"They investigated pretty thoroughly. I thought gangsters wouldn't look into things that carefully." Accompanied by the child lawyer, Shen Fei sent the police away and quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
"They almost traced it back to me. Luckily, my current age gave them no way to pursue it further." Although Shen Fei had considered things carefully, that was only what he believed. In fact, he had made quite a few mistakes when he left. For example, York's car had been parked right there.
Fortunately, that place was poor and chaotic, a gathering ground for gang members. By the time the fire trucks arrived, most of what could burn had already burned, and nothing left behind could be traced back to Shen Fei.
That had been Shen Fei's purpose in setting the fire.
After all, everyone had been shot to death, and several had even been shot in the head. To claim it had been done by a youth like Shen Fei, they would need to find Rebecca as a witness.
Even so, the police who came to question him still raised several doubts. Fortunately, they were only doubts, and with the lawyer beside him, even though Shen Fei could not fully explain them, the police did not dare make a big issue out of such a minor matter. They could only leave empty-handed.
Come to think of it, that was thanks to how few surveillance cameras there were in America. Especially in that area before—there had not been a single camera.
It was not that the government had never installed any. It was just that if they installed one today, it would show up in a secondhand market tomorrow, sold for cash. The people around there were very skilled with their hands.
York's death left Shen Fei an orphan once again. He should have been sent to an orphanage, but because York's inheritance went to Shen Fei, and because Shen Fei was not at an appropriate age for an orphanage, after some discussion, Shen Fei was allowed to live on his own. Of course, he still had a guardian.
"Yeah!" After everyone had left, Shen Fei could not help shouting excitedly. A two-story villa with a yard, plus nearly five hundred thousand dollars in savings—it was all his now.
"Good thing there's this five hundred thousand, or I really would have been broke. That guy actually had no savings at all." Strictly speaking, the only inheritance York had left Shen Fei was this house. The five hundred thousand was compensation from Umbrella Corporation, along with a car that was neither new nor old.
"Come to think of it, you sold me for just three thousand dollars. It would have been against the Heavenly Principles not to kill you." After taking care of everyone, Shen Fei had looked at the stack of cash. It seemed like a lot, but it was only three thousand dollars.
"Private schools are really expensive." Shen Fei had already discussed schooling with the Children's Organization and the lawyer. Private schools, especially good ones, charged extremely high tuition.
For Shen Fei, if he was going to attend school, he naturally had to choose a private school. Public schools might have cheap tuition, but their educational resources were far inferior.
So Shen Fei chose Midtown School of Science and Technology, Spider-Man's school. It was also not far from Queens, which made it convenient.
As for stealing Spider-Man's opportunity and gaining Spider-Man's abilities for himself, Shen Fei had considered it, but it was unrealistic. The Marvel Universe was extremely prone to mutations. Batman, Hulk, Electro, Sandman, and the like—it seemed as if anyone exposed to radiation could mutate.
But in reality, the odds were incredibly low. Ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent of people exposed to radiation would not mutate. They would die.
Human genes were extremely stable and did not change so easily. Just as a person would not turn into Chicken-Man after eating chicken or getting pecked by one, nor would they become Dog-Man—or a single dog—after getting bitten by a dog.
There had been far too many coincidences behind Peter Parker becoming Spider-Man, and those coincidences could not be replicated. Rather than trying to steal Peter's opportunity, it would be better to study his body after he became Spider-Man.
"Kamar-Taj, the Himalayas." Aside from all kinds of Enhancement Serum and advanced technology, another power in the Marvel Universe was magic—the Ancient One.
Kamar-Taj's magic was very peculiar. For most people, it meant flicking a hand and sending out a fireball. But the Ancient One's lineage used magic to form weapons of every shape, then rushed in to slash at their enemies.
A mage who did not want to fight in close quarters was not a good mage.
Just like a warrior who did not want ranged attacks was not a good warrior.
Of course, that was not what Shen Fei desired most. What he wanted most was Kamar-Taj's teleportation magic and Mirror Dimension magic. With sufficient strength, teleportation magic could transport someone across planets. Doctor Strange had used it to return from Titan to Earth.
