Chapter 3701: Evil Strength (2)

Shiller really had to admire Mephisto. In a way, devils are synonymous with "those who have no shame are invincible." They stop at nothing to achieve their goals and have no concept of dignity. In a sense, they are the born holy bodies of the internet.

And his mind works very quickly—if he weren't smart, he wouldn't have become the king of hell—when other demon gods were still baffled by the internet, he mastered the art of riding the wave and hijacking traffic without a teacher.

If now, he were to promote himself using his true form or create an entirely new identity, it would surely be challenging. Not only would he have to start an account from scratch, but without some hardcore content, he'd barely attract any attention.

Devils are greedy; they're not satisfied with just gaining a few followers every day. Since there's a way to achieve instant success, why would they bother with slow methods?

The movie writers have already set it for you; you and the currently popular school doctor Barton are two sides of the same coin. If you showcase your charm under his image, wouldn't you explode into fame in no time?

Though the image he uses is Shiller's, the identity he has in the film is actually the most evil black magician, Saphire. And Saphire's power source is Mephisto.

If anyone falls for Saphire, they're actually helping Mephisto gain fame. After all, many people nowadays think the king of hell is Satan. Even if he can change a part of people's concept, Mephisto stands to gain tremendously.

For these cosmic sorcerers, human faith holds special power. Not only devoted believers but casual followers can also provide the power of belief. Who says fans who like Saphire aren't casual followers of Mephisto?

Mephisto has already figured out from his followers how many people currently love Shiller. If he nails the role, even if only one-tenth of the gained fans turn into casual believers, it's completely worth it.

Shiller now regrets, deeply regrets. Had he known, he would never have agreed to Mephisto's request to join.

He certainly enjoyed the performance, but the problem is that he's sporting his own face, and the character fans he's gathered will ultimately convert into his own fans. By then, his sanatorium could stage a zombie siege without special effects!

Shiller surely plans to take measures. He first called Chris, as Chris is the director and should firmly oppose this unjustified interference from the investors.

"Hello?" Chris's voice sounded a bit dazed, like he had just woken up, "Doctor Shiller? It really is you. I've been dreaming of you, actually. I dreamed of a you with long black hair, sitting with me in my dream, discussing the screenplay over drinks..."

Shiller took a sharp breath, "Me with long hair? Did you see what color his eyes were?"

"Seems like... seems like they were red... He said he was some kind of devil. I asked him if he had any horns, and he conjured up goat horns on his head, along with goat hooves. Human dreams are truly bizarre. Hahaha."

"Where are you now?" Shiller asked.

"I'm at my villa on Long Island. What's up?"

"Wait for me, I'm coming over now." Just as Shiller was about to hang up, he heard Chris on the other end say, "Oh, Shiller, you've arrived. Wait, how did you get here so quickly?!"

Shiller couldn't afford to waste time, he transformed into gray mist and flew toward Long Island. He circled the villa area but couldn't find Chris. He stopped on a building's rooftop and called Strange.

"Hello? Steven! Chris Columbus has been kidnapped! Specifically, he's been kidnapped by a ghost!"

"Are you not awake?" Strange walked out of the bathroom, dried his dripping hair, and said, "What's wrong with Chris?"

"He's been kidnapped by Mephisto!" Shiller stammered a bit, seemingly unsure how to explain, "I called Chris and said I'd come over. Then Mephisto, looking like me, showed up at his house. When I went to find him, he was gone!"

"Hold on, I'm coming immediately."

Ten minutes later, Strange descended from the sky, looked at Shiller standing aside and said, "I really want to ask if you're sane. What Mephisto? What kidnapping? What are you even talking about?"

Shiller was taken aback; only then did he realize Strange didn't know Mephisto had disguised himself. But then again, this old devil wouldn't need to show off at The Avengers headquarters. He wasn't pressing them to submit psychology reports!

"It's complicated," Shiller said, "Did Chris ever tell you the actual script? I mean, do you know what the story is after the fourth movie?"

Seeing Strange's bewilderment, Shiller had no choice but to recount the whole script to him. Even after listening, Strange still didn't quite understand.

"So, the real Black Magician Saphire and the real Supreme Magician are both inside you. They've all grown to look like you. And Mephisto is not playing the king of hell who only reveals his true form at the end, but instead, the Saphire who looks exactly like you?"

"That's right, the damned devil is playing word games with the contract again. He said he would play Mephisto, but he didn't specify whether he would play himself or a follower he controls."

"But according to what you're saying, the principal of Ilvermorny that I'm playing is also controlled by him, why doesn't he turn into me?"

