Chapter 684

Spider-Sense, a remarkably mystical ability, when pushed to its extreme, can even evolve into a form of precognition; Schiller had never before considered where this ability might originate.

Though it may seem like a concept invented on a whim by an editor, later editors subtly hinted in the comics that Spider-Man's origin is tied to the Spider Totem; thus, this ability likely stems from the Spider Totem granting it to its chosen emissary.

Through the gray mist, Schiller confirmed that the strange sound he'd heard earlier was in fact someone contacting him via Spider-Sense, and that the mysterious voice told him: if he used Spider-Sense to communicate with the Spider Totem, he could reach the location she described.

Schiller is not Spider-Man; he was never chosen by the Spider Totem, nor bitten by a spider—he merely copied a low-level version of Spider-Sense through his system. This ability is essentially a weakened variant of Peter Parker's Spider-Sense, lacking any precognitive function, capable only of detecting imminent danger within an extremely brief window.

Therefore, Schiller did not know whether this weakened version of Spider-Sense could also communicate with the Spider Totem—but it didn't matter; he could try.

Meditation was not difficult for Schiller, but he had no idea what the Spider Totem looked like, and the voice had given no description; so he meditated according to his own understanding.

To Schiller, the most powerful aspect of spiders was not their strength, but the ordered, aesthetic beauty of their webs.

A biological structure formed purely by instinct yet possessing a patterned beauty humans could appreciate—this was rare. Moreover, the image of a web more often evokes associations like an inescapable net or self-imprisonment.

Just as Schiller had once told Peter, all human connections in society can become pivotal leverage points; this vast network woven by social engineering better aligned with Schiller's concept of the spider.

These thoughts spread through his mind, and the faint hum returned; unconsciously, his breathing and heartbeat synchronized with the Spider-Sense within him.

Soon, he saw a passage; at its end glowed a bright point. Schiller walked along the passage, and as he neared the light, he felt an invisible barrier blocking his path.

But as the faint Spider-Sense continued to hum, Schiller passed through the barrier, followed the passage toward the light, and upon landing, found himself in a grand hall.

The place was brilliantly lit; before the light faded, Schiller glimpsed shadowy figures moving about.

When he landed, a familiar voice rang out: "Oh my god, he's here! He's here! Quick, quick, let me see… the new one is… hey, wait a minute—he's not Peter Parker!"

As the light faded, as Schiller had expected, he saw a group of Spider-Men.

The leader Spider-Man was even more familiar to Schiller; countless comics, films, and animations had shown this classic figure—the red-and-blue suit, wall-crawling, web-shooting, slightly talkative kid—standing right before him.

To be honest, Schiller felt somewhat alienated by this version of Spider-Man, because the Peter Parker he saw daily rarely appeared as Spider-Man.

Most of the time, Peter wore a hoodie and carried a backpack, either just leaving Stark Tower's lab or returning from school; once inside the Hell's Kitchen clinic, he'd excitedly greet Pikachu, then rush off to the gaming console.

In Schiller's eyes, this Peter was merely a child—but the Spider-Man before him was clearly not; his build was more muscular, his height three to four centimeters taller than the Peter Schiller knew.

His suit's color scheme was classic, his loquacious nature unchanged, even his wide, mismatched eyes, frozen in surprise, matched the comics exactly.

At that moment, a woman in black-and-white spider-suit, her face covered by a red mask, stepped forward, studying Schiller with confusion, muttering to herself: "... couldn't have dialed the wrong one. No one without Spider-Sense could ever receive my call through Spider-Sense..."

The voice was unmistakably familiar—it was the same voice that had called Schiller earlier. To be certain, Schiller looked at her and asked: "Was it you who just called me?"

The woman with the red mask paused, gently stroking her black hair, then said: "You truly received the Spider-Sense communication. Welcome, new Spider-Man."

"Hey, buddy, I'm Peter Parker, codename Spider-Man. What's your codename?... Don't be nervous—there are indeed many Peter Parkers here, but also others who aren't Peter. Look at this one—this is Gwen. And this is Miles. They're not Peter, but they're Spider-Men too. You're not unique. What's your relationship with your universe's Peter? What's your special ability?"

The lead Spider-Man spoke rapidly. Schiller knew he was the most famous Spider-Man of all—but he didn't look at him. He kept staring at the woman in the red mask. "Who are you?"

"My codename is Silk."

The lead Spider-Man leaned in again: "That's right, the beautiful Ms. Silk—her ability is amplified Spider-Sense. She can use Spider-Sense to communicate with Spider-Men across universes. That's how I found her. Honestly, when she showed up, I was terrified—I thought they were villains. But now, everyone here is incredibly friendly. You don't need to be nervous, newbie..."

