Mud and Rotten People (Part 2)

What kind of person was Stark, exactly?

Just look at how the comics described him. He was called a "super genius cursed by knowledge." In the comics, his mind contained the universe’s eighth Infinity Stone, the Curse of Knowledge. He only needed one day to completely master everything related to black holes. It could be said that Einstein would be heartbroken to see it, and Mendeleev would weep to hear of it.

This caused everything that followed to change in ways completely beyond Venom’s expectations.

First of all, Stark was someone who loved getting to the bottom of things. He spent a full six days investigating Venom’s background.

When he learned that Venom was an alien life-form, Stark’s sudden surge of excitement knocked Venom flat.

From Venom’s birthplace, the Symbiote homeworld, to how he had drifted all the way to Earth, to how he had attached himself to one host after another, Stark interrogated Venom about every last detail.

Out of respect for his long-term meal ticket, Venom answered Stark’s questions as thoroughly as possible. But super geniuses were always like children who asked a hundred thousand whys. One question could lead Stark to countless more.

Where was the Symbiote homeworld? Who was your creator? What kind of alien was he? In what form did he exist there? Was it far from Earth? Could humans reach it within their lifetimes? Would you invade Earth? Was your creator an intelligent being with an independent personality, or the collective consciousness of a planet? Why didn’t your brothers and sisters leave their mother? Why did you run away alone? Did you make your creator angry? How was he different from God in human religious stories?

Stark pursued every single one of those questions from every possible angle. Venom could answer some of them, but others were simply too abstract or imaginative for him to answer.

By Symbiote standards, he was still just a child. Even if he was a gifted child among Symbiotes, he still could not understand the bizarre yet wildly creative questions of this super genius.

It was only after much difficulty that Stark’s curiosity about Venom’s origins finally waned a little. Then Venom discovered for the first time just how complicated human emotions could be.

Stark’s overly sensitive heart and emotion-filled mind made Venom feel as if he were living inside an enormous maze every day. Whenever Stark’s mood changed, the entire maze reset. Just as Venom was about to find the exit, he would be kicked straight back to the starting point.

And Stark truly did possess a mind cursed by knowledge. As a Symbiote, Venom simply could not keep up with the speed of Stark’s thoughts.

Whenever Stark started thinking, Venom could only crouch in a corner and feel countless symbols he could not understand smashing into him. Simply put, he was drowning in an ocean of knowledge.

Even more terrifyingly, Stark reset the maze like mad while also unleashing the ocean of knowledge like floodwaters from a broken dam. He jumped back and forth between those two states faster than Venom could react. One moment Venom was getting kicked in the ass by the maze; the next, he was being knocked over by the waves.

Any intelligent creature with emotions would have standards for its living environment, and Symbiotes were no exception.

If living inside an ordinary person’s body was like staying in a matchbox—narrow and stuffy, but at least quiet—then living inside Stark’s body was like inhabiting a dangerous planet filled with endless storms and lightning. There was plenty of space, but life there was far too exciting. Venom did not have a single moment to rest.

Originally, the ability of Symbiotes and hosts to share body and mind, constantly sensing changes in each other’s bodies and emotions, was both their species’ unique gift and the foundation of their survival. But now, that gift had brought Venom enormous trouble. Sharing body and mind with someone like Stark meant Venom had to endure a life as perilous as a Jungle Adventure.

Stark was like a mystery no one could solve. His outward behavior was only one ten-thousandth of who he was, while his inner world, filled with limitless philosophy and wisdom, was enough to drown any outsider who tried to peer into his heart—including this Symbiote.

The first emotion Venom learned from Stark was exhaustion. Not because Stark was tired, but because being Stark’s Symbiote was truly exhausting.

Even worse, Stark was currently in a low point of immense pressure. Unable to release that pressure, he had no choice but to find things to do to distract himself.

At that moment, an intelligent being capable of communicating with him happened to appear inside his body. It was even an alien with special talents. It was like being handed a pillow just as he grew sleepy. Was there any better experimental subject?

Stark treated Venom as his second personality, one that could share the same mind and completely understand him.

This was simply wonderful!

Originally, whenever Stark wanted to share his genius ideas, he could never find a suitable person. Peter was too young, and Stark did not want to put too much pressure on him. Schiller’s competence was wildly inconsistent, and he only knew how to change lightbulbs. Stark used to have Obadiah to show off his new inventions to, but now Obadiah was gone too. All of Stark’s overflowing desire to share poured onto Venom in one go.

When Stark went without sleep and spent three full days teaching Venom High-Energy Physics in his mind, Venom learned his second emotion: terror.

Was this something a Symbiote was supposed to learn???

This genius scientist desperately wanted to teach everything he knew to another version of himself. Then he could truly discuss all kinds of invention ideas with himself. He would have a genuine soulmate who could completely understand and experience everything about him.

Stark was in a state of utter emptiness and urgently needed an outlet. He did not consider at all that a Symbiote’s capacity to absorb things had limits. It had never occurred to him that even with brainwave communication, you could not make a child learn the essence of all human knowledge overnight, could you???

Venom was truly on the verge of collapse. He was like a student who understood absolutely nothing yet had been forcibly shoved into an advanced calculus class. The third emotion he learned was regret—deep, profound regret.

