Peter's Choice, Shadows in the Dark

In Queens, Peter Parker's small bedroom.

The teenager stared at the computer screen, his fingers unconsciously tapping against the desk as a fierce struggle raged within him.

On one side was a mysterious internship recruitment email from Stark Industries. It required skill in photography and physics—practically tailor-made for him! The pay was generous enough to ease Aunt May's burden considerably. But the sender was unknown, and the encryption was strange, instinctively making him uneasy.

On the other side was detailed information about a smuggling warehouse, detailed to a horrifying degree. The location, surveillance blind spots, guard shift times, even the warehouse's internal layout were all included. It was like a carefully prepared "gift"—or rather, a temptation. He knew it belonged to Kingpin's men. Taking them down was absolutely something a Good Neighbor should do, and perhaps he could "borrow" a little of their ill-gotten wealth to help with household expenses? The moment that thought surfaced, it gave him a guilty thrill.

"With great power comes great responsibility..." Uncle Ben's words echoed in his ears. Fighting crime was a responsibility, but using his abilities to take money, even ill-gotten money—was that really right?

After agonizing over it for the entire night, Peter finally gritted his teeth.

"Forget it! I'll check out that warehouse first! If it's real, I'll take it down! As for the money, I'll decide later!" He decided to act first and trust his Spider-Sense to judge the danger.

Late at night, he changed into his homemade suit, took a deep breath, swung out the window, and headed toward Third Avenue. He had no idea that every one of his movements was not only being monitored by Thunder Temple, but also recorded by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on the perimeter.

Thunder Temple.

Lin Ye watched Peter hesitate before finally choosing to act on the screen, then smiled. "He chose the riskier path? Interesting."

He did not interfere, merely watched quietly. This was growth Peter had to experience.

"Remy, keep monitoring him. If he encounters danger he can't handle..." Lin Ye paused. "Decide whether to intervene depending on the situation." He still put a safeguard in place for the little Spider-Man.

"Understood."

At the same time, S.H.I.E.L.D. had also detected Peter's movements.

"Target 'Good Neighbor' is heading toward the abandoned warehouse district on Third Avenue. His operational pattern indicates that he has received some form of intelligence support," an agent reported to Fury.

Fury narrowed his one eye. "Have you identified the intelligence source?"

"Unable to trace it. The source is extremely well concealed. The method bears a slight resemblance to the style of whoever previously warned us about the Hydra trap, but we cannot confirm a connection."

Fury pondered for a moment. "Him again? Lin Ye? Is he guiding this kid? What does he want?" This mysterious Thunder was becoming increasingly impossible to read.

"Should we intervene, sir?"

"Not for now. Observe. Record all of Good Neighbor's combat data. He may also be a potential recruit." Fury made a decision similar to the one in the original timeline.

Siberia, a secret Hydra base.

John Garrett stared grimly at the damage report. Not only had the trap failed to catch any fish, they had also lost personnel, exposed several safehouses, and allowed S.H.I.E.L.D. to follow the trail. It had left him overwhelmed.

"Damn Thunder! And those S.H.I.E.L.D. dogs!" he cursed under his breath.

Grant Ward—his carefully cultivated protégé and capable right-hand man—spoke calmly from the side. "Teacher, our actions appear to have angered the other party. Continuing to provoke him head-on may not be worth the cost."

"Then what do you suggest?" Garrett asked irritably.

A cold glint flashed through Ward's eyes. "Perhaps we should change our approach. Since he is interested in anomalous phenomena and technology, and we happen to have some 'interesting' things on hand, don't we?" He meaningfully glanced toward the depths of the base.

Garrett's eyes lit up. "You mean the Centipede project? Those unstable failures?"

"Failures can become bait too." Ward's lips curled into a cold smile. "We can 'accidentally' let one test subject escape and send it to New York to make a major scene. Then we'll see whether Mr. Thunder is interested in cleaning up the mess, or in the technology that created it."

Garrett stroked his chin, revealing a cruel smile. "Good idea! We'll do it! Pick the most violent, hardest-to-control Centipede soldier, add a little something to him, then 'help' him escape to New York! Make sure the clues are well hidden. Don't point them directly at us."

"Leave it to me, Teacher." Ward bowed and withdrew.

A new, even more sinister scheme began to brew.

The Wakandan royal palace.

Although King T'Chaka had ordered them to stop actively tracking the target, Princess Shuri had not given up completely. She changed her approach. Since external detection was impossible, she would start with internal data analysis.

She repeatedly examined all the internal surveillance records from the night Lin Ye infiltrated the palace, especially the driving logs of that unmanned transport vehicle and the warehouse inventory records. Finally, she found an extremely tiny, nearly negligible timing discrepancy—a 0.03-second abnormal delay between the vehicle's recorded stop at the warehouse entrance and the warehouse's first scanner record of new goods.

"This is it!" Shuri cried excitedly. "He didn't make his move inside the warehouse! He acted in the instant after the transport vehicle entered the warehouse, before the doors had fully closed! He moved so fast that the surveillance cameras could barely capture him! He knows our logistics system and surveillance blind spots inside out!"

This discovery made her even more certain that the intruder possessed unimaginable speed and deep knowledge of Wakanda's systems. She immediately reported it to T'Chaka.

"Father, we can't just let this go! This time, he only took some scraps, but what if his next target is the Vibranium mine's core, or Shuri?" Shuri argued forcefully.

King T'Chaka looked at his daughter's stubborn face and pondered for a long time before finally relenting. "Very well. I permit you to launch a minimal active detection plan. But you cannot use our satellites or any devices that might expose our identity."

"Wonderful!" Shuri immediately perked up. "I can use the newly developed Vibranium Energy Resonance Long-Range Sensor! It can indirectly locate the target by monitoring abnormal Vibranium energy resonance worldwide! As long as he uses the stolen Vibranium in high-energy activity, there is a chance we can catch a faint resonance signal!"

It was an extremely indirect and difficult method of detection, but it was still better than doing nothing.

New York, a warehouse on Third Avenue.

Peter Parker cautiously slipped inside. With his Spider-Sense and the mysterious intelligence, he easily evaded the guards and saw mountains of smuggled goods within—electronics, luxury items, and even a small number of weapons.

"Whoa!" Peter swallowed, suppressing the flicker of greed in his heart. He began using his homemade web-shooters to disable the cameras and create chaos, preparing to subdue the guards.

Thus began an adventure for a rookie hero. He had no idea that he had become the focus of multiple forces, while an even greater storm gathered where he could not see it.

Lin Ye leaned back in the Sanctuary's control chair, watching Peter's somewhat clumsy yet justice-driven actions on the screen. Then he glanced at the information Remy had flagged: "Abnormal Hydra Personnel Movement" and "Wakanda's New Detection System Activated."

"Things are getting more and more lively," he murmured. Yet there was no concern in his eyes. Instead, they gleamed with ever-deepening interest.

The chessboard was growing larger, and the pieces were falling into place one after another.

And he remained the chess player who wielded absolute power and calmly watched events unfold.

(End of Chapter Twenty-Two)