Bab 116: Chapter 83: Ninja Spider_1
Peter gently pushed open the door, holding a stack of paperwork. He saw a middle-aged man in a white research uniform packing up his things. "Doctor Connors, are you leaving today?" Peter asked.
The middle-aged man had grey hair and looked tired. More importantly, under his research uniform, his right sleeve was empty. Clearly, he only had one arm.
"Oh, it's Peter? Yes, the research cooperation has ended. It's time for me to leave."
Peter gently placed the paperwork on the desk of Connors' office. In a low voice, he said: "I'm sorry. If I were smarter, maybe we could have made progress before the research ended..."
"You're already very smart," Doctor Connors said gently. "You're just a high school student, but you're much smarter and more hardworking than any graduate students I've met. If you want, I would be happy to write you a letter of recommendation."
"Thank you, but I haven't decided yet which university I want to attend. And, I still have time before I start college."
Peter moved his lips a bit and then asked: "Where will you go next? The research of the serum agent is in the final stage. Any approximate laboratory should be enough to complete it."
Doctor Connors looked around his office, "No other place will have as good conditions as the Stark Building. When they asked me to join, it was the lab equipment here that convinced me to agree."
With his remaining hand, he continued packing and added: "But it doesn't matter. Like you said, the experiment is in the final stage. With a little more effort, I will succeed."
"By then, perhaps I won't be the only one to regain my arm. I know there are many people who have lost limbs in wars. Military pensions barely cover their living expenses, and prosthetics are too expensive. But if there were a regenerative serum, they could live normal lives again."
Peter heard the excitement in Doctor Connors' voice. During his internship, Connors had made the deepest impression on him.
At first, Peter had not been an intern in this research group, but while running errands for the leader of his group, he had met Doctor Connors, who had just been invited by the military to participate in Stark's medical research collaboration.
At first sight of him, Peter was astonished because Doctor Connors had just one arm. Yet it did not hinder his scientific research at all. He had a brilliant mind, and his research in bionics and serum technology was world-class.
Peter was deeply impressed because not everyone, even those with all limbs, could achieve such great success. That's why he applied to join Doctor Connors' research group.
After all, Peter himself had mutated after being bitten by a spider, and he wanted to find out what had caused this mutation.
Peter was very smart and hardworking. Although he was a bit of a bookworm, he was the kind of student that teachers loved. Soon, Doctor Connors took a liking to this young intern.
Peter came to know from Connors that he was originally an army doctor, a veteran soldier. He had lost his arm on the battlefield, but it did not stop his scientific journey.
On the contrary, he embarked on an unconventional medical journey, started researching the functions of serum within organisms, and achieved significant results.
While assisting Doctor Connors, Peter learned a lot about biology, and with the spider mutation, his brilliant mind worked even faster. When two geniuses collaborated, of course, the speed of research rocketed.
But just when they were one step away from their goal, the collaboration between Stark and the military ended, and the researchers had to leave the Stark Building.
Primarily, these commissioned research projects, even if they ended midway, ensured payments for the researchers. They would prefer it if the project ended sooner so that they could use the remaining time for a vacation.
However, Doctor Connors was different. He wasn't here just to earn money; he genuinely wanted to develop a serum that could regrow limbs to restore his limb and benefit other disabled veterans who had lost their limbs in the war just like him.
So, inevitably, he felt somewhat disappointed. But seeing Peter's crestfallen expression, Doctor Connors said, "It's okay. Once you're in college, I might be teaching at a university in the East. You're welcome to join my lab, and we can continue the research."
"It's a deal!" Peter said happily.
In fact, Stark had attempted to teach Peter about mecha and artificial intelligence before, but Peter showed little interest.
He was not a proponent of Stark's industrial doctrine. Instead, he preferred exploring the unknown mysteries of humans, like secrets hidden in nature or the wondrous outer space.
During his time studying with Doctor Connors, Peter became fascinated by the mysteries within cold-blood animals like spiders and lizards. He thought it would be nice to become a biologist or an entomologist in the future.
If he could invent something life-saving like Doctor Connors, nothing could be better.
