Chapter 36 So Cute
In the quiet zen room, a new stick of incense had been lit at some unknown point, and a faint wisp of white smoke rose vertically in the cool air.
After an undefinable length of time, Arthur slowly opened his eyes.
As his vision refocused from blurriness to the old wooden table before him, which was covered in the traces of time, he gently exhaled a long breath, and the airflow even blew a tiny ripple in the air.
Arthur slightly squeezed his hands; although the Twelve Talismans representing the powers of the zodiac deep within his consciousness had still not been completely lit up.
The surface of those grayish stones still appeared somewhat ancient and silent, but he could clearly feel an unprecedented change.
When he used the talismans before, it was like pressing fixed electrical switches one by one—rigid, with only two options: "on" and "off".
However, the feeling now was completely different.
Those twelve strands of power were no longer cold tools drifting outside his body, but began to permeate inward, seeming to become a part of his blood and muscles.
He could feel a subtle sense of resonance pulsating between his heartbeats, which meant that his integration with the talismans had taken another big step forward toward that perfect state.
This fulfilling sense of harmonious power made the corners of his mouth involuntarily curve upward.
Just as he was carefully savoring this sense of power control, Sorcerer Ancient One, who had been sitting opposite him and remaining quiet, slowly opened her mouth.
"Time is up."
Ancient One's voice was flat, without a trace of fluctuation, but a rare, subtle hint of teasing flashed through her deep-pool-like eyes, "If you don't go back soon, your little girlfriend is probably going to be really upset."
This sentence precisely struck Arthur's nerve.
Arthur abruptly slapped his thigh, and his originally crossed legs instantly uncrossed.
He quickly raised his wrist to check the time, and an alarm sounded instantly in his mind.
Gwen was going to attend Mary Jane's band rehearsal today, and calculating the time, it would end this evening.
He clearly remembered that before leaving the house in the morning, he had sworn to Gwen that he would definitely go to the rehearsal room on time to pick her up and bring her home tonight.
If he missed this time, given that girl's extreme lack of security and her habit of letting her imagination run wild, who knew what outrageous plotlines she would conjure up in her head.
Looking at Arthur's flustered movements, Ancient Onecasually raised her slightly pale wrist, brought her index and middle fingers together, and skillfully drew a circle in mid-air.
Accompanied by a crisp frictional sound, a circle of dazzling golden sparks bloomed out of thin air in the zen room, instantly expanding into a circular Portal more than two meters high.
On the other side of the Portal, Arthur's familiar living room in Brooklyn was clearly reflected.
"Thanks, Sorcerer! See you later!"
Arthur didn't have time to straighten his clothes, which were somewhat wrinkled from sitting cross-legged, hastily dropped a word of thanks to Ancient One, and then directly stepped across the golden spark ring.
As the Portal closed rapidly behind him, dissipating into a wisp of subtle sparks, Arthur's feet had already steadily stepped on the wooden floor of his own living room.
He didn't even have time to drink a gulp of water; he directly closed his eyes on the spot, naturally mobilizing the power of the Rabbit Talisman representing ultimate speed in his heart.
His goal was very clear: the underground rehearsal room in the Brooklyn neighborhood frequently rented by Mary Jane's band.
However, the moment he activated the Rabbit Talisman, an unexpected situation occurred.
Arthur's body turned into a stream of light that even afterimages couldn't catch, directly rushing out of the apartment window.
But while speeding through the sky above the streets of New York, Arthur was shocked to find that the surrounding scenery receded much faster than any time he had used the Rabbit Talisman in the past.
The wind pressure made a sharp sonic boom beside his ears.
He tried to step on the "brakes" according to the rhythm he was familiar with before, stopping at the street corner where the rehearsal room was located.
But the moment the thought of retracting his force arose, that huge velocity inertia did not disappear instantly as usual, but instead followed his deeper subconscious, violently pushing him to slide forward a large distance further.
"Holy crap!"
Arthur exclaimed inwardly, narrowly stopping his footsteps abruptly less than half a meter away from the door of the rehearsal room.
The soles of his shoes even clearly scraped a long black mark on the rough concrete ground, stirring up a faint burnt smell.
Arthur patted his chest with lingering fear, lowering his head to look at his palms, his eyes filled with obvious surprise.
Using the Rabbit Talisman for travel had long become an indispensable necessity in his daily life for some time now, and he thought he had been using it proficiently.
But just now, he had almost completely lost control and crashed into the wall.
His brain spun rapidly, instantly understanding the reason behind it.
This was definitely because of the meditation training with Ancient One just now.
Because meditation opened up a deeper integration channel between him and the talismans, making his extraction of the talismans' power much smoother—equivalent to originally having only a tiny faucet, but now suddenly turning into a thick fire hydrant pipe.
The upper limit of his power had been greatly broadened, causing his previous mechanical control method to fail to keep up with the current output level.
"This is way too awesome..."
Arthur sighed inwardly, the corners of his mouth unable to stop curling upward.
Although he almost made a fool of himself due to losing control, this was definitely great news, meaning that he could unearth the terrifying potential of the Twelve Talismans in the future.
However, Arthur decisively shook his head, temporarily casting all these thoughts about studying superpowers to the back of his mind.
Regardless of any talismans or whatever, there was only one important thing now: picking up his tsundere girlfriend from work.
He tidied his hair, which had been messed up by the wind, reached out, grabbed the handle of the thick soundproof iron door of the rehearsal room, and pushed it open hard.
As soon as the crack of the door opened, a strong wave of rock music slammed against Arthur's face like substance.
Heavy bass notes, tearing guitar distortion, and the clearest, most primitive explosive drum rhythms intertwined, filling the entire space with a distinct underground punk style.
Arthur quietly slipped in along the wall, found an inconspicuous dim corner, stood still against the wall, and cast his gaze toward the slightly raised wooden stage right in front of him.
His gaze did not stay on the lead singer and guitarist for even a second, but precisely locked onto the girl sitting behind the huge drum set at the very back of the stage.
That was precisely Gwen.
Today, she had taken off her loose dark grey hooded sweatshirt and tied it casually around her slender waist.
Her upper body wore only a form-fitting black short-sleeved T-shirt, closely hugging the beautifully defined muscle lines she had cultivated from years of exercise and being Spider-Woman.
Her lower body wore her favorite ripped jeans, and she stepped in a pair of classic black canvas shoes.
At this time, Gwen was completely immersed in the frantic rhythm of the music.
The two wooden drumsticks in her hands quickly waved out afterimages in the air, and every strike on the snare drum and cymbals accurately hit the explosive heavy beats.
Her signature gradient short hair danced wildly in the air with her forceful head-shaking movements.
A few strands of hair slightly damp with sweat clung casually to her fair cheeks.
Under the dim spotlights on the ceiling of the rehearsal room, her whole person seemed to be glowing, exuding a charming allure unique to an unrestrained and cool rock girl.
Arthur stood quietly in the corner just like that, with his hands crossed over his chest.
Watching the dazzling girl on the stage, he almost forgot to breathe.
His deep eyes reflected Gwen's figure as she vented her strength to the fullest, and he was completely captivated watching her.
I don't know how long had passed, but accompanied by Gwen's forceful heavy blow and a loud "clang", the cymbals emitted a long trailing sound, and the final violent climax of the song finally came to an end.
The lead singer and guitarist tiredly put down their instruments and began to pant heavily.
Gwen also took a deep breath, raised the back of her hand which had thin calluses, and casually wiped the fine sweat on her forehead.
She skillfully rotated her wrist, preparing to stand up from the drum stool.
Just as she inadvertently raised her head and her gaze swept across the audience below, her pair of originally aggressive azure-blue eyes suddenly contracted violently, and then lit up visibly to the naked eye.
At a glance, she saw the familiar figure standing quietly in the dim corner, looking at her with a gentle smile.
