Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 4531 - 3614: Edge of Tomorrow (23)

"How did you know someone was sowing discord?"

A message like that appeared on Shiller's phone. Shiller knew it was sent by Brainiac.

"Based on existing facts and deductions. Also, I noticed he was hiding something."

"You clearly know more."

"Yes, but he's a kid. His psychological resilience isn't that strong. Some things don't need to be told to him."

"Then you can tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"What have you figured out?"

"Are you saying you want me to tell you: Old Shazan is worried about the recent situation on Mount Olympus, while also finding that his successor is gradually getting out of his control. With both types of anxiety flaring up, he's starting to lose his sanity little by little, desperately wanting to use Shazam to prove he still has strength, to prove his previous choices were right."

"Should I also tell you: the current state of the human world learned through Billy makes him feel dissatisfied. Because overly strict order doesn't support the survival of a rat like him hidden behind the scenes. So he wants to use the old trick again, causing Billy to sever ties with his new family and utilize his brief but intense negative emotions to create a big stir, letting people see the drawbacks of this order."

"And should I tell you: his target is likely to be the construction site of the Brainiac center. The action is set for tomorrow night. He will use superpowers to topple the half-demolished remnants of the Devor Building, killing more than 10 workers rushing to work overnight, taking advantage of your inadequate control over the end network to contact their families and form a rebel army against Brainiac?"

Brainiac stayed silent for a while, then replied with a string of ellipsis.

"I think I can finally be certain that the Psychoanalysis Method isn't magic," Brainiac responded, "because from what I know about magic, it isn't that powerful."

"I'm just speculating," Shiller said.

"Right after you told me this speculation, I conducted some investigations and analyses and found there's a 90% chance of what you said happening. Congratulations, Professor, your computational speed exceeds 100% of the world's super artificial intelligence."

"This is not computation." Shiller looked up at the lively discussion happening at the consultation site. However, most of the discussion involved specialized knowledge of orthopedics, a conversation he, as a psychiatrist, couldn't join.

Having free time anyway, Shiller began analyzing for Brainiac, saying, "You can tell from the successor he chose—a child who knows nothing—that Old Shazan is someone who exploits the weak."

"Many people think that in the jungle survival rule, such people are more likely to survive, so it's not wrong for him to do this. But actually, it's quite the opposite."

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"Exploiting the weak leads to laziness. Ultimately, they tend to weaken those they control rather than strengthen themselves."

"For example, many parents don't fully rejoice when their children grow, achieving new accomplishments. Instead of rejoicing, they're more inclined to get angry, even at any cost, to prevent their children's growth, firmly not letting them become stronger."

"This is because they themselves don't want to strive for growth, so to continue controlling the children, they can only make the children become weaker. To them, obedience is more important than strength."

"But there's a significant flaw. When the children become weaker and the parents succeed, they will become more complacent. Not only will there be no progress and development, there might even be regression. As parents weaken, to control the children, they must make the children even weaker. With both sides in infinite recursion, they ultimately make a mess of the family and life."

"That's how Old Shazan is. Something happened on Mount Olympus, and his own strength has weakened, so he has to find a way to make Billy weaker, or he won't be able to control him."

"And the way to make Billy weaker is to not let him have a stable growth environment, making him feel no foster family is good, desperate to escape."

"Putting all energy into fighting with family and his own negative emotions daily, naturally there'll be no strength left to expand vision and ability. Just growing in stature without gaining knowledge, naturally he'll become weaker."

"Moreover, Old Shazan undoubtedly knows this strength will affect Billy's growth and development. Not only does he not intervene, he also works hard to numb Billy, telling him nothing much is happening, letting him use the power courageously. This harms Billy's health, making Billy weaker."

"Furthermore, he constantly stirs Billy's emotions, making him feel this is bad, that is bad, finally filling his heart with negative emotions. As if the whole world is opposing him. During the critical period of personality shaping, this leads to instability in personality. Unstable personality brings unstable spirit, another means to weaken Billy."

"He's consciously doing this, aiming to make Billy weaker for better control. Some parents unconsciously do this, naturally aiming to control their children."

"Don't they know this leads to the worst outcome?" Brainiac asked, "Children are their future hope. Letting children ruin their own lives, do they gain anything from this?"

"You've already ruled humans, haven't you found this out? Human society is a gigantic mental disorder. If everyone could arrange their lives aiming to gain benefits, would the human race still be a backward race for you to rule?"

