Chapter 665: The Spider

New York's morning sunlight is always bright, its rays piercing through the city's bustling streets and rippling between skyscrapers, while a red-and-blue figure weaves through the same towers.

With a snap, a strand of silk stuck to a skyscraper's glass facade; Spider-Man swung low, drawing gasps, then soared upward, curled his limbs, twisted his waist, and flipped forward in a stunt that sent the New York crowd below into cheers.

Soon his figure vanished at the end of the street, and similar scenes unfolded along every street he passed, until he drew ever closer to Manhattan's core.

A strand of silk clung to the Stark Tower sign; Spider-Man followed it to the rooftop, entered through the terrace door, and went to a dedicated changing room. After changing, Peter sprinted downstairs to a laboratory.

In the lab, Stark was busy at the experimental bench, Connors sat at a nearby table typing a paper on his laptop, Banner and Yin Sen stood before a filing cabinet, discussing a stack of documents in low voices.

With a bang, the door burst open and Peter rushed in; everyone looked up, their eyes landing on him. Peter raised both hands above his head and shouted:

"I'm in college!"

Everyone glanced at him, then returned to their work. Peter stood frozen, waved his raised hands vigorously, and said: "I'm a college student now! I registered today! I moved all my stuff into the dorm! Starting today, I'm going to college!"

The others ignored him, except Connors, who kept typing on his laptop: "NYU's closer now. If you come in early every day, you'll make it to morning meetings."

Peter lowered his arms, placed his hands on his hips, and said: "I graduated high school and got into NYU. Isn't that worth celebrating?"

"Peter, since the day you graduated high school, you've asked this question every day. I'm not saying it's not worth celebrating—but…" Banner gestured around the room. "We'd rather you celebrated with us when you earn your third or fourth PhD."

Expecting Peter to slump away dejected, they were surprised when he beamed with energy: "That's right—I'm going to study hard! By the way, Dr. Connors, I've got an idea for that composition you mentioned. Let me sketch it for you now…"

Peter zipped over to the filing cabinet, grabbed a stack of paper, sat on Connors's desk, and began drawing. In moments, he handed the stack to Connors, then zipped over to Stark: "Mr. Stark, do you need any help?"

"Go away, don't bother me," Stark waved him off, absorbed in his experiment. But Peter wasn't discouraged—he darted to Banner and Yin Sen's side and joined their discussion.

After a while, Connors finished reviewing Peter's sketches; Peter zipped over again to answer questions, then sprinted back to Stark to ask if he needed help, then dashed to Banner again…

Throughout the lab, all anyone saw was Peter zipping left, then zipping right.

Stark's main lab was enormous, occupying more than half a floor. Peter ran back and forth between the three groups hundreds of times, all while maintaining intense mental focus.

Yet once everything was done, he zipped out the window, cried "Whoa!" and swung through the skies of New York until he vanished beyond the skyline.

After Peter left, Stark set down his model, crossed his arms, and turned toward the direction Peter had gone. "What's wrong with this kid? Has he been overexcited lately?"

"Maybe he's genuinely thrilled about college," Connors said, shaking his head.

"He's been muttering about it for ten days before his high school graduation, spent the whole day ecstatic at the ceremony, then kept talking for half a month. This time, with college orientation, he'll probably go on for three months," Banner sighed.

"Haven't you noticed his symptoms are getting worse?" Yin Sen walked over, turned on his computer, and opened a news site. "Look—every front-page headline is about Spider-Man's aerial stunts…"

"There are over four thousand photos here, all taken within the past week. That means Peter gets photographed over six hundred times daily—minimum five or six outings? And he performs these high-risk stunts every single day. Where does he get all that stamina and energy?" Yin Sen asked, baffled.

"You've got to remember, boys this age are like this. Haven't you ever played basketball until 3 a. .?" Stark shrugged.

"But…" Yin Sen opened another image and pointed. "How do you explain this?"

