Chapter 41 Undercurrents Surging, A New Crisis
The heavy bass in the rehearsal room finally stopped.
The final drumbeat echoed around the enclosed room a few times before completely subsiding into silence.
Gwen sat behind the drums, panting heavily.
The high-intensity rehearsal made a fine layer of sweat pop out on her forehead, and her usually smooth, powder-gold short hair was now sticking messily to the sides of her cheeks.
Casually resting the two drumsticks on the edge of the bass drum, she raised her hand and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.
Immediately afterward, without even bothering to rest, she turned her head, her azure eyes gazing straight past the dim light of the rehearsal room toward Arthur, who was sitting on a folding chair in the corner.
She didn't speak, but what was written all over her gaze could be seen even by a blind person.
That sparkling look, the slightly leaning forward body, plus her cheeks that were somewhat flushed from the recent intense exercise, were all transmitting an extremely clear message to Arthur — " How did I play just now? Was it cool? Hurry up and praise me! "
Arthur sat there, looking at his girlfriend's little expression seeking praise, finding it truly interesting.
He deliberately didn't speak immediately to follow her wishes, only slightly adjusting his posture and leaning his body backward.
Subsequently, he raised both hands and began to applaud right in front of Gwen.
While clapping, the corners of his mouth curved upward, revealing a very gentle and appreciative smile.
Although Arthur didn't say a single word throughout the process, his blatant actions and undisguised smile could already be considered giving the most perfect answer.
Looking at Arthur's smiling face and hearing those few monotonous but exclusive claps for her, Gwen instantly felt as sweet as if she had eaten honey in her heart.
That tiny bit of rock-cool-girl air she had deliberately put on just a moment ago instantly vanished completely.
The corners of her mouth couldn't help but curve upward, parting directly into a silly yet cloyingly sweet smile at him.
" Hey hey hey, that's enough, you two. "
Just as the two of them were exchanging loving glances across a distance of several meters, Mary Jane, standing in the middle of the stage, simply couldn't watch anymore.
She let out a huge sigh, casually leaned the electric guitar hanging around her neck against a nearby rack, and shouted toward Arthur in the corner while rubbing her shoulder.
" Hey, Arthur! "
Mary Jane strode over to the microphone, akimbo with one hand, and said half-jokingly and half-seriously:
" I cordially invite you: when our school's anniversary performance comes around, you must come as a special guest and sit in the audience. I bet that as long as you are staring down from the audience, our band will definitely be able to put on the most perfect performance! "
Hearing this, Arthur stopped applauding. He remained sitting on the chair without moving, only looking up at Mary Jane on the stage, and then looking at Gwen next to her with her ears perked up eavesdropping, unable to help chuckling softly.
" Treating me as Gwen's stimulant, are you? "
Arthur asked back in a relaxed tone, his words carrying obvious teasing.
Having her thoughts exposed, Mary Jane felt a bit embarrassed, pouted and smiled slightly, but didn't voice a rebuttal.
After all, what Arthur said was the absolute truth; today, as long as Arthur glanced over, Gwen's drumming strength and accuracy were simply fiercer than if she had taken some divine panacea.
Arthur didn't continue teasing her either, nodded, and readily agreed to Mary Jane's invitation:
" Alright. Since you, the Captain, have said so, and besides, who would refuse to sit in the audience and properly watch their girlfriend's official performance? I'll definitely be this guest. "
Hearing Arthur agree so readily, Gwen, who had been secretly looking forward to it over there, immediately shrank behind the drums and cheered softly: " Yay! "
Although she deliberately lowered her voice, it could still be heard very clearly in the quieted rehearsal room.
Gwen lay on the snare drum, resting her chin on her arms, and in her gaze toward Arthur, that deep affection became even more intense, practically wishing she could run over right now and throw herself into his arms once more.
Standing nearby, Mary Jane watched these two people flirting as if no one else was around, and the pink bubbles in her eyes were practically about to burst the air of the rehearsal room.
She simply couldn't stand this atmosphere that directly poked at the pain points of single dogs.
She let out a very helpless and long sigh, waved her hand at Gwen, and said in an extremely disgusted tone:
" Forget it, forget it, I say... how about we just call it a day with our training here? You two hurry up and pack up, go on your date wherever you should go, and stop torturing us here. "
Gwen was infatuated, and upon hearing that Mary Janewanted to dismiss early, she was stunned for a moment. She subconsciously straightened her body, with a bit of hesitation on her face, and muttered:
" Ah? Really? But our prescribed training duration for today isn't over yet... "
Before she could finish speaking, Mary Jane rolled her eyes and directly interrupted her.
" No more 'buts'. "
Mary Jane pointed at Gwen, then pointed at Arthur, and said irritably:
" Look at your state right now, both of you. Your gazes are practically spinning threads in mid-air! Do you think that with your current state of having only a man in your mind, you still have the mood to calm down and continue training? Even if you are forced to sit here, what you drum out will still be love tunes, completely unrelated to the hardcore rock we want! "
Gwen felt a little embarrassed by Mary Jane's blunt words, and her fair cheeks flushed slightly.
She wanted to refute it to prove that she was actually still very focused, but on second thought, just now she really couldn't help glancing towards Arthur all the time, and her thoughts had long flown to the ends of the earth.
Moreover, since the Captain herself had spoken up to drive them away, wouldn't it be fine for her to step down the stairs and follow orders?
Thinking of this, Gwen no longer behaved coyly, and cleanly and neatly stopped all her actions.
She stood up from the drum stool, deftly stuffed the drumsticks into the nearby bag, and casually picked up the jacket draped over the back of the chair.
" Then... then I'll be leaving first. "
Gwen strapped on her bag, waved to her teammates, but her eyes remained glued to Arthur:
" Remember to send me a message to call me anytime if anything happens. "
" Hurry up, hurry up, get going already! "
Mary Jane urged, waving her hand as if shooing away flies:
" This whole room is filled with the sour stench of love; I need to quickly open the door to ventilate, or else I'm going to be suffocated unconscious by the two of you later. "
Accompanied by the good-natured laughter of her teammates, Gwen ran over to Arthur's side in two or three steps.
Without any reservation in front of outsiders, she directly reached out her hands to tightly hug one of Arthur's arms, half-pulling and half-dragging Arthur to urge him to walk outside.
Pushing open the heavy door of the rehearsal room, the sunlight outside immediately shone on the two of them.
Returning from the slightly dim and stuffy Underground Room to the spacious and bright street, the air became much fresher.
Gwen took a greedy deep breath of fresh air, then raised her head, looked at Arthur, who was a head taller than her, blinked her watery blue eyes, and asked with great interest: " Where are we going now? It's still early. "
Arthur slowed his pace slightly, letting Gwen hug his arm, and began to quickly browse the nearby map in his mind, thinking about where he should take her for a perfect date.
Go eat at that newly opened pasta place? Or go watch the latest romantic comedy movie?
Just as Arthur was still doing elimination in his mind, a deafening loud noise suddenly came from the entrance of an old alley ahead on the street.
" Bang! "
A large iron dumpster nearby piled with garbage was violently smashed out of the alley like a toy, tumbling a few times in mid-air before crashing onto the edge of the road, sending garbage scattering all over the ground and emitting a harsh metallic scraping sound.
Arthur and Gwen were startled by this sudden turn of events and stopped walking at the same time.