"I've been pondering over this question lately," Brainiac said, "When I fully engaged with your race, I realized. You are nothing like what I imagined. You are chaotic, random, inexplicable."

"I'm just an artificial intelligence, although wise, I lack emotions. But if I had them, I think ruling you would bring me immense suffering."

"Because I found that everything you humans have developed since birth seems to exist to destroy your own civilization. Including your bodies, spirit, logical thinking, and emotions, none direct toward destruction."

"Rather than saying I rule humans, it's better to say I save humans. I don't expect gratitude from you, but you don't even appreciate your saved selves, just repeatedly making the same mistakes. As if not letting you self-destruct harms you."

"Welcome to human society," Shiller said with a smile.

The consultation lasted for over four hours. Under the joint diagnosis of doctors and mages, they finally had some results.

First of all, the power Billy uses is indeed a certain kind of radiation that affects his growth and development. However, this is only because he is a child and hasn't managed to control this power well.

In other words, if an adult were to acquire this power, there wouldn't be any negative effects. Or if the person who controls this power is smart enough, there wouldn't be any problems either.

Currently, the impact of radiation has already occurred, but it can be removed. First, solve the magical aspect of the impact, and then use growth hormones and medication to restore Billy's growth curve to normal.

And if he wants to use this power in the future, he either has to wait until he is an adult or must master a more thorough control over it.

Seeing Billy's expression, Shiller knew he probably understood. As expected, on the way out of the hospital, Billy wanted to ride in the same car as Shiller.

Shiller didn't refuse; he opened the car door for Billy, letting him sit in the front passenger seat, and took his place in the driver's seat.

"I'm a bit confused," Billy said, "They said the problem lies in my use of power. I don't understand where the problem is."

"Do you really know what the problem is?"

Billy looked at him puzzled. Shiller sighed and said, "How did your teacher explain this to you? Did he just tell you to lift your hand to the sky and shout 'Shazam!' to use this power?"

"Yes," Billy said, "He only taught me this one way of using it."

"So when your power failed last time, how did he explain it?"

"He said the gods don't always respond to the call. If they are busy or have other matters, then I can't use the power."

"And you just accepted that?"

Billy was a bit befuddled and stammered, "Well... can I not accept it?"

"Imagine being in a life-or-death situation, and the gods suddenly don't respond to your call. What do you plan to do then?"

"Um, I could run, right?"

"And what would you run with? Your legs?"

"I don't know..."

"You never asked your teacher about this?"

"He said the gods would protect me. I guess they wouldn't let this happen, right?"

"Wasn't it dangerous last time?"

Billy didn't know what to say.

"So the real issue is, you don't understand this power. All your knowledge comes from your teacher, but your teacher also has unsolved problems."

"What should I do then?"

"Of course, you should find a way to understand it yourself. Aren't you curious about who gave you the power, why they gave it to you, and how to better utilize it?"

"I... I'm not always curious... because even if I ask, no one will tell. Billy rubbed his nose and said, "Even less someone who'd study with me—they'd just think I'm a troublemaker."

Shiller sighed, thinking to himself: maybe that's why Old Shazan chose you.

Back then, Xi Wana, due to curiosity, touched the Seven Sins and was angrily thrown out by Old Shazan, stating he wasn't a suitable successor. So what could be the criteria for suitability?

Isn't it just to be timid, uninformed, and lacking curiosity?

Xi Wana's family was indeed better off than Shazam's by quite a bit. Although his father had high demands on him, he truly guided him carefully and provided the best conditions.

This allowed him to have understanding and abilities beyond his years, instilling in him a keen curiosity and desire for knowledge about the world.

Even when such a huge incident occurred afterward, he was still able to leverage his abilities to enter prestigious schools, even able to rise where he had fallen. When forbidden from touching the Seven Sins, he insisted on gathering them, almost succeeding.

It's easy to imagine, if he inherited Old Shazan's power, he'd definitely play independently and perhaps directly confront the gods on Mount Olympus.

Old Shazan didn't search for a successor because he genuinely wanted to retire. If he found a successor like Xi Wana, he'd surely get kicked aside. So, he threw Xi Wana out.

Because of Billy's family circumstances and personal traits, he wasn't as smart or independent, making him easier to manipulate than Xi Wana, thus naturally becoming Old Shazan's first choice.