Chapter 86: Mud and Rotten People (1)
"I'm a doctor, not God."
Dr. Strange stood with his hands on his hips at the entrance of the operating room.
"And I'm a psychiatrist. I can't cure all diseases. You can't just send every patient to me for treatment!"
"So, how is Dr. Connors doing?"
"I don't know. You have to ask those examination instruments. I can't fully understand the data either."
Then Strange saw Schiller, Stark, and Peter looking at him with a look that made him feel like a failure, and he exploded, saying loudly, "What do you take doctors for? A wish machine? You send any patient with any disease to me and expect me to cure them instantly. And if I can't, do you still want to belittle my professional skills?"
Schiller said, "Okay, even if you can't cure him, can you at least introduce us to someone who can?"
Strange rolled his eyes and said, "From his current state, you might as well pray to God."
"I hope you can save him. I can pay a lot of money for this," Stark said.
"All you ever mention is money, money. I know you're a rich person, but not everything in this world can be solved with money. You bring a half-dead body here, what can I do?" Strange replied.
"Listen, you better do this quickly..."
Stark stepped forward, pointing his finger at Strange's shoulder. His tone was aggressive, and Strange was very unhappy. He pushed Stark away, saying, "Huh, do you think everyone is a lackey of you rich people?"
As he said this, he glanced at Schiller. Schiller hadn't done anything yet, but Stark erupted first. He punched Strange in the face, and Peter hurriedly rushed up to stop him.
"Hey, calm down, Mr. Stark! Calm down!"
Strange doubled over from the punch. He rubbed his nose and saw a little blood on his hand. He muttered a curse under his breath. Schiller grabbed his shoulder, and then dragged him away.
Strange didn't want to leave, but Schiller's strength was too strong. He was dragged out of the corridor by Schiller. Just as they turned the corner, Strange shouted loudly, "What are you doing? Do you think I can't beat that damn arms dealer?!"
"Don't you realize that his emotions are a bit abnormal? Do you plan to fight with a lunatic here?"
Strange sat down on a chair next to the hospital corridor, holding his breath, and said, "I really don't understand why you guys want to bother an ordinary person like me. Either you have money or you know those strange little tricks. Why do you have to appear in my life?"
Schiller opened his mouth, but still didn't say what he wanted to say. He couldn't tell Strange that someone was staring intently at his arm right now.
On the other side, Peter was trying to calm down Stark. He felt that Stark was a bit too irritable. He wasn't like this before.
Although Stark was occasionally very affected and sarcastic, his temper was still okay. He wouldn't explode at the slightest provocation, and most of the time he could communicate calmly. But now, Stark seemed very irritable for some reason.
All sorts of extreme emotions piled up in his mind, and this strong feeling caught the attention of a homeless alien.
Venom symbiote - a special symbiote child who was one of the first to break away from its mother.
[ShaneFreak: Something new... Spider-Tony-Stark-Man or Venom + Ironman = Venoman...]
As is well known, this race is attracted by all sorts of intense human emotions. Originally, Venom was attached to an ordinary journalist who had just divorced, but when this journalist interviewed Stark, Venom found that the emotions and the fascinating scent emanating from him were irresistible.
So, this audacious symbiote took advantage of the opportunity when the journalist shoved the microphone in Stark's face, and instantly broke away from the original host's body and ran onto Stark's body.
At first, Stark didn't notice anything wrong. Venom was an experienced symbiote who, when first parasitizing on a host, would remain dormant for a period of time to avoid causing too much resistance from the host.
But soon, Stark began to feel that something was off. He wasn't an ordinary person; he had a brain cursed with knowledge. He keenly sensed that his intense negative emotions were being guided out, which drove him even crazier as he started to rely on alcohol to numb himself and ensure that those emotions wouldn't explode and hurt others.
J.A.R.V.I.S also subtly reminded his master with some data that his psychological state and personality were beginning to shake, which meant that Stark was definitely in some kind of induced state.
This state didn't last long.
At that time, Lizard Man broke into Stark Tower, and J.A.R.V.I.S had to use emergency wake-up measures to wake up a drunken Stark. However, in reality, Stark wasn't awakened by J.A.R.V.I.S, but by the Venom symbiote screaming in agony due to the massive sound waves.
It was then that Stark discovered that the controlled feeling he had actually came from a mysterious extraterrestrial creature parasitizing on him.
The sound waves played by J.A.R.V.I.S made Venom running rampant inside Stark's body discover the true face of this extraterrestrial creature - a lump of black sludge.
Then he found out that this extraterrestrial creature had intelligence no less than that of a human. It could not only communicate with him, but also claimed to have all of his personality and memories.
Indeed, that's what Venom said to every host. This could greatly reduce their vigilance, as he would repeatedly emphasize the fact that they were symbiotic and shared the same heart.
In fact, in a sense, what he said was true. Although this race didn't look very attractive, appearing sticky and gooey, in the comics, they were not an evil race. They were produced as a blank slate from birth.
They were more like a "lazy race" and couldn't forcefully devour and erase the host's personality. Instead, they took a gentler approach to parasitizing on them, and the host and symbiote were more like partners than a relationship of control and being controlled.
Scattered throughout the universe, the symbiote army has also parasitized many races, granting these extraterrestrial beings enhanced physical strength. However, they mostly choose highly intelligent species as hosts.
This is because they require hosts with independent personalities to provide them with emotional energy, which is the foundation of their survival. Unlike some evil parasitic races that turn intelligent beings into mindless zombies, symbiotes cannot do this. If their hosts cannot think, then they will go hungry.
Venom also understands this. If he cannot gain the trust of his host, he will end up wandering with an empty stomach every day.
To him, Stark is a perfect meal ticket. In his current low point, Stark's emotions fluctuate greatly every day, providing Venom with ample energy.
But soon, Venom realizes that he has underestimated the complexity of finding a meal ticket.