A Chance Encounter with Max

It was an ordinary day. Chen Changsheng and Gwen were out shopping.

Ever since Tony Stark returned, Little Pepper had thrown herself into her hectic work as an assistant, while Gwen had become free. So what the hell was an assistant's assistant supposed to count as?

As they strolled down the street, sharp-eyed Gwen noticed a tiny black dot in the sky, trailing a long flame as it flew into the distance. Gwen immediately grabbed Chen Changsheng's hand excitedly and said, "Jack, look, a shooting star! Let's make a wish."

Following the direction of Gwen's finger, Chen Changsheng indeed saw a figure that looked like a shooting star. But with Chen Changsheng's extraordinary eyesight, he only had to adjust his focus slightly to see the meteor's true form.

A figure clad in red-and-gold armor—wasn't that Iron Man? Who knew where he was going? He actually dared to take off in public. Wasn't he afraid the US Military would mistake him for an unidentified flying object and shoot him down?

Chen Changsheng gently rubbed Gwen's hair and said softly, "That's not a shooting star. It's a person—a conceited person..."

Chen Changsheng was about to say more when he heard some other sounds. He stopped, took Gwen's little hand, and led her deeper into the street.

After finally getting the chance to stroll around with Gwen, Chen Changsheng had no intention of letting anyone disturb them.

Several blocks away, Spider-Man Peter Parker was also swinging through the streets of New York, looking for people who needed help.

The Spider-Man of today had made stopping crime his mission, spending every day upholding justice in New York.

It was just that Chen Changsheng had recruited Dr. Lizard and Doctor Octopus into Umbrella Corporation. Without any powerful opponents, Peter seemed to have far too much free time.

Peter still enjoyed himself, though. That was the fun of being a superhero—upholding justice. How could anyone call that boring?

That day, Peter was still swinging between the skyscrapers when, carried by the wind rushing past his ears, he heard police sirens several blocks away.

"One, two, three... eight. Good heavens, eight police cars! Looks like there's a big case. New York City's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is on the way!" After shouting, Peter quickly changed direction and headed toward the sirens.

"Set up a roadblock on Fifth Avenue and cut off his escape route!" George loudly gave orders from inside the police car.

The radio constantly carried reports on the criminal's location, guiding the pursuing officers toward their target.

As Peter swung past an intersection, he finally caught up with the main police force.

Looking at the endless line of police cars and hearing the sirens echoing across New York, Peter felt his blood begin to boil.

This was exactly the feeling he wanted—the feeling of being needed by the people of New York.

"I'm here... yahoo!" Peter swung from two webs, spouting endless wisecracks as he passed George's police car and charged toward the rampaging truck ahead.

George, sitting in the car, watched the red figure flash past and involuntarily twitched the corner of his mouth. At the same time, he cursed inwardly, Damn Spider-Man. The NYPD's going to get chewed out again tomorrow...

Swinging through the air, Spider-Man watched the heavy truck barreling recklessly ahead. He fired a web, leaped high, and landed steadily on the truck's cargo bed. The impact was quiet, but it still caught the robbers' attention.

Hearing the disturbance, the robbers simultaneously raised their heads warily and carefully examined the roof. Although there was no further sound, the large dent in the roof explained plenty.

One robber tentatively shouted, "Who is it?"

"It's me, New York City's friendly neighborhood Spider—whoa!" Peter had not even finished speaking when he received an answer. A burst of machine-gun fire made him yelp repeatedly, but not a single bullet hit him. Instead, the entire roof was riddled with holes.

"Is he dead?" The robbers exchanged glances, but there was no response.

Just as the two men relaxed, a voice rang out, accompanied by a red figure bursting through the roof.

In just a few moves, Spider-Man threw the robbers out through the large hole in the roof. Two long webs shot out after them, leaving the robbers dangling from a streetlamp by the roadside.

After casually securing the various valuable items inside the cargo bed, Spider-Man leaped out and crawled toward the cab.

The speeding heavy truck showed no concern for innocent civilians. As it charged forward, normally driven cars were knocked this way and that, while countless ordinary people screamed and ran to the roadside before stopping to watch the thrilling battle between the police and criminals...

On the sidewalk not far away, a Black man was picking something up from the ground. Wearing headphones, he was completely unaware of the chaos unfolding nearby.

Just as the truck was about to hit him, Spider-Man leaped forward and rescued the dazed Black man from beneath its wheels.

Seeing the Black man looking utterly bewildered and still unaware of what had happened, Spider-Man chattered, "Hey, brother, you doing okay?" As he spoke, Peter grabbed the man by the shoulders and shook him hard.

When the Black man realized that Spider-Man had saved him, he first stared blankly. Then he began repeating, "Oh, my God. Spider-Man saved me. I actually saw Spider-Man."

Seeing that the Black man seemed mentally unwell, Spider-Man casually shot out a web and snatched the man's glasses into his hand. He put them back on the man and said, "Everyone is indispensable. From now on, you're my informant."

With that, Spider-Man swung off after the truck that was speeding away. It was only a small interlude. Spider-Man still had more important things to do.

