Chapter 4976

Peter nodded and said: "I trust Thor's character. But as long as the idea of his omnipotence exists in people's minds, they will question whether he can restrain himself. He must also realize this, and then be more cautious and self-restraining."

"This is actually one of Iron Man's purposes," Shiler said. "He wants to shake Thor's prestige, and he can only do it from this angle. He's shouting there like a madman: 'Thor is watching us, Thor will kill us, Thor will persecute each of us with his omnipotent ability.' At that time, not many might have believed him, but once Thor makes a mistake, people will take Iron Man's words as gospel, thinking he isn't crazy, just saw the truth earlier."

"By then, he can step back onto the stage again." Peter crossed his arms and sighed, "He might even become the leader of the resistance."

"That's exactly what he's planning," Shiler said. "First pretend to be crazy and foolish, evade judgment, manipulate public opinion, pressure Thor, patiently wait for Thor to make a mistake, then in one fell swoop reverse right and wrong, transform himself into a human hero who resists the evil god."

"Good heavens," Peter said, "Then what do we do? I can't think of any solution. Thor probably can't avoid making a mistake, can he?"

"The first step is to get Iron Man to successfully retire," Shiler said, looking at Peter. "That's why I deliberately went along with him."

"Why is that? Can't we just expose him to his face?"

"Then he would be immediately thrown into Jotunheim, and Jotunheim still has Reed. The two of them together, it's hard to say whether Thor can suppress them."

"Oh, and there's this too," Peter slapped his forehead, feeling Shiler made sense. If we expose him now, Iron Man will be immediately judged; if not the death penalty, then probably sent to Jotunheim. These two together, how can the universe survive?

"You're right, Professor," Peter nodded vigorously, "We can't expose him. Otherwise, with Thor and Carter's tempers, people would already be in Jotmheim…… oh, no, not that slow, it's very likely they've already punched a hole into the antimatter universe."

"Moreover, now that you've stopped him, he'll think of other ways," Shiler shook his head said, "Hidden dangers always exist; there's no guarding against thieves for a thousand days."

Peter thought for a moment, then said: "I think we should prepare early. Perhaps we can contact Pepper; she knows Tony best and should be able to help."

Shiler shook his head and said: "Pepper chose to leave and entered a flash marriage precisely because she anticipated this day. She doesn't want anyone to think she might rekindle old feelings with Tony Stark, or that Tony still has a chance with her, just to avoid someone coming to her in this situation."

"She's not having it easy either," Peter let out a long sigh, "I heard her husband was previously injured. I don't want to make malicious guesses, but I really am a bit worried, possibly……"

"Tony wouldn't be that stupid," Shiler said, "Any move he makes will definitely be discovered by Pepper, so there's no need to take this risk."

"That's true," Peter nodded.

Just as he was about to continue speaking, a knocking sound came from outside the door. Peter walked over to open it, then let out a startled cry. Shiler also jumped and hurried over.

Outside stood a bat.

Not an exaggerated description, but a real bat. And not the kind like Batman's, but the kind that hangs upside down in caves with pointed ears, enlarged dozens of times and standing on the ground.

After going through so much, few things can startle Peter Parker, but this bat in front of him definitely counts. Because bats, especially wild bats, are among the mammals one should least examine closely. Good-looking bats are rare, and those that remain good-looking even when enlarged dozens of times simply don't exist.

Shiler recognized it—this is actually a man-bat. He himself is unfortunate; originally a zoologist, after injecting serum he became a half-human, half-bat monster. But this guy can't be considered a supervillain at most, at best an anti-hero, and later he even joined the Dark Justice League.

His experience is actually somewhat similar to Dr. Connors'. The drug they developed was originally intended to treat bodily defects, but both turned into animal-like monsters. No wonder Natasha asked him if he's afraid of bats. Shiler isn't afraid, but Peter obviously suffered some impact.

Shiler stepped forward and shook hands with the man-bat: "Hello, Dr. Langstrom. Agent Romanoff has already informed us, thank you for coming to keep watch for us."

Langstrom seemed stunned, he opened his mouth, then said: "What do you call me?"

"Dr. Langstrom, I've heard your name in other universes. Don't you like the title 'Doctor'?" Shiler appeared very understanding, because indeed some doctors don't like their own doctor title, or someone who became a professor prefers the professor title.

"Nothing, I'm just……" Langstrom tightly pressed his lips, that bat face actually showing some grievance, "It's been a long time since anyone called me that."

Shiler didn't dwell on this topic, but said: "Now the sky is still early, come in for a drink?"

"You're letting me in?" Langstrom said, "But I might……"

At this moment, Peter also recovered, he directly said: "Sorry, I used to be Spider-Man, I'm a bit afraid of bats, just that physiological fear as a spider. Ah, not saying natural world things, it's that we have a group of opponents called the Maggia, they just……"

"Of course, I know," Langstrom said, "I'm a zoologist. Bats that prey on spiders are few, because most bats rely on echolocation, they're more interested in constantly moving flying insects, while silent spiders are hard for them to notice. On the contrary, examples of large spiders preying on bats are more common……"

Although Langstrom's appearance is somewhat frightening, his speech is quite scholarly, just that very common way scholars speak. Peter's eyes lit up, because he used to be Spider-Man, he is indeed very interested in zoology.

