Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics Chapter 6072 - 5088: Fate of the Fighter (34)

"Attend the trial?" Shiller looked somewhat arrogant yet puzzled as he spoke to Natasha, "Isn’t there supposed to be a wedding? Why is there a lawsuit?"

Natasha sighed, "It seems you’re completely out of the loop, Professor. The wedding is not the main point now, Iron Man..."

Natasha stopped abruptly, narrowly avoiding a slip. She originally intended to say directly that Iron Man was being hunted by fate, and he couldn’t be a villain, so the wedding can’t take place. But given an agent’s typical caution, she weighed her words before speaking.

This matter can’t be known by too many people; causing panic is secondary, as many will attempt to rebel against fate using violent means, but it’s proven impossible to succeed. Stop one accident, and another occurs. If one doesn’t grasp this concept, and everyone acts rashly, accidents will bombard them continuously, and the Rebirth Alliance won’t withstand it.

"He’s caused trouble again," Natasha shifted gears, "First, he caused a plant mutation experiment accident, then for some unknown reason made Happy Hogan mutate; the Rebirth Alliance can’t tolerate it, and decided to put him on trial."

"But these accidents don’t sound related to Iron Man," Shiller said nonchalantly, "The plant mutation is more likely Pamela’s doing, Happy’s mutation, though it seems Iron Man is seeking personal revenge, he wouldn’t do it just because he carries such suspicions."

"That’s indeed correct." Natasha replied, "But..."

Seeing her hesitate and stop talking, Shiller put down the book he was holding and looked at her, "Is there something happening here that I don’t know, ma’am?"

"There’s too much you don’t know." Natasha sighed deeply, "It can be said you know nothing; you are completely not on the same timeline as us."

"I’m very sorry." Shiller said, "But if you have special arrangements for the trial, you’d better tell me ahead of time. Do you need me to do anything?"

Natasha was still pondering and weighing whether to keep Shiller in the dark. Seeing her difficulty, Shiller asked, "Let me ask differently, are there other versions of me at the trial scene?"

Natasha shook her head, "Because you once mediated the conflict between Iron Man and Spider Man and are a psychology expert, the Rebirth Alliance wants to invite you to attend the trial."

"I understand." Shiller said, "No matter what happens, I won’t ask more questions."

After Natasha left, Shiller called Peter. As he opened the door, Peter came in carrying a pizza; he said, "I really love the pizza from this place, authentic Italian flavor, I specially bought it."

Shiller chuckled and said, "I hope they have good tomatoes."

"Oh, you’re right on point." Peter immediately complained, "Many pizzerias in New York use ordinary tomatoes on Margherita pizza; not only are they the wrong variety, they don’t make them into confit, and when they bake them in the oven, they become dry and tasteless."

"But this place is different." Peter happily put down the pizza, opened the lid, and said, "They use authentic San Marzano tomatoes, and the cheese is flown in from Italy, my favorite is their ham; come try it, Professor."

Shiller glanced down and found the pizza was truly authentic, the typical Italian style. Especially after baking, the surface of the cheese had yellow oil spots, proving the cheese quality is quite good. The tomatoes didn’t leak much juice, demonstrating the confit was on point. With one bite of such a pizza, the fragrance of cheese, oil, and dough is perfectly balanced by the sweet and sour refreshing taste of the tomatoes, allowing one to fully appreciate the charm of a classic Margherita.

A typical Italian pizza is not sliced, but because it’s shared, Peter used magic to cut it. As Shiller ate the pizza, he asked, "Did you know Iron Man is going to trial?"

Peter’s chewing halted, he tried chewing a few more times, swallowed what was in his mouth, then said, "Why is he going to trial now?"

"He’s caused several troubles in a row." Shiller briefly mentioned what he knew from Natasha and added his opinion, "Although his reputation isn’t great due to past events, I truly don’t believe these two matters are his doing."

Peter frowned and said, "I also think there’s a problem, especially the matter of causing Happy’s mutation, it sounds completely illogical; hasn’t the Rebirth Alliance investigated further?"

Shiller shook his head, uncertain whether he didn’t want to talk or simply didn’t know. Peter, on the other hand, kept this matter in his mind, he lost interest in the pizza somewhat, ate two slices quickly, then took out his phone and began fiddling.

"I have to find Spider Man." Peter said, "You don’t know how perfect Eddie is as Spider Man; he perfectly compensates for Spider Man’s raw power without investigative aptitude; no one knows how to investigate the truth better than a journalist."

"Is he doing a good job?"

"Just excellent." Peter sincerely praised, "Just yesterday, he helped the police solve a smuggling case. Actually, he didn’t proactively investigate the case, but he caught a street vendor who seemed suspicious as he communicated, then purposely engaged him in conversation, which led him to the smuggling case’s clues."

"What kind of things were being smuggled?" Shiller asked.

