Chapter 1405: Return of the Old Days (IV)

In front of the round Zen window, the light was dim and soft, coating the outlines of the two men with a halo. Stark looked at the angry expression on Strange's face with a little puzzlement.

In fact, he rarely saw Stephen so angry. It was a consensus that Strange had a bad temper, but most of the time it was only manifested in impatience, poor social skills, and the picky and pretentious problems he brought from the profession of surgeon.

But it seemed that this was the first time Stark saw him get really angry. Strange, who was wearing a suit, stood up directly from the sofa. Yes, he was not wearing a robe. Stark rarely saw Strange wearing a robe. It seemed that he would only wear the clothes of the Supreme Sorcerer when there was a large-scale battle scene.

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 say that he hated casual clothes, mainly hating the sense of relaxation brought by casual clothes. Perhaps the robe was too loose for him.

How could someone in this world hate relaxation?

Stark's knowledge of psychology and behavior tells him that there is a type of people who need to be anxious and tense all the time, and this is most common in professions that are of great importance, and one of the typical examples is surgeons.

In Stark's profile of Strange, there is no doubt that he is a psychopath comparable to Schiller. This pair of doctors is equally mentally abnormal and morally bottomless.

The scene written in Stark's angry notebook is because Captain America Steve is his friend. Even Captain America from another world should not suffer this disaster and be turned into a monster. His anger is quite justified and reasonable.

But Strange and Steve don't get along well. They are also the typical conflict between civilian staff and security personnel. Strange thinks Steve is reckless, and Steve thinks Strange is hypocritical, not to mention that it is Steve from another universe. In this case, Strange should show gloating, and he did so.

Where is the turning point? It seems that 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 small animal.

Strange thinks Steve is too weak?

Stark thought of Strange's last words. They paid so much, but only got so little. So does he think this deal is unfair?

But that was a matter of another universe. Was it necessary for him to react so strongly? And what happened in the dream universe before? Was Strange's view a bit too extreme?

When Stark asked this question, Strange, who was standing next to the shelf, could no longer suppress the anger and venom in his tone. He said like a venomous snake spewing venom:

"What really makes me angry and humiliated is that the humans in that dream universe gave up their bodies, wisdom and character, but got nothing in return - normal social order, huh?"

"Do you want me to praise these idiots for still remembering to deceive themselves? Do you want me to write a hymn for their or their representatives' cowardly selling out everything for only a little scraps? I can only say 'Damn idiots!', they deserve to die! Only this!"

"Too extreme." Stark commented 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 commodity for a hundred dollars but no one buys it, who do you hate the most?"

"Buyers who don't know the goods?" Stark said tentatively, but he is not very good at business.

"Wrong, it's the colleagues who sell for fifty dollars!" Strange gritted his teeth and said, "The reason they must die is that they lowered the price of the goods we can trade, including the appearance, wisdom, and quality of humans! They fed the appetite of those gods with their own lowliness, making them think that I was asking for an exorbitant price!" "

Strange took a deep breath and explained further: "Humans must be valuable enough. My heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, all the Supreme Sorcerers, all the mages, and human civilization must be valuable enough! This is the bargaining chip for all negotiations, and I only care about this!"

"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 with another such capitalist in mind, he and they understood better than anyone how much profit a joint monopoly could bring. This is what all the Supreme Sorcerers are doing - kidnapping all humans in a sense, and then raising the price.

Any demon who wants to lay a hand on humans must go through the Supreme Sorcerer's sheep-killing knife, that is, the magic defense network covering the sky above the earth, shed enough blood, leave enough benefits, and then the wizard will take them to ask for a higher price. This is how Kamar-Taj has operated for thousands of years.

If the demons want to invade the earth by force to plunder humans, they will find that what they plunder is far less than what they consume in the battle with the wizards, because the wizards will fight to the end and drag the earth to destruction when necessary, so that they spend a lot of energy but get nothing. This is not worth it at all, so they can only sit down and talk, as the saying goes, get slaughtered.

This has been a convention for thousands of years. Today, almost no demons would suddenly think of attacking the earth by force. To some extent, they have been tamed by rules and order.

But if there is an outlier among them, and the gods can easily get what they want, it will make all other demons have different hearts and ambitions 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, cold and sad, indifferent and compassionate.

