hapter 3: Stark's exorbitant psychotherapy sessions

Schiller could see that Stark was indeed on the verge of madness. His mental state was a mess, and Schiller could even feel his jumbled thoughts through the walls, which gave him a headache.

Schiller took a deep breath and walked in. Stark looked up, his eyes rolling, and gave Schiller a big eye-roll.

Although he looked a little haggard, he wasn't in a messy state. The consequences of being overly concerned about his reputation meant Schiller could sense that he was on the brink of collapse, but he didn't want to show it in front of Pepper.

Schiller coughed and Pepper gave Stark a worried glance before leaving. Schiller sat opposite Stark and said, "Mr. Stark, may I ask you a question?"

"What do you want to ask? Are you going to talk philosophy with me, like those quacks? Or chat about useless psychological theories?" Stark said sarcastically.

"Cough, no, I just wanted to ask how much I charge per hour," Schiller said.

Stark was obviously taken aback by this question and said incredulously, "What did you say?"

"I said I want to know how much you're willing to pay for my psychological services. I was drunk when Ms. Potts and I talked about the price, and I forgot everything when I woke up," Schiller said.

Stark's mother tongue at this moment was speechless. He shook his head and said, "You shouldn't have chosen an abstract topic, like the meaning of life or what causes sadness...it would have been more appropriate."

"Yes, that's the next step. It's something that comes after the formal consultation, but I need to confirm whether you're able to afford my psychological consultation fees," Schiller replied.

Stark widened his eyes in shock and said, "What did you say?! Do you know who I am? Oh my God, are you some sort of primitive person? Don't you recognize me or this is the Stark Building?"

"Yes, I know you're very wealthy, Mr. Stark, but how much money you have is one thing and how much you're willing to pay is another," Schiller calmly replied.

"How much do you want?" Stark asked.

"One million dollars per hour. Price is non-negotiable," Schiller said.

"Fine, fine! You're a mad doctor who's obsessed with money! Are you crazy? One million dollars! I can use that to hire a dozen beautiful women on my yacht," Stark protested.

"I heard someone say he was very wealthy," Schiller said nonchalantly.

Stark was really left in disbelief by Schiller. He said, "Did Pepper send you to do this to me? Fine! Go tell her! She has succeeded! I have already explained that the party I held last time was just to say goodbye to all of my exes. I am not going to do anything else, why doesn't she believe me?"

"The dozen beautiful women on your yacht won't make you feel better, especially when you feel like you're dying," Schiller said calmly.

Stark's exaggerated body movements stopped abruptly, and he stiffened for a moment before turning to look at Schiller with a suspicious look in his eyes.

Schiller sat calmly, saying, "You're afraid of dying now, but perhaps what you're really afraid of is not having a chance to redeem your mistakes..."

"Bullshit. Who are you? Who the hell are you?" Stark's emotions began to rise, "Did Pepper tell you something...Wait, she doesn't know anything, you..."

Stark stared straight at Schiller, saying, "Don't play these mind games with me. I don't believe in any darn mind-reading in this world."

"There's no mind-reading in the world, only psychology," Schiller said, standing up and telling Stark, "You can continue to deceive me. Anyway, my price is one million dollars per hour. If we dilly-dally any longer, I'll be able to buy a new car."

Stark was getting a headache from Schiller's alternating seriousness and frivolity, and he said, "How did you figure it out? With that ridiculous psychology?"

"That's not important. What's important is that the only advice I can give you is to deal with the problem of death first. Of course, you may feel that what I say is simplistic."

"But the method is..."

Schiller stopped, and Stark stared at him as Schiller told him, "First, pay a fifty percent deposit, and then we will begin the next treatment."

Stark was so angry he could spit flames, and he called Pepper, saying, "My darling, where did you find a vampire doctor?... Yes, he charges one million dollars per hour..."

Schiller took the phone from him, saying, "Miss Pepper, Mr. Stark's calculation unit for one million dollars is a beautiful woman on a yacht..."

Then he hung up the phone, shook his mobile phone, and said, "The money will be in your account in five minutes."

Stark was still staring at him.

Stark crossed his arms and said, "Speak up, I want to see what you can say."

"What have you been avoiding?" Schiller said.

"What? Did I avoid something?"