"To be honest, I've considered getting a doctorate in zoology, I'm particularly interested in the research direction of arthropods……"

When talking about academics, that's nothing to fear. Peter actively invited Langstrom into the house, he sat down on another chair, Peter also actively went to get a few cans of beer, they discussed the habits of arthropods.

Shiler just silently listened from the side, he thought Langstrom's academic level was quite good. After all, not everyone can stab themselves with one needle to become half a bat. This serum might indeed have certain flaws, but then again, just like lizard serum, it has great development potential.

Turning into a bat in appearance is indeed hard to accept, but what if one had bat abilities? For example, echolocation, for example, flight, even using it as night vision potion would work too.

The potion the Lizard Doctor concocted back then, that was, aside from side effects, all advantages. Even if it had the side effect of easy scale growth from overuse, that wouldn't hinder annual consumption of tons and tons. Now it's basically become essential equipment for all global security units and armies, this truly is a life-saving needle at critical moments, more reliable than painkillers.

Shiler thought this way, and then wondered why his own universe had no man-bat, after all this universe is also very early, Langstrom Doctor has already become like this, why doesn't his own universe, which is very similar to this one, have it?

During their conversation's interlude, Shiler timely asked: "Sorry, Doctor, may I ask, what is your current condition……"

The previous exchange already let Langstrom confirm they harbor no ill will, so he merely sighed lightly and said: "Consider it an experimental accident. My hearing has always had problems, so I wanted to develop a drug to benefit the hearing impaired, thus I extracted bat genes. The first half of the research went very smoothly, but during experimental ethics, something went wrong, not allowing mammal experiments."

"I believed in my own abilities, and unwilling to give up, so I injected myself with this drug. The result is, my hearing has indeed recovered, or rather I can now use bat echolocation to perceive sound, but I've also become like this today."

Langstrom self-mockingly chuckled: "Anyway, I was already discriminated against before, not much more difference."

Peter felt a mix of emotions inside. If Langstrom didn't say that last sentence, he might still think this doctor is really a bit conceited. Some ethical reviews are necessary, especially for experiments involving animals. If a scientist completely disregards any animal welfare and recklessly conducts experiments, then the danger and probability of problems in the experiment will greatly increase, Langstrom is just an example.

But Peter also wants to believe that Dr. Langstrom might also have suffered great real-world pressure. Deaf-mute people wanting to achieve such accomplishments is extremely difficult, possibly when wanting to go further, he was too eager to shed his disabled identity, thus leading to this tragedy.

The Amazing Spider-Man naturally also knows the Lizard Doctor, knows about his war trauma and lost arm, Peter also deeply regrets it. But the fact is just this: mad scientists are indeed too dangerous, side ethical reviews can stop them from stabbing others, but cannot stop them from stabbing themselves. Thinking of how many supervillains and superheroes are stabbed into existence, Peter gets a headache.

"I know you might think I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but I really can't bear the days of hearing nothing at all and being unable to communicate with anyone."

"Especially, after the New Earth Alliance was established, they built several labs, many important projects were distributed downward, but I couldn't get a single one. They worried I couldn't produce results in limited time, and some suspected I was assigned to the lab just to improve disabled welfare."

"I completely cannot accept being treated this way. As long as I can regain hearing, any way is fine. So even now being like this, I've accepted it, at least I've joined the Revival Alliance."

Shiler understood, the appearance of the man-bat might have been advanced. Because in the lab they missed too many opportunities, Langstrom Doctor had to accelerate his research, the experimental error still unfortunately came.

"Actually, whether appearance is ugly also depends on comparison," Shiler suddenly said, "My friend, because of atavistic genes turned into a crocodile, previously lived year-round in sewers, but now he opened a moving and renovation company, become very successful. Even, his brand uses his self-portrait, everyone affectionately calls him Crocodile Boss……"

Shiler doesn't know if this universe has Killer Croc, but looking at it, it seems not. After all, the timeline is a bit too early, besides that earliest batch of debuting villains, they probably haven't come yet.

Langstrom startled: "Don't others fear him? Don't they think he's ugly?"

"Appearance is the easiest to notice, and also the easiest to ignore," Peter suddenly said, "When first meeting, people will very easily notice the appearance of the beautiful, but when you do good deeds, people most easily ignore the appearance of the ugly. Every reader knows Quasimodo is not good-looking, yet it doesn't affect the Hunchback of Notre Dame's popularity, because people know he has a heart of gold, right?"

"Not hiding it from you," Shiler continued, "My universe's Langstrom Doctor, very likely still troubled by deafness, didn't inject serum. If we could research a serum with less such side effects, wouldn't we be able to save you in another time and space?"

Langstrom's eyes gradually brightened.

?? All eyes look toward me, say something: The author accepts reasonable opinions and suggestions on book content, and has never issued any rebuttal to fair commentary. But, this is not a reason for some people to push their luck, any malicious slander and personal attacks cannot be accepted, the author has the right to defend their reputation, for such remarks, the author reserves the right to pursue legal liability for infringement of reputation rights.