Chapter 1039: The Shocking Commoner (Part 17)

"Peter, do you think Harry is the kind of person who is arrogant, stubborn, and never listens to others' opinions?" Shiler looked at Peter, whose state was gradually stabilizing, and asked.

Peter tilted his head somewhat blankly, looking to one side, just like every person who had cried until they had no strength left. He said somewhat slowly: "No, of course not. On the contrary, Harry is relatively good at listening to others' opinions, while I am relatively stubborn sometimes..."

Peter sniffed again, the tail of his eyebrows drooping, looking as aggrieved as a golden retriever whose owner had been late to call for dinner.

"But today he was like a different person. I presented facts and reasoned with him, put forward various plans, I endured the confusion and grievances, tried hard to focus on the facts, and wanted to solve the problem, but he kept refusing, as if he were deliberately looking for trouble..." Peter's voice became lower and lower, seemingly feeling that it was not good to speak ill of people behind their backs like this.

"Then why do you think he would suddenly become like this?" Shiler asked again.

Peter sat silently in place, then shook his head vigorously and said: "I really can't think of it. It had only been two days, how could he have changed so much?"

"Remember the question I asked you when I analyzed Steve's illness before? — What has changed since the morning? This is precisely the key to the problem. What has changed between you and Harry compared to two days ago?"

"What has changed?" Peter said in a low voice while thinking, and said: "I shouldn't have changed, I am still me, and he is still him..."

Shiler discovered that Peter's attention was not focused, so he didn't notice the problem the first time, so he further reminded: "When you met two days ago, what were your identities? And this time when you met, what were your identities?"

"Uh, we were classmates and friends two days ago, and two days later we were still... Wait, this time when we met, I was Spider-Man, and he... he called himself Green Goblin. This name sounds like a villain in a comic book."

"The problem lies here. Two days ago, you could communicate calmly because you were equal friends, but this time it's different."

"What's different? We are still friends!" Peter repeatedly emphasized this point: "I have always treated him as a friend, and he is my best friend!"

Shiler shook his head, looked into his eyes, and said: "Think about it, when you first chased the Green Goblin, what kind of thoughts did you have?"

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"I... I was, of course, going to fight crime..." Peter said, his voice growing quieter. Then he swallowed hard and continued: "I didn't know it was Harry at the time. I even shouted, 'Damn criminal, don't you even think about causing an explosion!'"

"But this isn't my fault either!" Peter immediately became somewhat agitated. He said: "Recently, there have been too many lunatics wanting to cause explosions on the aerial transport lines. I thought this freak was one of them. If I had known it was Harry, I definitely wouldn't have..."

"Are you really sure you wouldn't have?" Schiller asked. "If Harry had truly gone insane and become a madman wanting to hurt people, would you really not have sanctioned him?"

"I..." Peter suddenly hesitated, then he shook his head and said: "That's impossible. Harry wouldn't become like that. He is a good person."

"Harry only wanted to lure me out this time. His bombs were all thrown into the river, and they were all far away from the pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge. He absolutely wouldn't become that kind of lunatic!" Peter said with great certainty.

Schiller nodded without refuting him, then continued: "When you didn't know his identity, you treated him as a criminal and stepped forward to stop him. And after the two of you revealed each other's identities, did you break free from the relationship of 'just vigilante' and 'evil criminal'?"

"Of course we broke free!" Peter answered immediately, but soon he hesitated again and said: "I... I definitely broke free, but Harry..."

"Peter, think about it. After Harry learned that his father might be targeting you, why didn't he ask you out directly? Or make a phone call to tell you about it? Instead, he had to make such a big scene and dress up as a criminal to lure you out?"

Peter sat in silence, thinking, while Schiller continued to guide him with his words: "Peter, you have memory far beyond that of an ordinary person. You must remember every detail of this event. Go back and recall them; do not miss any clues."

Guided by Schiller, Peter slowly closed his eyes. Then, his brow furrowed deeper and deeper. Every frame of the scene flashed before his eyes, and then, one image lingered in his vision.

It was the moment Spider-Man took off the Green Goblin's mask, and the look Harry gave him.

"Disappointment..." Peter whispered: "He felt disappointed, right when I took off his mask..."

Afterward, Peter regained his clarity and said with some confusion: "Why would he feel disappointed? Why would he feel disappointed in me?"

"Perhaps he wasn't feeling disappointed in you," Schiller reminded him again. "If he felt disappointed in you as a person, he wouldn't have waited until now to bring it up. Perhaps you two wouldn't have become such good friends in the first place..."

"Setting you aside as a person, he was feeling disappointed in certain behaviors of yours." Schiller's words left Peter even more bewildered. He was completely stumped and just about to open his mouth to ask when Schiller continued:

"You feel that all of this is a bit inexplicable, right? Inexplicable hostility, inexplicable disappointment, inexplicable talk of breaking off the friendship. You feel that the situation shouldn't have developed to this point at all."

"His motives are unclear, his actions are unclear, and the benefits he would gain from doing this are also unclear. When all three factors have parts that cannot be explained, it only points to one thing, which I have told you before, Peter..."

Peter suddenly looked up, staring straight into Schiller's eyes, and said: "The culprit is hiding something. I mean, Harry might be hiding something!"

