Little Spider

Heisenberg spared a moment of sympathy for the scum who had long since flowed into the sewers, then began savoring the feeling of suddenly becoming rich.

More than six hundred thousand units of Origin Matter!

How should he spend it?

For a moment, Heisenberg hesitated. Should he exchange it for one Audrey Hepburn, or ten Audrey Hepburns?

Ahem...

They were all fleeting clouds. How could he be such a shallow man?

He should prioritize eliminating his Kryptonite weakness.

"System, eliminate my genetic weakness to Kryptonite!"

"Yes!"

In the time it took to say one sentence, Heisenberg had one less weakness...?

This... really was no fun at all.

He had spent a little over forty thousand units of Origin Matter, leaving around five hundred thousand. What should he do with that?

Should he... return to his hometown as he had once considered?

Of course. Heisenberg always followed through on what he said!

But not now. There was no need to be in such a hurry.

He had not even finished eating!

By the time he finished his meal, Heisenberg felt a touch of regret.

He was sick of steak and grilled meat. He kind of missed proper Chinese food.

Especially those dishes he used to like!

"Billy!"

He waved, and Billy quickly walked over.

Once Billy stood beside him, Heisenberg gave him a quiet instruction.

"Find time to recruit two Chinese chefs for me. Their skills must be beyond question. I want to taste the most authentic Chinese cuisine!"

"Yes!"

Billy nodded eagerly.

After Billy turned and left, Heisenberg slowly drank two bottles of bourbon.

Chinese food in America never tasted right, no matter how much he ate. He still had to find time to return home and taste the food of his hometown!

Perhaps the alcohol was getting to him, or perhaps he was feeling timid at the thought of returning home, but for once, he decided to take a walk outside.

Heisenberg acted the moment he thought of it. He immediately returned to his room, changed into a fairly casual suit, and left Heisenberg Mansion.

Today, New York seemed unusually empty.

After walking a little over three hundred meters, Heisenberg saw more than ten fire engines and ambulances.

There was no mystery to it. The two punches Heisenberg had thrown at Hulk last night had damaged more than several hundred buildings. That was not a problem that could be resolved anytime soon.

Heisenberg paid no attention to them. He had already done what he wanted to do and what he should have done.

If he had allowed Hulk to rampage through the city, given Hulk's habit of not stopping until he had vented for more than ten hours...

Then even more innocent people would likely have been injured or killed.

Heisenberg was not Clark Kent. After reducing the extent of the suffering, he would not blame all the remaining pain on himself.

All he could do was be himself.

He continued down the street, and after walking roughly two kilometers, Heisenberg entered Hell's Kitchen.

To his surprise, this place was completely different from the other districts. The people here actually seemed exceptionally cheerful.

There were even plenty of people drinking together on the street!!!

That genuinely startled Heisenberg. As long as Earth had not been destroyed, Hell's Kitchen would still be Hell's Kitchen?

Heisenberg approached the partying crowd, had a couple of drinks with them, and chatted with two homeless men for a while.

Only then did he learn that the reason everyone could hold this party was actually because of him, Heisenberg.

When Heisenberg had ordered Bullseye to take men into the streets and reassure the public, Bullseye had first gone to reassure Hell's Kitchen.

But what methods could a street mercenary and professional thug like him use to reassure people?

It was not as though he could do what the Federal Government did—drag out a mayor to give a speech, then let the people below curse at him for hours to vent their anger!

The Federal Government could do that, and after cursing the mayor, the governor, and even the president, the citizens would calm down.

But Bullseye could not do that.

So our simple and honest Brother Bullseye directly delivered countless bottles of alcohol and drinks to the people of Hell's Kitchen.

Kingpin's gang had always smuggled alcohol, and after Heisenberg began cracking down on drugs in the streets, arms and alcohol took up an increasingly large share of their business.

How could people in that line of work not have enough stock? As a result, nearly everyone in Hell's Kitchen got to drink two or three beers for free!

Besides the free alcohol, Bullseye had also issued an order to the streets of New York in Heisenberg's name: no causing trouble.

After killing Kingpin, defeating Night Devil, and taking down Hulk, Heisenberg's reputation had long become enough to stop children from crying at night.

Once that order came down, not a single gang member in all of New York, aside from the Nuke Gang, dared wander the streets.

Who on the streets did not know that Heisenberg was a lunatic who killed at the drop of a hat, and a lunatic with Superman-like strength at that!

Who the hell would dare provoke a lunatic?

Thus, Hell's Kitchen had gone directly from a district overrun by gangs, where even birds did not dare shit, to a paradise without any gang activity whatsoever.

The original residents of Hell's Kitchen instantly went wild with excitement.

Looking at the joyous crowd before him, even though Heisenberg knew none of them were particularly good people...

At least this cheerful atmosphere was enough to make him happy.

He left Hell's Kitchen with a satisfied smile. Bullseye had done a good job in this district, a truly excellent job.

Only someone like Bullseye, someone who had spent his life on the streets, knew what New York's citizens needed most.

What they needed was not a meal, nor merely enough to avoid starvation.

They needed the sense of security, genuine ease, and happiness they wanted even if they were starving to death.

And of course, the freedom to never wear masks—never wear masks even if they wore hoods.

Passing through Hell's Kitchen, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, and going through Washington Square, Heisenberg arrived in Queens.

This was one of the most famous places in the Marvel Universe, the hometown of Little Spider, Peter Parker.

How popular was Spider-Man?

On Origin Earth, the top three best-selling comics in the United States had always been those three.