In that brief zero-point-one second of seeing clearly that it was Arthur, the persona of the cool, aloof, and unapproachable genius drummer of the underground rock band completely collapsed on Gwen.
With two soft "click" sounds, the two drumsticks that Gwen usually treasured in her hands were casually thrown directly onto the snare drum's head by her, rolling straight down the smooth drum skin onto the ground.
Without even saying a simple "Rehearsal is over" to her teammates who were looking at her with astonishment in front, she nimbly drilled out from the middle of the complex drum rack and lightly jumped down from the half-meter-high stage.
She completely ignored all the messy chairs and equipment around her, rushing straight toward Arthur in the corner like a precise homing missile.
When she was still two or three short steps away from Arthur, Gwen forcefully tipped up her toes and flung herself recklessly straight into Arthur's arms.
Arthur skillfully opened his arms and steadily caught her.
Gwen's hands tightly hugged Arthur's neck, and her legs even naturally coiled around Arthur's waist.
Her whole body hung entirely on Arthur like a clingy koala.
"Yu!"
Gwen shouted excitedly, her voice even carrying a distinct nasal tone, "I missed you so much! You finally came to pick me up!"
While loudly declaring her longing, she forcefully buried her head, which had just been full of sweat and looked cold, into the nook of Arthur's neck, rubbing back and forth with attachment.
Arthur could even smell that pleasant scent on her body, mixed with a slight sweat after exercise and the faint strawberry fragrance she commonly used.
"Where did you go today... I haven't seen you for several hours..."
Gwen muttered softly, her tone full of obvious grievance and reliance, that soft and vulnerable appearance seeming as though she was frantically replenishing her depleted "boyfriend energy" through this direct physical contact.
Arthur lovingly wrapped his arms around her lower back, gently patting her back, and was about to speak up to gently comfort her a few words.
But his sharp peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of the eerie quiet atmosphere ahead.
At the front of the stage, lead singer Mary Jane and guitarist Glory, including the team members who had just put down their basses, all maintained a dazed posture, as if they had been petrified.
They looked at each other, their eyes filled with intense shock and incredulity.
Was this still their drummer Gwen Stacy in the band who had a venomous tongue, was aloof, and always wore an impatient cool face?
That female demon who usually tsundere-ly avoided even simple hugs was now hanging on a man's body like a wronged little girl, wildly acting spoiled.
This terrifying sense of contrast severely impacted their worldviews.
The air fell into an awkward dead silence at this moment.
Arthur touched his nose somewhat unnaturally, and then deliberately and loudly coughed awkwardly twice: "Ahem..."
This abrupt cough finally effectively penetrated Gwen's nerves, which were under the shielding state of a severe "love brain".
Gwen's body stiffened violently.
She slowly turned her head, her peripheral vision struggling to catch a glimpse of those dumbfounded "teammate statues" on the stage.
With a "boom", Gwen truly felt as if a huge mushroom cloud had exploded in her brain.
Taking less than zero-point-one seconds, Gwen sprang down from Arthur's body like a scalded cat, her feet steadily landing back on the ground.
To cover up this despairing social Death scene, she panicked and grabbed the sweatshirt tied around her waist, flurriedly pulling it over her head, and with lightning speed grabbed the hood of the sweatshirt, tightly wrapping up her head, leaving only most of her glowing red cheeks outside.
She tried hard to clear her throat, attempting to pretend to be cool as if nothing had happened, her eyes staring rigidly at the ground, not daring to look closely at her teammates' expressions at all.
Then, she overbearingly grabbed Arthur's large palm, her fingers clenching forcefully into Arthur's palm, and said in a hurried voice: "Let's go!"
Arthur submissively let her hold his hand, being pulled hard by her toward the heavy iron door of the rehearsal room to flee.
While walking quickly behind Gwen, Arthur clearly saw Gwen's profile by virtue of the dim light in the rehearsal room.
Not only did she pull her sweatshirt hood down low, but her originally fair cheeks were now as red as a ripe red apple.
That conspicuous red even exaggeratedly spread all the way to her slender neck, and even the tiny bit of exquisite collarbone exposed in the air was stained with a layer of distinct blush.
Looking at her tsundere yet flustered look trying to bury her head in the sand, Arthur couldn't help but smile happily in his heart.
This cold-on-the-outside, warm-on-the-inside girlfriend of his who liked to put up a front on the surface was simply too cute, cute to the point of breaking the rules.
Chapter 37: A New Storm Has Appeared
Before the heavy soundproof iron door closed, the rehearsal room, which had been silent for a moment behind them, instantly exploded like a haystack ignited by scorching sparks.
The members of Mary Jane's band finally recovered from the terrifying shock to their worldview, and various jeers smashed against Gwen's back like a dense rainstorm.
Lead singer Mary Jane reacted first; she crossed her arms over her chest and deliberately drew out her voice, mocking sarcastically.
"Oh-ho-ho, everyone look quickly, is this still our cold and arrogant drummer who rolls her eyes even if male fans take a second glance? I've truly opened my eyes today."
Guitarist Glory also laughed so hard beside her that she rocked back and forth, strumming the strings and even fearlessly letting out a loud, flirty whistle.
"Indeed, I completely can't believe my eyes. With that usual temper of hers—putting on a cold face and wanting to kill people at the slightest mishap during rehearsal—who would have expected our Miss Gwen to be able to take the initiative like this behind closed doors? She's practically as clingy as a ragdoll cat relying on its Master."
The bassist in the back loved the drama even more and yelled at the top of her lungs in the spacious room.
"When are you treating us to wedding candies, Miss Stacy? We've already prepared the cash gifts for attending the wedding; it'll definitely be enough to buy the most delicious strawberry-flavored dried small fish."
Such bantering words leaked continuously through the crack of the door, precisely striking Gwen's fragile defense line of shame.
At this moment, Gwen's naturally rosy cheeks felt as if a basin of scalding red paint had been poured over them. That blinding red spread downwards at a visible and rapid speed, making not only her entire earroots look like two ripe red cherries, but also burning her fair, slender neck and the delicate collarbones exposed to the air thoroughly red together.
She pulled the hood of her dark gray hoodie down fiercely, wishing she could sew her entire face into the fabric of the clothes.
Driven by the intense feeling of social death, her footsteps instantly became lightning-fast.
Relying on her extraordinary physical fitness, she grabbed Arthur's wrist with a dragging force so great that even Arthur's body, implicitly enhanced by the Ox Talisman, felt a noticeable tugging sensation.
She quickly dragged her submissive boyfriend along, disappearing completely into the hallway outside the rehearsal room's door like a panicked tornado.
Walking all the way to the slightly bustling streets of Brooklyn at dusk, facing a cool evening breeze, Gwenfinally slowed her pace slightly as if she were exhausted.
But she still tightly clasped Arthur's hand without any intention of letting go, continuing to lower her head and march straight ahead blindly, lacking even the courage to glance at the pedestrians.
Every step she trod on the brick pavement seemed extremely heavy, as if she were clumsily using this to cover up her inner panic and bashfulness.
Watching his Spider-Woman girlfriend—who could display powerful explosive force when fighting enemies—now exhibiting this ostrich-like demeanor of wishing she could drill into a hidden crack in the ground, Arthur's inner black-bellied attribute, which he only showed to intimate people, uncontrollably welled up again.
He deliberately slowed his pace slightly, halting their parallel rhythm, gently scraped the back of Gwen's hand with his backhand, and then leaned close to her ear, saying in a punchable yet playful and bantering tone.
"You have the ability to show affection inside, but no ability to face people outside. Why run so fast without even saying a word of goodbye."
Hearing this obvious teasing that was like adding fuel to the fire, Gwen abruptly stopped in her tracks, turned around quickly, and let go of their tightly clasped hands.
Her face, largely obscured by the shadow of the hood, carried a very obvious look of shame and annoyance. Immediately afterward, she raised her arm, clenched her small fist—which had a thin layer of calluses—and lightly pounded Arthur's sturdy arm.
