When a fishhook was cast beneath the water's surface, its weight determined how deep it could sink and what kind of fish would ultimately take the bait. From the very beginning, Schiller's goal had never been to leave the hook near the surface to catch floating weeds and little fish.
In the previous two worlds, Schiller had realized that a mysterious force had always been influencing their actions. How could he possibly have failed to prepare in advance after arriving in this world?
In those previous two worlds, the mysterious force had displayed two characteristics. First, it could control human thoughts—or rather, amplify their extreme ideas in some way and thereby influence their actions. Second, it was skilled at invading electronic devices and controlling them.
In Schiller's view, those two abilities might have come from two different masterminds, and the two were working together.
But as he had said before, people like that would not have such a stable partnership. They would never be as selfless as superheroes when it came to who contributed more and who contributed less. They were more likely to haggle over benefits, and when it came to effort, they pursued fairness even more fervently than superheroes did.
In one of the previous worlds, that mysterious purple light had controlled Oppen, the manager of the secret realm. Schiller therefore guessed that the next mastermind to make a move might not focus on controlling humans, but would instead, like in the first world, be skilled at manipulating electronic devices.
Putting himself in the mastermind's shoes, what electronic equipment would be worth controlling? Naturally, the top candidate would be Stark Industries' weapons.
Unfortunately, before this universe's Tony Stark went to Afghanistan, most of his inventions had been ordinary weapons. At most, he had improved their yield and firepower