Restart, Spider-Man!

Chapter 225: Restart, Spider-Man! [225]



Universe 14512.

Under the cover of night, the neon-lit streets of New York gleamed with vibrancy. Amid the bustling glow of the city, a giant silver glass orb slowly ascended into the air.

"Ahahaha! Descend into madness!"

From within the orb came a maniacal laugh, followed by two mechanical arms extending from the glass. Their palms released a dense green gas into the atmosphere.

"Whoosh—"

In an instant, the mysterious gas spread, engulfing the surrounding crowd. People exposed to it quickly fell into chaos.

"What is this?"

"Oh my god, what a horrifying creature!"

"Stay away from me, you freak!"

"Don't eat me—no!!"

As a couple began beating each other senselessly, other pedestrians, disoriented by the hallucinogenic gas, started perceiving everyone around them as monsters.

"Run!"

"The monsters are coming!"

"Please, don't eat me…"

"Stay back!!"

The chaos turned the streets into a frenzied stampede, with panicked citizens colliding like headless chickens. The rapid spread of the gas led to multiple trampling incidents.

Amid the confusion, a short-haired girl ran against the tide, heading straight for the massive glass orb.

"Strange creep, you're not getting away this time!"

"Let's do this!"

The girl leapt high into the air, the red-and-blue glow of a mech gleaming faintly in the moonlight. The cockpit of her mech opened, and she flipped gracefully into the pilot's seat.

A small black-and-red spider bit down on her hand, instantly establishing a psychic connection between them.

"SP//dr, activate!"

"Click—"

The triangular eyes on the mech's face lit up, snapping open.

A virtual interface appeared before the girl, and with a series of rapid taps, the mech raised its arm and launched a missile.

"Boom!"

The red-and-blue missile streaked toward the glass orb, which made no effort to dodge. The missile hit its target squarely.

"Kaboom!!"

A terrifying heatwave rippled out, accompanied by an explosion of flames that shattered the glass of nearby buildings in an instant.

Yet when the fire subsided, only a crater remained. The massive glass orb was nowhere to be seen.

"What?"

Peni Parker's face hardened. She reached into her pocket, popped a piece of bubble gum into her mouth, and steadied herself.

"This time, I won't lose to you."

Determined, she tapped furiously on her interface, triggering an infrared scan of the surrounding buildings. Finally, she located the hidden glass orb in the corner of a street.

"Peni, the crowd has been evacuated. Go all out!"

In the command center, Aunt May, clad in a uniform, cheered Peni on.

Behind her, Norman Osborn frowned grimly.

"Is the antidote for the hallucinogenic gas ready yet?" he asked.

Ben Parker shook his head regretfully. "Not yet. It'll take time."

Norman exhaled heavily. "Peni will have to handle this on her own."

"She'll succeed."

"Wait—something's wrong! The infrared scan picked up a decoy! The hallucinogenic gas misled her!"

Aunt May's gasp echoed as the red-and-blue mech was struck by the glass orb and sent crashing into a nearby building.

"Crash, crackle—"

Amid flying debris, the glass orb vanished back into the void.

Peni's mech sparked with electricity, arcs dancing across its battered frame. The chest plate had taken significant damage, leaving a deep dent.

"Damn it! That thing's too big! Our mech is only four meters tall—it's no match for that thing's strength!" Aunt May scowled.

Ben Parker rushed to the console, gripping the communicator tightly, his face etched with tension.

"Peni, can you hear me? Don't trust your eyes. The gas is messing with your perception. Use your instincts!"

Aunt May groaned loudly, throwing up her hands in frustration.

"You've watched too many movies! 'Use your instincts'? How is she supposed to fight without looking? She'll get destroyed!"

Ben shrank back. "I don't have any other ideas…"

"Bring her back!"

Norman stepped forward, taking a deep breath. "We can't afford reckless sacrifices. Given that thing's behavior, it'll leave soon enough. Until we've developed the antidote, Peni shouldn't pilot the mech anymore."

"But…"

Aunt May started to protest but was interrupted by Ben's startled cry.

"Yelling won't help—look at the screen!"

"What is it now?" Aunt May snapped.

Ben pointed to the monitor, where a red-and-blue figure had appeared on the street.

"That's…"

Aunt May's expression shifted as recognition dawned.

"It's Spider-Man! Peni's friend from the other universe!"

"Spider-Man?"

Norman squinted at the screen before shaking his head. "I didn't expect Spider-Man to show up here. But it won't matter. Mysterio's orb is massive. If Peni couldn't take it down, Spider-Man without a mech definitely can't."

"No… not necessarily."

