Shiller never thought that one day he would hear locker room stories between Outer Gods, especially from a mouse. Sometimes literary works need some beautification, otherwise, with ambiguous descriptions, many things would sound like gossip shared between old ladies at the village entrance.
"Yog, this god, is a bit of a homebody. Of course, he truly possesses all knowledge. But besides researching knowledge every day, he doesn't do anything else. When other Outer Gods are sleeping, he's studying the structure of the cosmos. When others are out playing, he's exploring literature and art. Essentially, he's the kind of person who is normally silent but holds a vast amount of knowledge in the fields he's interested in—a real nerd."
"His temper is quite good," said the mouse, nodding as it spoke.
"Since he possesses all knowledge, he's like a large living database. Occasionally, when I need to look something up, I visit him. Even if I'm searching for something childish, he's never impatient."
"I know you must be curious about his view of the human race. Actually, he has no opinion on humans because he doesn't know them. After all, he just sits in his own little corner every day, how could he make friends? To him, humans are incredibly insignificant, like how you wouldn't study how every cell in your body thinks."
"But he is still connected to humanity. Or perhaps, it is because the human race is tireless, even though they're just ants, they dare to open the giant's door when they find it, often sneaking through the crack of Yog's door to steal some knowledge or artistic inspiration."
"Yog is aware of these actions, but he doesn't really care, since just looking doesn't cost him anything. Of course, given the limited brain capacity of ants, if you see too much, your head fills up like a balloon, and you'll be crushed by the door gap when trying to sneak back out."
"In other words, as long as you find the passage to sneak in, and aren't particularly greedy, Yog isn't very dangerous to humans and can even be helpful. He has almost endless knowledge, so just a glance can make you a great scientist."
"As for whether he understands computers, I can only tell you, in the myriad time trajectories, as long as there's a timeline where humans research something like computers in the future, then he certainly understands. Because he is the master of past, present, and future, the unity of all things."
"Regarding the super biological computer bomb your friend wants to create, if it were made, Yog would probably be surprised, but that's all. He doesn't exist within any time or space, so the bomb wouldn't affect them. As for waking Asathos, that's nonsense, Asathos will never wake."
"Why are you so sure?" asked Shiller.
You must know, previously, Nya was quite worried about this issue, but this avatar living locally doesn't seem to think the cosmos he resides in will be destroyed.
"As long as someone gazes into the depths of the stars, the end will never come."
Then the mouse changed the topic, saying, "Your friend managed to come here and create so many things, showing he's quite a character. Maybe Yog has noticed him long ago and wants to see what he can achieve."
"I think so too," Shiller nodded, "Do you think Yog would harbor any malice towards him? Like wanting to kill or block him in some way?"
"What's your friend like?" the mouse asked.
Shiller didn't shy away from mentioning Iron Man, even if the mouse wanted information, the things revealed before were ample, giving him a little more wouldn't hurt.
"I believe you already see that he's a highly creative genius, designs like the cube abound. Another friend of mine said he has a Nimrod plan, and coming here doing these things might just be the beginning of this plan, with infinite possibilities to follow."
"I know you might think that such small creatures like humans are presumptuous to consider the terrifying cosmos as romantic, but when you meet Tony Stark, you'll think the world's greatest romance is following such a person to explore the universe, making the most feared unknown not so terrifying."
"Every person who trembles because the universe is too empty and void will be saved by Tony Stark. The stars make faint calls from distant unknown places, and Iron Man is that real meteor flitting across your view, anchoring human civilization to the ground, letting people build the Tower of Babel with knowledge and labor, leading them to contact gods before ephemeral beliefs, making him the greatest hero of the world."
These words left the mouse in a daze, and it showed a contemplative expression, seemingly pondering whether this was an objective evaluation or an exaggeration. It sounded too much like the latter, but it couldn't help but think, if there really were such a person, how would they regard him?
Outer Gods do not care about humans, not because they are unable, but because they are simply too vast, and humans are too small. This leads to the difficulty of concentrating and finding any means of communicating with human individuals.
Outer Gods are not omniscient or omnipotent, in fact, one could say this group has significant flaws. Rather than being gods, they are echoes that reverberate through the long evolutionary path of the cosmos; anything compared to them is too small, thus they continually echo without ever hearing a true response.
If at this time something entirely different from them, yet magnified enough to be observable by them, appears before them, they will definitely be interested.
