"I know how to open a quantum wormhole!"
Miles immediately chimed in and began to explain the whole story.
Under Miles' rap-style explanation, Darian basically understood the general plot.
Simply put, a super villain named Kingpin built a massive particle collider deep underground in Brooklyn.
Once activated, the powerful energy generated by this device could tear through space-time and open passages to other Universes.
Don't ask about the principle; when in doubt, just blame quantum mechanics.
This Universe's Peter Parker fought passionately with Kingpin's subordinates to prevent the Super Particle Collider from operating, but during the battle, the Super Particle Collider unexpectedly exploded.
Peter Parker was severely injured in the explosion and was ultimately beaten to death by Kingpin's massive fist, dying prematurely.
Before his sacrifice, Peter Parker entrusted Miles with a key that could shut down the Super Particle Collider, hoping he would complete the task of deactivating it.
Then, as everyone knows, Miles broke the important mission item during his tutorial.
So Miles went to Peter Parker's grave to repent, hoping Peter Parker's spirit in heaven wouldn't visit him in his dreams.
But then he turned around and met Peter B, who looked exactly like him, which immediately traumatized Miles, leading to a series of events.
Afterward, the two decided to team up, infiltrate the Alchemy company, and steal the core data of the Super Particle Collider. They were pursued by Kingpin's subordinates, and at a critical moment, Spider-Gwen, who had also been teleported to this Universe, came to their rescue in a 'damsel in distress' scenario.
Therefore, the three of them, with the core data, came to this Universe's Peter Parker's home, intending to re-create a new key that could shut down the Super Particle Collider.
Darian suddenly realized, "So, the only way to open a quantum wormhole is through that Super Particle Collider."
Peter B nodded, "That's right. The key is actually an overwrite program. As long as it's inserted into the Super Particle Collider's control interface, it can instantly override Kingpin's commands and complete a quantum polarity reversal."
"This will not only reopen the quantum wormhole, ensuring each of us can accurately return to our own Universe, but also completely destroy the Super Particle Collider. But the most crucial part is that someone needs to stay in the core area to manually activate the final destruction program."
"I'll do it!" *6
All the Spider-Men, except Darian, simultaneously raised their hands.
The person who stays behind might not be able to return to their own Universe and would have to face Kingpin and his many subordinates alone. But as Spider-Men, they all unhesitatingly chose to take on this responsibility.
With great power comes great responsibility.
This is their unified creed as Spider-Men.
As for Darian, his fake Spider-Man didn't have the same tacit agreement (tacit understanding) as the real Spider-Men.
But thinking of the cursed fate of the main server Peter and the even more tragic stories of the other Spider-Men, he felt that not having a tacit understanding wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
If he really had a tacit understanding with them, who knew if the bad luck would transfer over.
"Ah--!"
But the next moment, they suddenly convulsed, fell to the ground in pain, and became flickering, like a TV screen with a bad signal. The edges of their outlines even showed distortions and ghosting similar to electronic pixels, looking extremely unstable.
"What's going on?" Darian asked in surprise.
Miles, the only one of the two present who showed no abnormalities, explained, "Peter B said that it's because they don't belong to this Universe; their atomic structure is being repelled and squeezed by this space-time."
He was unharmed precisely because he belonged to this Universe.
"No, wait!"
Miles suddenly reacted, looked at Darian, who was also acting normally, and asked in surprise, "Aren't you also a Spider-Man? Why are you fine?"
Darian blinked, "Maybe my atomic network is bad, with too much latency."
Miles: "..."
Can this thing even have latency?
In fact, Darian would not be affected by the so-called space-time repulsion. Players only leave a dungeon upon successful completion or failure; there's no reason for a dungeon to actively kick players out.
A few seconds later, the Spider-Men finally regained their signal and slowly stood up again.
Miles, seeing this, said seriously, "None of you can stay, otherwise you'll die. Let me shut down the Super Particle Collider."
However, the other Spider-Men all believed that Miles was not mature enough yet and was not qualified to participate in the battle.
You know, this Universe's Peter Parker had already progressed to the late stage of this dungeon; all the bosses that needed to be unlocked had been unlocked. They were about to face Kingpin and a host of other super villains, each a formidable foe of Spider-Man, at least having beaten Spider-Man once.
For Miles, a Spider-Man who hadn't even completed the tutorial, to participate in such a high-level match in his first battle was simply too much to ask.