Schiller raised his hand, cutting off the lead Spider-Man's endless chatter. He turned back to Silk. "Was it you who just called me?"

Silk twirled a strand of her hair, expressionless, then nodded. In that instant, her face twisted in horror, and she recoiled sharply.

Instantly, a bright circular moon appeared in the center of the room; two massive silver arcs shot from where Schiller had landed, striking directly at Silk.

Silk retreated rapidly, then rolled on the ground, dodging the blade's glow. When she landed, she saw her own face reflected in the blade's tip—and instantly, silver light spread from the tip across Schiller's entire body.

Moonlight Schiller advanced. Silk leapt into the air, twisted her waist, performed a forward flip, shot a web at the ground, swung over Schiller's head, landed, and dodged another blade slash.

"Hey! Hey! What are you doing?!" the lead Spider-Man shouted. "Stop! Stop! New guy! What are you doing?! Why are you attacking Silk?!"

But now, the hall was in chaos; multiple figures in spider-suits were rescuing Silk while fighting Moonlight Schiller.

A Spider-Man in black-and-red suit charged at Schiller at incredible speed. Schiller slowly recalled the Spider-Verse plot—this must be the clone, Kaine Spider-Man.

As Schiller jumped to dodge Kaine's charge, Gwen Spider-Man in white suit and hood attacked from the side, darting nimbly between pillars, landing on all fours, clinging to the ceiling, and firing webs to obstruct Schiller's vision.

The UK Spider-Man, dressed in a flag-patterned suit, joined in, delivering a spinning kick midair, trying to knock Schiller down—until silver moonlight flashed, Schiller vanished and reappeared, his massive blade slash once again sealing off Silk's escape route.

Seeing this, the lead Spider-Man yelled, "Stop it!" while swinging toward Silk, aiming a flying kick at Schiller from midair.

Spider-Man 2099, clad in deep blue and red stripes, leapt from above, gliding in with a punch—Schiller jumped, used the hall's pillars midair to change direction, and evaded the blow.

The most vividly colored Spider-Woman leapt high, attempting a downward strike—still, Schiller sidestepped effortlessly.

As the lead Spider-Man swung through the air, he shouted to Gwen Spider-Man: "Silk brought us a huge problem! I told you she picked the wrong person!"

"I couldn't have picked the wrong one!" Silk shouted, dodging Schiller's blade slashes. "That universe bears signs of Morlun's intrusion—yet a Spider-Man still exists there. That means the Spider-Man from that universe, like you, once defeated the Inheritor!"

"Don't say that," Spider-Woman spoke up. "We all agreed to contact his universe. We all assumed his Spider-Man would be as strong as you!"

"Oh yes! But now he's too strong!" the lead Spider-Man rolled away from a blade slash, shouting: "And he's insane!"

"I can feel—he has no malice toward us!" the UK Spider-Man said. "But why is he targeting Silk?"

"How should I know? The Inheritors love targeting Silk too. Are they working together?" the lead Spider-Man said.

At that moment, Spider-Girl added: "This guy is weird! What energy is he using? I've never seen anything like it. Is he even a Spider-Man?"

"Absolutely!" Silk replied. "I'm still connected to his Spider-Sense. Whoever has Spider-Sense is a Spider-Man. We're all the same!"

"Hurry! I can't hold out much longer!" the UK Spider-Man shouted. Since the fight began, he'd been dodging to protect Silk's escape. Had he been any slower, he'd already been hit.

"I think we should talk to him!" Spider-Man 2099 said. "We're all Spider-Men. Why fight like this? At least find out why he's attacking us!"

"I think we should beat him up! He's too arrogant! Oh my god, he destroyed my research equipment!"

"And my bag! It had my new suit inside! Quick, lure him away—don't let him get near it..."

"Load-bearing wall! Load-bearing wall! Lure him away, Silk, run the other way! If the wall collapses, we'll all be crushed!"

"Oh my god, don't hit that pillar! UK Spider-Man, what are you doing?! Why did you kick me?!"

"I didn't! Spider-Woman did!"

"Oh, who was that? Don't pull my cape! Spider-Man, you're settling personal scores!"

"You kicked me first! You're revenge for me eating your cake—I know you did! Gwen took a bite too, but you didn't go after her—you're the most unfair Spider-Man here!"

"What do you mean 'your cake'? Aunt May made that cake—it was mine! I'm a Spider-Man too, and I only took one bite. The whole thing was eaten by 2099!"

