Chapter 45: A Girl's Troublesome Confession

Gwen stood at the top of a high building in Brooklyn, gazing down at the bustling traffic and crowds below.

The sky drizzled lightly, with cars roaring past one after another.

Through the misty rain, she saw clusters of electronics stores situated not far away.

Her gaze then wandered into the distance, where rows of tall buildings formed a dimly lit fence, outlining a jagged skyline.

She felt a sense of precariousness, as if she could break through the ground and fall into the abyss at any moment.

Drenched in the fine rain, she brought her phone in front of her, waiting for Peter's reply.

Peter quickly responded with a text: "Each of us harbors a monster inside, Gwen, you are not alone."

Gwen looked at the message from Peter and wiped away the raindrops on her phone screen.

"Are you saying you also have a monster of death inside you?"

She suddenly remembered what Peter had said to her before, "Death is not alone."

Soon, Peter replied to her: "Yes, I have a theater of death in my heart, where the curtains are always open, and death's plays are constantly staged, with actors being white skeletons."

Gwen thought Peter was referring to his battle with cancer, so seeing this text made her feel a bit sad.

"I'm sorry, Peter, I shouldn't have brought that up."

"It's okay."

Gwen held her phone in silence, unsure of how to confide in Peter about her own troubles.

Should she tell him that she was bitten by a spider and might turn into a monster like Frank?

Would Peter believe her if she didn't tell him, and even if she did, what good would it do?

Peter was currently undergoing cancer treatment, and disclosing her situation would only cause him more worry and possibly harm his health further.

After hesitating for a moment, Gwen typed a reply to Peter: "Sorry for not going back this morning. Sometimes, I can be unreasonable."

"You have your reasons, Gwen, I understand."

"Thank you, Peter, for listening to me vent my troubles. Perhaps I'll find a suitable opportunity to confide in you about my situation. Lately, I've been thinking about the future a lot."

Gwen put down her phone, her hands in her pockets, feeling the cold raindrops.

She hadn't thought about the future for a long time.

Her original life was drifting along lazily like a stream.

But the future was like an annoying little insect, buzzing in her ear, disturbing her peace.

She had heard of an experiment where giving mice and monkeys the illusion of choice in a lab usually allowed them to live healthy lives.

Even though their only choices were mild shocks and severe shocks.

But at least they could feel the difference in outcomes, so they were happy and lived more fulfilling lives.

And if these mice and monkeys were not given the illusion of choice, but instead constantly subjected to shocks, they would become more and more anxious.

They might gnaw at their fur and eventually die from cancer or heart disease.

After a while, Gwen extended her hands and focused her gaze on them.

She didn't know how long it would be before she gnawed off the skin on her hands.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the roof on the other side of the clock tower, Gwen put on a white hood.

She wanted to try the feeling of jumping again.

When she was being chased by the members of the Hand, she had tried to jump here.

If it weren't for Peter grabbing her back then, she might have fallen straight down and died.

Recalling the feeling of jumping and catching Spider-Man in mid-air back then.

"I can do it, just like that feeling back then."

Muttering to herself, Gwen accelerated forward.

With a "bang", her feet left the edge of the rooftop, and Gwen jumped forward fiercely.

"Uh!"

Her feet landed safely.

Stepping on the edge of the roof, before Gwen could relax, her feet slipped suddenly.

The roof, soaked with rain, was unusually slippery, and Gwen's shoes slipped, causing her body to lose balance and fall backwards.

As her body lost balance, she reached out to grab something, but in the end, she only grasped at thin air in vain.

Plunging at high speed, Gwen's heart suddenly panicked.

Desperately forcing herself to calm down, she suddenly thought of what she had seen, Spider-Man shooting out his web.

With a quick thought, Gwen tried to imitate his gesture, shooting out her right hand.

"Swish!"

A white, viscous substance splattered against the wall.

And with this force, Gwen was pulled to the wall in an instant.

Clutching onto the wall with both hands, she found that she could support her body.

Shocked, she climbed up the wall quickly, soon reaching the rooftop.

Standing on the rooftop, Gwen took off her hood, her expression surprised as she stared at her hands.

She had just shot out something similar to Spider-Man's web!

Could she also be like Spider-Man?!

At the New York Elderly Hospital, Peter stood in the drizzle, putting away his phone.

He told Gwen that a theater of death was playing out in his mind.

Apart from the shadow of death lurking in his chest, it was also because in his past life, as a mercenary, he had witnessed a lot of death and killing.

White bones were just the most common scene.

Memories of the past flashed through his mind, and he walked into the hospital.

Dr. Ryan, having contacted him in advance, was now waiting for him in his office.

"Long time no see, Mr. Parker."

Dr. Ryan looked fine, standing up to greet him.

"It shouldn't have been too long."

Peter sat opposite him, "Every time I come, do you hope it's the last time?"

Faced with Peter's joking tone, Dr. Ryan chuckled awkwardly, "Why would that be? I am a very professional doctor, how could I wish for such a thing to happen."

"Well, professional integrity might be good, but from what I've heard, maybe you lack a bit in professional ethics."

Peter casually remarked, "But as for professional integrity, we can talk about it later. The important thing now is the matter at hand."

"Of course."

Dr. Ryan got up to examine Peter.

Half an hour later.

Peter asked Dr. Ryan, who was looking at the CT images, "How is it?"

"You..."

Dr. Ryan took a deep breath, hesitating as he asked Peter, "Have there been any changes in your body recently?"

"Changes?"

"Yeah, any changes in external signs."

Peter nodded, "There's been a significant increase in strength."

Dr. Ryan showed Peter the CT images, "It seems that there has been some mutation, and the external form has changed."

The embryo image in front of him showed a completely different shape from before.