Ben's eyes remained fixed on the screen. "Peni said there's more than one Spider-Man. And one of them is incredibly powerful. If it's him…"

He didn't finish, but the hope in his eyes burned brighter.

Amid the wreckage, the red-and-blue mech slowly pulled itself free from the rubble.

"Click—"

The battered mech, smoke rising from its damaged joints, knelt heavily on the ground. Inside the cockpit, Peni Parker caught sight of the approaching Spider-Man.

"That's… the metal suit. It's him!"

Her eyes sparkled with renewed hope.

At the same time, a colossal glass orb, dozens of meters in diameter, emerged from the fog, descending ominously.

Inside the cockpit, Mysterio sneered at the approaching figure.

"A miniature mech?"

His lips curled in disdain.

"That thin layer of metal won't protect you. Do you think that cheap suit can stop me? How naive."

With a cold laugh, he directed the glass orb to hurtle toward the tiny figure.

"Boom!"

The wind roared as if a meteor had crashed to Earth.

On the orb's smooth surface, Xia Luo caught a distorted reflection of himself, smiling faintly.

"This world's Mysterio… interesting."

Xia Luo chuckled. Without urgency, he raised his hand and summoned the little spider from the void.

"Chomp!"

"Click—"

The spider's fangs pierced his skin, and a radiant burst of magical energy erupted around him.

"What?!"

Just as the orb was about to crush him, the nanotech webbing on Xia Luo's suit shimmered with intricate magical patterns.

"One punch will do."

With a calm declaration, Xia Luo drew back his fist and slammed it forward.

The sheer force of the impact shattered the pavement beneath him into a spiderweb of cracks. Debris shot into the air as the immense power rippled outward.

"Boom!"

The glass orb trembled violently as the raw energy coursed through it, shattering its once-impenetrable surface into countless fragments.

"Crack—"

The shards of silver scattered across the sky, glimmering like a cascade of stars in the light of Xia Luo's magic.

Inside her mech, Peni stared at the spectacle in disbelief.

"He's gotten even stronger!"

Back in the command center, the others were equally stunned.

"That's impossible! How can so much power come from such a small body? That's not scientifically possible!"

"What is that energy? How does he even have something like that inside him?"

"My god, this is unbelievable…"

The astonishment spread among the researchers, their eyes glued to the screen.

On the shattered street, Xia Luo lowered his fist as the remnants of the glass orb, now reduced to a ten-meter core, disappeared into the hallucinogenic mist.

Xia Luo frowned. He hadn't managed to destroy it with one punch—a fact that irked him.

Inside the mist, Mysterio seethed, his teeth grinding.

"Damn it! You'll never defeat me!"

With a swipe at his virtual controls, Mysterio released an even denser cloud of hallucinogenic gas, which quickly enveloped Xia Luo.

"Careful! That stuff messes with your vision!" Peni shouted.

Xia Luo shrugged in response.

The pale blue glow in his eyes dimmed as he lowered his head, his movements faltering, as though he might collapse at any moment.

"Huh?"

The sudden change left everyone watching in confusion.

"What is he doing?" Aunt May frowned at the screen.

Ben Parker stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I think… he's asleep."

Aunt May glared at him. "Don't make me slap you right here."

Ben shrank back, flashing an apologetic smile. "Thank you, my dear, for sparing me this time."

Norman Osborn cast a sidelong glance at Ben, unimpressed, before refocusing on Spider-Man's still figure on the monitor.

"My guess is that this is some sort of special ability."

"Special ability?" Aunt May asked skeptically.

"Look out!" a voice from the control room shouted.

On the screen, massive glass orbs rained down like meteors, descending from the sky in a nightmarish spectacle.

---

On the chaotic streets, Peni Parker's face went pale as the apocalyptic barrage began.

"Get out of the way!" she shouted.

The orbs were too numerous, and there was no way to tell which one contained the real Mysterio. If any of them struck Spider-Man without his mech, he'd be crushed instantly.

But as each glass orb came crashing down, slamming into the ground with violent force, they vanished like illusions.

It was all a trick.

Xia Luo's body remained motionless amidst the chaos, unresponsive to the phantom onslaught.

Still, everyone watching knew that if he didn't act soon, one of those orbs would eventually strike true.

"Boom!!"

A thunderous explosion rocked the street as the real glass orb landed, shattering storefronts and sending debris flying in every direction.

"He got hit!"

The command room fell silent, the grim reality setting in.

But Aunt May suddenly stood up, her eyes wide.

"No—look! He dodged it!"

"What?"

"How could that be? He actually dodged it?"

The room erupted into astonished murmurs.