Immediately after, a monster over two meters tall, covered all over with disgusting green scales and dragging a thick tail, rushed out of the shadow of the alley with a roar.
That was precisely Lizard Men transformed by the serum.
Lizard Men looked extremely irritable and panicked, running while wildly waving its arms covered with Talons, overturning several shared bicycles on the side of the road.
And not far behind this behemoth, a white Web-slingingsuddenly shot out from mid-air.
A figure wearing a red and blue spandex suit used the tension of the Web-slinging to swing from the roof of a nearby two-story building, landing nimbly on the ground and closely following behind Lizard Men.
That was Spider-Man, Peter Parker, who had just gained his powers in this Universe not long ago.
Chasing from behind, Peter shouted non-stop like a machine gun: " Hey! Big guy ahead! Look here, look here! "
The Lizard Men turned its head angrily, opening its bloody mouth and letting out a roar.
Peter was not afraid at all, landing steadily on a streetlight pole and squatting down, pointing at the Lizard Men from a distance and continuing to shout: "The person you want to fight is right here! What kind of skill is it to bully a trash can? And sorry, this road is opened by me, ahead is closed!"
As soon as his voice fell, Peter's right wrist quickly stretched forward, and his index and middle fingers precisely pressed the launcher switch in his palm.
With a "swish" sound, a thick, white, and sticky clump of Web-slinging was spat out with absolute precision, directly sticking to the ankle of the Lizard Men's right foot as it sprinted in large strides.
Peter pulled hard with his hands, and due to inertia and the sudden loss of balance under its feet, the huge and clumsy body of the Lizard Men smashed heavily face-down onto the asphalt road.
The huge body slid forward on the ground for several meters, scraping a distinct white mark on the road surface.
Taking advantage of the few seconds gap when the Lizard Men fell and hadn't gotten up yet, Spider-Man didn't give the opponent any chance to breathe at all.
He landed in front of the Lizard Men with a few backflips, waving his hands repeatedly. Accompanied by "swish, swish, swish" sounds, he stepped forward and added several more high-strength Web-slinging shots, firmly sticking the two thick thighs of the Lizard Men to the ground.
After finishing this set of actions, Peter clapped his hands, squatted in front of the struggling and roaring Lizard Men, and said triumphantly in a tone of lecturing a child
"Little lizard, be obedient. It's no good running too fast on the street. Sometimes walking requires watching your step. Didn't your mother teach you this lesson?"
Gwen, who was standing not far away and witnessed the whole process, her body instinctively tensed up the very second the Lizard Men rushed out.
Although Arthur didn't know, the Spider-Sense in a hidden corner of her body was frantically issuing warnings to her, stimulating the goosebumps on the back of her neck to stand up.
Because the distance was too close, if the Lizard Men lost control and rushed over, Arthur as an ordinary person would definitely be in mortal danger.
In that extremely brief moment, a thought had even flashed through Gwen's mind:
Find some random excuse to push Arthur into the nearby coffee shop or safety passage, and then quickly find a hidden dead corner, change clothes to become Ghost Spider and come out to stop that monster.
Her hand even quietly reached towards the zipper of her backpack. However, when the corner of her eye caught a glimpse of Arthur standing straight beside her, seemingly "protecting" her by blocking in front, she suppressed this strong impulse.
She didn't want to expose her terrible, dangerous other side in front of Arthur, and didn't want to break the hard-earned happy romance of ordinary people she had now.
She clenched her fists tightly, forcibly suppressing the surging power within her body.
When she saw that red and blue Spider-Man neatly trip the Lizard Men and use Web-slinging to firmly control and subdue the opponent on the ground, Gwen looked at the effortless novice hero before her, and the breath she had been holding in her throat finally let out in a long sigh.
Great. Although that guy talked so much it made one's brain hurt, at least he did a pretty good job.
As the Lizard Men was controlled, the big rock weighing on Gwen's heart worrying about Arthur's safety finally landed smoothly.
But this place was still a place of right and wrong, and the crowd watching the excitement had already started to gather around. It would be troublesome if the scene went out of control again.
Gwen came back to her senses, immediately grabbed Arthur's palm with a backhand, and pulled him to walk in the opposite direction of the battlefield.
"Yu, let's go quickly, it's really too dangerous here now."
Gwen deliberately made her voice sound like an ordinary, frightened high school girl, pulling Arthur's wrist and quickening her pace
"Stop watching the excitement, let's walk around this block first, okay? Let's find a relatively safe place, quietly eat a delicious dinner, and then go see a late-night movie. You finally have time, let's go enjoy our long-lost World for two, don't let these monsters ruin our mood."
Arthur looked at Gwen's eager look wanting to pull him away, knowing she was really worried, so he nodded submissively.
He didn't say much more, and cooperated by speeding up his pace.
While walking, he took the initiative to wrap Gwen's slightly sweaty small hand in his large palm, their fingers intertwined, and naturally led her to quickly leave this chaotic street together.
However, as the figures of the two walked further and further away in the sunlight, they didn't realize at all that deeper in the shadows of the shabby alley where the monster rushed out just now, two pairs of eyes were staring fixedly at the movement outside.
Those were two people whose appearances looked almost identical, standing side by side in the dim dead corner where trash cans were stored.
Among them, the man with ravines across his cheeks, eyes full of gloom and madness, appearing older and more decadent, was looking with an extremely venomous gaze at Peter Parker on the street who was hanging the Lizard Men up with Web-slinging.
Old Norman Osborn gritted his teeth, his yellowed teeth grinding out subtle noises in the shadows.
He turned his head and lowered his voice to the younger version of himself beside him: "Norman Osborn of this World, have you seen it clearly with your young eyes?"
He raised that finger like a withered tree branch, pointing at the distant red-and-blue Spider-Man, his tone revealing bone-chilling hatred
"Did you see that clown jumping around in the street wearing spandex? That's Spider-Man. Although it's a bit different from what I imagined, no matter which World it is, these bugs are equally annoying. In the future, it is him, he will ruthlessly disrupt all your grand plans, defeat you, and even one day, he will kill you, and kill your poor son along the way!"
The younger version of Norman Osborn stood in the dark, his expression as gloomy as water, without answering, only staring fixedly at Spider-Man's movements.
Seeing this, Old Norman Osborn let out a disdainful sneer. He lowered the finger pointing at Peter, shifted his gaze slightly, and then pointed at the back of the pink-gold short-haired girl at the other end of the street who was holding Arthur's hand and hurriedly moving away from the battlefield.
"And that girl."
The older version of Norman's eye twitched dangerously, and his voice became more hoarse and eerie
"That one, she is the bad spider who brutally killed her best friend with her own hands in my original World. Her name is Gwen. Spider-Woman."
He stared at the hands of Gwen and Arthur intertwined together. However, when his vision swept over Arthur's seemingly ordinary and casual back, a strange flash of light suddenly appeared in the Old Green Goblin's eyes, which were originally full of crazy hatred.
He was like a vulture that smelled blood, as if he saw something extremely abnormal and interesting in Arthur's bland demeanor.
However, he did not voice this question immediately.
The younger version of Norman Osborn thought silently for a long time.
He looked at the superhuman power displayed by Spider-Man on the street, and recalled some absurd yet logically rigorous prophecies this old man had told him just now.
