Half an hour ago, he had been lounging in his dorm room, enjoying barbecue, sipping an iced cola, and watching a movie.
But out of nowhere, his computer started behaving strangely. Before he could react, it sucked him in!
When he came to his senses, he found himself standing in a dim, foul-smelling alley.
He was wearing pajamas on his upper body and baggy shorts on his lower half.
A cold breeze swept through the alley.
"Hiss…" Peter shivered, goosebumps rising all over his skin. He instinctively pressed himself against the nearby wall for warmth. "What the hell is going on? Some kind of prank? Or did my computer explosion give me hallucinations?"
His gaze darted around the surroundings, quickly picking up on something odd.
On the ground lay a torn piece of newspaper, with just a small strip remaining, covered in English text.
Fortunately, Peter's school grades were decent, and his habit of watching English TV shows helped him make sense of the content:
"Over the past two weeks, two mysterious earthquakes have occurred in Brooklyn, one last Monday and another this Friday. The exact cause is still under investigation. Experts suggest that while the epicenter is directly beneath Brooklyn, it's extremely deep and unlikely to cause significant disruption to daily life. Residents are advised not to panic."
That was the front side.
Peter flipped it over with his fingers and found another snippet of text on the back:
"Mr. Wilson Fisk, a renowned philanthropist in our city, recently donated $100,000 worth of lab equipment to Midtown Science High School. This marks the fourth large-scale charitable donation by Mr. Fisk this year. What an incredible man he is."
Brooklyn? Wilson Fisk?!
Peter's brain raced.
If he wasn't mistaken, Brooklyn was a district in New York City across the ocean in America.
And Wilson Fisk was none other than the infamous supervillain from Marvel comics, appearing in works like Spider-Man, Daredevil, and The Punisher!
He had an even more infamous alias: Kingpin!
"Hiss!" Peter sucked in a sharp breath, inadvertently contributing to global warming. "So, I've traveled to another world? But I didn't sign up for this! And being thrown into the Marvel universe? That's insane! Supervillains are everywhere, superheroes are running amok, and there's no telling when I might meet my end!"
"Please let it just be a coincidence… Please let it just be a coincidence…" Peter muttered under his breath as he slowly edged his way out of the alley.
Buzz!
Suddenly, a nerve in his brain seemed to jolt awake.
His body froze mid-movement.
In that instant, his senses amplified, and his gaze instinctively turned upward.
Under the eaves, about ten meters above him, hung a pitch-black figure.
"Holy crap!" Peter yelped in fright.
"Hey." The figure, startled by Peter's reaction, hesitated mid-greeting.
At the same time, a dreadful premonition formed in Peter's mind.
"Wait… Are you Spider-Man?" His voice trembled, though it was unclear if it was from fear or excitement.
The excitement, of course, came from the possibility of meeting his "idol." Calling him an idol might be a bit of an exaggeration, but among the many Marvel superheroes, Peter's favorite was Spider-Man.
The fear, naturally, stemmed from the reason mentioned earlier—he dreaded being thrust into a "superpowered battlefield" where ordinary people were nothing more than collateral damage.
This was no joke.
Looking at Marvel's storylines, while superheroes always fought to protect ordinary people, countless civilians still ended up caught in the crossfire.
In Avengers 1, the battle in New York devastated half the city, resulting in untold casualties and incalculable economic loss.
In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers orchestrated the destruction of three Insight Helicarriers controlled by Hydra over Washington, D.C. The Helicarriers crashed, killing dozens and causing $2.8 billion in direct damages.
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Hulk, under Wanda's mind control, rampaged through the streets, later clashing with Iron Man in his Hulkbuster armor. Following that, Ultron lifted Sokovia into the air, planning to use it as a giant meteor to obliterate all life on Earth.
Each incident painted a grim picture. While Peter never agreed with the federal (LHG, to avoid censorship) government's argument in Captain America: Civil War that superheroes should be held responsible for the chaos, it was undeniable that countless civilians perished in these disasters.
Saying that life in the Marvel universe was cheap wasn't far off the mark.
So, who in their right mind would want to end up in such a world?
Yet, as the saying goes, "Things don't always go as planned."
This was one of those times.
The figure before him exerted a slight force and leaped gracefully to land directly in front of Peter.
Peter's eyes widened.
A jump from over ten meters high, without a scratch!
Holy crap, it really was Spider-Man!
He was doomed. Totally done for.
But something seemed off about this Spider-Man's "style." He looked nothing like the ones Peter knew.
The usual Spider-Man suit was red and blue.
The one standing before him, however, wore a black and gray suit, with a black coat draped over it. It looked cool, but given that he was supposed to be Spider-Man, the look felt strangely out of place.
The figure tilted his head slightly, eyeing Peter with a mix of confusion and curiosity. "Yeah! I mean, buddy, I'm surprised too, but there's no need to pretend in front of one of your own, right?"
Peter frowned, puzzled. "What do you mean?"
Being mistaken as one of Spider-Man's allies was an unexpected surprise, but the situation was baffling.
Did I not travel as myself, but as someone Spider-Man knows?
The figure studied Peter more closely, taking in his odd attire, and asked, "You're not Spider-Man? Then why did my Spidey-sense react to you just now?"
"What Spidey-sense?" Peter asked instinctively.
Then he remembered that strange "nerve" in his brain that had been triggered earlier when he noticed this figure.
Was that a Spidey-sense?
But I'm not Spider-Man!
Sure, I was bitten by a spider yesterday, and that gave me an excuse to call in sick and slack off for a day.
But lots of people get bitten by spiders. If getting bitten by a spider turned you into Spider-Man, then wouldn't people bitten by ants become Ant-Men? Or those bitten by women... ahem!
Anyway, mutation couldn't be that simple, right?
Peter's mind drifted back to the moment he was bitten by that spider.
(End of Chapter)
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