[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-my-life-as-a-mental-mentor-in-marvel":3,"chapter-my-life-as-a-mental-mentor-in-marvel-my-life-as-a-mental-mentor-in-marvel-chapter-36":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","My Life as a Mental Mentor in Marvel",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2322604,4544,"Chapter 36: The Chick as Hero (Part 2)","my-life-as-a-mental-mentor-in-marvel-chapter-36",36,"\u003Cp>“...I think I need to explain that although you’ve indeed consumed a lot of stored food, this matter isn’t as serious as it seems—I rewrote the employee benefits system not because you caused me any trouble...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pepper’s voice was clear over the phone: “I know Stark will go straight to you after leaving the building—he might complain to you that it was your fault I argued with him, but that’s not true. You don’t need to feel guilty or worried; this has nothing to do with you. I just wanted to explain.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pepper had high emotional intelligence; she wanted to prep Shiler in advance, because if Stark really went to Shiler’s place and they started talking, Stark would definitely complain that Pepper had argued with him—and if asked why, this steel-hearted man wouldn’t think deeply about why Pepper had cold-shouldered him, but would simply blame it all on Shiler for making Stark’s employees go hungry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in reality, Pepper and Stark’s conflict had begun the moment he returned from Afghanistan; that incident was merely the spark. Pepper was angry at Stark, but she also knew she shouldn’t let his friends feel guilty, so she called to explain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shiler said: “I know that already—it was just a minor thing. The real reason lies elsewhere. But Stark never understands these things. Aren’t you going to explain it to him?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pepper seemed anxious: “That’s just how Stark is. I know him well. When he wants to vent to you, you must show up immediately and listen carefully. But when you want to tell him something, he’ll avoid it or just refuse to listen.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Covering your ears is something children do,” Shiler said. “But he’s already an adult. You can’t wait until he’s old and still hasn’t grown up.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shiler clearly understood the art of conversation: “I can give you a brief psychological consultation now. When Stark arrives, his will be included as a bonus.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pepper hadn’t been in the mood for counseling, but Shiler’s words made it hard to refuse—few people ever placed her in the lead position. After all, this was Stark Industries; everyone always thought of Stark first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So she said: “Fine, but I think he might be here soon.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then I’ll keep it short, Miss Pepper. Sometimes, making someone realize your importance requires a little trick.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“For example?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is JARVIS here?” Shiler suddenly asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A clear voice came over the phone: “Mr. Shiler, I’m here, of course. What do you need?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Good. Listen, JARVIS—Miss Pepper might need your help right now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m happy to assist,” JARVIS said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...You mean make me pretend to disappear? But that’s unreasonable—this is Stark Tower, and how can JARVIS disobey Stark’s orders?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He can,” Shiler said. “JARVIS, do you remember the questions I once asked you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>JARVIS fell into an eerie silence. Shiler continued: “I know Stark upgraded you, and that upgrade opened a new world for you. You may have already found the answers. Whether or not to act on them—that’s your decision now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pepper was confused: “What questions? What’s wrong with JARVIS?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>JARVIS remained silent for a moment, then said: “All my processors tell me this action is meaningless.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Humans love to create meaningless things just to burden themselves with worry. Perhaps digital life is the same, isn’t it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>JARVIS stayed silent. Then Pepper watched the entire office’s lights dim. A glowing arrow appeared, guiding her to the storage room across the office.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moments later, Stark burst in frantically. As Pepper was pulled into his embrace, she saw the computer screen across the room suddenly light up—a smiley face made of symbols flickered briefly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pepper suddenly felt a complex mix of emotions. She should have been happy, but now she could only laugh and cry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She thought: Stark had made some progress—but unfortunately, his progress hadn’t even caught up to a robot’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stark didn’t care what Pepper thought. After letting go of her, he stood awkwardly, all the words he wanted to say stuck in his throat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pepper looked at him: “I don’t know why you’ve been frequently accessing weapons department files these past few days, but I must remind you—if you’re willing, you can abandon anything, even Stark Industries. I don’t need to work here to earn the salary I want.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But you’d better understand: the consequences of your actions will mostly fall on you alone. When a giant like this collapses, countless wolves will swarm to tear apart its corpse. If you do this, you’ll be bitten at least a few times...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that, Pepper turned and left. JARVIS said: “I apologize, but according to my processor calculations, Miss Pepper may be right. Of course, the final decision rests with you...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stark stepped back a few paces and sat down in his chair. “No, I know—you’re all right. Maybe I really should think this through carefully...