First Day of School

September 4, 2000, was the first day of school at Midtown High School in New York.

Lin Hai stood at the school gates and looked up at the red-brick building. At sixteen, he stood half a head taller than most of the students around him. His black hair, dark eyes, and East Asian features made him especially conspicuous in the crowd.

"Another new semester, another group of new faces," he murmured, a smile appearing at the corner of his lips.

"Hey, new kid?" A slightly raspy voice came from behind him.

Lin Hai turned around and saw a skinny boy with glasses looking up at him. The boy had a mess of curly brown hair, several prominent pimples on his face, and a few intimidating-looking science magazines clutched to his chest.

"Yeah. First day," Lin Hai said with a nod, trying his best to keep an accent out of his English.

After crossing over, not only had his brain been enhanced, but so had the memories stored within it. Between his English-learning memories from both lives and the time he had spent living in the United States, Lin Hai had quickly mastered the language. Even so, an inauthentic accent in his spoken English was unavoidable.

There were some flaws, but this was already very good. Originally, he had planned to struggle through conversations with his middle-school English.

"Peter Parker." The boy pushed up his glasses and offered his right hand. "I'm a freshman too, but I spent two years in the middle-school division, so I know this place pretty well."

"Lin Hai." He shook Peter's hand, feeling a little excited. He had never expected to meet Peter this way—on the first day of school, as the first classmate to speak to him. It was such a coincidence that it almost felt... fated?

And this Spider-Man looked a little like Tom Holland—Holland himself. Lin Hai quietly breathed a sigh of relief. For now, it seemed that he was in the MCU Film Universe.

If this Peter Parker had looked nothing like any of the three Spider-Men he knew, it would have meant this world might be the Marvel Comics Universe. And that would have meant Lin Hai was in serious trouble!

Lin Hai felt that Peter was nervous too, because the future Spider-Man's palm was a little damp. "Thanks. I'm looking for Room 201 in Building A."

"What a coincidence, I'm going there too!" Peter's eyes lit up. "Where are you from?"

"Huaxia. I came to New York not long ago," Lin Hai answered briefly, noticing the flash of excitement in Peter's eyes when he heard "Huaxia."

"Whoa! I've always wanted to learn about Eastern science and technology, especially research in bioengineering." Peter suddenly sped up. "Did you know that Huaxia scientists have made some groundbreaking breakthroughs in gene editing..."

Lin Hai could not help laughing. This talkative, enthusiastic boy gradually overlapped with the Spider-Man from his memories. Peter Parker, before being bitten by the spider, was only a science-loving nerd. Perhaps he had spoken to Lin Hai only because he sensed their loneliness winding around each other. Maybe they were the same kind of people.

They chatted all the way to the classroom. Peter could talk endlessly about almost any subject, from quantum physics to the latest biotechnology, while Lin Hai responded with just the right remarks to keep the conversation going.

He discovered that Peter's scientific knowledge far exceeded that of an ordinary high school student, while Peter could not stop praising Lin Hai's "Eastern perspectives."

Room 201 was already more than half full. Their homeroom teacher, Mrs. Johnson, was a stern middle-aged woman. She looked over the roster, asked for some basic personal information, then pointed at two empty seats by the window.

"Parker and Lin, sit there." Lin Hai and Peter became desk mates.

The first class was math, and the material was far too simple for both of them. Peter was unquestionably a genius, capable of keeping up with college-level material. As for Lin Hai, having lived two lives, first-year American high school math was nothing to him.

Peter scribbled complex formulas in his notebook, while Lin Hai pretended to take notes. In reality, he was practicing control over his ability.

He communicated with the mint hidden in his backpack, feeling that faint yet clear vitality flow across his fingertips.

"What are you doing?" Peter suddenly leaned closer and whispered.

Lin Hai jumped. He turned to see Peter staring at his hand, curiosity gleaming behind his lenses.

"Nothing. Just..." Lin Hai hesitated, then decided to reveal a little of his ability. Peter Parker was a good person—a person who could be called good in every sense of the word.

He gently opened his backpack and let Peter see the mint leaves swaying rhythmically around his fingertips. "A little trick."

Peter's eyes widened. "This... this isn't scientific! How did you do it? Some kind of chemical reaction? Or a superpower?"

Lin Hai smiled faintly and ended his communication with the mint. "An ancient Eastern art," he said mysteriously.

"That's incredible!" Peter raised his voice several pitches in excitement, drawing a warning look from the teacher. He immediately lowered it. "You have to tell me how it works after class!"

The morning classes passed without incident. At lunchtime, Lin Hai bought a lunch from the cafeteria that looked decent enough. Still, compared to American school lunches, he preferred the Chinese medicinal dishes his master made.

Given the limited circumstances, there was nothing to be picky about. Lin Hai found a quiet corner and sat down. He had barely taken a bite when he saw Peter holding a tray and looking around for something.

"Over here." Lin Hai raised his hand.

Peter hurried over with visible relief and sat across from Lin Hai. "I've been looking for you forever," he said. "The cafeteria is too noisy. I was going to hide in the library to eat, but I also wanted to talk to you about that... you know, ancient Eastern art."

Lin Hai bit into an apple and observed the future superhero. The current Peter Parker was skinny and awkward, but behind his glasses, his eyes shone with intelligence.

"You're really interested in this?" Lin Hai asked. "I'm interested in every phenomenon I can't explain," Peter said excitedly.

Lin Hai considered how much he should reveal. He knew that superpowers were not rare in this world of superheroes and villains, but at present, most superpowered heroes and villains had not yet appeared in the public eye. Even when unusual supernatural incidents occurred, S.H.I.E.L.D. handled them well enough that the public never learned about them.

