章 1544: Chapter 1040: Shocking the Worldly People (17)_1
"Peter, do you think Harry is arrogant, stubborn, and never listens to others?" Shiller asked as he looked at the gradually stabilized Peter.
Peter, somewhat dull, turned his head to look aside. Like anyone who had cried until they were drained, he sluggishly said: "No, of course he's not... It's quite the opposite, actually. Harry is usually open to advice, whereas sometimes I can be stubborn…"
Peter sniffed again, the corners of his eyebrows drooping down, looking as pitiful as a Golden Retriever waiting for its master to say it's time for dinner.
"But today, he seems like a completely different person. No matter how much I reason with him or make various suggestions, he just refuses them all. It's as if he's being purposely difficult…" Peter's voice got lower and lower, as if he felt it was wrong to talk about someone behind their back.
"So why do you think he's suddenly changed like this?" Shiller asked again.
Peter sat quietly, then shook his head vigorously, saying, "I really can't figure it out. We just saw each other two days ago, how could he have changed so much?"
"Do you remember the question I asked you when I was analyzing Steve's symptoms before – how have you changed since this morning? This is exactly the key issue. How have you and Harry changed in comparison to two days ago?"
"Has anything changed?" Peter murmured to himself as he pondered. He said, "I don't think there's been any change. I'm still me, and he's still him…"
Shiller noticed Peter's lack of focus, so he further reminded, "What were your roles when you met two days ago? And what about this time?"
"Um, two days ago, we were classmates and friends, two days later we were… Wait, this time, I was Spider-Man, and he referred to himself as Green Goblin, a name that sounds like a comic book villain."
"That's exactly where the problem lies. Two days ago, you could communicate calmly because you were on equal footing as friends. But this time, it's different."
"What's different? We're still friends!" Peter kept emphasising this, "I have always considered him a friend, in fact, my best friend!"
But Shiller shook his head, looking into his eyes and asked, "Think about it, when you first pursued the Green Goblin, what were you thinking?"
"I... I was, of course, looking to combat crime..." Peter's voice trailed off into a whisper, then he swallowed and continued, "At the time, I didn't know it was Harry. I even shouted 'damn criminal, you won't get away with causing an explosion!'..."
"But it's not my fault!" Peter suddenly become agitated, he insisted, "Recently, there are too many crazies trying to orchestrate explosions in the air transport routes. I thought this freak was one of them! If I had known it was Harry, I certainly wouldn't have…"
"Would you really have not?" Shiller asked, "If Harry really went crazy and became a dangerous person, would you really not stop him?"
"I..." Peter hesitated for a moment, then shook his head, "That's impossible, Harry would never become like that. He's a good guy."
"This time, Harry just wanted to draw me out. His bombs were all thrown into the river, and they were all far from the pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge. He would absolutely not turn into a crazy person!" Peter said insistently.
Shiller nodded, not disagreeing, then continued, "When you didn't know who he was, you treated him as a criminal and confronted him. But have you managed to break free of this dynamic between righteous vigilante and evil criminal after exposing each other's true identities?"
"Of course, I did!" Peter immediately answered, but soon he hesitated again, "I... I must have broken free. Harry..."
"Peter, think about it. Why didn't Harry just call you out or call you when he found out that his father might be after you? Why did he make such a big fuss and behave like a criminal to draw you out?"
Peter fell silent, deep in thought while Shiller continued to guide him with his words, "Peter, you have an extraordinary memory, so you must remember every detail of this event. Recount them, don't miss any clues."
Following Shiller's guidance, Peter slowly shut his eyes. His frown deepened as every frame of the encounter flashed before his closed eyes. Then, a certain image stuck.
The moment when Spider-Man pulled off the Green Goblin's mask, the look in Harry's eyes.
"Disappointment..." Peter murmured, "He was disappointed, just at the moment I took off his mask…"
Then, Peter woke up from his reverie, somewhat puzzled, "Why was he disappointed? Why was he disappointed in me?"
"Maybe, he wasn't disappointed in you." Shiller reminded him again, "If he was disappointed in you as a person, he wouldn't have waited until now to show it, and maybe, you two wouldn't have become such good friends..."
"Putting you as a person aside, he felt disappointed by some of your actions." Shiller's words confused Peter even more. He was about to ask for an explanation, but Shiller continued.
"Doesn't all this seem inexplicable to you? The sudden hostility, the unexpected disappointment, the sudden falling out... you probably think things shouldn't have escalated this far."
"His motives are unclear, his actions are unclear, and the benefits of doing all this are unclear. When all these factors have unexplained parts to them, it points to only one thing, something I've told you before, Peter..."
Peter suddenly looked up, looking directly into Shiller's eyes, "The culprit is hiding something... you mean, Harry might be hiding something!"
