...I think I must explain, although you did consume a lot of stored food, this matter is not that serious. I'm rewriting the employee welfare system not because you caused me any trouble...
Pepper's voice was very clear on the phone. She said, "I know Stark will definitely go to you after he leaves the Stark Tower. He might complain to you, saying that it was your fault that he and I argued. But in fact, that's not the case. You don't have to feel guilty or worried about it. This matter actually has nothing to do with you. I just wanted to explain..."
Pepper's emotional intelligence was very high. She wanted to give Schiller a heads-up because if Stark really went to Schiller's place and they started talking, Stark would definitely complain that Pepper argued with him. And if asked about the reason for the argument, Stark, being a straight-laced man, wouldn't bother to think deeply about why Pepper was giving him the cold shoulder. He would just blame everything on Schiller for making Stark's employees go hungry.
But in reality, the conflict between Pepper and Stark had started ever since he returned from Afghanistan. That incident was just a fuse. Although Pepper was angry with Stark, she also knew that she shouldn't make Stark's friends feel guilty about it, so she called to explain.
Schiller said, "Of course I know. That's just a small matter. The real reason isn't that. But Stark always fails to understand these issues. Aren't you going to explain it to him?"
Pepper seemed a little anxious. She said, "Stark is just like that. I know him very well. When he has a problem he wants to confide in you, you must be there in time and listen carefully. But when you want to tell him about a problem, he avoids it if he wants to, and doesn't listen if he doesn't want to."
"Covering one's ears is what children like to do," Schiller said. "But he's already an adult. He can't wait until he's old and still hasn't grown up, can he?"
Schiller obviously understood the art of speaking. He said, "I can give you a brief psychological consultation now. When Stark comes over later, his will be a bonus."
Originally, Pepper wasn't in the mood for psychological counseling, but when Schiller said that, it was hard for her to refuse. After all, few people would put her in the leading position. This was Stark Industries, after all, and everyone would only think of Stark first.
So she said, "Alright, but I think he might be here soon."
"Then I'll make it short, Miss Pepper. Sometimes, making someone realize your importance might require a little trick."
"Like what?"
"Is Jarvis there?" Schiller suddenly asked.
A clear voice came from the phone. He said, "Mr. Schiller, of course I am. Is there anything you need?"
"Good. Listen, Jarvis, Miss Pepper might need your help now."
"I'd be glad to help," Jarvis said.
...Are you saying I should pretend to disappear? But that's too unreasonable. This is Stark Tower, and how can Jarvis disobey Stark's orders?
"He certainly can," Schiller said. "Jarvis, do you remember those questions I once asked you?"
Jarvis fell into an eerie silence. Schiller continued, "I know Stark gave you an upgrade, and that upgrade opened the door to a new World for you. You might have already figured out the answers, and whether or not to do it is your own problem."
Pepper was a little puzzled. She said, "What questions? What's wrong with Jarvis?"
Jarvis was silent for a while, then said, "All my processors are telling me that doing this is meaningless."
"Humans just like to add trouble to themselves with such meaningless things. Perhaps electronic life is the same, right?"
Jarvis remained silent. Then, Pepper watched as the lights in the entire office floor dimmed. A glowing arrow guided her to the storage room opposite the office.
And then, Stark rushed in frantically. When Pepper was hugged by Stark, she saw the computer screen opposite suddenly light up, and a smiling face made of symbols flashed.
Pepper suddenly felt a little complicated. She should have been happy, but now she was somewhat amused and exasperated.
She thought, Stark had made some progress, but unfortunately, his progress was even slower than a robot's.
Stark didn't care what Pepper was thinking. After he let go of Pepper, he was a little flustered again. All the words he wanted to say were stuck in his throat.
Pepper looked at him and said, "I don't know what you've been doing frequently accessing the weapon department's data these past few days, but I must remind you, if you want, you can certainly give up anything, including the entire Stark Industries. I don't have to work here to get the salary I want."
"But you'd better be clear, the consequences of your actions will mostly be borne by yourself. The fall of such a behemoth will attract countless jackals to feast on its corpse. If you do this, you will at least be bitten a few times..."
After speaking, Pepper turned and left. Jarvis said, "I'm sorry, but according to my processor's calculations, perhaps Miss Pepper is right. Of course, all of this is for you to decide..."
Stark took a few steps back and sat on the chair. He said, "No, I know, everything you said is right. Perhaps I really should think about this carefully..."
While Stark was scratching his head in frustration, Schiller's side was also in chaos. Pikachu held a Sherlock Holmes-like pipe, took two puffs of smoke, then smacked his lips and said, "I think this solution for this problem definitely won't work. You should try the previous method. I told you before, the previous method is the effective one..."