"You're a bad guy. Inside just now you were like a piece of wood, not knowing how to remind me, and now you only know how to tease me, hum."
After finishing these harsh words that lacked any substantial deterrent force from either tone or action, she simply turned her head towards the curb on the side.
Pretending to have developed a keen interest in the neon signs that had just lit up on the street, she crossed her arms directly, resolutely turned her head away to ignore Arthur, and put on a cold, aloof posture that shouted I am very angry and need you to coax me.
Watching this typical tsundere reaction of hers with the words 'want me to coax' written straightforwardly across her face, Arthur found it somewhat amused and cute.
He knew deeply that the other party was just used to disguising herself as cold on the outside and warm on the inside; of course, he wouldn't let her sulk by herself there.
Following the direction of Gwen's turned head, Arthurdecisively leaned his upper body over, directly moving right in front of her line of sight and blocking all the scenery.
His deep eyes, filled with gentle emotions, stared straight into Gwen's azure eyes, which were still continuously dodging, and he asked in an extremely low voice as if talking to himself: "Are you really angry?"
After her line of sight was precisely captured, Gwen could only stubbornly bite her lower lip, shift her gaze again with extreme unnaturalness, and continue to leave her fluffy back of the head for Arthur to look at, maintaining a silent, resistant state.
Faced with such severe saying-one-thing-and-meaning-another, Arthur knew deeply that any pale explanation was meaningless.
Without any hesitation, he quickly and naturally made his next move. Lowering his head slightly, in that fleeting and instantaneous moment, he accurately found his target, and then gently planted a shallow kiss on the edge of Gwen's somewhat tensed lips.
This unreserved action happened suddenly, and Gwen's body clearly trembled for a split second.
Her gaze, which had originally attempted to evade, instantly froze, and her long eyelashes fluttered hurriedly like the wings of a startled butterfly.
After a few seconds, Gwen's tensed shoulders relaxed as if melted by some warm power.
She slowly glanced sideways at Arthur out of the corner of her eye, trying her best to maintain her proud bottom line and attempting to make her voice sound nonchalant.
"Seeing that you're so tactful, I'll reluctantly forgive you."
However, behind these awkward words, the corners of her mouth, which had always been deliberately flattened, were now defying her will, curving noticeably and high upward against her control.
Afterward, she once again took the initiative to reach out, cutting through the slightly cool air, and forcefully took Arthur's hand again without any explanation.
The temperature transmitted the moment their ten fingers intertwined tightly clearly proved that, obviously because of that unreasonable kiss just now, this hard-mouthed yet soft-hearted Spider-Woman was already in a very good mood.
Meanwhile, at the other end of New York, in Queens, which was full of the atmosphere of ordinary civilian life, the setting sun on the horizon was exerting its faint remaining warmth, plating the buildings on both sides of the long street with a layer of aged dark gold.
This World's Peter Parker had just finished high school classes.
Because he had already been unilaterally handed over the important responsibility of guarding this city by Gwen, his thin shoulders now bore heavy burdens that did not belong to this age.
On his way home from school, he was carrying a backpack stuffed with textbooks, kicking pebbles on the roadside, and pondering this absurd series of recent events.
Just as he walked past a somewhat dimly lit corner, a bizarre figure very abruptly blocked his path of advance.
Parker stopped in his tracks, looking at the interceptor before him with a somewhat dazed expression.
This was a man dressed exquisitely yet disheveled, looking somewhere between middle-aged and elderly.
Parker's excellent visual memory immediately made him discover a bizarre thing: this person's facial contours looked similar to his usually familiar good brother Harry's father, namely the famous Mr. Norman Osborn.
But there was a huge difference between the two: this person blocking the road in front of him had gullies crisscrossing his face and a gloomy gaze, looking much older than the Norman Parker knew.
Before Parker could figure out the situation, the old man in front of him looked at Parker's face and suddenly, as if stimulated greatly, his expression became extremely demented.
He waved his withered arms, making a hoarse and ugly sound from his mouth.
"Hey, little lizard, it's me, Norman Osborn, don't you recognize me anymore?"
Parker was dumbfounded upon hearing these words, his gaze turning extremely dazed in an instant.
In his mind, countless chaotic thoughts were fighting wildly. What lizard?
Although he went out to uphold justice wearing a crude homemade battle suit, his title was clearly the loveable and friendly neighborhood little spider; how on earth did it have the slightest connection to the ugly, cold-blooded lizard crawling on the ground?
The person calling himself Norman Osborn seemed not to have obtained the response he expected from Parker's expression.
He perplexedly furrowed his wrinkled old face, and with an uncomfortable sense of inquisitiveness, slowly circled a full round around Parker, who was carrying his schoolbag.
"Little lizard, how did you change back from being all green?"
Green Goblin's voice carried thick confusion and questioning, as if he were facing a research sample that violated rigorous biological common sense.
Parker was somewhat creeped out by this bizarre atmosphere; he retreated half a step backward, gripped his schoolbag straps tighter, and answered sincerely.
"Sir, did you look for the wrong person?"
Hearing the other party speak these words, and looking at that completely clueless and innocent gaze, Norman stopped circling.
He muttered softly in his mouth: 'Looked for the wrong person?' Afterward, he carefully locked his gaze dead onto Parker's face.
This time, the madness that had lost its reason receded slightly, replaced by a cold scrutiny.
He acutely discovered that the high school student in front of him was indeed different from the terrifying monster in his memory that had completely lost its humanity because of the lizard serum.
In a brief instant, a bloody and tragic memory grew wildly deep in his heart like a malicious vine.
He sneered in his heart and thought: 'Right, right, right, it looks like I really did look for the wrong person.'
Deep in his mind, he clearly knew that painful past belonging to the Universe where Gwen was.
That brutal lizard in his memory, which was Peter Parker of that spacetime, had long ago been killed with her own hands by Gwen, that annoying dead spider, in that cruel slaughter.
This realization made his heart, which still carried a trace of doubt, completely sink into a definite judgment.
The fact that this contradictory existence proved that he was indeed no longer in the original Universe full of slaughter, but had arrived in a new dimension during a bizarre spacetime accident.
The timid young man in front of him was merely an insignificant substitute who looked like that stinky lizard killed on the spot.
After figuring out the current complex situation, this villain skilled in disguise and scheming instantly put away all his previous demented states.
He sighed deeply, perfectly simulating in his tone the apologetic helplessness and exhaustion of an elderly uncle with senile amnesia who had recognized the wrong person.
"Sorry for delaying your precious time."
Leaving this dry apology behind, Norman turned and walked away immediately after speaking, his back looking even somewhat down-and-out and desolate.
Parker had completely no guard up. Looking at the back of the old man who claimed to be Osborn, he rubbed the back of his head, feeling a strong wave of utter bewilderment.
Was this person really that Norman who dominated the business World?
How could he have become so rambling and abnormal?
The kind young fellow stood tangled in place for a while. He even seriously considered whether he should go to the Osborn house after finishing his homework at night, and ask his good friend Harry to check if his dad had recently encountered some serious mental illness or had any unsolved worries.
But after a brief and fierce ideological struggle, he felt that such a thing was extremely awkward, and going to meddle in the adults' World seemed impolite. Forget it, better not to meddle in other people's business.
Only this innocent new-generation hero didn't notice that the very brief instant Norman—who claimed to have recognized the wrong person—turned his back to him, all the false apologies shattered like a fragile mask with a loud crash.
At the wrinkle-filled corner of this cross-dimensional super villain's eyes, a cold, sharp gleam flashed covertly. That was a look full of endless scheming that would only be revealed when searching for a cruel prey and preparing to stir up a massive destruction plan in secret.
Chapter 38 How Can One Stand Still
In the courtyard of Kamar-Taj, the chilly mountain breeze made the nearby prayer flags snap loudly, and the air was filled with a rich and tranquil scent of Tibetan incense.
