues who sell it for fifty yuan!" Strange gritted his teeth and said: "The reason they must die is that they have lowered the commodities we can trade, including human appearance, intelligence, and quality.
Price! They used their lowliness to feed the appetites of those gods, making them think that I was asking for a price!"
Strange took a deep breath and further explained: "Human beings must be valuable enough. Mine, all the supreme mage's, all the mages', the heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys of human civilization must be valuable enough! This is what all negotiations are about.
Chips, that’s all I care about!”
"Whoever kneels down first will die, it's that simple!"
Stark was silent. As the largest capitalist in the United States and now in the world, and he also has another such capitalist in his mind, he and they understand better than anyone else how much benefit a joint monopoly can bring. This is
All the Sorcerer Supreme is doing - kidnapping all humans in a sense, and then levying a price for them.
Any demon that wants to reach out to humans must go through the mage's knife, which is the magic defense network that hangs over the earth. It will bleed enough and leave enough benefits, and then the mage will take them to ask for something higher.
Price, this is how Kama Taj has worked for thousands of years.
If the devil wants to invade the earth with force and rob humans, he will find that what he plunders is far less than what he consumes in the battle with the mages, because the mages will fight to the end and destroy the earth when necessary, allowing them to spend a lot of power but gain nothing.
Well, it's totally worthless, so we can only sit down and talk, as the saying goes, we'll get ripped off.
This has been established for thousands of years. Today, almost no demons will suddenly have the idea of attacking the earth with force. To a certain extent, they have been tamed by rules and order.
But if there is an alien among them, allowing the gods to easily get what they want, it will make all the other demon gods have different intentions and the ambition to replace them.
Strange walked back to the single chair and sat down. The anger seemed to have been digested by him, but a deeper coldness emerged from his face, which was cold and sad, indifferent and compassionate.
So contradictory, Stark thought, but also surprisingly harmonious.
"They not only sell their own interests at a low price, but also ours. The moment they make a deal - I'm sorry, whether they are willing or not, they are no longer the same kind. I will destroy them."
Stark was sure that Strange didn't feel any guilt when he said this, not at all.
The expression on Stark's face slowly changed. Another deeper thing that did not belong to him emerged on his face. It was another darker soul. He could hardly wait to join the conversation.
, he asked in that deep tone:
"Even if it's against fairness?"
"It is foolish to seek justice from the devil."
"I mean the destroyed human race."
"Similarly stupid, in the trolley problem, I chose to kill one of them because I have no morals."
A straightforward answer that made Batman choke. People in this world are simple, rude, and frighteningly confident.
"Even if that 'one' might be yourself one day?"
"I will rob the power to prevent myself from being tied up. If I am almost lucky, I will adjust my posture to derail the train that killed me. Everyone will die together, also because I have no morals."
Equally selfish and arrogant beyond reproach.
If a person has no morals, then there is no moral dilemma. Whoever hurts me deserves to die. As long as I don't die, it doesn't matter who dies. If I die, I will drag everyone down. If I don't die, I will laugh at whoever dies. There is a moral vacuum.
A perfect logical closed loop.
"So are you protecting all 'human beings'? Or humans on this earth in a narrow sense?" Batman asked again.
"I am one with the humans on this earth. I am them and they are me." Strange did not hesitate at all.
"Do you feel like you represent them?"
"I'm not a party leader." Strange began to show full impatience, as if the person opposite had asked a stupid question.
"Are you still saying that even if there is one human being who disapproves of me, I cannot represent them? Do you still want to say that we should establish a Kamal Taj opposition party, and then the two parties will take turns in power, so that we can represent all
Human will is the real democracy?”
"There is no such democracy! I am completely one with human beings because I don't have to do this, you know? I can let the devil plunder at will, but it can't hurt me anyway. My contribution is my position, and my justice is mine.
democracy!"
A very shocking statement, but Batman can still find loopholes in it. He is very good at these logic games and is confident that no one can beat him.
"Of course you won't let it go, because you are also enjoying the order of the earth, and you are not just making unilateral contributions and sacrifices." Batman pointed out.
"Of course, I'm not that great."
"Then your efforts are not only to defend public interests, but also to defend private interests, then humans can refuse to accept your kindness."
"certainly."
The people in this universe have a kind of frankness that confuses Batman. Whether it is a positive or negative answer, they will not leave any middle value, and they have no idea of leaving room for conversation.
"Then why did you..."
"Because I have no morals."
The loop is closed again.
"I will not portray myself as a great person who is dedicated to the public good. Whether you believe it or not, I don't care about reputation or what people who are destroyed or alive because of my choices think of me."
Strange leaned forward, put his elbows on his knees, looked into Stark's eyes, or rather into Batman's eyes.
"I don't pay for certain people or things. I don't pursue meaning and morality. I only pursue clear thoughts and a perfect state of mind. As long as I can convince myself, there is no need to try to convince anyone."
The ultimate idealism is easy to understand, so Batman said: "I understand." - But he actually understood it, better than anyone else.
They seem to be looking in the mirror, but because Batman has a stronger sense of morality than anyone else and is at the other extreme, they also seem to be enemies.
After Batman left, Stark, who listened to their conversation, was also thoughtful, but his thoughts were completely different from Batman. He looked at Strange and asked: "So the Ancient One destroyed the entire human race on the earth?"
'After that, can you still be in a happy state of mind without any guilt?"
"It was just an accident, but even if it wasn't, it would be. We are the same kind of people. This is the most important reason why she chose me."
"What if one day we..." Stark was as pessimistic as ever.
"Everything we do is to prevent 'what if we' from happening." Strange emphasized.
"Isn't this a gamble?"
"Yes, Schiller was betting from the beginning to the end, and so was I. From the Sanctuary to Asgard, from S.H.I.E.L.D. to the mutants, there was never a time when it wasn't true. Even at the beginning, we had not yet reached the top of mankind.
, in terms of strength and wisdom, he is not qualified to represent ordinary people."
"But we have never, not even for a second, struggled with the consensus of all mankind. We have no guilt for those who may have sacrificed on this road, and we have no apology for the gravel that has been eliminated in the tide of the times."
"Why?"
"Because we have no morals...we must have no morals."