Restart, Spider-Man! [173] [X-MAS]

Merry Christmas!

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"Dr. Zola's consciousness has vanished, and Hydra's servers are now completely undefended. It's your move, Tony." Xia Luo entered Tony's lab.

"Understood."

Tony inserted a fossilized dragon bone into JARVIS's server. The supercomputer hummed to life.

"Sir, I've gathered every piece of data on Hydra's members and transmitted it to military bases worldwide," JARVIS reported.

Tony nodded. "Perfect."

He turned to Xia Luo. "From what I hear, your goal was to help Hydra conquer the world. By doing this, you're not only dooming Hydra's plans but sabotaging yourselves as well. The artificial sun project succeeded, which means limitless energy. They may not trust me, but for endless power, they'll wipe out any suspicious figures without hesitation."

Xia Luo shrugged. "Who said we joined Hydra? It was Ruth who joined the Spider-Man team."

He grinned. "We're just undercover agents."

From the moment Dr. Zola appeared at Kingpin's villa, Xia Luo knew they were under constant surveillance.

But some details still puzzled him.

"Spider-Man's information within Steve's computer... it was erased by Dr. Zola," JARVIS stated.

"Dr. Zola?" Xia Luo frowned. "Why would he do that?"

"Because of Richard and Mary Parker—Spider-Man's parents," JARVIS explained. "Based on leftover data, it seems the Parkers struck a deal with Dr. Zola. However, I can't uncover the specifics unless we retrieve Dr. Zola's consciousness; much of that information is stored there."

Xia Luo had no plans to venture into Crocodile Loki's mind to dig up the truth. The outcome was favorable; the journey didn't matter.

Soon, under JARVIS's monitoring, military bases across the globe launched operations to purge embedded Hydra agents, leading to Hydra's total defeat.

Without lifting a finger, Xia Luo had brought Hydra to its knees.

Watching the carnage unfold on the virtual screen, Xia Luo shut it off.

"Hydra's reach is vast, but it pales in comparison to official forces."

Tony nodded. "True. If they hadn't lusted after the limitless energy of the artificial sun and had stuck to their original strategy, no one could've stopped them."

"Greed is the original sin."

Xia Luo rose and said to Tony, "Apologies—I may have to keep a lot from you next time. But I'm guessing you won't mind."

"Next time?"

"See ya~"

---

With the mission accomplished, Xia Luo prepared to enter the revival rounds.

After forty-one rounds, he finally called it a day.

Restarting forty times had granted him an added strength of forty tons.

Not only that, but in the later revival rounds, though the story barely changed, he opted to conceal his identity from Tony, Dr. Otto, Uncle Ben, Aunt May, and others. It was better for everyone.

The Cosmic Web.

[Congratulations! You have won this revival round!]

[Reward: Resurrection Slot x1.]

[Bonus 1: Friendship with Spider-Man.]

[Bonus 2: Spider-Man-exclusive magic: Doppelgänger Technique.]

[Bonus 3: Spider Totem Power +1.]

[Remaining restarts: 4 (rolls over to next revival round)]

Friendship with Spider-Man: Summon any Spider-Man, disregarding distance. The summoned Spider-Man remains for one hour. Cooldown: 24 hours.

Doppelgänger Technique: This magic creates tangible clones with 100% of the user's strength. Clone duration and count depend on the number of Spider Totems.

Current Spider Totems owned: 7.

Clone duration: 7 seconds.

Clone count: 7.

"Seven clones for only seven seconds?" Xia Luo considered it. Actually, it wasn't bad.

Seven seconds was more than enough to get things done.

---

Main World.

Forty days had passed since the artificial sun experiments launched worldwide.

Late at night.

In her room, Gwen tossed and turned in her sleep, her face tense, sweat gradually gathering on her forehead.

"N-no... don't..."

She murmured faintly, her brows furrowing tighter until she woke with a start.

"No!!"

She gasped, confused, fragments of strange images flashing through her mind.

Mysterio, Spider-Man, and...

Taking a deep breath, she got out of bed and went to wash up. Staring into the mirror, her thoughts drifted back to that day.

She had been kidnapped by a bizarre figure, only for Spider-Man to risk everything to save her.