Arthur stood at the edge of the slate plaza, his left hand wearing the brass Sling Ring lifted slightly, and his two fingers of his right hand held together, drawing circles over and over again in the air in front of him.
Golden sparks were dragged out along with his fingertips, barely piecing together the outline of a tiny circular ring, but maintaining for less than two seconds, the spatial structure that should have been stable made a dry "zi la" sound, instantly collapsing into a pile of scattered sparks on the ground, and then completely extinguishing in the cold wind.
Arthur lowered his arm somewhat irritably and shook his wrist.
In this week of practice, he could clearly feel that the light of the Twelve Talismans within his body was slowly recovering, and his own power was gradually being sorted and integrated.
But only this magic of the Sling Ring opening a Portalalways felt like sand stuck in the gears, inexplicably collapsing at the final critical step of formation.
Where on earth did the core reason for the instability lie?
Was it that his mental power was not focused enough, or was the power of the talismans in his body subconsciously rejecting this way of casting spells by borrowing the power of the Vishanti?
He decided not to ponder blindly by himself anymore, turned around, walked through the long wooden corridor, and walked all the way into the quiet room of Sorcerer Ancient One.
There were no extra furnishings in the quiet room. Ancient One was sitting cross-legged in front of the low table, holding a cup of steaming fresh tea in her hand.
Seeing Arthur walk in, this Sorcerer Supreme who had lived for hundreds of years didn't even raise her head, just naturally pushed another empty teacup to the opposite side of the table.
After Arthur sat down, without any preamble, he described in detail the state of energy repelling each other and finally collapsing with a roar that he encountered when practicing the Portal.
He hoped to get some specific adjustment formula from the mouth of this sorcerer standing at the pinnacle of magic, or the secret to modifying gestures, or even some breathing technique that required special coordination, trying to seek a direct breakthrough method based on this week of hard practice.
However, Ancient One just gently blew on the tea leaves floating on the water surface, her eyes that seemed to be able to see through the long river of time looking peacefully at Arthur.
"Do not be too hasty, Arthur."
Ancient One's voice was steady, without any emotional ups and downs.
"magic is not a physical equation that can be solved by dragging and pulling. The power system within your body is massive and ancient; they are adapting to you, and you are adapting to them. Right now, you are like forcibly pushing a waterwheel in a pool that is not yet filled with water. Of course, turning it will feel dry and prone to breaking."
Ancient One picked up the teacup, took a sip, and continued: "Put away your impatience. Continue to maintain your current pace. When the time comes, you will find that there is no need to look for any breakthrough method. Everything will flow naturally, just like river water flowing over a riverbed."
Naturally falling into place.
Arthur silently recited the word in his heart.
Looking at Ancient One's profound expression of unwillingness to say more, he understood that he couldn't get any more specific dry goods on this issue today.
He simply nodded, stopped entangling himself in this problem, drank up the tea in the cup in one gulp, stood up, and said goodbye.
Since the big shot had said to wait for the timing, he would just quietly wait for this natural timing to hit him on the head.
Anyway, with the super speed and immense strength he held in his hands now, self-preservation and protecting Gwen were already more than enough.
Later that day, Arthur returned to the apartment in Brooklyn.
Night fell, and the neon lights flickered outside the streets of New York.
Yet inside the small but cozy living room of the apartment, it presented an atmosphere completely different from usual.
According to their daily habit cultivated in the past few days, if the two of them curled up on the sofa watching TV together, Gwen would definitely be like a clingy ragdoll cat, either resting her head on his lap or shrinking softly into his arms, playing with his fingers while casually complaining about those boring reality TV shows on TV.
But tonight's Gwen was unusually abnormal.
She did not lean against Arthur, but sat up straight with an upright posture.
Her slender legs were tightly closed together, and her hands were tightly hugged in front of her knees.
The knuckles of her fingers were turning pale due to excessive force, and those originally vibrant eyes were now staring unblinkingly at the somewhat old television screen in front.
The fluorescence emitted by the television hit her somewhat stiff profile, outlining a tense line that even faintly revealed a bit of fear.
Arthur looked towards the television along Gwen's line of sight.
This was not some boring variety show channel, but a live local news broadcast.
In the picture, a news helicopter was filming the chaotic scene of the streets from high altitude.
I saw that Peter Parker, who was wearing a rough hoodie before, had now changed into a form-fitting, excellent-textured red and blue official combat suit.
He was rapidly Web-slinging between towering buildings, engaging in a fierce and tragic entanglement with a huge monster on the street below.
That was a green Lizard Man covered all over with hard scales.
This monster was huge in size, and its thick tail gave a fierce sweep, directly knocking a yellow taxi on the side of the road away like a toy, heavily smashing it onto the nearby fire hydrant, and a water column instantly soared into the sky.
The Lizard Man opened its bloody mouth full of fangs, issuing a manic roar.
It completely failed to show any human reason or tactics, just aimlessly and brutally rampaging on the street, directly trampling police cars trying to approach into scrap iron.
The Spider-Man in the screen obviously lacked experience in dealing with this level of monster.
Like a flexible moth, he constantly used Web-slinging to jump between walls and street lamps, trying to use spider webs to bind the limbs of the Lizard Man.
But the strength of the Lizard Man was too great, several times directly breaking free from the spider webs, and even pulling the spider webs to drag Spider-Man hard down from mid-air, heavily smashing him into the glass showcase of a nearby convenience store.
The battle was fierce.
After a bitter battle with a lot of effort, Spider-Man finally found an opportunity.
Utilizing a thick piece of steel reinforcement as a fulcrum, he wound countless strands of Web-slinging around the body of the Lizard Man at an extremely high frequency, tightly binding this violent monster into an immobile white cocoon.
The Lizard Man struggled and roared crazily on the ground, but as the bound time became longer, its manic movements gradually weakened, and finally it rolled its eyes and completely passed out.
Until this moment, the television screen suddenly changed.
Just as the helicopter pulled the camera closer for a close-up shot, the green scales on the body of the fainted Lizard Man began to rapidly recede at a speed visible to the naked eye.
That thick tail quickly withered and disappeared, the sharp claws turned back into human fingers, and the bulging muscles and bones also emitted a series of teeth-aching "ka ka" sounds, quickly shrinking back.
Gradually, this terrifying monster restored into human form under the live broadcast camera.
The moment he saw this human form, Arthur, who was originally just leaning against the back of the sofa watching the excitement, also suddenly sat up straight, a look of astonishment flashing across his face.
His surprise was not because this person was so special, or some familiar figure he had guessed long ago.
On the contrary, precisely because this person was too unspecial and too unfamiliar, it made him feel incredible!
Lying in a pile of spiderweb ruins on the screen was a middle-aged man wearing a torn plaid shirt, with somewhat Mediterranean hair and slightly gained weight.
That appearance was ordinary, just the kind of generic-looking passerby that you could hit several of by casually throwing a brick on the streets of New York.
Arthur's brows furrowed deeply.
As a transmigrator who understood Marvel plots, his brain began to operate and check at high speed in this instant.
Something is wrong, this is not right!
According to normal plot logic, the one who turned into a Lizard Man should be Dr. Connors, that top scientist who studied cross-species genetics in order to restore his severed arm and eventually led to his own mutation.
No matter in which version of the Universe, the Lizard Man should be that doctor with a clear obsession and medical background!
But who was this comatose middle-aged uncle in front of him?
He was definitely not that doctor in the TV show or movie, completely just an ordinary civilian passerby who had nothing to do with any high-tech.
How could an ordinary person suddenly turn into a Lizard Man?!
Arthur's brain quickly sounded an alarm, which was a strong signal that the plot had severely deviated from its original track.
What was the reason for this?
Could it be that Dr. Connors in this World had changed his nature, no longer playing the routine of self-mutation, but took out the serum and changed it into human experiments?
Or was it that someone else, or some other hidden force, obtained this biological serum sufficient to mutate people, and then injected it onto a completely defenseless ordinary person?
