Chapter 1098: Father and Son (Part 27) (Patreon)

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"It is evident, Mr. Howard, that you have already discovered the problem - the turning point in the relationship between you and Tony did not occur during your alcohol addiction phase, but rather much earlier," Schiller summarized. When Howard looked back at him, his expression appeared somewhat distracted, no longer as focused as before, as if he was listening while being lost in memories.

Schiller did not pull him out of his reminiscence, instead he continued, "So, please carefully recall the length of time you devoted to Tony. When was the first drastic decline?"

"Drastic decline?" Howard seemed to not understand the term, so Schiller explained it in detail:

"As you mentioned, for a long period of time, Tony was your emotional anchor. You hoped that the joyful moments you spent together would never end. But at what point did you voluntarily put an end to that time?"

Howard paused for a moment, and then his eyes gradually regained their sparkle. It was evident that he had recalled a specific scene. He spoke slowly, "It was the first time we played marbles together."

Howard sighed softly and continued, "On that day, his mother had put away all his toys, and we had nothing else to play with. So, we found a few marbles in the corner of the bed."

"Those were actually toys I played with when I was young. I didn't think Tony would be interested, so I casually taught him how to play marbles. But to my surprise, he excelled at it, hitting every shot."

"But what amazed me was that he wasn't satisfied with simple straight shots. He arranged a complex pattern with several ordinary marbles, causing them to collide with each other until the last marble rolled to its target."

"I was truly astonished. You have no idea how intricate the design he came up with was, and he achieved it without any practice. He succeeded on his first attempt!"

Howard's tone still carried amazement. "In his mind, he calculated the interaction forces and kinetic energy attenuation generated by each marble collision, and then he made sure that each marble completed its task at the utmost distance."

Schiller suddenly leaned forward, his body slightly tilted, staring into Howard's eyes with an intimidating demeanor. Clearly, this exerted pressure on Howard, and instinctively, he replied, "I thought there was nothing left to play with, so I collected the marbles and promised him that we would play again another day."

"Why did you think there was nothing left to play with?"

"We had only a few marbles, and he had already played the most complex game." Howard made a gesture to emphasize his point. "We had reached the limit."

"Is that the limit of playing marbles?" Schiller leaned even further forward, maintaining eye contact with Howard, forcing him to answer.

"Of course," Howard instinctively responded.

"What makes you believe that?" Schiller asked rapidly.

"Because I have played it before."

"Because of your experience?" Schiller interrupted him, asking again.

"Correct." Howard began to appear somewhat flustered. He held up his cup to cover his mouth, and Schiller continued to speak, looking at Howard:

"Do you not believe that Tony can innovate new ways of playing? Do you not believe that he can surpass your experience? Or is it that you think he can, but you are unwilling to let him?"

"How could I not want him to..."

Before Howard could finish his sentence, Schiller suddenly stood up, walked behind the sofa where Howard was sitting, placed his hands on the back of the sofa, leaned forward, and pressed his head against Howard's overhead. He swiftly spoke in a rapid-fire manner:

"I guess you must have nervously gathered the marbles, looking quite disheveled, and your words lacked dignity. Rather than saying it was you, the father, who voluntarily ended the game, it was more like a police officer confiscating the criminal's tools."

"It wasn't boredom or impatience that controlled your actions, it was panic... you were feeling fear."

Schiller emphasized the last word, and from his perspective, it was clear that Howard froze the moment the word hit the ground.

"You're afraid, afraid that your son, with his genius intellect, has acquired knowledge beyond what you taught him. You're afraid that he will explore a world beyond your reach, and you're also afraid that he will surpass you."

"Nonsense! Why would I be afraid of my son surpassing me?" Howard raised his voice, his arms trembling. "I should be proud of it!"

"Many parents take pride in their children, not because they appreciate their character and qualities, but because they believe their children have inherited their own life experiences and achieved success. They take pride in their own experiences and teachings, not their children's success."

Howard was about to retort, but Schiller forcefully tapped the chair behind him, creating a loud sound, and raised his voice. "In your memory, what impressed you the most wasn't Tony's learning process, but his first moment of innovation."

"But clearly, his learning period should have been longer, and his creativity was merely a fleeting moment. Yet you remember that moment because you were shocked by his talent, overshadowing any sense of accomplishment from passing on your experiences."

Schiller straightened his body, looked up, and said, "And if we continue to deduce, that moment was when you first realized that Tony Stark, with his astounding talent, would surpass your lifetime of accumulation and experience... and you felt resentful."

"That's why the time you spend together has been decreasing. The less you can teach him, the more he innovates, and the less patient you become."

"And on the night of your return, the overwhelming negative emotions you felt were because you realized that in the beautiful future Tony Stark created, there was no place for your shadow."

Schiller's forceful and rapid tone suddenly stopped, the silence that followed was terrifyingly quiet.

After a few minutes, Howard's trembling fingers touched his face, his lips trembling as tears slid down from the corner of his eyes. In a quivering voice, he said, "I am his father..."

"We used to be so close, no matter what I taught him, he was willing to learn, and he learned so quickly."

"I can no longer hold him in my arms, teach him numbers, or solve calculations. He no longer needs to learn any experiences or knowledge from me."

