"I'm afraid someone has drawn the opposite conclusion," Peter said. "You think Scott is ready to give up on you, but he can't accept this decision himself, so he takes it out on Wolverine. But I feel that he has never prepared to give up on you; he just doesn't love you the way he used to and realizes he doesn't love you enough, yet doesn't know how to fill the void. He attacks Logan just to try and retain more space to keep you."
Jean stared blankly at Peter, completely surprised by his words. Her shoulders began to tremble. Peter reached out one hand and placed it on her shoulder, then said, "Don't be nervous, actually this is good news for you. Because if Scott's love for you has diminished, it may partly be due to Behind-the-scenes Manipulator meddling, and he himself isn't willing to give up, still struggling hard, which means there is still a possibility between you two."
Jean swallowed and said, "What you mean is, someone is influencing and enticing him, causing his feelings for me to gradually weaken. But he himself is unwilling, hence he clings to every chance to recover. And to prevent Logan from seizing the opportunity during this time, he keeps targeting him?"
"Yes, like a wounded beast, to prevent competitors from making advances, even when injured, it flails fiercely to show its strength."
"But I don't understand, is one person's love for another so easily influenced? If someone casually says a few words and makes Scott love me less, doesn't that mean he wasn't truly in love with me initially?"
"I don't think so. Because you previously mentioned that your pursuit of safety is almost morbid, yet he is trying hard to provide it for you, and you are aware of this issue and are trying to adjust it, which not everyone can do. Many couples can't get past this barrier, proving that the relationship between you two isn't that shallow."
"Then why does he waver?"
"This proves that the person shaking him isn't simply saying a few words," Peter said, "No matter how formidable the person is, they can't guard against others plotting meticulously, hence there are so many con artists and victims. You have heard similar stories, right? Graduates from prestigious schools losing all savings to scams, executives from Fortune 500 companies defeated by illiterates, powerful political figures ousted by ridiculous schemes. Where there's a plan, there's a plot, and no one dares to say they can definitely withstand it."
"Moreover," Peter deliberately paused, drawing Jean's attention and said, "We speculate that it's possibly an electronic intelligence. You understand electronic intelligence, right? Just like Ultron. Back then, our battle was intense..."
Jean immediately tensed up, clenched her fist, and said, "Now that you mention it, I do remember. Just a few days before the incident, we went to our favorite restaurant together. Before the dishes were served, he kept playing on his phone. I tried to start several conversations, but he ignored me. He never used to be like that."
"Playing on the phone? How exactly was he playing?"
"Just typing on the keyboard," Jean said hesitantly. "Maybe he's typing, but his typing speed wasn't this fast before. I thought perhaps he's playing some game like Pac-Man, but he was not repeatedly pressing a few keys, nor did it seem like gaming."
This confirmed to Peter that Cyclops' chat partner definitely had a problem. Because both Phoenix and Iceman physically saw him typing and chatting, yet there was no information found online, which was problematic due to the thorough cleansing.
"Wait," Peter suddenly paused and said, "You mean you saw the whole process of him typing?"
"Yes, because I was amazed and dissatisfied with his attitude, so I kept watching him."
"Let's go." Peter immediately stood up, reached to pull Phoenix. Jean was startled by his actions; previously, no one dared treat her like this, everyone acted cautiously.
Jean was thus bewildered as he led her to Professor X's office. After entering the office, Peter closed the door with a bang and said to Professor X behind the desk, "Professor, I'm afraid we need you to break your principles this time. This lady saw Cyclops' typing process, and as long as you can read her memory, we can know what Cyclops and the other party talked about."
Professor X was stunned too, evidently perplexed by Peter's somewhat novel idea. Peter thought he didn't understand, so he took out his own phone, pointed at it, and said to Professor X, "Professor, look at this phone, it has 26 keys. When operating a phone, basically four regions can be distinguished, and by observing the other person's hand movements, specifically where each press lands, we can hypothesize the words they typed and then decode their chat content."
"Of course I know phones, and I know English letters have 26, I'm a British person, after all." Professor X said rather helplessly.
Phoenix's mood was originally a bit low, but she laughed through tears upon hearing this. Peter also felt embarrassed, but he couldn't blame it on Professor X, as he was an elderly person looking less adept with smart equipment.
"I just don't quite understand," Professor X looked at Peter and said, "We were planning to use Scott to lure the other side out, why estimate the chat content?"
"Certainly to understand their motive," Peter said, "The other side is an electronic intelligence, virtually eliminating the possibility of a third-party meddling. This entity is a logic-based creature, it fundamentally cannot grasp human emotions, hence won't be engaging in romance with Scott. Their reasons for doing this are worth investigating."