That was what he truly wanted to learn. It was just that Shen Fei had no way to go to Kamar-Taj yet. Otherwise, he would have gone looking for the Ancient One long ago. Who would still be here attending school?
Kamar-Taj did not seem to impose any special restrictions on outsiders who wished to learn magic. Shen Fei thought opening a Portal across planets like Doctor Strange was a little exaggerated, but even teleporting across distances of a hundred or a thousand meters would be incredibly powerful.
A year later, Midtown School of Science and Technology.
The moment Shen Fei stepped into the hallway, he was stopped by three people ahead of him. The four then went to a corner, where Shen Fei took out three items and handed them over. In return, each of them gave Shen Fei a stack of cash.
"Figures. Figurines are the most profitable." Shen Fei smiled as he tucked the money into his backpack.
Over the past year, Shen Fei had come up with a way to make money: selling figurines. They were all exquisite handmade figurines. With the power of the Op-Op Fruit, Shen Fei had become something of a celebrity at school—a nerd.
Compared to academic grades, girls in America preferred sports stars. Football, basketball, and so on—as long as you were good at them, you would be very popular with girls. Cheer captain was one of the most fiercely contested positions among the girls, to the point where they practically tore each other apart.
The openness here was truly astonishing. Even after a year, Shen Fei had not completely adjusted to it.
Naturally, Shen Fei became the school oddball. People like him were usually the most likely targets for bullying, and school bullying was extremely serious here.
Even Peter, Spider-Man, had received such treatment.
After all, Peter was also a nerd. Before becoming Spider-Man, Peter had been a very smart person.
But while nerds were unpopular among students, teachers still liked them. They could receive full scholarships.
Likewise, those with excellent athletic ability could receive athlete scholarships.
Athletes here were truly popular. Whenever a famous athlete came to school, huge numbers of girls would go welcome them. Some might even offer themselves up.
Naturally, Shen Fei did not care about any of that. If he wanted to, making it into the Olympics would not be a problem at all.
As for school bullying, after Shen Fei directly knocked down three of the school's toughest bullies at once, no one dared trouble him again.
"I never thought I'd make this much money." Looking at the balance in his account, Shen Fei was startled. Just by selling figurines, he had actually earned fifty thousand dollars.
Thanks to the power of the Op-Op Fruit, Shen Fei's handmade figurines had become quite famous in the industry. He received large numbers of orders through websites, at school, and even at anime conventions.
Unexpectedly, Captain America figurines sold the best. Some people had even commissioned life-sized Captain America figures.
"Damn, another failure. So close again." Shen Fei shook his head disappointedly as he looked at the spider silk that snapped the instant it was pulled. In order to recreate Spider-Man's webbing, he had wasted a great deal of time and money. Although he had produced plenty of decent webbing, none could match Spider-Man's durability.
Beep, beep, beep.
Hearing the sound from the computer beside him, Shen Fei immediately went over to check. He pulled up the chat window and saw that they were discussing tonight's operation. Shen Fei smiled and shook his head before replying, "Stop looking for me. I'm out."
Without waiting for anyone else to respond, he left the group chat and deleted the messaging software.
Over the past year, besides studying, Shen Fei had browsed many Hacker Forums in order to learn computer skills. Eventually, he joined a hacker organization: Rising Tide.
It was an organization he knew very well, a hacker group that claimed its guiding principle was uncovering and exposing truths hidden by the government. Of course, that was only meant to fool those who believed it. In truth, it was no different from other hacker organizations: they worked for money.
But because Rising Tide was good at maintaining its disguise, it had a high reputation in the hacker world.
Shen Fei had joined in order to learn advanced computer skills. Now that he had acquired those skills, he naturally intended to leave.
Staying in Rising Tide would not have been bad. After all, the hacker organization was well-informed. But Shen Fei was leaving now.
After using hacking skills to create a false identity and passport, Shen Fei decided to carry out the goal he had set long ago: Kamar-Taj.
He had learned hacking for two main reasons. One was this; the other was artificial intelligence. Stark had Jarvis, after all.
"I hope the Ancient One is easy to talk to." After posting a notice on his online figurine store that business was temporarily suspended, Shen Fei picked up his backpack and left.
P.S. Spider-Man's timeline is such a mess. It's giving me a headache.
Before you continue