amaotonovel Chapter 3907 The Nameless Bat (77)
Chapter 3907 The Nameless Bat (77)
Chapter 3907 The Nameless Bat (Seventy-Seven)
“I’m afraid some people have come to the opposite conclusion,” Peter said. “You think Scott was ready to give up on you, but he couldn’t accept his decision, so he took it out on Wolverine. But I think he was never ready to give up on you. He just didn’t love you as much as before and realized he didn’t love you enough, but he didn’t know how to fill the void. He attacked Logan just to buy himself more space to keep you.”
Jean stared blankly at Peter, seemingly completely taken aback by his words. Her shoulders began to tremble slightly. Peter placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Don't be nervous. Actually, this is good news for you. Because if Scott's diminished affection for you might be partly due to the machinations of someone behind the scenes, and he himself is unwilling to give up and is still struggling, then there is still a possibility between you two."
Qin swallowed hard and said, "You mean, someone is influencing and manipulating him, gradually weakening his feelings for me. But he doesn't want that, so he's trying his best to salvage the situation. And to prevent Logan from taking advantage of this, he's been constantly targeting him?"
"Yes, like a wounded wild beast, in order to prevent competitors from taking advantage of it, it will still bare its teeth and claws to show its strength."
"But I don't understand, is one person's love for another so easily influenced? If someone says a few words and Scott loves me less, does that mean he doesn't love me enough himself?"
“I don’t think so. Because you said before that your pursuit of security is almost pathological, but he is still trying his best to give it to you, and you are aware of this problem and are trying your best to adjust, which is not something everyone can do. Many couples can’t get over this hurdle, which proves that your relationship is not so superficial.”
"Then why did he waver?"
“This proves that those who swayed him were not simply making empty promises,” Peter said. “Even the most capable person cannot guard against someone who is deliberately plotting against them, which is why there are so many scammers and victims. You must have heard similar stories, right? Top university graduates being swindled out of all their savings, Fortune 500 executives falling victim to illiterate people, and powerful political figures being brought down by ridiculous little schemes. When someone is deliberately plotting against you, no one can say for sure that they can withstand it.”
“And,” Peter paused deliberately to draw Jean’s attention, then continued, “we suspect that thing might be an electronic life form. Electronic life forms, you know? Like Ultron. We fought them to the bitter end back then…”
Qin immediately tensed up, clenching her fists as she said, "Now that you mention it, I do remember. Just a few days before the incident, we went to a restaurant we liked. He was playing on his phone the whole time before the food was served. I tried to start a conversation several times, but he ignored me. He wasn't like this before."
"Playing on a phone? How exactly do you play?"
“He was just pressing keys on the keyboard,” Qin said hesitantly. “He might be typing, but he never typed this fast before. I thought he was playing a game like Pac-Man, but he wasn’t pressing the same keys repeatedly, so it didn’t seem like he was playing a game.”
Peter was now certain that Cyclops's chat partner was definitely suspicious. Phoenix and Iceman physically saw him typing, but no information about him could be found online—the problem stemmed from the fact that everything had been cleaned up too thoroughly.
“Wait a minute,” Peter paused abruptly before saying, “you mean you saw him typing the whole thing?”
"Yes, because I was surprised and also dissatisfied with his attitude, so I kept staring at him."
“Let’s go.” Peter immediately stood up and reached out to pull Phoenix. Jean was startled by his action; no one had ever dared to treat her like this before, everyone was always very careful.
Jean was thus bewilderedly dragged to Professor X's office. Once inside, Peter slammed the door shut and said to Professor X, who was sitting behind his desk, "Professor, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to break your principles. This lady witnessed the entire process of Cyclops typing. If you can access her memories, we can find out what Cyclops and the other person discussed."
Professor X was also taken aback, clearly puzzled by Peter's somewhat novel approach. Peter, thinking Professor X hadn't grasped the concept, pulled out his phone, pointed to it, and said, "Professor, look at this phone. There are 26 buttons on it. The phone can be roughly divided into four areas. By observing the other person's hand movements—that is, which area they tap each time—you can deduce the words they typed and then decipher their conversation."
"Of course, I recognize a mobile phone, and I know there are 26 letters in the English alphabet. I'm British, after all," Professor X said with a hint of helplessness.
Phoenix, who had been feeling down, burst into laughter after hearing this. Peter felt a little embarrassed, but it wasn't entirely his fault; after all, Professor X was an old man and didn't seem like the type to use smart devices.
“I just don’t understand,” Professor X said, looking at Peter. “Weren’t we already planning to use Scott to lure the other side out? Why do we still need to speculate on the content of the chat?”
“Of course, it’s to figure out his motives,” Peter said. “The other party is an electronic life form, so there’s virtually no possibility of a third party interfering. This thing is a logical being and can’t understand human emotions at all, so it’s impossible that he went to have a romantic relationship with Scott. So the reason he did this is very worth investigating.”