Arthur couldn't figure it out.
He keenly perceived that behind this news, which seemed to be just an anti-hero monster making trouble, a dangerous dark hand that had not yet appeared was hidden.
Just as he was rapidly calculating various possibilities in his mind and thinking about whether to use S.H.I.E.L.D.'s titular authority to investigate the background of this mutated civilian, the corner of his eye noticed Gwen beside him.
Arthur immediately threw those complex plot analyses behind his head.
He turned his head and saw Gwen's appearance at this moment.
Gwen still maintained that posture of holding her knees with both hands, but her body was trembling slightly out of control.
She bit her lower lip hard, not only biting out a deep white mark, but even faintly about to ooze blood.
Her eyes became hollow and distracted, her blue pupils were filled with fear and sadness, her breathing was abnormally rapid, and her chest heaved violently.
Even though the Lizard Man in the TV had been subdued and restored to human form, for Gwen, those green scales representing rage and destruction, and the image of the monster tortured by mutation to lose its mind, were like a sharp awl, mercilessly piercing through the psychological defense line that she had managed to heal a little bit under Arthur's company.
Arthur knew her state right now.
He guessed not wrong at all; this was definitely triggering that PTSD deep inside her heart.
After all, in the comics, the biggest tragedy in Ghost SpiderGwen's plotline was that she killed her best friend with her own hands.
That Peter Parker who desired to gain power as strong as hers, but eventually turned into a mindless Lizard Man due to drug side effects.
In the end, that Lizard Man died in her arms and turned back into his original form.
Although Arthur couldn't be one hundred percent sure whether the past plotline of the Gwen by his side was exactly the same as the comics, judging from her current reaction of almost shattering, that tragic past should be pretty much similar.
That was a cruel nightmare that she tried her best to forget, but was cruelly torn open with bloody wounds by tonight's news.
"Gwen..."
Arthur's voice was gentle; he didn't press the TV remote, but naturally moved his body closer to the slightly shivering girl.
He slowly extended his arms, wrapped them around her shoulders, and directly hugged her whole person into his arms with an absolutely unrefusable yet gentle force.
"Gwen, be a good girl, Gwen."
Arthur gently rested his chin on the top of her head, one hand stroking up and down her somewhat stiff back steadily and rhythmically.
"The bad guys have been driven away, it's okay, don't worry. I'm right here."
There was no preaching in Arthur's straightforward, colloquial language, only solid appeasement.
He didn't ask her why she was afraid, nor did he mention the Lizard Man on TV, just purely acting like an ordinary boyfriend, providing his own body temperature and sense of security.
Feeling Arthur's wide and warm embrace, and the steady and powerful heartbeat transmitted through the clothes, although the comforting words were a bit weird, she no longer had spare energy to think right now.
Gwen's nerves, which had been tense to the point of breaking, finally relaxed a little bit.
She nodded hard, her body completely limp in Arthur's arms as if all her strength had been drained.
She greedily buried her face into the crook of Arthur's neck, her hands tightly gripping the clothes in front of Arthur's chest, with so much strength that she almost twisted that piece of fabric into deep wrinkles.
"Mn... I know, Yu."
Gwen's voice was hoarse, carrying a thick, unresolvable nasal tone.
Although she obediently leaned into Arthur's embrace, the worried expression on that face hidden on Arthur's shoulder did not diminish by half because of this.
The scene of the Lizard Man falling down on TV seamlessly overlapped with the figure of the blood-covered, gradually cooling boy in her memory.
She was afraid, afraid that this terrible mutating serum would reappear in the World; she was even more afraid that the precious, ordinary girlfriend life she now possessed, and Arthur who would always treat her gently no matter when, would be dragged into this terrifying monster vortex. If Arthur because of her...
She didn't dare to continue thinking downwards.
Gwen closed her eyes, tears spinning silently in her eye sockets.
She rubbed uneasily in Arthur's arms, as if only in this person's embrace could she feel that she was truly living in a normal World.
Chapter 39: Anti-Arthur Armor Officially Fails
The apartment living room was dim and quiet, with only the faint neon halo filtering in through the window casting long, slanted shadows on the floor.
Arthur leaned quietly against the sofa, his hands maintaining a secure posture as he firmly guarded the still-shivering Gwen in his arms.
His palm stroked up and down the girl's thin spine, transmitting not just body temperature, but an unwavering sense of reliance.
"It's okay, it's okay, I'm right here, I'll always be here."
Arthur deliberately lowered his voice, his tone calm and gentle, repeating those words in her ear over and over again.
Without any dry, grand principles attempting to distract her, nor any impatient probing, he simply used the most direct physical contact and the simplest promise to pull Gwen bit by bit out of the nightmarish quagmire filled with blood and lizard monster scales.
Under Arthur's patient soothing, Gwen's muscles, taut to the point of almost spasming, finally relaxed little by little.
Her fingers, which had originally been tightly clutching the corner of Arthur's clothes, slowly lost their strength, and her hurried, disordered breathing gradually became prolonged and steady.
After another dozen minutes or so, the girl in his arms let out a soft murmur, burying her cheek completely in the crook of Arthur's neck and falling asleep peacefully.
The faint, unique scent of mint on her body mixed with the smell of body wash, and her soft body pressed unguardedly against Arthur.
Arthur did not dare make any large movements, and could only carefully adjust his sitting posture to let her sleep more comfortably.
Just then, the cell phone he had casually thrown on the coffee table suddenly lit up with a screen fluorescent glow with a soft "buzz".
In order not to wake Gwen, Arthur quickly freed one hand to grab the phone and adjusted the screen brightness to the lowest setting.
Unlocking it to take a look, it was an urgent message sent by Tony Stark, the text content exuding a sense of Stark's typical tsundere and showing off:
"Lin, the Mark II has been finalized. Do you have time tomorrow to help me test it? As a special reminder, with this version's design philosophy, only you can help test out its true effect."
Arthur stared at the last sentence "only you can help", slightly raising his eyebrows and tilting his head in confusion.
He knew Tony's overly exuberant and stubbornly unyielding desire to win.
Recalling that scene a few days ago in the underground testing ground of the Stark Villa, in front of Tony and Fury, when he fired up the Rabbit Talisman and Ox Talisman at full power, and with a divine speed completely uncapturable by the naked eye, directly punched Captain America Steve Rogers flying and smashed Tony's limited-edition sports car, Arthur instantly savored a bit of meaning from it.
The so-called "only you can test it yourself", translated, was the subtext that this guy Tony had frantically overworked himself behind the scenes in response to his astonishing speed that day, coming up with a counter-system specifically designed to deal with ultra-high-speed targets?
To think even more exaggeratedly, could this guy have been too heavily stimulated, directly skipping the normal mecha development process, and overnight tailor-made an "Anti-Arthur Armor" for him?
He had reason to suspect this was revenge for him smashing his car.
Arthur silently complained a few words in his heart. Since Tony insisted on sticking his face out to ask for a beating, he couldn't be blamed.
No matter what fancy black technology he came up with, tomorrow when they reached the testing ground, everything would naturally become clear.
He casually switched his phone to silent and threw it back on the table.
Lowering his head to look at Gwen curled up like a kitten in his arms, feeling that soft and warm touch, Arthur closed his eyes and relaxed to sleep on this peaceful night.
The next morning, sunlight spilled into the house through the gaps in the curtains.
Gwen, having slept enough, still had some slightly reddish traces at the corners of her eyes, but in front of Arthur, she still forced herself to prop up that cool and sassy rock girl shell.
She unnaturally rubbed her hair, pulled at the corners of her mouth and dropped a few stubborn words like "I'm going to the band today to viciously pound that drum set and sweat it out", carrying her backpack and rushing out the door to rehearse.
After seeing Gwen off, Arthur simply tidied up and directly set off for the secret training ground address Tony sent in the text message.
