Chapter 2604

Then he suddenly remembered that the Spider-Man he knew, Miles, almost always wore his suit, rarely taking off his mask, and Peter had seen Miles's true face only once or twice, and he looked quite young.

This Miles didn't look young at all—he appeared about the same age as Peter, and lacked the energetic, vibrant aura typical of Spider-Man; instead, he seemed somewhat timid and hesitant.

Peter's street-fighting experience wasn't as rich as Matt's; Matt merely heard footsteps, used his mind's eye to see Miles's posture, and strode forward, grabbing Miles by the back of his collar.

Miles immediately shouted, but didn't dare struggle much, just kept saying: "I didn't do anything—I'm just here to run an errand."

"Where is Parker Robbins?" Matt dragged Miles into the room and said: "Look at who's in front of you."

Miles hunched over, lifted his eyes, and saw Kingpin's face, full of jowls.

"Kingpin?!!!!"

Miles let out a scream, turned his head to run, but Kingpin reached out and pulled him back, saying: "Since you know me, you must be someone from the underworld. We're looking for this kid named Robbins—tell us where he is, and you can go."

"No, I can't—he won't let me say, and I don't know either."

"Calm down first," Peter said. "We're not trying to interrogate you like a criminal, but Robbins committed a serious error—he kidnapped a vital technician from the Star Core Space Station, which could very well cause problems for the station. Do you want the space station to come crashing down?"

Peter was betting that Miles wasn't inherently bad—just that his upbringing and environment forced him into petty theft like most kids around here, but he was certainly no natural-born villain.

Hearing this, Miles's face instantly turned pale, and he stammered: "No, no... it's not that serious, is it? The space station falling down? Good heavens, what has he done?"

"Tell us exactly what happened," Shiler said, pressing his hand on Miles's shoulder, which somehow made Miles feel slightly more at ease.

Miles sniffled and said: "Earlier, I met the Parker brothers on the street—I kept watch for them once, and they gave me some money, but we live far apart, so we don't usually keep in touch."

"Not long ago, he came to me, saying he had a mother in a vegetative state who needed daily check-ins, or the nurses would slack off. He said he'd already cleared it with the hospital front desk, so I could just use his name to visit. I thought he was pretty pitiful, so I helped him out."

"But probably the night before last, he suddenly gave me a sum of money, saying it was thanks. I didn't know where it came from—I was too scared to take it—but he said he'd soon have a big business deal, and since I'm also short on cash, I just kept going along with it."

"Then why are you so scared?" Matt suddenly realized something was off. He said: "You're not afraid of robbery or theft, but you're afraid of taking money to care for a patient?"

"You don't know," Miles said, raising his voice, complaining: "He's all mysterious and weird, and he's got a gun. When I realized something was off and wanted to quit, he threatened me—I had no choice but to come."

"He probably anticipated someone would come after him, so he sent you here as a decoy," Kingpin said with a cold smirk. "If it were my dumb underlings investigating this case, they wouldn't listen to you saying you're not Parker Robbins—they'd just throw you straight into the crocodile pit."

Miles was clearly terrified, stammering and afraid to speak, but Peter felt he wasn't a coward—even facing Kingpin shouldn't reduce him to this state.

"You said Robbins was acting all mysterious—what exactly did he do?" Peter pressed.

"He could suddenly vanish! And even though he disappeared, his voice would still sound near me," Miles said, clearly breaking down. "Parker might have already become a ghost—he might already be dead!"

Now Peter understood: Miles wasn't afraid of threats—he was afraid of ghosts.

"This isn't going to be easy," Kingpin said in a drawn-out tone. "This kid messed with my people, and you're practically his accomplice—looks like I'll have to make you meet my few little treasures."

Kingpin's reputation in Brooklyn was infamous—street rumors said he liked feeding enemies to dogs. Miles, finally snapping out of his panic, realized he had to prioritize his own survival.

"Don't do this, boss—I haven't done anything bad, I was forced into this."

"But you two caused me losses together, and you still want to just bluff your way out? Do you really think that'll work?"

Miles mumbled without speaking; Kingpin snorted, tapped his toe on the ground, and said: "How about this—you try to contact him, tell him his mother's had a problem, and get him to come over."

"But Mrs. Robbins has been in this state for a long time—I already told him her vitals were stable, so he might not believe it."

"This kid clearly isn't a traditional criminal," Shiler said. "He's got some new tricks in this area—he won't fall for such an obvious trap."