Superman, Batman, Spider-Man.

One represented the perfection of humanity, one wrote of humanity's darkness, and the final Little Spider depicted humanity's ordinariness.

And Queens was Little Spider's home.

Heisenberg looked toward Queens. His hearing had already locked onto Little Spider's location.

At the same time, his vision allowed him to clearly see the life of eight-year-old Little Spider.

The boy was currently being kept at home by Aunt May to watch television.

Little Spider was extremely lively. With elementary school suddenly canceled for the day, he desperately wanted to go out and play football with his friends.

But there was nothing he could do. Aunt May and Uncle Ben, who knew the streets were dangerous, easily kept him under control.

Thus, as Little Spider sat properly in front of the television, even cartoons no longer seemed that enjoyable.

Seeing Little Spider like this, Heisenberg suddenly wanted to do something.

He abruptly took off, arriving outside Little Spider's window in the blink of an eye.

Uncle Ben and Aunt May did not have much money, but their house was still detached. Do not overthink it—they had simply lived in New York for a very long time.

Heisenberg lightly knocked on the window, and the sound made Little Spider curiously look over.

The instant Little Spider saw Heisenberg clearly, Heisenberg smiled and waved at the boy.

The next second, Heisenberg silently entered the room and arrived behind Little Spider.

Just as Little Spider wondered where the man at the window had gone, Heisenberg rubbed his little head.

"Ah!!!"

Little Spider jumped in fright, and Heisenberg wore the smile of someone whose prank had succeeded.

Seeing Heisenberg smile, Little Spider frowned in displeasure.

Kind of cute...

So Heisenberg continued rubbing Little Spider's head, making the boy repeatedly dodge with an unhappy expression.

"Who are you? How did you get into my house? This is private property, sir!"

"Haha, all right, all right. Private property. Then it seems I made a mistake!"

Heisenberg laughed as he spoke to Little Spider. At the same time, he extended his left hand and removed the watch from his wrist.

"Since I made a mistake, I should make up for it. How about I give you this watch?"

"Not interested!"

Faced with the especially beautiful-looking watch, Little Spider pouted and refused.

"You do not need to give me this at all, and I cannot accept gifts from strangers. Uncle Ben told me that!"

"But I trespassed on your private property."

"You need to apologize, sir. Aunt May and Uncle Ben are upstairs. I... I..."

As he spoke, Little Spider suddenly thought of something.

He looked at Heisenberg's powerful body and could not help squeezing himself farther into the corner of the couch.

Though he was afraid, he suddenly did not want Aunt May and Uncle Ben to come downstairs. He was afraid his family would be hurt.

In a slightly worried voice, he softly said,

"I can accept your apology for them. Can you apologize?"

"Mm-hmm, of course I can. But you seem to be afraid?"

"I am not afraid. You are not a bad person, right?

"And you even want to give me a watch, so you will apologize, because apologizing is much cheaper than a watch!"

Little Spider used those words to convince himself, and they also made Heisenberg laugh.

Heisenberg laughed and rubbed Little Spider's head again, muttering to himself at the same time.

"Yes, even a child knows that lowering your head is much easier than paying the price, yet adults refuse to do it!"

With that, Heisenberg patted Little Spider's head.

"All right, that is enough chatting.

"As for the watch, it is not compensation, nor is it a gift. It is an expectation."

Heisenberg forcefully pulled Little Spider's hand over and directly slipped the watch he had worn for years onto the boy's wrist.

Before Little Spider could take it off, Heisenberg floated upward.

His posture as he flew through the air thrilled Little Spider beyond measure. In the blink of an eye, the boy struck Superman's flying pose at Heisenberg.

"Oh my God, oh my God, are you Superman? The one everyone has been talking about lately?"

"Haha, you recognized me. So keep my expectation safe, kid!"

As his words fell, Heisenberg floated to the window. He politely opened it, leaving someone else's property for the first time without smashing through a wall.

Leaving Little Spider alone on the couch, excitedly bouncing and jumping around.

After giving away his final connection to the past, Heisenberg entrusted his former ordinariness to the child most worthy of it.

And by giving away that watch, he had also completely bid farewell to his past self.

He had been in the Marvel Universe for a full eleven days.

After experiencing countless inner struggles, Heisenberg had finally become his true self—the self he was now, and the self he would be in the future.

He quickly flew back to the rooftop of his building and lay down in that recliner again.

"Bidding farewell to my past self feels good. So it is time to make a simple plan for what comes next!"

He muttered to himself.

"Right now, I have initially established my authority in New York, while the infiltration and recruitment of Hydra is still ongoing.

"I need to contribute to that effort, helping them maintain a balance of power with S.H.I.E.L.D. so neither side can spare the time to cause me trouble. That will make Rumlow's defection efforts easier.

"At the same time, Hydra's threat and my own will make the remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. members, along with the US Government, continue their research into the Cosmic Cube.

"They need power that can give them confidence, and that research is precisely the best bargaining chip to drag them into the abyss.

"Defeating Hulk will keep the nations of the world from taking unilateral action against me, but that is not enough. They need external enemies, crises that will make them trust and rely on me, even force them to worship me.

"For this crisis, I must first rely on Thor's foolish little brother.

"Chitauri technology will propel Earth's technology forward, while the new energy discovered by Iron Man will likewise reshuffle Earth's existing industrial chains.

"Under the impact of the new era, if those people who were once great want to remain great, they must become more modern than the new era itself.

"What plan could suit them better than a grand plan to leave the Solar System?

"People of Earth, you will go out there. Very soon..."