That was an open area located in an abandoned heavy industrial zone in the suburbs of New York, surrounded by towering abandoned concrete walls and huge iron-framed buildings. The center of the site was vacant, making it most suitable for testing large-yield explosions or high-speed flight.
Meanwhile, in the underground studio of the Stark coastal Villa several kilometers away from this training ground, the surveillance footage on the big screen clearly displayed Arthur walking into the site.
Dr. Yinsen stood in front of the monitoring control console and immediately reported into the communication channel: "Jarvis, notify Tony immediately. The target has entered the predetermined line-of-sight area."
At this moment, right behind a hidden huge pile of metal waste in the training ground, Tony, hiding inside the full-coverage Mark II armor, received Jarvis's real-time reminder.
He wore that latest prototype shining with metallic luster, his eyes under the faceplate staring fixedly at the infrared thermal imaging locking box on the tactical panel.
"Then let him see if Stark Industries' fire network can trap his damn teleportation!"
Tony snorted coldly in the communication channel, and then the thruster on his back suddenly ignited, and the deep blue plasma tail flame violently spewed out.
The Mark II was like a cannonball leaving the barrel, suddenly bursting out from hiding.
He didn't give Arthur any time to say hello at all. On the way rushing toward Arthur, the palms of the armor's hands immediately lit up with dazzling white strong light, and the micro-energy-gathering ring completed the charging of maximum power output within a fraction of a second.
Accompanied by the sharp tearing sound of airflow, two repulsor beam rays with precise tracking trajectories, carrying destructive high temperatures and Impact force, smashed fiercely toward Arthur's face and chest.
Facing this sudden and fierce artillery sneak attack, Arthurjust stood in place, blinking his eyes calmly.
Not only did he not activate the Rabbit Talisman's extreme speed to dodge, he didn't even move his footsteps by half a point, his hands naturally tucked into his pockets, just watching open-eyed as the high-energy particle beam heavily bombarded his body.
"Boom—"
A fierce explosion detonated on Arthur's chest, and a dazzling fireball accompanied by a powerful Impactshockwave whipped up the dust on the surrounding ground four to five meters high.
If it were an ordinary flesh and blood body, this strike would be enough to pierce a person's chest or even vaporize it. But after the smoke and dust dissipated, a bizarre scene appeared.
That powerful repulsor ray only blew a palm-sized charred hole in the clothes on Arthur's chest, and the Impact force penetrated the fabric, causing a slight dented wound on his skin.
Before the blood could flow out, the power mechanism hidden within Arthur's body instantly activated.
This was precisely the remarkable result brought about by his sitting meditation in Kamar-Taj during this period of time.
Through the integration and mastery of the power of the talismans within his body, those powers that originally fought independently now operated silkily and smoothly.
At the moment of being attacked, the Ox Talisman was passively stimulated to an exaggerated degree.
The strengthening of this power was not only reflected in destruction, but more directly changed the density and Impact resistance of Arthur's muscle fibers.
The energy that should have blown his ribcage to pieces collided like it hit a thick and reflective Wall of Sighs, all the kinetic energy being domineeringly and forcibly endured.
Next, the immortality and eternal youth power of the Dog Talisman turned into a gentle vitality.
Inside the small opening that had just been blown out, granulation tissue intertwined and grew at a terrifying speed visible to the naked eye, and in less than half a second, the skin returned to a completely smooth and healthy state, leaving not even a trace of a scar.
That wasn't all; what made the current Arthur feel most useful was the power of the Horse Talisman after his continuous meditation and reinforcement.
The light of the Horse Talisman flickered within his body, not only rapidly and thoroughly erasing and alleviating the faint tingling sensation transmitted from his nervous system, but even extending this concept of "recovery" to items outside his body.
Those cotton fibers burned and vaporized by the repulsor ray, under an invisible magic fluctuation, were like time reversing, those charred edges rapidly re-weaving and healing.
In just a few seconds, the casual jacket on Arthur's chest had already returned to its original state, completely showing no trace of having been bombed at zero distance by the high-temperature particle gun just now.
Arthur still stood in place, harmlessly patting the non-existent dust on his chest.
To him, the explosion just now really just felt like a slight sting, probably about the same level as being bitten by a mosquito by accident in summer, and he didn't take it seriously at all.
In contrast, Tony, who was staying in mid-air, was instantly stunned inside the armor.
He controlled the Mark II to land stiffly in front of Arthur. Although the faceplate did not open, the voice coming from the external loudspeaker already exuded a sense of bewilderment and doubt about life:
"You... why didn't you use that divine speed of yours to dodge?! Just hard-wearing my full-power repulsors like that? Do you know how many days and nights I spent hacking away at those hair-losing codes on my armor's fire control system to create dynamic tracking capabilities that could keep up with your terrifying speed? You didn't even move an inch!"
In Tony's original expectation, Arthur would definitely activate that kind of teleportation-like speed when facing a sneak attack, and then his armor could proudly demonstrate how the ultra-high-speed enemy-seeking radar tightly locked onto the opponent's trajectory.
As a result, Arthur casually stood in place as a target to endure the attack. This unconventional, dimension-reducing defense made Tony's sense of frustration—having prepared countless black technologies only to punch a pile of cotton—reach its peak.
Listening to Tony's annoyed questioning, Arthur just shrugged indifferently, his tone carrying a bit of obvious dark humor and teasing:
"Just this? And how many days and nights? Tony, I think you might have a slight, serious misunderstanding about the gap between us."
Arthur stepped forward and directly tapped Mark II's hard metal breastplate with his finger: "Come on, you come out of this iron shell first. I'll show you something more fun, guaranteed to make you feel that those few days and nights of yours were completely wasted."
Tony, inside the armor, although reluctant, still had the exuberant curiosity about unknown things in his bones take the upper hand.
He wanted to see what other tricks this guy who didn't obey physical laws could pull off.
Along with a burst of mechanical aesthetic hydraulic deflation sound and the unlocking sound of the armor closing locking mechanism, the back of the Mark II opened as a whole, and Tony walked out from it with a dark face and unhappiness.
"You'd better be able to conjure up something that makes me feel a bit technological or complies with the law of conservation of energy..."
Before Tony finished speaking, his words were crudely stuck in his throat.
Only to see Arthur not even looking at Tony, he just casually extended his right index finger, pointing far away at that precise, expensive titanium alloy Mark II armor representing the cutting-edge crystal of human industry at the present stage.
Arthur activated the transformation power of the Monkey Talisman:
"Turtle."
Accompanied by his words falling, a tiny, almost imperceptible light blue magic ray shot out from his fingertips instantly, hitting precisely on the surface of the empty armor.
The next instant, a picture violating all common sense of physics, materials science, and biology occurred.
That silver armor, which was originally cold, angular, and about two meters tall, after the metallic luster on its surface twisted weirdly, began to shrink and collapse crazily and rapidly.
The hydraulic rods, circuit boards, and miniature reactors on the armor, under an absolutely irresistible magical concept tampering, all underwent material recombination silkily.
With a slight, faint sound of "bang".
A burst of faint white mist dissipated. The crystallization of science and technology that had just stood there completely disappeared. Replaced it was a turtle with a heavy turtle shell, short and thick limbs, lying flat on the cement ground.
Tony Stark was completely dumbfounded. His clever brain fell into a serious crash state at this moment.
His eyes widened wider than copper bells, staring fixedly at the turtle on the ground, feeling that his entire worldview, the materialism he had believed in for a lifetime, and his globally proud engineering cognition, instantly collapsed and shattered at this moment, shattered to the point where not even dregs remained.
This was no longer a matter of technology being crushed; this was his physics dictionary being crudely shoved into a shredder by Arthur!
Arthur looked at Tony, whose expression was completely dull and rigid, and retracted his finger with satisfaction. He walked over leisurely, naturally reached out and patted Tony's stiff shoulder gently, and spoke in an earnest tone that was infuriatingly unrepentant:
"Tony, making a large iron shell to counter me? You'd better spend more time studying how to deal with enemies. This thing... really doesn't work well."
