Everyone showed expressions of "unexpected, yet understandable". The essence of all Iron Men in this world is sentimental. After all, if these mega-rich individuals aren’t truly empathetic and deeply responsible, why choose to be superheroes? Batman is this way, and so is Iron Man.

"Tony," Captain America called out to him, walked over, and said, "Shall we go with you?"

Prime Universe Iron Man shook his head and said, "No, these matters can only be handled by me. As you said, it was my proposal to come here, so I must take responsibility for the current situation."

"Although I’m indeed not reconciled to the fact that our universe’s technological development lags behind the Central Universe, I don’t want them involved. It’s not entirely my pride that’s getting in the way. That universe is too strange, like a super-engine that won’t stop, adding too many variables to the Multiverse. My instinct rejects interacting with them. I’m not sure if this is right, but you know, my inspiration has never missed."

This is the first time Prime Universe Iron Man explained these matters to them, but perhaps others had already anticipated it. They couldn’t spare time to rest and hurriedly set off. Much of the anxiety driving them came from what they witnessed in the Central Universe. It’s not that anything was wrong there, but if something stands out too much, there must be a reason. God’s gifts have long been marked with a price in secret.

"Be careful," Black Widow said, "Shiller is famous, and I think it’s not just because of what he’s done in the Battleworld that he’s gained such a reputation. Perhaps in our confrontation with them, it’s the only thing we’ve done correctly."

Although these words sound a bit stubborn, no one refuted them, not even Spider Man. Although Prime Universe Spider Man also disliked this Multiverse aid plan, he couldn’t deny that Shiller is indeed very dangerous. He even suspected that the current crisis was orchestrated by Shiller.

Though Prime Universe Iron Man went to seek aid, he wouldn’t grovel. Or rather, he was confident that Iron Man from the Central Universe would help him, so he went. Because secretly, he had a suspicion.

"Your companion?" Prime Universe Iron Man asked.

"You mean Shiller?" Central Universe Iron Man turned around, raised his eyebrows, and said, "He should be resting in the room."

"In the room?" Prime Universe Iron Man shook his head and said, "I don’t want to investigate where he went. I just want to ask, are you aware of the Shi’ar Empire’s invasion plans?"

"Why would I be aware?" Central Universe Iron Man asked, "I’m neither a member of the Shi’ar Empire nor have I ever participated in the construction of the Red Orchid Factory. Why would you think that?"

"Since you’re unaware, you can’t possibly overlook the problems within. The arrival of the Shi’ar Empire’s army was too odd. Subsequently, the operations against us showed an unrivaled understanding of The Avengers’ information."

"Do you think the concept of a mole on Earth is something new?"

"Stop diverting the topic," Prime Universe Iron Man said, "What kind of insider could pull off such a feat, you know clearer than I do. Local Universe’s Iron Man can contact the Shi’ar Empire’s personal guard, something must have already happened there, right?"

Stark paused. He looked at Prime Universe Iron Man and then said, "What do you want?"

"I probably can guess, his ostentatious introduction of external enemies and the blow against The Avengers is forcing us to seek aid from you..."

"You don’t understand him then," Stark said, "If it truly was his doing, then it’s more likely that he hopes you would unite. I mean you along with the local Avengers and Earth Government, which has no relation to the Central Universe."

"Is that so?" Prime Universe Iron Man squinted his eyes.

"You still haven’t figured out one thing, Central Universe is the antonym of interventionism. Simply put, we’re not here to aid the mutants; we’re here to stop you from intervening."

"But our intervention is only to gain enough power to oppose you." Central Universe Iron Man pointed out, "We can’t expect that every single person in such a leading universe is good. What if you start a Multiverse colonization? What if your universe goes out of control? We must have enough powerful strength to balance, right?"

"Forgive me for being blunt, you’re still stuck in a Cold War mindset." Stark retorted, "You view all strong things as bombs ready to burst at any moment, thus adopting a countermeasures stance against dangerous weapons, without ever considering communication and collaboration."

"Aren’t you the same? What about the Shi’ar Empire’s army?"

"We’re certainly different from you. We adopt coercive methods to bring everyone to the table for discussions, using force to promote peace, rather than using deterrent methods to achieve stronger deterrence. And you’re planning on doing just that. Can you assure us that after obtaining enough power, you won’t lead your supporters to resist us, splitting the entire Multiverse into two poles again?"

Prime Universe Iron Man sighed and said, "From the perspective of myself and many supporting universes, we’re only seeking power for self-protection. Faced with the threat from the Soviet Union back then, America thought the same."

"And you should know well, Cold War has no winner, only survivors." Stark walked up to him, gazed into his eyes through the face guard and said, "Everything we do in this universe is to show you that we totally have the capability to prevent a Cold War from ever occurring rather than winning it. If we are the Soviet Union, you better consider if you still qualify as America during its Golden Age."

