Chapter 1049: A Shocking Mortal (27)

After the public security of New York was completely cleared, Wei En gave up completely.

He felt that he could no longer find any objects to treat, so he began to drink heavily.

Even though the high-altitude train station of the nursing home had been completed, he didn't move back, but huddled in his small clinic and drank.

Wei En was now paralyzed on the sofa in the center of the clinic. The white coat that was originally meticulous from head to tail was now completely open, one side was stained with wine, the other side had two holes burned by cigarette ash, and there was a little blood from who knows where.

Shiler seemed to have just woken up from a hangover; he subconsciously reached out to touch the wine bottle beside him, only to find it empty. He let his arm drop powerlessly, pursed his lips, leaned against the armrest of the sofa, and fell asleep again.

And in the next few days, Wei En found that all the tobacco, alcohol, and medicine in the entire Hell's Kitchen, and even the Brooklyn area along the Hudson River, had disappeared.

It was a disappearance in the physical sense. No matter how much money he took, no matter where he went to buy, he couldn't buy anything at all.

Wei En could use flash to travel freely in Hell's Kitchen, but his continuous flash had a distance limit.

Stark and Shi Difen, who knew Wei En very well, pulled out a net of defense, and within the range where Wei En could move, cleared all addictive things.

This was not a situation where Wei En could gain anything by abandoning his moral bottom line. These things had physically disappeared. Whether he went to cheat or sneak attack, he couldn't conjure them out.

Just as Ma Te said, the world's most genius scientist and the world's most powerful magician joined forces, there was nothing they couldn't block. Even the sewers near Hell's Kitchen were screened, and all the empty wine bottles and empty medicine bottles that fell in were fished out, without even a bit of residue left.

Now, Wei En was in a completely vacuum area, without cigarettes, alcohol, or medicine.

Although he could buy them if he ran further, Wei En's feeling of emptiness and helplessness in his heart made him unwilling to stay too far from the place he was familiar with, only wanting to return to the clinic as soon as possible, which could give him a little bit of security.

And after returning to the clinic, Wei En felt that he had nothing to do. Gradually, he didn't like staying in the clinic either, but began to wander on the street, preferring to squat in front of the shop window in the middle of the night rather than go home.

Such a picture gradually shrank. Stark, Shi Difen, and Steve looked at Wei En, who was squatting at the street corner shivering in the picture, and sighed in unison.

"He must be very sad now." Steve covered his mouth with his hand and then emphasized:

"I feel that he didn't understand at all why we suddenly ignored him!"

Steve shook his head vigorously, put the shield in his hand aside, and said, "I feel like we are like those bad students in school who take the lead in isolating others... I really can't do this, if you can't give a better treatment plan, I am going to find him now!"

After saying this, he turned and was about to walk out. Stark stopped him and said, "Don't be like this, Steve. Rest assured, we consulted the world's most famous psychological experts, including Wei En's teachers and professors."

"Besides including authorities in psychology and psychiatry, it also includes experts specifically targeting drug or psychogenic addiction."

"The consistent conclusion they gave was that in the initial stage of treatment, there must be a process of forced withdrawal. In this world, quitting any drug or addiction requires first letting the body and brain adapt to the state of low feedback. This process is destined to be painful and long."

"And after the body gradually adapts, can we start to solve psychological problems..."

Stark explained very patiently for a rare time. Steve held the shield and tapped the edge of the table, saying, "I really can't accept watching my friend be so painful but not helping him."

He took a deep breath and then said, "Fortunately, you sent Peter away first, otherwise, no matter what, we wouldn't be able to stop him."

"The ones sitting here now are relatively rational adults." Shi Difen opened his mouth and said, "We all know that Wei En can't go on like this, whether it is the symptoms of his autism, the stress response brought by psychological trauma, or the psychological barrier of his constant pursuit of emotional stimulation, there will be a day when it needs to be solved."

"Are you hoping that we work together and unite now, with the most resources and the best state, to treat steadily, or are you planning to wait until the day Wei En really has an accident, and then scramble to salvage it?"

Steve was silent, lowered his head, Tony sighed lightly and said, "I know, none of us feel good, but this day will always come..."

Steve paused, put down the shield, drew a cross on his chest, and a low prayer echoed in the room, and at this time, snowflakes just fell outside the window.

"Lord, if our friend is destined to suffer this disaster, please do not reduce any of the sadness and pain in my heart, let me be guilty with him."

"Also make me, on the day of your birth, no longer feel any joy and happiness, to comfort the cold he feels... Amen."

New York's winter gradually deepened, the temperature became lower and lower, this year is destined to be a very lively Christmas, the streets have been decorated with Christmas decorations in advance, and the goods in the shop windows have also taken on a new look.

After the first heavy snow, the festive atmosphere became stronger and stronger, and Christmas carols were playing everywhere.

At the end of the street covered with thick snow, a man wearing a coat and a scarf squatted down next to the street lamp.

He looked in a bad state, had been breathing hard, saliva and snot flowed out together, and before they could be wiped away, they condensed into tiny ice crystals.

But no one would be interested in him. This kind of person is too common in this community. The community near Hell's Kitchen, of course, couldn't live with any good people. A drug addict who suddenly gets sick on the side of the road can't even be called scenery here.

The man was not wearing gloves, so he could only tuck his hands into his opposite sleeves. He sniffed while shivering all over, looking as if he were either cold or suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms.

