Chapter 1051: Shocking Ordinary Person (Part 29)

Then Eddie saw Schiller put four fingers into the four small umbrellas and began to constantly move that origami toy.

Looking at the shape of this origami toy, Eddie paused, then suddenly realized, and said to Venom in his mind:

"Do you remember, I asked you before, why does that psychologist hired by S. H. I. E. L. D. carry an umbrella even when it's not raining?"

Venom recalled for a moment and then said, "Isn't that because S. H. I. E. L. D.'s smoke alarms often malfunction?"

Eddie stroked his chin and said, "Perhaps that's also a certain reason..."

"But before, at the special children's education institution, their teacher told me that when facing autistic children whose sensory integration training results aren't very good, they often adopt a special method to help them establish a mental pillar, which is to give them a familiar object."

"I don't quite understand the specific principle, but it seems to mean letting the autistic child build a sense of security on a certain object. As long as he gets this object, he can feel his mind relax, lowering the probability of him losing control."

"And a series of experiments have proven that when holding a familiar object, these children's communication efficiency and emotional expression efficiency with teachers are both improved."

"And as long as training and treatment are conducted on him while he holds the familiar object, the effect will be multiplied. When he gradually walks out of the autistic world, he can also gradually get rid of his dependence on the object, thereby returning to normal life."

As an excellent reporter, Eddie's memory was actually very strong. He frowned and repeated what the teacher had said to him at the time:

"... What makes people feel very magical is that these children who are ignorant and unaware, as if they are not in the same world as us, also often make moves to knock on the door of this world, as if they are calling for help from us."

"Many children found their own familiar objects, just like pushing open a door that allows us to reach them."

"They actively reached out their hands to us, and what we have to do is to hold their hands and lead them to a brand new, wonderful world."

Venom also fell silent, as if the emotional part he inherited from other hosts began to play a role. He spoke:

"Perhaps it really is like this? Perhaps they really have a world we don't know about. In that world, they are normal people, living their own lives..."

"And one day, they encountered a door, so they curiously knocked on the door, and thus met us..."

Eddie looked at the origami toy in Schiller's hand and said:

"The umbrella is Schiller's familiar object, no, perhaps this thing is; the umbrella just looks a bit like it."

Eddie leaned in a bit closer, observing the origami toy, and said, "I haven't seen this method of origami. When I was a child, my father would teach me to fold rabbits or frogs, but the thing I folded the most was still paper airplanes. We would compete to see whose could be thrown further."

Eddie stared at Schiller's quite regular movements and said, "The mobility of this origami toy is obviously much higher than that of a frog or a rabbit, and the way to play with it is also very peculiar. It looks very regular."

"I remember the teacher at the special school told me that repetitive and regular movements are more popular with autistic children."

"The exercise the teachers led these children to do the most was the step-squat, which is to take a step, squat once, take another step, and squat once again..."

"Some children not only can persist in walking around the playground, but even the stride length of every step and the depth of the squat are completely consistent. They are gifted..."

Eddie lifted his eyes again to look at Schiller and said, "... He is the same."

"Then what do we do? Just watch him play here?... Hey, I say, why don't you find a piece of paper too? I think this thing looks quite fun," Venom said in Eddie's brain.

"Stop messing around, we have to think about how to help Dr. Schiller now. I heard he is a very good doctor..."

Schiller stood in place, constantly opening and closing the "East, West, South, North" with both hands. Although he stood there without moving, what could be observed was that the trembling of his arms had lessened, and his breathing frequency had also slightly recovered.

As a reporter, Eddie's observation ability was also very strong, able to keenly sense the changes in the interviewee's emotions, and then adopt different strategies to force out the answers he wanted.

Discovering that Schiller's situation had improved, Eddie didn't move the toy in his hand, but instead stretched out one hand to grab the corner of Schiller's coat, slowly leading him to walk forward, saying while walking, "Yes, come here, Schiller, come here... walk this way..."

Schiller's attention was only focused on the origami toy, following Eddie step by step to the sofa and sitting down.

Then, Schiller played with the origami toy there for three hours. Looking past his figure to the back, one moment it was Eddie carrying a dirty laundry basket and walking over, the next it was Venom pushing a mop and walking past, one moment it was Venom dragging Eddie's neck with slime and walking over, the next it was Eddie dragging a large mass of slime and walking past.

After night fell, the room appeared even quieter. Schiller's movements became a bit slower. He began to frequently use his hands to touch his eyes, constantly inhaling.

Eddie, having finished the housework, walked to the opposite side of the sofa and sat down, then said, "Are you hungry? I ordered a takeout..."

Just as he said this, the doorbell rang. When the "ding-dong" sound came, Eddie could clearly feel Schiller tremble.

He immediately stretched out his hand to soothe Schiller, then slowly took a step, moved sideways to the door, and went to fetch the takeout.

Just at this moment, Schiller began to dismantle the origami toy until he restored them into a candy wrapper, then put it into his pants pocket.

When eating, Schiller seemed to have suddenly returned to normal. He looked at Eddie and asked, "Why didn't you move back to Manhattan? Still staying here, you shouldn't be short of money anymore, right?"

Eddie, while opening his portion of Chinese stir-fried noodles, said, "I quit my job. I don't intend to do the editor-in-chief's work anymore."

"Why?" Schiller asked.

