บท 2084: Chapter 1402: Reliving the Past (Part 1)_1
"Where am I?"
Xu Shang-Chi managed to stand up, his head spinning. He realized that this scene had occurred not long ago, but strangely enough, a certain pain and rawness seemed to have departed from him.
He felt an unprecedented smoothness in the flow of his inner energy. Those mysterious powers, which were rarely under his control, seemed to have fused into his muscles and bones, becoming a part of his natural instincts. Thus, when he jumped, he unconsciously used these powers on his legs and arms, making his movements stronger and bolder.
Xu Shang-Chi sprang up from the ground and soon heard a rough, heavy breathing sound on his right. Instinctively, he rolled away, avoiding an incoming tentacle.
"Again?!"
Xu Shang-Chi yelled in surprise but realized that he wasn't really scared. The daylight and the gentle breeze were clear indications that it was daytime.
Good heavens, he could actually appreciate the breeze now, Xu Shang-Chi complained to himself. He then turned to look at the owner of the tentacle on his right.
Great, there was a creature that he still couldn't describe. It slightly resembled a Glasses King Snake that was shorter than usual. At this moment, it was lifting its bulky upper body, swinging its tentacles in front as if performing a fire wheel dance.
Xu Shang-Chi took one look at it and then turned and ran. He passed by Riley, who was getting up from the ground. Xu Shang-Chi swiftly grabbed Riley's arm, yanked him up, and they both took off running.
"Hey, what's going on?" Riley, still a little dazed, asked, "Did time rewind? Or are we in another dream?"
"Who knows!" Xu Shang-Chi exclaimed exasperatedly. The moment they bolted out of the shopping mall's entrance, another zombie-like creature leaped down, smashing a huge hole in the ground and blocking their way.
Xu Shang-Chi and Riley came to an abrupt stop. Turning to Xu Shang-Chi, Riley asked, "So what's the situation now?"
"I don't know, I've just woken up too!"
The two ran towards the side of the street. However, the Glasses King Snake creature and the newly arrived zombie relentlessly pursued them.
Riley finally got a little frustrated with the inconvenience of running on the ground. Following his spider instincts, he jumped onto the wall of the building and began to climb quickly in a spider-like manner. "Why are we running?!" He shouted to Xu Shang-Chi.
"Don't we run if...wait, my tongue is still there!"
Xu Shang-Chi stretched his tongue vigorously, then licked the inside of his mouth. He looked at Riley's ear and noticed no traces of blood, to which Riley responded by checking his own ears, "Yes, my ears are healed, as if they were never injured in the first place."
With a "whoosh", Xu Shang-Chi suddenly braked. Riley was caught off guard and ran forward a few dozen meters before he rushed back hastily, jumping onto the ground and standing behind Xu Shang-Chi. He gasped and asked, "What's wrong? Why did you stop again?"
Xu Shang-Chi shook his arms, stretched his shoulders, then hopped on the spot a few times. Turning to Riley, he said, "You're right, why are we running?"
"But if we don't run... hey, I'm Spider-Man!" Riley suddenly reacted. He and Xu Shang-Chi turned together, staring wide-eyed at the two approaching monsters. He slowly said, "They are not illusions. They are real, tangible, solid monsters!"
A harsh metallic scraping sound "Zzzing"," rang out as a crooked telephone pole was snapped from the roadside. "Whoosh, whoosh," two sounds of cutting through the air followed, and then there was a loud "boom".
The Glasses King Snake and the zombie were blasted several hundred meters away by the telephone pole that Riley had lifted, so far away that they seemed to have disappeared from sight.
Riley and Xu Shang-Chi looked at each other, both seeing the excitement in the other's eyes.
Riley extended a hand and the web-like fluid he sprayed attached to the building's surface. The spider web sparkled in the sunlight, and as it swung, its strands danced in the air.
Xu Shang-Chi was faster. Channeling energy into his feet and reducing the ground to inches, his fingertips glowed as he wrote a string of complex spells in the air. He lightly bit his tongue tip, a flash of cold light led the way, and the spell escaped his mouth.
"Heaven's mandate, heaven's mandate, you govern the nine provinces, demons die at an inch, ghosts are captured at sight - follow the edict urgently!"
Instantly, two phantom golden armored strongmen armed with long spears charged at the monsters. The tentacled creature, somewhat resembling the Glasses King Snake, screamed and lashed out at everything around it. When the spear stabbed its abdomen, it seemed agitated by the pain and began violently thrashing its upper body around.
A shadow came from the side, kicking the already unsteady Glasses King Snake creature onto the ground. A roll to dodge the incoming zombie, the golden armored strongman turned around and speared the zombie through.
The two golden armored strongmen held their spears in one hand, saluted, and disappeared. Before they vanished, Riley ran two circles around them, marveling at their actions. Seeing Xu Shang-Chi approaching, he said excitedly, "Oh my god, you can do this, too? And you claimed you're an ordinary person?!"
Xu Shang-Chi looked a bit pale. He shook his head and sighed, "It's a good thing I learned a trick before I left. This spell is good everywhere, but it consumes too much vital energy and can't last long."
