Strange stood there, his shoulders tense.
If it were him from six months ago, he definitely would have turned around and left on the spot.
Or he would have used a string of professional jargon and personal attacks to make the situation completely irredeemable.
But now, he simply looked at his scarred hands and asked himself in his heart:
If his hands were truly healed.
If he truly returned to being the most expensive surgeon in all of New York, would he really become even worse, just as Peter had described?
Would he, in order to earn back the money he had lost, completely degenerate into a lackey for the rich?
Would he treat patients who couldn't afford the surgery with disdain, focusing only on using his skills to serve those wealthy masters...
After a long while, he shook his head, a resolute light shining in his eyes:
He did not want to live that kind of life!
Over the past half year, he had seen enough of the ugly faces of the wealthy.
He had once thought he stood above the rules.
But when that car accident smashed his life into hell, no one had reached out to help him.
Those people who had once raised glasses with him had all vanished without a trace.
The hospital gave him polite well-wishes, then stripped him of all his privileges.
His investment Advisor blocked his number.
His friends sent a few words of cheap comfort and never appeared again.
Apart from Christine, none of his former "friends" were willing to spare him a second glance.
On the contrary, it was those at the bottom of society whom he had once looked down upon who were willing to offer whatever help they could when he was at his lowest.
After a long while, Strange finally spoke:
"I cannot guarantee that I will become a saint, but I am willing to swear on these hands of mine that I will at least not become a jerk!"
"I will do my best to help everyone who, like me, has been dragged into the abyss by an accident."
"Very good!"
Hearing this, Peter nodded with satisfaction.
Possessing the Phoenix Force, Peter could roughly judge that everything Strange said was the truth.
Although this could not guarantee that the other party would not change in the future.
However, Peter felt that as long as the other party had this intention and truly committed to the cause of the Superheroes, it would likely be difficult for him to turn to darkness.
If that day were to unfortunately happen eventually,
He would simply need to take back everything he had bestowed upon him at the first opportunity!
With this thought, Peter raised his right hand, and the storage ring in his hand flashed.
A Strange, strawberry-shaped heart-fruit appeared in his hand.
Harry looked at the thing and couldn't help but ask: "What is this?"
"The Ope-Ope no Mi."
Peter pushed the fruit in front of Strange.
"Eat it, and you will gain the ability to freely control human bodies and objects within a space you create, allowing you to cut and stitch them together at will."
Strange's breathing hitched for a beat.
As a surgeon, he instantly grasped the main point.
"Control human bodies? Including my hands?"
"Including your hands!"
"Hiss~!"
Harry couldn't help but gasp:
"Peter, isn't this thing too outrageous? Are you sure you want to give it to him? Logically speaking, even if you didn't give him this fruit, you could still heal his hands, right?"
"But this fruit is very suitable for him; it was almost tailor-made for him," Peter replied,
"At the same time, I also hope he can contribute more value to this society! Rather than just being Dr. Stephen Strange."
Strange felt the earnest expectation Peter revealed in his words.
Strange suddenly felt that the fruit in his hand was so heavy that he could barely bear it.
He even felt that his trembling hands could barely hold onto the fruit.
Yet he still gripped the fruit tightly in his hands, while unable to resist looking at Peter and asking:
"Mr. The Arbiter, do you really think I am worthy of your hopes for me?"
Peter did not answer this question directly, but instead said:
"Tony was once a jerk, but now, he is the backbone force guarding this Planet."
Hearing that Peter actually compared him to Iron Man,
Strange suddenly felt a strong impulse of "a man dies for one who appreciates him" in his heart.
He then nodded solemnly to Peter:
"Mr. The Arbiter, I promise I will not let you down."
After saying this, he tremblingly lifted the fruit and swallowed it without hesitation.
The next second, his whole body froze.
He struggled to swallow the fruit pulp, his face distorting on the spot.
"Ugh~ Is this some kind of fruit that grew out of a sewer?"
He retched violently, even suspecting that Peter was playing a prank on him.
Peter observed Strange without a word; this was likely the moment that best revealed a person's true nature.
If he didn't insult him even like this, then it was probably safe to recruit him into the Avengers.
After retching for about three minutes, Strange gradually felt a sense of overflowing power surging within his body.
"Room."
The activation word came out almost instinctively.
Following that, a translucent spherical space expanded from his palm.
But limited by his own physical stamina, it could only expand to about half a meter square before it could no longer expand.
"Very good, you can start the surgery now."
Peter said, taking out his Senbonzakura.
The blade scattered, turning into fluttering petals.
Peter used the petals to condense a pink scalpel and handed it to Strange.
Strange took the cherry blossom scalpel with skepticism and made a cut on his own finger.
His original intention was just to make a cut to see if surgery within the space would be painful without anesthesia.
But because his fingers were trembling severely, his hand shook, and a finger was cut off on the spot by the sharp blade.
"Fuck!"
Strange was so scared he shuddered, almost on the verge of tears.
But the next second, he was surprised to find that the severed finger had not fallen to the ground, but was just floating in the air.
It neither hurt nor bled.
Even when his mind stirred, the finger floated back to the stump.
He tried moving it, and surprisingly, even the nerves had reconnected.
This made his eyes light up, and his courage grew significantly.
He no longer tested it, but held the cherry blossom scalpel and began to boldly cut away the hideous scars on his hands.
"The nerve endings are completely misaligned... Damn it, how on earth did they stitch this back then?"
He complained while frantically cutting at his fingers.
Veins and nerves were exposed to the air one by one, and the glass fragments within were gradually removed during the process.
Under the effect of the Ope-Ope no Mi, everything that was misaligned was being reconnected to the correct place bit by bit.
Before long, Strange's hands were completely healed; he tentatively clenched his fists, and an unprecedented sense of stability came from his hands.
Feeling this long-lost stability, Strange couldn't help but tear up.
It's back, everything is back.
*******************************
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