"You'd better ask yourself. The answer is hidden within yourself, not in Miss Pepper's frantic phone calls, or the ambiguous messages from your ex-girlfriends. I'm being serious..."

Schiller leaned on the table, arms crossed, and pushed his glasses up, saying, "I've never seen such a unique and rare case before..."

Stark shuddered and said, "Hey, I'm not gay. Stay away from me."

"You're not as ridiculous as you seem. I know someone who's very similar to you. He disguises himself as a playboy, like a foolish man who lives for the day and never thinks about tomorrow."

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

Stark looked at Schiller, and Schiller looked at him. Stark whispered, "I'll give you two million dollars to leave here. I'll tell Pepper that your treatment was very effective. I..."

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

Stark fell silent, and Schiller said, "Two million dollars, and I'll tell you a truly effective method."

"Deal."

"Everything you want to know is hidden in the past that you're avoiding. I saw it in the news, the founder of Stark Industries, your father..."

"That's enough," Stark said.

He turned away, and Schiller couldn't see his expression. Stark's voice was trembling, and he said, "Pepper will transfer the consulting fee to you. Leave here."

"...He would be willing to give you a second chance at life. God bless you."

"Get out of here!!!"

After Schiller left, a large sum of money quickly appeared in his account. He was ecstatic, even though Stark was difficult to deal with right now. However, he was willing to help this big-shot solve his problems. Soon, there was another surprise. Schiller discovered that he could replicate Spider-Man's abilities.

It turned out that the function wasn't a system malfunction before, it was just that Peter hadn't been bitten yet. Now that Spider-Man's powers had appeared, Schiller could naturally replicate them.

Schiller clicked replicate, and he obtained "Spider-Sense (low-level)". Compared to the shock of obtaining telepathy, this felt ordinary. Schiller felt that his senses improved slightly, being able to see farther and hear clearer. As for intuition, Schiller hadn't felt anything yet.

He regretted not having the physical abilities of a spider, but even if he did, it was still a weakened version and he could probably only slightly improve his athletic ability and not scale buildings or leap tall structures in a single bound like Spider-Man. Spider-Man didn't initially have all of his super strength and spider abilities, they developed over time and currently, he only seems to slightly exceed the average person in strength but it's not overly exaggerated.

However, now that Spider-Man's storyline has started, Peter's uncle might also be in trouble. Schiller thought about it and decided to message Peter. He wrote, "How are you? Want to come to the hospital? I'm a doctor and can introduce you to a trustworthy trauma surgeon."

Peter replied quickly, saying, "Wow! You're actually a doctor, that's so cool. Where do you work? What kind of doctor are you? Are you an orthopedic surgeon? But I don't think I need a surgeon now, I'm so happy, and I think Gwen will soon agree to be with me..."

Schiller responded, "I advise you to come in for a checkup. Being bitten by an animal is no joke. Plus, we can finally meet each other in person..."

Peter hesitated. After all, meeting someone you met online at this point wasn't a good idea. He just received his spider abilities and was too excited to do anything other than that. Schiller continued, "I think you can bring Miss Gwen with you. I work at the Elder Council Hospital. I can schedule you for a free full-body examination, and you can go to a nearby cafe afterward..."

Peter was tempted. Firstly, his family situation wasn't great, and he didn't have the opportunity to do any medical checkups. Secondly, the Elder Council Hospital's name was well known to all New Yorkers. He said, "Thank you, but I would like to bring my uncle and aunt with me. They are elderly and maybe it's a bit too much. If it's not okay, just forget I said anything."

Schiller thought about it. It might be better if Peter brought his aunt and uncle along after all. He said, "Sure, I can schedule you for this weekend, and you can invite Miss Gwen and her family as well. I have plenty of open slots."

Peter was ecstatic and called Gwen. She had been helping him a lot, bringing him snacks and yogurts because of his family's poor financial situation. Peter had always felt guilty because he couldn't help her in return. However, this was a great opportunity to compensate her. It's not easy getting into the Elder Council Hospital, even if Gwen's father was the New York Police Department Commissioner. It was hard to schedule a full-body examination and there was often a long waiting list, if you can even get an appointment at all. Peter felt like he was on a roll. He had acquired superpowers and met a friend online who turned out to be a doctor at a big hospital. This way, his aunt and uncle wouldn't think he was just wasting time chatting with people online.