"When I sat in that car, holding the materials, I thought that even though I would die, the knowledge, experiences, and good times I left him would always accompany him. That's why I stepped on the accelerator."

"But when I returned, I realized that resurrection is the cruelest punishment for a person because you see how the world forgets you."

Howard lowered his head, silently shedding tears, while Schiller slowly walked back to his seat across from him, took a sip from his glass of water, and said, "You will leave Earth and come to the Andromeda Galaxy, not because you don't want to see Tony, but because you don't want to witness his creations."

"You're afraid that you won't be able to resist going mad, searching for the traces you left in Tony's life. You believe that he shouldn't have a father who is so narrow-minded and even a little insane."

Schiller's tone became slow, much slower than when he interrogated Howard, sounding like reciting a poem.

"Parents want to turn their children into another version of themselves, yet they also want their children to surpass them. Parents hope their children inherit all their experiences but also hope they break free from the shackles of dogma and innovate."

"Parents want their children to soar higher and higher, yet they don't want them to stray too far. Parents want their children to have their own lives, but they also don't want them to become too absorbed in their own lives and forget about their parents."

"Parents are forever contradictory, and through contradiction, they experience pain, and through pain, they become contradictory."

Howard slowly raised his head, his tear-filled eyes looking at Schiller, who squinted back at him and said, "You were too focused on the inheritance of knowledge and life experiences, and you overlooked something extremely important: character."

"You're disappointed that you didn't see more of yourself in Tony, while I am amazed that I see so much of you in him."

"Do you know? In this world, there aren't many people who have tens of thousands of transmission parts. They carry a massive machine within them, constantly dealing with subtle emotions that others may not even notice."

"Mr. Howard..." Schiller looked into his eyes and said, "It seems that you have already acknowledged that I have surpassed you in judging emotions."

Howard just stared blankly as Schiller poured water from a water pitcher into a wine glass. The wide mouth of the sturdy water pitcher was much larger than the champagne glass, so Schiller had to pour slowly, making the scene quite comical.

"Aren't you a psychologist? Shouldn't you console me?" Howard said hoarsely.

"Indeed. I have won," Schiller lifted his head slightly and said, "And I have defeated a genius. Allow me to be happy for a moment."

"Oh, no, I misspoke." Schiller suddenly shook his head again and said, "Actually, there's nothing worth celebrating. I am a psychologist, and you are a scientist. I have won in psychological inference against you, like a cheetah outrunning a turtle."

Howard's face turned red, seemingly angry at Schiller's impolite wording, but Schiller calmly lifted his glass, took a sip of water, and said:

"However, we can now have a fairer competition to see who understands Tony Stark better."

"I am his friend, and you are his father. You have been his mentor for a long time, while I have known him for a shorter period. From all aspects, this is a fairer competition than before. So, Mr. Howard, do you want to compete with me?"

Howard raised his eyelids, stared at Schiller with light-colored pupils, and slowly blinked before asking, "How do you propose we compete?"

"It's simple," Schiller stood up from the sofa, holding the wine glass, and walked to his desk. He said, "Now, both of us are far away from Earth in the Andromeda Galaxy, with no surveillance there."

"So, let's guess what Tony is doing right now. We each state a conclusion, then make a telephone call. Whoever guesses correctly wins."

Schiller reached out and poured the clear water from his glass into another cup, then opened a bottle of champagne and poured it into the glass before taking a sip.

But the aroma of the wine made Howard furrow his brow. He felt his chest trembling, his heart screaming that he must not lose this battle of understanding his son. It was a battle a father could not afford to lose.

So, he stood up and walked to the opposite side of the desk, staring into Schiller's eyes, and said, "Alright, I'll guess first."

"Please," Schiller raised his wine glass.

"Now, it should be late at night in New York. Tony Stark is staying up in the laboratory, researching, particularly the most challenging part of a project. At this moment, he has both hands resting on the lab table, focusing on the data on the paper, not saying a word..."

Howard described it in great detail because he had to force Schiller to describe it just as precisely. However, Schiller said nothing. He made the telephone call, and just a second before the call connected, Schiller suddenly spoke:

"...he is crying."

The next second, Stark's hoarse voice came through the telephone receiver:

"...hello?"

Instantly, the muscles in Howard's arms tightened because he could no longer support himself standing there. He clearly heard that the first sound before Stark spoke was a sob.

Schiller hung up the telephone with a snap, but Howard, as if gone mad, rushed from one end of the desk to the other, lifting the trembling telephone with his arms and shouting, "Make the call!... Make the call now!!"

"I'm sorry, I don't have any phone credit. I didn't know Magneto was so stingy. Although long-distance calls are expensive, does that mean he can't afford one call?" Schiller turned his back to the desk, resting his hands on it, and looked up at the ceiling.

Before Howard could shout again, Schiller suddenly exclaimed, "Oh," and continued, "Look, how could I forget? Magneto can open a wormhole through space-time. He can return to Earth anytime. Why would he need to pay for a telephone call?"

Howard threw the telephone away and ran out of the room in a panic, while Schiller, standing by the desk, shook his head and smiled.

But at that moment, the telephone on the desk rang again. Schiller answered it, and a deep voice came from the other side:

"Hello, I am Odin. I would like to have a chat with you. Are you available now?"

Feast when hungry, eat when full.

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 1099: Father and Son (Part 28)