Sowing Discord Expert

In Stark's lab, a mech takes a steaming hot pizza out of the oven and places it in front of Peter. Stark snaps his the Snap and says, "My latest invention! I've finally figured out a program that lets the mech heat up my pizza. It uses the same intelligent computing circuit as the oven, and the oven sends it temperature data in real time..."

Peter opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and said, "Why use a mech worth hundreds of millions of dollars instead of buying an oven Gauntlet that costs a few dollars?"

Stark waved his hand and said, "You don't understand. The data on that oven is too complicated. How am I supposed to know what temperature and how long to bake it without burning it? It's a complete mystery. I hate all this mystical stuff. It's much more convenient to use mechs and intelligent programs."

Peter glanced at the pizza and figured it was probably fine, still edible. He reached for it, but burned himself. He yelled, "Ouch!" and said, "But I still need Gauntlet! It's so hot!"

"Then you can wait until it cools down before you eat it. We can chat for a bit first."

Peter said, "Okay, that's perfect, I haven't done my homework yet."

As he spoke, he pulled a stack of books out of his bag. Stark glanced at them and said, "What's there to write about in this stuff? It's a complete insult to your intelligence."

"No, I'm a good student. I've never been late handing in my homework since I was a child."

"Fine, write it if you want." Stark craned his neck across the table to watch Peter do his homework. He seemed to want to say something, but hesitated.

Peter focused on writing for a while, then looked up and found Stark staring at him. They stared at each other, Peter Stark, "What's wrong Mr. Stark? Is there something wrong with what I wrote?"

"Uh... there's nothing wrong with it. I mean, it would be nice if your handwriting were a little nicer. Why don't you try practicing calligraphy or something? You know, that fancy handwriting with lots of circles..."

"That won't do. We're not allowed to write in cursive script on our exams, at least not in this state. Mr. Stark, do you know cursive script?"

"Of course I will."

"What was written while wearing a mecha doesn't count..."

Stark pursed his lips and said, "Actually, I have a question I'd like to ask you..."

"What question? I'd be happy to answer."

"I... never mind, the pizza's getting cold, you eat it first."

Peter picked up the pizza with some doubt and put it in his mouth. It was made by the Italy chef yesterday and frozen. It only needed to be heated up the next day and it tasted pretty good.

Peter was a little hungry and wolfed down a whole slice of pizza. Stark sat across from him, propping his head up with his elbows on the table. Peter ate as he asked, "Aren't you going to eat? It's pretty good."

"No, I'm not hungry."

But Peter ate with great relish. He would take a big bite and chew it thoroughly, stuffing his cheeks until they were bulging like a hamster's. Stark watched this and got a little hungry too, so he made himself a pizza.

As he ate, he asked, "What If...?, and I mean What If...?, you wanted to help someone, what would you do?"

"Help someone? Then help. What difficulties are you facing? If you are facing difficulties, then solve those difficulties, and then help again."

"But... it's just... there are some concerns..."

"What are your concerns?" Peter looked up at Stark with a puzzled expression Peter said, "If you want to help, of course you will. If you have concerns, it probably means you don't want to help."

Stark stopped chewing. Peter clearly hit the nail on the head. He said, "It's not that I don't want to help, I want to help him because he... well, it's a good thing, he wants to do a good thing, but if he does it himself, it might take a very, very long time..."

"Since it's a good thing, let's help him. What's wrong with that? Is it wrong to do a good deed?"

"But that would make me a little... well... a little embarrassed, you know..." Stark said, waving his hand. "I'm Stark! I can't exactly walk up to him and say, 'Hey, the great Stark is here to help you out, are you in?'"

"You'll get killed," Peter said, taking another bite of his pizza and asking somewhat vaguely, "So if you said that, would he be willing?"

"That's why I'm a little conflicted. It's precisely because he's afraid he won't do it that I'm hesitant."

"He doesn't want your help, but you insist on helping, is that what you mean?"

"I don't necessarily have to help!" Stark raised his voice. "There's no one or nothing in this world that Stark absolutely have to help!"

"Then don't help. Others don't need your help, and you don't necessarily want to help either. Just do your own thing."

Stark covered his forehead and said, "No! I mean... I wanted to help him, I just wanted to... but it wasn't necessary... never mind, I knew it was useless. Schiller actually sent me to ask you, you idiot. That damned vampire Doctor, he wanted to charge me millions of dollars with just two sentences. I should have seen through his true colors long ago..."

"Doctor Schiller you to ask me? Why? Is this question difficult? Help if you want to, don't help if you don't want to. If someone asks you to help, help them; if they don't, don't help them."

"Forget it, you're just a kid, you don't understand the rules for adults..."

"Oh, I see. You actually want him to beg you to help him, right?"

"Nonsense, I didn't think that!"

Peter said while chewing on his pizza, "You want to help him, but you're not willing to lower yourself. Ideally, he would come to you for help, so you can do a good deed without losing face?"

Stark buried his head in his pizza and didn't answer.

