It's real, I saw the legs! Andrew, go over there and check it out.
In the eerie and sinister atmosphere, amidst the panicked screams of three young people, the person in the grass suddenly sat up. As the camera focused on the abruptly appearing figure, Harry's fingers gripping the camera tightened instinctively; the person was undoubtedly his brother.
—It was that younger brother who always held his chin high in front of him, his eyes filled with defiance and stubbornness.
But the Finn in the video was a completely different person.
He had none of his usual flamboyance or vitality; he looked as though all his strength had been drained from him. His face was pale to the point of being transparent, his thin shoulders formed a fragile arc in the night. Harry didn't even doubt that if those beams of flashlight weren't pressing so close, he would have simply lain there quietly in the wilderness until dawn.
Seeing these people approach, the young man's gaze remained calm as he introduced himself to them. Naturally, the people in the video also couldn't understand why Young Master Osborn would be lying here in the middle of the night.
[Stomachache flared up.]
The young man in the video had his brows tightly furrowed and his lips pale; it was clear at a glance that he was enduring intense pain, he was even so weak that he lacked the strength to even sit up.
It's been a chronic condition, there's no need to go to the hospital.
Hearing the weak and powerless voice of the young man in the video, Harry's heart felt as if it were being squeezed by something, an invisible, dull pain spreading through him. It had always been there.. yet he had never known that Finn had a stomach ailment, let alone that it was so severe that it could leave him unable to stand in the wilderness, lying helplessly on the ground in pain.
Then we'll help you contact your family.." a young man in the video said immediately with concern, but after mentioning family, he seemed to think of something else and added, "Or, contact your friends?
Harry only saw that Finn's expression was clearly stunned.
The young man's dim green eyes in the night appeared to be lost in a trance at this moment, as if he were contemplating something, or hesitating over something.
Harry's Adam's apple bobbed.
—Was he thinking about whether or not to contact him?
There was nearly three seconds of silent stillness in the video.
The air seemed to freeze.
Harry gripped the camera tightly, his eyes fixed on the pale and weak young man in the video, unable to describe the feeling in his heart.
At that moment, Harry suddenly thought of the phone call Finn had made to him when the accident happened last time, how coldly he had rejected him during that call.
Finally, Finn let out a soft sigh.
In those emerald eyes, there was none of the stubbornness Harry was familiar with.
In the darkness, it instead seemed more silent than ever before.
That sigh was very light, yet it felt like a heavy stone crashing into Harry's chest, incredibly heavy.
"No need, my car is right there." In the video, Finn was still trying to act tough, forcing a smile onto his face while maintaining a composed tone, despite his body clearly struggling.
The follow-up video contained nothing much; Finn remained friendly throughout, sincerely thanking the three young people and even offering to pay them. The video ended once they had seen him off to his car.
Just as Peter said, Harry suddenly realized at this moment—he didn't truly know Finn Osborn well enough.
"What was he doing there that night?" Harry asked, frowning at Andrew, his voice a few degrees lower than before.
He said he was going to find a stray dog," Andrew answered candidly, "because he happened to see one in a video.
"A stray dog?" Harry couldn't fathom any reason why Finn would go looking for a stray dog in the middle of the night. Harry didn't believe that Finn lacked the money to buy a beautiful puppy, nor did he doubt that if Finn posted on his social media feed that he wanted a dog, many friends would deliver one to the doorstep of Young Master Finn the very next day.
"Yeah." Andrew also knew that Harry couldn't understand, because he couldn't understand it either, it was just—
Maybe he thinks puppies without homes are pitiful.
A puppy without a home..
Very pitiful.
The image of Finn lying all alone in the night in the video flashed through Harry's mind—that fragile, powerless, lost younger brother he had never met, looking exactly like a little puppy that had been inexplicably abandoned in the wilderness. His Adam's apple bobbed as he asked with difficulty, "Did he find it?"
No." Andrew shook his head and replied in a low voice. Looking back at this video now, he felt a completely different sense of regret. He no longer wanted to do it for the reward, but simply wanted to help Finn find that stray puppy, "I searched for a long time afterward, but I didn't find him either.
A silent silence fell over the office.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Finn had no idea that he had already become the center of conversation for Harry and Andrew.
Blake, who had come to play with Finn, arrived at his house ahead of schedule, carrying an exquisite paper bag with cartoon elements. He pulled out a box of donuts as if presenting a treasure, "I brought these specifically for you, have a donut first. It's from that shop that's super popular lately; I waited in line for an hour just to buy them. I really don't understand why there are so many people fighting over them."
Thanks." Finn picked one up in high spirits and took a large bite, "It really does taste good.
[Misery Value detected rising, Misery Value +0.5%.]
Finn showed a look of shock, his movement of biting into the donut pausing for a moment.
[Misery Point detected, Misery Value +0.5%.]
[Misery Value detected rising, Misery Value +0.5%.]
Finn's expression became increasingly strange; he no longer dared to even chew, his gaze turning complex as he stared intently at the half-eaten donut in his hand.
I don't know the sugar content, but the Misery Value has already exceeded the limit.
What's wrong? Doesn't it taste good?" Blake asked in confusion, then took a few more bites. "I think it tastes quite good.
Finn waited in silence for a moment, then took another tentative bite.
[Misery Point detected, Misery Value +1%.]
Finn struggled to swallow the donut in his mouth, the sweetness making him feel frantic. He never expected that—
Eating a donut could actually be such a miserable thing.
You—" Finn looked at Blake with reasonable suspicion, asking cautiously, "Did you poison my donut?
Blake: "You're insane.."
