Chapter 702: U: The Infinite Event (18)

"Did I… Chuanyuele? I Chuanyuele?" Peter Parker was even more incredulous. He said, "Oh, wait—I just checked the calendar. It's December now…"

"What are you talking about? It's early October. Didn't you just start college?" Stark said to him.

"So… I've traveled to the future? But how could this happen? I was clearly…"

Peter spoke, his voice growing quieter, as if something had just occurred to him—his mind returned to the moment of Shiler's death.

An indescribable sorrow overwhelmed him—grief, anguish, anxiety, guilt, regret—all emotions swirled around him, yet the single largest question in his heart was: he could have had a chance to undo it all.

Before leaving his own universe, Stark, Strange, and Shiler had given him an immense amount of magical energy—enough to fuel a cosmic entity—but that energy had simply been stored inside Peter, and he had no idea how to use it.

Peter admitted he wasn't fond of mysticism; he had no interest in those metaphorical philosophical explanations, and never imagined he'd ever need such power.

So when he saw the image of Shiler's death, his first thought was: Why didn't I learn magic?

Why didn't I learn to use this energy? Otherwise, maybe I could have saved Doctor Shiler.

This thought was somewhat extreme, but at that moment, Peter was dominated by a flood of negative emotions and couldn't shake the idea.

Yet Peter had no understanding of magic at all. So when the idea of learning magic arose, the only phrase he remembered was what the others had told him when they asked him to deliver the magical energy core to Stark: "The secret of magic is that thought becomes reality."

Peter understood this phrase perfectly—he never imagined magic would truly make his wish come true. At that moment, the only thing he wished for was to save Shiler, to bring him back to life.

But what puzzled Peter was this: he wanted Shiler revived—so why had he traveled to the future? To resurrect a dead person, shouldn't he have traveled to the past and changed it?

Peter had no idea what was happening, but Stark's voice sounded again: "Peter, altering the timeline is extremely dangerous. We cannot interfere with time, or it may trigger catastrophic consequences."

"I can't go back to help you now, but you can find the Stark of this timeline, get a phone, and call him…"

After Stark's voice faded, Peter looked around and sprinted toward his neighbor's house. Peter Parker was well-liked, so the neighbor hesitated not at all and lent him the phone.

"Hello? Mr. Stark? Yes, it's me…"

The Stark on the other end sounded surprised. "What's wrong? Peter, you're already home? Didn't I tell you not to drive too fast?"

"Uh, I… no… I mean, I was on the road and met two friends—one of them got hurt… badly. He needs emergency treatment now…"

"Then you should've called an ambulance… Fine, wait a minute."

Peter hung up and walked back to the Amazing Spider-Man. "Hold on—Mr. Stark will be here soon."

Soon, with a "whoosh," Iron Man landed before Peter in his armor. He opened his mouth to speak, then noticed someone standing beside Peter, wearing armor nearly identical in color to his own.

"Is this your friend?" Stark asked. "Is he your imitator?"

"Uh, sort of. Mr. Stark, could you please save him first?" Peter pointed to Zhang Pak. Seeing the familiar spider patterns on Zhang Pak's suit, Stark shook his head, summoning two drones as he said, "Didn't know you had so many fans—you're almost catching up to me."

Peter smiled awkwardly, then activated the Iron Man suit on his own costume. Suddenly, Stark's eyes widened. He stared at Peter. "Good lord—did you make this yourself?"

"This isn't yours…" Peter looked at Stark in confusion. Every mechanical component on this armor had been built for him by Stark before he left.

"Alright, kid, don't be modest. I knew I wasn't wrong about you. I knew one day you'd surpass me—but I never thought it'd happen this soon." Stark stepped forward and patted Peter's shoulder.

His expression was complex, but mostly filled with pride. Peter's face, however, was filled with confusion. Why didn't this future Stark know about this suit? What was going on?

Logically, if this was the future of his universe, Stark must have already experienced Spider-Man's multiverse journey. It had only been over a month—how could he have forgotten?

Peter looked at Stark's armor and confirmed: this was indeed his own universe. The Stark here wore many different armor models—not just the classic red-and-gold, but silver-and-blue, and even dark green ones.

