Chapter 3703 Evil Strength (4)

Mephisto is feeling quite gloomy.

Actually, long ago, he already had some understanding of the human internet. But at that time, the internet was still a novel thing. Humans were using big, heavy desktop computers, and they had to dial-up to get online. Only the wealthiest among the middle class could dive into the ocean of the internet.

Back then, the atmosphere on the internet was quite dull. The internet mainly existed in the form of forums: the thread creator posts something, and a bunch of people reply below. This wasn't a very efficient way of communication, and the contents were quite lackluster—either some technical discussions within specialized fields or genuine requests for help. And everyone was earnestly responding. This was far too uninteresting to the devils.

Compared to humans, the life span of devils is really too long. So much that Mephisto took his eyes off for just a moment, and the human internet turned into something abstract he couldn't understand at all.

He took a nap, and when he came to his senses again, everyone had a nifty little phone. On these phones were dozens of apps to access the internet: forums, long videos, short videos, instant messaging apps, and so on—all sorts of things. The conversations were even varied, some content so wicked that even he, as a devil, couldn't bear to look.

But of course, this is an internet era that belongs to Mephisto. As Hell's Master, he naturally enjoys chaos and wickedness. And his life form allows him to receive the telecom signals humans send out at any time. Simply put, he has been lurking in the human internet for quite some time.

However, he previously lurked just to catch some fun. The bizarre Jesus jokes humans come up with always make him laugh heartily, greatly entertaining him during his boring pre-sleep times.

After watching for a while, Mephisto considered himself to have some understanding of the human internet. He was already unsatisfied with lurking and intended to make his own posts to spread his beliefs.

But unfortunately, the evangelizing experience he accumulated over many years was hardly effective on the human internet. Indeed, Mephisto had tried evangelizing online before. But the set of tricks he used to fool the Middle Ages followers wasn't believed by modern people at all.

In the Middle Ages, people would pray to God for a headache or a slight fever. If they didn't recover quickly, they'd feel sad and helpless, thinking they were abandoned by God. That's when Mephisto would step in—the devils are excellent at exploiting vulnerabilities.

He comforted them with warm words, tricked them with a patient attitude, and then applied a little trick to cure their diseases. He could easily earn a devoted follower this way.

Now, this doesn't work. For minor ailments like headaches and fevers, people buy medicine themselves; even for major illnesses like cancer, they'd rather go to the hospital. Even if nearing death, deep down, they never really believed God would save them. No expectations means no disappointment, and without disappointment or sadness, the devils cannot exploit vulnerabilities.

Mephisto tried posting several articles to emphasize that the current king of hell is Mephisto, not Satan. Everyone below mocked him, calling him a "madman brainwashed by mythology research." Most of them couldn't even bear to read through those lengthy educational texts. They just wanted to see some fun.

Mephisto even wrote fan-fiction about Jesus and Satan to malign them both. Unfortunately, things didn't go as the devil wished; instead, there was a round of applause underneath the post. Those who saw the previous post remarked, "If you're gonna write fan-fiction, then just write fan-fiction; trying to attract a following this way is pointless."

In short, Mephisto felt this wasn't working.

But he is still a devil, and devils excel at understanding human hearts. He found that most people have different motivations when browsing the internet: some want to see something new, others are just aimlessly scrolling. But more often than not, most people possess the same intuitive radar. When this radar goes off, their nerves will build a highway between their brain and another organ, causing them to perk up their ears and wiggle their noses like hunting dogs, excitedly sniffing out things that can stimulate them. This driving force usually stems from "sex."

When this radar goes off, no matter the occasion or what they're browsing, their minds switch to another domain immediately, and besides the things from that domain, nothing else is visible—focused, extremely attentive, practically spellbound.

What triggers this radar isn't just straightforward pornographic images. The human brain is marvelous, with an associative ability so powerful that even devils can't comprehend. Sometimes, they might be looking at completely unrelated things, yet can associate some desire-related content from it, thereby entering the sniffing mode.

Precisely because of this, humans impose some restrictions on the internet. Some things that can stimulate these desires must not be directly uploaded. Among all things that can pass the review, people most enjoy seeing their beautiful compatriots—put plainly, looking at faces.

There is a saying that goes well: "Only devils have a beautiful appearance. Because devils need you to like them, whereas angels only need practicality, so most angels aren't particularly good-looking."

Mephisto really likes this rhetoric. Even in ancient times, he often doesn't need to reveal his true form yet still manages to fool many believers. However, he still prefers to make himself look a bit more attractive.

