Chapter 70: Peter's New World
"Why did you sell your shares?"
Norman Osborn grabbed the man in front of him by the collar, furious. "Didn't you promise to sell them to me?!"
"But... Uchiha Akira offered me a fair price..."
The terrified man was a minor shareholder of the Osborn Group. Since selling his shares to Akira, the stock had dropped a bit more, and he had even felt lucky about his decision.
"Damn it! Him again!"
Norman let go of the man's collar, barely able to control his emotions. Once confident, Norman now realized he had made a critical error — just as he thought he had the upper hand, Uchiha Akira had dealt him a devastating blow.
The same Akira who had once backed him... had now become his biggest rival.
"Uchiha Akira... you brought this on yourself. Hahaha!"
Norman laughed maniacally, gently stroking his dark green Goblin armor.
At the Uchiha Medical Center, May finally relaxed when she saw Peter waking up. She hadn't slept all night, too worried about his condition. It wasn't until 8 AM that Uchiha Mikoto informed her that Peter was out of danger.
"Still, Peter's body is quite weak for now. I suggest he stay for observation for another two days. May, you should go to school and excuse him for a few days."
"Don't worry. We've got everything covered here—nurses and I will look after him. Go take care of things at school."
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
May hugged Mikoto tightly, tears flowing from her eyes.
Seeing May trying so hard not to cry, Mikoto gently consoled her:
"It's okay now. You don't want Peter to see you like this, do you?"
Inside the medical room, Peter slowly woke up and found himself lying on a hospital bed, a surgical lamp above his face.
"You're awake, Peter."
His vision and hearing gradually returning, Peter immediately recognized the voice.
"Mr. Uchiha? Where am I?"
"Don't remember? You had a fever that night—it lasted all night. Aunt May brought you here. But don't worry, you're fine now."
Peter sat up, holding onto the bed's side rail.
"I feel a lot better now... just really thirsty."
"Here, have a glass of water. Want it with ice?"
"With ice, please."
Akira handed over a cup, pretending to lose his grip—spilling water as he passed it.
"Careful!"
Quick reflexes allowed Peter to catch the cup, but the spill drenched him—and startled by the cold, he accidentally crushed the glass cup in his hand.
"Whoa—what the...?"
Peter was stunned. Did he really just crush a glass with his bare hand?
Looking down, he saw some shards—but no wounds.
Akira immediately understood: Peter's genetic mutation had taken effect.
"Peter, you've got some serious strength now. Want to try bending this steel pipe?"
Akira handed him a thick steel bar.
"I don't think I can..."
Peter said as he casually took the pipe—and bent it with a slight squeeze.
"Oh my god!"
Peter looked at the bent pipe in shock. Had he really just done that so easily? How could someone as scrawny as him suddenly have this much strength?
Just as he tried to set it down, he realized the pipe was stuck to his hand—he couldn't shake it off no matter how hard he tried.
"What's happening?!"
He panicked and gave one hard shake—sending the pipe flying across the room, crashing straight into a heart monitor and destroying it.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I'll pay for the damage!"
"It's fine. That heart monitor only costs around $150,000 USD. Do you want to pay by check or wire transfer?"
Akira raised an eyebrow, clearly amused.
"Uh... I don't think I have that much money right now… Can I work it off?"
Ashamed, Peter nearly buried his face under the sheets.
"Sure, you can work it off. Just so you know, the average middle-class American earns about $5,000 a month. At that rate, if you don't eat or drink, you'll be debt-free in about two and a half years."
"Two and a half years"? "No eating or drinking"? Peter nearly fainted again.
Most Americans didn't even make $5,000 a month.
With no way to refuse, he meekly followed Akira's lead.
"Alright, I'm done teasing you. You haven't noticed what's different about you? Come on, follow me."
Akira took Peter to his office—though it was more like a private gym, filled with training equipment.
"Try lifting this dumbbell."
Akira pointed to a massive dumbbell.
"No way, I can't lift something that big!"
Peter protested before even trying.
"If you can lift it, I'll let you work off your debt. Otherwise... I'm afraid Aunt May might have to take some... desperate measures to repay it~"
The dark joke sent a chill down Peter's spine. He instantly changed his attitude.
"Alright! I'll try!"
Gritting his teeth, Peter grabbed the dumbbell—expecting it to be insanely heavy. Yet, with some effort, he lifted it.
"Try doing some bicep curls. Let's see how many you can manage."
"1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 23... 24! That's it—I can't do another!"
Peter's arms felt like jelly. He could barely lift them anymore.
So this was what it meant to be Spider-Man?
Just yesterday, he was a scrawny high schooler. Today, he could curl a dumbbell made by Stark Industries—24 reps.
Akira finally understood what it meant to be "overpowered."
Then again, he was a cheat-code user himself—so he wasn't too jealous.
"Peter, do you know how much that dumbbell weighs?"
"No way… I've never even heard of a dumbbell weighing one ton. There's no way I just lifted that!"
"Peter, has anyone ever told you how exhausting it is to talk to you sometimes?"
Akira grabbed Peter by the collar and hoisted him over his shoulder.
"Let's go for a little ride!"
And with that, he used his Teleportation Jutsu—blazing a path straight toward the Hudson River.
Peter screamed the whole way, but every time he opened his mouth, he got a face full of wind.
"Open your eyes. The Hudson at night is a pretty nice view."
When they finally stopped, Peter looked up and saw Akira standing on the surface of the river, holding him with one hand.
The shimmering water reflected the dazzling city lights across the riverbank.
"Mr. Uchiha... am I hallucinating from the fever? I see you standing on water..."
"You're not hallucinating. I'm really standing on the water."
Peter looked shocked—unable to grasp this new reality.
"Mr. Uchiha... are you a wizard?"
"What makes you say that?"
"I heard only wizards can do unbelievable stuff like this..."
"By that logic, you're a wizard too. You just curled a one-ton dumbbell for 24 reps. You're practically post-human now."
"Then put me down!"
"Alright."
SPLASH
Peter dropped straight into the river, flailing and gasping.
"Mr. Uchiha! Help! I can't swim—!"
Gulp Gulp—Peter swallowed several mouthfuls of river water before Akira pulled him back up.
"How was it? Hudson River taste good? Looked like you drank a lot!"
Akira was grinning from ear to ear as he looked at the soaked, miserable Peter.
"I thought I was post-human now! Why can't I swim? Or fly?!"
"Maybe… you never learned how to swim in the first place? And also, being post-human doesn't mean you can fly. You're not Superman, Peter."
Soaked to the bone, Peter finally noticed the faint look of pity in Akira's eyes as he answered.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Uchiha. Maybe I'm still half-asleep... I swear I'm not stupid..."