amaotonovel Chapter 3905 The Nameless Bat (75)
Chapter 3905 The Nameless Bat (75)
Chapter 3905 The Nameless Bat (Seventy-Five)
“Hello, Professor X. I apologize for the intrusion.” Peter shook hands with Professor X, who was sitting in a wheelchair, and said, “I know Captain America asked a lot of questions yesterday. I’m so sorry to bother you again…”
“It’s alright, Peter,” Professor X smiled at him and said, “If you were a mutant, you would be a great role model for all the students. The X-Men would always welcome someone as kind and excellent as you.”
Peter was a little embarrassed by the praise, scratched his head and said, "Actually, I didn't come here today for anything important. I just wanted to ask other people about the relationship between Cyclops and Phoenix."
"They're just boyfriend and girlfriend. Do you think there's anything else going on between them?"
"No, I'm just speculating. The change in the relationship between Cyclops and Wolverine is very likely due to a change in the relationship between Cyclops and Phoenix."
Professor X's expression gradually turned serious. He said, "What you're saying seems to make some sense. There's a concept in psychology called compensation. When a person can't find fulfillment in one relationship, they have to seek it in another. This often makes both relationships unhealthy. Do you think Scott might be caught in this predicament?"
Peter breathed a sigh of relief. It was great that Professor X understood. He had actually prepared a long explanation of his reasoning beforehand, but Professor X had summed it up with a single psychological term. Knowledge truly is power. He really should go back to Gotham University for another master's degree.
"That's what I think, but the truth may not be so, and further investigation is needed. Could I meet the other people in the base? Especially those two who are close to them?"
"Of course you can. If Scott really caused such a mess out of a sense of compensation, then it's my fault for not paying attention to his mental health in time. Anyway, I'm sorry, you can go."
Peter nodded to him and didn't reprimand the man, who was over fifty. Even if it was a case of better late than never, at least the attitude was correct. Peter had seen far too many unrepentant and shameless people.
He entered the base and began questioning the others. But there weren't many mutants in the base. The only ones who were really close to Scott and his group were Iceman and Shadowcat.
"You mean Qin?" Phantom Cat scratched his head and said, "Okay, she was in a bad mood for a while. About a month or two ago. If you want a specific time, I'll have to check the movie ticket stub."
Peter's heart skipped a beat. He remembered Logan saying that Scott had started acting strangely around this time.
"She invited me to a movie back then. You know, after she got a boyfriend, she rarely hung out with us anymore. I was quite happy at the time, since I'm working two jobs now and don't have much time for leisure. It was nice to be able to go to the movies with an old friend."
"But she didn't seem very happy. Not really sad, just uninterested. She wasn't even interested in the flavors of the popcorn. We bought a ton of food but didn't eat any of it. We didn't even watch the movie properly. I think it's a real shame."
Do you know why she's not in a good mood?
“What else could it be? Every time she’s unhappy, it’s because of Scott.” Phantom Cat sighed. “You don’t understand. Jean is a bit insecure. She’s always been somewhat insecure because of the Phoenix Force she can’t control. Or maybe it’s not insecurity, but she feels like she’s a ticking time bomb, and whoever gets close to her is doomed. But Scott is so good to her. She feels like she can’t live without Scott. So she gets nervous about everything Scott does. But when she’s nervous, she’s more likely to lose control, which leads to a vicious cycle.”
"Did she argue with Scott that day?"
"It must have happened within a week. Qin is greatly influenced by Phoenix. When she argues, she feels very angry. But that anger may not come from her own personality, but from Phoenix's anger. It will probably take two or three days before her own frustration surfaces. We're all used to it by now."
"Do they argue often?"
"No, but it's been happening quite frequently lately. We argue about it four or five times a month."
Why are you arguing?
"We don't know much about it either, but it's mostly because of life."
"Life?"
"They both work as teachers at a school. But teachers don't actually earn much. It would be fine in other cities, but on the new Earth after the merger, they're struggling to make ends meet after paying rent. So they're probably looking for new jobs."
“Isn’t this great?” Peter said. “I also found a new job. Although it doesn’t pay much, the hours are flexible.”
“Yes, who isn’t?” said Phantom Cat. “Blink even went to deliver packages.”
"Then why are they arguing?"
"Scott meant that he would find a new job himself. When Jean said she also wanted to find an extra job, Scott disagreed. I don't know the specifics, but from Jean's words, Scott felt that she was unstable."
“Oh, God,” Peter couldn’t help but say, “that’s what she hates most, isn’t it?”
"Yes. Jean doesn't even hate it when people say it, she loathes it, or maybe mutants are a bit like that. But the fact is we're not exactly stable either. But you can't have your boyfriend say that, right?"
“I think I understand what their conflict is,” Peter said. “Jin feels that she should also contribute to their family, and if they’re going to work, they should both work, and if they’re going to earn money, they should both earn money. But Scott, from a more practical point of view, doesn’t want Jin to leave school. And Jin feels that this is saying she’s unstable, so she gets angry.”
“That’s about right,” Shadowcat sighed. “Like I said, mutants all have this problem. They have to prove they can live like normal people. The more unstable a mutant is, the more desperately they try to prove it. Jean is like that.”
So in the end, neither of them compromised?