Peter stood up immediately and said: "No, I have to go ask him."

But soon, Peter became hesitant again. He looked a bit anxious, bit his finger, and then said: "If I go over now, we will definitely have a huge argument, and we might even come to blows. If I can't control myself... what should I do?"

"Actually, your initial approach to solving this was correct." Schiller also stood up and looked Peter in the eyes, saying: "You are perfectly qualified to go talk to Old Osborn."

"Even if it's not for the sake of his son, as a researcher who holds hundreds of patents and even possesses quite a few advanced ones, you have the capital to negotiate with Osborn. Even if you were just looking to switch jobs, he would have to clear out an entire morning just to receive you."

Peter had a sudden realization. He said: "Right! Exactly! Before, Uncle Osborn told me that if I wanted to join the Osborn Group, I must go find him. He would be very happy to talk to me about the direction of future human technology."

Peter began pacing back and forth again. He said: "Then I'll use that as an excuse. Anyway, I originally wanted to work in a laboratory funded by the Osborn Group. I can talk to him about employment issues first, and then ask him sideways about what exactly is going on... Right! That's what I'll do!"

Peter left in a rush. Schiller, who knew the comic book plot and the current situation, knew that Osborn had no reason to hide anything from Peter.

If playing the sympathy card with a genetic hereditary disease could trick Peter into working for him, this old fox would definitely put on a performance of "crying down the Great Wall" on the spot.

At the same time, Schiller also felt gratified by Peter's judgment. He was able to see at a glance that Old Osborn was a very pure businessman and then formulate his own strategy based on that judgment. Compared to when he first started out, with his head full of rushing in and throwing punches, he had grown up a lot.

If Old Osborn was willing to be honest, then this matter really wouldn't count for much at all.

In fact, Harry was being so awkward because of his long-standing high-status posture. He didn't want to show weakness to Spider-Man, he didn't want to beg Peter to save him from his genetic disease, and he didn't even want to confess this to him, nor did he want Peter to pity him.

This also had to do with Harry's upbringing. It goes without saying that Norman Osborn's education of his son must have been to mold him into a "perfect human" type—that is, he must be excellent, socially adept, and never show weakness. He was like this with strangers, and it was only more so with his best friend.

Harry didn't want to confess his genetic disease to Peter, but he was constantly worried about what Peter would do if he went insane in the future. After all, he had just learned that Peter was Spider-Man, a partner of justice, and a good friend to the citizens of New York.

Driven by this awkward psychology, he put on the uniform, wore the mask, and pretended to be a super-criminal, wanting to test Spider-Man's reaction.

When Spider-Man used the iron fist of justice against him, he felt disappointed, feeling that Peter definitely wouldn't show favoritism when the time came, and that their relationship was destined to be a tragedy.

Thus, he rejected all the plans Peter proposed, holding onto the attitude that "long-term pain is worse than short-term pain," and wanted to break off their friendship.

Actually, Harry had just fallen into a misconception that many people fall into. Just like a line from a sketch comedy: you use lies to verify lies, and all you get is more lies.

The process of testing human nature is inherently about constructing illusory scenarios.

For example, the classic Trolley Problem: everything is false, it hasn't happened yet, and it doesn't actually exist in reality. Therefore, all the answers obtained only have philosophical significance, and they aren't refined enough to guide actions in reality.

Because of the worries Harry conceived himself, he used a fake identity to construct a scenario to test Spider-Man, and then took this philosophical conclusion as truth. He even intended to use this result as a basis for his actions, which naturally led to the misunderstanding deepening.

In reality, with technology as developed as it is now, all trolleys in the world have emergency stop devices, and the vast majority of untrained ordinary people wouldn't be able to pull the trolley's track-switching lever anyway.

The Osborn family's genetic disease doesn't count for much at the current level of technology. If all else fails, there is still magic. The whole world wouldn't let an Osborn die, which is why Old Osborn wasn't in a hurry.

Schiller knew that Old Osborn was a smart man. If Peter revealed just a little bit, he would be able to figure out exactly what was going on with his son.

Although this kind of patriarch might not be willing to sit down and talk to his child, as long as he told Peter the truth, Peter would naturally have the patience to persuade Harry.

Having solved Peter's problem, Schiller let out a long breath, feeling that he could finally rest for a while.

He didn't actually feel exhausted right now; he just felt very satisfied and felt that his recent life was very fulfilling.

Because he had used his superb medical skills to solve his friends' psychological problems, and in this process, the pain poured out and the emotions expressed by the patients sitting across from him were all very precious wealth to him.

Schiller sat on the sofa with his eyes narrowed, like a dragon lying in a pile of gold coins. Although the process of collecting the gold coins was exhausting, the harvest made him very satisfied and feeling quite delighted.

He took another can of beer from his side, opened the tab, and skillfully poured it into his mouth.

"Superb medical skills, right?" Schiller muttered with smug satisfaction, his eyes narrowed: "As long as they don't have any problems, this kind of harvest will be endless..."

No sooner had he finished speaking than his cell phone rang again. He answered the call and heard Jarvis's slightly anxious voice from the other end:

"Dr. Schiller! Please come over quickly! Something big has happened!"