Venom could not do it, and Stark scolded him. Venom felt wronged, and Stark even wondered what he had to feel wronged about.

What was so difficult about it? Can’t you see my memories already? Wasn’t that an open-book exam? You couldn’t even handle an open-book exam? What kind of useless sludge were you?

For a Symbiote with top-tier learning ability, studying physics and mathematics was not difficult. The difficult part was keeping up with Stark’s unconstrained creativity and his invention ideas that were closer to philosophy and mysticism. Ninety-nine percent effort was not hard; the hard part was that one percent of inspiration.

Even a Symbiote could not fully comprehend the leaps in Stark’s thinking. Venom had wondered for a long time whether Stark was really human. How could a human be so complicated and difficult to understand?

If Stark had merely been highly intelligent, that would have been one thing. The problem was that his personality was awful too.

After Stark left the hospital and walked down the street, Venom, finally free from being stuck in the laboratory with him, kept muttering in his mind. "Let’s eat a head. Just one. We’ll bite their brains out in one mouthful. They must be delicious…"

"Has no one ever told you that ordinary people’s brains are like zombie meat that hasn’t passed inspection? You can’t eat unsafe food like that."

Venom sent him a confused emotion.

"You need healthier eating habits, like mine. Don’t you know that ordinary people barely use their brains their whole lives? They’re like rotten fish that hasn’t received any preservation treatment at all."

"Taste! Taste is important! Understand? I absolutely will not allow you to devour zombie meat and contaminate my genius brain."

"Forget it. I know you aliens have never eaten anything good. You’re actually interested in ordinary human brains? A lump of meat made of water and protein. There isn’t a single genius idea inside that could change the world like mine can. Do Symbiotes survive by scavenging garbage?"

Venom sent out a string of incredibly intense and furious brainwaves, but Stark did not notice at all. He continued disdainfully, "Are all aliens this tasteless? Or are human brains considered pretty good in the universe? Then just how stupid must other aliens be? Does the entire universe only have humans with brains?"

"I honestly can’t believe a species that treats ordinary human brains as delicacies could be so deprived of resources. Want some cheese balls? An Earth specialty. You can bring some back for your poor brothers and sisters too. I’ll pay."

"We are not poor!" Venom said angrily.

"But you act like some redneck who just came into the city from the countryside. Everything looks good to you. Were you just interested in those chocolate balls in that convenience store? Please, can snacks that cost only a dozen dollars for that many pieces possibly be edible? Stop looking. I’m not buying things from such a low-end convenience store…"

"What? Eat the employees in that office building? What are you thinking? Those people can’t even earn the rent on a cheap apartment in a month, and you want to eat them too?? People like that wouldn’t even pass the first round of interviews at Stark Industries!"

"The person sitting in that Porsche just now? No! His hair is blond. I bet he dyed it with all sorts of gaudy chemicals. That’s disgusting, it must reek of chemical agents. I’m walking around him…"

"Turn your head back. Don’t act like some clueless idiot." Stark thought, "Don’t embarrass me. Stark, genius scientist and richest man in the world, is not some fool who looks around everywhere while walking down the street."

Then he complained internally, "Doesn’t your species have any tall, rich, handsome guys like me? I think they’d be a much better match for me. As for you, why don’t you just go to the Football Team at the middle school next door and find some big guy? You know, those jumpy white guys. They’d be more than happy to buy you cheap chocolate…"

Venom said, "I want to eat now! I want chocolate! And heads too! Right now, immediately! Otherwise, I’ll drag you into a wall!!!"

"Not now. Wait a moment. Jarvis? Jarvis? Are you there? Help me order some custom chocolate from that original manufacturer in Italy…"

"Yes, have them use the finest cocoa beans… No! Don’t use those mass-production lines! They’re too dirty! I’ll buy an entire production line separately…"

"How long? Three weeks? That’s pretty fast."

"Tell them to hurry… Oh, right, use a fully automated production process. Don’t let anyone’s dirty hands touch anything I’m going to eat…"

"The packaging? No, no, no! Their gold-foil packaging is so tacky. Hire a designer specifically from Italy to make something better-looking. It should preferably have the Stark Industries logo on it, with a gold-and-red color scheme. The gold parts have to be actual gold. Don’t try to fool people with dye…"

Venom said, "I’ll starve to death in three weeks."

"Why are you so fragile? Are all Symbiotes idiots who only know how to eat?"

"No! Let go of me! You are not allowed to enter that kind of convenience store! Shit! Lemon-scented air freshener! Get out now, I hate that smell!!"

Like he was fighting himself, Stark swayed back and forth and crashed straight into the convenience store’s glass door. He clutched the edge of the door and shouted, "I am not going into a place like this!!!! It’s full of garbage straight off industrial assembly lines!! One glance at it will contaminate my brain!!!"

"Let me in!! Let me eat!!"

"No, I’m not going in!!"

"Get in!!!!" Venom shouted too.

"Not going in!!!" Stark shouted even louder.

"Get in!!!!" Venom was on the verge of breaking down.

"No!!!!!" Stark became hysterical as well.

In the end, Stark still sat outside the glass door. With sheer determination—or perhaps extreme fussiness—he won the battle.

Venom was completely exhausted. The fourth thing he learned from Stark was this: never underestimate a rotten person.