Chapter 1052: Astonishing Mundane People (Twenty-Nine)

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Then Eddie saw Schiller put four fingers into four small umbrellas and started moving the origami toy continuously.

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

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

Venom recalled and replied, "Isn't it because S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Smoke alarm often malfunctions?"

Eddie stroked his chin and said, "Perhaps there's some reason to it..."

"But before, in the special education institution for children with autism, their teachers told me that when facing autistic children with poor Sensory Training effects, 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 that the idea is to make autistic children build a sense of security around a certain object, so that as long as they have this object, they can feel mentally relaxed and reduce the probability of losing control."

"And a series of experiments have shown that when these children hold familiar objects, their communication and emotional expression efficiency with teachers are improved."

"And as long as training and treatment are given to them while they hold familiar objects, the effect will be doubled. As they gradually step out of their autistic world, they can gradually overcome their dependence on objects and return to normal life."

As an excellent journalist, Eddie had a very strong memory. He furrowed his brows and recounted what the teacher had said to him:

"...What's really amazing is that these ignorant children, who seem to be in a different world from us, often make moves that knock on the door of this world, as if they are asking for help from us."

"Many children have found their own familiar objects, as if they've opened a door for us to connect with them."

"They reach out to us, and what we need to do is to hold their hands and lead them into a new, wonderful world."

Venom fell silent, seemingly his sensitive side inherited from other hosts began to play a role. He spoke, "Perhaps it's really like this? Maybe they do have a world that we don't know about, where they are normal people living their lives..."

"And one day, they encounter a door, so they curiously knock on it and meet 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, and the umbrella just resembles it a bit."

Eddie leaned closer, observing the origami toy and said, "I've never seen this folding method before. When I was young, my dad taught me to fold rabbits or frogs, but what we folded the most were paper airplanes. We would compete to see whose could fly farthest."

Eddie stared at Schiller's somewhat rhythmic movements and said, "The mobility of this origami toy is obviously much higher than frogs or rabbits, and the way it's played is also very unique, it looks very systematic."

"I remember, the teachers at the special school told me that repetitive and rhythmic movements are more favored by autistic children."

"The most common exercise the teachers led these children in was stepping and squatting, which means taking a step and then squatting, then taking another step and squatting again..."

"Some children not only managed to walk around the playground persistently, but even the distance of each step and the depth of each squat were exactly the same. They were naturally gifted..."

Eddie looked up at Schiller again and said, "...he's the same."

"So what do we do? Just watch him play with this?... Hey, I say, why don't you find a piece of paper too? This thing looks pretty fun," Venom said in Eddie's mind.

"Stop joking around, we need to think about how to help Dr. Schiller now. I heard he's a very good doctor..."

Schiller stood in place, constantly opening and closing things with his hands. Although he stood there motionless, what could be observed was that the trembling of his arms lessened, and his breathing frequency also slightly recovered.

As a journalist, Eddie had strong observational skills, being able to keenly sense changes in the emotions of the interviewee and then employ different strategies to elicit the answers he wanted.

Noticing Schiller's condition improving, Eddie didn't touch the toy in his hands. Instead, he reached out a hand to grasp Schiller's clothes and slowly led him forward, saying, "Yes, come here, Schiller, come here... walk this way..."

Schiller's attention was solely on the origami toy. He followed Eddie step by step and sat down on the sofa.

Then, Schiller played with the origami toy for three hours. Looking beyond his figure, Eddie was seen tidying up clothes with a laundry basket, Venom pushing a mop, Venom dragging Eddie's neck with slime, and Eddie dragging a large mass of slime.

After nightfall, the room became quieter. Schiller's movements slowed down a bit, and he began to frequently touch his eyes and inhale deeply.

After finishing the chores, Eddie sat down opposite the sofa and said, "Are you hungry? I ordered takeout..."

Just as he said that, the doorbell rang with a "ding-dong," and Eddie could clearly feel Schiller tremble.

He immediately reached out to reassure Schiller, then took slow steps to the door, moving sideways to get the takeout.

At that moment, Schiller began to dismantle the origami toy until they were restored to a piece of candy wrapper, which he then put into his pocket.

During the meal, Schiller seemed to suddenly return to normal. He looked at Eddie and asked, "Why didn't you move back to Manhattan? You should have enough money, right?"

While opening his own box of Chow Mein, Eddie said, "I resigned. I don't intend to be an editor anymore."

"Why?" Schiller asked.

"Indeed, being an editor is quite easy, the pay is high, and there are no performance requirements," Eddie shook his head, "But that's not what I want to do."