In the end, the young Osborn's tensed shoulders relaxed a bit. He turned his head to look at this old man beside him who was aged out of human shape, and finally slowly spoke: "Right now, I believe those ghost stories you told. Although it's outrageous, the facts are right before my eyes."
He glanced at the street already surrounded by police cars and asked in a low voice: "So, do you have any exact plan?"
The wrinkles on Old Norman Osborn's face bunched up, revealing an extremely ugly and creepy smile. He reached out and patted the young Norman's shoulder.
"No rush. This is not the place to talk, come with me."
Old Norman Osborn turned around and walked towards the deeper darkness of the alley, his voice drifting over lightly,
"To deal with these annoying bugs, our current strength alone is not enough. We need to find some useful helpers. And as for where to find these handy tools, I happen to know in my head who we should find."
As soon as his voice fell, the two identical figures completely melted into the darkness in the deepest part of the alley, without a trace of sound left, and the two completely left this neighborhood.
Chapter 42: The Calm Before the Storm
The neon sign at the street corner emitted a faint buzzing sound, and the air was filled with a rich aroma of fried batter mixed with meat juices.
Arthur held Gwen's hand, steadily walking through the uncrowded sidewalk, and stopped in front of a roadside stall selling corn dogs.
The stall looked small, but the rows of golden, crispy corn dogs in the glass display case, their surfaces coated with a layer of enticing coarse sugar granules, were exuding an irresistible demonic charm.
As the renowned Ghost Spider, no matter how cool and dashing Gwen Stacy looked when Web-slinging through the sky normally, her resistance was basically a negative number when facing this kind of food.
The moment she saw the stall, her azure eyes, which had been glancing around casually, suddenly lit up, her pupils even dilating a circle, and her footsteps seemed to take root on the ground as she stared motionlessly at the corn dogs on the grill and swallowed her saliva.
Arthur looked at her gluttonous expression and couldn't help chuckling softly.
Without the slightest hesitation, he waved his hand generously and gestured a "two" sign to the vendor.
"Boss, give me two of the largest corn dogs, with extra ketchup and yellow mustard."
Taking the freshly cooked and still scalding hot corn dogs, Arthur turned around and shoved both of them into Gwen's hands, letting her hold one in each hand.
As for the matter of money? Arthur thought calmly to himself while watching Gwen's eyes curve up with joy.
Not to mention that he still had some savings when he first time-traveled here, to step back ten thousand steps, he currently had the wealthy boss of Stark Industries, Tony Stark, standing behind him, as well as the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. controlling countless resources.
As a "nominal Agent" who could instantly kill Captain America with a single punch, if he, Arthur, were really short on money, he could just go find that one-eyed Egghead or go to Tony for reimbursement.
Anyway, he was utterly shameless in this regard; with such a top-tier "bottom-line" backing that he might as well take since it was free, buying a few corn dogs for his girlfriend wasn't even a drop in the bucket.
Gwen held one in her left hand and one in her right, feeling so happy she was practically about to float away.
She anxiously opened her mouth and took a solid, large bite out of the corn dog on the left.
The crispy skin made a "crunch" sound between her teeth, and the filling mixed with the sweet and sour taste of ketchup exploded in her mouth.
Gwen squinted her eyes contentedly, and her usual aloof rock-girl exterior completely shattered into pieces at this moment.
She chewed the food in her mouth, her cheeks bulging like a little hamster hoarding nuts.
She was eating happily when she suddenly paused, lowered her head to look at the two fully loaded corn dogs in her hands, and then looked at Arthur, who had empty hands.
A flash of extreme anticipation crossed Gwen's eyes, and she actively raised the untouched corn dog in her right hand to Arthur's lips.
"Yu, have a taste! This is really super delicious!" She stood slightly on tiptoe, her eyes carrying the eager desire to share her favorite thing with the person she loved most.
Arthur did not decline.
Looking at Gwen's expectant gaze, he leaned down against her hand and took a shallow bite at the edge of the corn dog.
"How is it? How is it?" Gwen anxiously pursued.
Arthur chewed slowly for a few moments, his expression very earnest, then nodded vigorously and with satisfaction: "It's indeed very delicious, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, no wonder you like it so much."
Hearing her boyfriend's affirmation, Gwen laughed out loud with joy.
That was an undefended laughter, completely immersed in the sweetness of love.
Next, the two strolled slowly along the nighttime street.
The evening breeze blowing on them was very comfortable, and Arthur matched Gwen's pace, which had slowed down because of eating, as they walked side by side under the streetlights.
Along the way, after Gwen took a couple of bites herself, she would suddenly hand the corn dog to Arthur's mouth to feed him a bite.
"Ah, open your mouth." Gwen held up the corn dog with a smile, and seeing Arthur open his mouth to take a bite, she would show a deeply satisfied expression.
On this not-so-long street, the atmosphere between the two was affectionate to the extreme; even a stray dog passing by would probably be stuffed to death by this overwhelmingly sweet affection.
After a while, Gwen finally finished off the two giant corn dogs in her hands with an astonishing combat power.
Because she ate too fast, plus a large cup of carbonated beverage down her stomach, Gwen, who had just swallowed the last mouthful of food, suddenly couldn't control her body's reaction.
"Hiccup—"
A very crisp and loud burp slipped directly out of her mouth.
The moment this sound rang out, Gwen's swaying steps abruptly froze.
Her body instantly stiffened, the smile on her face froze directly, and a visible crimson blush "swooshed" and burned directly from the base of her neck to the tips of her ears.
She widened her eyes in horror, and with almost the fastest hand speed in her life, she slammed both hands tightly over her mouth.
Those beautiful blue eyes looked flusteredly at Arthurwalking beside her.
It's bad, it's bad, it's bad.
Gwen screamed frantically in her heart.
How humiliating!
She actually hiccuped in front of Arthur!
And the sound was so loud!
Will he think I am rude?
Will he think I don't look like a girl at all?
Will he despise me?
Gwen, who cared extremely about Arthur's opinion, wished she could immediately dig a tunnel on the ground with her toes right now.
Like a child who had done something wrong, she covered her mouth, and her eyes even welled up with a little faint tearlight out of embarrassment, terrified of seeing even the slightest bit of disdain or disgust on Arthur's face.
However, when her gaze met Arthur's eyes, she saw no mockery in those black eyes, nor even a shred of disgust.
Arthur stopped his steps and turned to face her.
Looking at Gwen's adorable appearance of facing a formidable enemy and covering her mouth without daring to make a sound, not only was he not angry, but the depths of his eyes were instead filled with undisguised doting and softness.
He even felt that compared to the superhero who web-slung through the sky and shouldered all responsibilities herself, this girl who was too shy and flustered just for burping in front of her boyfriend right now was a flesh-and-blood, vivid, and real seventeen-or-eight-year-old girl.
Arthur said nothing, only reaching out his broad palm and gently rubbing her pink-and-gold short hair, the doting feeling in his eyes—expressing "no matter what you do, I think you are cute"—was so intense it was almost overflowing.
Feeling the warmth from the top of her head and the tenderness in Arthur's gaze, Gwen's tense shoulders suddenly relaxed.
She let out a heavy sigh, lowered her hands covering her mouth, blushed, and smiled a little sheepishly yet with extreme peace of mind.
She no longer fussed over that humiliating burp, but instead very naturally reached out her hand, re-interwining her fingers into Arthur's gaps, interlocking their fingers.
The two continued holding hands, strolling casually in the night of New York.
