New York University. A university named after New York City naturally signifies its prestige. It is a world-class private research university, comprising 18 schools and institutes. Established in 1831, it now boasts a history of over a hundred years.
As a young entrepreneur who owns "Zhang Lan Literature Network," America's premier literary website, and has "self-written" "Game of Thrones," "2 Broke Girls," and "Heroes," which has already been adapted into a hit TV series across the United States.
With these achievements, coupled with Zhang Lan's outstanding college entrance exam scores, virtually every reputable American university had called his legal guardian, Uncle Ben, to recruit him.
The reason Zhang Lan chose New York University was, first, its proximity to home, and second, the main reason, was that Harry Osborn and Peter Parker had been accepted into NYU's biology department.
Initially, Zhang Lan hadn't realized the unique nature of the family that adopted him. It wasn't until little Peter, the young Spider-Man, was sent to live with Uncle and Aunt Ben by his parents that Zhang Lan understood: the future Spider-Man seemed to have become his younger brother?
Peter Parker was three months younger than Zhang Lan.
Zhang Lan observed the Spider-Man of his current timeline for a long time, eventually determining it was "The Amazing Spider-Man."
Naturally, as Zhang Lan went to and from school with Peter, he intentionally got to know Harry Osborn, the future first Green Goblin.
Subsequently, Zhang Lan subtly influenced Harry. Now, Harry is no longer as weak as he was in the movie. After his father fell ill, he is now one of the helmsmen of Oscorp.
Even though he's only a 17-year-old kid.
"Damn it, why didn't I get a Shadow Clone Jutsu back then? The Clone Jutsu can't even compare, sigh."
Zhang Lan, in the library at New York University, bit his pencil, looking very troubled. University courses were too difficult. After all, he had only copied finished products from his original world before; starting to learn a new field from scratch was a bit challenging.
"Hey, Lan." A boy poked his head out from behind Zhang Lan, glancing at Lan's textbook: "Wow, already pre-studying? As expected of the academic ace among our three musketeers. Where did you intern during the break? Oscorp?"
"Peter, can you tidy up your 'bird's nest'? Also, any progress with Gwen recently?" Zhang Lan teased.
The boy in front of him was indeed Peter Parker, the future Spider-Man, and now Zhang Lan's good friend.
As the wheels of the world turned, Gwen also happened to be at New York University.
Mentioning Gwen made the future superhero, Spider-Man, incredibly shy. He let out a few awkward dry laughs but didn't answer.
"What? You still haven't confessed? Or are you planning to give her up to Harry?" Zhang Lan said in a very disbelieving tone, but because they were in a library, his voice was very low, causing it to sound a bit off-key and particularly teasing.
"No!" Peter reacted strongly, even forgetting he was in a library: "I won't let Gwen leave me!"
"Ahem." A clear cough came from the table opposite Zhang Lan: "This is a library, quiet down."
The speaker was a white girl, her blonde bangs partially obscuring her large eyes. She was now glaring at Peter, who had just raised his voice, her small face also slightly red.
And Peter was remarkably obedient, sitting up straight and looking down at his book.
"Hahaha," a devilish laugh came from Zhang Lan beside him.
"Lan, you knew Gwen was opposite us all along, didn't you?" Peter said in a resentful tone.
"Gwen." Zhang Lan didn't answer Peter, but instead spoke to Gwen across the table: "Peter said he has two premiere tickets for the upcoming movie 'Superman.' He asked if you'd like to go see it with him? Unfortunately, I'll be very busy that day and probably won't be free."
Zhang Lan's words made Peter's nerves tense up. He pricked up his ears, wanting to hear Gwen's reply.
"Peter? Is that true?" Gwen's voice was filled with surprise: "Is it 'Superman,' the one Zhang Lan wrote on 'Zhang Lan Literature Network'?"
The person in front of Peter and Gwen was, of course, the real Lan Parker. Hearing Gwen admire himself made him very happy.