The armor Stark wore now was silver-and-blue, far lighter and thinner than the classic red-and-gold "tin can." Much of the body was exposed, except at the joints. Peter had never heard of any other universe's Iron Man wearing such armor.

Peter stood there, scratching his head, then followed Stark anyway.

Arriving at the familiar lab, Peter, while Stark was away, began flipping through the lab records. There, clearly written in the results, were the exact data he'd never been able to calculate before. Peter finally confirmed: this was truly the future of their universe.

He knew that in other universes, Dr. Connors was the Lizard, their enemy—but here, the documents clearly listed Connors as the project lead.

Moreover, Peter had been conducting these very experiments before he left. He knew every single data point intimately. Seeing the details matched his memory perfectly, he was certain: this couldn't be any other universe.

Yet what confused him most was this: Stark seemed completely unaware that Peter had traveled the multiverse. How was that possible? Had Stark lost his memory?

As Peter pondered the cause and effect, Stark entered, having removed his armor. "What's going on with your two friends? Frankly, are they a bit obsessed? Not just the suits—even their voices and appearances are nearly identical to yours. I thought they were your relatives."

"They… they're my fans. Maybe… because they've been imitating for so long, they've started to resemble me more…" Peter struggled to explain, since he couldn't tell Stark these two were also Spider-Men.

Stark said with a hint of envy, "I don't even have fans this obsessed. I've been too busy lately to even fly over New York. Looks like the citizens have almost forgotten the mighty Iron Man."

With that, Stark left. Just as Peter was about to investigate what was going on, a portal suddenly flared open in midair.

Strange stepped out, walking as he spoke: "Stark, hasn't Shiler returned yet? I've got a job… Oh, Peter, you're here? I thought you were in class."

"Of course I'm here—wait… what did you just say? Shiler???"

Strange paused, startled by Peter's tone. He studied Peter from head to toe. "Shiler? What about Shiler?"

Suddenly, Strange seemed to realize something. "Did Shiler say something to you? Whatever he said, just forget it…"

"Shiler… Doctor Shiler… where is he?!"

Peter asked, voice trembling, then froze, whispering to himself: "No… impossible… he's already…"

Strange stared at Spider-Man with a strange expression. Peter pressed on: "Doctor Shiler… he didn't die? Where is he now?"

"Why would he die? He just went on vacation again. Like before—gone for over a month…"

Peter was utterly bewildered. Logically, he was now in the future. If Shiler hadn't died in the future, that meant he'd never died.

This sounded like nonsense—but a person cannot be dead in the past and alive in the future. If he's alive in the future, he must have never died. But Peter had seen it with his own eyes: Shiler was dead.

And Strange's behavior was odd—they were clearly hiding something. Peter wanted to press further, but Strange fled like his pants were on fire.

Peter was utterly baffled, but at that moment, the Amazing Spider-Man approached him. "I can't believe the robots this world's Iron Man built… my god, are those things even controllable? I saw them carrying Ultimate Spider-Man into some weird medical pod—can that even heal?"

Peter seemed dazed. The Amazing Spider-Man knew Peter had been deeply shaken—he'd lived through it all himself, so he knew how to comfort him.

He walked over, putting an arm around Peter's shoulder. "Stop thinking about the bad stuff. Take me on a tour of your universe. Yours seems so different."

"Oh, yes—because… maybe because of Doctor Shiler." Peter shook his head, gazing out the window. "He did so much. Brought so many changes. He was a great man. He shouldn't…"

"Enough. Let's fly over New York. See if anyone needs help. You've been across the multiverse so long—maybe some criminals are running wild in the city again?"

The Amazing Spider-Man tried to distract Peter. Peter let himself be led to the window. The Amazing Spider-Man fired a webline first, swinging out. Peter instinctively followed his motion and leapt out the window.

New York's sky was still blue. The late autumn wind brushed gently against Peter's face—but it felt icy cold. Only when the Amazing Spider-Man let out a cry did Peter snap back to reality.

"Oh my god—what is that?"

Peter followed his gaze. He saw a small figure leaping between skyscrapers—but instead of weblines, he used four mechanical tentacles on his back. The Amazing Spider-Man shouted:

"Doctor Octopus!"

"Stop!"

"!"