With no purpose, no urgent tasks to complete, they just stepped on each other's shadows like this, feeling the warmth coming from each other's palms.
This coziness and peace was the life Gwen had dreamed of having after putting on that suit.
As they walked, the smartphone in Arthur's pants pocket suddenly vibrated violently, followed by a rapid series of prompt tones.
This was a communication device issued by S.H.I.E.L.D.; this frequency of ringing usually meant extremely high-priority trouble, or some reckless villain making a big commotion in some corner of the city again.
The sound appeared very abrupt on the quiet street.
Gwen's body instinctively paused slightly, that superhero alertness dancing on her nerve endings for a moment.
But Arthur didn't even make the motion of pulling out his phone to take a glance at the screen.
He just used his other free hand to press hard on the side power button through his pants pocket, quite neatly and decisively long-pressing the phone to turn it off.
The prompt tone stopped abruptly, and everything returned to peace once again.
In Arthur's heart at this moment, let alone just some crappy S.H.I.E.L.D. mission, even if it were really that rocky gray giant teaming up with the purple sweet potato here in Marvel, bringing an alien fleet to descend from the sky and invade Earth, he wouldn't even bother to care.
In his eyes, heart, and brain right now, there was only this silly girl beside him who was tightly holding his hand.
His only task right now was to accompany Gwen through a flawless date.
After turning off the phone, Arthur didn't even look at the commotion on the roadside, directly taking Gwen's hand and turning into a slightly dimly lit movie theater.
He went to the ticket office and picked a classic romance movie with very good recent reviews, bought the largest bucket of popcorn and cola, and pulled Gwen into the screening hall.
The air conditioning in the screening hall was blasting fully, and Gwen very naturally leaned her whole body against Arthur's shoulder.
Leaning on each other in the dark environment, they passed this wonderful time following the tortuous love story of the male and female protagonists on the big screen, parting through life and death and reuniting after breaking the mirror.
A long time later.
Accompanied by the ringing of the movie's ending song, the overhead lights in the screening hall lit up.
Gwen had red eye sockets and a red-tipped nose, obviously deeply emotionally stimulated by the plot in the movie where the male and female protagonists sacrificed everything for each other.
Like a kitten seeking comfort, her whole body clung tightly to Arthur's arm, and more than half of her body weight leaned on him.
The two walked out of the movie theater's doors tightly dependent on each other like this.
Standing on the somewhat chilly midnight street, the traffic on the road had become sparse.
Gwen leaned against Arthur's chest, the night breeze messing up the short hair on her forehead.
She was silent for a very long time, and that usual vibrant chatter completely disappeared at this moment.
Infected by the movie's plot, coupled with the long-standing struggle and fear deep within her own heart, her emotions gradually sank into an extremely complex vortex.
In her mind, Peter Parker dying in her arms involuntarily emerged, along with those guilty moments when she had to stand Arthur up to go save people, and her suit that was always hidden in her backpack.
She raised her head slightly, looking at Arthur with red eye sockets, her voice carrying an obvious tremble and a vulnerability utterly lacking in security, and suddenly asked nonsensically:
"Yu... tell me the truth."
She bit her lower lip, her eyes full of entanglement and confusion.
"Tell me, if one day in the future, I am forced by others or by some irresistible circumstance to make a choice between you and something else... what should I do?"
Gwen's voice became smaller and smaller, but her fingers gripping Arthur's jacket turned white at the knuckles from the force.
"I know how much I love you; if it were up to me to choose, I would definitely choose you without hesitation. But..."
She paused, and the moisture in her eye sockets gathered even more.
"But what if on the other side, it's something very, very important? For example, the survival of the World? Or the lives of tens of thousands of innocent ordinary people?"
Once this heavy topic was brought up, the long-suppressed superhero mentality inside Gwen, that cursed creed of "with great power comes great responsibility", instantly reacted violently.
In these few months of dating, she desperately desired to hide forever in Arthur's safe haven and be an ordinary girl, but deep in her bones, the Ghost Spider who was willing to risk her life for others had not died.
These two completely different identities and mentalities frantically pulled at each other in her heart, constantly twisting her heart and making her feel waves of suffocation and pain.
Arthur quietly listened to her heavy hypothesis, which sounded like leaving a last will and testament.
He knew too well what Gwen was afraid of, and he knew too well how much trauma she carried.
She was afraid of losing him, and afraid of causing innocent people to die due to selfishness; this dilemma and desperate situation was a nightmare that no masked hero could escape.
But Arthur would never allow his girl to fall into this kind of self-consuming torture.
He turned around and grasped Gwen's somewhat cold hands extremely tightly with both hands.
He folded her hands into his palms, looking straight into her tear-filled blue eyes with an unquestionable, rock-solid gaze.
"It won't. I promise you, there will definitely not be such a day."
Arthur's voice was not loud, but every word struck extremely clearly upon Gwen's heart, carrying an arrogance and confidence that could only be displayed by possessing absolute power.
"If there really is that damned situation where you must be sacrificed to save the World, or make you choose between me and countless people, then after that situation arises, I will completely wipe out the bastard who gave out this multiple-choice question."
Arthur leaned closer to her, his tone gentle yet carrying a resolute and decisive power:
"I only want you to be safe. You don't have to choose anything, you just need to comfortably and securely be yourself."
The moment his voice fell, Arthur did not give Gwen any chance to continue struggling or refuting.
He lowered his head slightly and very decisively kissed her somewhat trembling lips.
This kiss did not carry any romantic/lustful aggression, only full comfort and endless deep affection.
The temperature of their lips pressing together seemed exceptionally scorching in the cold night wind, and Arthur's breath instantly enveloped all of Gwen's senses.
The moment she was kissed by Arthur, Gwen suddenly felt her brain go blank with a "buzz".
The sound of her heartbeat magnified crazily in her eardrums, like an out-of-control train rampaging inside her chest.
What doomsday, what saving innocent people, what heavy responsibility of a superhero—those messy thoughts, worries, and fears that had been crazily torturing her just now, in this kiss full of security, vanished without a trace like winter's leftover snow illuminated by the sunlight.
All defenses completely collapsed, and all entanglements completely turned into nothingness.
Gwen slowly closed her eyes, her arms unconsciously wrapping around Arthur's back, her whole body leaning limply in his arms.
At this moment, there were no more bad guys in Ghost Spider's World, nor any more danger.
In her heart, all noise was completely cleared out, leaving only an extremely simple and extremely pure thought between heaven and Earth—
"He kissed me, I am so happy."
Chapter 43 The Gathering [Within Seven Chapters
The night wind, carrying a hint of freshly cooled chill, gently blew through the streets of Brooklyn, sweeping up a few withered fallen leaves on the roadside.
After a long while, the lips of the two that had been tightly pressed together finally parted slowly.
Gwen panted slightly, her short hair scattered somewhat messily across her forehead.
She raised her head, those azure blue eyes that had originally always emanated sharpness and vigilance completely melting at this moment into a pool of tender, spring-like ripples.
Inside, they were misty with moisture, carrying a slight sense of defocus produced by extreme peace of mind.
After being kissed so passionately by Arthur, Gwen felt that her mind was now completely blank.
Those heavy burdens of being a superhero, the struggles about hiding her identity, and the panic about the future were all completely cleared away at this very moment.
She didn't want to think about anything right now, nor did she want to think about anything else; all her senses were entirely concentrated on the man in front of her.
