Chapter 1277: Starry Stage (Part 1)

In the wealthy town of New York, the sky was always exceptionally blue. Without the light pollution of glass skyscrapers, one low villa after another carried rich colors, reflecting and setting off the lushly growing shrubs and brilliantly blooming flowers.

The activity room of the Arkham Sanatorium was an independent building. The first floor was a whole hall, and the second floor was connected to the first floor, except that there was a glass-floored attic on the far right, with two streamlined-style single chairs and a modern-style coffee table.

Shiler, sitting in one of the chairs, looked at the record file in his hand and said: "Mr. Brock, please forgive me for calling you by such a distant address. It's just that we are talking about topics related to mental health now, and I must avoid personal relationships as much as possible."

"It is very regrettable that the most basic psychological examination done for you by Dr. Owen and the comprehensive psychological state assessment report written by Ms. Lord show that your current state indeed cannot be called good. Can you tell me what happened to you?"

Eddie Brock, sitting in the other chair, indeed looked very haggard. He was wearing a somewhat gray-covered dark blue plaid shirt and a black leather jacket. His hair was messy, and the beard on his face hadn't been cleaned, almost spreading to his neck.

Although he looked like a homeless person, at least the black-rimmed glasses on his face were reminding others that he was a reporter engaged in clerical work. But his bronze skin, tanned by the sun, became difficult to explain.

"Mr. Brock, I don't think the ultraviolet amplification effect of the newspaper office windows would be so obvious. Or did you encounter something while on vacation at the beach?" Finding that Eddie was silent and didn't answer, Shiler asked a step further.

"I resigned."

When Eddie opened his mouth, his voice was very hoarse. He closed his eyes, swallowed his saliva, swallowed the alcoholic taste that made him nauseous, and said: "I had a bit of a conflict with my immediate superior. To prevent Venom from hurting him, I resigned."

Shiler raised his eyebrows lightly, revealed a knowing expression, nodded, and said: "It seems you haven't completely lost your mind. My meaning is, your immediate superior's head should still be on his head, right?"

"Venom wants to eat him," Eddie looked painful, used a somewhat trembling tone, and continued: "I tried my best to stop him. This is also why I am so exhausted."

"Venom thinks the editor-in-chief of the newspaper is an evil bad person because he described the bottom-level people protesting against the operation of the shuttle as fools without brains, saying that their violent protest behavior is a terrorist attack."

"The community I live in isn't a middle-class community. There are too many unemployed people, refugees, and people from other places. They used to rely on the public transportation system to eat, but now their rice bowls are gone, and they can only take to the streets to protest. But no one pays attention to them, so they try every means to destroy the shuttle transportation lines."

"Venom feels that the editor-in-chief wants to cover the mouths of the people, not let them speak, and wants to oppress them. So his solution is to eat that editor-in-chief, and I stopped him. He feels I betrayed him."

Eddie covered his eyes with his hands and said: "But that editor-in-chief actually didn't say anything wrong. Precisely because I live among them, I know that someone is deliberately guiding them to vent their emotions, guiding them to smash, loot, and burn, and even to let the shuttle crash and kill the people taking the shuttle."

"Someone wants to provoke contradictions, let both sides fight until they are bloody, and then take the opportunity to profit. Whether it is these bottom-level people protesting or the editor-in-chief accusing them, they are just intensifying the contradictions. I can't let them succeed, but Venom doesn't understand this point. He is as childish as a child."

"For the past few days, we have been arguing. Whether sleeping or working, those terrible thoughts of eating people hover in my heart."

"Before, although Venom would also feel hungry, he wouldn't convey these thoughts to me. But now those terrible negative emotions constantly pour into my brain, and I simply cannot control them."

"Eddie, Eddie..." Shiler called softly, pulling Eddie out of that terrible fantasy. Eddie turned his head and saw the calm and gentle face of this psychiatrist.

But this didn't make Eddie feel any better at all. He shook his head in despair, spat out a breath, and said: "Venom also feels that I should do this. He feels that the whole world stands with Stark, and I must also stand with these desperate poor people."

"You might find it hard to believe that such an evil-looking creature would have a pure heart like a child. I saw a pure white heart in the middle of those black sticky liquids. He looks like Peter Parker."

"Perhaps he is Peter Parker. Peter used to be his host, but this originally reckless kid has already moved forward. But Venom, Venom, because of me, because I am not a genius, I am just an ordinary person, he is still trapped in place."

Eddie's eye sockets were red, obviously falling into his own fantasy again. He said: "I simply couldn't give him anything good. No wisdom, no kindness, only entanglement, contradiction, and pain."

"I went deep into the lives of the poor people, seeing those unemployed bus drivers, small vendors, and ticket sellers wandering the streets in despair because they couldn't pay their credit cards, seeing the quality of life of their families drop sharply, and even their children having to transfer schools."

"But I also saw that the technical personnel of the Stark Group were running around on various lines, maintaining shuttle equipment, collecting experimental data, constantly perfecting the planning of the lines. The cargo volume of the aerial trains is getting larger day by day, and new bridges and ports are making new families glow with brilliance."

"Facing these completely different situations, I don't have that kind of genius and inspiration to come up with a perfect solution to satisfy everyone. I can only be painful myself, and Venom is also painful. It is I who made him painful."

