Chapter Fifty: The Osborne Ecological Simulator

After pondering for a long time and failing to come up with a reason, Zhong Shenxiu simply decided to stop thinking about it. He was a pragmatist; as long as something was useful, that was enough—there wasn't always a need to understand its inner workings.

Wanda had expended about four to five thousand points of Zhong Shenxiu's chaos magic to create this puppet. Its duration would likely last three or four days. Though its expression was wooden, under Wanda's control, at least staying home shouldn't be a problem.

As for the gangs, Zhong Shenxiu had already informed them days ago, telling them not to come around for the time being, with the excuse that he had been struck by a sudden illness and couldn't use his superpowers for now.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents monitoring him had long since been slacking off.

Thus, this sleight of hand was unlikely to be exposed.

There was also Peter.

According to Ben Parker, the kid had signed up for the second month of the Osborn summer camp and had become much braver than before. So for the time being, Zhong Shenxiu was free from Peter pestering him every day to teach him fighting skills.

All in all, Zhong Shenxiu could now begin preparing for his planned trip to Russia.

He was going to Russia to find someone: Anton Vanko.

The scientific genius from Iron Man 2, who, with a pile of junk, managed to build a reactor and a crude whip-armored suit.

Zhong Shenxiu needed this man to help him create a machine for locating the Space Stone.

————

Inside the large forest ecological simulation chamber at Osborn Biotech.

Peter Parker was dressed in a brand-new camouflage uniform, a recent gift from Aunt May. His pockets bulged to the brim—not with compasses, magnesium rods, or knives, but with beef jerky, cookies, and other snacks.

After all, he wasn't here for true wilderness survival.

He had simply agreed to join a summer camp organized by Osborn called "Hands-on Familiarization with Animal Habits and Wilderness Knowledge."

Peter had barely managed to catch the last session. While he had always enjoyed science camps like this, he had long been terrified of wilderness survival, convinced that the outdoors teemed with man-eating monsters and danger lurking everywhere.

That was why he had always refused to attend.

But now he was much better, thanks to something Xiu often said to him—a phrase that had left a deep impression:

"A true man never backs down from a challenge!"

Peter didn't fully understand the meaning of these words, but he could sense the fearless spirit behind them. So, in the end, he decided not to run away anymore but to face things bravely.

With renewed determination, he entered the vast simulation chamber, whose boundaries were nowhere in sight. He eagerly followed the teacher, asking questions left and right, and with just as much enthusiasm...

...he lost the group!

It really wasn't Peter's fault. Ever since he had taken Xiu's advice and started exercising daily, a routine that had lasted a month now, his stamina and overall fitness were nothing like before—or so Peter believed.

So, carrying his heavy backpack, he quickly grew impatient with the slow pace of the other students and began walking faster and faster.

Until, when he finally looked back, everyone had disappeared.

Hmm... It seems they're all lost, Peter thought.

But he wasn't worried at all. According to Gwen Stacy, the pretty blonde from his class who had already spent a month here:

"This place is Osborn's state-of-the-art indoor forest simulation chamber. There are cameras everywhere. If you get lost, they'll find you in no time."

With that in mind, Peter wasn't worried about his classmates running into danger.

Lugging his heavy backpack, Peter began searching for a flat patch of land to set up camp. If only there was a stream nearby, he thought to himself.

Along the way, Peter encountered all sorts of strange little creatures—even several green snakes—but all of them were harmless. He'd read an encyclopedia in advance and could almost always tell at a glance whether something was venomous.

There was, however, one odd detail:

There were an awful lot of spiders.

Jumping spiders, white-faced huntsman spiders, flat spiders, orb-weavers, black-striped garden spiders—species that shouldn't even be able to survive in this climate or environment, Peter encountered them all along the way. This piqued his curiosity for quite a while.

He studied and tracked a few, but found nothing unusual, so he gave up and returned to his goal of finding a clearing beside a stream to set up camp.

Suddenly, the sound of rushing water caught Peter's attention. He tugged at his earlobe and listened intently, trying to pinpoint the direction of the flow.

After a quick assessment, Peter locked onto a direction and dashed off, his feet rustling through the dead leaves. After a month of tough training, every time he ran, Peter felt as if he'd become the wind itself, sweeping across the land and moving in tune with nature...

"Why do you look so blissful just from running? And what's with the weird 'heh, heh, heh' laughter?" a voice interrupted Peter's self-absorption, full of disdain.

Peter immediately felt embarrassed...

It was like being caught acting out a fantasy in public.

He hesitated for a moment, then decided to look up and explain, "I was actually..."

"It's you!"

The moment Peter saw the doll-like, delicate face and golden hair not far away, he recognized her instantly.

It was his classmate, Gwen Stacy!

Oh no... Peter wanted to run away in embarrassment. If there's one true social death, it's being caught in a childish moment by a classmate...

A phrase from Xiu suddenly echoed in his mind: "Don't panic when trouble comes—just face it head-on!"

Emboldened by this holy writ, Peter felt much better. He decided to go on the offensive, keeping a straight face as he asked, "What about you? Are you here alone?" He noticed Gwen was by herself as well.

"It was too boring following the others—no challenge at all. Don't you find the idea of surviving in the wild with nothing but your own hands exhilarating?"

Gwen clenched her little fists, her gaze trembling slightly as she looked into the distance.

"...Not really," Peter started to reply, but seeing the fierce, tiger-like look in Gwen's eyes, he wisely swallowed the words.

"Where's all your stuff?" Peter noticed Gwen was also in a fitted camouflage outfit, but her large pack was missing.

Gwen pointed ahead and said, "I've already set up camp. All my things are in the tent."

"I just came out to see if I could find some wild fruit, or maybe a snake—last month I tried roasting one with salt and cumin. It was delicious!"

Looking at his old classmate from behind, Peter felt that even in this short absence, Gwen seemed to have changed a lot.

She seemed... even more ferocious than before...