Peter said, "I do good deeds simply because I want to do good deeds, not for the sake of face. Actually, I don't like some reporters always following me around. They think they are reporting on a good person's good deeds, but I'm only worried that the aftermath of the battle will affect them. It's not impossible."

"Anyway, in my opinion, there's nothing shameful about doing good deeds and helping others. Just walk up to them and say, 'I want to help you,' and there's nothing to be ashamed of. Even if you can't help in the end, at least you meant well."

Peter paused for a moment, then continued, "Some people may not really need your help. As long as you tell them that you stand with them and that they are not fighting alone, that's enough."

"I'm not alone..." Stark said softly.

Peter said, "Yes, that's really important, sometimes like what you do to me."

"When I want to find someone, I can always find them, which gives me a lot of confidence in everything I do, and it feels really great."

"Like before, when the teacher asked me for my parents' phone number, I couldn't give them my uncle's and aunt's phone numbers, but I could think of several names as soon as I thought about it, and I knew that these people would definitely come."

"Then why did you choose me? Why didn't you choose them?"

"I don't know. The first thing that came to my mind was Stark Tower's phone number, probably because it's easy to remember."

"It's more like it's because I'm the best to you, kid! Those guys would never let you eat this much pizza. They'd just tell you how high the calories in the cheese are, and that eating a whole slice is equivalent to running several kilometers!"

Peter suddenly stopped swallowing and said, "Oh no! I just made a fitness plan yesterday, and I've eaten so much. I'm going to get as fat as Pikachu!"

He wailed, "My period of strength growth is over. I must control my diet, otherwise even the toughest Silk won't be able to pull my body!"

Stark swallowed the last piece of pizza and said, "Let's go. You know what activity burns the most calories? Saving the world, especially saving the world with Stark."

In the psychiatric clinic, Schiller was talking to Nick on the phone. He said, "... I know nothing about this. How would I know what stage their serum development is at?"

"Last time, I tried to get into Connors and Peter's lab, but I violated more than 200 lab rules in less than three minutes after I entered. They kicked me out without me even seeing what the test tubes looked like..."

"... Indeed, I studied medicine, and psychology requires studying neuroscience, but that was all in college. Who remembers that? We just learned theoretical knowledge from textbooks; we didn't need to go into the lab at all..."

"You can't expect a Doctor to crack open your skull or prescribe some psychedelic drugs..."

"... I don't know about that, but from Dr. Connors's tone lately... you know, he and Stark don't get along. With Stark's mouth, who can stand him?"

"Connors said just a couple of days ago that when it comes to biotechnology, Osborn Group is definitely stronger. Of course, he said that behind Stark's back, so it's normal that he didn't know."

"I think it's about the same. If I were Connors, I would also choose the Osborn Group. The Osborn Group and the Stark Industries don't get along. If he helps the Osborn Group develop the healing serum, Stark will definitely be furious."

"... Cooperation between the military and the Osborn Group? I wouldn't know that. You guys should have much more intelligence on the military than I do, right?"

"Even if Dr. Connors and the Osborn Group cooperate, their results may not necessarily fall into the hands of the military. I think you are worrying too much. Besides, a small healing serum is unlikely to be enough to turn the tide for the military, is it?"

"Prevention is better than cure?" Schiller switched the phone to the other ear and said casually, "I think you're worrying unnecessarily, but this has nothing to do with me anyway. Even if the military's strength is increased, I'm not the one who'll suffer..."

"Deducting wages? That's going too far! I only receive my basic salary..."

"Those profits? Fine, fine, you miser. If you ask me, if the Osborn Group gets its hands on that serum, it'll be evenly matched with the military. No longer worried about being infiltrated and controlled by the military, the Osborn Group will definitely use the cure serum as Chip to engage in deeper and more comprehensive cooperation with the military..."

"I don't understand those biotech technologies very well, but they should be quite useful. With the military's strength reinforced, if they turn around and bite back at the final negotiation table, S.H.I.E.L.D.. will be in for a few days..."

"... Me, persuade Connors? How am I supposed to persuade him? Why don't you try persuading Stark? If he extends an invitation to Connors first, maybe Connors will agree? Compared to Osborn, Stark is more inclined towards S.H.I.E.L.D.. If S.H.I.E.L.D.. has both Stark and the healing serum, the military will definitely be utterly defeated."

"But this is indeed a problem. You know, those Tartarus lunatics are capable of anything. They can even create such a huge monster. What if they kidnap Dr. Connors? How much Chip would a genius scientist who can develop a healing serum give them at the negotiating table?"

Suddenly, a commotion erupted on Nick's phone, followed by Schiller hearing Nick roar, "What are you doing with people??? How come Dr. Connors is still missing???"

"Damn it! Don't think I don't know it was those Tartarus people who did this! Go tell them not to think S.H.I.E.L.D.. is completely unaware of their damn plans! We have plenty of evidence! If they dare to do anything, I'll report it to the Security Council immediately!!!"

Sorry for the lateness, here's a 10,000-word article for today, please vote!