Chapter 3620: Chapter 2650: Core of the Star Rescue (Part 1)

Nick was chatting with Natasha about the past when Coulson walked in with a phone and placed it in front of Nick. Nick glanced at him, wondering what matter couldn't be directly reported.

Natasha gave him a look, and Nick signaled that she didn't need to excuse herself, reasoning that it was unlikely anything major could be happening at this time. He picked up the phone, but his expression soon turned somber.

Nick listened on the phone for quite a while, and after hanging up, both Natasha and Coulson looked at him curiously. Nick said, "The Stella Core Space Station has a problem."

"What's wrong?"

"The situation is complicated," Nick replied. "But let's not rush to deal with it, I think this is a good opportunity."

About two days ago, Doctor Schiller was in his office at the Arkham Sanatorium looking at emails. The interns he had been supervising were graduating, and he needed to sign off on their supervisory reports, but some of their reports were all over the place, and Schiller had been busy with this issue for a few days.

Of course, among them was a special report from Charles, the youthful Charles who had previously come to this cosmos and worked at the Elders Council Hospital for a while. His report was certainly the best among all.

Charles had gone back to his own universe for a while but perhaps due to an argument with Erik, he had returned and was currently still working at the Elders Council Hospital, now a keystone in the emergency psychological intervention department.

Scanning to the bottom of the email, Schiller found a message signed by Peter Parker. He knew it must be Peter sending over the medical report details by email, so he clicked to open it and take a look.

Schiller's knowledge of gynecology and obstetrics was limited to textbooks; he had virtually no practical experience, so he couldn't make much sense of those test image reports. He had found a few obstetric experts he had known from his school days to forward the email to them.

Not long afterward, several classmates replied. They all said there was nothing wrong with the scans, the child was healthy. As for why an abortion was impossible, some guessed that there was some special immunity in the mother's body, others suggested it might be due to inadequate medical and pharmaceutical methods, but ultimately they couldn't really explain it.

Peter, of course, also sought out the Grand Mages of Kamar-Taj. After examining the situation, they provided an ambiguous answer, only saying that the child's innate soul had bound itself to the mother, creating a special protective shield around the child's body that made it impossible to abort by ordinary means.

Peter's mood had been quite terrible lately. He and Gwen did not despise their child, but no one would feel happy being forced into parenthood, especially Gwen, who had become even more distraught lately.

Doctor Schiller had made several visits for psychological counseling, but he knew that without addressing the root issue, no amount of counseling would be effective.

Seeing how the situation was developing into one that called for intervention lest it worsen, Schiller had no choice but to step in, and he had arranged to meet with Peter that afternoon.

Peter arrived promptly, appearing to be in decent spirits but with dark circles under his eyes that suggested his recent weariness.

Schiller sighed and said, "Don't worry, I've been keeping an eye on that kid. He's genuinely not bad at heart, but whether he can take on the mantle of Spider Man will require the test of time."

"I'm sorry, Doctor, the situation with Gwen caught us off-guard, and our plan was disrupted," Peter responded.

Schiller shook his head, indicating it was fine, and brewed a hot cup of tea for Peter. Previously, at the beach, the plan Peter referred to was in fact a test for Miles. Peter was considering passing on the abilities of Spider Man to Miles.

After all, among all the Spider Men who were not Peter Parker, Miles had done quite well. Gwen Spiderman had a streak of world-weariness, the Scarlet Spider-Man was too detached, and the other clones had various issues. It was Miles, the black boy from the slums, who was the most positive and responsible among them.

So when Peter was contemplating passing on the powers of Spider Man, Miles was the first he thought of, except that his universe's Miles, perhaps due to a lack of proper education, seemed timid and indecisive.

Peter couldn't just rush in and ask him to be Spider Man; ultimately, it would depend on whether he had the heart of a hero like Miles Spiderman. If he wanted to be a hero, then the powers of Spider Man would be his best ally, and if not, nobody would force him.

Therefore, Peter asked Doctor Schiller to find an opportunity to indirectly probe Miles. After all, being a psychologist, Schiller was most astute at judging people and could definitely determine if Miles was a suitable successor.

Unfortunately, Gwen's pregnancy came too suddenly, ruining any chance for their plans to unfold. Now, everything had to prioritize Gwen and her unborn child.

"I'm aware of Gwen's poor state," Schiller began. "We can't drag this out any longer; we must find out who is behind this mischief."

