"Are their problems still unresolved?"
Fenris asked in confusion.
"They're a bit troublesome, honestly."
Connors rubbed at his forehead. "I didn't expect Harry Osborn to be that ruthless with himself..."
"You'll understand once you see them."
A three-story laboratory building came into view. After a simple identity verification, two transparent rooms set side by side appeared before Fenris.
Beside the laboratory, a tall woman in a casual coat was lazily stifling a yawn.
"Emma?"
Fenris paused.
Why was Emma in Connors's laboratory?
"Is it that strange?"
Emma glanced sideways at him, her eyes filled with a gentle smile. "For your sake, I managed to get myself a big house at the school. I should at least do something to help you, shouldn't I?"
"Fenris, we really have Emma to thank. If I'd been working alone, I might have been completely out of options."
Connors spoke at just the right moment. "Look."
Hearing that, Fenris followed his gaze.
Inside the first laboratory, Harry Osborn was lying quietly on a bed. His eyes were half-open, and the madness that had once filled them had long since vanished.
When he saw Fenris step forward, his eyes moved. Then, to Fenris's surprise, he slowly sat up and smiled, nodding at him.
"Thank you for pulling me out of the abyss."
"You don't hate me?"
Hearing the Green Goblin say something like that left Fenris genuinely surprised. He asked tentatively, "I beat you into this condition. You don't want revenge on me? Or on Connors?"
"Fenris, I, Harry Osborn, am not that petty."
Harry looked at everyone in front of him and shook his head with a smile. "Back then, all I wanted was to stay alive. Now that you've saved me, I won't do something like that."
"Harry once injected himself with a physical enhancement drug. That drug gave him superhuman physical abilities, but it also created a dark personality inside him, the Green Goblin persona."
Connors walked over and explained, "The Green Goblin persona nearly swallowed him whole. Later, Emma set up a mental barrier for him, and that was what allowed Harry to regain control of himself."
"Yes."
Harry nodded, and when he looked at Emma, his eyes were filled with admiration and gratitude.
"A mental barrier?"
Fenris turned around and looked at Emma in surprise.
Perhaps he had grown too used to Professor X's strength. He had nearly forgotten that the woman before him was also one of the most powerful telepaths in existence.
Dealing with the dark personality of an ordinary enhanced human should have been a simple task for her.
On top of that, she had been injected with Connors's serum, taken the heart-shaped herb, and now possessed several extremely powerful abilities. The current Emma had long since surpassed her former self.
"Nothing difficult."
Emma lifted her chin slightly, clearly pleased by Fenris's surprise.
"Impressive, Emma."
Fenris praised her softly, and the smile on Emma's face brightened even more.
"Harry's condition has completely stabilized. After another period of observation, he'll be able to leave for good."
Connors then looked toward his old friend, Dr. Otto, and his expression immediately filled with regret.
Just as he was about to say something, Harry suddenly spoke up. His voice was urgent as he called out to Fenris.
"Fenris! Fenris!"
"What is it?"
Fenris froze for a moment. Harry had been perfectly fine a second ago, but his eyes had suddenly gone red.
"I heard that powerful telepaths have very strong sensing abilities. Some time ago, my father, Norman Osborn, suddenly vanished from the manor. He disappeared without a trace..."
Harry sprang up from the bed, almost pressing his whole body against the transparent wall as he pleaded with Fenris in a low voice.
"I used every method and resource I had. I even went through the surveillance footage frame by frame, but I still couldn't find where he went..."
"Fenris, I know you're the one everyone here looks to. Help me, please. Help me!"
"As long as you can find my father, I'll do anything you ask. Anything..."
The muscles in Harry's face were trembling slightly. His eyes stared unblinkingly at Fenris, and even the veins on his forehead twisted with strain.
"All right. Sleep for now."
At some point, Emma had come up behind Fenris. She murmured softly, and before her words had fully faded, Harry, who had been so agitated that his face had turned an unhealthy red, suddenly went limp.
He obediently walked back to the bed, closed his eyes, and fell completely asleep.
"Emma, you..."
Norman Osborn had not come into conflict with Peter. Instead, he had simply disappeared. That alone had already exceeded Fenris's expectations.
Emma's actions left him even more confused, and for a moment, he did not know what had happened.
"A few nights ago, the professor already helped him look once."
Emma looked at Harry's peaceful expression and sighed softly, unable to hide her pity. "Norman Osborn isn't in Osborn Manor. There's no trace of him in all of New York State, or even across the entire United States."
"We'll talk about it in a few days."
Fenris nodded, but silently made a note of the matter in his heart. Then he turned his gaze toward Dr. Octopus nearby.
At that moment, Dr. Octopus was lying facedown on a specially designed bed with an opening in it. His eyes were tightly shut, and a faint mental fluctuation lingered around him.
Clearly, this was also Emma's work.
The four mechanical tentacles connected directly to his brain and spine were raised high in the air. Countless sections of special alloy were locked around them, restraining them completely.
Even so, the ends of the tentacles were not still. Four mechanical eyes opened wide and shifted left and right. Very soon, they locked firmly onto Fenris, who was staring thoughtfully at them.
"These tentacles possess extremely powerful artificial intelligence. Because the inhibitor chip was destroyed, Otto's own consciousness has already been completely invaded by them."
Connors looked at his old friend with heartache and shook his head helplessly. "If Emma hadn't suppressed Otto's consciousness and kept him from waking up fully, restraining Otto would have been anything but easy."
"Right now, all Otto can think about is robbing banks for money, then rebuilding his thermonuclear fusion project. He doesn't even recognize his own wife anymore."
Connors gestured with his chin. Fenris followed his gaze and saw that in the neighboring laboratory, Otto's wife, Rosalie, the woman he had once saved, had already fallen into a deep, exhausted sleep.
"My ability has no effect on artificial intelligence. If we forcibly remove those tentacles, Otto will almost certainly become a vegetable, and I won't be able to save him either."
Emma shrugged with deep regret, making it clear that she was powerless as well.
"Fenris, if even you have no solution, then my only option is to perform forced surgery and inject him with serum afterward."
Connors finally placed his hopeful gaze on Fenris.
"Artificial intelligence, huh?"
Fenris rubbed his chin and hesitated.
He reached out lightly, took out a pair of rimless glasses, and put them on.
"Maybe I can try?"
Just as Connors was watching Fenris nervously, a crisp female voice suddenly rang out.
Seeing everyone turn their eyes toward her at once, Wanda pressed her lips together and walked over to stand beside Fenris.
"Dr. Connors, could you open the door for me?"
(End of Chapter)
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