Even Penny Parker, who seemed the youngest of all, had rich combat experience and was a technical talent, far stronger than a novice like Miles.
Miles was unconvinced, but he was brutally beaten by the Spider-Men and was powerless to fight back.
Seeing Miles being ganged up on by all the Spider-Men and falling into a state of self-pity, Darian kindly said, "Miles is still very talented; he just needs a little time to master his abilities."
He had seen Miles' information; the other party not only possessed all of Spider-Man's abilities but also had the power to discharge electricity and turn invisible, indicating very high potential.
"That's right!"
Seeing someone support him, Miles immediately straightened his back.
Spider-Man Noir frowned, "But we don't have that much time for him to learn now."
"Don't worry, I'm good at training super-powered individuals, so I can help him quickly master his abilities."
Darian confidently waved his hand. Wanda and Quicksilver, two novices, had already been trained by him into qualified super-powered individuals; Miles was no problem at all.
He turned to Miles, his expression serious: "Listen carefully, Miles, mastering your abilities is very simple. The key lies in following a core principle."
"Mm-hmm!"
Miles was full of anticipation, classic movie scenes already playing in his mind: a wise mentor enlightening a confused protagonist, who instantly comprehends and whose strength skyrockets.
Darian slowly enunciated, "That is to follow your heart."
"..."
Miles waited for a moment, confirming there was no follow-up, and couldn't help but ask, "That's it?"
"Yes, that's it."
Miles: "..."
But my heart tells me I should follow my heart, what should I do?
Miles tried to activate his abilities again, disbelieving, but still got no reaction. Forget about sparking electricity, he couldn't even turn invisible; he could only do it by turning off all light sources.
Seeing Miles' pathetic performance, the Spider-Men all shook their heads.
Gwen sighed, "Let's not force him. He's clearly not ready yet."
Miles heard this and was very disappointed, wanting to refute but finding no reason to do so.
"No, this concerns my reputation as a gold-medal mentor!"
Darian was displeased and pulled out his golden desert eagle, aiming it at Miles.
"Don't worry, I have a backup plan. Humans often burst out with astonishing potential at critical moments of life and death. In the face of danger, you might just instantly awaken and master your abilities."
Miles' eyes widened.
With that shot, I'm afraid my brain would be opened up before I even awaken!
"I think Gwen is right; I'm really not ready yet."
Miles swallowed, suddenly finding that a blow to his self-esteem was not so difficult to accept in the face of his own life.
"Calm down, he's just a kid. We can find someone else to complete the mission for him."
Peter B quickly pressed down Darian's golden desert eagle. He strongly suspected that Darian was purely trying to preserve his reputation as a gold-medal mentor by choosing to shoot Miles.
And how do you, a Spider-Man, carry a gun?
Spider-Man Noir: That gun is so cool, I should get one myself if I get the chance!
Darian put away his golden desert eagle with a hint of regret: "In that case, I'll complete this mission. Anyway, my atomic latency is high, so I don't have to worry about being repelled."
His dungeon mission was to send the Spider-Men back, and this task certainly couldn't be given to others.
Gwen asked with concern, "But how will you get back to your own Universe?"
Darian calmly replied, "Don't worry, I know magic. I have my own way to get back."
"You also know magic?" The Spider-Men were all shocked.
"Yes."
Darian nodded, then activated his Body Protection Spell, instantly turning into a human-shaped light source.
"Ah! My eyes!" *6
The unprepared Spider-Men quickly covered their eyes.
Their Spider-Sense could detect malice, but not pranks.
After Darian deactivated his Body Protection Spell and the dazzling light gradually faded, Peter B rubbed his still blurry eyes and asked with a suspicious look, "Are you really Spider-Man?"
Spider-Men all play with webs; no one plays with magic like Darian.
"Absolutely genuine."
Darian said earnestly, "Once, I was kidnapped by Terrorists into a cave, wanting to build an Iron Man suit to escape. I was accidentally bitten by a radioactive spider, transforming into a Hulk. To control this power, I found the legendary Kamar-Taj, learned magic from Sorcerer Supreme Gu Yi, and finally, after passing Gu Yi's test, I lifted Mjolnir, returned to New York, and became Spider-Man to uphold justice."
Miles, Gwen, Penny: ⊙ο⊙
Spider-Man Noir: ο
Porker:
What a complicated origin story!
