Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Chapter 5866 - 4888: The Marvelous Play of Shadows (14)

If we say that the emotion an ordinary person can convey with their eyes is a 1, then with Stark’s current gaze, it’s a 10. That’s just in everyday situations. If his emotions surge, like extreme sadness or joy, when he looks at someone with these eyes, the reading might go over 100.This leads to a problem. Even the empathy organs of an ordinary person can be overwhelmed by the emotions conveyed by his eyes during eye contact, not to mention those who are already as sensitive as a deer at the sound of a twig snapping—psychopaths.

As a metaphor, ordinary people’s gaze is like a flashlight, at most just flickering in others’ eyes, while Stark’s is a laser gun—whoever it glances at, they’re gone.

"They also did a victim model analysis," Shiller lowered his eyes and said, "Many selected victims have eyes that are very lively."

"It’s not about being pretty, or simply having big eyes; it’s more like the emotions conveyed through their eyes are clearer. This requires a certain talent. Not everyone is good at conveying emotions with their gaze. Some people naturally have a rather wooden gaze, while others are more lively. Most people tangled with a serial killer have very vibrant eyes, or a unique kind of aura."

Stark seemed to understand a bit. Serial killers are originally in a state of empathy overload. At this time, people with more expressive eyes convey emotions more easily magnified to them, and naturally, they are more likely to draw their attention.

Imagine a person with large but lifeless eyes glancing at you; even if they’re staring, it can easily seem like they’re daydreaming. But a person whose lively, piercing eyes suddenly meet yours, you are bound to ponder what that gaze means—do they like or detest you?

Similarly, if you want to avoid being targeted by psychopaths, or if someone in your life feels off but you temporarily can’t escape sharing a room with them, the best strategy is to completely avoid eye contact. Don’t keep looking at them out of curiosity to figure out what’s wrong; it can easily trigger empathy overload and paranoia.

Although it’s unfair to ask victims to limit their actions, fairness doesn’t compare to survival. No one can read others’ thoughts, so it’s impossible to know if someone’s mental state has reached a breaking point, or if the terrifying world he fantasizes about in his head is heated to a point that it’s about to ignite. For self-preservation, it’s best to retreat.

"Additionally," Shiller continued, "among the victims labeled as ’carefully selected,’ ’watched for a long time,’ or even ’I really liked,’ ’I didn’t plan to kill them so soon,’ there is another commonality: their emotions are also unstable, most being anxiety or depression patients."

"Why is that?" Stark asked.

"Because psychopaths feed on human suffering," Shiller explained, "The process is already very clear. They read the eyes of someone great at conveying emotions, seeing how shattered they are. Those painful emotions are like the scent of blood, attracting hungry vultures..."

Stark shivered; he finally understood exactly what they were discussing.

It can be said that Stark was very lucky. When he was younger, he was a tech nerd, spending each day with computers and machine tools, obsessed with mechanical engineering. Howard didn’t stop him, didn’t force him to socialize, ensuring Stark met very few of the human race, keeping him safe.

As he grew older, the death of his parents caused him immense pain. He chose the simplest path, self-abandonment, numbing himself with hallucinogens and addictive substances. It nearly destroyed the spirit within him; indulging desires was the fatal blow. Overindulging primal desires makes one appear like a beast, not with wildness, but almost ugly savagery.

In this state, even Obadiah, who watched him grow up, couldn’t accept it, feeling he was beyond saving. Only Pepper held onto a sliver of hope, at some point nearly giving up.

This state of being rejection-worthy ensured no psychopaths were attracted. Psychopaths aren’t scrap collectors; even if Stark was completely shattered, no one would like a junkie living in a daze, babbling nonsense.

And when Stark awakened, he had matured, from appearance to temperament, and more importantly, his social circle had solidified, without encountering newcomers. His strength also grew sufficient; even if some had ideas, they lacked the courage, naturally avoiding being targeted.

In his youth, absurdity entirely obscured his brilliance; in middle age, strength shielded his brilliance, naturally eluding psychopaths’ covetous eyes.

