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After exercising for a while and playing games by himself, at 9 PM, Ryan fell asleep on time...
"Oh shit!"
"Damn it, damn it! What's going on? Don't spill!"
In the morning, Ryan woke up to the sound of Peter's exclamation from next door.
Ryan slowly sat up from the bed. Amidst the continuous thumping sounds of Peter "getting into trouble" next door, he unhurriedly got dressed and brushed his teeth before opening the door and turning the knob to Peter's room next door.
Ryan glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand in Peter's room that had been smashed to pieces.
He then looked at Peter in the bathroom, who was trying his best to block the water pipe that was spraying water everywhere after the faucet had been pulled off, and called out:
"Peter..."
Hearing Ryan's voice, Peter turned his head and said incoherently with a flustered expression:
"Oh Ryan, I can explain this. Although I'm not really sure myself, I believe there must be a reasonable explanation. Trust me!"
Hearing this, naturally, there wasn't a hint of surprise on Ryan's face.
After all, he was the one who had secretly brought all this about.
So Ryan raised his wrist, and a strand of white Spider Silk shot out, instantly plugging the pipe that Peter couldn't block no matter what.
This left Peter stunned. Pointing at Ryan's wrist, his voice stuttered slightly: "How... how did you do that? What was that just now?"
Ryan didn't answer Peter's question. Instead, he tilted his head at him and said, "Follow me."
Saying that, Ryan took the lead and walked out of the house.
Seeing this, Peter had no choice but to quickly follow.
The two went downstairs, and Peter followed him into the Underground Gym where usually only Ryan would go.
Ryan turned on the lights in the gym. From the wide array of equipment, he lifted a specially made 1000kg Barbell with one hand and threw it at Peter's feet.
Thud—!
"Peter, lift it up."
Hearing this, Peter pointed at himself in confusion: "Huh? Me... me?"
He had felt it just now; when the barbell landed near his feet, the ground shook violently!
Moreover, looking at the massive weight plates on both sides of this barbell—types he had never seen before—it wasn't hard for him to imagine that this barbell's weight was completely beyond the normal range!
Ryan nodded: "That's right, you, Peter Parker, lift it up."
Having received Ryan's confirmation and realizing he hadn't misheard, Peter looked at the barbell by his feet and couldn't help but swallow, asking: "Then... then how heavy is this thing exactly?"
Ryan answered indifferently: "It's not that heavy, only about 2,200 pounds."
"Oh, so it's only 2... wait, how heavy did you say???"
Peter first breathed a sigh of relief, but then realized he had misheard—it wasn't 200 pounds, but over 2,000 pounds!
That's a ton!
Holy shit, this barbell weighs as much as a dozen of him!
At this moment, Peter suddenly realized that his cousin's strength seemed a bit abnormally high!
One should know that the highest deadlift record in human history is only close to 500kg, yet his cousin easily lifted a barbell that was more than twice as heavy as the record with just one hand!
Is he still fucking human?
Peter suddenly felt a bit of a stranger to his cousin... until... Smack!
A familiar sensation of pain came from his head. Looking at Ryan, who was retracting his two fingers from his head, Peter confirmed that this was indeed his cousin and not some alien impostor!
Ryan patted Peter on the shoulder and said in a steady voice:
"Peter, I know you have many questions in your mind right now, and I will tell you everything you want to know, but the prerequisite is that you lift it up first."
Ryan's voice seemed to have a magical quality, causing Peter's complex emotions to slowly calm down. He then nodded heavily at Ryan.
It wasn't that Peter really wanted to figure everything out that badly, but rather that he trusted his cousin!
From childhood to now, everything his cousin said had a reason behind it.
This time was no exception!
Peter bent over, gripped the bar with both hands, took a deep breath, and gave it a sudden, powerful pull!
Immediately, Peter felt the world spinning!
When his vision cleared again, Peter found himself staring at the ceiling.
Looking down, he realized he had fallen to the ground, and the barbell was still pressing against his chest!
What the fuck? What exactly happened?
That was Peter's first doubt.
Then, looking at the barbell pressing against his chest, Peter subconsciously called out to Ryan for help: "My god! My chest, my chest! Ryan, save me, save me quickly!"
Hearing this, Ryan didn't go to 'save' Peter. Instead, he crossed his arms, and a playful smile appeared at the corners of his mouth:
"Save you? Peter, have you forgotten how it ended up on top of you?"
"Eh?" Peter was stunned for a moment, and then his clever little brain quickly replayed the memory.
At that time, he thought that since this barbell weighed a full 1000kg, it was impossible for him to lift it. So he planned to just do his best to move it a little and consider that a success, so he used all his strength.
And then... Hiss—
Suddenly, Peter gasped.
Because in his memory, he had then easily deadlifted the 1000kg Barbell, and because he had used too much force, he had also caused himself to fall backward along with the barbell!
Him? A person who weighed less than a tenth of this barbell, had actually lifted this massive 1000kg Barbell?
For real?
But when Peter gripped the bar on his chest and tried to lift it up—and actually succeeded—he realized it was all real!
After standing up while holding the barbell and throwing it onto the floor, which caused another loud thud and vibration, Peter finally woke up as if from a dream.
He, Peter Parker, had become a Superhero?
Seeing that Peter had accepted the fact that his strength had increased, Ryan hooked the barbell bar with his toe, gave it a flick, and used clever force to accurately toss the barbell back onto the storage rack. He smiled and said:
"How does it feel, Peter? Doesn't it feel great?"
Peter first looked with surprise at the storage rack behind Ryan, which didn't seem to follow the laws of physics—it hadn't collapsed even after being hit by the 1000kg Barbell. Then he stared at his own hands, an excited smile spreading across his face:
"That's right, it feels great, super great! I feel like my whole body is filled with invincible power, just... just as strong as Superman in DC Comics!"
Hearing this, Ryan couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. He reached out and punched Peter in the chest:
"Give you an inch and you take a mile? With your current small frame, you want to compare yourself to Superman? Forget Superman, compared to me, you're still far off!"
Peter touched his chest, which had felt nothing when hit by a one-ton dumbbell just now, but now clearly felt pain from Ryan's seemingly light punch. He finally calmed down from the surge of power; his brain triumphed over his muscles, and reason reclaimed the high ground.