One police car after another sped past, finally drawing Gwen's attention as she tried on clothes inside a store. Always fond of watching the commotion, Gwen unhesitatingly pulled Chen Changsheng out of the clothing store, ready to join the crowd of spectators.

Chen Changsheng could not help feeling helpless. He had originally wanted to take Gwen somewhere far from the danger, but he had never expected her to move closer to it instead.

When Chen Changsheng and Gwen left the clothing store, they happened to see police cars howling past one after another, sending newspapers flying in the wind.

The moment Gwen saw one of the cars, she pointed at it and said to Chen Changsheng, "Look, that's my dad's car."

Chen Changsheng glanced over and immediately saw George inside the police car, his head covered in sweat.

Just as Gwen was about to say something, a Black man nearby suddenly cursed, "Hey, those are my blueprints! You can't do this!"

Chen Changsheng and Gwen looked over at the same time. A Black man was picking up blueprints scattered across the ground after being blown there by the speeding police cars.

Gwen had seen her father's car send the man's blueprints flying, so she immediately walked over to help him gather them.

Chen Changsheng followed to help as well. When he handed the blueprints back to the man, he happened to see the employee badge on his chest.

"Osborn Industries, Electrical Engineering Department, Engineer, Max Dillon."

Wasn't this Electro? Well, for now he was just a loser. Looking at his greasy hair and protruding front teeth, Chen Changsheng seemed to understand why his supervisor always bullied him.

"Thank you both. Without your help, I would have been picking these up for a long time. It's all those cops' fault. They don't care about civilians at all, driving recklessly with taxpayers' money." Max was clearly still angry about the police cars. His fear of speaking with strangers also made him blurt out whatever came to mind.

After hearing Max's words, Chen Changsheng and Gwen exchanged a glance and both gave awkward smiles. The NYPD really had acted like a bunch of animals, but my future father-in-law was a police officer too...

Max seemed to realize that his words had caused a misunderstanding between them, and immediately regretted them. After all, in his entire life, he had rarely encountered strangers who took the initiative to help him.

While Max considered how to ease the awkward atmosphere, Chen Changsheng smiled and spoke first. "What you said isn't really wrong... ow."

Before Chen Changsheng could finish, Gwen had already pinched his arm. In daily life, Chen Changsheng always adjusted his body to be no stronger than an ordinary person. Thus, when Gwen pinched him, he felt it. Although it did not hurt, Chen Changsheng still pretended to be in pain.

Chen Changsheng's exaggerated act caught Max's attention, while Gwen grew somewhat embarrassed. As she smiled helplessly, she also gave Chen Changsheng an elegant eye roll.

"Just kidding, Max. Don't take it to heart." Seeing his girlfriend's embarrassment, Chen Changsheng took Gwen's hand and apologized to Max at the same time. He did not want Max to feel that he was taking their relationship lightly.

"Why are you apologizing to me? Oh, my God, you know my name!" Max was puzzled by Chen Changsheng's apology, but in the next moment, his confusion was swept away by the delight of discovering that someone knew his name.

Max was somewhat at a loss. This was the first time in decades that a stranger had remembered his name. Usually, it was only his coworkers, who took advantage of him and bullied him.

Seeing Max like this, Chen Changsheng comforted him. "Don't be nervous. I only saw it on your employee badge. Max, do you work at Osborn Industries?"

With his wealth of experience dealing with strangers, Chen Changsheng quickly won Max over. Max felt as if they had known each other for years, and in no time, he treated Chen Changsheng as his closest friend.

Chen Changsheng also came to regard Max as a friend. He even abandoned his shopping plans with Gwen, turned around, and walked off with Max as they discussed New York's power grid.

When it came to professional knowledge, Max was clearly an expert. He explained every aspect of the power system fluently, while Chen Changsheng's memories also contained related knowledge. As a result, the two found themselves growing more engrossed in conversation.

When he finally said goodbye to Max, Chen Changsheng saw the resentful look in Gwen's beautiful eyes and could not help laughing. So the genius girl Gwen could get jealous too.

Gently cupping Gwen's little face and rubbing it, Chen Changsheng said, "Don't underestimate Max. He designed half of New York's entire power system."

After hearing Chen Changsheng's words, Gwen was somewhat stunned. In her eyes, Max was merely an unremarkable, greasy middle-aged man. She truly had not expected that someone who looked so ordinary could be so capable.

Holding Gwen's hand, Chen Changsheng and Gwen resumed their unfinished shopping trip. The future was still beautiful.

Back to Spider-Man. After catching up with the heavy truck again, Spider-Man quietly crawled onto the top of the cab. Then he suddenly stuck his head out and shouted with a mouthful of wisecracks, "Hey, buddy, where are you going?"

Spider-Man's sudden appearance gave the robbers a huge fright. In their panic, one of them slammed on the brakes, leaving a long skid mark on the road.

"Eeeee..." Amid the drawn-out screech of the brakes, Spider-Man was flung off the roof and crashed heavily into a roadside shop.

Because of the sudden braking, the robbers' heavy truck was also tightly boxed in by the NYPD.

After surrounding the robbers, the NYPD began shouting, "You're surrounded! Surrender immediately..."