But as luck would have it, now he’s wearing a young face with alert and expressive eyes, and previously suffered from an anxiety attack making him appear slightly exhausted and shattered, perfectly matching a psychopath’s preference. Even if not a psychopath, even ordinary people could easily be drawn to such a man. It’s no wonder people on set gasp at the sight of him.

"So you’re saying I’m irresistibly charming?" Stark chuckled bitterly.

"You have a face perfect for acting in a horror film now," Chris concluded, "Your eyes can instantly pull any audience into fear and anxiety."

"Why did things turn out this way," Stark was utterly helpless, "My lighthearted coming-of-age film is gradually shifting into a horror flick?"

"Well, it’s not entirely your fault," Chris said, holding his water steadily. He initially wanted to look at Shiller but quickly shifted his gaze to Strange. "Could you please take off your glasses, Mr. Strange?"

Strange had been wearing glasses and using a portable device to read reports submitted by interns. Hearing Chris call for him, he instinctively looked up. But Chris suddenly shouted, "Don’t move!"

Strange froze in place. After working with Chris for so long, he had developed a conditioned reflex; when the director shouted "Don’t move," he really wouldn’t move.

Since he was previously looking down, he hadn’t fully raised his head when he looked up, just his eyes looking upwards. His glasses had slipped a bit, so now his gaze was looking past the top of the frames.

Stark had been following Chris’s line of sight but was startled upon seeing Strange’s gaze.

Strange’s gaze held a focused indifference—lacking emotion yet intensely focused, as if looking at a piece of meat on a cutting board, with a kind of "medical" detachment.

Stark had never seen this kind of gaze in Strange before, as Strange usually avoided eye contact and they frequently exchanged banter to the point of intentionally not looking at each other. Even during scientific or magical discussions, if they followed each other’s gaze to look at experiments or notes, this gaze was fine for dead objects but eerie when directed at living people.

It’s hard to tell whether Strange was seeing dead people as living or wanting to turn living people into the dead. Stark shivered at the thought.

"Exactly, that’s the look," Chris said to Strange. "Your gaze has a quality that, in any era or style of detective novels, allows audiences to immediately identify the killer."

Stark couldn’t hold back and laughed. He initially felt Chris’s remarks about him were a bit offensive, considering horror movie victims don’t fare well. But if compared to being the designated killer, being a corpse wasn’t so bad.

Stark was very committed to right and wrong, much like when he opposed viewing from a serial killer’s perspective or insistently shutting down the weapons department. He resists playing the villain, so if he had a face that looked like a killer, he’d prefer to look like a victim.

Strange was unfazed, he pushed his glasses up and said, "There are many possibilities in the world; maybe in some cosmos, I’m a detective."

"Come on, I’m the detective," Stark said enthusiastically to Chris. "If we were making a suspense movie, could I be the detective? I’d create a real sense of contrast. What do you think?"

Instead of answering, Chris turned his gaze toward Shiller and said bluntly, "I think this gentleman is more suited to be a detective."

Shiller raised his glass to cover his mouth and smiled, "There are two Holmes present, why me? Director?"

Chris looked at him with a bright gaze, "You being the detective creates the most contrast."

"You don’t mean to have him play both the detective and the killer, do you?" Strange said without turning his head. "That would surely be a flop."

"No, I’m aiming for multiple twists," Chris said, looking at Shiller. "You’re someone who reveals a certain demeanor toward specific targets, even simultaneously showing different demeanors to different targets. Those who think you’re a detective can easily see your detective qualities, while those who believe you’re the killer can easily perceive your danger. That’s your unique trait."

Stark was stunned. He recalled when he first saw this Shiller, everyone else saw nothing unusual, but he immediately sensed something was off, nearly scaring himself.

So others saw Shiller as harmless, yet only he felt pressure, which wasn’t his problem but rather a kind of ability Shiller had.

"A good actor’s criterion is a thousand faces, but that’s about the sender. They use their performance to disguise themselves as someone else. But you’re different, you can control the receiver, deciding what kind of you audiences perceive," Chris said to Shiller.

"Is this some kind of superpower?" Stark asked.

Chris shook his head and said, "I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s a superpower. Ordinary people can do it with some training; he just does it exceptionally well, naturally."ü