"When I was studying, I dreamed of becoming the best journalist in the world. But when I entered the workforce, I realized that being a journalist isn't about being a righteous warrior exposing evil. Without sensational stories, without achievements, you're nothing."

Eddie slurped his noodles and muttered, "On my journey to becoming a renowned journalist, I did a lot of heartless things."

"I acknowledge it. I did these things to make money. I acknowledge that I made a lot of dirty money. But later, facing the Life Foundation case, I realized that there are some things I can't do for money."

"I never thought that my impulsive decision would change my life. I encountered this black symbiote and many interesting people..."

Eddie's body suddenly shook, clearly Venom was trying to seize control.

"I got a more leisurely job, saved a lot of money, and even managed to make a down payment for a house in New York by supporting certain industries."

"But the Life Foundation case made me realize something..." Eddie wiped his mouth, took a sip of wine, and then said, "I don't know if you remember. At that time, the Life Foundation was experimenting on homeless people..."

"What puzzled me was, why didn't it become a big deal? With so many missing people, why did so few notice their disappearance?!"

Eddie shook his head, seemingly helpless. He said, "No newspaper paid attention because there was nothing to cover. Everyone knew what those neighborhoods were like. People from other neighborhoods would just feel unlucky seeing them..."

"At the time, I had no money and had to move here. But after living here for a while, I found the news here quite interesting."

"No high-flying superheroes, no grand dreams of science and technology development, just a bunch of ordinary folks like me."

Eddie took a sip of his ice-cold beer and said, "Because I still had a good amount of savings, I quit the editor job and started digging into the news in these poor communities."

Eddie chuckled bitterly, "I feel like unless I start my own TV station, no one will be interested in these stories. Let's just consider it my own amusement."

As he finished speaking, he noticed that Schiller had finished the remaining two bottles of beer. Eddie shrugged and said, "Well, doctor. Didn't expect you to be such a drinker. But I didn't order too much alcohol. Drinks at Chinese restaurants are too expensive, not worth it at all."

After saying that, Eddie started clearing the takeout boxes from the table. As he cleaned up, he continued talking about the situation here, saying, "Although I occasionally enjoyed Chinese food before, it was always at high-end restaurants. I hardly ever had fried rice or chow mein."

"But here, cheap food from Chinese restaurants is widely welcomed because only these restaurant owners dare to deliver to poor communities after nine o'clock, not afraid of the wandering hidden gentlemen who might go out of control at any moment, or the gangs who might rob them."

"Moreover, although their drinks are a bit expensive, the main dishes are generous in portion and taste good. Even if the food without cheese gets cold, it still tastes good. If pizza was at this temperature, it would be inedible."

Eddie took out toothpicks, cleaned his teeth, then skillfully stacked the takeout boxes and put them into a bag, tying a knot and placing it on the table by the door.

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

"You can stay as long as you want," Eddie said indifferently, "Anyway, you're much better than Thor. When Thor lived next door, Venom kept complaining about allergies every day. But since you came, Venom has been much quieter."

Just as he said that, Eddie heard knocks on his door. He immediately looked alert, walked to the door, reached into a corner of the shoe cabinet, grabbed a handgun, leaned against the door, and looked through the peephole.

Seeing the face in the peephole, he was taken aback, then he put away the handgun, opened the door, and looked at the blond man outside, saying, "Thor, what brings you here?"

Thor, wearing human clothes, wearing a watch, and even carrying several gift bags, looked a bit embarrassed as he rubbed his hands and said, "Um... Eddie, long time no see, it's just... Can I stay with you for a while?"

Before Eddie could say anything, Venom surged out of his body, a black head protruding from behind Eddie, grinning widely at Thor, "Get out, get out, get out! We don't welcome idiots here!"

However, Thor seemed to have anticipated this situation. He raised the gift bags in his hand and said, "Is that so? If I leave, then these special sweets from Asgard will have to be distributed to the goddesses."

The head of Venom slowly emerged again, staring at the bags and saying, "Does Asgard have special sweets? Don't you only have steaks and grilled fish?"

Thor snorted, "Narrow-minded! Too narrow-minded!"

"Asgard has a long history. How could we not have unique sweets?... Alright, don't give me that look. These are specialties from Norway, apple pie and syrup biscuits. I just flew to Norway to buy them. If you don't want them, I'll leave."

As Thor turned to leave, the black slime surged out and swallowed all the gift bags in one gulp. Both Thor and Eddie exclaimed in surprise, while Venom let out a satisfied burp, saying, "Tastes good... Come in."

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 1053: Startling the Mortal World (Thirty)