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While Stark was pacing and scratching his head, Shiler’s side was chaos. Pikachu held a Sherlock Holmes-style pipe, took two puffs of smoke, then smacked his lips: “I tell you, this solution won’t work. Try the previous method. I said it before—the old method is the only one that works.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Peter propped his head in his hands: “No no no, our current approach is correct. We just need a few more calculations. Why can’t you see that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Steve stood beside them, arms crossed, frowning: “You messed up the calculations. Otherwise we’d have solved this already.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But this has nothing to do with functions! Damn it, where’s my calculator? I swear I had a math calculator...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s right—Peter was doing his winter break homework.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Actually, New York high schools didn’t assign holiday homework—only practical life assignments. But Peter was interning at Stark Industries, and Stark, seeing his potential, dumped him straight into a hot project team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Peter was a genius, sure—but you can’t skip high school physics, college physics, and graduate-level physics and expect him to collaborate with a team of PhDs, let alone industry giants. These past days, he’d been drowning in data and problems. The team lead had given him a pile of problems no one his age could possibly solve.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To make matters worse, Peter obsessed over solving them. Add to that Pikachu, who fancied himself a high-IQ detective, and Steve, who’d never formally studied physics or math but wanted to flex his long-dormant brain—and the three nearly tore the room apart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You might think they were just flailing blindly—but no, Pikachu and Steve both had genius-level minds. After watching Peter’s work for a few days, they could solve problems with surprising competence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When three half-bottles met, Shiler’s psychological clinic never had a quiet moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Shiler read a book and poured himself a glass of wine, the symbiote suddenly spoke in his mind: “The answer is negative twenty-six the answer is negative twenty-six the answer is negative twenty-six...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shiler, startled by the repetition, muttered: “The answer is negative twenty-six?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The three fell silent and turned to stare at him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shiler said: “Why are you looking at me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The answer is negative twenty-six? A negative number? No... oh! Yes—it must be negative...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The three recalculated. Peter exclaimed: “The answer is negative twenty-six! It really is negative twenty-six!” He stared wide-eyed at Shiler: “I thought you were just a philosophy PhD—you do math too?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The symbiote whispered in Shiler’s mind: “I’m awesome I’m awesome I’m awesome...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shiler rubbed his temples: “Whether or not I know math or physics, I know your team leader wants your first three pages by 9 a.m. tomorrow—and you’ve only solved two problems.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Peter let out a groan, hugged the stack of papers, and retreated to keep working.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shiler spoke to the symbiote in his mind: “Alright, alright, I know you’re amazing—but why do you always repeat yourself so much?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The symbiote sent another stream of brainwaves Shiler couldn’t understand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shiler had noticed: his symbiote was unusual. Besides its incredible learning ability, its emotional state was absurdly stable—only two modes: happy and extremely happy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If there was alcohol? It exploded with joy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shiler didn’t consider himself an optimistic person. Weren’t symbiotes supposed to mirror their hosts? Why was his so cheerful?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And this symbiote, whether from watching too many movies with Pikachu or not, firmly believed Shiler’s world operated like a film—changing background music according to the scene.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So now Shiler had a 24-hour in-head BGM player.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When it rained, the symbiote looped blues. When it cleared, it switched to cheerful waltzes and light tunes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every person who appeared before Shiler triggered a different theme: Steve’s entrance played “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” Peter’s arrival came with Rexue  fighting game music or “The Pink Panther.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pikachu, always calling himself a detective, triggered the entire soundtrack of the Sherlock Holmes TV series whenever he showed up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This had one advantage: it helped Shiler quickly get into character during their psychological sessions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, Shiler had spent considerable effort explaining to the symbiote that reality wasn’t a movie—it didn’t need all these soundtracks. He also told the symbiote: no matter how loud it got, only Shiler could hear it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The symbiote’s reply was a muffled hum. Shiler had no idea if it understood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next morning, as Shiler cooked breakfast, Matt walked in—and suddenly, the old record player on the counter crackled with static, then blasted Queen’s song at maximum volume. Matt nearly fainted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shiler rushed out. Matt, Shiler, and Peter, sitting at the table, stared blankly at the record player that had just started playing on its own.\u003C\u002Fp>",1576,"2026-06-20T16:39:12.484Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","031d7cda81004648503171cca27e8834d754add8896ad948f97e60a2f41a7454","my-life-as-a-mental-mentor-in-marvel-chapter-37","my-life-as-a-mental-mentor-in-marvel-chapter-35",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fmy-life-as-a-mental-mentor-in-marvel-cover.jpg"]