It's just that human aesthetics change faster than you can blink. From the devil's perspective with a long lifespan, one second they prefer slender, the next second they like muscular—really hard to grasp.

But with the internet, all this becomes a lot simpler. Whoever's appearance is most popular online can basically represent the aesthetics of this era's humans. At least, that's what Mephisto thinks.

It just so happened that at this moment, one of his followers contacted him—this follower was always a trendsetter, chasing whatever was popular—this gave Mephisto inspiration, leading him to choose Shiller, the actor playing the most popular Doctor Barton on the internet recently.

Mephisto is the biggest antagonist in this series of movies, and indeed it was a coincidence. It was just because a scriptwriter asked Strange a question: "Among all the enemies you have encountered so far, who gives you the biggest headache?" Strange answered him, "Mephisto." This setup was thus kept.

Thinking of this, Mephisto felt a surge of pride. Sending Johnny to the Holy Sanctuary eight times a day to haggle was not in vain, the Supreme Magician's formidable foe should indeed be me, the king of hell Mephisto!

In fact, the first person Mephisto went to see was the scriptwriter. Since the plot was created by him, he must surely have an image of Saphire in his mind. He used the Devils' most skillful trick, entering the man's dream to extract Saphire's image.

Thus, it's not that Mephisto added any personal details to Shiller's image, but the image of Saphire envisioned by the scriptwriter was originally designed that way. So, he became like that.

The human brain works in mysterious ways; for a good-looking person, they will mentally enhance their appearance, making them look even better; for an ugly person, it's the opposite, each time they recall them, due to psychological trauma, they imagine them even more hideous in their minds.

The image of Shiller in the scriptwriter's mind is more handsome than he actually is. To align with the identity of the "strongest Black Magician Saphire" and to distinguish between the Supreme Magician and the Black Magician, the scriptwriter added many evil traits in his mind to Saphire's image, ultimately shaping this Mephisto version of Shiller.

After transforming into this image, Mephisto first went to Shiller—nothing ventured, nothing gained. He had to first research what kind of person Shiller was, in order to disguise himself to be popular among fans.

After studying in the High Tower for a while, Mephisto decisively chose to go solo. Shiller's mental state is a bit too advanced even for the Devils. He absolutely couldn't allow the hell to have over two thousand Mephistos!

Then Mephisto went to the director. His thought was simple: since he wanted to act, the director could give him more lines. Even if not many lines were added, the director could use his professional expertise to adjust his role, making this character more appealing to fans. As for the payment, they could discuss it.

What made Mephisto slightly collapse was that the director's mental state wasn't much better than Shiller's either.

When Mephisto invited Chris to visit hell, he was extremely excited, constantly asking Mephisto: "Which layer are they on in hell now, where are the three-headed beasts, and can he see the Netherworld River Ferryman, Charon." He said he wanted to play Dante himself and show the world his great journey.

Evidently, this renowned director was once again immersed in his own artistic creation atmosphere, unaware of the world around him.

After finally getting him into his own palace, Mephisto talked to Chris about his experience. Only then did this director realize that Mephisto was not really Shiller.

Mephisto was also shocked that the director seemed to genuinely feel that Shiller taking him to hell was a very ordinary matter—so what kind of image exactly was Shiller to him?

And when Mephisto mentioned that he wanted to play Saphire, Chris examined him from top to bottom, front to back, left and right, shook his head, and sighed.

Mephisto couldn't quite describe his feelings at that moment. But if he had gone to university, written a thesis, and participated in a defense, he would have understood: This was like the professor getting your thesis, glancing at it, glancing at you, ignorant on the stage, and then looking back at the thesis before sighing.

Chris rejected Mephisto's request.

When Mephisto pressed him for the reason, he simply said very sadly that he had creative differences with the scriptwriter, and perhaps they couldn't continue to collaborate on the next movie.

Mephisto was of course anxious: The director and the scriptwriter had cooperated so well, producing such a well-received movie, how is it that once I want to join, the two of you are breaking up? What if the next movie doesn't perform well?!

He hurriedly questioned why. Chris, like a madman, whispered in the Devils' ear, saying that the main reason Shiller became popular was his unique indifferent demeanor, which is what he wants for Saphire. And Mephisto's full-body evil antagonist image is just too classic, even with the same appearance, it's impossible to mimic such a miracle. Furthermore, it would completely ruin his portrayal of Saphire. He was greatly shocked that the scriptwriter actually wanted to create such a mediocre image of Saphire, expressing extreme disappointment and so on.

Mephisto's mood was very complicated.