Mary Jane knew that the part of the work assigned to her was actually insignificant, just some miscellaneous tasks. One could even say it was completely useless labor, given that Ned had already reviewed most of the content; she was simply asked to look over it again.
But she conscientiously went through all the information Ned had collected.
Overall, the bombing case presented several key points of suspicion: Firstly, the motive and goal of the culprit could not be determined. The victim had virtually no enemies or people with whom they had an exceptionally bad relationship. The police found nothing by purely investigating this angle.
The second point concerned the bomb: many people, even many patrons dining in the same restaurant, did not hear the sound of the explosion. Only a few claimed to have seen the flash of the blast, which was clearly illogical. A bomb exploded, yet no one witnessed it?
Ned the reporter also noticed this obvious irregularity and put the relevant materials together. It was evident that although Ned wasn't really responsible for external investigations, his work this time was quite thorough. Ned interviewed a large number of potential witnesses at the time and ultimately confirmed that no one saw the entire explosion. All they saw was an instantaneous flash of green light. Furthermore, it took several seconds after the explosion for a neighboring table to notice something was wrong.
This implied that the sound of the bomb was so quiet that even a nearby guest couldn't detect it?
"At this level, why didn't the police contact the Avengers..."
Mary Jane frowned, asking uncertainly. As for why, she didn't know, but fortunately, Ned had inquired with the police about these matters too.
She discovered another advantage of being a seasoned, well-known reporter: a very complex network of contacts, allowing one to find all sorts of people from various walks of life for investigation. Ned contacted several police officers to investigate why the police did not seek help from superheroes like the Avengers.
The answer he received, surprisingly, was discouragement. Every police officer he asked was told not to continue the investigation.
This matter is related to the internal workings of the police.
Mary Jane noticed that Ned's subsequent reports did not continue to explain what happened, so she thought of Gwen. She remembered that Gwen's father was also a police officer, and a high-ranking one at that.
Did he know something?
Meanwhile, Captain George Stacy would rather truly know something than remain so completely in the dark. After returning to his precinct office, he actually waited for someone to tell him something, or even to warn him about something.
But nothing came. There was no suppression or warning from his superiors, and no compelling threat letters. Everything seemed normal, as if his investigation itself was perfectly reasonable. This was what made Captain Stacy worried and uneasy. The opposing party wasn't afraid of him investigating; they were even confident that even if Captain Stacy kept digging, he would ultimately find nothing.
Who was behind all this, and what kind of conspiracy were they preparing?
Peter undoubtedly knew something. He said the bomb might have been designed by Norman Osborn, but Osborn had no motive to engage in this series of crimes, nor any reason to harm an ordinary citizen. Everything seemed to lack a clear thread.
Peter said he would go talk to Norman Osborn personally, but George Stacy didn't believe Osborn was behind all this. Or rather, if it was Osborn, what could he gain from it?
He seemed to gain nothing.
"There's something else hidden behind all this, something... much deeper."
Osborn's villa was located upstate. This was outside the scope of New York City, so property prices were relatively lower. Furthermore, the Osborn home didn't have many housekeepers or servants. In fact, if you looked at Osborn's neighbors and the size of his villa, you would never think he was a billionaire.
Norman Osborn, at least in terms of his spending on food and clothes, was a very frugal man.
"Welcome, Dr. Barton Hamilton. Thank you for coming."
At the entrance of the villa, Norman personally greeted his psychiatrist, then sighed helplessly and shook his head: "My condition seems to have worsened recently. I need... I need your help."
"I am honored, Mr. Osborn. When was the last time we met? Years ago?"
"Just three years ago. Please, come in."
Harry, who had started paying attention to his father's movements, watched his father bring a psychiatrist he barely remembered into the house. Harry immediately retreated to his room, took out the small Spider-Robot Peter had given him earlier, and began controlling the robot with his phone to follow and check on his father's situation.
When Peter explained to Harry that Norman might become, or already was, a supervillain, Harry was shaken. He admitted his father could be a bad person capable of wicked deeds, but he didn't want his father to descend into a deeper abyss and become a terrifying murderer or something else.
So he chose to monitor his father, to see if anything truly terrible was happening.
Norman led Hamilton to a rarely used sitting room in the house. Hamilton took an Oriental-style incense burner out of his bag, placed it on the coffee table, and lit some strange-smelling incense.
Norman reclined on a rattan chair, seemingly finding some peace from the incense.
"He's back, Barton. He's back again."
"Are you referring to the Green Goblin?"
"Yes, I can hear his voice again."
"Alright, Norman." Barton's voice was smooth and steady: "Repeat after me: The Green Goblin does not exist."
"But the Green Goblin exists, I can hear him."
"Repeat after me, The Green Goblin does not exist."
"..."
Norman was silent, saying nothing.
"Listen to me, Norman. Your dissociative identity disorder stems from the psychological trauma of your childhood. You constructed a terrifying Green Goblin for yourself, a Green Goblin who is ruthless, cold-blooded, and able to protect you from those bullies. But you are strong enough now. You are Norman Osborn, the creator of one of the most successful business empires." Dr. Barton's voice grew hypnotic in the light of the incense: "So, repeat after me."
"The Green Goblin does not exist."
In the haze of the incense, Norman suddenly looked at Dr. Barton and asked a question.
"Did you receive a small sphere, Barton?"
Norman saw a brief flicker of distraction in Barton's eyes, then smiled and closed his eyes, murmuring to himself.
"The Green Goblin does not exist."
Barton Hamilton, the Osborn family psychiatrist, an expert in criminal psychology.
Also the third Green Goblin.
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