She was like a little kitten that had completely lowered its guard, her body leaning softly, resting the greater part of her weight without reservation against her boyfriend's broad shoulders, greedily feeling the body heat and scent belonging to Arthur.
Looking at her well-behaved and clingy appearance, Arthurcurved the corners of his mouth into a gentle arc.
With a reverse of his hand, he grasped Gwen's hand hanging by her side, his fingers naturally threading through the gaps between hers, their ten fingers interlocking tightly, and then led her slowly walking toward the direction of home.
The two walked side by side on the quiet sidewalk.
Tonight's night scenery was lovely, with not many clouds in the sky, and the bright, clear moonlight poured down from the unshielded canopy of heaven, like laying a soft layer of silver gauze over the ground, also quietly spilling over the bodies of the two leaning against each other, stretching their shadows very long.
During this walk home, neither of them spoke, because any words appeared somewhat redundant in this tranquil and beautiful atmosphere.
When they returned to the apartment, the hands of the wall clock already pointed to late night.
It was late, and the house was quiet.
The two didn't even turn on all the lights, merely borrowing the moonlight and streetlamp glimmer filtering in from outside the window, simply washing up, and then lay embraced on that familiar bed.
Gwen habitually buried her head in the crook of Arthur's neck, her nose tip lingering with the pleasant scent on his body.
In such unreserved mutual reliance, she felt an unprecedented sense of security; not long after, carrying their attachment to each other, the two fell fast asleep accompanied by the even and steady sound of breathing.
Days thus advanced day by day in warmth, and in the blink of an eye, more than a week passed again.
During this period, Gwen's life rhythm suddenly became unusually compact.
Whenever she had no classes during the day, she would be forcibly dragged to the rehearsal room by Mary Jane, the band's lead vocalist, with a flurry of relentless calls.
Mary Jane's reason was very sufficient and unrejectable, because the school's anniversary celebration was arriving immediately.
The "Mary Jane" band was arranged in a very important performance timeslot.
In order to stand out completely in front of all the teachers and students of the school, Mary Jane directly transformed into a strict tyrant, demanding that every single beat must be foolproof.
Therefore, as the drummer who was the absolute backbone of the band, Gwen could only obediently sit behind the drum kit, striking the drumhead over and over again.
When Arthur had nothing to do, he would often carry some snacks and drinks to the rehearsal room to observe her training.
Every time he appeared, Gwen, who usually put on that aloof and cool girl front in front of others, would instantly light up in her eyes.
During the intervals of the songs, she would secretly look past the cymbals toward Arthur, twirling her drumsticks in her hand, staring at him with a gaze full of anticipation and a bit of small pride, as if silently asking, "Was I cool just now?"
And when Gwen went to rehearse and Arthur stayed alone in the apartment, he would put his mind into meditation.
Since Sorcerer Ancient One had temporarily "expelled" him from Kamar-Taj with such a profound and mysterious reason as "the timing is not right", Arthur of course wouldn't just wait around idly like that.
With the experiential foundation of practicing in that ancient building before, he simply sat cross-legged on the carpet of his own living room and turned on self-study mode.
Arthur closed his eyes, trying hard to empty the distracting thoughts in his mind, attempting to capture that free-floating magic energy in space.
Fortunately, his foundation before was laid fairly solidly, coupled with his own temperament being steady enough, now even exploring and self-studying on his own, his speed of entering meditation was also extremely fast.
Although meditating in an ordinary New York apartment was not as efficient as being beside Sorcerer Ancient Oneor being wrapped in the abundant magic atmosphere of Kamar-Taj, it was definitely not without progress.
He could feel his consciousness becoming clearer bit by bit; although the Sling Ring's teleportation magic could still only draw brief miniature spark circles, its stability was slowly improving.
Such a fulfilling and peaceful life passed by in a flash, and soon, the time arrived at the night before the school anniversary celebration.
To relieve the exhaustion of high-pressure rehearsals over the past week or more, and also to cheer themselves up for tomorrow's formal performance, the band specially made a phone call.
Mary Jane excitedly stated on the other end of the phone that everyone should organize a gathering tonight and eat something delicious outside to relax.
Arthur, as a family member, was naturally among the invitees, and he agreed without any hesitation.
At dusk, as the lights first flickered on, colorful neon signs lit up on both sides of the street.
Following the agreed-upon address, Arthur strolled to the front of a small restaurant by the street.
This shop was not too large in area, but business was very prosperous, wafting waves of alluring aromas of barbecue and spices.
Arthur pushed open the glass door and walked in, immediately spotting a group of people sitting by the large round table near the window; several of them had obviously been seated for quite a while.
Almost at the very instant Arthur appeared, Gwen, who had been boredly spinning her water cup, immediately raised her head, a big smile blooming instantly on her exquisite face, and she raised her hand high to wave vigorously toward him.
While responding with a smile, Arthur stepped over.
But when he walked closer and his gaze swept across the figures by the table, he was slightly stunned for a moment.
In the very corner of the round table, sitting right opposite Mary Jane, was a boy wearing black-framed glasses who looked somewhat constrained.
That was impressively Peter Parker, who had just taken over the heavy responsibility of New York's security not long ago.
Seeing Arthur look over, Peter seemed somewhat nervous, and also stretched out his hand to wave somewhat stiffly at Arthur as a greeting.
Arthur felt a bit amused inside, but on the surface, he still very naturally returned a friendly smile to him.
At this time, Mary Jane, sitting beside Peter, saw Arthur's gaze and seemed to guess what he was wondering about.
She cleared her throat somewhat unnaturally, her eyes wandering as she began to explain.
"It's just that when I was coming over, it was on the way, and I happened to see Parker at the street corner. I figured everyone's relations are pretty good, and he was just idling alone anyway, so I simply called him over to eat together."
Mary Jane's explanation sounded quite reasonable, but her slightly flickering gaze and deliberately raised volume had long since exposed her little hidden thoughts completely.
Who present didn't know that this lead vocalist secretly had a crush on that wooden-headed Peter Parker in her heart.
Hearing these words, several bandmates immediately exchanged gossipy glances with each other, and one of the bassists even directly prolonged their voice to egg them on.
"Relations are pretty good, huh~ Even specially picked him up on the way back to eat together~"
Hearing the bandmate's teasing tone, Mary Jane's somewhat heroic-looking face instantly flushed red.
Out of shame and anger, she reached out her hand and lightly gave the egging-on bandmate a completely non-threatening knock on the head, glaring with wide eyes as she loudly retorted.
"You guys shouldn't talk nonsense day in and day out; what good relations, we're just ordinary friends, okay."
Peter Parker, sitting opposite her, evidently took these words seriously, or completely failed to hear the thick tsundere nuance within them.
Originally a bit nervous because he wasn't very familiar with everyone, right now he hastily and flurriedly chimed in.
"Right, right, right, ordinary friends. Um... after all, we've known each other for less than half a month, we really are just ordinary friends."
Completely failing to realize that this sentence of his was practically stabbing a knife into Mary Jane's heart.
Hearing Peter so quickly clear up the relationship, Mary Jane gave an imperceptible, disgruntled eye roll, but forced by face-saving, she could only dryly smile and nod to show agreement.
That bit of emotional tug-of-war on the other side of the table, Arthur just found it amusing watching it.