Then with a voice almost inaudible to Riley, he complained: "I have no idea what the original owner of this body was thinking, using all the energy on building muscles. I am a wizard player after all…"
Having defeated two monsters, the pair finally had time to thoroughly survey the nearby environment. As expected, New York was once again devastated, but this time the destruction was more thorough, matching the apocalyptic scenery in their minds.
The collapsed buildings and burnt vehicles need not be mentioned, but the traces left behind by various artillery on the streets, police cars, military vehicles, and even a helicopter crashed into the ground, all smoldering, clearly showed signs of a recent massive battle.
At this horrifying sight, the two men didn't feel worried but instead breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, it's only the traditional apocalypse.
As they walked along the ruined street, Riley's tone seemed a bit relaxed: "I feel that my spider-sense has recovered, it's functioning normally, and what about you?"
"My energy is no longer chaotic." Xu Shang-Chi concentrated for a moment with a frown before gradually relaxing his brows, saying: "Moreover, it seems to flow smoother than before. After all, it used to dart about chaotically in all the meridians of my body, which gave me a better understanding of these supposed meridians. I can now even clearly see them in my introspective vision, just like Chief Zheng said."
Xu Shang-Chi shrugged, "You wouldn't know, our kind of power emphasizes a unity of form and spirit. Actually, I couldn't properly cast that spell before because everybody's energy flow is different. Although I knew theoretically which path the energy should take, I didn't know how to use my mind to guide it. But now I do."
"So, that terrifying dream wasn't entirely useless, right?" Riley said with a laugh.
"I hope it doesn't happen again," Xu Shang-Chi shook his head.
Next, they focused on a more important issue, which was where their former teammates had gone, including Wanda and Jarvis who were with them before, and Quill and Rocket Raccoon who came later. There was no trace of them on the street.
"It looks like we've completely lost them," Riley said with some concern:"I'm sure JARVIS can take care of himself and he can also protect Wanda, but I am concerned about Wanda's condition."
"The power she drew on at the end was terrifying, and it seemed she even ignited it. I'm not sure what state she's in now, but I hope nothing goes wrong," Xu Shang-Chi said, frowning and looking at the disastrous street scene around him. His senses were extremely keen to the point where he could feel any breeze brushing against his ear, and it was through this breeze that an imperceptible breath was blown into his ear.
"Someone's there." Xu Shang-Chi abruptly stopped and turned to look at the cabinet inside a corner shop. Riley stopped, paid careful attention and found that a touch of spider-silk in his mind had been slightly stirred.
His spider-sense had become even more sensitive, and he could even use it actively to sense certain things. He walked towards the house. Xu Shang-Chi wanted to stop him, but Riley shook his head, gently pushed away his arm and said, "It should be just a normal person, no danger."
They entered the store, but saw a dark gun muzzle sticking out from behind the counter. Given the trembling barrel, Riley could tell that this person did not often handle firearms and was currently very scared.
"Are you okay? Don't be afraid, we're here to save you."
"Go away!" A shrill female voice came from behind the counter.
Riley sighed, trying to soften his voice," Don't get agitated, ma'am, you can trust us. We are superheroes, we will save you."
Clearly, during his time with the New Warriors Team, Riley had learned a lot from the others, including how to rescue ordinary people more effectively in times of disaster by communicating civilly instead of just carrying them out of the way and dropping them off.
Though sometimes the latter method is more practical, when the situation is not so urgent, one should consider the other's emotional state. Already in shock, victims can easily do irrational things if they suffer physical stress. This might not harm Spider Man, but it could very easily hurt them, which would be completely counterproductive to the goal of saving people.
Riley stooped and slowly moved forward a step, making as little noise as possible. He then extended both hands to show that he was unarmed and said, "Don't worry, we are not monsters."
"Superheroes are monsters!" The woman shrieked hysterically, swinging the dark gun muzzle around as though she didn't know who to aim at. She shouted, "You! You all are! Go away, or I'll shoot!"
Riley and Xu Shang-Chi exchanged a glance, sensing that something was amiss. As Riley drew the woman's attention, Xu Shang-Chi subtly moved to the side of the counter. When he saw the woman crouching behind the counter, he exclaimed in surprise, "Jessica? Treasure Woman Jessica?? What are you doing here?"
Upon hearing her name, the woman, or rather girl, hiding behind the counter was taken aback. Seizing the opportunity, Riley grabbed the barrel of the gun. With a "bang," sparks flew from the old shotgun and shattered the hanging light on the ceiling.
Riley and Xu Shang-Chi swiftly barged into the counter from two sides and pinned down Jessica, but Jessica was much stronger than they had thought.
"Let go of me! You monsters!"
"We are not monsters, I am Spider Man!"
"Spider Man is a monster!!!"
"Bang!"
Riley looked down at Jessica slowly falling to the floor, then glanced at Xu Shang-Chi's recently retracted fist. Xu Shang-Chi sighed and said,
"I told you, I'm better at physical persuasion."
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