"Eddie, you haven't realized that you are also a genius," Shiler opened his mouth slowly. His voice sounded a bit unreal in Eddie's ears. Eddie heard this psychiatrist say: "These pains and contradictions of yours are precisely the manifestation of innate spirituality. You are a natural philosopher, psychologist, and possess talent in this regard."

"Venom will feel painful, not because you didn't give him anything, but precisely because you gave him these innate melancholy philosophical thoughts, gave him your pessimistic contradictory psychology, that's why he will feel painful."

"But this has no meaning," Eddie closed his eyes and shook his head, licked his somewhat dry lips, and said: "Look, Peter Parker gave Venom a kind and firm heart, Tony Stark gave Venom genius wisdom. These are all weapons to make him stronger and more perfect. And me? What use are those contradictions and philosophical thoughts?"

Shiler looked at Eddie somewhat helplessly and said: "It is clear that you cannot objectively view the relationship between you and Venom while you are unable to calm down. You both should calm down and think carefully about your influence on each other."

Shiler turned the file in his hand and then said: "I will contact Blue Spirit and the others who are staying on Klintar. In a sense, Blue Spirit can also be considered Venom's guardian. You should talk to a more experienced cosmic symbiote about this problem."

"I won't talk to them," Venom's low voice burst out from Eddie's mouth, simply like a gunshot. He said: "That group of fools will only suggest that I obey the host, treat this as a job, but I have never been willing to do so."

"But in fact, this is a job," Shiler still used a calm tone and said: "The relationship between symbiotes and hosts should be viewed more rationally. Excessive possessiveness will make you both very painful."

"Ha, you can certainly say that!" Venom's voice revealed anger: "Your soul has hundreds of you, and someone accompanies your symbiote every day. And I only have him, I only have him!"

"But this kind of thought exchange of yours has brought pain to him and you," Shiler shook his head, obviously a bit disapproving, and said: "No one wants to break you up, but the way you combine and communicate now clearly has problems."

"You are constantly moving forward, constantly outputting emotions, wanting to use a direct and rough way to make Eddie listen to you. Eddie feels fear and avoidance because of this, but at the same time doesn't want to hurt you. He feels ashamed because of your roughness, because he feels it was he who corrupted you."

"I was like this to begin with!" Venom shouted loudly: "I am just an evil symbiote who wants to eat human brains. I will always be like this!"

Shiler sighed. He felt Eddie was right, Venom was always like a child, but this really couldn't be blamed on him.

Venom was a bit like an autistic child in the cosmic symbiote race. In one aspect, he possessed unparalleled powerful talent, but the price was that in some aspects, he was always trapped in place and couldn't make progress.

He absorbed infinite energy, the symbiote factor was healthy and vigorous, and he inherited the wisdom of Peter, Bruce, and Stark. Those few colorful symbiotes tied together might not necessarily be his opponents.

But only in the aspect of emotion, whether it was how to handle his own emotions or how to accept and understand others' emotions, Venom always couldn't grasp the scale well.

But this requirement was indeed a bit high. After all, humans with rich emotions might not necessarily master this skill in a lifetime. It was very normal for Venom, who was a blank sheet of paper, to be unable to handle emotions freely.

He was insatiable when absorbing emotions, constantly demanding Eddie's attention, recognition, and love, just like a crying child. But when outputting emotions, because the emotions were too abundant and the expression was unfavorable, it seemed like groundless accusations and mindless pouring.

But precisely because Eddie and Shiler were the same kind of people, their thinking leaned more toward philosophical thinking rather than rational calculation. Pessimism was the label of every natural philosopher. Venom's emotions like a tide made him very painful, and because the two of them were inseparable, he couldn't escape and catch his breath.

Shiler stared at the series of conclusions on the report file and felt a bit helpless. His expression to Eddie was very tactful. In fact, the assessment report given by the professionals in Arkham Sanatorium could be said to be very pessimistic.

Long-term unhealthy psychological conditions could induce mental disorders and also harm the body. Shiler is a psychiatrist, so he must solve this problem.

Shiler just opened his mouth, intending to give Venom and Eddie some suggestions, probably to let them build independent spaces for each other in their hearts with the help of psychology. But at this time, Venom said directly:

"Fine, you guys say he is painful because of this, and I also felt it. His pain is all my fault, okay?"

"As his good buddy—oh, that's what he thinks—I should appear like his bad friend when he needs me, and disappear when he doesn't need me. Clearly he doesn't need me now. I'll leave right now and will absolutely not pester him again!"

After speaking, Eddie stood up. Shiler also stood up. He walked quickly to Eddie's front, blocked his action with one side, and said: "Calm down, Venom, don't be like this. This matter isn't that hard to solve, as long as you listen to professional advice..."

"Move." With a "swish," countless black symbiote factors wrapped around Eddie's body. Venom's face appeared, and he bared his sharp teeth at Shiler and said: "Don't use your and Gray Mist's set to manage me and Eddie. This is our own business. Move."

"Don't worry about him, Shiler," Gray Mist's voice sounded in Shiler's heart: "Come to the roof to read. I want to finish calculus today, and then we can understand it together. You can understand it now."

"I'm coming."

Shiler answered Gray Mist while watching Venom jump onto the roof of the New York skyline building. Suddenly, he had a bad premonition, because Venom turned in a direction and headed toward Stark Tower.

And in Stark Tower, now there was not only Stark.

Looking at Venom's back, Shiler whispered.

"Good luck to him. Perhaps, he can also help me figure out what those two damn geniuses want to do." ===== CHAPTER 1278 =====