The Birth of Heroes and Antiheroes

Crack!

With the sound of bones snapping, the Black robber who had been so arrogantly wild moments ago had his neck twist to one side, his life extinguished.

Peter glanced back and found that the white woman who had been robbed had long since vanished without a trace.

What had happened to people these days?

After grumbling to himself, he lowered his head and looked at the thoroughly dead Black robber.

After hesitating for a moment, he slipped into the convenience store across the street without anyone noticing and took two bottles of liquor.

After leaving money on the shelf, Peter returned, pouring all the liquor over the robber before taking a lighter from his pocket to destroy the evidence.

Since this had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, he had not worn his suit or anything similar, and he had already left his fingerprints on the man.

He did not want to get into trouble because of such an oversight.

Nor did he want Ben and May to worry over something like this.

As he watched the corpse quickly catch fire, Peter felt remarkably calm.

There was none of the panic or nausea people supposedly felt after killing someone for the first time.

What kind of good person could a gun-toting robber be if he had not hesitated to pull the trigger on him?

Killing him outright was simply delivering justice!

Peter was not some pajama-clad kid from another parallel universe who followed a no-killing rule.

As someone from China, he understood well that "wildfires cannot burn it all away; spring winds will make it grow again," and that "mercy toward enemies is cruelty toward oneself."

Not to mention that this rotten beacon country did not have a fair and transparent judicial system at all!

In the original Spider-Man stories, the various Peter Parkers showed mercy at every turn, but what did that get them?

Which of those supervillains had ever sincerely repented?

They were caught again and again, then bailed out by the rich or broken out of prison, again and again causing trouble for his predecessor.

They had even made life miserable for everyone connected to him, including May, Gwen Stacy, and Mary Jane.

Peter admired Spider-Man's justice and courage, but that did not mean he agreed with that no-killing philosophy.

Rather than becoming a superhero standing in the sunlight, he would much rather become an antihero like Venom or Homelander!

As the old saying went, forgiving sinners was God's job. His job was to send them to meet God!

After taking one last look at the corpse on the ground, Peter turned and strode away, reviewing the shortcomings he had revealed in that brief fight.

First, he had not prepared thoroughly enough. To ensure his public identity remained unaffected, he needed proper disguise.

He could not let either the police or villains easily pinpoint his identity.

Second was his lack of combat experience.

That "fight" had made Peter clearly realize that possessing strength and knowing how to use strength were two entirely different things!

His physical abilities had clearly surpassed his opponent's in every way, yet he had nearly been taken out by a single bullet!

If word got out, it would be a disgrace to the superhero world!

He needed to rapidly improve his combat experience and could not allow anything similar to happen again.

He needed systematic, efficient fighting techniques capable of pushing his physical advantages to their limits!

Then there was his lack of equipment.

No matter how skilled one was, a kitchen knife could still kill them.

Although his physical abilities now far exceeded those of ordinary people, he was still far from immortal and indestructible.

Ordinary bullets might not kill him, but what about a Barrett? A mortar? The energy weapons wielded by aliens?

He had to find a way to obtain power capable of resisting such attacks.

For example, Captain America's Vibranium Shield, Wolverine's Adamantium Skeleton, Thor's Mjolnir, or armor like Black Panther's and Iron Man's!

Fortunately, every one of these shortcomings had a solution.

Peter's consciousness sank into his mind as he looked at the virtual panel visible only to him.

[Sacrifice Points: 3000]

Now, it was time to put them to use.

Meanwhile, on the rooftop of Midtown High School.

A slender figure landed as lightly as an agile white cat, making not the slightest sound.

Gwen Stacy removed her hood, revealing a pretty face filled with confusion and unease.

She looked around. The empty rooftop seemed especially quiet under the moonlight. Aside from the wind, there was nothing.

That heart-pounding sensation, as if she were about to lose something important, had inexplicably disappeared just as she was about to arrive here.

Her Spider-Sense had fallen silent as well.

"How could this happen?"

Gwen muttered to herself, feeling like a fool who had been played.

She searched the campus from end to end, carefully inspecting every corner. She even lay on the ground, trying to find the slightest clue.

But she found nothing. Let alone signs of a fight, there was not even a single extra footprint.

She could not make sense of it. Not at all.

Feeling somewhat discouraged, Gwen sat on the edge of the rooftop with her long legs dangling in the air. The night breeze stirred her golden hair, making her look a little lonely.

She did not know how long she sat there until even the security guards below had begun yawning in the night. Only then did she sigh helplessly and decide to go home.

Perhaps her control over this new power was still too poor, causing her senses to malfunction?

For now, that was the only explanation she could accept.

Filled with doubts, Gwen put her hood back on and nimbly swung and leaped between the buildings, racing toward her house.

But this time, without Spider-Sense warning her of danger, Gwen devoted more of her attention to New York City's nighttime scenery.

She had originally only wanted to admire the New York nightscape she had never deliberately taken the time to appreciate before.

Yet when she turned her attention to the steel jungle below, what she truly saw was crime everywhere.

In less than ten minutes from Midtown High School to her house, she stopped at least six robberies and assaults!

That experience made Gwen think of her father, George Stacy.

She had always thought her father did not care enough about her.

But only today did she truly realize what her father had been facing.

He used his own flesh and blood to protect this city's peace.

And now, she possessed power far beyond that of ordinary people...

A thought began to grow wildly in her heart, beyond her control.

I can do more!

I have to do more!

After swiftly knocking out those criminals with ill intentions, Gwen quietly pushed open the window and returned to her bedroom.

After remaining silent for a long while, she walked to her desk, turned on the lamp, and spread out a sheet of white paper.

She picked up colored pencils and began sketching. Before long, several heroic figures with white hoods and slender, agile bodies came to life on the paper.

Beside those design sketches, blueprints for intricate and precise mechanical devices were also gradually taking shape.

Today's experience had made her feel as though she was still missing something.

Since she had inherited a spider's abilities, how could she not be able to spin webs?

So, based on the characteristics of spiders, she began devising a device that could fire high-strength webbing.

The birth of Ghost Spider had entered its countdown.

Peter would never have imagined that his act of self-rescue had clearly changed his own fate, yet had still inadvertently guided Gwen onto that almost predestined path of heroism...