96: Chapter 96 New Era Youth Group

In the hallway, Parker took half a step back, his back hitting the locker behind him with a hollow thud.

"No, I wasn't an assistant. It's just that when the Ball Chief and the President were receiving the aliens back then, he happened to ask me a few questions."

"Hmph!" Tom Rhine snorted coldly. He took another step forward and shoved a fist into the center of Parker's chest. The force was so great that the metal locker behind Parker let out another thud.

"Lucky brat." Tom withdrew his fist and shot a glance at his two lackeys on either side. "It just so happens that the guys and I have been spending a lot lately. We'll borrow some money from you."

Parker instinctively clutched his backpack. "I don't have any money."

Tom cracked his knuckles, producing three crisp pops. "No money?"

He tilted his head at an angle. "I think you're looking for a beating. Who doesn't know your uncle is a construction worker? I heard those workers just got another raise under the Union's leadership. Hurry up and hand over the money."

Parker glanced left and right and quickly tried to bolt, but Tom Rhine's two lackeys blocked him tightly on both sides, pushing him right back.

Seeing this, Tom kicked right into the center of his backpack. The textbooks and the half-finished bag of cheese crackers inside let out a muffled crunch as they were compressed.

Parker fell forward, his palms scraping half an inch across the tiles, burning with pain.

He looked up to see a circle of people standing on both sides of the hallway. Some were holding up their phones to film vertically, others were leaning against lockers eating chips, but not a single person said a word for him.

Tom leaned down to reach for the straps of Parker's backpack, preparing to unwrap a package that was destined to be his.

"Stop!"

A female voice drifted in from outside the crowd.

The crowd automatically parted, and two girls stepped out from the gap.

The girl in the lead was Hispanic and bore a thirty percent resemblance to Maya. She was Maya's younger sister, Mary. Beside her was a quintessential blonde-haired, blue-eyed white beauty, Gwen Stacy.

Tom had already looked up when he heard the voice. He wanted to see who was brave enough to stop him, but the moment he saw Gwen's iconic blonde hair, his pupils shook with shock.

He recognized Gwen as the daughter of the New York Police Department Commissioner.

This identity carried as much deterrent power in any high school in Queens as a loaded assault rifle pointed straight at you.

Tom could bully Parker because Parker's uncle was a construction worker and couldn't do anything to him.

But he didn't dare bully Gwen. Otherwise, his old man would probably be regretting in prison the next day that he hadn't just shot him against a wall.

He straightened up and shoved the hand that had been about to grab the backpack into his pants pocket, as if he had intended to stand there with his hands in his pockets from the start.

"Consider yourself lucky." He took a step back and kicked the side of Parker's calf with his toe. "If you've got the guts, don't leave after school."

With that, he jerked his chin at the two lackeys. The three of them turned and slinked away from the crowd.

The crowd also began to disperse. After all, with no further conflict, the show was over.

Mary looked down at Parker lying on the ground and reached out a hand. "Hey, are you okay?"

Parker grabbed her hand and was pulled up by her.

Mary didn't look strong, but her grip was quite powerful. With one pull, Parker stumbled forward half a step before steadying himself.

But the first thing he did after steadying himself wasn't to thank her. Instead, he shifted his gaze from Mary's face to the girl with light blonde hair behind her.

Gwen was bending over to pick up his backpack from the floor. When she straightened up and noticed Parker staring at her, she gave a polite smile.

With that one smile, Parker's face instantly turned red from his neck to his ears at a speed that defied the laws of physics.

"Hello." He cleared his throat and pulled his shoulders back, trying to make his posture look more handsome. "I'm Peter Parker."

Mary followed his gaze to Gwen, then looked back at Parker and rolled her eyes significantly.

"I know Gwen is indeed very pretty," Mary said, speechless. "But you could at least look at me, right? I'm the one who pulled you up."

Gwen couldn't help but laugh at Mary's complaint, her voice ringing as clear as silver bells.

Parker suddenly turned to Mary, his hands waving in front of his chest like a fan on high speed. "No! No, no, no! I didn't mean that... I did look at you... You were the first person I saw when I fell..."

"Alright, alright." Mary didn't dwell on the issue as she watched Parker stutter. "We heard you saw the Ball Chief and the aliens the day before yesterday, right? How were they?"

Parker calmed down and took a deep breath. "I didn't speak to those aliens. They really do look quite scary, and their antennae were moving constantly, as if they were receiving some kind of signal."

"But the Ball Chief was quite easygoing." He glanced at both ends of the hallway to make sure no one else was eavesdropping and lowered his voice. "Don't tell anyone, but the Ball Chief even gave me an autograph and a photo together."

"Wow."

Gwen turned to Mary in surprise. "An autograph from the Ball Chief! Mary, even you don't have one!"

Mary sighed. "That big sister of mine! I have no idea what she's busy with all day."

Then she turned her gaze back to Parker, looked him up and down, and nodded.

"Fine. Since you have the Ball Chief's autograph, I officially invite you to join the New Era Youth Group I've formed."

Parker blinked. "New Era Youth Group? What's that?"

Mary placed her hand on Parker's shoulder and looked past his head toward the window at the end of the hallway, which was bathed in morning light.

Her chin was slightly raised, and her gaze was firm, as if she weren't standing in the hallway of an ordinary high school, but in the center of some movie poster.

"Ever since the Ball Chief led the alien fleet to descend upon the Blue Star, the script of the entire world has been completely rewritten."

"Humans are no longer the only intelligent species on Earth. Alien potions can turn ordinary people into walking superhumans. And sitting in the United Nations Building is a Ball Chief from outer space."

"Parker, tell me, what does this mean?"

Parker opened his mouth, unable to come up with anything for a moment.

Mary didn't wait for his answer. "It means that history is happening right before our eyes, and our generation is standing right in the center of it."

"Every day we scroll through our phones for alien news, discuss who can awaken and who can't, and complain about why schools haven't offered elective courses on Special Abilities yet. But has anyone ever thought about why we can only be spectators?"

She removed her hand from his shoulder and pointed at herself, then at Gwen, and finally at him. "We want to prove to the era that we can also take the field, rather than just waiting in place to be chosen by fate. We must take the initiative to step into this era of fission and become the people it needs."

"And the New Era Youth Group is exactly how our generation responds to the call of the era."

Parker looked at Mary, completely stunned.