Chapter Sixty-One: Peter's Doubt

This was unreasonable.

First of all, Peter Parker simply shouldn’t be here right now, and besides, his timing was far too coincidental. Even supposing all this could be explained, that would mean Peter had left the Oscorp summer camp early and, by sheer chance, arrived at Zhong Shenxiu’s door at the exact moment he returned home. The odds were minuscule—like winning the lottery.

Because of this, Zhong Shenxiu didn’t open the door immediately. Instead, he summoned his “True Sight Eye” to observe the area around the room. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, he began to examine the identity of the person outside his door.

[Name: Peter Parker]
[Combat Power: 803]
[Acquirable Abilities: Bioelectrical Charge (15% chance), Spider Sense (1% chance)]
[Combat Advice: He’s quite tough... Recommend using your wits; going head-to-head won’t end well for you.]

Upon seeing this information, Zhong Shenxiu was stunned.

Wtf?

It really was Peter Parker. And what was going on with this kid? Had he already been bitten by the spider and successfully mutated? Did he already possess spider powers?

Zhong Shenxiu felt a bit dazed; all of this seemed surreal. For a moment, he even wondered if he’d been in Moscow for a long time, otherwise how could everything have changed so suddenly?

When he’d heard Peter was going to Oscorp, he’d actually considered this possibility—wondering if Peter would come back from Oscorp changed, turned into Spider-Man. He hadn’t expected his words to become prophecy.

But Peter was so young—this didn’t make sense. Zhong Shenxiu recalled that even in the comics from his previous life, Peter Parker was only bitten and began to change in high school, never at such a young age. To mutate at ten years old—he’d never seen a story like this.

Suddenly…

Zhong Shenxiu realized it might be because of him—the butterfly effect. Peter had always been timid as a child. Gwen had mentioned that when the teacher announced both she and Peter would be attending the Oscorp summer camp, Peter’s first reaction was to refuse. In other words, under normal circumstances, Peter would never have attended the camp.

But he did this time—mainly because Zhong Shenxiu had been instilling in him the philosophy of “don’t back down, just do it,” which had greatly improved Peter’s timid nature.

That’s why he’d finally gathered the courage to go.

Thinking along these lines… it really might be largely due to me, Zhong Shenxiu thought to himself.

He didn’t dwell on it further. Instead, he opened the door.

There stood little Peter, still so short, but now standing straight at Zhong Shenxiu’s door, his eyes bright and full of energy. It was summer, and he wore a white T-shirt. With his vision greatly enhanced by the Chaotic Physique, Zhong Shenxiu could easily see the powerful, explosive muscles on Peter’s small forearms.

He was completely transformed.

No wonder people say, “The rich rely on technology, the poor on mutation.”

With this mutation, even Peter’s entire bearing had changed.

After discreetly sizing him up, Zhong Shenxiu withdrew his gaze and naturally joked, “What brings you here? Weren’t you supposed to be at that Oscorp summer camp? Don’t tell me you got scared and snuck home?”

But Peter didn’t answer directly.

He just stared at Zhong Shenxiu, lost in thought, as if looking for something, utterly absorbed.

After a while, he finally snapped out of it, scratched his head, and said, “It’s the Oscorp Wilderness Survival Simulation Camp. I didn’t run home—the camp was canceled.”

While he spoke, Peter’s gaze kept wandering, as though troubled by something.

This kid is still so green… Zhong Shenxiu quietly took in all his little gestures, then stepped aside and waved towards the old sofa inside, saying warmly, “Come in, don’t just stand there.”

“Mm.” Peter nodded softly, entering and sitting gingerly on the sofa, as if afraid any sudden movement would be too much.

Looks like he hasn’t fully mastered his newfound strength yet; the superpowers must have just appeared, probably during the Oscorp camp.

Zhong Shenxiu noted the small movement and made a mental note.

He sat down beside Peter and asked, “Why did such a big company suddenly cancel the camp?”

He intended to coax out some information first.

But Peter didn’t answer. His eyes remained wide, fixed on Zhong Shenxiu.

“What is it? Is there something on my face?” Zhong Shenxiu laughed.

Only then did Peter hurriedly lower his head. After a moment of silence, he spoke again: “Xiu… are you real right now?”

What?

Hearing this, Zhong Shenxiu felt as if a thousand alpacas were galloping through his heart, but he kept his composure and joked, “What kind of question is that? If I’m not real, am I a ghost?”

“I…” Peter’s small face twisted with indecision for a moment. Then he took a deep breath and continued, “Xiu, actually, I already came here once just now. But after a while, I left again, because I realized that what I saw then wasn’t really you.”

“Oh? And what made you come to that ridiculous conclusion?” Zhong Shenxiu countered.

“I ‘saw’ it. Something happened to me that I can’t really explain—I don’t know if it’s good or bad. But my eyesight is much stronger now; I can see the subtle movements of tiny muscles beneath your skin.”

“When I came by just now, no matter what you did, your muscles didn’t move at all.”

“So I went home. But when I heard movement here again, I thought I’d better come back. Xiu, are you really yourself right now?” Peter asked again.

With those words, Zhong Shenxiu understood where the flaw lay.

Indeed, a puppet substitute made from chaotic magic, with only the outward appearance, could hardly imitate the subtle muscle movements of a real person. In most cases, no one would notice this detail. It was only because Peter had just mutated and his senses had been greatly heightened.

Still, this served as a reminder: Wanda’s chaotic magic puppet substitutes just weren’t reliable in front of super-powered beings with greatly enhanced physical functions.

“Did you mention this to anyone?” Zhong Shenxiu kept his face neutral, gently asking Peter.

“No,” Peter shook his head. “All the weird things happening to me—I haven’t told anyone.”

“Xiu, are you a super-powered person too?” Peter suddenly looked at him with hope.

So the kid was looking for a kindred spirit… Zhong Shenxiu thought to himself.

Indeed, for a ten-year-old who’d undergone such a drastic change, fear, anxiety, excitement—all these would drive him to seek answers. The quickest way would be to find someone else with superpowers.

A ten-year-old Spider-Man… handled well, this would be a tremendous asset. And if they got along, he could keep profiting—Spider Sense was a godly skill, and he coveted it dearly.

After quickly processing the current information and mapping out his next words, Zhong Shenxiu nodded and smiled at Peter.

“Yes, I am.”