Too contradictory, Stark thought, but surprisingly harmonious.

"They not only sell their own interests at a low price, but also ours. When they make the deal - I'm sorry, whether they are willing or not, they are no longer the same kind, and I will destroy them."

Stark was sure that Strange did not feel any guilt when he said this, not a bit.

The expression on Stark's face slowly changed, and another deeper thing that did not belong to him emerged on his face. It was another darker soul. He almost couldn't wait to join the conversation. He asked in that deep tone:

"Even if it is unfair?"

"It is foolish to seek fairness from the devil."

"I mean the destroyed human beings."

"It is equally stupid. The trolley problem, I choose to kill one, because I have no morals."

A straightforward answer that made Batman choke. The people in this world are simple, rough, and self-righteous, which is scary.

"Even if that 'one' may be you one day?"

"I will rob the power to prevent myself from being tied up. If I am unlucky, I will adjust my posture to derail the train that hit me and we will all die together. It is also because I have no morals."

It is equally selfish and arrogant.

If a person has no morals, then there is no moral dilemma. Whoever implicates me should die. As long as I don't die, it doesn't matter who dies. If I die, I will drag everyone down with me. If I don't die, I will laugh at whoever dies. It is a perfect logical closed loop of moral vacuum.

"So are you protecting all 'human beings'? Or the human beings on this earth in a narrow sense?" Batman asked again.

"I am one with the human beings on this earth. I am them and they are me." Strange did not hesitate at all.

"Do you think you represent them?"

"I am not a party leader." Strange began to show full impatience, as if the person opposite him asked a stupid question.

"Are you still going to say that if even one human disagrees with me, I can't represent them. Are you still going to say that we should establish a Kamar-Taj opposition party, and then we two parties will take turns in power, so that we can represent the will of everyone and that is true democracy?"

"There is no such democracy! I am completely one with humans because I don't have to do this, do you understand? I can let the demons plunder at will, anyway, they can't hurt me, my contribution is my position, my justice is my democracy!"

It was a very shocking statement, but Batman was still able to 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, you are not just paying and sacrificing unilaterally." Batman pointed out.

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

"Then your efforts are not only to defend the public interest, but also to defend your own interests, so humans can be ungrateful."

"Of course."

The people in this universe are frank in a way that confuses Batman. Whether they answer affirmatively or negatively, they will not leave any middle ground, and they don't understand the principle of leaving room for conversation.

"Then why do you..."

"Because I have no morals."

Another closed loop.

"I won't portray myself as a great person who is dedicated to the public. Whether you believe it or not, I don't care about reputation, and I don't care about how people who are destroyed or survived because of my choices look at me."

Strange leaned forward, put his elbows on his knees, looked into Stark's eyes, or Batman's eyes and said.

"I don't pay for certain people or things, I don't pursue meaning and morality, I only pursue the understanding of thoughts and the perfection of my state of mind. As long as I can convince myself, there is no need to try to convince anyone."

Ultimate idealism, this is easy to understand, so Batman said: "I understand." - But he actually understood it, better than anyone else.

They were like looking in the mirror, but because Batman's moral sense was stronger than anyone else's and at the other extreme, they were also like enemies.

After Batman left, Stark, who listened to their conversation, was also thoughtful, but his thoughts were completely different from Batman's. He looked at Strange and asked, "So that's why the Ancient One was able to restore his peace of mind and no guilt after destroying the entire 'humanity' on the earth?"

"That was just an accident, but even if it wasn't, it would have happened. We are the same kind of people. This is the most important reason why she chose me."

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

"Everything we do is to prevent the occurrence of 'if we one day'." Strange emphasized.

"Isn't this a gamble?"

"Yes, Schiller has been gambling from beginning to end, and so have I. From the Sanctuary to Asgard, from S.H.I.E.L.D. to mutants, there has never been a time when we were not. Even at the beginning, we had not yet stood at the top of humanity. In terms of strength and wisdom, we were not qualified to represent ordinary people."

"But we have never, not even for a second, been entangled in whether all mankind agrees or not. We have no guilt for those who may sacrifice on this road, and we have no apologies for the sand and gravel eliminated in the tide of the times."

"Why?"

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