Meanwhile, in Queens.
Peter Parker was agonizing over whether to accept Hawking's terms, whether to tell Uncle Ben and Aunt Mei about his mutation, when he suddenly saw a silhouette illuminated by a lamp behind the curtains of the opposite window, and his expression immediately became infatuated.
It turned out to be Mary Jane, the goddess he had a crush on, who had just finished showering and was changing clothes.
Indeed, Mary Jane, the goddess he secretly admired at school, had always lived next door to him. It was just that her boyfriend was Thompson, the school's star football Captain, and her family was also quite wealthy.
He, on the other hand, was just a poor, scrawny, and constantly bullied school nobody whose parents had died young.
So even though his room was less than five meters from the goddess's, he had never dared to speak to her first, and it was the same at school.
"Did you buy the beer?"
"Can't you buy it yourself?"
"I work and earn money for this family every day!"
"And I handle the housework for this family!"
However, he soon heard the sound of an argument coming from across the way. It was Mary Jane's parents fighting again.
"So annoying! All you do is fight every day. I'm going out!"
"You brat, where are you going so late?"
"None of your business."
"Get out, get out, get out! You're as stupid as your mother, not studying properly, just fooling around!"
"The dishes in the sink haven't been washed yet. You can only go out to play after you wash them."
Seeing that the goddess seemed to be leaving, he quickly went downstairs, picked up the kitchen garbage bag, and pretended to go out to dump the trash.
As usual, he again encountered the goddess who had just left her house.
Only this time, he didn't stay silent. Instead, he plucked up the courage to try and greet her.
His physical mutation had also given him a bit more confidence.
Perhaps because of what happened during the day, Mary Jane had a much better impression of Peter, so for a while, the two actually chatted quite congenially.
However, before Peter could be happy for long, a cool sports car pulled up on the road in front. The driver was Mary Jane's boyfriend, Thompson.
"Hey, Mary, come try out my birthday present. Tonight I'll take you to my birthday party to rave all night!"
"Sorry, I have to go."
Mary Jane quickly waved to Peter, then excitedly ran towards Thompson.
"Oh, my goodness, it's so beautiful! I love parties!"
"The car... is indeed very cool."
Watching his goddess drive away in someone else's sports car at night, Peter felt a mix of emotions. He returned to his room feeling somewhat lost.
He then rummaged through a box in his room and found a newspaper specifically about cars.
"Triumph TR-3: $4999!"
Looking at the cheapest used sports car in the newspaper, which cost nearly five thousand U.S. dollars, and knowing that a brand new high-end sports car like Thompson's started at one hundred thousand, Peter's face instantly turned green.
"Maybe, he's right."
At this moment, he pulled out the phone number Hawking had given him during the day from his pocket.
He had been hesitant before, but now he had made up his mind.
If he worked hard, perhaps before graduation, he could own his own sports car and invite the goddess for a drive.
"Whoosh!"
Yesterday's tree trunk once again took off from Mutant School and flew towards the Bronx.
The flying speed of the tree trunk might not be faster than Cyclops's modified motorcycle, but it flew in a straight line through the air, without needing to detour below, and there were no traffic jams, traffic lights, or other speed bumps.
Overall, the time it took was still much less than riding a motorcycle.
Moreover, it wouldn't be a pity if it was lost; a replacement could easily be found from the roadside. If it weren't inconvenient during the day, he wouldn't even need to borrow Cyclops's motorcycle.
It was still the same park as yesterday, still the same spot, and still the same stylish 360-degree landing.
Similarly, he still saw the two Black brothers he had beaten up yesterday.
Only this time, the Black brothers' arms were already in casts.
"Boss, it's him! He's the one who beat us up like this yesterday!"
Seeing Hawking appear, the Black brothers immediately complained to a bald, muscular man in front of them, who was at least one meter ninety tall.
Behind them stood twenty other Black thugs holding various weapons.
"You dared to beat my subordinates like this? Chop him up and throw him into the river to feed the fish."
The bald strongman also seemed not very bright. After hearing the complaints from his two subordinates, he waved his hand and led the charge towards Hawking.
"The money-givers are here again."
Hawking's eyes lit up at the sight, and he flashed forward to meet them.
A moment later, amidst the scattered Black thugs, he shook his head, holding six hundred and fifty-two U.S. dollars in his hand:
"Damn poor guys, how can you be so poor and still be thugs?"
After putting the money in his pocket, he suddenly had an idea. He grabbed the bald boss, slapped him a few times to wake him up, and then pointed a finger at his head:
"Imperio!"
The Imperio, one of the three Unforgivable Curses.
The person under the curse would feel their mind go blank, all thoughts and sense of responsibility vanishing, followed by a feeling of immense happiness and pleasure. Then, a voice would tell the cursed person to do something, and the cursed person would completely comply.
The downside is that a person with a strong will can resist it, and repeated use on the same person can build resistance.
The three Unforgivable Curses had already been taught by fake Moody before the Goblet of Fire, and Harry had learned them, so Hawking could also master them.
However, using such Dark Arts too much can easily pollute the caster's mind, especially curses like Avada Kedavra, which have a very significant impact. Unless necessary, he wouldn't use them frequently.
"Tell me, which factions are in this area, and which boss has the most money?"
"There are a total of..."
Under the effect of the Imperio, the bald Black boss quickly told Hawking everything he knew.
He would need a lot of money in the future, whether for Spider-Man's salary or for the planned international Superheroes company. Therefore, he definitely needed to find ways to get more money.
So he set his sights on the leaders of the Black factions.
Even if he took these guys' money, they wouldn't dare to call the police or make a big deal out of it. At most, they would secretly send people to investigate.
As for making money, he planned to create a new alias so it wouldn't affect his public image or leave any clues for those Black factions to find.
"Then I'll fight crime in the first half of the night and make money in the second half."
After a few leaps, he disappeared from the park. He used the Deformation Curse to transform his jacket into golden armor again and began his crime-fighting mission for the night.
From eleven o'clock to around two o'clock is the peak period for crime incidents, which drastically decrease after two o'clock.
After two o'clock, everyone, including the Black factions, would be asleep, which would make it much easier for him to make money.
If he could steal money silently, he still preferred not to cause a commotion by robbing, to avoid unnecessary trouble.
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