Over the past few days, Peter had constantly felt like someone was watching him.
This feeling started after he met Marcus. Although his spider-sense wasn't reacting, he was highly suspicious that Marcus was stalking him.
"I know you're there, Marcus! Come out!"
In the laboratory, Peter suddenly spun around to look behind him, but there was nothing there—no sign of anything unusual.
His startled behavior alarmed Dr. Otto, who was finishing his research.
"Hey Peter, what's been going on with you lately?"
Peter had been in terrible shape these past few days—constantly jumpy, like someone suffering from severe anxiety.
This made Peter's work performance awful. Previously, Peter could always offer brilliant suggestions, but now he seemed to be suffering from paranoid delusions.
"Uh... sorry Dr. Otto, I've been out of sorts recently."
Ever since Marcus had revealed his identity, he'd been like this.
Seeing Peter's apologetic expression, Dr. Otto stepped forward and patted his shoulder gently.
"It's nothing, kid. My research is almost complete. You should go home and get some proper rest. I'll let you know when we're ready to start the experiment."
In Peter's current state, continuing research was impossible—it would create serious safety hazards.
Instead of letting Peter help with research, it was better to send him home for a few days of rest to recover.
"But..." Seeing Dr. Otto's expression, Peter hesitated, then nodded. "Okay, Doctor. I'll go home, but you have to notify me when you're preparing for the experiment!"
As a gifted science student, Peter didn't want to miss this groundbreaking experiment.
If Dr. Otto's experiment succeeded, Earth would enter a new era—an age of nearly unlimited energy.
After leaving the laboratory, Peter changed clothes in an alley, put on his Spider-Man suit, and quickly climbed a tall building.
"How the hell did he figure it out?"
Peter sat on the rooftop, asking himself. He couldn't understand—he'd been so careful hiding his identity, yet Marcus, a complete stranger, still knew his real name.
Looking at New York's busy traffic below, Peter felt completely lost and could only head toward his home in Queens.
Meanwhile, Marcus was walking down the street with a burger.
Although New York was similar across different worlds, there were still differences.
The Avengers world had Stark Industries, and technological development was obviously more advanced. Here, it looked more like New York in the '90s.
"My connection with New York really runs deep."
After finishing his burger, Marcus looked around with a smile.
"Help!!! Robbery! He stole my purse!!!"
A high-pitched female voice suddenly rang out. Marcus looked over and saw a dark-skinned vagrant rushing toward him with a very expensive-looking leather purse.
"Oh, really doesn't matter which world—there are always petty criminals robbing people in broad daylight."
"Get out of my way!"
The purse-snatcher brandished a knife, threatening anyone who stood in his path to clear an escape route.
Such threats were quite effective against other people, but for Marcus, they had zero deterrent effect.
Seeing the vagrant charging toward him, Marcus casually lifted his foot and kicked the guy to the ground.
"Your body's obviously capable—why do you only think about getting something for nothing?"
As he spoke, Marcus grabbed the vagrant's wrist and with slight pressure, took the knife away.
After examining the blade carefully, Marcus raised his eyebrows with interest.
"This is actually a nice knife, shame it belongs to trash."
Click, click, click
With the sound of high heels hitting pavement, the woman whose purse was stolen ran over.
"Oh, thank you... thank you so much."
The woman was well-dressed—clearly well-to-do.
"Don't mention it."
Marcus smiled and waved dismissively, then looked up to see a swinging figure approaching.
"Oh, here comes our little spider."
Following Marcus's gaze, the woman also spotted Peter flying toward them. Recently, Spider-Man's reputation had spread throughout New York.
Everyone knew this Spider-Man who claimed to be New York's friendly neighborhood hero was one of the good guys. They heard almost daily about criminals defeated by Spider-Man and left hanging from streetlights.
This calmed the woman down—she knew that with Spider-Man around, this street robber couldn't possibly escape.
"Yo, little spider! Help me string this guy up!"
Marcus smiled and waved at the approaching Peter, still firmly pinning the vagrant under his foot so the man couldn't move.
Peter, who'd been swinging between buildings, was obviously startled to hear Marcus's voice and nearly let go of his web in shock.
Thump
Landing lightly on the ground, Peter glanced at the smiling Marcus, then at the vagrant being pinned down and unable to move.
"Didn't you already catch him? Why do you need me to hang him up?"
He didn't understand Marcus's thinking—why make him hang the vagrant when they could just wait for police to arrive?
But Marcus didn't explain, instead kicking the vagrant toward Peter.
The guy reeked, and Marcus didn't want to wait around with him for police. Plus, Marcus didn't have identification for this world yet—if he got questioned, that would be problematic.
Seeing the vagrant rolling toward him, Peter had no choice but to shoot webbing and hang the street robber from a nearby lamppost.
Seeing the vagrant strung up, the woman finally lost her composure. She swung her recently recovered purse and started beating the hanging thief.
"Hmm... an American tradition, haha!"
Looking at the suspended vagrant, Marcus laughed and placed his hand on Peter's shoulder.
Feeling the hand on his shoulder, Peter instinctively wanted to pull away. He felt very uneasy around Marcus.
This guy was too strange—Peter didn't want much contact with him.
"Relax, I'm not a bad guy. By the way, want a burger?"
The burger had tasted good, and Marcus wanted to chat with Peter.
"Um..."
Peter hesitated. He hadn't had a burger in ages—all his money was going toward Aunt May's birthday preparations.
"Don't hesitate, my treat. How about we chat while we eat?"
"Okay, I actually have some questions for you..."
With that, both left the scene, leaving only the woman beating the vagrant with her purse.
Soon after, on top of a tall building, Marcus and Peter sat on the edge eating freshly bought burgers.
"I need you to explain something—how do you know my identity?"
Taking a big bite of his burger, Peter asked Marcus while chewing.
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