He pulled open the empty chair beside Gwen and steadily took his seat.
At the very instant he sat down, Gwen, who had still been supporting her chin with one hand beside him, was like a magnet that had finally found its magnetic pole, instantly clinging over.
She completely ignored the little farce happening at this table, nor did she care about the gazes of the surrounding bandmates, directly and very naturally tilting her head to the side, resting steadily and incomparably dependently against Arthur's shoulder.
Not only that, her hand also skillfully felt its way under the table, accurately grabbing Arthur's hand, and then interlocking their ten fingers tightly, pulling his hand to rest on their legs in the middle between them.
Mary Jane, who had just met with a polite rebuff from Peter and was still in a fit of anger, turned her head and saw this unabashed intimate interaction between Gwenand Arthur.
Looking at Gwen's smooth-as-flowing-water shoulder-leaning combined with the ten-finger-interlocking operation, Mary Jane only felt a wave of sweet-and-sour romantic stench rushing right at her face; she simply couldn't stand these two people radiating pink bubbles anytime and anywhere.
Mary Jane directly rolled her eyes heavily at Gwen, her tone carrying three parts banter and seven parts helplessness, pointing at their intertwined hands and complaining.
"I say you two, Arthur has only just sat down, and your hands are already holding? Isn't this too practiced?"
Chapter 44 Mary Jane: When are you guys getting married? [6 chapters remaining]
Sitting in his chair, Arthur didn't even raise an eyebrow in the face of Mary Jane's complaint, which was filled with the bitterness and speechlessness of a single person. Instead, he selectively treated her words like air.
He only tilted his head slightly, his gaze still landing gently on Gwen, who was tightly hugging his arm.
Just at that moment, a muffled sound of footsteps approached from behind and to the side of the round table.
A waiter wearing a restaurant uniform walked over carrying a tray. Arthur's gaze swept casually over the waiter, and his brow furrowed slightly and imperceptibly.
The waiter's attire was really a bit strange in this slightly sultry little restaurant.
He had a black baseball cap pressed down on his head, with the brim deliberately pulled extremely low, almost covering most of his forehead and eyes.
His face was also tightly covered with a large mask, revealing only a pair of evasive eyes, and his entire person exuded an indescribable sense of tension.
Under normal circumstances, Arthur would definitely have immediately raised his vigilance against such a suspicious person, and might even have secretly tested him out.
But in these short few seconds, Gwen beside him had already made a new move.
She paid no attention to any waiter at all, and all her attention was completely focused on Arthur.
Gwen picked up a small plate of snacks given in advance by the merchant on the table, which were a few golden and crispy french fry-shaped pastries.
She pinched one of them with two slender fingers, and handed it very naturally and intimately to Arthur's lips, with a cute and naive smile on her face that belonged only to a young girl in love, gazing at him with bright azure eyes.
Looking at the food Gwen handed to his lips, Arthurinstantly threw that slight doubt about the waiter to the back of his mind.
Anyway, he had talismans on him. No matter what kind of sudden assassination or physical poison he encountered, he had absolute confidence and certainty to easily resolve it, and there was simply no need to ruin the atmosphere at this rare and warm moment.
Therefore, he very cooperatively opened his mouth and gently bit off the small snack Gwen fed him. The crispy texture spread in his mouth, and seeing him eat the food she fed, the smile on Gwen's face became even brighter.
Mary Jane, sitting opposite, watched this scene in its entirety.
She had already been burning with anger because of Peter Parker's words "ordinary friends" just now, and now being forced to watch Arthur and Gwen's uninhibited, sweet feeding up close, the envy, jealousy, and hatred in her heart suddenly surged straight up.
Mary Jane took a deep breath, turned her head, and glanced at Peter Parker sitting directly across from her.
This boy wearing a plaid shirt was holding a water cup with both hands at the moment, staring down at the texture of the table in a daze, looking entirely out of it and woodenly unable to read the room at all.
The sharp contrast made Mary Jane so angry that she couldn't help it. She gritted her teeth, quietly stretched out her leg under the table, and gave Peter Parker's calf a heavy kick.
"Ouch!"
Peter Parker was spacing out when a dull pain suddenly came from his calf.
Although this force was not enough to injure him, it still startled him under completely unprepared circumstances.
He raised his head with a bewildered look, looked blankly at the others on the table, and finally cast his gaze on Mary Jane sitting directly opposite him, his eyes filled with innocence and confusion, completely unaware of where he had offended this exalted lady again.
Looking at Peter's blockheaded appearance, Mary Jane's anger not only did not dissipate, but instead became even more raging.
But constrained by the presence of other people at the table, she could only forcefully suppress the urge to complain, let out a bad-tempered cold snort, and casually found a loophole-ridden excuse to cover it up.
"What are you looking at? Nothing, it's just that my leg went a bit numb and I wanted to move it around down below, and accidentally kicked you, that's all."
Hearing this outrageous explanation, any normal person could hear the perfunctoriness and gunpowder smell inside it.
But Peter Parker happened to be a straight arrow who was dull to the extreme in matters of emotion. Not only did he fail to detect the sulking component in Mary Jane's tone, but instead he nodded earnestly, indicating that he completely understood this situation.
In order to clear up more room for Mary Jane's "numb leg" to move around, Peter very considerately stood up, pulled his chair and moved a long distance to the side, until he was sure he would definitely not be kicked again, before steadily sitting back down.
Watching his smooth-as-flowing-water avoidance operation, Mary Jane was completely dumbfounded.
Her eyes widened, she tightly gripped the cup in her hand, and she was so angry that she almost spat out a mouthful of old blood. Playing the lute to a cow was probably the most realistic portrayal of her right now.
Just as the atmosphere at this table was in a weirdly disjointed state, that waiter wearing a baseball cap had already walked to the edge of the table.
"This is a complimentary beverage from the shop, please enjoy."
The waiter's voice was kept very low and deep, sounding a bit hoarse, as if he were holding something in his throat.
As he spoke, he distributed the drinks in the tray bottle by bottle to everyone at the table.
Placed in front of everyone was that kind of completely opaque aluminum bottle body. From the outside, it was fundamentally impossible to see what kind of liquid was contained inside; there wasn't even a product label on the bottle, only a layer of fine water droplets condensed from refrigeration.
At this moment, Mary Jane was right in the middle of her anger, and only felt a ball of fire burning in her chest.
Without even looking at the appearance of the bottle, she directly reached out, grabbed the beverage in front of her, unscrewed the cap, and poured it into her mouth, thinking of drinking something ice-cold to suppress this nameless anger.
A large mouthful of dark brown liquid poured into her oral cavity.
"Mmm!" Mary Jane abruptly raised her eyebrows, her originally irritable expression instantly relaxed, and her eyes widened slightly, "Iced cola! Delicious!"
The icy, sweet water carrying ample bubbles slid down her throat. This most simple and direct carbonated stimulation somewhat dispelled a bit of the gloom in her heart.
Mary Jane impatiently raised the bottle again and drank several large gulps continuously. The anger from just now was finally suppressed by more than half by the ice-cold carbonated beverage.
Over on Arthur's side, Gwen glanced at the bottle of unknown drink placed in front of her, and hearing Mary Jane say it was cola, she immediately and quietly pushed the bottle further away.
She knew the power of carbonated drinks; there was too much gas in this stuff, and after drinking it, it was very easy to uncontrollably burp.
