Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Shiller saw that Stark was indeed on the verge of madness, his mental state was a mess, he had a mind-sensing ability, and even through the wall, Shiller was bothered by his chaotic and tangled thoughts.

Shiller took a deep breath and walked in. As Stark looked up, his eyes rolled, giving Shiller a big eye roll.

Although he looked a bit haggard, he was not helpless, and the consequence of death preserving dignity was that Shiller could sense that he was on the edge of collapse, just not willing to show it in front of Pepper.

Shiller made a cough, Pepper looked worryingly at Stark, then turned and left. Shiller sat across from Stark, he said, "Mr. Stark, can I ask you a question?"

"What do you want to ask? Philosophize with me pretending to know more than you do? Or talk about those utterly useless psychological theories?"

"Cough, none of those. I wanted to ask how much is my hourly rate?"

Stark was obviously shocked by this question, he said with utmost surprise: "What did you say?"

"I said I would like to know the price of my psychological consultation, because I was drunk when Miss Pepper and I discussed the price, and I forgot it when I woke up." Shiller said.

Stark was speechless at this moment, he waved his hand and said: "You should choose an abstract, common topic among you psychotherapists... such as, the meaning of life, the object of sorrow, topics like that..."

"Yes, that's the next step, the things that will be done after the consultation begins, but I have to first confirm whether you can afford my psychological consultation fee."

Stark's eyes widened, he said in shock: "What did you say? Don't you know who I am? Oh my God, are you some primitive man? Don't you know me? Don't you recognize this is Stark Building?"

"Yes, I know you're very rich, Mr. Stark, but how much money you have and how much you're willing to pay are two different things."

"...how much do you want?"

"One million US dollars per hour, non-negotiable."

"Take it! Take it! You mercenary mad doctor, have you gone mad? One million US dollars! I could hire a dozen beauties on a yacht..."

"I faintly heard someone say he's very rich."

Stark was truly rendered speechless by Shiller, he said: "Are you sent by Pepper to mess with me? Well done! Go tell her! She has succeeded! I've already explained that the party I threw last time was just to bid farewell to those ex-girlfriends, I didn't want to do anything else, why won't she believe it!"

Shiller said: "A dozen beauties on a yacht can't make you feel better, sir, especially when you think you're about to die."

Stark's exaggerated movements stopped, he stiffened for a moment, turned his head to look at Shiller, his eyes doubtful.

Shiller calmly sits there, saying, "You are now very afraid of death, but perhaps what you fear the most is not death, but the lack of opportunity to rectify your mistakes..."

"Bullshit. Who are you? Who are you really?" Stark's emotions began to get heated, he said: "Did Pepper say something to you... no, she doesn't know, you..."

Stark stared directly at Shiller, he said: "Don't fool me with these tricks, I don't believe there's such a thing as mind reading."

"There is no mind reading in the world, only psychology." Shiller said.

He stood up, and said to Stark: "You can keep on pretending, anyway my consultation fee is one million dollars per hour, and if we keep stalling, I can buy a new car."

Stark was made to feel dizzy by his alternating sincere and irrelevant words, he said: "How did you see through it? With that ridiculous psychology?"

"That doesn't matter. The important thing is that the only advice I can give you is to better resolve the matter of death first. Of course, you might find my words too simple."

"But the way to do it is..."

Shiller paused, Stark stared at him, Shiller said: "Prepay fifty percent deposit first, then we can begin the subsequent treatment."

Stark was practically steaming from the head and snorting from the nose, he was even made to laugh by Shiller, he picked up the phone and called Pepper: "My sweetheart, where did you hire a vampire doctor from? ...Yes, he charged me a consultation fee of one million dollars per hour..."

Shiller directly took the phone, saying: "Miss Pepper, Mr. Stark's calculation unit for a million dollars is a yacht full of beauties..."

Then he hung up the phone, shook the cell phone and said: "The money will be transferred in five minutes."

Stark was still staring at him.

Stark crossed his arms and said: "Go ahead, I want to see what you can come up with."

"What have you been running from?"

"What? What have I been running from?"

"You'd better ask yourself. The answer lies within. I am not talking about any deathly calls from Miss Pepper, or ambiguous text messages from ex-girlfriends, I am serious…"

Shiller leaned on the desk with his arms crossed, pushing his glasses, and said, "I have never seen such a peculiar case before. It's unique, extremely rare…"

Stark shivered and said, "Hey, I'm not into guys, stay away from me."