"I don't have a particularly clear understanding of my ability either." Lin Hai chose his words carefully. "I can sense the life of plants and influence them."

Peter set down his fork and stared intently at Lin Hai. "You mean... a superpower?"

"Yes, but... no. It still feels different somehow." Lin Hai nodded, then shook his head, because he had no recollection of Marvel superpowered individuals becoming stronger through a defined path of cultivation.

For example, people like Sandman, Electro, and Hulk gained superpowers through mutation. Unlike Lin Hai, they could not strengthen their abilities simply by cultivating.

"Although it does look similar, it's more like the result of an ancient form of cultivation. I'm still figuring it out myself."

"That's so cool!" Peter nearly knocked over his drink in excitement. "Can you demonstrate more? It's not that I don't believe you. It's just that, as someone with a scientific mind and scientific way of thinking, I want to witness it with my own eyes." Peter looked at Lin Hai, his eyes full of curiosity and anticipation.

"All right." Lin Hai looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to them. He took a seed from his pocket and placed it in his palm. Closing his eyes, he sensed the energy within his body and guided it toward the seed.

Peter held his breath as he watched the shriveled seed slowly swell in Lin Hai's palm, split open, and send out a tiny white sprout, followed by two minuscule cotyledons.

Lin Hai had discovered this phenomenon during this period. Besides functioning as a tonic for unhealthy plants and restoring their vitality, the attribute-less energy he cultivated within his body could also be fed to seeds, making them germinate rapidly.

"Oh my God!" Peter whispered in amazement. "That violates every known law of plant growth! Where does the energy come from? Photosynthesis obviously can't happen that fast!"

Lin Hai felt a little tired and stopped sending out energy. The tiny sprout stopped growing but remained alive. He said to Peter, "It really is amazing, but it takes a lot out of me."

Peter pushed up his glasses, scientific curiosity gleaming in his eyes. "Have you considered measuring the output efficiency of this energy? Or testing the upper limit of plant species you can affect? This could be an entirely new form of biological energy!"

Lin Hai laughed. "You really sound like a scientist."

"Of course! I'm still in high school now, but someday I'll definitely become a real scientist." Peter spoke proudly, then grew bashful again. "Even if right now I'm just a freak that everyone calls Nerd Parker."

"Geniuses are always misunderstood by mediocre people." Lin Hai shrugged, trying to comfort Peter. Still, from the perspective of an ordinary American middle-school student, some of Peter's everyday behavior really was a little strange.

In the afternoon, they had biology. While the biology teacher explained plant cell structures, Lin Hai secretly made a wilted flower on the lab table bloom again for a few seconds. Only Peter noticed the change, and he was so startled he nearly fell out of his chair.

After class, Peter slung on his backpack and whispered excitedly, "That was incredible! Can you control it down to the cellular level? That wasn't just accelerated growth—you reversed the process of decay!"

Lin Hai rubbed his temples. "I feel tired after every use, but I'm already much better than before." As he spoke, Lin Hai walked out of the school building.

"Conservation of energy..." Peter hurried after him, deep in thought. "You expend your own energy to promote plant growth. That requires a lot of experiments to quantify."

"Hey, Peter, making friends with the new freak?" As Peter and Lin Hai walked out of the building, a tall blond boy suddenly blocked their path, followed by several snickering lackeys.

Lin Hai immediately recognized Eugene "Flash" Thompson—Peter's future "number-one fan," and current school bully.

"Don't mind them," Peter whispered to Lin Hai, trying to walk around him.

"Can the Eastern kid do kung fu?" Thompson mimicked clumsy martial arts movements. "Ha! Ha! Bruce Lee!"

Lin Hai looked at him expressionlessly. With the Tai Chi skills he had accumulated over the vacation and his enhanced physical condition, he was confident he could take down this big guy in an instant. But he did not want to cause trouble on the first day of school.

"Let's go, Peter," he said calmly, turning to leave.

"Oh, the two freaks are running away!" Thompson mocked, reaching for Peter's backpack.

At that moment, Lin Hai moved. Using Tai Chi's Cloud Hands technique, he pulled and redirected Thompson's arm. The bully lost his balance and crashed heavily to the ground.

"What the fu—" Thompson scrambled up in embarrassment, looking at Lin Hai with anger and confusion. He had no idea what Tai Chi was. He only knew that Lin Hai had lightly touched his hand, and somehow he had fallen over. That left Thompson feeling uneasy.

Peter was stunned, while Lin Hai merely shook his head. "Let's go," Lin Hai said. He glanced at the uncertain Thompson standing where he was, then pulled Peter away from the school.

"Did you do that?" The moment they left the school, Peter asked impatiently. "Of course. I do know a little Eastern martial arts," Lin Hai admitted.

"Oh! My God! You're amazing!" Peter said excitedly. Nerd Parker was always getting bullied, especially by Thompson, who had even given Peter a nickname—"Insignificant Parker."

"Not at all, not at all. I'm only a beginner. I'm not that good yet." Lin Hai scratched his head, a little embarrassed by the praise. His words carried the traditional modesty of Huaxia people. But I'll definitely be amazing in the future! He did not say that part aloud.

"Do you want to come with me? Where I'm going has more plants for experiments," Lin Hai continued, because he was heading to the Herbal Plant Shop next.

"Awesome! I have so many hypotheses to test!" Peter said excitedly, then hesitated. "But I need to call Aunt May first. She's always worried I'll get into trouble when I'm out."

Watching Peter take out an old-fashioned feature phone to call Aunt May, Lin Hai sensed the warmth of Peter's family. But he did not envy it, because the home he had here could give him just as much warmth.