He squatted by the streetlamp for a while, seemingly feeling a bit better, and turned his head to look at the shop window next to him. But just then, a hand reached over, with half a cigarette, not yet finished, held between the fingers.

The man squatting by the streetlamp, as if seeing a savior, took the cigarette butt with trembling hands and put it into his mouth.

When he reached out to take the cigarette, he turned his body to the side, and the person standing there caught a clear view of his face and exclaimed:

"Shiler??!!??"

Eddie hurried over and discovered that the person having a breakdown by the streetlamp was indeed Shiler.

Looking at the shivering Shiler, Eddie hurriedly took off his own coat, wanting to drape it over him, but hesitated after seeing the dust on the coat.

Eddie stepped back two paces, looked up at the sky, and finally decided to reach out and drape the coat over Shiler. To his surprise, Shiler remained motionless, letting him do as he pleased.

Shiler's attention was entirely on that half-cigarette. Although his hands were shaking so much that he couldn't accurately put the cigarette into his mouth, he was still trying his best, completely ignoring the cigarette butt that was burning down to the end, its flame scorching his frost-whitened knuckles.

Eddie hurriedly reached out, grabbed Shiler's wrist, shook the cigarette butt from his hand, and said, "Dr. Shiler, what's wrong with you? Are you... are you sick? Do you want me to call an ambulance for you?"

Shiler shook his head immediately. He blinked with some difficulty and then cast his gaze back to the cigarette butt Eddie had thrown away. Eddie followed his gaze, but by this time, Shiler had already reached out.

Eddie hurriedly stopped him, then, in a fluster, pulled a pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket, handed one to Shiler, and offered to light it for him.

But Shiler's hands were shaking so much that he couldn't hold the cigarette at all, nor could he shield the flame. Eddie had no choice but to smoke the cigarette himself to light it, then handed it to Shiler with some hesitation.

He knew that this doctor had a very severe mysophobia; let alone a cigarette someone else had smoked, he wouldn't even accept a cigarette from a pack held by someone else. Moreover, he almost never used a lighter, only matches.

Yet, Shiler completely abandoned his usual demeanor. Like a true junkie wandering the streets, he hurriedly stuffed the cigarette into his mouth, took a drag, held his breath for a moment, and exhaled a puff of smoke.

Whether it was the hand holding the cigarette or the action of inhaling and exhaling the smoke, it was so light, as if he were afraid of wasting even a tiny bit of nicotine.

Eddie squatted down opposite him, frowned, squinted, leaned his head close to Shiler's face, and looked into his eyes, saying, "Doctor, what is actually wrong with you?"

"... I am not a doctor." Shiler's voice was so hoarse that it startled Eddie. He no longer had the smooth and soothing tone he used during psychotherapy; he sounded like a homeless person coughing in the middle of the night, desperate to find a cardboard box to shelter from the wind.

Suddenly, Eddie's body shuddered. Venom spread out, and its big mouth with sharp teeth leaned in front of Shiler's nose. Venom's hoarse voice rang out:

"Look... who is this? Doctor? No, no, no, a patient... a very sick patient... I can feel it..."

Venom's spider-like compound eyes blinked. That low tone reminded Shiler of someone.

So, Shiler used his constantly trembling hand to take the cigarette from his mouth, tilted his head back, exhaled the final puff of smoke, and then fiercely pressed the cigarette butt into Venom's eye.

"Agh!!!!"

Venom let out a scream, covered its eye, and retreated. The next second, it retreated back into Eddie's body.

Eddie stood where he was, rubbed his eyes, shook his head, and Shiler, squatting on the ground, looked up and asked him: "... Do you have any more cigarettes?"

"I do, but you can't smoke here." Eddie bent down, helped Shiler up, and said, "I'll take you back to the sanitarium, Doctor, they have everything there..."

Shiler hunched over, standing in place and panting heavily. The cold air he exhaled fogged up his glasses. He took off his glasses and said, "No, I'm not going back. I'm not going anywhere..."

Eddie looked Shiler up and down and knew that something must have happened to him. So, Eddie said, "Alright, then how about you come to my place? At least it's warmer there than here, and there are cigarettes to smoke..."

Shiler did not object, so Eddie supported him and walked to a residential building not far from this block.

Climbing to the third floor, Eddie opened the door to the room at the very end of the hallway, using one hand to open the door and the other to support Shiler as they walked in.

As soon as Shiler walked in, he collapsed onto the living room sofa, looking completely disheveled. Eddie lit another cigarette for him, then his eyes fell on his coat, which was soaked at the edges from the snow.

Eddie picked up his own coat, put it into the laundry basket nearby, and then said to Shiler, "Dr. Shiler, take off your coat, I'll wash it for you... By the way, your coat is machine-washable, right?"

Shiler was preoccupied with smoking and ignored him completely. Eddie could only sigh, walk over, and like maneuvering a stiff puppet, took off Shiler's coat and threw it into the laundry basket as well.

Seeing that Shiler's state was relatively stable, Eddie took the laundry basket and went to the washing machine on the balcony.

He first picked up his own jacket, emptied the pockets, and threw it into the washing machine. Then he picked up Shiler's coat and subconsciously reached his hand into the pocket, only then realizing that his action seemed a bit impolite.

However, his hand did indeed touch something. Feeling a strange texture, Eddie pinched the object, pulled his hand back, and looked down.

It was a gold and red candy wrapper, folded very neatly, with every single wrinkle smoothed out.