Though Peter had become Spider Man and actively fought against criminals every night, as a good student, he didn't plan his life to be just a superhero.
He still wanted to take it step by step: to get into a good university, then choose a discipline and direction he was passionate about for research, preferably earn a couple of PhDs, and thereafter, take a teaching position, or even start his own research center.
Possibly due to the effects of his spider mutation, Peter felt a unique kinship with these cold-blooded creatures during his research with Doctor Connors. This also progressively informed his future aims.
Having a clear goal significantly helped disperse his sadness about parting from his teacher. After leaving Stark Building, Peter was yet again brimming with energy to continue his Spider Man enterprise.
His last fight with Bullseye taught him a lot. Peter realised that despite having his spider-silk launcher, which allowed him to swing from one skyscraper to the next, this mode of transport was not particularly speedy. It was perhaps only slightly faster than a car at most. Furthermore, such visible movements would alert the whole of New York about his crime-fighting spree.
By the time he swung to a location, any experienced robbers would have long fled the scene.
In his last operation, the only plan that Peter was collectively praised for was his use of New York's intricate sewer system.
This was an excellent strategy. The environment in New York's sewer system was far from optimal; the walls and the floor were slippery and it was dark and damp. Ordinary people could not move easily in there.
But Peter was different. As Spider Man, he could adhere to various walls, running without the worry of slipping and falling.
Moreover, the straight and wide sewer lanes were like runways tailor-made for Spider Man. There'd be no traffic, no pedestrians; in a full-out sprint, he could outrun a speeding car.
Most importantly, it was secretive enough. He could move underground and emerge from the nearest sewer exits without anyone noticing his movements.
This strategy worked best against experienced robbers.
Once, there was a gang of bank robbers who were seasoned criminals. They had three to four people on the lookout, Peter had crossed paths with them before. But the moment he appeared on the horizon, they vanished in an instant.
Later, Peter used the sewer strategy to catch them off guard. Before they could transfer packs of banknotes into their getaway vehicle, Spider Man emerged from the nearest sewer manhole, thrashed the engine of their car with one punch, and caught the robbers off guard.
This episode made Spider Man realise the convenience of the sewer system. For him, it was like a fast elevator that could take him to any location in New York at any time.
As such, Peter began to take interest in the structure of the sewer system.
New York's sewer system was built long ago and had undergone countless renovations. There was no map that could accurately depict all the sewer routes.
Thus, Peter decided to personally explore all the sewers in order to draw a route map.
In any case, he was not busy with his studies and had plenty of time. He was fast, so it did not matter if he used a bit of energy. He could cover half a city district in a day.
One day, Peter was wandering in the sewer again, holding a map in his hand, marking the structure of the sewer system with a marker.
He was engrossed in drawing, not paying attention to the path. His spider sense detected an upturned brick ahead which could trip him up.
So, Peter put down his map and decided to continue exploring after he crossed this area.
At that moment, he noticed something peculiar.
Ordinarily, most parts of New York's sewer system were not frequented by people and were covered with slippery moss and filthy deposits. However, the moss here seemed as if it had been cleaned by something.
Peter walked to the junction of the wall and the floor tiles and found a tiny bit of white powder. He sniffed it and found that it had a sour smell, as if it had been used to clean the moss.
Who would take the trouble to clean this place? Peter thought. Even he would not want to stay in this dark and damp place, let alone clean it, unless it was necessary for his crime-fighting.
He followed these traces and discovered that there were signs of human habitation in an abandoned sewer maintenance area.
It was easy to determine. There was the smell of burnt fuel, indicating that someone had lit a fire here. Peering into the steel door, his exceptional eyesight hinted at signs of somebody living inside.
Peter did not resort to breaking down the door as it would likely alert whoever was inside. He did not have any tools for lock picking either. So, he marked the location on the map with a dot and planned to bring some tools to investigate in a few days.
No matter who he was, it was indeed very strange to live in the sewer. If he was a respectable individual forced to hide, Peter would like to help. If he was a miscreant, Peter could bring him to justice.
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