"You're not as absurd as you pretend to be. I know someone just like you. He disguises himself as a playboy and acts like a fool who skates through life without thinking about tomorrow."

"But he's very smart, too smart. So he has been waiting for someone to give him an answer, and this answer comes from... his past."

Stark looked at Shiller, who was looking back at him. In a low voice, Stark said, "I'll give you two million dollars. Leave now. I'll tell Pepper that your therapy was very effective. I…"

"If I'm not mistaken, Miss Pepper is listening right now," said Shiller.

Stark fell silent. Shiller said, "Two million dollars, and I tell you a genuinely useful method."

"Deal."

"The answers you want are all hidden in that past you dread the most. I've seen in the news that the founder of Stark Group, your father..."

"Enough." Stark said.

He turned away, hiding his expression from Shiller. Stark's voice trembled as he said, "Pepper will transfer your consultation fees, now leave."

"...He would be willing to give you a second chance in life, god bless you."

"Get out!!!"

After Shiller left, Stark smashed the wine glass on the table while in the S.H.I.E.L.D. office, Nick Fury, pressing his headphones, said: "Immediately investigate a psychological doctor named Shiller. I need all his information right now."

After Shiller left, he quickly received a large sum of money in his account. He happily thought that although Stark was difficult to deal with, he was still willing to help out such a big client for a price.

And soon, there was another surprise. Shiller found that he could replicate Spider-Man's abilities.

It turned out that the earlier lack of this function wasn't a system error, but because Peter had not been bitten till then. Now that his Spider abilities had surfaced, Shiller could naturally replicate them.

Shiller clicked "replicate", and he got "Spider-sense (low-level)". Compared to the shock of initially getting mind sensing, this upgrade seemed insignificant. Shiller felt that his five senses had improved slightly. He could see a bit farther, hear a bit clearer. But as for intuition, he did not feel it yet.

He was a bit disappointed. It would have been nice if he had Little Spider's physical ability, but after all, it was a reduced version. He assumed it was merely a slight upgrade in physical ability; far from the ability to reach the heaven and land.

Spider-man did not start with such great power right at the beginning either. His Spider abilities gradually developed. For now, they just seemed a little above normal, nothing too exaggerated.

But now that Spider-man's plot had started, it was possible that Peter's uncle might be in danger. Shiller thought for a while and sent Peter a message. He said, "How are you doing? Do you want to come to the hospital for a check-up? I'm a doctor, and I can introduce you to a reliable trauma doctor."

Peter's reply quickly arrived. He said, "Wow! You're a doctor, that's cool. Which hospital do you work at? What kind of doctor are you? An orthopedic doctor? But I think I don't need a surgeon now. I'm really happy. I believe Gwen will agree to my pursuit soon…"

Shiller said, "I advise you to come for an examination. Being bitten by an animal is no joking matter. This way we can also meet…"

Peter was obviously hesitant. Meeting an online friend at this point wasn't a good idea. He had just gotten his Spider abilities and was excited beyond measure. He didn't want to do anything else. Shiller said, "You can bring Miss Gwen along. I work at the Elder Council Hospital. I can get you two a free complete health check-up. After that, you can go to the nearby coffee shop…"

Peter was somewhat moved. Firstly, his family's conditions were not good and he had no opportunity to get a check-up, and everyone in New York knew about the reputed Elder Council Hospital. He said, "Thank you, but I want to bring my aunt and uncle along. They are old. But this might be too demanding. If it's not possible, just ignore what I said."

Shiller thought for a while and figured that might be a better idea. He said, "Okay, I will book an appointment for you for this weekend. You can also try to invite Miss Gwen and her family. I have plenty of quotas."

Peter was overjoyed and quickly dialed Gwen's number. He had always been helped by Gwen. Because his family conditions weren't good, Gwen would always bring him snacks and yogurt. Peter always felt guilty that he could not help Gwen in return.

But this was a great opportunity for repayment. It was not easy to enter Elder Council Hospital. Even if Gwen's father was the Chief of New York Police Department, it would still take a long queue or even be impossible to get a full health check-up.

Peter felt that he was incredibly lucky recently. He had acquired superpowers, and the friend he had met online turned out to be a chief doctor in a big hospital. This would prove to his uncle and aunt that his online chatting was not wasting time.