Sign-In! Phasing!

At three in the morning, Lin Mo suddenly jolted awake from a dream, his heart pounding as if it would smash through his ribs. It was not because of a nightmare, but because the bracelet on his wrist was heating up, as hot as a branding iron against his skin, making even his bones tingle faintly.

He sat bolt upright and, by the moonlight streaming through the window, made out the numbers on the bracelet—[Countdown: 0 days 0 hours 0 minutes 10 seconds].

It was here!

Lin Mo's breathing instantly quickened, and his palms were slick with cold sweat. He leaped out of bed, his bare feet landing on the icy concrete floor, yet he felt no cold at all. All the blood in his body seemed to rush to his head. He had waited a full 365 days for this day—from being a homeless drifter sleeping on park benches, to finding his footing at the repair shop, to Phil Coulson's business card lying at the very bottom of his drawer, to Peter's spider jar growing fuller and fuller...

The bracelet's vibration grew increasingly violent, and the pale blue numbers began to tick down wildly: 10, 9, 8...

Lin Mo took a deep breath, walked to the center of the basement, closed his eyes, and clenched his fists, his nails digging deeply into his palms. He had imagined the sign-in countless times, imagined what ability he might gain—Wolverine's regeneration? Iceman's ice manipulation? Even Magneto's magnetic powers? But he had never imagined that his first ability would be connected to the Basic Phasing he had already mastered.

[3, 2, 1... Sign-in complete!]

[Ability acquired: Kitty Pryde's Phasing (Basic Version)]

[Ability description: Can pass through any non-energy solid material (including metal, rock, concrete, etc.). Physical collisions are ignored while phasing, but movement speed is reduced by 50%. Maximum duration per use: 5 minutes. Cooldown: 10 minutes.]

[Tip: This ability can be improved through practice. After merging with the host's existing "Basic Phasing," proficiency will carry over to the new ability.]

The bracelet's warmth gradually faded, replaced by a strange sensation of lightness, as though every bone in his body had turned to sponge and could pass through any obstacle at will. Lin Mo abruptly opened his eyes and stared at the peeling desk before him—this desk had been with him for half a year, its surface long since gouged into a mess by screwdrivers.

He extended his right hand, his fingertips hovering above the tabletop, concentrating as he imagined, I can pass through it. Just like Kitty Pryde did in the movies, he imagined himself as a wisp of smoke, a patch of mist, without physical form.

The moment his fingertips touched the tabletop, he felt a thin layer of resistance, like passing through a film of warm water, without the slightest snag—his five fingers extended fully beneath the desk!

"It really... worked!" Lin Mo's voice trembled, his heart seeming ready to leap from his chest. He could clearly sense the wood grain flowing between his fingers, yet there was no sensation of touch, as if the wood simply did not exist.

Excitement went to his head, and he instinctively lunged forward, wanting to see what it felt like for his whole body to pass through the desk. But he moved too fast and got the angle wrong. With a thump, half his body became stuck in the desk leg—his shoulders and chest had passed through the tabletop, but his waist was firmly wedged in the leg. His arms flailed beneath the desk while his legs stuck straight out behind him.

"Fuck!" Lin Mo was in pain and panicking. He tried to pull himself back out, but could not find any leverage, as though he had been caught in an invisible clamp. The more he struggled, the tighter the desk leg trapped him. The wood scraped against his ribs, making him grimace in agony.

In his panic, he forgot to maintain control of the ability, and the phasing state suddenly ended—with a deafening crash, he sent the desk flipping upside down. Parts, screwdrivers, and solder wire scattered everywhere. One sharp blade whizzed past his ear and embedded itself in the wall, trembling nonstop.

"Lin! What the hell are you doing?" Carlos roared from the doorway, accompanied by heavy footsteps. A cigarette hung from his mouth as he glared at the mess on the floor. His afro seemed to stand up with rage. "You tearing desks apart in the middle of the night for fun? Or did a meteor hit you in the head?"

