1: Chapter 1: I Transmigrated into Marvel and Became Spider-Man

"It hurts!"

A burning pain shot up the veins of his right hand, straight into his heart.

"Ugh, ah!"

Zhu Xia let out an uncontrollable roar. His palm felt as if it were being fiercely pierced by countless needles, and the toxin spread rapidly along his veins, causing his entire arm to go numb and lose sensation.

He had clearly been holed up in his rental apartment, staying up late binge-reading Marvel fan fiction—how could he suddenly be in such pain?

He opened his eyes abruptly, the blinding white light making him squint. The mirror clearly reflected a teenage face—pale and thin, wearing an exaggerated pair of round-rimmed glasses, with messy brown hair plastered across his forehead.

"Mr. Parker? Mr. Parker, are you okay?!"

An anxious female voice exploded in his ear, and someone reached out to steady his shoulders.

Zhu Xia's mind went "buzz," as if a floodgate had been violently burst open. Countless fragments of strange memories surged in like a tide:

Midtown High School, biology lab class, the Osborn Group's genetic laboratory, a genetically modified spider that had escaped from its incubator landing silently on the back of his hand and biting down hard...

And there was a name that struck clearly into the depths of his consciousness—Peter Benjamin Parker.

"I transmigrated?"

That was the only thought remaining in Zhu Xia's mind. He had transmigrated into Spider-Man, Peter Parker.

Under the dual impact of massive amounts of memories and the spider toxin, his vision went black, and the noise around him faded further and further away. He felt himself being helped out of the laboratory and onto a bright yellow school bus, with his gray-haired biology teacher sitting beside him, muttering about taking him to the infirmary.

Later on, a pair of warm, strong arms lifted him up. Zhu Xia struggled to open his eyes and saw a face etched with the lines of age, white hair combed neatly, his eyes filled with undisguised worry.

Ben Parker.

The moment this name crossed his mind, an indescribable warmth welled up. The car drove out of the city, into a quiet suburb, and finally stopped in front of an inconspicuous little house. He was carried into a soft bed, and the moment his head touched the pillow, his consciousness sank completely into darkness.

This sleep was earth-shattering.

Countless memories that did not belong to him flashed rapidly through his mind: the embarrassment of being bullied by the school bully, the hot meals Aunt May served when he came home from school, the Underground Room piled high with parts and chemical reagents, and physical formulas and biological gene maps so complex they were staggering.

Zhu Xia, who had only been an ordinary office worker in his past life, now looked at these obscure formulas and felt a sense of familiarity that seemed carved into his bones.

Peter Parker's genius brain, along with this body, now belonged to him completely.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but Zhu Xia jolted awake, gasping for air.

He instinctively tried to push himself up from the bed, but as soon as he exerted force with his palms, his body floated upward lightly—with a "slap," he was firmly stuck to the ceiling.

His limbs were firmly stuck to the wall, and the World had completely turned upside down before his eyes.

"Holy crap!"

Zhu Xia was startled. As soon as the thought of "getting down" flashed through his mind, the adhesive force at his fingertips suddenly vanished. He fell straight down from the ceiling, which was over two meters high, but his body reacted faster than his consciousness; he nimbly twisted his waist in mid-air, and his feet landed steadily on the mattress without even shifting his center of gravity.

The entire sequence of movements was smooth and fluid, completely instinctive to his body.

He stared blankly as he raised his right hand.

The back of his hand, which had been swollen high, had mostly subsided, leaving only two shallow red bite marks. He focused his gaze on his fingertips; between the ridges of his fingerprints, tiny, sharp barbs were densely arranged, almost invisible to the naked eye.

The spider's wall-crawling ability had awakened.

That wasn't all. He could clearly hear the sound of Aunt May's footsteps in the kitchen downstairs, smell the scent of rye flour drifting in the air, and even see the fine veins on a leaf ten meters outside the window.

Strength, speed, perception, reflexes... an all-around superhuman constitution was being rapidly absorbed by this body.

Zhu Xia walked to the mirror and looked at the teenage face reflected within.

Gone was the original timidity and inferiority; those eyes were now filled with a calmness that followed the shock.

He had truly transmigrated, transmigrated into the Marvel Universe, and became the future Spider-Man.

He leaned against the desk and began to quickly organize the information in his mind.

This World was not the pure movie Universe. The news contained reports of Tony Stark publicly admitting he was Iron Man, the Stark Expo was being prepared in Queens, and the timeline roughly corresponded to "Iron Man 2"; but at the same time, there were also sporadic news reports about Mutants, and the Fantastic Four were well-known public figures in New York.

This was a Marvel Universe that fused multiple settings, and the danger level far exceeded that of the original movies.

If it were the version of himself that had previously fantasized about transmigrating into the World of a novel, Zhu Xia might have jumped up with excitement. But when fate actually fell upon him, all that was left in his heart was panic.

He knew too well what Spider-Man's life was like.

The phrase "With great power comes great responsibility" had trapped Peter Parker for his entire life. Because of a momentary lapse in judgment, he let a robber go, indirectly causing the death of Uncle Ben, and had lived with guilt ever since; being a hero was thankless work, and he was smeared by the Daily Bugle every day as a threat to the city; his love life was rocky, and the people around him could fall into danger at any time because of his identity.

The stable life of an ordinary person was torn to pieces by the identity of a superhero.

"No."

Zhu Xia made up his mind almost immediately.

Uncle Ben could not die. He would absolutely not let that gentle and kind old man pass away because of a ridiculous robbery.

As for Spider-Man? Whoever wants to be it can be it.

He had Peter's genius brain; he could just come up with some inventions and apply for patents, which would be enough to keep Uncle Ben and Aunt May well-provided for. Benefiting society through technology—wasn't that better than fighting for his life every day? Living a stable life—wasn't that better than licking blood off the edge of a blade?

Those supervillains and alien invasions would naturally be handled by Iron Man and the Avengers; it wasn't up to a high school student like him to step up.

Having made up his mind, Zhu Xia felt much more at ease. He had just wanted to open the door and go downstairs when Aunt May's gentle voice came from outside:

"Peter? If you're awake, come down for dinner. I just happen to have something to tell you; your Aunt Anna's niece is moving in today and will arrive at noon. Since the poor girl is unfamiliar with the place, you should keep her company when she arrives."

Zhu Xia's footsteps paused abruptly.

Aunt Anna's niece?

Mary Jane Watson?

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

Good grief, he had just made up his mind to be an ordinary person, and the familiar plot was already coming?