“Usually Scott would have compromised. He's definitely more mature. He might have asked Professor X to help keep an eye on the area where Jean works. Or he might have helped Jean find a better job. In any case, it would have been resolved. But I didn't expect this…”
"I didn't expect that it wouldn't solve the problem, but would cause this kind of trouble instead."
“It is indeed quite strange,” said Phantom Cat. “I have an opinion, I don’t know if it’s right or wrong, just take it as a thought. Of course, if I’m wrong, you shouldn’t…”
"That's all you say."
“I always felt that Scott’s refusal to let Qin work wasn’t necessarily because she was unstable. If it were, there are many ways to solve the problem, such as the ones I mentioned above. Besides, if you don’t let Qin work and make her angry, wouldn’t that be even more dangerous?”
“That makes sense,” Peter nodded. “Phoenix has a bad temper, so you just have to appease her. As long as she doesn’t harm others, she can do whatever she wants. It’s just a job; as long as you carefully choose the type and location, it’s not that dangerous. On the contrary, being stubborn about this could easily cause Phoenix to lose control.”
“That’s why I said Scott might be acting out of self-interest.” Phantom Cat stroked his chin like a detective. “I think it might be some kind of possessiveness. To be precise, it’s a desire for control. He thinks it’s good for Jean, so he’s making her do it.”
“But Scott doesn’t sound like that kind of person,” Peter said, making his judgment. “He’s been with Jean for so long and they have such a good relationship; he definitely can’t be a control freak. Otherwise, with Phoenix’s temper, how could it tolerate being controlled? Wouldn’t it have exploded long ago?”
"That's true, which is why I said it's my intuition and a personal opinion, and there's no way to use it as a reliable basis."
“A psychologist told me that Scott’s love gradually turned into possessiveness during the decline. Do you think this makes sense?”
After thinking for a while, Phantom Cat said, "Love can easily turn into possessiveness when it's fading. When love is in full bloom, you're willing to give to the other person without expecting anything in return. As feelings gradually fade, you start to want something in return. When there's almost nothing left of the relationship, you'd rather give an egg to the other person than give them a mountain of gold. That's just human nature."
"But why did Scott's feelings for Jyn suddenly fade? Or was it something that had been building up over time and only recently came to a head?"
Phantom Cat shook his head and said, "All my judgments come from what Qin usually confides in me. I don't know much about Scott. Why don't you go ask Iceman?"
Peter had no choice but to go back to Iceman. But as soon as Iceman heard why he came, he shook his head and said, "Scott is the kind of person who doesn't like to talk about things at all. He just solves problems silently. That's what everyone likes about him. Because he never brings his negative emotions to his teammates, he's a strong support for the team."
"Then you guess?" Peter was already prepared to take a gamble.
“This actually reminds me of something else,” Iceman said hesitantly. “Once, I went into the locker room to change into my uniform and saw Scott typing away. I was shocked. Scott doesn’t use electronic devices much, and he types very slowly. He usually uses speech-to-text. But that day I noticed he was typing incredibly fast, almost as fast as me. This proves he must have been typing a lot lately.”
"Uh... what does this have to do with the case?"
"Jin isn't the type of person who chats by typing. So who do you think Scott is talking to?"
Peter opened his mouth. He adjusted his facial expression, trying to appear as unobtrusive as possible. He glanced around, then lowered his voice and said, "You're not going to say... Scott cheated on me?"
“I was just saying, don’t take it too seriously. After all, there’s no evidence. But I do think this is a bit strange. Captain America was a little too serious when he asked, so I didn’t dare tell him. Now that I’m telling you, you can’t say I’m hiding something.”
“Don’t worry,” Peter said, patting Iceman on the shoulder. “We’re like brothers.”
Half an hour later, Peter stood in front of Captain America and said, "That's it. Don't be so aggressive next time you question someone, or they definitely won't tell you the key clues."
Captain America frowned, looked at Peter, and said, "You think this is a key clue?"
"Yes. Think about it, Scott's change in attitude towards Logan could very well be due to his change in attitude towards Jyn. And his change in attitude towards Jyn could be due to his chat partner. So if we find out who he's chatting with, wouldn't we be able to figure out what's wrong with Scott?"
“You’re right,” Captain America said, grabbing his shield. “Go to S.H.I.E.L.D. and have the tech department track down Scott’s phone.”
An hour later, Peter looked at the head of the technical department with some hesitation and said, "You mean, Scott's chat partner is a top hacker, and even you can't catch him?"
"In fact, if you hadn't said you had a reliable eyewitness who saw him typing and chatting with someone, I would have thought you were just messing with us." The head of the technical department shook his head and said, "This guy hasn't been chatting with anyone online lately. Either the witness you found was wrong, or the other person's skills may have become so advanced that we can't trace them anymore."
Peter and Captain America exchanged a glance. They both said in unison, "We really don't want to go see him!"
Half an hour later, the two men stared at Iron Man from either side. Iron Man glanced at them back, then looked at the screen in front of him and said, "You two better not be working together to mess with me. This guy's communication log shows he hasn't chatted with anyone recently."
“There’s definitely something wrong,” Peter insisted. “The more we can’t find anything, the more suspicious it is. We need to find a way to install a backdoor on Scott’s phone. No, software alone isn’t enough; we need a device that can monitor radio waves in real time, the more detailed the better…”
The three of them looked at each other.
Magneto!
Greed: Leaking the Question
Peter: Believe