Time flew by, and nearly half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
"Our hero—Superman—has not appeared before the public for several days. Yet because of Superman's existence, crime throughout the city has dropped by eighty percent. The president has even publicly stated that he intends to personally present Mr. Superman with the World Peace Prize..."
"Oscorp Industries reached a cooperation agreement with the military the day before yesterday and will soon provide them with more futuristic individual combat equipment..."
"Stark Industries established its Bio-Genetic Laboratory several days ago. According to people nearby, bloodcurdling screams can often be heard coming from inside at night..."
"Billionaire Tony Stark has not appeared in public for nearly a month. According to a Mysterious Person, he has actually been kidnapped..."
Peter casually glanced over the newspaper printed that very morning. Without question, Superman's name had once again claimed the front page headline.
Thanks to the media and newspapers constantly spreading the word, nearly everyone—from Eighty-Year-Old Grandfathers to Three-Year-Old Children—had heard of Superman.
Every day on his way to school, Peter could hear passersby talking about him.
However, it did not have much of an impact on his life.
He still attended school as usual during the day and made time to visit the Antarctic Secret Laboratory at night.
After the energy problem had been resolved, research into the Nano-Suit progressed smoothly. It could now condense into the form of a suit, though the Nanoparticles were still rather slow at doing so.
It took several full minutes for its molecular structure to stabilize completely and take shape.
Meanwhile, Reed and the other scientists were working on ways to increase the speed at which Nanoparticles constructed Molecular Structures.
As for Tony, after successfully creating the Arc Reactor, he had begun working on the algorithms needed for the Nano-Suit's various transformations.
In short, Peter's Nano-Suit would be completed after a little more time.
Although it was the weekend, Peter had been invited to attend a special Technology Exhibition before school ended yesterday.
Gwen's New Mentor was preparing to showcase the Latest Scientific Achievement he had spent more than a decade researching, with the media present to witness it.
Sure enough, this world was always hostile toward Spider-Man.
She had just lost one mentor who might have become a villain, yet she had found another professor who would also become a villain to serve as her mentor.
On the way to the exhibition, Peter could not help feeling mentally exhausted on Gwen's behalf as Spider-Woman.
Perhaps she was this world's Child of the World. Trouble always seemed to seek her out on its own.
Still, Doctor Octopus's Artificial Sun was much more appealing to me.
The only reason Peter had agreed to attend this special Technology Exhibition was because he needed to personally confirm something—something extremely important to him.
Could an Artificial Sun, like the real sun, grant me the power to grow stronger?
At the same time, inside a Hospital Ward decorated in a retro style.
A perfectly built man lay on a hospital bed. Even with only a vest on, the powerful outline of his muscles was clearly visible.
A Vintage Radio was playing a baseball game from long ago.
Suddenly, the man on the hospital bed began trembling violently.
He kept muttering something under his breath, as though he had fallen into some bad memory.
The next moment, his eyes snapped open, and he instantly sat upright in bed.
"Where... is this?"
He swept his doubtful gaze repeatedly over the Hospital Ward around him.
"This game?"
As he listened closely to the familiar commentary coming from the radio, his already puzzled expression became even more serious.
"Good morning, Captain Rogers."
A nurse wearing a vintage nurse uniform walked in and greeted the newly awakened man with a smile.
"Where is this? Who are you?"
The man looked at the nurse with wary eyes, his tone somewhat cold.
"This is a Surgery Recovery Room in New York..."
The nurse answered without hesitation. After all, this really was New York City, except...
As the Vintage Radio announced the final result of the baseball game.
The man, who had remained relatively calm until then, finally could no longer keep his composure.
"Where exactly am I? What kind of place is this?"
He rose to his feet. His height of nearly 1.9 meters and his incredibly powerful muscles formed an intense sense of oppression without him even trying.
"I don't know what you're talking about..."
Confronted with his questioning, the nurse's expression turned somewhat flustered.
"This game was held in May of 1941."
"I know, because I was there!"
The man continued pressing the nurse. At that moment, his expression had turned fierce.
Bang!
The next moment, the door was suddenly smashed open. Two armed personnel rushed inside and charged at the man.
Though he had only just awakened, as the battle-hardened Captain America, his strength and combat skills were far beyond those of ordinary people.
He easily dealt with the two armed personnel.
Steve Rogers rushed out of the suspicious Hospital Ward without hesitation.
He then found himself in a lobby filled with staff members.
Looking at the unfamiliar people and surroundings, Steve finally realized that he seemed to have arrived in a place he could barely accept.
The next moment, in order to figure out where he was, he charged straight out of the lobby and onto the bustling street.
Inside the lobby's surveillance room, Nick Fury and Coulson watched without blinking as Captain America rushed out of the lobby on the monitors.
"Director, why didn't you take my advice and use a baseball game from another year? Why did you deliberately leave behind such an obvious flaw?"
Coulson was somewhat confused. He had clearly warned Nick Fury that, as a baseball fan, Captain America might already know the course and result of a 1941 baseball game. Why had he insisted on using it anyway?
"Coulson, what we need is a Captain America who can accept reality as quickly as possible, not an injured man who has just awakened and needs psychological treatment."
"Some things are easier for him to accept if he discovers them himself rather than hearing them from us."
"Come on. It's about time we went to meet this old relic!"
At that moment, Steve stood on the bustling street.
As he looked at the towering buildings around him and the footage constantly playing on the giant screens—showing Superman flying through the sky as he fought a fierce-looking Green Monster—his face was filled with shock and disbelief.
"Is that Superman?"
Watching Superman unleash his signature Heat Vision in the sky, Steve's worldview completely collapsed at that moment.
He did not know whether those images were from a movie or real events.
He only sensed that he had apparently slept for a little too long.
Suddenly, countless black cars surrounded him.
A man wearing an eyepatch, with not a single hair on his head and looking like a black hard-boiled egg, slowly walked up to him.
"Don't be nervous, Captain."
"I apologize for that little performance earlier, but it would be best if we let you learn everything gradually."
Hearing Nick Fury's words, Coulson's face twitched involuntarily.
No wonder he was the director...
"You've been asleep for roughly seventy years."
"During that time, this world has undergone tremendous changes, changes that have almost certainly surpassed your imagination."
As Steve listened to Nick Fury's explanation and learned that seventy years had passed, he thought of Carter, who had still been waiting for him to return so they could dance together. An incomparably sorrowful expression appeared on his face.
"I missed it once..."
Boom!
A massive rainbow pillar of light suddenly descended from the sky.
"Do the changes beyond my imagination that you mentioned include that guy holding a hammer?"
Before the grieving Steve could even finish his sigh, he pointed behind Nick Fury and asked about the figure clad in silver armor, crackling with lightning.
P.S. A new week of recommendation slots is coming up soon. I hope everyone can keep reading every day until the latest chapter!
Thank you, everyone! Kowtow: thud, thud, thud!
Before you continue