Zhang Lan secretly formed hand seals behind his back, not attacking immediately. The facts were clear: with a combat power of less than a hundred, he clearly couldn't defeat Spider-Man, who had a combat power of 176.
This was just Peter's awakening; if some time passed, his power would definitely increase, and then he would be even less able to defeat him. So, he had to seize this opportunity.
"Peter, do you know why I look so much like the Lan you mentioned?" Zhang Lan suddenly asked.
"Hmm, are you going to tell me?" Peter adopted a posture of eager listening.
Zhang Lan didn't speak, but instead grinned, revealing a mouthful of blood-red teeth, and then vanished from Peter's sight.
Peter had learned Zhang Lan's treachery the hard way, and without thinking, he lunged forward, preparing to dodge Zhang Lan's sneaky "Thousand Years of Death."
After lunging, Peter rolled on the ground, turning his back. Zhang Lan was there, striking a lewd pose, but his movements were clearly too slow and he couldn't catch Peter.
"I'm telling you, you're really too despicable, you... Ow!" Before Peter could finish his sentence, he felt a sharp pain in his backside, his legs weakened, and he tumbled to the ground, clutching his rear.
And right behind where Peter had originally stood, there was another Zhang Lan in the same pose as the one opposite.
Peter didn't understand. The opponent was clearly in front of him, so why did he appear behind him to ambush him?
His danger sense had detected Zhang Lan's target, and it was very strong, but he hadn't seen Zhang Lan's figure disappear, so he hesitated for a moment.
It was that moment of hesitation that prevented him from escaping the torment of Zhang Lan's "Thousand Years of Death."
"Hiss—ah! Hiss, it hurts so much!" Peter painfully clutched his backside.
This physical torment was truly malicious, but the most malicious was the psychological torment!
A boy getting his backside poked by another boy—who wouldn't be traumatized?
Zhang Lan straightened up and gave a sheepish smile. He had originally wanted to run a hand through his hair to ease the awkwardness, but halfway through, he realized what he had just done and quickly put his hand down.
What had just happened wasn't strange when explained. The one Peter saw after he stood up had always been just a shadow clone's illusion, while Zhang Lan was hidden behind a machine behind the clone. His hands behind his back were also deliberately shown to Peter, to make him think Zhang Lan was going to attack him with the "Thousand Years of Death."
Then it was simple: when another lurking clone reached Peter's back, the fallen clone assumed the stance of using "Thousand Years of Death" and then dispelled itself. The main body also simultaneously locked onto Peter with "Thousand Years of Death," creating the illusion that the "Thousand Years of Death" had missed.
Then, before his danger sense dissipated, he used "Thousand Years of Death" again.
It was indeed a guaranteed hit.
All of the above was based on the fact that the Shadow Clone Jutsu was an illusion with no actual damage, so it could go behind Peter without being detected by his danger sense. The transitions between the various skills also had to be precise, and the timing had to be accurate.
Of course, the most important thing was that Peter didn't understand Zhang Lan's abilities, which was the biggest reason.
Looking at Peter still rolling on the ground, Zhang Lan nervously patted his own backside and asked the system if his mission to defeat Spider-Man was complete.
"Beep, Spider-Man currently has no further combat capability. Condition one is complete. Please continue your efforts, Host, to complete condition two."
Upon receiving the system's confirmation, Zhang Lan finally breathed a sigh of relief. Hearing the distant police sirens, he quickly went to help Peter up.
"You—you get away! Hiss, what else do you want to do? Hiss—FUCK!"
Feeling Zhang Lan approach, Peter rolled away in alarm, moving about a meter. Perhaps the rolling motion squeezed his wound, causing him to gasp in pain several times.
"Alright, little spider, I'm Lan, Lan Parker, your brother. The police are coming. Let's go home first."
He reluctantly called out the nickname he had given Peter, a name only Peter, Harry, and Zhang Lan knew.
"You... how do you know that name? Are you really Lan?"
Peter was very surprised. Realizing that Zhang Lan had no ill intentions, he then let Zhang Lan help him up, and they limped away from the scene.
Shortly after the two left, the police sirens grew closer and closer, eventually arriving at the scene. They found no one there except for some traces of a struggle. The police thought they had made another fruitless trip and were about to get back in their car and leave.
However, the police car didn't drive away. Instead, an older police officer got out of the driver's seat. He walked around, observing the area. The younger police officer also reluctantly got out to inspect the scene with him, until—the two stopped at the spot where Zhang Lan had crashed into the wall, looking with some horror at the blurry human face shape Zhang Lan had left in the wall.
Because Aunt May and the Shadow Clone were still in the living room, the two couldn't use the living room and had to climb the wall.
Below Peter's bedroom window, Peter, clutching his backside, insisted that Zhang Lan go up first. He dared not show his back to Zhang Lan.
Zhang Lan shrugged helplessly. With chakra attached to his feet, he defied gravity, stepping up the wall to the window. Peter wasn't so graceful; he climbed up with all fours on the wall. There was no other way; with his injury, he had to choose the safest method.