"What do you plan to do, Doctor? I've run out of ideas lately," Peter sighed. "I have to keep reassuring Gwen, ensuring her state of mind doesn't get worse, that she won't do anything extreme. I totally understand her breakdown; I would rather take her place."

"You've done well, Peter, and I think we'll have some leads on this matter soon," Schiller said, not without foundation. He continued, "If this is someone's conspiracy, they must be watching you from the shadows, noticing your severe reactions. They surely won't abstain from taking measures to placate you."

"You mean that someone deliberately placed this child inside Gwen's body with the purpose of wanting the child to be born? But... why?"

Peter was puzzled, but Shiller said, "When you're too smart, you can't understand the thoughts of fools; when you're too normal, you naturally can't understand the madness of a madman."

"In your view, there may be better ways, but to them, this might be the only solution. They are convinced without doubt, believing if you don't do as they say, you're ungrateful and a sinner who will destroy the world."

"Isn't that a bit exaggerated?" Peter was a bit skeptical and said, "What kind of issue is so serious that it requires an ordinary human woman to give birth to a child to resolve it? I can't think of any such thing."

"That just goes to show you're not stupid or crazy enough or that you're not stubborn and out of date," Shiller shrugged and said. "I am 80% sure that this is no coincidence but a conspiracy. So you must unite front with Gwen and talk to her."

Peter understood Shiller's subtle hint. The doctor was concerned that if Gwen really developed a sense of mercy for the child, she would be heartbroken if the conspiracy was eventually exposed.

After returning home, Peter also shared his thoughts with Gwen. He looked worriedly at his fiancée, but Gwen looked back at him with conviction and said, "No, I won't treat this embryo of unknown origin as my own child. As strange as it sounds, I always find it difficult to feel a blood connection with it."

"Besides, even if it were my child, if it has to be embroiled in conspiracy even before it's born, then to protect it, I won't allow it to be born, don't worry."

Peter just embraced Gwen, and the two of them spent the night without words.

However, Gwen had a dream that night, and in the morning, she felt somewhat bewildered. Peter noticed something was off about her as he helped her out of bed, Gwen looked at Peter blankly and said, "Did you hear any noise last night?"

"What? Last night? No, there were no sounds last night; it was very quiet all night."

"I heard someone calling me 'mom,'" Gwen frowned deeply.

Peter started to worry that Gwen's resolve was softening, but Gwen didn't show a trace of motherly affection. She said skeptically, "I seemed to have dreamed of a little girl. She kept calling me 'mom' in the dream, saying she couldn't wait to see me."

"Then you..."

Gwen snorted coldly and said, "If it weren't for this situation, I wouldn't dare to be sure that this child is someone else's conspiracy. Now it seems someone is indeed helping things along from behind. Why else would she call me 'mom' in a dream right after I resolved not to give birth?"

Peter couldn't help but admire her; Gwen was truly sober, even though she really was pregnant and affected by hormones like any other expectant mother, but none of that overrode her wisdom.

But Gwen quickly showed a somewhat panicked expression and said, "If there really is something inside me that can read my thoughts, and its goal is to have me give birth to it smoothly, then how exactly can I get it out?"

"Oh my God." Gwen grabbed Peter's sleeve, showing a disgusted expression, and said, "I feel like I've been parasitized."

Peter hurriedly comforted her and then said, "Don't be afraid, Gwen. The baby is still too small; I can't track its brain waves accurately, but in just about a week or so, I will definitely be able to use the equipment to separate your brain waves from its."

"Moreover, don't forget that Doctor Schiller and Mr. Stark are here too. They won't allow anyone to be so brazen in their presence. Don't worry too much."

After soothing Gwen, Peter immediately set off, went to the lab to adjust the equipment, prepared to separate the brain waves of mother and child as soon as they can be detected, and then see what's going on with this child.

On the other hand, he also actively reached out to Schiller, Stark, Strange, and others, asking them to investigate from multiple angles to see if they could find any leads on the person behind this.

Strange used magic methods and discovered that the barrier around the fetus's soul wasn't a power from the fetus itself or the mother's soul power but an external force. After taking samples, he was using the Holy Sanctuary to investigate where this force came from.

Stark also used magic methods and found that Gwen's brain waves were indeed affected, which proved that someone was interfering with her brain waves, confirming that the child wasn't naturally conceived.

Meanwhile, Schiller consulted Death—he had altered the timeline causing Death to take on a major contract, which made Death finally willing to give her a favorable response.

Through Death's investigation, it was confirmed that their miscarriage methods were ineffective, not because the child had any kind of rule-based immunity to death, but because of that external force's barrier.

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