"Indeed, being an editor-in-chief is quite relaxed, the salary is high, and there are no performance requirements," Eddie shook his head and said, "But that's not what I want to do."

"When I was in school, I dreamed of becoming the best reporter in the world, but after entering the workplace, I discovered that a reporter is not some justice messenger who exposes evil. Without a breaking point, without performance, you are nothing."

Eddie ate the noodles in big mouthfuls and said somewhat vaguely, "On the road to becoming a well-known reporter, I did many heartless things."

"I admit it. I did these things just to earn money, and I also admit that I earned a lot of black-hearted money. But later, when facing the Life Foundation case, I realized that there is some money I still can't earn."

"I didn't expect that my momentary hot-headedness changed my life. I met this black parasite, and many interesting people..."

Eddie's body suddenly trembled, which looked like Venom was fighting him for control of his body.

"I changed to a more leisurely job, saved quite a bit of money, and even because I stood up for certain industries, it allowed me to save up the down payment for a house in New York."

"But that kind of case with the Life Foundation made me realize one thing..." Eddie wiped his mouth, took a sip of beer, and then said, "I don't know if you remember. At that time, the Life Foundation was grabbing homeless people to do experiments..."

"What makes me feel very confused is, this matter actually didn't blow up? So many missing persons, actually not many people noticed they were missing?!"

Eddie shook his head, as if he were very helpless, and said, "No newspaper paid attention to this matter, because these homeless people had nothing worth photographing. Everyone knows what these neighborhoods look like. People from other neighborhoods would only feel bad luck if they saw them..."

"At that time, because I had no money, I had to move here, but after living here for a period of time, I discovered that the news here is also quite interesting."

"There are no superheroes flying high and low, no grand and dreamy technological developments. Here, there are only a bunch of ordinary people like me."

Eddie gulped down a mouthful of ice beer and then said, "Because I still have quite a bit of savings in my hand, I quit the editor-in-chief job and started digging into news in these poor neighborhoods here."

Eddie revealed a bitter smile and said, "I feel that unless I open a TV station myself, no one will be willing to accept this news. Just consider it as me finding some fun for myself."

After his voice fell, he discovered that Schiller had already finished drinking the remaining two bottles of ice beer. Eddie shrugged and said, "Alright, Doctor. Didn't expect you to be able to drink so much, but I didn't order too much alcohol. The drinks at Chinese restaurants are too expensive, completely not worth it."

After finishing, Eddie began to tidy up the takeout boxes on the table. While tidying up, he talked about the situation here again. He said, "Although in the past, I occasionally liked to eat Chinese food, those were all going to high-end restaurants. I almost never ate any fried rice or stir-fried noodles."

"However, here, the cheap food at Chinese restaurants has received widespread popularity, because only this group of restaurant owners dares to deliver food to poor neighborhoods after nine o'clock, not afraid of those drug addicts wandering on the street who might lose control at any time, and gangs who might break in and rob... They want money, not their lives."

"Plus, although their drinks are a bit expensive, the staple foods are considered large and filling, the taste is also not bad, and food without cheese is still not bad even if it's cold. If pizza were at this temperature, it would be impossible to eat."

Eddie took out a toothpick, picked his teeth, and then skillfully stacked the takeout boxes together, stuffed them into a bag, tied a dead knot, and placed it on the table at the door.

"How long can I stay here?" Schiller asked.

"You can stay as long as you want," Eddie said completely indifferently. "Anyway, you are much better than Thor. When Thor lived next door to me, Venom shouted every day that he was allergic, and since you came, Venom has been much quieter."

Just as he said this, Eddie heard his door being knocked on with a "bang, bang, bang." He immediately revealed a vigilant look, walked to the door, fished out a pistol from the corner of the shoe cabinet, leaned against the door sideways, and looked through the peephole.

Seeing that face in the peephole, he froze for a moment, then put away the pistol, opened the door, looked at the blond man outside the door, and said, "Thor, why did you come?"

Thor outside the door was wearing human clothing, wearing a watch, and even carrying several gift bags. He rubbed his hands somewhat awkwardly and said, "That... um... Eddie, long time no see, it's just... can I borrow a place to stay at your place for a period of time?"

Before Eddie could speak, Venom first darted out of his body. A black head poked out from behind Eddie, grinning with a big mouth, and said to Thor, "Get lost, get lost, get lost! This place doesn't welcome the mentally retarded!"

But unexpectedly, Thor acted as if he had long anticipated such a situation. He raised the gift bag in his hand and said, "Is that so? If I leave, this specialty dessert from Asgard can only be taken back and shared among the goddesses."

Venom's head poked out slowly again, staring at that bag, and said, "Asgard has specialty desserts? Don't you guys only have meat steaks and grilled fish?"

Thor snorted coldly and said, "Narrow-minded! Too narrow-minded!"

"Asgard has a long history, how could it not have unique desserts?... Alright, don't look at me with that kind of gaze. It's a Norwegian specialty, apple pie and syrup cookies. I just flew to Norway to buy them. If you don't eat them, I'm leaving."

Thor turned around wanting to leave. In the next second, black slime surged out and swallowed all the gift bags in one bite. Thor and Eddie exclaimed at the same time, and Venom burped and said:

"The taste is not bad... come in." ===== CHAPTER 1052 =====