The mere thought that she might uncontrollably burp a loud cola burp in front of Arthur made Gwen feel that such a scene was simply too embarrassing. For the image of a perfect girlfriend she wanted to maintain in front of Arthur, this was simply a devastating blow.
Therefore, she would rather stay thirsty than ever touch this bottle of cola.
Arthur didn't have as many inhibitions as Gwen, plus he had been a bit thirsty just now.
He picked up the bottle in front of him, unscrewed it, and took a very casual small sip.
It was indeed ordinary iced cola. The ice-cold liquid slid across his throat, bringing a refreshing sense of thirst-quenching.
After distributing the drinks, the waiter didn't linger too much by the table, quickly turned around with the empty tray, and returned to the back kitchen area with slightly hurried steps, without looking at anyone else the entire time.
With a few mouthfuls of ice cola down her stomach, Mary Jane's emotions finally calmed down a bit.
She put down the bottle and swept her gaze once again toward Arthur and Gwen, who were leaning close together.
Perhaps because taking a hit from Peter earlier made her urgently need an outlet to vent, or perhaps because the sticky state of these two people truly stirred up her gossiping soul, Mary Jane directly aimed her firepower at them, her tone carrying heavy teasing.
"Hey, Gwen, I say you two are glued together like a single person all day long, when are you planning to get married?"
As soon as this word came out, the entire dining table instantly fell silent for a second.
Gwen had been happily spacing out while leaning on Arthur's shoulder. As soon as she heard the two words "get married", her whole person reacted as if electrocuted, abruptly straightening up her body.
Visible to the naked eye, her already fair earlobes instantly turned completely red, almost like dripping blood. She widened her eyes and looked at Mary Jane, her tone revealing hard-to-conceal panic and shyness.
"Wha... what getting married! What are you talking nonsense about! Talking about this now... isn't this way too early!"
Facing Gwen's panicked explanation, Arthur did not join in to deny it together.
Instead, he felt this topic was quite interesting, so he freed up one hand, feignedly touched his chin, and put on an expression of deep thought. A few seconds later, he deliberately spoke in a flat tone as if stating a fact.
"The legal age here in the United States, it seems like eighteen is the age for marriage, right?"
This sentence was like dropping a drop of water into a boiling wok of oil, instantly exploding in Gwen's mind.
Hearing that Arthur not only didn't follow her words to reject it, but instead seriously discussed the legal age, the shyness that had previously only reached her earlobes instantly spread like a tidal wave.
A blush rapidly crawled all over her fair neck, and finally her entire cool and dashing face turned into a fully ripened red tomato.
She was so anxious that she threw her usual rock-star coolness to the winds, subconsciously stretching out her fist to gently punch Arthur on the arm.
That force was simply no different from a kitten scratching an itch. Rather than hitting someone, it was more like acting coquettishly.
"What are you talking about!" Gwen blushed, not daring to look into the eyes of the others at the table, lowering her head in protest, "Although there really is this regulation, I clearly haven't reached the age yet!"
When saying this sentence, her voice obviously lacked confidence, and by the last sentence, it was even so soft that only Arthur, who was closest, could hear it.
She lowered her eyebrows and eyes, her lips slightly pouted as if making excuses for herself, yet she couldn't help muttering a sentence in her mouth to supplement.
"... Although it's almost time too."
As soon as these words slipped out, Gwen's thoughts grew wings and completely leaned toward the distant future.
Almost instantly, a picture automatically surfaced in her mind.
In that fantasy picture, she took off the loose hoodies and jeans she wore every day, and even took off the Spider-Man suit that represented responsibility and danger, putting on a spotless white wedding dress with a long train trailing on the ground.
And Arthur wore a well-tailored black suit, smiling gently as he stood at the end of the church waiting for her.
The two of them walked hand in hand into the palace of love amidst melodious music, exchanged vows under everyone's gaze, bowed to heaven and earth, and finally... kissed.
Thinking about this future that belonged only to ordinary girls—the most beautiful, most impractical, yet most yearning for—the focus in Gwen's eyes completely dissipated.
She completely forgot that she was still sitting in a noisy little restaurant full of teammates, and a smile that was extremely foolish yet overflowing with happiness unconsciously emerged on her face.
She just blankly looked at the empty air ahead, the corners of her mouth uncontrollably curling upward, and her whole person was surrounded by pink fantasy bubbles.
Mary Jane at the table, as well as those bandmates who had been holding water cups and acting as spectators, saw Gwen's infatuated appearance of zoning out, and uniformly made the exact same movement.
They simultaneously covered their faces in pain, letting out a helpless sigh, and the expressions on their faces clearly conveyed a message — this child is completely hopeless.
And Arthur, as the focus of the topic, was tilting his head at this moment, quietly watching Gwen who had fallen into silly laughter.
Looking at her blushing cheeks, slightly raised corners of the mouth, and that completely undefended cute and naive appearance, he didn't find it the least bit ridiculous; instead, he felt that Gwen at this moment was simply cute to a foul degree.
Looking at the surrounding teammates' frantic reactions, and then looking at the girl beside him who started daydreaming because of a single word of his, Arthur's gaze became unprecedentedly soft. He silently sighed in his heart, truly the truth in this world is that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.
Chapter 45: Gwen, We Meet Again At Last [Last Five Chapters]
The steaming hot dishes were soon spread all over the not so large round table.
The rich aroma of cheese intertwined with the scent of freshly baked fried food, gradually diluting the pink atmosphere generated by the joke just now, and replacing it with the urgent need to fill their stomachs.
The few people had been hungry for a long time and successively picked up their knives and forks to dig in.
Arthur ate his own ordinary pasta while leisurely helping Gwen cut the steak in the plate.
Gwen, on the other hand, enjoyed the feeding of her boyfriend with peace of mind, occasionally stuffing potato wedges she found delicious into the mouth of Arthur.
However, during this dining process that should have been relaxing, some minor yet completely unavoidable sense of discord appeared.
The few band members sitting nearby, including Mary Jane, would reach out from time to time to scratch the neck or arms.
At first it was just occasional movements, but as the dinner progressed, although the frequency of this scratching was not particularly high, it easily attracted attention.
The slender fingers of Mary Jane scratched hard a few times below the collarbone, and a few clear red marks suddenly appeared on the fair skin. She seemed to feel a bit annoyed, frowning and scratching the other arm instead.
Gwen swallowed the food in the mouth, stopped the movement in the hand, looked at the teammates who were taking turns scratching, and asked with concern what was wrong.
The band members stopped their scratching hands, looked at each other, and shook their heads blankly.
Mary Jane picked up the water cup and took a sip, rubbed the reddened neck indifferently, and casually said, "It might be that the training intensity for the recent school anniversary performance has been too high, and the air in the rehearsal room is not well ventilated. Sweating all over made it stuffy and the body kept itching, and I definitely need to take a good bath when I get home tonight."
This reason sounded very reasonable, and it was common for young people to have skin allergies or itching after high-intensity exercise.
After hearing this, Gwen did not pay too much attention, nodded, and put the attention back on the piece of meat handed over by Arthur.
Everyone had their fill, and Arthur stood up and walked to the bar to pay the bill.
Each of them picked up their jackets and personal belongings, preparing to walk out of the restaurant door.
The night outside had already fallen, and the streetlights on the street exuded a dim yellow halo. Originally, this should have been the most cozy time to return home after ending a tiring day.