Lin Mo was wedged between the desk leg and the overturned tabletop, looking as pathetic as a flattened cockroach. He quickly activated his phasing ability, his body becoming a translucent shadow as he slipped free through a gap in the wood, pretending that he had accidentally knocked the desk over. "Carlos... I was sleepwalking. I accidentally..."

"Sleepwalking?" Carlos pressed his cigarette butt into the wreckage of the desk, sparks scattering onto Lin Mo's pant leg. "You think I'm three years old? This desk weighs fifty pounds. You can flip it over while sleepwalking?" He bent down, picked up the blade from the floor, and his gaze suddenly sharpened. "And this blade—if it had been any closer, you'd be missing an ear. If you want to die, don't die in my shop!"

Lin Mo's back was covered in cold sweat. He had been too reckless just now and had nearly exposed his ability. He hurriedly crouched down to collect the parts, apologizing repeatedly. "Sorry, Carlos. I really didn't mean to. I haven't been sleeping well lately. My hand slipped."

Carlos left while cursing under his breath, but before going, he jabbed a finger at Lin Mo's nose. "Pull something like this again, and I'll dock half a month's pay!"

The basement finally fell quiet. Lin Mo leaned against the wall, gasping for breath, his heart still hammering. That mishap had been embarrassing, but it had given him a real sense of how powerful his new ability was—this was nothing like Basic Phasing. Kitty Pryde's power could even pass through Wolverine's adamantium claws. Ordinary walls and metal were no challenge at all.

He picked up the scattered parts, righted the desk again—fortunately, it had not fallen apart—and began practicing methodically.

First, he practiced precise control. He placed a coin on the tabletop and tried to phase his fingers through the desk, grabbing only the coin without touching anything else. The first time, he grabbed nothing, his fingers passing straight through the coin. The second time, he used too much force and crushed it flat. It was not until the fifth attempt that he steadily pinched the coin between two fingers and pulled it out from beneath the desk.

Second, he practiced phasing his entire body. This time, he did not dare rush. He started with a chair—slowly passing his arm through its backrest, then his shoulder, until his entire upper body extended behind the chair as though he were wearing an invisible cloak. Then came the wall. He stood before the basement's concrete wall, took a deep breath, imagined the scene on the other side—Ted's basement, piled high with beer cans and old comics—and edged forward step by step.

The instant he passed through the wall, he smelled the cheap aftershave Ted wore. Ted was sprawled on the floor playing a game, still cursing, "This piece of crap computer is lagging like hell," completely unaware that someone had appeared behind him. Lin Mo hurriedly retreated. Passing through walls felt too strange, like walking through water. Every step met resistance, and his speed really was cut in half.

Third, he merged his existing ability. The bracelet had said proficiency would carry over, so Lin Mo tried using Kitty Pryde's Phasing to touch the encrypted hard drive he had failed to repair before—the one Coulson had left behind, of which he had secretly kept a backup. As his fingertips passed through the metal casing, he could clearly "see" the structure of the chips inside, even distinguish which one was the tracker—something Basic Phasing had never been able to do!

"So that's how it is..." Lin Mo suddenly understood. Not only could the new ability pass through harder objects, it also came with a structural x-ray effect. It was practically tailor-made for repair work!

By five in the morning, Lin Mo could already control the range and timing of his phasing with ease. He could let only his palm pass through an object or phase his entire body through a wall. He could walk slowly while phased or instantly cancel the ability and stand steadily on the ground. Its only drawback was duration—after at most five minutes, he would become dizzy, as though suffering from low blood sugar. He had to wait ten minutes before using it again.

He sprawled on his mattress, watching the sky outside turn pale with dawn, unable to stop a smile from spreading across his face. With this ability, forget robbers—even if he ran into ordinary mutants, he was confident he could escape. More importantly, he could protect Peter, Aunt May, and Martha better—at the very least, when danger came, he could pull them out from behind a wall.