Professor X considered this and felt Peter had a point. Jean chimed in: "If it's really like you say, an electronic intelligence is meddling behind the scenes in our relationship, what's its purpose? Could it be to stimulate a Phoenix outbreak? But what good would that do him? If the cosmos is destroyed, wouldn't it also die?"
Peter shook his head and said, "If it indeed wanted to guide a Phoenix outbreak capable of destroying the cosmos, then it should directly kill Scott. The shock of seeing one's beloved die in front of them would be enough to force out the Phoenix's potential."
Jean shivered. But she soon seemed to remember something, couldn't help turning to look at Peter, catching the trickle of sadness on his face.
Jean pressed her lips together, unable to resist walking over to Peter's side, placing her hand on his shoulder. At that moment, Jean suddenly had a strange feeling, and the Phoenix, which had been agitated by imagining Scott's death scene, suddenly calmed down.
Jean was overwhelmed by that feeling and didn't notice the Phoenix's state. However, Professor X, who was particularly sensitive in this regard, gently blinked and slowly shook his head.
"Can you do it, Jean?" Professor X asked.
Hearing Professor X's voice, Jean slowly pulled herself out, then she discovered that the Phoenix was unexpectedly calm. She felt a bit confused but also pleasantly surprised, and couldn't help but take a gentle breath.
"Yes, no problem, Professor," Jean said, "I really should see what Scott is talking to the other side about. If I could figure out the words, I wouldn't have to trouble you all."
"It's okay, come sit over here, just like before during psychology sessions, close your eyes and follow the rhythm of the metronome to breathe..."
After Jean sat down, Peter went out. But just as he closed the door and hadn't turned around, Professor X's voice came from inside: "Alright, Peter, you can come in now."
Although he was used to it, Peter still marveled—not at how powerful Professor X was, but at the fact that such powerful individuals had spent half a century and still hadn't accomplished much, probably just busy with love affairs.
"Next, there might be a video projecting into your mind, but it won't read any content from your heart. You don't need to... oh, my, I wasn't having a love affair with Erik!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Professor X realized he had let something slip. He quickly coughed forcefully several times and then said, "Your thought was just too pronounced, the moment the brainwave connection was made, it jumped into my mind, not that I intentionally read it. Besides, it would be quite inappropriate; Erik has three children now..."
Peter just giggled and then left the office. After going out, he asked someone for paper and a pen and started hypothesizing in an empty office.
This seemed simple but was actually a bit difficult, as there were quite a few letters in one area, and there were many combinations with letters from another area. Some longer words were easier to hypothesize, but for some prepositions with only two or three letters, he could only rely on semantic inference.
Peter scribbled for quite some time. As the conversation became more complete, his frown deepened. In the end, looking at the finished manuscript on the paper, he sighed deeply, realizing that what the moonlight told him that day was right, but only part of the truth.
Scott's love for Jean was indeed waning, but it wasn't because he wanted to give up. If that were the case, the love wouldn't have transformed into a possessive obsession, finally venting onto Logan.
The truth might be quite the opposite. Scott realized that his love for Jean, his acceptance and almost boundless security for her, might be wrong and harmful, which is why he had to gradually withdraw.
Peter couldn't help but clutch that piece of paper. He didn't know if he should tell Phoenix about it; maybe when she realized it, everything would change.
But Peter's moral bottom line didn't allow him to hide or modify the truth. He could only sigh again, clutch the paper, and walk out, hesitating in front of Professor X's office door for a long time before finally knocking.
As he walked in, Professor X was chatting with Jean. It was easy to see that Jean's state had relaxed considerably and she appeared much calmer. Peter walked in with his head down, and Professor X keenly sensed an emotional shift in him.
Standing at the desk for a long time, Peter finally placed the slightly crumpled paper on the surface. The sentences written on it were relatively short, looking like two people debating whether someone loves them or if they love someone enough.
Only one section was particularly long, which Peter had marked with pens of different colors to indicate it was from Scott's chat partner. Jean focused intently to read it:
"Have you heard of the 'feeding syndrome' in psychology? Some people continuously provide food for their partners, enlarging their appetites, making them increasingly obese until others can neither accept them nor provide so much food for them, thus binding the partners to them.
Such people turn their partners into powerless entities that are only capable of receiving, becoming greedier and even frantic in their cravings, while they themselves enjoy the pleasure of saving and supplying.
In my view, this is the relationship between you and Jean Grey. Your commitment far beyond reason and unconditional giving have become her most convenient means of obtaining a sense of security. As long as she feels unsafe, she retreats to your nest, never considering other options.
Eventually, she will realize that to truly make humans feel secure and satisfied, one doesn't play the role of the weak saved, but becomes strong, being useful to others, becoming their support, becoming their Savior."