Professor X thought for a moment and agreed with Peter's point. Jean chimed in, "If it's really as you say, that an electronic life form is stirring up trouble between us, what's its purpose? Is it to provoke the Phoenix's eruption? But what good would that do it? If the universe is destroyed, wouldn't it die along with us?"
Peter shook his head and said, "If he really wanted to trigger the Phoenix's eruption, which could lead to the destruction of the universe, he should have just killed Scott. The shock of seeing his loved one die before his eyes would be enough to bring out the Phoenix's potential."
Jean shuddered. But she quickly seemed to remember something and couldn't help turning to look at Peter, just in time to catch the trace of sadness running down his face.
Jean pursed her lips and couldn't help but walk to Peter's side, placing her hand on his shoulder. At that moment, Jean suddenly had a strange feeling, and Phoenix, who had been somewhat agitated by imagining Scott's death, suddenly calmed down.
Jean was so overwhelmed by the feeling that she didn't notice Phoenix's condition for a moment. But Professor X, who was exceptionally perceptive in this regard, blinked gently and slowly shook his head.
"Can you do it, Jean?" Professor X asked.
Hearing Professor X's voice, Qin slowly pulled herself out of her reverie, then noticed that Phoenix was unusually calm. She felt somewhat confused yet delighted, and couldn't help but take a soft breath.
“Yes, no problem, Professor,” Jean said. “We should definitely see what Scott is talking about. If I could really figure out what he’s typing, I wouldn’t bother you.”
"It's okay, come sit here, just like during your previous therapy sessions, close your eyes and breathe in rhythm with the metronome..."
After Jean sat down, Peter left. But before he could even turn around after closing the door, Professor X's voice came from inside: "Alright, Peter, come in."
Despite having witnessed it firsthand, Peter still sighed – not at Professor X's power, but at the fact that these two powerful individuals, after working for half a century, hadn't accomplished anything significant, probably just busy with romance.
"Next, a video might be projected into your mind, but it won't access anything in your head. You don't need to... Oh my god, I wasn't flirting with Eric!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Professor X realized he had let something slip. He quickly coughed a few times and then said, "Your thought was too prominent; it jumped into my mind the instant my brainwaves connected. It can't be considered that I read it on my own initiative. Besides, it's a bit too impolite; Eric has three children..."
Peter just chuckled and left the office. Once outside, he asked someone for paper and pen, then found an empty office and began to speculate.
It sounds simple, but it's actually quite difficult in practice. After all, one region has many letters, and there are many possible combinations of letters from another region. Some longer words are relatively easy to guess, but some prepositions with only two or three letters can only be inferred from their meaning.
Moreover, the finger trajectory only reveals what Scott said. Fortunately, the angry Scott refuted the cybernetic life form's words one by one, so we can also get a general idea of what the other side said through his replies.
Peter scribbled and drew, deducing for a long time. As the conversation became more complete, his brow furrowed deeper. Finally, looking at the finished draft, he sighed deeply, realizing that the moonlight that day had been right, but only part of the truth.
Scott's love for Jyn was indeed waning, but it wasn't that he wanted to give up on it. If that were the case, this love wouldn't have transformed into an obsessive possessiveness, which ultimately led to his actions against Logan.
The truth may be quite the opposite. Scott realized that his love for Jyn, his tolerance of her, and his almost unconditional attempts to give her a sense of security might be wrong and harmful to her, which is why he had to gradually withdraw from these actions.
Peter couldn't help but clench the paper tightly. He didn't know whether he should tell Phoenix about it; perhaps by the time she realized it, everything would be different.
But Peter's moral compass wouldn't allow him to conceal or alter the information. He could only sigh again, clutch the paper, and walk out. He hesitated for a long time in front of Professor X's office door before finally knocking.
When he went in, Professor X was chatting with Jean. It was easy to see that Jean was much more relaxed and calmer than before. Peter walked in with his head down, and Professor X keenly sensed a fluctuation in his emotions.
After standing in front of his desk for a while, Peter finally placed the slightly crumpled piece of paper on the table. The rest of the writing on it consisted of short sentences, and it seemed to be about two people arguing about whether someone loved him, and whether he loved that person enough.
Only one sentence was quite long, which Peter highlighted with a different colored pen, proving it came from Scott's chat partner. Jean stared intently at it:
Have you heard of "feeding fetish" in psychology? Some people feed their partners constantly, making them grow bigger and bigger until others can no longer accept them or provide them with so much food, thus binding their partners to their side.
Such people turn their partners into powerless receivers, making them increasingly greedy, even to the point of madness, while they themselves enjoy the pleasure of saving and providing.
In my opinion, that's the kind of relationship you have with Jean Grey. Your extraordinary promises and boundless giving have become the easiest and quickest way for her to gain a sense of security. Whenever she feels insecure, she retreats back to your nest and never thinks of any other way.
However, one day she will realize that what truly makes humanity feel safe and fulfilled is not playing the role of the weak and being saved, but becoming strong, useful to others, becoming their support, becoming their savior.