At seven in the morning, Lin Mo went to the repair shop with dark circles beneath his eyes. As soon as he reached the entrance, he saw Peter crouching on the steps with a backpack on his back, holding a glass jar. The spider inside was spinning silk, weaving a glittering web.

"Lin! Look!" The boy excitedly raised the jar. "Its silk is incredibly strong. It can hang up my pencil case!"

Lin Mo's heart suddenly skipped a beat. Was this... a sign that Peter was about to get bitten by the spider? He stared at Peter's fingers. They were clean, without a wound in sight, and he finally relaxed. "Be careful. Don't let it bite you."

"Don't worry, I'm wearing gloves." Peter waved the rubber glove on his wrist, then suddenly lowered his voice. "Oh, right. Last night, I saw several men in suits hanging around near the meteor crater. They were holding things that looked a lot like the hard drive you repaired. Isn't that strange?"

Lin Mo's back instantly tensed. Peter had actually noticed! This kid's powers of observation were practically made for detective work. "Maybe they're government people, dealing with the meteor or something," he said vaguely, unwilling to drag Peter into it.

Peter clearly did not believe him, but he did not press the matter. He merely stuffed a sandwich into Lin Mo's hands. "Aunt May made it. Have it for breakfast. The science fair starts at two this afternoon. Don't forget."

"Yeah." Lin Mo accepted the sandwich and watched Peter run toward school. Then he suddenly remembered seeing something beneath Ted's bed while practicing phasing yesterday—covered by black cloth, shaped like a launcher, with a Spider-Man symbol on it. Could that kid be secretly researching something too?

When the repair shop opened, Carlos still looked grim, but he did not mention the overturned desk again. He simply tossed Lin Mo a heavy box. "Those 'special parts' I mentioned yesterday. Deal with them fast. The client is picking them up at noon."

The box contained more than a dozen metal components, glowing a dim green. Strange patterns covered their surfaces, and they felt icy cold to the touch—the same color as the stones from the meteor crater in the news! Lin Mo used his phasing ability to "see" through them. Their interiors had honeycomb-like structures, with green energy flowing through them like the core of some kind of... engine?

"What is this stuff?" Lin Mo pretended not to understand and tapped a component with a screwdriver. "Looks like alien junk."

"Mind your own business." Carlos held his cigarette in his mouth, his eyes flickering. "The client only said to take them apart and remove the 'cores.' They're paying double."

Lin Mo's thoughts stirred. Remove the cores? Could these components be the cores of some kind of weapon? He began dismantling them without showing any reaction, using Kitty Pryde's Phasing to bypass every mechanism and avoid triggering a self-destruct program. When he removed the first green "core," the bracelet suddenly vibrated:

[Detected residual Tesseract energy (weak).]

[Related event: Battle of New York (future).]

[Warning: Long-term exposure may cause genetic mutation (not benign).]

Lin Mo's hand jerked, and the green "core" nearly fell to the floor. The Tesseract! These parts really were connected to alien technology! Who exactly was Carlos doing business with? S.H.I.E.L.D.? Or Hydra?

"Move it!" Carlos urged impatiently. "The client will be here soon."

Lin Mo took a deep breath and quickened his movements, but a storm raged in his heart. He secretly photographed the patterns on the components with his phone and sent them to Peter through their encrypted email—the one they had agreed to use before—along with one sentence: "Have you seen a structure like this?"

Halfway through the dismantling, Peter's reply arrived. It contained only one image—a design sketch for a web-shooter. The energy circuits on it were astonishingly similar to the patterns on the components!

Lin Mo's heart began pounding wildly. What did that mean? Was Peter's spider gene connected to Tesseract energy? Or had the spider that would bite him itself been modified using alien technology?

"Done." Lin Mo placed the dozen or so green "cores" into a box and pushed it toward Carlos, his fingertips turning white from the force of his grip.

Carlos nodded in satisfaction and tossed him an envelope. "Your bonus. Two hundred bucks." He picked up the box and turned into the back room. The door clicked shut behind him—clearly, this "client" was not someone who could be seen in public.