"A batch of drugs." Peter said, "I’m not exactly sure what specifically, but it probably doesn’t matter. In what used to be New York, now Forward York City, smuggling cases emerge one after another, involving all kinds of smuggled goods. The customs warehouse is truly an eye-opener."

"Did you tell him about Iron Man?"

Peter nodded and said, "Although I really don’t like this Iron Man, I can’t stand by and let him suffer unjustly. Moreover, this involves the feelings of him, Happy, and Pepper—two of whom are innocent. There has to be an explanation for them."

Shiller nodded and said, "You should remind Eddie to be a bit cautious. The Rebirth Alliance not investigating deeply definitely has a reason."

Peter furrowed his brow slightly. He detected some implication in Shiller’s words but couldn’t immediately connect the dots. Shiller had to clarify, "Do you think a Spider Man from another cosmos, one who is neither Peter Parker nor entirely Spider Man, would undergo the same fate as Spider Man?"

Peter thought for a moment, then said, "Not likely. First, Eddie came alone, without any family or friends, so there’s no one to suffer. Secondly, he’s truly apt to be Spider Man, doing a great job. The difficulties I faced at first don’t count for him, so how could he have the same fate as me?"

Shiller didn’t comment, which made Peter feel a bit uneasy. He always felt Shiller knew everything, but for some reason couldn’t say it—Peter preferred to believe he couldn’t say it, rather than didn’t want to.

Clearly, Shiller isn’t the type who enjoys being a Riddler. On the contrary, he speaks too frankly and often people can’t handle it. If it were possible to explain things plainly, Shiller wouldn’t hesitate. His silence must have its reasons.

Peter sighed, sent a few more messages, warning Eddie to protect himself, and if necessary, to stop the investigation. But it was already too late—Eddie plastered himself against the glass curtain wall of the building, watching the shadows flit below, realizing he had been targeted.

He had just received Peter’s message and hadn’t yet begun to investigate matters concerning Iron Man. They were unlikely to have anything to do with Iron Man, but he hadn’t had contact with any big figures before—why were they relentlessly after him?

Though Eddie might usually behave like a timorous person, he’s very competent in his job. Every journalist has a detective’s mind. He realized this might be related to the smuggling case.

Smuggling, especially on a large scale, must have big figures behind it. The organization required for smuggling is greater than any other crime, requiring many connections. Those behind it are either wealthy or influential. Since he meddled with their business, they intended to cause trouble.

Recalling the evasive attitude of the police and customs, Eddie realized many forces were involved in this case, and it was worth further digging.

That’s why being Spider Man is exciting, right? Journalists can only expose these matters once they’re discovered, but since the media is under their control, a journalist alone can easily be silenced. Spider Man is different—if they get caught by him, each lackey would face a slap, and the behind-the-scenes manipulator would face the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms.

Eddie knew that to catch the behind-the-scenes manipulator, he must first go to the customs warehouse. If they didn’t want to lose too much, they would have to watch over their goods and then figure out a way to retrieve them.

He and Venom sped all the way to the customs warehouse, a place for storing confiscated contraband and smuggled goods, full of a dazzling array of items. Inanimate items were one thing, but there were also many living creatures—birds, insects, beasts, and even a couple of Canadian moose of unknown origin. Eddie took a few steps in there, feeling like he was walking into a zoo.

Soon, Eddie spotted the batch of goods. He had seen those boxes while working on the case, sprayed with purple letters. They seemed to be medical supplies, or possibly drugs.

Due to the case being cracked quickly, the batch of drugs had yet to leave the port and was well-preserved. Eddie walked around, thinking there is no way the mastermind would abandon them.

But where were they planning to transport this stuff? Eddie was a bit puzzled. If the drugs were produced on the East Coast, there was hardly any need to go through Forward York Port. However, perhaps the mastermind wanted to exploit the bustle under cover, thinking the large port throughput would allow smuggled goods to go unnoticed.

Soon, Eddie reached the end, and he was shocked to find the goods were minimal, not even enough to fill half a shipping container. Could it be that the drugs are very scarce and thus have a high market price?

Eddie went to the side, looked into the slats of the crate but saw nothing. He pressed his hand against the gap and said in his mind, "Venom, go inside and take a look."

"You always want me to help at times like this." Venom grumbled, "We’ve got to have pizza tonight. That pizza Peter Parker got last time was so good, I have to have it again..."

"No way, that place is too expensive." Eddie complained, "We can go to a fast-food joint for pizza, why go to an Italian Restaurant? One pizza there is worth ten regular American pizzas."

"Stop fooling yourself." Venom said, "The dopamine your brain releases when eating that restaurant’s Margherita pizza is way more than with fast food, you think I don’t know?"

"You damned parasite! You’re spying on my brain again!"

"Hmph, ever since you got the Spider Power you’ve become more annoying... Oh, damn it!"