Even based solely on Shiller's description, Nya has already developed a keen interest in Iron Man. If before he was just being politely dismissive, now he genuinely wants to help the cats find this person.
"Yog would absolutely be super intrigued by him," the mouse emphasized, "That guy is a total tech geek. Anything related to knowledge and technology fascinates him. It's just that he already possesses nearly all the world's knowledge, so nothing really sparks his curiosity anymore."
"But your friend is someone who can constantly create new knowledge, whether it's by combining and clashing old knowledge to spark new ideas, or by conjuring a flash of inspiration out of thin air, coming up with something unique. From Yog's perspective, this is definitely an ultra-rare novelty."
"Then he..." Shiller didn't finish his sentence. Because Nya, being highly perceptive, naturally understood the implication.
"Yog might indeed want to take him back as a collectible, like when you find a delicate and fun music box on the ground, you'd want to bring it home and listen to it sing to you, right?" The mouse paused for a moment, then continued, "But I must say, he harbors no malice, he simply can't comprehend that the human race also possesses self-awareness and feelings. Or rather, he's unaware, because he hasn't experienced it. That's the downside of being a shut-in. If only he were more like me, socializing more often in human society, he wouldn't make this mistake."
The mouse already classified this as a mistake, but it was clear he wasn't taking sides with the human race, he simply regarded Yog as socially inept with a severe academic bias.
"Wait a minute," Shiller realized something was off, he said, "Even if my friend has undergone some changes, and is no longer in simple human form, he probably still wouldn't be able to tolerate Yog's touch, right?"
The mouse was momentarily stunned, then asked, "Not human anymore? Then what is he?"
"It's a bit complicated, I'm not entirely sure either," Shiller said. "I can only say he looks somewhat similar to your kind, but fundamentally, I feel there's no change."
"Is he one of those who have been corrupted? Or a fallen one who willingly transformed?"
"Neither. He's an Outer God."
The mouse raised an eyebrow at Shiller, puzzled. Shiller pondered and then said, "Isn't it possible? Have you all never encountered a creature transforming into an Outer God before?"
"Let me ask you, have you ever seen monkeys in the zoo evolve into humans?" The mouse was clearly baffled, "Don't think just because we can communicate freely with you that we're on the same evolutionary chain. Both frogs and you have four legs, so why don't you see frogs turning into you?"
In fact, Shiller didn't know either how Iron Man managed it, or if he even successfully managed it, only achieving the appearance and not the essence. But one thing was certain, even if it was just the form, he should've mimicked it quite convincingly.
"Not to hide from you, earlier during an evacuation, he was mistaken for an Outer God and brought back here. Even if he hasn't transformed, he's at least mimicked them about eight-tenths accurately."
The mouse's eyes widened slightly, as if it had seen a ghost. Or rather, if what Shiller said was true, then to the Outer Gods, Iron Man was indeed like a ghost. Looking just like them, but being fundamentally different, unreachable, incommunicable, and always causing trouble around the house, what else could he be if not a ghost?
But the mouse proposed a new possibility, saying, "Could it be that Yog was already eyeing him?"
"Do you mean that Yog had long noticed my friend's uniqueness and deliberately abducted him instead of accidentally bringing him along?"
"The word 'abduct' sounds a bit harsh." The mouse corrected him, "Don't forget, it was your friend who ran to the embassy. If he hadn't gone there, we wouldn't have been able to take him, right? Since he rushed in during the evacuation, it's tantamount to tacitly agreeing to leave with us."
Shiller opened his mouth, not having the heart to say that the evacuation was purely accidental, and it was all instigated by you guys. Yes, Shiller believed the blame couldn't be placed on Anatoli, it was just that Nya's reaction was too intense.
From the massive standpoint of American Comics, even if they're not an all-weather strategic partner, they're at least a regionally friendly country. Just evacuating on a whim, well, it's just that the Evil Gods of American Comics have lots of domains. If no one's looking into the depths of the stars, how much business would be lost? Just avoid Anatoli for personal reasons, it's a major work mishap.
But right now, getting along well with this local mouse is essential, so Shiller didn't mention this topic. He said, "Even if Yog wants to take him back for research, there must be a means to kidnap him, wouldn't he personally do it?"
"I don't think so," the mouse shook his head and replied, "Yog is the most meticulous among us, he considers things comprehensively, and he surely knows the harm direct contact would cause to such tiny beings as the human race. No matter how urgent, he wouldn't rush to grab him."