Rice ball reading

Stark leaned forward, squinting, but couldn't make it out. He turned on the projector. On the wall appeared a picture of a spiderweb. He glanced at it and said: "What? It's just a regular spiderweb."

Yin Sen slowly zoomed out the image. Only then did Stark see the background: the Empire State Building.

Around the Empire State Building stood many other skyscrapers; this enormous web stretched between them. Banner adjusted his glasses and said: "You know, it's actually well-made. Quite beautiful."

Connors nodded. The web in the image was indeed masterfully woven: centered on the Empire State Building, it had twenty-one radial lines, each spaced at identical distances and angles, with connecting strands offset in perfect alignment.

"Better than most modern art," Connors remarked. "I like this kind of symmetry. Too bad my lab wouldn't allow it—if it did, it'd make a great decoration."

"The problem is, this was probably made by Spider-Man," Yin Sen sighed. "Yes, he's called Spider-Man—but he's human. Why would he weave such a massive web over New York?"

"Probably bored. Didn't he just take a break?" Connors returned to his paper, but Stark sensed something odd. Since studying psychology, he understood one truth: every human behavior has a root.

Human actions are driven—by profit, by emotion, even seemingly useless habits may release hidden stress.

"Why is Peter doing this?" Stark asked, puzzled. At that moment, Connors pulled out his phone and dialed Peter's number. "Peter, I saw on the news—you wove a giant web over downtown New York. Why?"

"What? Gwen asked if you could spin webs, so you made her one? Okay, I get it. Bye." Connors hung up. "Earlier, Peter revealed his identity to Gwen. She was curious how being bitten by a spider gave him this ability, so they ran a test."

"Turns out Peter can spin webs—even though he can't produce silk naturally, with his web-shooters he can weave a near-perfect web. That's all it was." Connors put his phone down. Everyone fell silent.

Yin Sen shrugged, ready to close the news page—but as he returned to the home screen, it refreshed. A new real-time news item appeared, accompanied by another giant spiderweb.

Yin Sen assumed it was the same report and didn't look closely. But as he prepared to shut down his computer, he noticed the background of this web looked different.

Yin Sen frowned, leaned closer, clicked to enlarge the image. When he saw the background, he froze. He paused a moment, then said to Stark: "Tony, I have news for you—but don't get too angry."

Stark, back to his model, turned. "What? What news? Go ahead. I won't get mad."

He fiddled with the model. "Lately, everything's going smoothly. My temper's improved. Believe me—I'm not the Stark I used to be…"

"Alright…" Yin Sen reactivated the projector and displayed the image on the wall. "About three minutes ago, Peter wove a giant spiderweb on top of Stark Tower…"

Everyone rushed to the window, looked up—and there, towering above Stark Tower and the surrounding skyscrapers, hung a massive, perfectly symmetrical, breathtakingly beautiful spiderweb.

"PETER PARKER!"

Stark's roar echoed through the entire Stark Tower. He stormed to the desk, snatched his phone, called Peter, and bellowed: "Peter! What the hell are you doing? Why weave a web on top of Stark Tower?! Pepper has a cleaning obsession—she'll go insane if she sees this!"

Before Peter could reply, Stark dropped the phone and shouted to JARVIS: "JARVIS! Get a cleaning crew! Clear that web before Pepper gets back—or I'm in deep trouble!"

"Forget it—cleaning crew won't make it in time. Mark!"

Instantly, the armor sealed onto Stark's body. He shot upward, flew to the rooftop, and began dismantling the webs.

It proved Peter's technical skill was indeed impressive—especially after years of guidance. His talent had fully blossomed, and his web-shooters had undergone multiple upgrades. The silk he produced was incredibly strong.

Dressed in his armor, Iron Man slashed and chopped, finally deploying a swarm of drones to clear the main structure. As Stark landed, panting, he turned—and saw, on the rooftop of a nearby tower, a red-and-blue figure circling endlessly.

"JARVIS, zoom in!"

Before Stark finished speaking, his vision magnified—and there, above New York, appeared another enormous spiderweb.