Just as they had just walked near the restaurant door and the hands had not even touched the door handle yet, muffled footsteps suddenly came from the corridor leading to the back kitchen.
The waiter who had served them cola earlier walked out sinisterly, directly blocking the only way out for them.
He still maintained that weird attire, with a black baseball cap pressed on top of the head, the brim lowered, and a wide mask on the face, blocking the appearance tightly.
The waiter did not look at Arthur, nor did he pay attention to Mary Jane and Peter in front, but fixed those eyes full of madness and banter tightly on Gwen, who was hiding by the side of Arthur.
He leaned the body forward slightly, and the voice came through the mask, sounding hoarse and suppressed, carrying a creepy questioning tone.
"Miss Gwen, if you were asked to choose between the safety of the World and your friends, what would you choose?"
This sentence had no foreshadowing whatsoever, abrupt like a gust of chilling wind blowing up from flat ground.
The footsteps of Gwen suddenly halted, the azure pupils instantly dilated, and a stream of icy chill ran straight up the spine to the back of the head.
She did not know this waiter at all, but the other party not only called out the name in one breath, but also asked this kind of bizarre question that would only appear in the mouths of those twisted villains.
Before Gwen and the others present could react to this sentence, disaster struck without any warning.
"Boom—"
A deafening roar suddenly erupted on the street outside. The violent Impact accompanied by towering flames tore apart the tranquil night. The large glass display window of the restaurant shattered instantly with a loud crash, and countless sharp glass fragments mixed with scorching heat waves poured heavily into the room.
Arthur reacted quickly, turning back to protect Gwen in the arms, blocking the flying debris.
When the smoke and dust outside dissipated slightly, the scene that came into view made the hearts of everyone twitch violently.
The street had completely turned into hell.
Several mutated Lizard Men, standing more than two meters tall with dark green hard scales all over the bodies, were running wildly out of who knows which sewer or dark alley.
They opened the bloody mouths, revealing crisscrossing sharp fangs, and a casual sweep of the thick tails could smash cars parked on the side of the road flat and deformed like toys.
Pedestrians on the road fell into complete panic, and shrill screams tore through the night sky.
The crowd fled in all directions like headless flies, pushing and trampling on each other.
But how could human legs possibly outrun these monsters?
A bulky Lizard Man leaped up abruptly, the heavy body landing heavily on the roof of a fleeing car, directly crushing the entire roof inward.
The huge claws easily tore open the car door, dragging out a middle-aged man inside who did not have time to escape.
The miserable scream of the man pierced the sky, but in the next second it was replaced by a teeth-aching tearing sound.
The Talon of the Lizard Man directly tore off one of the arms alive, and blood spewed like a fountain onto the wall of the nearby building, startlingly shocking.
Another passerby fell to the ground due to weak legs, and before getting up, was stepped on the chest by a Lizard Man chasing from behind. Accompanied by the dull sound of a shattered sternum, that passerby stopped convulsing on the spot.
This one-sided slaughter without any mercy pushed the four words tragic in the extreme to the absolute limit.
In front of this nauseating bloody scene, the face of Peter Parker instantly tightened, and the teeth were clenched tightly.
As a superhero who had always fought crime in this city, every cell in the body was screaming wildly to stop all this.
The fists were clenched tightly, and the body trembled slightly due to anger and a surge of adrenaline.
He could not just watch these unhuman ghosts and monsters slaughtering innocents on the street with his own eyes.
But the current identity was just an ordinary high school student, and he had to figure out a way to escape quickly and put on that Spider-Man suit.
In the urgency, Peter suddenly bent down, covering the stomach tightly with both hands, the facial expression twisted together, pretending to be in unbearable pain.
He shouted at the top of the lungs.
"Oh my god, my stomach hurts so much, I cannot take it anymore, I need to go to the bathroom. You guys stay here well and absolutely do not go out."
After saying these words, he did not even dare to look at the stunned gaze of Mary Jane, turning around directly and running towards the depths of the restaurant, while running, he pretended anxiously to ask the waiter blocking the aisle for the direction of the bathroom.
However, the exact moment Peter tried to bypass the waiter, the waiter who had been staring at Gwen suddenly moved.
He suddenly reached out a hand, clasping the shoulder of Peter tightly like an iron pincers, forcefully stopping him in place.
Immediately afterwards, a strange laugh that gave people goosebumps burst out from the throat of the waiter.
"Jie jie jie, kid, you are one of my experimental materials after all. I cannot just let you run away like this."
This inexplicable sentence stunned everyone present. What experimental materials?
Without giving everyone time to think, the free other hand of the waiter suddenly grabbed the baseball cap and mask, pulling them down forcefully.
The covering objects fell to the ground, and an aged face, gullied like withered tree bark, exuding endless gloom and madness, was exposed under the dim light.
Those sparse hair and muddy whites of the eyes revealing murderous intent, as well as the neurotic sneer at the corner of the mouth, all demonstrated the danger of this person.
The moment seeing this face, Gwen, protected in the arms of Arthur, had the pupils sharply contracted to a dangerous pinprick size.
The complexion turned as pale as paper within a second, devoid of any color.
That terrifying memory buried deep in the bottom of the heart, which tortured every night, rushed into the mind frantically like a dam with its valve opened.
This was the face of Norman Osborn.
However, this absolutely could not be the Norman Osbornof this World.
Having lived in this World for so long, Gwen certainly knew that Osborn of this World was in his prime, a suit-wearing ambitious man who could never have such an aged and decayed terrifying appearance.
This face, that crazy look, completely belonged to the Green Goblin of another Universe.
Norman completely ignored the shocked gazes of others, released the hand holding Peter, and cast the malicious gaze back at Gwen, who was already expressionless and bloodless.
He split the shriveled lips, revealing an extremely vicious smile, and slowly said with that glass-scraping harsh voice.
"Ghost Spider, it has really been a long time. You did not expect it, did you? I actually came along with you to this World."
This sentence was like a blockbuster bomb, directly exploding a violent storm in the mind of Arthur.
Came to this World together.
What does this mean?
The gaze of Arthur turned stiffly, looking at the girl in the arms whose lips kept trembling and whose breathing had even become fragmented.
This cool girl who pestered all day for hugs, always blushed hypocritically, and secretly sneaked into the window with injuries late at night to seek comfort, turned out not to be an indigenous person of this World.
Turns out this girl was also a transmigrator.
The brain of Arthur was running at high speed. In the past period of time, he had met Peter Parker and also seen Gwen as Ghost Spider.
He naturally applied the superficial understanding of the Marvel multiverse, feeling that this should be a parallel Universe modified by magic where two Spider-Men were born simultaneously.
He felt this was a routine operation of the Marvel World, just a World line possessing dual spiders.
Until this moment, Arthur suddenly came to a realization.
Was it true that all along, this was just his own arbitrary and preconceived absurd idea?
Gwen was not a person from this World at all!
She, just like that Old Green Goblin, was an outlander who crossed over from a Universe of another dimension and accidentally crashed into this World that originally had its own predetermined destiny trajectory!
Arthur took a deep breath, and the shrill screams around and the wild laughter of the Old Green Goblin seemed to move away from the eardrums at this moment.
His gaze locked tightly onto the pupils of Gwen, which had lost focus due to extreme fear, and the various clues in the heart finally pieced together completely under the Impactof this sentence.