Lin Mo clutched the envelope, his palm drenched in sweat. He knew he could not keep playing dumb. Carlos, the meteor crater, the Tesseract components, Peter's spider... none of it was a coincidence. There had to be a massive web behind it all, and he was already tangled at its center.

At noon, Lin Mo used buying parts as an excuse to circle around near the meteor crater. The cordon was still there, but the guards had been replaced by men in black suits—S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. They held scanners and checked every passerby. Lin Mo hid around a corner, activated his phasing ability, slipped quietly through the cordon, and reached the edge of the crater.

The green glow at the bottom had already vanished, but he could see traces of residual energy in the soil, flowing like green lightning. Using Kitty Pryde's ability to "see" deeper, he discovered a metal device at the bottom of the crater, slowly absorbing the surrounding energy—it was S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment!

So it really is them... Lin Mo's heart sank. Not only was S.H.I.E.L.D. studying the meteor crater, it had deliberately released the components to test who could handle this alien technology. Carlos and Lin Mo had both become pieces on their board.

Suddenly, static crackled in his earpiece—he was wearing a homemade bug-detector—and someone was approaching! Lin Mo quickly activated his phasing ability and slipped into an abandoned car nearby, leaving only one eye exposed to observe.

Two agents in suits walked over. One of them was Coulson! Holding a tablet and studying the image displayed on it—a photo of Lin Mo at the repair shop—he said to the other agent, "Confirmed. It's him. His ability resembles Kitty Pryde's, but it's more precise. It may be related to the meteor's energy."

"Should we bring him in?" the other agent asked, his hand resting on the gun at his waist.

Coulson shook his head, a faint smile appearing on his lips. "No. Let him stay in Queens. A 'phaser' who can repair things is more useful than one locked in a prison."

Cold sweat instantly soaked Lin Mo's back. They really were watching him! Coulson's "come find me if you have trouble" had not been a recruitment offer at all, but a warning—We know where you are. Don't do anything stupid.

After the agents left, Lin Mo climbed out of the car, his heart still pounding. He finally understood that from the moment he gained his ability, he could never return to an ordinary life. S.H.I.E.L.D. was observing him, the meteor crater's energy was affecting its surroundings, Peter's spider could bite him at any moment, and Lin Mo had to grow stronger before it all erupted.

On the way to the science fair that afternoon, Lin Mo threw Coulson's business card into a trash can. He did not need anyone else's "protection," nor did he want to be a pawn. He would rely on his own abilities to protect his own little corner of this crazy world.

At the science fair, Peter excitedly showed him his "spider silk strength-testing device," which could precisely measure the weight different spider silks could bear. "Look at this." He pointed at the data on the screen. "This spider's silk can actually lift three kilograms!"

Lin Mo looked at the hairy spider and suddenly said, "Peter, promise me you won't touch it. Especially don't let it bite you, okay?"

Peter froze for a moment, then smiled. "Relax. I'm not that dumb."

But Lin Mo knew that some fates could not be avoided. All he could do was become strong enough before then—strong enough that when Peter needed him, he could offer him a shield and say, "I've got you."

As they left the science fair, the setting sun stretched their shadows long across the ground. Lin Mo suddenly stopped and said to Peter, "If you run into danger next time, head for the repair shop. I have a way to hide you."

Peter looked at him in confusion. "Lin, what's wrong with you today?"

Lin Mo smiled without explaining. He simply patted Peter's shoulder. He could feel the bracelet warming faintly again—not as a warning, but as a kind of anticipation. Perhaps an even more powerful ability would be waiting for him at the next sign-in.

But for now, he had more important things to do: return and study those Tesseract components, figure out S.H.I.E.L.D.'s goal, continue practicing Kitty Pryde's Phasing in hopes of breaking the five-minute limit, and keep a close eye on Carlos. The parts in that man's hands might be hiding a secret capable of destroying Queens.