Peter immediately stood up, "No, I need to ask him about it."
But soon, Peter was balking again, nervously biting his finger, he said, "If I go now, we'll end up having a big fight, maybe even getting physical. What if I can't control myself... What am I to do?"
"Actually, your initial approach was right," Shiller also got up, stared at Peter and said, "You can totally go talk to Old Osborn, you have that right."
"Even if it's not for his son, as a researcher holding hundreds of patents, many of them advanced technologies, you have enough leverage to negotiate with Osborn. Even if you were to switch jobs, he'd have to take out an entire morning to entertain you."
Peter nodded in understanding, "Right! Exactly! Previously, Uncle Osborn told me that if I wanted to join the Osborn Group, I should go to him directly. He'd love to discuss the future development of human technology with me."
Peter started pacing again, "So I'll use this as my reason. Anyway, I wanted to work in the Osborn Group's funded lab. I can start by discussing employment, then indirectly ask him, what the heck is going on?... Yes! That's the plan!"
Peter left in a flurry. As Shiller, who knew the comic plot well and the current situation even better, watched him go, he knew that Osborn had no reason to hide things from Peter.
If he can pull on Peter's heartstrings by talking about a genetic inherited disease and get Peter to work for him, this sly fox would immediately put on a tear-jerking performance.
At the same time, Shiller felt proud of Peter's deductions; that he had figured out that old Osborn was just a pure businessman, and based his strategies on this judgment. He grew much more than when he first started out, when his reflex was to just punch his way through issues.
If Old Osborn were willing to be forthcoming, then this matter wouldn't really be an issue.
Actually, the reason Harry was acting so strangely was because he always had a high-handed attitude. He didn't want to show his weaknesses to Spider Man. He didn't want to ask Peter for help with his genetic condition, he didn't even want to disclose this to Peter and seek his sympathy.
This rigidness also had to do with Harry's upbringing. It's not hard to imagine that Norman Osborn raised his son to be a paragon — outstanding, social, never showing weakness. This went for strangers, he'd even more hard on his best friend.
Harry didn't want to reveal his genetic condition to Peter, yet he couldn't help worrying. What if he went insane from his condition, what would Peter do? After all, Peter just found out that he's Spider Man, the city's friend and ally of justice.
Driven by these twisted thoughts, he put on a costume, wore a mask, pretended to be a super-criminal, all to test Spider Man's reaction.
If Spider Man used 'Iron Fist of justice' on him, he would feel disappointed, believing that when the time came, Peter would not be biased and their relationship was doomed a tragedy.
So, he refused all the solutions Peter offered, clutching onto the mentality that it's better to end the pain sooner, wanting to cut ties with him.
In fact, Harry fell into the common pitfall that many people do, just as the saying in the comedy sketch goes, 'you use a lie, to verify a lie, all you'll get is a lie'.
The process of testing humanity, is essentially creating an illusory scene.
Take for example the classic 'trolley problem', everything is fictitious, hasn't happened yet, doesn't exist in reality. Therefore, every answer derived from it is philosophically meaningful, but not well-developed enough to guide real-life actions.
Harry, driven by his own invented fears, created a false identity, constructed an illusory scene to test Spider Man. Taking the philosophical conclusion as gospel truth, he even used this result as a basis for his actions. Naturally, the misunderstandings would pile up.
Actually, with today's technological advances, all trolleys worldwide are equipped with emergency brakes, and most untrained individuals can't pull the trolley switch.
The genetic disease of the Osborn Family, given the current level of technology, is not a big deal. If worst comes to worst, there's always magic, the world would not let Osborn die, so Old Osborn isn't worried.
Shiller knew that Old Osborn is smart, Peter just has to give him a hint and he would know what happened to his son.
Although, as a patriarch, he might object to having a heart-to-heart with his child, as long as he tells Peter the truth, Peter would naturally have the patience to persuade Harry.
Having resolved Peter's problem, Shiller took a deep breath. He felt that he could finally take a break now.
Though he didn't currently feel tired. Just satisfied, thinking that his recent life had been fulfilling.
By applying his impeccable medical skills, he had sorted out his friends' psychological issues. Their voiced pain and their expressed emotions were valuable treasures for him.
Shiller sat back on the sofa with his eyes half closed, like a dragon lounging in its pile of gold. Though gathering the gold had been exhausting, the harvest brought him great satisfaction and pleasure.
He picked up a beer can again, opened it skillfully and drank.
"Impeccable medical skills, huh?" Shiller murmured contentedly with his eyes half closed, "As long as they don't have problems, these gains will keep coming…"
No sooner had Shiller spoke, than his phone rang again. He picked up the call, only to hear Jarvis' somewhat anxious voice:
"Doctor Shiller! Could you please come over as soon as possible? There's been a big incident!"
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