Chapter 21: Greed and Demands
When Peter returned to Finn's house again, Blake had already hurriedly left. It was during a critical period of game testing, with a pile of bugs still needing to be handled, that his small but elite game development team had been calling him relentlessly for two hours after he had slipped out to slack off, demanding that he rush back to the studio and stop being lazy.
"Why are you back so early?" Finn was somewhat surprised.
I just went to the Osborn Building to meet Dr. Vanessa," Peter explained. "And then I just arranged some of my time for later.
These are donuts brought by Blake, you.." Finn was sitting on the sofa, Catherine had even specially moved a small portable tray onto the sofa for him, making it convenient for him to use his computer. Looking at the box of donuts, Finn's expression turned complicated, "Forget it, you'd better not eat them.
Maybe you'll get food poisoning.
Finn was completely stunned; he also had no idea why eating a donut would cause his Misery Value to inexplicably rise by 2.5%.
System PP could only detect the rise in Misery Value, but it could not trace the source of the Misery Value.
Finn was completely bewildered, as if he had suddenly been told he won the lottery, but had no idea when he had even bought a ticket.
Spider-Man: "??"
"Do you feel unwell anywhere?" Peter was startled by Finn's inner thoughts and hurriedly leaned in to ask.
“No.” Finn subconsciously thought he was asking about his foot injury. Remembering that Peter had specifically instructed him not to run around before he left the house, he pointed to the laptop on the small side table and put on a posture of being a good boy. "I haven't been running around anywhere; I've been on the sofa playing games ever since Blake left."
Looking at the way Finn was deliberately acting like a good boy on his fair face, Peter couldn't help but curl his lips into a smile.
"Why can't you be like this in front of Harry too?" Peter couldn't help but remark emotionally, thinking that he should let Harry see his [people-pleasing personality] as well.
If things were like this, Peter felt that the strained relationship between Harry and Finn would soon be repaired.
“Harry?” Finn didn't know why Peter would suddenly mention Harry, but since Harry Osborn was a character whose plotline was crucial to his Misery Value, Finn immediately thought of his own persona as the "resentful younger brother." He instantly dropped his well-behaved act, his exquisite brows lifting as he wore a haughty and defiant expression. "Someone as selfish as Harry, who only wants to swallow his father's inheritance for himself—did you really think I could get along with him?"
[Yes, that's right, the plot of brothers breaking ties is bound to happen.]
“Peter, don't be naive.” Finn's tone was certain, carrying a hint of coldness that deliberately imitated Harry's cadence. "For someone like Harry Osborn, nothing matters in his heart except for profit.."
I am actually the one with the persona of a greedy, foolish younger brother, destined to charge bravely into nothingness, fighting until I am utterly defeated.
Peter saw that Finn, right before his eyes, was like an NPC who had triggered a plot point, beginning to nag Harry Osborn incessantly.
Spider-Man just watched Finn act quietly.
"Why don't you refute me?" After his grandiloquent speech, Finn looked at Peter, who was merely listening, with a strange expression.
[Didn't you just get the chance to enter the new project from Harry Osborn? You should have vehemently refuted me, saying that Harry Osborn is a very good friend! You are the best proof yourself! Harry certainly isn't friends with you for the sake of profit.]
"So, are you waiting for me to refute you?" Peter asked in return, but your inner voice had already refuted it for me.
"Of course not," Finn said instinctively.
Then, let's take a look at this game." Peter sat down beside Finn, his eyes falling on the single-player game on the screen. "How far have you gotten?
"I just woke up in the psychiatric hospital not too long ago." Finn's attention was quickly diverted as he used the mouse to point at the protagonist—a mental patient named Peanut, whose head was a popcorn bucket with the word "Peanut" printed on it in crooked letters, the edges stained with streaks of yellowish, syrup-like residue. It was absurd, yet somewhat cute.
Finn explained to Peter the part of the game progress he was currently exploring: "It's still in the exploration stage, but it feels a bit terrifying; I don't even dare to open some of the rooms."
Peter watched the dim scenes on the screen, where the lights flickered, casting shadows that seemed to crawl across the mottled, peeling walls. Rusty needles and scalpels stained with dark red spots were scattered across the floor, while empty saline bottles hung swaying from the ceiling. As the player controlled the character to explore this asylum, it indeed exuded an aura of horror.
"I'll play with you," Peter said, naturally shifting a bit closer to Finn's side.
He knew that playing this kind of game alone would feel creepy, but having someone else by his side naturally made it different.
Peter gazed at the young man's face, which was illuminated by the light from the screen.
Long eyelashes cast faint shadows beneath his eyelids, his emerald eyes were focused.
Peter's gaze involuntarily drifted down toward Finn's waist, before he guiltily looked away.
He just suddenly felt that if his Lizardman tail were still there, it would probably have uncontrollably coiled around the young man again.
"Just looking at you makes me want to eat popcorn," Finn said, as he manipulated the character to find a secret door and stared at the popcorn bucket on the protagonist's head.
“Shall I go buy some for you?” Peter said immediately, already rising from the sofa; it wouldn't take him long to make a quick trip.
“No need, I just had a donut.” Finn reached out and pulled Peter, “And besides, lunch is coming up soon.”
Catherine also walked over at this moment to ask if Joseph needed to prepare lunch for the other two friends Finn had invited.
"Two other friends?" Peter was somewhat surprised.
The high school magicians I mentioned to you before." Finn nodded, saying with some hesitation, "I just called them over.. to talk about the Halloween party.
[Actually, since they were free anyway, he just decided to call them over to make things difficult for them on purpose.]
Spider-Man: ".." I knew you wouldn't just stay at home and behave yourself.
"So, will they be coming over later?" Peter actually wanted to get to know that INFP personality, Andrew.
"Yeah, right. I'll have them bring some documents from the Osborn Building for me," Finn replied with a nod.
Peter fell silent for three seconds.