"Of course it's because you're not as popular as I am!" Shiller said helplessly, "What he wants is traffic. He wants to be in the limelight, so he'll obviously pick the more popular one. Plus, Saphire's character setting is way better than yours. He thinks the audience will love it, so he pulled this stunt."

"Well, let him act," Strange said, "he's a devil, his acting should be good. I'm actually looking forward to you two playing against each other."

"He wants his character to become explosively popular. But the problem is if the two of us look alike, the audience will think I'm playing two roles—what if I actually win an Oscar?!"

"What's wrong with winning an Oscar?" Strange asked, "That would mean more people know you, more people will come to you for treatment. You'll be rolling in money, won't you?"

"If you had been to my sanatorium these days, even for a glance, you wouldn't say that. Even going out to buy a bottle of soy sauce feels like squeezing into a subway in New York at eight in the morning!"

"This is just a temporary pain," Strange said, "Fame is always short-lived. Soon there will be new entertaining movies, and they'll chase after new characters. Then you'll be fine, and if you really find it annoying, you can hide out somewhere else."

"The problem is Mephisto is now causing trouble with my face! Can you imagine if he turned around in front of Stark, how high-pitched his scream would be?"

"He'd probably just think you had a whim to want a new image," Strange spread his hands and said, "Of course he might also consider it one of your personalities ran out. But after all, he knows no one except you, so it doesn't matter which one."

"Honestly, you deserve it," Strange said rather disdainfully, "If you hadn't created so many personality traits, making everyone a bit confused, people would easily notice you're different and become suspicious. But now they just think it's a new personality logging in, and don't care at all."

Shiller opened his mouth, but couldn't refute. After all, each of his personality traits was very distinctive, with different outfits, temperaments, and styles. So a devil personality showing up someday seemed quite normal.

Now Mephisto has decided to play this role. He absolutely will not let Shiller ruin his plans, so he took Chris away earlier. Although Chris was surely not in any danger, to prevent Shiller from causing trouble, Mephisto would also find ways to interfere with his sights. Like pretending to be him to make some noise, and then having The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. tie up his hands and feet.

Shiller has full confidence that Mephisto will impersonate him, otherwise why would the devil go to his High Tower? He was clearly there for inspiration!

Moreover, Greed did bear some responsibility for this. Because he usually liked to bring those strange things into the High Tower, like something big snakes, large falcon heads, and Black Pharaohs, now Mephisto came along, Superego thought it was his new collectible, didn't even think before letting him in. This time the devil succeeded.

But if Mephisto is Shiller, then who is Shiller?!

Now Mephisto has the upper hand. If Shiller explains things running after him, he'll never catch him in this lifetime. He must think of a way to stop this damned devil from causing trouble with his face.

Thinking of this, Shiller paused his actions. If Mephisto is Shiller, then he could be Naog Sokhup!

That's the advantage of having an extra identity. Shiller thought, and Sophop happens to be a folklorist, scholars dedicated to driving away devils during the Middle Ages. There's a professional match.

But he can't do it alone. After all, he actually knows limited information about Mephisto, and a devil banishing ritual might not drive away a devil of Mephisto's level. He must find someone knowledgeable about Mephisto, preferably not in good terms with him. Two people working together to stop Mephisto's actions disregarding Shiller's existence for clout.

Shiller thought of the Ghost Rider Danny, namely Johnny's brother. He truly has a vendetta with Mephisto, and has always had a bit of paranoid tendency, thinking all of life's misfortunes were brought by Mephisto. Even dislikes the agreement Mephisto made with his brother Johnny.

If it were before, Shiller would have suggested he see a doctor. But now Danny is proved to be quite foresighted. Moreover, his power doesn't originate from Mephisto, it's given by the Spirit of Revenge inside him. This Spirit of Revenge is a kind and righteous figure, very trustworthy.

Just do it. First Shiller transformed into Doctor Sophocles using Gray mist, and to gain people's trust, he obviously couldn't show up straightforwardly. Or it would easily arouse Danny's suspicion. He needed to make this thing seem reasonable.

Therefore, he first posted on a forum of mysticism enthusiasts, discussing the mysticism elements existing in the movie "Ilvermorny," and hypothesizing who was the true villain behind this movie.

Since naturally he knew the answer and deduced the process, he spoke fairly logically. And because this movie itself was about magic, liked by many mysticism enthusiasts, the forum traffic was considerable. This post quickly topped and gained tens of thousands of views, transported by various internet platforms and short video apps.

Although Danny had no knowledge of mysticism, the Spirit of Revenge inside him could be considered his mentor and was knowledgeable in this area. When Danny came across this post, he sensed the Spirit of Revenge within showed signs of movement.