PFC Chapter 3952 MU Superbody Major Event (32)
Chapter 3952 MU Superbody Major Event (32)
Chapter 3952 MU: The Superbody Incident (Thirty-Two)
"Long Island blackout..."
On the rooftop of a Manhattan skyscraper, Schiller stared at a message on his phone screen, muttering to himself. He pulled out his binoculars and looked towards Long Island. But the distance was too great; he could only vaguely make out the coastline.
Besides the tranquil resort area, that region also boasts a famous bar street. Neon lights shimmer in the night. The surging hormones, deafening music, and the exhilaration brought on by alcohol are palpable even in Manhattan.
Schiller withdrew his gaze and continued scanning Brooklyn and Queens with his binoculars. A short while later, he spotted a figure swinging above the traffic.
Without hesitation, Schiller put away his binoculars, picked up his sniper rifle, aimed at the spider silk shimmering with a faint golden light in the streetlamp illumination, and pulled the trigger. "Bang!"
Tonight, Spider-Man has fallen from grace once again—physically.
Spider-Man, who had just grabbed the web, seemed completely unprepared for it to snap. Before he could launch the next web, he tumbled to the ground, rolling several times before finally getting up, covered in dust.
He stood by the roadside, looking around blankly, before remembering to go back to where he had just fallen. He searched carefully around the area and finally found a shiny bullet under a streetlamp.
Sniper bullets are so thin and long, they're incredibly easy to spot. Spider-Man thought for a moment, then looked in one direction. Unfortunately, the tall buildings piled up one after another, piercing the clouds, and he couldn't see anything from there.
Spider-Man instinctively stretched out his arm, intending to shoot webs to swing himself up, but he paused, then withdrew his hand and ran to the roadside to wave: "TAXI!"
Fifteen minutes later, Spider-Man got out of the car. The taxi fares in Manhattan were painfully expensive, and even at midnight, traffic was terrible. By the time the car caught up, the guy who shot him with a sniper rifle would probably be long gone.
Spider-Man stood by the roadside, sighed, and looked around. Several firing lines appeared in his field of vision. Finally, he chose the most likely firing point and climbed up the building's floors.
As soon as he got up there, he saw someone sitting on the edge of the rooftop with a sniper rifle, waiting for him.
Spider-Man couldn't help but say, "Dude, if you've been waiting for me this long, it means you're not in a hurry at all. So why did you have to shoot me with a sniper rifle?"
“I didn’t shoot you,” he said. “If I had really aimed at you, your spider-sense would have reacted.”
"You aimed at the spider silk, and my spider sense reacted, but it was too weak for me to notice. What do you want from me? Let me make this clear first, I will not cooperate with a professional assassin like you. Whatever you want to do, find someone else."
How did you know I was a professional assassin?
"Oh my god," Spider-Man said with an indignant expression, "Do you mean you're holding a fire poker? Or did you break off a steel handrail on the subway the other day?"
Schiller stood up, slung his sniper rifle over his shoulder, and took off his hat. The night wasn't clear enough; the moonlight was obscured by clouds, preventing Spider-Man from seeing his face clearly. Although he felt a sense of familiarity, Spider-Man couldn't place him.
“I want to ask you something,” Schiller said. “What happened with the Long Island blackout?”
Spider-Man's movements visibly stiffened. He subconsciously touched his wrist, then gently stroked his neck, before saying, "That was me and Electro..."
“Sir,” Schiller interrupted him, “you don’t really think this thing in my hand is a fire poker, do you?”
Schiller picked up the sniper rifle again and brought the scope close to his eye. In that instant, Spider-Man's spider-sense went off with a sharp alarm, and he almost jumped up on the spot.
"No, no, no! Put the gun away! You can't shoot me! I mean, I... I really... I just..."
Spider-Man stammered for a while, gesturing and jumping around as if he'd done a breakdance. Finally, he lowered his arms in frustration and said, "I told you I couldn't do it. I'm really bad at lying. I didn't do it at all, why should I admit it? I've had enough!"
After saying that, he walked to the edge of the rooftop and sat down, curled up his knees, rested his chin on his knees, and looked at the brightly lit Manhattan nightscape. He said, "The news says it was me and Electro who did it, right? They say he lost control during the fight with me, which caused the blackout, but that's not the case at all."
"Then what happened?"
"More than that, I want to know who you are."
Schiller, standing behind him, said, "Don't worry about it. Maybe I'm just an ordinary person who wants to know the truth?"
“Then I’ll assume you are,” Spider-Man took a deep breath and said, “I shouldn’t have helped them cover it up in the first place. It was a stupid decision. If anything goes wrong, I’ll be held responsible. I’m really suffocating.”
“Tell me,” Schiller said, “if you feel that this place cannot provide you with a sincere confession, we can go to church.”
“Forget it, the pastor at the church my aunt goes to is awful, I don’t like it there at all,” Spider-Man sighed. “It was an accident, but it wasn’t caused by anyone losing control, or rather, it was all out of control from the beginning.”