"Ah, ah, of course, um, yes, it is that one. Gwen, are you free to come?" Peter had to look up at the sound, responding to Gwen flusteredly, too nervous to even look her in the eye.
"Wow, that's great! I definitely won't miss it. I've been asking around for ages and couldn't get premiere tickets. How did you get them? That's really amazing!" Gwen leaned closer, excitedly whispering.
"Ah, yes, they're hard to get, um, tickets? Ah, yes, I got them, don't worry." Peter's heart tightened. Where would he get them? But he still agreed verbally.
"Okay, it's settled then." Gwen happily picked up her book and walked out of the library: "Lan, I'm leaving now! And Peter, your book is upside down!"
The last sentence made Peter fumble to turn his book right side up.
"Lan, where would I get premiere tickets? How am I going to explain this to Gwen later?" Peter chuckled foolishly for a few moments before realizing, where would he get tickets?
"Don't worry, have you forgotten who owns 'Zhang Lan Literature Network'?" Zhang Lan comforted Peter: "Let's head back to the dorm. Harry's treating us to lunch."
"Alright, I'll leave it to you then." Peter relaxed.
The future Spider-Man seems a bit adorably clumsy.
After Peter finished speaking, he picked up his camera and, upon stepping out, saw Gwen sitting at a long school table, reading. This prompted Peter to raise his camera and take a few shots.
"Eat it, eat it, eat it."
On the other side, a group of students gathered, making a commotion. Peter couldn't help but walk over. Seeing this, Zhang Lan also quickly followed. Peter was his younger brother now, and he couldn't let Eugene Flash Thompson bully him.
The beginning of The Amazing Spider-Man was also starting. Tomorrow was the day Reed went into space, and the Fantastic Four were about to begin. As for the future Iron Man, Tony, he was at home researching his armor. With the data Zhang Lan provided, the progress felt like it would be much faster.
Why did it feel like a lively party was about to start?
Today was the day agreed upon with Reed to "go to space." Zhang Lan arrived at the space launch agency early and was currently changing into the Fantastic Four's uniform from the movie, a synthetic fiber material.
In mathematics, there are variables and constants. Simply put, variables refer to factors that can change, while constants naturally refer to unchangeable factors.
Zhang Lan wasn't sure if the Fantastic Four's origin in the movie was solely due to the cosmic storm or if there were other inducing factors. What Zhang Lan could do was to restore the constants as much as possible, such as Victor's space shield, and now, the synthetic fiber suits.
As for variables, the number of people going up could still be changed, after all, there was plenty of energy.
"Sorry, Lan." Reed greeted Zhang Lan: "Because I don't have ownership or patent rights for this project, I can't give you the project data."
Tony had convinced Reed by claiming Zhang Lan needed university project experience, coupled with a large amount of high-end Stark equipment.
For the honest Reed, taking so many things from someone, even more than Victor's 25.5 million dollars, and only being able to accompany them on a space flight, made him feel very uneasy.
"Reed, you don't need to worry about these things. You've already given me everything I wanted, haven't you?" Zhang Lan indicated that he didn't care.
He genuinely didn't care. After this energy storm, Victor's company would go bankrupt anyway. Where would the profits come from? Zhang Lan was already prepared to claim the biggest profit.
Reed evidently thought Zhang Lan was comforting him and was about to say something more, but he was interrupted by a farce.
"Captain's here!" a booming voice announced.
Ben, who was organizing his luggage, heard it and instinctively turned and stood at attention. His expression was serious, his attitude extremely earnest. However, what greeted him was the flash of a camera.
The person taking the photo was a young man wearing a tight suit identical to Zhang Lan's.
"Digital camera: $264"
"Memory stick: $59"
"The disgruntled expression of a former tough-guy commander, now reduced to a subordinate: Priceless."
Such a frivolous opening line, of course, came from the future Human Torch — Johnny.