"Lan, what exactly happened? You... no, were you also bitten by that spider? But you're not like me, you..."
As soon as he sat down, Peter's mouth started firing like a machine gun, a barrage of questions. Fortunately, he kept his voice down so as not to disturb Aunt May downstairs.
"Peter, you're asking too many questions." Zhang Lan interrupted Peter's barrage. "Let me think about how to explain it to you. How about you tell me your story first?"
After all, having been Peter's older brother for nearly ten years, and being a person from two lives, he naturally always held the dominant position.
Peter didn't hold a grudge against Zhang Lan because of the recent fight. He hissed, taking a sharp breath. He definitely didn't hold a grudge.
Then Peter briefly recounted what had happened during his transformation, which was largely identical to Zhang Lan's memory, with some minor details not present in the movie, but not affecting the overall situation.
Zhang Lan had written down all these important plot points in his notebook. Although there was a risk of losing them, it was better than forgetting them.
Seventeen years is a long time; not everyone can remember everything perfectly. After all, the system was already quite unreliable, so it was better to rely more on himself.
"...That's pretty much it, Lan. Now it's your turn to talk." Peter had finished briefly recounting his experience.
"Peter, I have a lot to tell you. I can tell you, but I need to state that Aunt May cannot know about our affairs. I don't want to make her sad again. Otherwise, I'll beat you up like I did today." Zhang Lan first gave a warning.
"That was you cheating!" Peter retorted, his backside aching. "We both know you can't beat me, it's just that your moves... are too underhanded."
"You lack combat experience, that's your weakness. Also, you're not familiar with my abilities, which is why you lost to me," Zhang Lan rationally analyzed for Peter.
"We can talk about that later. I'll take it that you agree to my proposal, so now listen to me."
"You know, I was picked up from a trash can by Uncle Ben. Due to some special reasons, I can remember my identity and know some cultivation methods from our side."
"This is a cultivation system that allows ordinary people to defeat powerful individuals. We call them 'ninjas,' not the Japanese ninjas; don't confuse the two."
"The foundation of a ninja is chakra, a special energy that combines physical and spiritual energy. If chakra is likened to electricity, then the body is the battery. And with special hand seals, special abilities can be released. They have many names: ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, and so on."
Zhang Lan slowly narrated. Peter was one of his only two relatives in this world, and also a supernatural individual. Zhang Lan also needed someone to confide in. He referred to his otherworldly world as a place from his memories, and then attributed the system's issues directly to his brain, saying that under specific conditions, he could recall a skill's hand seal combination from within his body, thereby gaining a new skill.
As for other things, even including his pseudo-"prophecy" ability, he told Peter.
"That bloodied person that day was you? Did you see Uncle Ben in a prophecy and that's why you rushed back?" After listening, Peter also recalled the person who had told him "with great power comes great responsibility" that day.
"The first one was me, using an ability similar to what I used just now, which is taijutsu. The one who appeared later was a Shadow Clone; it's tangible, but it disappears as soon as it takes damage."
"So that's how you turned into six people tonight?" Peter's eyes widened. "Isn't that cheating? I thought your other five were illusions. I couldn't feel their presence."
"No, that's a low-level ninjutsu called Clone Jutsu; it's just an illusion." Zhang Lan denied. "I can only create one Shadow Clone right now."
"Can your Shadow Clone use your abnormal taijutsu?" Peter asked.
"Well, theoretically it shouldn't be able to, but I'm quite special, so it might be possible." Zhang Lan thought seriously for a moment. "You've seen it; my body is quite unique. I can even move if my heart stops."
Hearing Zhang Lan's answer, Peter's face flushed red, and he struggled for a long time before finally managing to squeeze out a sentence.
"You're just a scoundrel! These skills are awesome! Teach me, teach me!"
Zhang Lan didn't immediately answer Peter but instead asked the system: "System, can I teach skills to others?"
"Beep, as long as the learner can produce chakra, they can use the corresponding skills."
"As long as? System, isn't chakra something everyone can learn?"
Zhang Lan had never thought about teaching others chakra, so he was very confused.
"Beep, chakra is a special energy formed by the mixture of body cell energy and soul spiritual energy. A chakra learner must be able to perceive cell energy and soul spiritual energy, and have a certain degree of control to extract and mix them, in order to produce chakra. Ordinary people generally do not possess this ability."
This time, the system spoke at length. After Zhang Lan digested its meaning, he understood.
"System, simply put, only a genius can produce chakra, right?"
"Beep, yes."
"System, don't you think you talk too much nonsense?" Zhang Lan was speechless.
"Beep, this system will strive to serve the host and aim to solve problems from the root."
Zhang Lan listened to that sentence and pondered it carefully—is this system subtly calling me stupid?
"Hey, Lan, what are you spacing out for?" Peter interrupted Zhang Lan's thoughts. "Can you teach me?"
"Yes, but whether you can learn it depends on your ability." Zhang Lan decided to experiment. A Spider-Man who could use ninjutsu, he wondered if that would be different?