Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 4387 - 3480: Midnight Sons (42)

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Many people might have experienced the feeling of knowing they're right, but when everyone else disagrees, they start doubting themselves. That's exactly where Wanda is right now.

Her rational mind tells her that the rise in oil prices is extremely abnormal. Even the wealthiest people should be shocked by such a price hike.

Globally, American oil prices aren't considered very expensive, because the U.S. is an oil-producing country and has fought many oil wars; it has a substantial production and reserve of crude oil.

However, in reality, oil prices in America aren't that cheap, especially in high-cost states like California. Apart from expensive oil, there's also an oil tax. Extremely low gasoline prices are mostly in remote places like Alaska, where no one goes, while economically prosperous big cities are not cheap.

Although the numbers might not seem that high, the key point is that America has one of the highest per capita car ownership and average annual mileage in the world. If Australia is a country on the backs of sheep, then America is on the wheels of cars.

America has almost no other means of transportation, apart from long distances that can be traveled by plane; anywhere you want to go, you must drive. The endless plains also provide excellent road conditions, so the per capita fuel consumption is 4-5 times that of other countries.

In this situation, even a few cents increase in oil prices can be very fatal. This means that a car's monthly gasoline expenditure may increase by tens of dollars, and the travel costs will skyrocket.

And because America doesn't have many travel infrastructures, subways and major airports are basically only found in big cities, with no mention of trains or high-speed rail. Many American roads even lack sidewalks, meaning you have to drive everywhere, which also significantly increases the mandatory cost of living.

Under current circumstances, a 40% increase in a single year, which is still on the rise, should have already caused an uproar, with ordinary people complaining everywhere.

But Wanda hasn't heard much complaining. She isn't someone who likes to gripe, so she's been keeping quiet. This time she managed to say a few words, but no one agreed with her, making her think it was her problem.

Jarvis, of course, knows it isn't. Electronic lifeforms are best at statistical data; emotions can deceive, but real data cannot. The increase in New York's oil price is indeed abnormal.

But Jarvis didn't immediately present facts and logic, knowing that in Wanda's current state, she wouldn't listen to reason. So he just gently touched Wanda's cheek and said, "Let's not talk about this. I made scrambled egg sandwiches. Let's eat first."

Wanda tried hard to shake off her dejected mood and sat at the dining table, but she ate tastelessly, staring blankly, lost in thought.

While eating, Jarvis frequently checked various facility cameras in New York and compiled data.

Before they finished eating, the baby started crying. Wanda snapped back to reality and rushed upstairs.

Once the baby calmed down, Wanda finally forced herself out of that mood. She took a deep breath and said, "The professor told me yesterday that Lorna has been feeling down lately, and they plan to give her a break, but they need staff over in the Andromeda Galaxy."

Jarvis, holding a sandwich, froze and said, "They want you to go?"

"No, maybe they think I wouldn't go, but I think I might consider it. What do you think?"

Jarvis definitely wanted to say no. Wanda hasn't evolved; her life form is still carbon-based. No matter how strong her Chaos Power is, it doesn't prevent the physical damage childbirth did to her.

Also, when the Billy brothers were infants, they were very demanding, typical high-demand babies, crying at the slightest moment. Wanda and Jarvis together couldn't get a full night's sleep.

Later, when her mutant ability first appeared, it was even more disturbing. Now things have finally calmed down a bit, and it's time to rest and recuperate. How can she go pioneering in the Andromeda Galaxy?

But Jarvis didn't dare to speak directly, worrying he'd just make Wanda fall back into the vicious cycle of self-doubt. The psychology module he loaded was nearly burning out, so he decided to call Doctor Schiller.

Schiller was sitting behind Eddie, watching him edit a video. After receiving Jarvis's call, he stood up and walked outside. Where he couldn't see, Eddie, who had been moving sluggishly, immediately began working at ten times the speed.

"What's wrong, Jarvis?"

"Doctor, it's urgent."

"Don't rush. Tell me what happened..."

"Okay, doctor, let's skip the part where you pretend to be an ordinary psychiatrist needing to ask questions to understand the basics. Just tell me what I should do?"

Schiller really wanted to reply with a big question mark, but then he thought about it and figured Jarvis's situation wasn't hard to guess.

Jarvis couldn't possibly have psychological problems, so the issue must be with Wanda. Wanda's psychological problems seem complex but boil down to one problem—constantly wavering between the position of ordinary people and mutants, causing internal conflict.

"Find a way to keep her on Earth," Schiller said directly, "but don't reason with her, and don't directly contact Professor X to withdraw the invitation, or she'll fall into deeper self-doubt."

"Then what should I do?"

"Find her a job, preferably one that perfectly matches her conditions, one she can take on immediately. The quicker the positive feedback, the better."

Jarvis scratched his head; this was easier said than done. Where could he find such a perfectly fitting job opportunity?

"There's indeed a role in this world that she's fully capable of fulfilling and that provides a strong sense of accomplishment."