Only Peter B, from Earth 616B, understood this nonsense and his mouth twitched violently: "Bullshit, this is clearly the story of Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and other Super Heroes."
Darian asked in surprise, "You know them?"
"Of course, my Universe also has these Super Heroes, and I have a great relationship with them. We often gang up together. Ahem, I mean, we team up to defeat those powerful villains."
Hearing Peter B's words, Darian's eyes narrowed.
It seemed that the other party's server and his own server had many similarities in story development. Wouldn't he be able to obtain some crucial information about the future from Peter B?
Even if the specific details of the two servers differed, this information could still serve as an important reference.
Having made up his mind, Darian planned to find an opportunity to talk to Peter B alone.
"It's normal; the development of each Universe is different. This is my origin story."
Darian remained calm and decisively threw out an explanation that parallel timelines couldn't explain.
Peter B was speechless.
Indeed, if his parallel self could be a pig, then a stitched-together version of Spider-Man didn't seem so strange.
Regardless, with Darian as a candidate who was unaffected by atomic repulsion and could return to his own Universe at any time, the Spider-Men were relieved and entrusted him with the important task of destroying the Super Particle Collider.
[NPC Spider-Men have issued you a new quest]
[Quest: The One Who Stays Behind]
[Objective: Completely destroy Kingpin's Super Particle Collider]
[Reward: EXP + 2000, Anchor Fragment 1, Random Item 1]
Looking at the system prompt that appeared before him, Darian couldn't help but complain, "They can even issue group quests. With so many Spider-Men, shouldn't I get several quest rewards?"
The game system did not respond, clearly not allowing Darian to exploit this bug.
Next, everyone carried out their respective duties. The talented girl Penny used this Universe's Peter Parker's tools and materials to begin crafting a new key.
As for the other Spider-Men, some were slacking off, some were playing with the Tesseract, and some were drinking tea.
Miles, seeing that there was nothing for him to do and not daring to try Darian's gun-activated potential method, finally left the secret Base dejectedly and disappeared into the night.
The Spider-Men thought Miles had finally activated his invisibility ability and secretly mused that Darian's method did have some effect.
Darian seized this rare opportunity to approach Peter B and began to inquire about his Universe's intelligence.
Just as he expected, Peter B's server, numbered 616B, was highly similar to his own server.
Especially in the configuration of Super Heroes, Super Heroes like Iron Man and Captain America existed and were the same people, and there were even many Super Heroes Darian had never heard of.
For example, Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange, Black Panther of Wakanda, Wolverine of the Mutants.
"Wolverine? Logan is also in your Universe?" Darian asked curiously.
"You know Logan?"
Peter B casually quipped, "He's a grumpy guy. Although he's small, he's not cute at all."
"Uh, that's a bit different. The Logan I know is very tall, though, of course, still a bit shorter than me."
Darian said something against his true feelings.
Logan's height is 188cm, while his height is approximately 180cm, no, it is 180cm!
However, the fact that Peter B's Universe even had Mutants showed how complex its Worldview was.
Besides that, Darian was also very interested in that Doctor Strange. It was said that this Universe's Ancient One had passed away and passed the position of Sorcerer Supreme to him.
But given Ancient One's style, it was safe to assume that this Doctor Strange was definitely a miserable successor.
Sure enough, Peter B said that Doctor Strange had, for the sake of saving the World, repeatedly cast forbidden magic, which at one point led to him losing limbs, having a stomach perforation, loss of appetite, and premature impotence. In short, he was utterly miserable, almost unrecognizable. If he hadn't died and revived several times, refreshing his own status, he would have had to change his name to Dr Undead..
From this, it could be seen that the position of Sorcerer Supreme was indeed not something an ordinary person could hold.
However, the time span of Peter B's Universe was truly too long, having experienced too many events. Even if he talked for half a month straight, he wouldn't be able to finish. Darian could only ask him to focus on the key points.
This discussion lasted the entire night.
Midway, Peter B was once overcome with drowsiness and wanted to pause for a rest, but under the encouragement of Darian's money power, he immediately became energetic, stating that talking for several more days and nights would be no problem.
There was no other way; Peter B was currently unemployed and strapped for cash.
Every day, after fighting financially powerful Super Villains like Kingpin, he still had to buy discounted household goods from the chain industries owned by the villain, which sounded quite miserable.