"You're lying! I'm on a diet—why would I steal cake? I think you're angry because she broke your remote—you saw her kick it on purpose, and I saw it!"

"You're the one lying..."

"I didn't break your remote!"

"That cake was mine anyway..."

"Whose web got tangled with mine? Formed a dead knot..."

"Quick! Get out of the way!"

"!"

"Oh... thud!"

It turned out that two talkers together were far more than just one plus one. One Spider-Man was a chatterbox—here, there were nine.

Ten minutes later, Schiller could hear nothing. His ears were filled with cake, remotes, capes—who kicked whom, who punched whom, whose web tangled with whose into a dead knot, whose web snapped and caused someone to fall, who tripped whom...

Schiller, holding his umbrella-blade, suddenly stopped. He stood still and shouted: "Stop!"

"!"

Instantly, all nine Spider-Men froze, staring at him.

"You—you stole his cake. Apologize right now. And you—you took a bite while he was stealing it. Apologize too!"

"You stole her remote. Apologize. You took the remote he stole and broke it. Apologize too!"

"And you—because he stole cake, you kicked him. Apologize. You flew over and punched him because he broke your remote. Apologize too!"

"You fired your web first. He fired his second... Don't shake your head—I saw it! Your web stuck to the right pillar, his to the left. If you hadn't swung left, your webs wouldn't have tangled. You apologize first!"

1200ksw.

"You snapped her web, making her fall and hit him. Apologize immediately! And don't laugh! After you got hit, you tripped her. Apologize to her!"

"And you—why are you laughing? Think you're clever? Do you think you did nothing wrong? When you swung over, why were you gesturing at his head? And you—you made a face just now. I saw you!"

Five minutes later, the nine Spider-Men stood in a line, heads hung low. The lead Spider-Man nudged Spider-Woman beside him. "I don't need to ask—he's Peter's teacher. He's exactly like my high school teacher..."

"Tap." Schiller tapped the ground with his umbrella-tip. The lead Spider-Man snapped to attention. Schiller turned to Silk first. "Do you know what time it was when you called me?"

"I..." Silk choked. She looked up at the hall lights. "I... I don't understand time differences between universes. So... it was completely random..."

Schiller glanced at his watch. "When you called me, it was 9: 0 PM on my planet. That's my rest time. You didn't just make one call—you made a second."

Silk widened her eyes. "Oh no, I... I really didn't know. I'm so sorry. We have time zones!"

Her sincere attitude surprised Schiller—but quickly, he understood. No matter the universe, Spider-Men were almost always Lawful Good. Even if they had dark pasts, once they joined the team, they'd all reformed.

At that moment, Ultimate Spider-Man Miles stepped forward. "Wait, seriously? You attacked him just because Silk called a little late? And that's not even late!"

"Is that so? Then when is late?"

"At least 3 or 4 AM? I often sleep past midnight... Wait—your blade!... Okay, okay, I'll sleep earlier from now on..."

Miles stepped back. Schiller surveyed the line of Spider-Men: from left to right—Amazing Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, Kaine Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, UK Spider-Man, Spider-Girl, Spider-Woman, Gwen Spider-Man, and Silk.

Standing together, they weren't entirely different—just variations on a theme. When their spider-eyes all fixed on Schiller, he felt a pounding headache.

"Alright. Who will introduce themselves first?"

"Hey, wait—you want to be our leader? But..." Amazing Spider-Man spoke up.

Suddenly, he saw a skull appear in Schiller's hand. He stepped back. "Oh my god—is that a skull? Whose skull is that?"

"I don't want to be your leader..." Schiller smiled without warmth. "This is the skull of a Morlun family member."

It was the skull Helen had preserved after devouring the Morlun family's corpses—nine Spider-Men swallowed hard. Amazing Spider-Man gave a thumbs-up. "Got it, boss."

"You—you. Introduce yourself." Schiller pointed his umbrella at Amazing Spider-Man. Instantly, his large eyes drooped. He trudged over, slumped beside Schiller.

"Alright, I'm Peter Parker, codename Spider-Man. I work as a researcher at a lab in New York. Let me clarify—I'm just friends with Mary Jane. We're not dating..."

He glanced at Spider-Girl in the line. She crossed her arms. "Pfft."

"Yeah, well, my dad's name is Peter Parker. My mom's name is Mary Jane."

Amazing Spider-Man shuddered, a bad feeling rising—he turned and saw Gwen Spider-Man narrowing her eyes, staring at him with a deathly gaze.