"what is going on?"
"I don't know the whole story, I'll only say what I know. There's a lab there that's ostensibly researching particle energy weapons, but in reality, they're doing human experiments."
"Human experiments?"
“Yes,” Spider-Man said, taking a deep breath, “they use all sorts of high-energy particles to bombard the human body in an attempt to transform human life forms.”
Schiller narrowed his eyes slightly.
"They say this is a search for a path to higher-dimensional life. Once successful, all of humanity can directly ascend and no longer be trapped in the material world, but can directly become ion life."
“Absurd,” Schiller said.
"When I first learned about this concept, I also thought it was absurd, but what's even more absurd is that there are situations in this world where a blind cat catches a dead mouse."
"Don't tell me they succeeded."
"Actually, no, it's just that probability played its part and produced a miracle that shouldn't have happened," Spider-Man said, taking a deep breath. "Someone successfully transformed."
"Who?"
"That's not important. What's important is that they succeeded."
"He was transformed into an ion life form?"
"Yes."
"He's the one who caused this accident?"
“That’s the problem,” Spider-Man said, emphasizing his words. “Logically, changing life forms only changes the body; the mind shouldn’t change. But the moment the transformation was successful, he lost control.”
"Out of control?"
“Yes, but I think he was hacked,” Spider-Man paused before continuing, “It was a complete conspiracy. Something used this experiment to create a more perfect body for itself. Since then, no one has been able to restrain him.”
"What is that thing?"
Spider-Man remained silent.
“Tell me, Peter, what is that thing that has invaded the ion life?”
Upon hearing his real name, Spider-Man shuddered. He stood up and turned incredulously to look at the person behind him. The distance was close enough, the light bright enough, that he could finally see the person's face clearly.
"Dr. Schiller?!"
“It’s me,” Schiller nodded.
“No,” Spider-Man said somewhat warily, “you are not him. He is not that young. You are his counterpart.”
"If you insist on understanding it that way, that's fine, but we are all Schillers."
"That's different. Some Iron Man and Captain America in different universes are bad. I won't just trust anyone because of their identity. What are you doing here?"
“Investigate this,” Schiller stepped forward and said. “The truth will come out eventually, Peter. Electronic life from your universe has invaded the multiverse of the next world, and it has killed many people.”
At that moment, Spider-Man seemed to shatter. Although his body was still standing on the edge of the rooftop, his soul seemed to have fallen and shattered into pieces.
He slowly squatted down, covered his face with his hands, and said, "I really made a mistake. I shouldn't have hidden it. I should have told them sooner."
“This is not the time to be sad,” Schiller said. “Tell me everything you know, I need to know everything about the origin of this electronic life.”
Spider-Man squatted there for a few minutes before speaking, "It all started with the formation of the Avengers..."
“Stop,” Schiller had to interrupt him, breaking the solemn atmosphere, “Why don’t you start from when humans learned to make fire?”
“But we really have to start from here,” Spider-Man said, sounding aggrieved, “because it was Dr. Pym who proposed forming a superhero team, and that’s how the Avengers came to be…”
"Okay, the point is Dr. Pym, not the Avengers. What did he do?"
“No, the point is the Avengers, because Dr. Pym works for the Avengers,” Spider-Man retorted.
"Okay, then tell me, what exactly happened to the Avengers?"
"The Avengers are nothing, it's Doctor Strange," Spider-Man said.
"Why is it turning into Doctor Strange again? Can you please get to the point?"
"They're all important!" Spider-Man couldn't take it anymore. He stood up, walked up to Schiller, spread his hands, and raised his voice, "Since you want to know everything, don't interrupt me, otherwise how am I supposed to know what you want to know?!"
“Alright,” Schiller sighed, “Go ahead and say it, I promise I won’t interrupt you.”
Spider-Man glared at him and then said, "About six months ago, Doctor Strange approached the Avengers, hoping they could help him gain a leadership position in the potential multiverse alliance."
"Actually, this is very difficult because he has many powerful competitors, such as the Sorcerer Supreme in the central universe, Iron Man from another universe, and other Doctor Stranges, all of whom are very difficult to deal with."
"However, Doctor Strange also said that our universe is special and has a pivotal position in the universe. However, perhaps because we were born too late, most superheroes are not strong enough and it will be difficult for them to cope with the diverse competition that may come next."
"The members of the Avengers were also anxious about this, so they proposed a 'Multidimensional Enhancement' plan, which is to strengthen the overall power of the universe and become more united."
"The plan started off very well. We renegotiated with the mutants, eased tensions with them, even started some cooperation, and established contact with the Inhumans, and then Asgard..."
"But even that would only put us on par with other universes. We want some advantages that are unique to our universe. But the superpowers of superheroes have a limit, and it's difficult to keep improving them."
"So we decided to upgrade the Avengers' hardware. Dr. Pym suggested that we could create an artificial intelligence to help the Avengers work better."