"I just want him to know his mother's in our hands—if he wants to avoid trouble, he'd better come quietly." As soon as Kingpin spoke, it sounded like a true Dafan Sect villain.

Shiler shook his head and said: "Don't forget he also has hostages—him kidnapping Beck is likely nine out of ten. With hostages on both sides, this could drag on for ages."

"What are you going to do, Doctor?" Peter looked at Shiler and asked.

"Whether it's why he went after Beck or why he came after you—that's more important." Shiler also turned to Peter and said: "If he learned Beck was a valuable researcher from that list, and learned you're a genius scientist from regular news, do you really think your value doesn't compare to Beck's?"

"That shows Robbins's goal definitely isn't money—Beck isn't doing well, but you're at your peak. Everyone knows Beck's superpowers, but few know you're Spider-Man. If he wanted to ransom a top scientist, you'd be the better target."

"Then what is this 'big business' he mentioned?"

"Probably still related to the space station," Shiler speculated. "The only difference between you and Beck is that you have nothing to do with the space station project, while he's trying to get into it to work."

"Then why did he go after Beck and then come after you?"

"We'll probably have to ask Beck," Shiler said, squinting. "Maybe he was originally kidnapped, but now he can't be seen purely as a hostage—his emotions aren't stable, and when he snaps, he might do anything."

"Are you saying they're working together?"

"Do you think the invisible person you fought earlier was trying to kill you?" Shiler asked.

Peter shook his head. Though his street combat experience wasn't rich, he could still tell this much: "The opponent didn't go for the kill—seemed to hesitate, looked more like he wanted to take me away."

"Do you think he could understand you?"

"Who? Robbins? Impossible—my files are classified; ordinary people couldn't possibly know what I'm really doing."

"Then what about insiders? More precisely, Mr. Beck?"

Peter rarely hesitated, then said: "It'd be hard to fool someone who's worked in tech long-term—I've had several run-ins with him at the lunar base, though none were pleasant, but he also knows roughly what I'm up to."

Matt also realized: "I get it—maybe at first, Robbins kidnapped Beck, but after seeing Robbins's miraculous abilities, Beck wanted to use Robbins's hands to teach Peter a lesson."

"To work with Beck, Robbins decided to help him out—that's why he went after Peter."

"Beck's goal might just be to teach Peter a lesson, but Robbins probably isn't—more likely, he wants to act against the space station, so he's doing everything to satisfy Beck's demands, since he's about to join the station as technical lead, and winning him over is necessary."

"Now the problem is how we find these two," Kingpin said. "Once we find them, everything's solved."

"Invisibility is indeed a hassle," Eddie said. "He could've walked right past us, and we wouldn't have seen him."

"No, we can see the flow of invisibility magic—though it's not very clear, but if he appears, we'll definitely see it."

"Getting him to take the bait is also simple," Shiler said, smiling. "Invisibility is his strength, but also his weakness—if you had an invisibility cloak, and just happened to show up somewhere everyone calls impossible to infiltrate, wouldn't you want to try?"

"I wouldn't," Matt said. "But those teenagers definitely would—they love challenging themselves."

"I suspect Robbins is just like that—rebellious, rash, sees all rules and doctrines as evil, constantly trying to prove his uniqueness."

Shiler turned his head toward the window and said: "As long as you create a problem ordinary people can't solve, and he happens to have an edge in that area, he'll naturally see it as a chance to prove himself and jump in right away."

"But to get him interested in this problem, you still need some positive motivation—his first move backfired, he couldn't handle you, probably lost face in front of Beck, so now he's even more eager to strike at you, just to show Beck how strong he is."

"Given his knowledge level, he couldn't possibly know the exact power levels of this world—but the smooth sailing in Brooklyn made him think his invisibility would let him walk anywhere like he owns the place."

"So no matter where you go, if he can get even rough details, he'll definitely try to latch onto you."

Peter seemed to grasp it a bit, saying: "So it looks like I should join that classified experiment by S. H. I. E. L. D. and stay at their impregnable experimental base for a year or so."

"Of course, absolutely impregnable, unbreachable." Shiler said with a smile, "And extremely distant and mysterious, the kind of place you'd only hear about in the most terrifying experimental projects."

"Where is that?" Eddie said, a bit baffled, "The deep sea? The moon? The Andromeda Galaxy?"

"No, of course it's... the Himalayas."