After speaking, Arthur turned around dashingly, put his hands back into his pockets, and walked straight toward the outside of the training ground.
Just as Arthur walked more than ten meters away, the magic effect was lifted, and the soulless turtle on the ground re-expanded and combined in an abrupt light, transforming back into that quietly standing Mark II prototype.
A breeze blew across the abandoned training ground. Everything seemed to have returned to its original state.
Only Tony Stark, standing beside the armor, his brain plunged into extreme confusion and self-doubt—his worldview would never recover.
Chapter 40: Reveal secrets to each other within 50 chapters, don't rush.
The sunlight on the streets of New York was somewhat dazzling, and the aroma of roasted beans drifted from the roadside coffee shop.
Arthur had his hands in his pockets, wandering aimlessly on the sidewalk, his footsteps appearing rather casual, and his whole person exuded an idle and leisurely vibe.
To be honest, he really felt a bit bored right now, and could even be said to be a little unaccustomed to it.
In the past few days, he had been running to Kamar-Tajrain or shine almost every day.
There, he drew circles with Wong and other apprentices, conducted deep sitting meditation with Sorcerer Ancient One, and perceived and regulated the power of the talismans within his body.
Although that kind of life was monotonous, it was very fulfilling.
But just today, Sorcerer Ancient One directly called a halt to his cultivation course.
The bald sorcerer, who was always unfazed, said the original words: "The time is not ripe, continuing to forcibly meditate no longer has any substantive effect, the rest requires him to slowly comprehend it himself."
Although Arthur felt somewhat helpless about this, there was no way to refute it. After all, the other party was the big boss on the magic side. Since it was said he couldn't continue learning, he had no choice but to be forced to "drop out" and go home.
From clocking in for immortality cultivation every day to suddenly becoming completely idle now, this strong sense of contrast made Arthur feel rather uncomfortable all over.
He sat on a street bench for a while, watching the coming and going pedestrians and shuttling taxis. After a turn in his mind, only one thought popped up at the end — go see his girl rehearse.
Following the familiar route, Arthur expertly came to the outside of the rehearsal room of the "Mary Jane" band where Gwen was.
This was a soundproof room located in the Underground Room, and the heavy metal security door was plastered with retro posters of various rock bands, with their edges slightly curling up.
Although the door panel was thick, standing here, one could still faintly feel the vibration of the bass guitar seeping out from the crack of the door.
Arthur put his hand on the cold metal door handle, and instead of pushing the door open swaggeringly, he deliberately lightened his actions.
He used a little strength to gently push the heavy door open into a not-so-wide gap, turned his body sideways, and sneaked in stealthily like a thief.
The light in the rehearsal room was slightly dim, and the main light source was concentrated on the simple wooden stage right in front.
Arthur lightened his footsteps and groped forward along the shadow position by the wall.
Just like the last time he came to visit the class, he silently sneaked to a position in the very corner, casually pulled over a black folding chair, intending to quietly be a loyal audience member hidden in the dark, and fully appreciate how handsome and dazzling his girlfriend looked behind the drum set.
Just as he had just bent over and half his butt had not yet touched the edge of the chair, Mary Jane, who was standing in front of the lead singer's microphone on the stage, suddenly stopped plucking the guitar strings.
With a toss of her red hair under the spotlight, her line of sight swept precisely like a radar toward the figure in the dim corner.
Arthur looked at Mary Jane's straight-gazing eyes and secretly thought things were bad in his heart.
He immediately straightened up, quickly raised his right hand, put his index finger in front of his lips, and desperately tried to gesture a "shh" gesture, attempting to get the other party to keep this secret surprise visit for him confidential.
Who would have known that Mary Jane's mouth reaction speed was several times faster than Arthur's hand actions.
She directly ignored Arthur's wildly hinting gesture, slammed her hands heavily onto the guitar strings to stop the noise, then raised her voice and shouted toward the rehearsal room: "Hey! Gwen! Stop drumming! Look who that is! Your man is here!"
Mary Jane's shout was extremely loud, instantly drowning out the other noises in the rehearsal room.
Following her shouting with a strong teasing meaning, the bassist and keyboardist stopped their actions almost simultaneously.
The rehearsal room, which was originally immersed in the rock rhythm and wrapped in drum sounds, instantly fell into a suddenly descended silence, with only a few lingering echoes of the bass drum vibrations remaining in the air.
Hearing these familiar and explosive words, Gwen, who was sitting behind the drum set and holding the drumsticks tightly in preparation for a heavy blow, suddenly paused her action.
She subconsciously raised her head and looked over in the direction of Mary Jane's finger.
Through the dim boundary line of the rehearsal room, Gwen's sapphire-blue eyes instantly locked onto Arthur, who had just sat down and was currently showing a helpless and pampering smile toward her.
In just the blink of an eye, the brightness in Gwen's eyes was like a torch lit instantly, bright enough to almost overflow.
The corners of her mouth couldn't help but rise. The cool, fierce, and aloof rock girl vibe that had been immersed in the music completely disappeared the second she saw Arthur, just like melted ice cream.
She subconsciously threw the drumsticks in her hand onto the bass drum, stepped on canvas shoes with clatter sounds, and wanted to rush out from behind the drum set to pounce on Arthur.
But as soon as she took two steps, the other teammates beside her let out a wave of meaningful jeers and snickers.
Hearing her teammates' laughter, Gwen's mind instantly flashed back to the social death scene where everyone gathered around and jeered the last time Arthur came to pick her up from work.
Her originally eager footsteps instantly felt like they were glued to the floor with superglue, stopping abruptly in place.
A blush climbed onto the young girl's fair cheeks at a speed visible to the naked eye, and her eyes began to drift unnaturally back and forth between Arthur and the jeering teammates, looking very hesitant.
That insincere and shy tsundere little look was directly displayed without reservation in front of Arthur.
Arthur looked at the ruddy-faced girl a few meters away who wanted to get closer but was too shy, and the smile in the depths of his eyes grew thicker.
He didn't say any urging words, nor did he pay attention to the jeering gazes around, but simply stood up from the chair, strode forward two steps with his long legs, and then very naturally opened his arms toward Gwen, standing steadily in place and posing a warm posture ready to welcome her at any time.
This simple and direct action became the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Gwen stood there, blushing and hesitating for about two or three seconds.
Looking at Arthur's smiling eyes and that solid embrace, the desire in her heart to get close to the other person finally conquered the so-called face and sense of shame.
"Forget it!" Gwen muttered in her heart, completely unable to stand it anymore.
She directly threw the whistling sounds of the surrounding teammates' jeers and the watching-the-fun gazes behind her head, like a bird returning to its nest, exerting force on her toes, suddenly speeding up her steps, and heading straight for Arthur.
Carrying a breeze slightly tinged with sweat and youthful aura, Gwen threw herself into Arthur's embrace without reservation.
Due to inertia, Arthur stepped back half a step to stabilize his figure.
He folded his arms with extreme familiarity, holding tightly onto the slightly slender yet vibrant body in his arms.
Gwen pressed her face tightly against Arthur's solid chest, wrapped her hands tightly around his waist, and took a deep breath, as if she wanted to inhale all of Arthur's reassuring scent into her lungs.
All the tsundere and cool-show-off in front of people just now vanished into thin air in front of this embrace.
Arthur lowered his head, his chin gently resting on top of Gwen's head.
He raised one hand and gently stroked her smooth short pink-gold gradient hair, smoothing down her back along the back of her head bit by bit to comfort her.
"You've been rehearsing for so long, are you tired?" Arthurleaned close to her ear and asked in a soft voice that only the two of them could hear.
Gwen rubbed against Arthur's arms and shook her head with a very small amplitude.