Ben walked towards Johnny with an angry face, suddenly reaching out his hand to Johnny, startling Johnny into instinctively flinching his head. However, the anticipated attack didn't come. Instead, Ben zipped up Johnny's collar.
"Heh heh, thanks, you're so kind." Johnny looked up, cooperating, his tone quite smug.
"I can handle this spaceship. I can also handle this ambitious punk." Ben said very seriously, turning to walk towards the wardrobe: "But I don't know if I should be flying or doing a swan dance in this outfit?"
As he spoke, Ben took out the synthetic fiber bodysuit from the wardrobe. Indeed, it was a tight suit like Captain America's. If it weren't for the fact that he could undergo the energy storm's transformation in space, Zhang Lan wouldn't wear it.
"I mean, who the hell designed this? I..." Ben continued to complain.
"It was Victor." Outside the changing room, a beautiful woman interjected. She was wearing a tight suit, her collar unzipped, revealing a deep cleavage. Coupled with her beautiful face and graceful figure, she was simply the embodiment of a sex goddess.
"This synthetic fiber is like a second skin, adaptable to the body's different needs." The goddess said as she walked towards everyone, her gaze always falling on Reed, intentionally or unintentionally.
This alluring enchantress was, of course, the future Invisible Woman — Sue.
Reed also involuntarily walked towards Sue, exclaiming in admiration.
"Wow, fantastic!"
Sue's smile widened at his words, and her gaze towards Reed was filled with appreciation. Who knew Reed would then continue—
"A material made of self-regulating unstable molecules. I've been researching this."
Apparently, the previous sentence wasn't a compliment to Sue, which made Sue retract her brilliant smile and exchange a silent glance with Ben.
"This scientifically brilliant but emotionally inept genius." This was the shared thought of everyone present.
"Um, hello, Zhang Lan?" Sue shifted the topic to Zhang Lan, elegantly extending her left hand: "I'm Sue, the head of the gene research department for the investing company."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sue." Zhang Lan also shook hands with the goddess from his previous life with a slight excitement: "Reed often talks about you, beautiful lady, but he himself doesn't seem to realize what he possesses."
As he spoke, Zhang Lan glanced at Reed, who was still studying the synthetic fiber, a hint of an ambiguous smile playing on his lips. He wondered why the sexy goddess would like this silly boy. Is it true that fools have good fortune?
"Thank you." These words clearly resonated with Sue, and her favorable impression of Zhang Lan increased significantly.
After exchanging greetings, Sue handed one astronaut suit to Ben, and the other she directly tossed into Reed's arms as she passed him. His bewildered expression made Zhang Lan, who was watching from the side, burst into laughter.
After the farce, it was time to board the ship. With current technology, manned space travel was highly developed, and there was no danger, so the process was very simple. However, Zhang Lan didn't expect that seeing the full view of Earth for the first time would make him a little airsick.
Moreover, this was his first time on a rocket, and Zhang Lan stated that he was feeling a bit unaccustomed to space.
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Please don't cast recommendation votes for this book anymore. My new book, "Naruto: Playing a Fake Main God," has been released. I'm asking all my dear readers for your collection and recommendation vote support!
A quick note: This book was originally planned to end at 1 million words to start a new one, but because the outline is really too long, it's already at 800,000 words. If I were to finish it with the remaining 200,000 words, it would be a bit rushed, so I'm specially holding an event.
The event is simple: a daily base of 80 recommendation votes, or 10 monthly tickets, or a reward of 5000 Qidian coins or more.
Each time any of these thresholds are exceeded, one chapter will be added, and the upper limit of the final word count will increase by 10,000.
For example: If, in one day, Xiao Lan receives 160 recommendation votes, 20 monthly tickets, and a 10,000 Qidian coin reward, then 6 chapters will be added, and the final word count limit will increase by 60,000, reaching 1.06 million words.
To show my sincerity, Xiao Lan will deliver five chapters tomorrow.
The final word count for this book is entirely up to you all!