Peter: Is Artificial Intelligence Really This Good at Talking?

Evening.

Peter dragged his drenched, battered body home. He had just gotten into a huge fight with his best friend Harry at a party. Hearing Harry's helpless, pitiful words, Peter recalled the disappointment in Harry's eyes—and the slap across his own face.

Most importantly, his girlfriend Mary Jane was getting engaged to another man at the party, the son of Peter's boss. His spider powers had also vanished while he was swinging through the city.

Peter felt like the entire world had betrayed him. This was simply the worst day of his life!

A few days later, everything seemed to return to normal. Peter had lost his superpowers, put back on his nerdy-looking glasses, and went to school and came home as usual, occasionally accidentally breaking a neighbor's window... Peter suddenly felt that this was pretty nice too. He finally had time to be himself instead of Spider-Man. He had time to live the life he wanted.

The whole city was running smoothly, except... it was missing a Spider-Man.

"Peter! I'm going out to buy groceries. Remember to keep an eye on the house!"

Aunt May's voice came from downstairs. After the sound of the door closing, Peter lay on his bed in a daze. He really liked this kind of life: no vicious criminals, no endless string of troubles to worry him. Other than losing a good friend and a girlfriend, everything was perfectly normal.

Knock, knock, knock!

Peter snapped out of his daze. He thought he heard something, like someone knocking on glass.

Knock, knock, knock!

"It wasn't my imagination!"

Peter shot up in surprise. This wasn't the second or third floor—how could someone be knocking on the window?

Peter moved closer. After hesitating, he picked up the tire on the table. It was from his bicycle and had yet to be repaired, but it became a weapon in his hands at that moment.

He slowly edged forward and carefully examined the view outside the window, only to find nothing unusual. "Am I just being paranoid?"

"Wow!"

"Ahhh!!!" Li Nian's strange face suddenly appeared against the glass in front of Peter. Its red-and-green color scheme looked especially gloomy. Clearly, Peter could not understand such artistic color coordination, and he very cooperatively screamed in fright.

Watching Peter leap onto the bed in terror, the corners of Li Nian's mouth curved into a faint smile. His childish sense of mischief had been satisfied.

"Y-you..." Peter stared nervously at Li Nian outside the window. Then he suddenly remembered that this seemed to be the person who had saved Aunt May a few days ago. But why was he here?

The next instant, Peter's expression shifted from surprise to shock, then to panic.

Li Nian ignored the wall and glass entirely, passing straight through them like a ghost!

Peter rubbed his eyes, his mouth hanging wide enough to fit a lightbulb inside. He pointed at Li Nian, then at the window, his finger wavering back and forth between them.

"Have I gone crazy? Or am I hallucinating?" The big boy curled up on the bed, still waving his tire as though threatening Li Nian to stay away. Little did he know that his expression looked like he was about to cry, as if he might wet himself at any moment.

"Don't worry, Peter. I mean you no harm," Li Nian said, knowing that if he did not speak up soon, it would probably backfire.

"On the contrary, I'm here to ask for your help, Spider-Man!"

"Huh?!" Peter froze, then quickly reacted and said with feigned nervousness, "Spider-Man? What Spider-Man? I'm just a photographer. You shouldn't come to me to find Spider-Man."

"No, no, Peter, let's be honest with each other." Li Nian spoke helplessly and pointed at Peter's chest. "I know you're Spider-Man. That's why I came to ask for your help."

"You..." Peter wanted to say something else, but Li Nian cut him off.

"Honestly, you might not believe what I'm about to say, but please calm down and listen to me first. I'm begging you."

For the next half hour, Li Nian explained how he had traveled to this universe, how he had seen reports about Spider-Man and wanted to seek his help, and so on...

Peter leaned blankly against the bed. It felt as though someone had stuffed a bar of soap into his brain, and after hearing Li Nian out, his head was full of bubbles.

"That's what happened. You're the only one I can turn to."

"You're saying... the multiverse really exists?!" Well, Peter was Peter after all. He decisively tossed aside the fright Li Nian had given him earlier and now looked like a curious child, chasing Li Nian with question after question.

"Sure enough, even this quiet Peter is a headache once he starts talking nonstop." Li Nian helplessly answered Peter's questions. "So in this universe, I can only rely on you. Please, you have to help me find a way home."

"But..." Peter could not bear to tell Li Nian that his superpowers had disappeared. What he did not know was that Li Nian had watched the old Spider-Man movies two or three times—how could he not know where the plot was at?

"My..." Peter wanted to say more, but the downstairs door suddenly opened.

"Peter! I'm back!" Aunt May's voice rang out. Peter jumped in alarm. If Aunt May saw what Li Nian looked like, she would probably connect him with Spider-Man. It would be troublesome to explain his way out of that.

"Hide, quick!" Peter said urgently to Li Nian.

"Peter! Who are you talking to?" Aunt May's voice came closer, and her footsteps gradually approached the room.

In his panic, Peter shoved Li Nian into the closet and told him to hide in there for the moment.

"Peter?" Aunt May opened the door and saw Peter blocking the entrance. She asked in confusion, "What are you doing at the door?"

"I... It's a little hot in the room... I'm airing it out through the doorway..." Peter came up with a lame excuse, staring nervously at Aunt May.

"Oh? And who is this gentleman..." Aunt May gave Peter a puzzled look and opened her mouth to ask.

Peter was shocked. He turned around, only to see Li Nian, now in human form, sitting properly on a chair.

"How..." Peter was completely dumbfounded. Could people from parallel universes all transform?

"You must be Aunt May. Peter talks about you all the time," Li Nian said with a faint smile. He stepped forward, took Aunt May's hand, and gently kissed it.

"He says you're his best family and that he has always admired you. Now that I see you myself, you truly are an elegant and beautiful lady."

"Ha ha! You flatter me!" Aunt May was so happy at Li Nian's praise that the wrinkles on her face practically vanished. "Are you Peter's friend? Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"No need, Aunt May. I already have plans tonight." Li Nian politely declined Aunt May's invitation. After all, he truly could not eat. It would be bad if he malfunctioned.

"Peter is a very hardworking boy. He's serious about his job, too, and the photos he takes receive nothing but praise!" Li Nian began a round of commercial-grade flattery. "In fact, I came this time to give him a bonus." He pulled a thick envelope from inside his clothes. Judging by its thickness, it contained at least ten thousand dollars!

"Th-this..." Aunt May stared at the envelope, too excited to speak.

"This is a bonus from the newspaper..."

Seeing Aunt May on the verge of tears, Li Nian could not help sighing at how simple an elderly person's heart was. He quickly helped her downstairs before returning.

Peter was dumbfounded too, staring at the thick stack of money without knowing what to do.

"Aren't you..."

"I connected to this universe's internet and moved a tiny bit of money from those billionaires' banks. No harm done!"

Peter: "..."