As the dust settled and the camera refocused, Xia Luo's red-and-blue figure emerged near the crater left by the orb, his head still bowed. No one could explain how he had avoided such a devastating attack.

"This is… unbelievable."

Aunt May's voice was filled with awe, echoing the sentiments of everyone else in the room.

In her mech, Peni Parker's eyes narrowed in realization.

"He closed his eyes… He's feeling everything around him."

Uncle Ben was right after all.

Inside the glass orb, Mysterio was losing it.

"Damn bug! How is this happening? How did he…"

His rant was cut short as the orb suddenly quaked violently.

Xia Luo's eyes flashed a vivid blue, his soul fully reawakened. He slapped a wrist device, activating a glowing Pym Disk left behind by Scott Lang.

"Buzz—"

"Boom!!"

Before their eyes, the red-and-blue figure began to expand rapidly, growing to an enormous height. Within seconds, he had transformed into a 50-meter-tall giant.

"Roar!"

The neon lights reflected off the towering figure, whose nano-metal suit gleamed brighter than ever.

On a nearby high-rise balcony, J. Jonah Jameson nearly choked on his cigar.

"What in the—?! Is that an Oscorp mech?"

His eyes bulged as he gawked at the massive figure. The cigar fell from his mouth unnoticed.

Moments later, his expression morphed into one of manic excitement as he barked into his phone.

"Get the team working overtime! I want to know who's piloting that mech, and I want the story by morning!"

"Boss, it's already late…"

"There's overtime pay."

"…On it, sir!"

Back on the battlefield, Xia Luo's massive fist descended with unstoppable force.

"Crash!!"

The glass orb was driven deep into the ground by the sheer impact.

"Noooo!!"

---

Inside the orb, alarms blared:

"Warning: Critical damage—50% system failure."

"Warning: Critical damage—70% system failure."

"Warning: Critical damage—90% system failure. System shutdown imminent. Evacuate immediately."

The escape pod ejected violently, crashing to the ground. Mysterio, bloodied and battered, crawled out of the hatch, gasping for air.

"Too… terrifying… It's too terrifying…"

His trembling eyes remained fixed on the red-and-blue giant looming above. The lingering hallucinogenic gas from the shattered orb seeped into his body, amplifying his terror.

Nearby, Peni's mech cockpit opened with a hiss.

She leapt out and approached Mysterio, her eyes narrowing in recognition.

"It's him!"

Her expression shifted to one of disbelief.

The man before her was one of her overly enthusiastic fans—a face she vaguely remembered.

So… he went through all this trouble because I refused to take a photo with him? Seriously?

Peni groaned, covering her face. This is absurd.

---

Meanwhile, Xia Luo's towering form shimmered as he reverted to his normal size.

He looked at the vibrant young girl in front of him, a hint of surprise on his face.

"If I'm not mistaken, the last time we met, you were still in elementary school," he remarked.

Peni gently petted the small black spider on her hand, grinning cheekily.

"I was, Uncle Xia Luo. But I'm in high school now."

Xia Luo: "…"

"I'm only a few years older than you," he muttered, his face darkening.

Peni nudged Mysterio's unconscious body aside with her foot, her curiosity piqued.

"But I thought you were ten years older than me."

"And you didn't call me Uncle back then, either."

Tapping the spider emblem on his chest, Xia Luo deactivated the nano-metal suit, revealing his youthful face.

"This universe's timeline must be moving faster. It's only been a few months since we last met."

"Wow, you still look so young!"

Peni leaned in, playfully pinching his cheek as her big eyes sparkled with wonder.

"Amazing!"

Xia Luo slapped her hand away. "Rude! Now, come here and let Uncle check your body."

"Ahhh! Pervert!"

"Wait, no! That's not what I meant—"

"Don't even think about it!"

---

T/N: YOOOOO SOMEONE COME GET THE POLICE

Ahem! Gather close, esteemed audience! Do you comprehend the privilege of basking in my radiance? Truly, you're witnessing history in the making—a performance unparalleled in the annals of Fontaine!

Ah, but don't get distracted! Let me be clear: this brilliance isn't conjured from thin air. No, no, no! It requires effort, dedication, and… well, a touch of your generosity. If you fancy being part of something truly extraordinary, do step forward here: [patreon.com/WiseTL].

Oh, but wait! You're probably wondering, "Furina, how can someone as magnificent as you need assistance?" To that, I say: why deny mortals the honor of contributing to such greatness? Supporting me is supporting art, and who doesn't want to say they were instrumental in a legend's rise?

Now, off you go. Make your offerings, and perhaps, perhaps, I'll acknowledge you in my next soliloquy!

— Furina ✨


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