"Max, I'm going out for a bit. Don't rush the robot; we still have two days. Take your time."
After telling Max, Li Si left the garage and headed for the living room.
He was fairly relaxed about Peter Parker. From the start, he'd been clear about where they stood: Peter could be his friend, but he could never be his subordinate—not even a partner.
Peter Parker was a textbook American superhero. Calling him a bleeding-heart do-gooder wouldn't be far off. After all, he'd been raised on Ben Parker's saintly teachings. Maybe he'd had some of the rebelliousness typical of a young man, but ever since Ben's death, those high-minded ideals had become an obsession.
With someone like that, friendship wasn't something you could rely on. No matter how close you were, if your actions went against his principles or his moral code, he'd eventually choose the side he believed was righteous, no matter how much he struggled with the decision.
Richard Parker and Norman Osborn, Peter Parker and Harry Osborn—the original story's two father-son pairs were perfect examples.
There was no need to go into Richard Parker. Just consider Peter and Harry. In the original story, Harry was on the verge of death and only asked Peter for a little blood, hoping it might give him a chance to survive. But Peter refused.
Li Si didn't think his friendship with Peter was any deeper than Peter's friendship with Harry.
The world had never been a matter of black and white. He needed to grow stronger; he couldn't spend his life as some righteous partner. If he got too close to Peter, sooner or later Peter would learn about certain sensitive matters—and then he'd become a ticking time bomb.
"This research threatens the world's safety? It's risky and could have