After the success of the artificial sun experiment, violent conflicts erupted across the globe, fully exposing an organization called Hydra.

Thankfully, this evil group was quickly wiped out.

She knew that it was Spider-Man who had saved the world.

She hadn't seen it firsthand, but she'd heard about it.

After Spider-Man had rescued her, he had taken her to a strange villa.

There, she met Harry Osborn and, shockingly, his father Norman Osborn, who should have been dead.

The reunion between father and son was private, and Gwen decided not to disturb them.

She found no one else in the villa—Spider-Man must have left again.

Wandering through the garden, she wondered if she'd ever see him again.

She couldn't forget that single embrace.

She could still feel Spider-Man's warmth... and his heartbeat.

Finally, she did meet him again.

But not in the way she'd imagined.

"Damn bug, I'll kill you!!"

Sparks flew as a battered Spider-Man was knocked down into the garden.

"Spider-Man?"

Looking at the damaged suit, Gwen's gaze turned curious.

It wasn't the usual metal suit—was this some kind of spider mutation?

"Gwen?"

Spider-Man also recognized her and was clearly thrilled.

But Electro wasn't about to let him go and kept up his attack.

"No, I don't even know you! Stop it!" Gwen called out.

In the chase, Spider-Man couldn't compete; he was thrown back repeatedly.

But with the arrival of a more terrifying black-suited Spider-Man, the "misunderstanding" was quickly resolved.

Cackling.

A wave of black webbing shot across the garden as a monstrous maw devoured both Spider-Man and Electro.

Urp~

Venom Parker burped, then fixed his eerie, pale eyes on Gwen, his menacing expression suddenly freezing.

"Gwen..."

Sensing Peter Parker's internal turmoil, Venom fell silent.

The black substance separated, and for a brief moment, Peter Parker's eyes brightened with hope as he looked at Gwen.

The emptiness in his gaze softened, and he tried to reach out to embrace her, but Gwen backed away cautiously.

"What... what are you?"

"I... I'm Peter Parker, the former Spider-Man," Peter replied, shame clouding his face.

"Spider-Man?"

Gwen frowned. "No, you're not Spider-Man."

"I…"

Peter Parker was left speechless.

He didn't know how to explain, or if he even could.

The black substance twisted into a demonic face beside him, whispering to Peter Parker.

"Peter, let's go. She's not your Gwen."

"But…"

Peter clutched his head, red veins spreading in his eyes.

He seemed trapped in painful memories.

"There's a Spider-Man in this world too. Gwen will die—she's going to die."

"No, she won't. Trust me."

"What do you plan to do?"

Peter pleaded, "Don't do this. She'll lose herself."

"Peter, don't you understand yet?"

Venom's eyes glinted, "Gwen will gain the power to protect herself. She will become a hero."

With those words, everything went black for Gwen.

The memories ended abruptly.

Gwen looked at herself in the mirror, her mind racing. With a thought, black tendrils surged over her body, morphing into a spider suit—white above, black below.

As she donned the mask, unfamiliar memories started filling her mind.

A cave, Tony, Lizard Parker, Green Goblin, Cindy, and Spider-Man!

Xia Luo Parker!

The image froze on Xia Luo's face, suited up in nanotech armor, and Gwen jolted back to the present.

"Xia Luo... is it really you?"

She murmured, glancing out the window at the night sky before leaping outside.

Swish!

Her webs shot out, propelling her between the towering buildings of the city.

Since the artificial sun experiment's success, the world had changed dramatically.

Endless energy had spurred a breakthrough in technology, and high-tech products began appearing everywhere.

Buildings soared higher.

Cars had evolved into small flying vehicles.

Suspended trains, ion highways, artificial moons, smart robots, custom biospheres—

All the stuff of sci-fi movies had become reality.

The news reported on these changes daily.

Spider-Man was fading into memory.

Only J. Jonah Jameson's Daily Bugle still remembered him.

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I, WiseTL, in my infinite grace and generosity, have bestowed upon you an extra 2 chapters as my holiday gift. 🎁 Consider it a glimpse of my benevolence—cherish it well.

May your festivities be as golden as my treasury and as plentiful as my updates. Farewell, mortals, until the next chapter. 😉

Now, bow in gratitude. 🌟