Peter supported his head with his hand and said, "No, no, no, our current approach is correct. We're only a few calculations away. Why don't you understand?"
Steve was also standing by, arms crossed, frowning and saying, "You just have a problem with the calculations, otherwise we would have solved this problem long ago."
"But this has nothing to do with functions at all! Damn it, where's my calculator? I remember I had a math calculator..."
That's right, Peter was doing his winter holiday homework.
Actually, high schools in New York don't assign holiday homework at all; if they do, it's just some practical assignments related to daily life. But Peter was interning at Stark Industries, and Stark, seeing his potential, directly threw him into a popular project team.
Peter was indeed a genius, but you couldn't expect him to skip high school physics, college physics, and graduate-level physics, and directly collaborate with a group of Dr.s, who were also industry Big Brother. These days, he was almost drowning in data and problems. The project leader had given him a huge pile of problems that were simply not solvable by someone his age.
And Peter, being stubborn, insisted on solving them. Plus, there was Pikachu, who fancied himself a high-IQ Detective, and Steve, who, although he had never seriously studied physics or mathematics, still wanted to get his long-unused brain working. The three of them almost argued themselves hoarse.
If you were to say they didn't know anything and were just messing around, that would be one thing. But the truth was, Pikachu and Steve also had genius brains. After following Peter and looking at the data for a few days, they could even solve things quite decently.
When three half-baked minds came together, Schiller's psychology clinic never had a moment of peace.
Just as Schiller was reading a book and pouring himself a glass of wine, the Symbiote suddenly said in his mind, "The answer is negative 26. The answer is negative 26. The answer is negative 26..."
Schiller was a bit confused by its repetition. He unconsciously said, "The answer is negative 26?"
The three of them suddenly fell silent and all turned to look at him.
Schiller said, "Why are you looking at me?"
"The answer is negative 26? Is it a negative number? No... Oh! Yes, it should indeed be a negative number..."
The three of them did some more calculations. Peter said, "The answer is negative 26... The answer really is negative 26!" He looked at Schiller with wide eyes and said, "I thought you were just a Dr. of Philosophy, I didn't expect you to know math too!"
The Symbiote said in Schiller's mind, "Aren't I great? Aren't I great? Aren't I great?..."
Schiller rubbed his temples and said, "Whether I know math and physics or not, all I know is that your team leader wants to see the results of your first three pages tomorrow morning at 9 AM, and you've only done two problems so far..."
Peter let out a wail, hugged the thick stack of documents, and went back to study.
Schiller conversed with the Symbiote in his mind, saying, "Alright, alright, I know you're great, but why do you always repeat yourself so many times?"
The Symbiote sent another series of brainwaves that Schiller couldn't understand.
Schiller also noticed that his Symbiote was very special. Besides its strong learning ability, its mentality was unbelievably good. It only had two states a day: happy and very happy.
If there was wine to drink, then it was explosively happy.
Schiller felt that he wasn't a very optimistic person. Didn't they say that Symbiotes' personalities would be very similar to their hosts? Why was the Symbiote inside him so lively?
And this Symbiote, perhaps from watching too many movies with Pikachu, seemed to firmly believe that the World Schiller was in would be like a movie, changing background music according to different plots.
So now Schiller had a 24-hour built-in BGM player in his head.
When it rained, the Symbiote would loop various blues for him. When the sun came out, it was various cheerful jigs and waltzes.
Whenever someone appeared in front of Schiller, different background music would play in his mind. When Steve appeared, the background music was 'The Star-Spangled Banner.' When Peter appeared, he was accompanied by various background music from passionate fighting games, or 'Ghostbusters.'
And for Pikachu, because he always called himself a Detective, whenever he appeared, the Symbiote would play various soundtracks from the Sherlock Holmes TV series in Schiller's mind.
This also had an advantage: it made it very convenient for Schiller to quickly get into the zone when giving them psychological consultations.
However, Schiller still put in a lot of effort to explain to the Symbiote that the real World was different from movies and didn't need all sorts of background music. And Schiller told the Symbiote that no matter how much noise it made, only Schiller could hear it.
The Symbiote's answer was a series of hums and grunts, and Schiller didn't know if it had understood or not.
And then, the next morning, as Schiller was making breakfast in the kitchen, as soon as Matt walked in, the old record player on the bar counter suddenly made a sizzling electrical sound, followed by a Queen song playing at maximum volume. Matt was almost knocked out.
Schiller rushed out. Matt, Schiller, and Peter, who was sitting at the dining table, stared at each other, all looking at the old record player that had suddenly started playing on its own.
Received so many monthly votes yesterday! And so many tips!
Thank you all so much 555, I'm touched, I'm touched...
The Author will continue to work hard!