Prime Universe Iron Man fell silent. He certainly knew they didn’t qualify. Not even as America, they’re currently equivalent to a Third World country back then, just with the unique title of the Prime Universe, seeming special but factually hollow, nowhere near competent.

"So, Shiller still intends for us to choose collaboration." Prime Universe Iron Man said, "He succeeded."

"I’ll say it again, considering his personality, he might truly just be addressing the issue of this universe."

"Why are you so certain?" Main Universe Iron Man seemed a bit helpless. His expression was one of "what exactly is blinding you?"

"Because you’ve never seen him at full throttle," Stark said with a cold laugh. "If it were to leave the Multiverse with no options, it wouldn’t be just the Shi’ar Empire’s army that appeared in the Solar System’s teleportation portal today. Thank us, this broken engine was slightly fixed, at least it’s no longer creaking that much."

Main Universe Iron Man seemed shocked. He had just participated in the battle near the Sun and knew how strong the Shi’ar Empire’s army was. Even with someone sabotaging them, without real strength, those tactics against the Avengers couldn’t be realized. If that’s not strong enough, what does Shiller intend to use to make the Multiverse submit?

Just as Main Universe Iron Man was about to speak, Stark said, "You want to say if there were such a dangerous individual, then your deterrence tactics are not unreasonable. But the fact is, if he were a person, or an organization, you could indeed do that. But Shiller is not."

"Then what is he?" Main Universe Iron Man was puzzled.

"You can understand him as a type of cosmic operating rule." Stark took a sip from the coffee cup beside him, showing a thoughtful expression, then looked at Main Universe Iron Man and said, "Until you can truly access the truth of the universe, deterrence is a mere façade."

Main Universe Iron Man stared at him blankly. But soon he asked, "But you said you changed him, relying on cosmic truth?"

Stark shook his head, "How do Avengers change each other? How did you change your friends, and how did they change you? Is it through the technology you use to make mecha?"

After saying this, Stark patted Main Universe Iron Man on the shoulder, holding the coffee cup, and left. Main Universe Iron Man stood there for a long time.

"Wrong, all wrong." Main Universe Iron Man walked into the living room where everyone turned to look at him. Hearing what he said, everyone became tense.

"What?" Captain America stood up and looked at him, "Are you okay, Tony? What did he do to you? Did he scold you?"

Main Universe Iron Man stood still in the room, looked around, and said, "We got something wrong, very wrong."

"What?" Banner frowned and asked. Hawkeye also felt it was very unusual; for Main Universe Iron Man to admit a mistake with such an attitude, it couldn’t be just a normal mistake.

"Why are we on guard against the Central Universe?" Main Universe Iron Man asked.

"Because they are very strong," Black Widow sighed and said, "They might contend with us for leadership of the Multi-universe Human Alliance, or even replace the Main Universe’s position. That’s what we said during the meeting, but privately, I think this universe is too dangerous."

"What’s the danger?"

"Because they are different from all other universes," Dr. Banner said. He, being not an interventionist, followed the Avengers not because he truly wanted to interfere with any universe’s internal affairs. He just partially agreed that the Main Universe should gain greater strength to undertake their responsibilities, including guarding against certain potentially out-of-control universes’ disasters. And the potentially out-of-control universes naturally included the Central Universe.

"That’s exactly where we went wrong," Main Universe Iron Man said.

"Are you saying all universes are the same?" Captain America continued, "Of course, I don’t deny that people are the same, but... isn’t the form of expression too different?"

"That’s how our logic works," Main Universe Iron Man said. "The Central Universe is strong and dangerous, and that gives us a kind of survival anxiety. And this crisis sense mainly comes from their being so different. It can be said that neither the universe’s development level nor each counterpart is the same as most universes."

Everyone nodded. Their actions stemmed from their anxiety, and their anxiety came from the Central Universe being too different and too powerful. In this world, anything unfamiliar and powerful easily arouses people’s survival anxiety.

"What do you think makes them different?" Main Universe Iron Man asked again.

Everyone thought about it, but no one could give an answer, including Spider Man, who knew the Central Universe best. Although he often went back and forth, after all, the Main Universe had rebooted, and he didn’t really know much about what had happened over those ten years.

But they all knew that the situation of many universes was similar, only the Central Universe was special, and there must be a reason. Main Universe Spider Man thought for a moment and said, "Shiller?"

Everyone looked at him, and Main Universe Spider Man explained, "I’ve rarely seen Doctor Schiller in other universes, including our universe. The Central Universe seems to be his home. If there’s anything different, it’s probably him."

"Indeed, it’s him, but that’s not what I want to say," Main Universe Iron Man said, "What I want to say is, we misunderstood something—the Central Universe is in no way different from us."