"What is it?"

"Superhero."

After hanging up the phone, Jarvis deliberately sighed, successfully capturing Wanda's attention.

Carrying a plate, Jarvis pretended to be distant, as if communicating with someone else. After a while, he sighed again.

He silently counted down three, two, one, and sure enough, a pair of arms embraced him from behind. Jarvis put down the plate and turned around, and Wanda buried her head in his chest.

"Am I troubling you?" Wanda asked.

"It's not about you, dear. I just finished a call with Tony, and things aren't looking good over there..."

"What happened?"

"Did you hear about the fire at the Roxon Energy Industry Building?"

Wanda looked up at Jarvis, then shook her head.

"Tony and the new Spider-Man went to deal with it, but they had some conflicts and parted ways unhappily. Tony suspects someone might be instigating from behind, but there's no evidence. I'm investigating."

Feigning concern, Jarvis said, "I still need to perform technical maintenance at Stark Building tonight. Tony and Pepper really are something; they wish they could split me in two."

"Tony and Spider-Man handled it but had a conflict?" Wanda said with some doubt, "No way? Peter doesn't seem like the type to argue with anyone, even if someone tried to sow discord."

"It wasn't Peter; it was the new Spider-Man..."

After hearing Jarvis's explanation, Wanda thought for a moment and said, "I don't understand much about Stark Building's technology, but helping you solve this should be quite simple. I'll first go check on that Miles' situation. If he's really involved with some unsavory people, I assure you, I'll bring that guy to justice!"

"No, no, that's too dangerous," Jarvis deliberately objected, "Your body hasn't recovered well enough to fight. I won't agree."

Wanda's eyes shifted, suddenly as if remembering something, and she pushed Jarvis away, glaring at him, "What's with our car?!"

"What car?" Jarvis feigned ignorance, "The car is parked in the garage just fine, what's wrong?"

"With all New York's cameras under your control, Schiller took our car for a street race with the police, and you didn't know?!"

"Oh, that. Not explaining, Jarvis grabbs her by the waist, snuggling against her neck mischievously.

Wanda turned around in his arms and pushed him again, then said, "Don't think you can just brush this off. If the police catch the license plate, I'd be in big trouble!"

"Did you know all New York's police phones are also under my control?" Jarvis whispered in her ear.

Wanda shivered, sighed, and said, "Don't say such terrifying things in that tone."

Seeing he had muddled through, Jarvis smiled again, reached out to gather her red hair behind her head, and said, "Okay, you can go check on Miles, and we'll forget about the car incident."

Wanda hesitated for a moment before nodding. She indeed needed to find something to do right now, and taking on a part-time superhero gig wasn't out of the question.

Schiller hung up with Jarvis and returned to Eddie, recollecting the conversation he heard at the platform. He asked seemingly casually, "What do you think about the Roxon Corporation?"

"What?" Eddie was focused on work and initially didn't hear. But on his shoulder, Venom's head popped out. Venom grinned and cursed, "They're a pile of trash! The extra oil costs could buy me a house full of chocolate!"

Eddie nodded and said, "Indeed, I don't know what they're thinking, with oil prices so high. Isn't everyone buying electric cars now? And it's not like they can add tariffs freely, making me want to buy an electric car myself."

Schiller also realized where the issue was. After the space station fall incident, cooperation between nations became stronger, the Earth Federation was starting to take shape, and the United Nations gained more real power.

Countries initially drafted joint laws, mainly aimed to prevent malicious competition, prohibit isolationism, and set strict requirements on the range and frequency of tariff increases. New regulations on product dumping and monopolies were also established, marking Earth's entrance into a new post-globalization era once again.

This led to an increase in global trade volumes, particularly in electronics and household appliances that were previously expensive due to tariffs, which started dropping in price, and cars were no exception.

The development of Mercury provided humans with almost limitless clean energy. Now, oil was primarily used in the chemical industry, not the energy sector, leading to a decrease in oil energy prices everywhere.

But of all places, America stood out; oil prices didn't drop but instead skyrocketed, not just by a little but crazily shot up.

Initially, Schiller didn't react because it was actually a normal phenomenon. Due to issues like range, electric cars didn't have a big market in the U.S.; the vast majority of Americans still used gasoline cars.

We can't say humanity has entered a new energy era and immediately eliminates all gasoline cars. It's just not realistic. People drive their cars perfectly fine, not broken or old, why would they change them?

So, for a long time, America would remain a major petroleum energy consumer and face some impact from new energy, narrowing crude oil processing channels, increasing various costs, possibly leading to a slight increase in oil prices.

This content is taken from freёnovelkiss.com.

But the current increase is already abnormal. If it continues, in less than six months, the additional fuel costs could buy a brand new electric car. Is Roxon not afraid of collapsing itself?

This clearly doesn't conform to market economic principles. They must have something else to rely on, given their brazen confidence.

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