She raised her head slightly, those sparkling blue eyes looking at Arthur's chin, her voice carrying an obvious sense of reliance and satisfaction: "Not tired. I myself really like the profession of being a drummer, this is my way of relaxing. And..."
She paused, her voice becoming a bit softer, carrying a hint of rare tenderness: "And now there is you. As long as I think of you being here watching me, I feel like I have infinite strength and won't feel tired at all."
Even though he clearly knew that this girl was usually very tsundere, hearing this unreservedly deep confession out of nowhere, a warm torrent couldn't help but flow through Arthur's heart.
He didn't offer any verbal response, merely tightening his arm around Gwen's waist a bit more, using an even tighter embrace as the most direct answer.
The two of them hugged tightly like no one else was around, as if everything around them had been blocked out into another dimension.
Just as pink bubbles were flying all over the place here, Mary Jane, standing in the middle of the stage, hugged an electric guitar to her chest and stared fiercely at the two people lingering affectionately in the corner.
She bit her lip, and the look of envy, jealousy, and hatred in her eyes was almost about to condense into substance and shoot out from her eye sockets.
"Hey... look at this sour stench. I really didn't expect that being in love could actually make someone become so naive, just like a completely different person." Mary Janedragged out her tone sourly and let out a long sigh.
Just as that complaint fell, the female keyboardist standing behind her seemed to suddenly remember some gossip, leaned forward, gently poked Mary Jane's shoulder with the back of her hand, and lowered her voice to whisper,
"Hey, don't just talk about others. I've often seen you getting pretty close with that nerd guy named Peter Parkerin our school lately. Could the two of you privately..."
Before the keyboardist could finish her words, Mary Jane, who had just looked like a bystander eating melons, reacted with astonishing magnitude.
She shuddered violently all over, instantly bristling from head to toe like a cranky cat whose tail had been heavily stepped on by someone.
"What are you talking about!"
Mary Jane spun around abruptly, her face turning crimson, and without even thinking, she directly raised her hand and gave a light slap to the gossiping female teammate's head.
Although the gesture was slight, the warning intent was unmistakable.
"What kind of relationship could I possibly have with him! There's no way there's anything!"
Mary Jane explained rapidly like a machine gun, her speaking speed even faster than the rhythm of her usual singing,
"The two of us just happen to go to the same school! We just got to know each other because of some things that happened recently! We just happened to run into each other and got a bit closer at school! What can this explain? It explains nothing!"
After explaining this whole string, Mary Jane seemed to feel it wasn't enough to clear up the relationship. She crossed her arms over her chest, raised her chin high, turned her mouth forcefully to the side, put on an extremely disgusted and haughty look to the extreme, and added with a cold snort,
"Hmph! Even a fool could figure it out, who would ever like a nerd like Parker who only knows how to bury himself in science books every day! How ridiculous!"
That teammate whose spell was interrupted was startled by Mary Jane's series of intense reactions, and aggrievedly raised her hand to rub her patted head.
She originally wanted to retort a few more words, but looking at Mary Jane's expression of "if you dare say one more word I'll fight you to the death", she forcefully swallowed back the words that rushed to her lips, pouted and stood aside not daring to chime in anymore, fearing that she would accidentally provoke another crisp knuckle rap.
In this brief and lively little episode, Gwen, who was shrinking in Arthur's arms acting like an ostrich, finally calmed down her shy emotions a little bit.
She took a deep breath, braced her hands against Arthur's chest, and slowly backed out of his embrace.
Although she left that warm support, she was still reluctant to completely break contact, and her hands naturally clutched at the lapels in front of Arthur's chest.
Gwen raised her head, stood on tiptoes, and with an extremely quick yet very gentle motion when pressing close, imprinted a light kiss on the corner of Arthur's mouth.
"Alright now, be good."
After kissing, Gwen said to Arthur in a tone that sounded like coaxing a child yet was full of sweet affection,
"I still have to go back and continue training, we're preparing for the school anniversary performance right away. Are you planning to just sit here and watch, or go out to take care of your own business?"
Watching Gwen's earnest inquiring appearance, Arthursmiled and released the hand originally resting on her waist, smoothly pulled over the folding chair that had been forgotten just moments ago, and sat down in a bold and unrestrained posture.
He leaned his body back against the chair, crossed one leg extremely relaxed over the knee of the other, crossed his hands in front of his chest, and gave her an unwavering gaze.
"Of course it's to sit here and watch."
Arthur raised his eyebrows, his tone carrying undisguised appreciation,
"I won't leave a single step, I really want to see just how hard-working and cool my girl can be when she's frantically hitting the drums rehearsing backstage."
Hearing Arthur's reply, the smile on Gwen's face became increasingly bright and brilliant.
She nodded vigorously, finally reluctantly letting go of her grip on Arthur's lapels, turned around and quickly ran back to the stage, plopping right back down behind her drum set.
Picking up the big drumsticks she had tossed aside earlier, she skillfully spun them in a nice circle in her hand, and then shouted loudly to her teammates in front,
"Alright everyone, break is over, let's continue training!"
Seeing that the female lead was already in position, Mary Jane, who had just been bristling over the Peter Parkermatter, instantly adjusted her facial expression management.
She nimbly plucked the strings of the electric guitar with her fingers, tested the tuning, then turned her head back and shot a heavily teasing wink at Arthur sitting in the corner and Gwen behind her.
"Oh ho, did you hear that sisters, Gwen's little boyfriend is going to watch right from the side."
Mary Jane leaned closer to the microphone, her voice amplified through the speakers, full of provocative teasing of someone wanting to watch the show without fear of it being too big,
"Someone wants to show off her skills nicely under the gaze of love. We definitely can't hold her back!"
After saying this, Mary Jane also immediately reined in the teasing smile on her face, her expression turning professional.
She took a deep breath, held her guitar securely with both hands, and made all preparations for playing.
"Ready, go!"
Following Mary Jane's order, the bass's low notes, the guitar's chords, and Gwen's first heavy boom as she stepped on the bass drum pedal—the sounds of the instruments suddenly erupted at the same time.
The rehearsal room was instantly refilled with a strong rock rhythm, and the few of them stepped on the precise beats, once again wholeheartedly starting a new round of joint practice.
And Arthur quietly sat in the corner at the edge of the light and shadow, wearing a smile, watching intently at that girl shining brightly amidst the drumming.
[Why can the author's note only post three hundred words, restricting me from performing, right?]
[I see no one reads my book reviews anyway, so I copied and pasted it over]
[Up until now, the results have gradually improved, and more and more people are reading it, but problems have also gradually surfaced. Today I'll also have a heart-to-heart and post some sincere words.]
[I admit there were problems in the first few chapters; back then I didn't think too much, nor did I think it could have any results, writing whatever came to mind just serving myself. If you guys want to leave or scold, feel free, I can take it.]
[Let me also explain a bit here: I have watched the Marvelseries and Jackie Chan Adventures, but I haven't researched the plots and settings. When writing the first four or five chapters, I didn't check any materials at all, so having a pile of problems is normal.]
[I wrote this book in early May, writing four chapters for over half a month, and then stopped updating for over half a month. I never thought it would actually get results (before this book I had seven or eight others, none of them became popular, and I originally thought this one wouldn't either), so I just wrote it blindly, and later I went to work in a factory, so I didn't care about this book anymore.]
[Around mid-June, I remembered I had this book, came back to take a peek, and found out people were actually reading it, so I came back and tried writing for a few days.]
[Then the data got better and better, and more and more people pointed out the problems in the first few chapters (stop scolding, stop scolding, I get scolded every day because of these few problems, my mind is completely numb).]
[Writing onwards, I will try to check more materials, reduce the frequency of problems appearing, and try my best not to have problems.]
[If you read through the problematic chapters all the way to now, also saw this comment, and are willing to continue observing, I thank you very much. If you're unwilling to continue reading, I thank you for having read it. If all else fails, you can scold me a couple of times before leaving; this is what I deserve. Finally, thank you for reading up to here.]