After Hawk left the old gymnasium, he walked towards the parking lot.
He didn't know what was happening behind him.
However, even if he knew, he wouldn't bother with it.
Although Spider-Man is hailed as the number one IP character in American comics, to be honest, Hawk wasn't familiar with Peter.
Even though he and Peter were in the same grade.
When Hawk, with his shoulder bag, arrived at the parking lot, the door of the last orange school bus was already open.
A bearded driver in a school uniform was bored, leaning on the steering wheel and fiddling with a portable radio.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Hall."
Hawk boarded the bus, greeting politely, "Any special news today?"
Mr. Hall, with his big beard, looked unusually fierce.
But in fact, Mr. Hall wasn't fierce at all.
Quite the opposite.
He was a good person.
"Still the news about the Quantico building collapsing, supposedly a terrorist attack"
Mr. Hall, who was still fiddling with his radio, said, looking at Hawk as he boarded and checking the time on his wristwatch.
"Hawk, you're two minutes later today than yesterday."
Hawk shrugged.
"Sorry, I was delayed by showering today."
"Luckily, I know you take my bus home every day, otherwise I would have driven to the school gate. Sit down, we're leaving now."
"Okay."
Hawk remained polite, carrying his backpack, and walked towards the back.
Mr. Hall had already started the engine and was about to close the door, then head to the school gate to pick up more people.
Just then.
Peter shot out from a distance, practically squeezing onto the bus from outside just as the school bus door was about to close.
Mr. Hall was startled.
"Ho-ly..."
Seemingly realizing that swearing might be impolite, Mr. Hall forcefully bit back the words, then looked at the breathless Peter who had squeezed on, and then at Flash Thompson and his three companions who had also run over outside.
Flash Thompson and his cronies didn't get on the school bus, but stood outside, watching Peter board.
Mr. Hall's gaze swept over Peter on the bus and Flash Thompson outside, then he frowned at Flash Thompson and said, "Hey, are you guys getting on?"
Flash Thompson glanced at Mr. Hall, said nothing, but just turned around and left dejectedly with his three followers.
Bullying a classmate was one thing; bullying in front of school staff was another.
He was a bully, not a stupid bully.
Peter wasn't stupid either, so after Mr. Hall closed the door, he thanked him.
Mr. Hall glanced at Peter, saying nothing.
He knew what was going on, but as long as there was no bullying on his bus, it was fine.
As for other places?
He was just a school bus driver; he couldn't and wasn't supposed to manage that.
Peter didn't say anything more either, but turned around, preparing to find a seat, and then saw Hawk sitting at the very back by the window.
He thought for a moment, then walked over.
"Thank you."
"..."
Hawk, who had been staring blankly out the window, thinking that midnight was also the next day, snapped back to reality.
He looked at Peter standing in front of him, expressionless: "I didn't help you with anything, you don't need to thank me."
After saying that, he turned his gaze back to the window, no longer paying attention to Peter.
He didn't know if the current Peter had mutated yet.
Most likely, he hadn't yet become the "spider demon" from his memories.
However...
Even if Peter mutated, he didn't want to deal with Peter.
To be precise, he didn't want to deal with any superheroes.
Superheroes sounded good, but in reality, they were closely linked to all kinds of disasters.
Before he got his "cheat" (system), he had no desire to eagerly interact with these superheroes.
He just wanted to live a long life; having been reborn, he at least wanted to die a natural death in old age.
If possible, study hard, improve every day, and strive to live a more carefree life.
Now that his "cheat" was online, Hawk's original intention hadn't changed.
It's just that...
From initially wanting to live a more carefree life, it had changed to, if possible, living longer and living even more carefree.
But regardless of which, the prerequisite for achieving this goal remained the same.
In a word.
Don't get involved in the superheroes' messes.
So, even after he enrolled and learned about Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, he had no intention of proactively getting to know them.
But Gwen was different.
There was no way around it.
Gwen was their eleventh-grade student assistant, but falling in love with Gwen Stacy, the universally acknowledged number one girlfriend in American comics?
Hawk had no such thoughts, at least not right now.
He wasn't yet qualified to talk about love.
Peter looked at Hawk, who had turned his head back to look at the scenery after saying that.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but after a moment's thought, he chose to keep quiet, turned around, and sat down in the seat on the right.
Soon.
The school bus drove to the school gate.
As Mr. Hall opened the door, the students waiting outside for the last free school bus also boarded one after another.
The previously quiet environment inside the bus quickly became chattering.
An hour later.
Jackson Heights arrived.
Mr. Hall, opening the door, smiled and bade farewell to Hawk, who was already standing at the bus entrance.
"See you tomorrow, Hawk."
"See you tomorrow, Mr. Hall."
Hawk also politely said goodbye.
After getting off the school bus, he walked towards an old five-story apartment building with a mottled orange exterior wall not far away.
The ownership of this old apartment building belonged to the New York City Housing Authority.
Hawk's apartment was on the fifth floor.
Although not large, it had one advantage: he could easily access the building's rooftop via the fire escape outside his window.
Soon.
Back home, Hawk placed his backpack on the table, then took out the plastic bag with his washed clothes from the backpack.
He found two hangers, opened the window, and followed the outside fire escape to the apartment rooftop.
After Hawk had hung his clothes to dry on the rooftop, he walked to the railing of the rooftop, rested his hands on it, and looked up at the planes occasionally flying overhead, preparing to land at LaGuardia Airport not far away, or taking off from LaGuardia Airport.
He counted planes while enjoying the breeze.
This was one of his few hobbies for relaxation.
But recently, he had added a new hobby.
Stargazing!
Night fell.
Hawk sat on the ground, leaning against the apartment's ventilation shaft behind him, enjoying the summer evening breeze while looking up at the starry sky that appeared after nightfall.
The starry sky was vast.
Stars dotted everywhere.
Perhaps it was an illusion.
Starting about half a year ago, Hawk always felt a connection with the vast starry sky as he continuously insisted on punching ten thousand times a day.
Today, this feeling was even stronger.
The constellations that were still somewhat blurry when viewed with the naked eye last night had become exceptionally clear today.
Pegasus!
Draco!
Cygnus!
Andromeda!
Phoenix!
...
Lacerta!
...
The forty-eight constellations symbolizing the forty-eight Bronze Saints were, at this moment, in Hawk's eyes.
It seemed.
Tonight.
The entire universe would twinkle for him!!
...
(End of this chapter)
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