Chapter 316: What Kind of People Do You Think Our Parents Were?
It was chemistry lab class. Peter had long since finished the tasks assigned by the teacher and was occupied with adjusting the viscosity of his webbing.
"Silas, did you know? Last night, the Green Goblin asked me about the previous Goblin. Then, he actually said the previous one was his father." Peter still found it somewhat hard to believe. Although he had tried to guess the connection between the two, the idea of them being father and son had never crossed his mind.
"Who knows if that Goblin was telling the truth or not," Silas said while tinkering with his own chemistry experiment. Like Peter, Silas had finished the teacher's assignment and was using the leftover materials to calibrate interesting little gadgets.
"It should be true. After all, his emotions were incredibly intense at the time." Peter used tweezers to pick up a strand of webbing, but it snapped instantly.
"Then it's true, I guess." Silas wasn't particularly interested in that topic; his current focus was entirely on his Shadow Generals.
Peter knew Silas found it dull, but he needed someone to talk to. As for Ned? Better not. Peter didn't plan on telling Ned about such things. Who knew if a chatterbox like him could keep a secret? Ever since Ned claimed he knew Spider-Man, Peter had stopped sharing his combat experiences with him.
"By the way, do you miss our parents? Silas." Peter asked out of the blue.
Silas immediately stopped what he was doing and turned back to Peter with a look of surprise. "Why are you suddenly asking about that?"
"I was talking about parents with Harry this morning. His father is dead, and it made me think of them." By "them," Peter naturally meant Richard and Mary Parker.
"Thinking of them, huh..." Silas set down his materials.
Because Silas was a reincarnator, his memories of Richard and Mary were naturally clearer than Peter's. As the parents of his second life, they had been very good to him; they truly were good parents. However, to Norman Osborn, they were two despicable thieves. They had taken the results of their shared research and left Norman with no trace of it, as if everything had been erased.
The reason Richard and Mary gave was that the experiments were too dangerous, yet they turned around and performed the experiments on themselves. Relying on the Parker family genome, they developed the revolutionary gene engineering project, but before they could test it, they met their "accident" and died.
Peter was only about four years old then, and Silas was only three. They could do nothing; Silas hadn't even unlocked his system yet. However, Silas had still managed to find a few clues through his own means—Richard and Mary seemed to have another layer of identity.
This made Silas realize they weren't as simple as he had imagined. In comic settings, Richard and Mary were surface-level members of Red Skull's organization but were actually undercover agents for the U.S. government. Yet here, they were also entangled with Norman, blending a deeper "Amazing Spider-Man" background.
"Are you thinking of them too, Silas?" Peter assumed Silas was missing them as well.
Silas nodded. "We're adults now. It's time we could go and ask Uncle Ben."
He remembered that Richard had left a briefcase behind, which Ben Parker had hidden. As for where it was, Silas didn't know, nor had he bothered to send the Shadow Ninja Corps to find it yet.
"Ask Uncle Ben?" Peter thought it was a great idea. He recalled that during a previous outing, Uncle Ben mentioned having things belonging to their parents, but it seemed like Uncle Ben had forgotten.
With his mind no longer on his work, Peter accidentally added the wrong ingredient. The materials mixed together and triggered an immediate chemical reaction.
Bang!
The apparatus exploded instantly, spewing out white gas. More importantly, the sudden noise startled everyone. Various instruments were knocked over, causing a chain reaction of chemical spills. In a matter of seconds, the entire lab was a chaotic mess.
"Peter!" the chemistry teacher bellowed at the top of his lungs.
After School
"It's all your fault, Peter. Now we all have to stay behind to clean up," Felicia Hardy grumbled with a pout.
Besides her, there were Gwen, Silas, and Ned—six people in total, as they were all in the same lab group. Because Peter had made such a mess, their group's class performance points were deducted, and they were forced to stay late to clean.
"Sorry! So sorry!" Peter apologized profusely to the group. He felt terrible; if it wasn't for him, no one would be stuck here. Especially when he thought of Gwen, Peter felt even more nervous. Their relationship had just started to warm up, and then this happened.
"It's okay, Peter. We can just look at it as a bit of exercise," Gwen said, being much more understanding than Felicia.
"Exactly, Peter. Look at how fat I've gotten; I need the extra workout," Ned laughed, patting his stomach. He was standing by his best friend this time, especially since he felt he owed Peter a huge favor.
"Hmph. Don't look at me, I don't mind," Felicia said, standing next to Silas and shrugging. Although cleaning a messy lab was a hassle, it was a good chance to chat with Silas.
Silas was different from the others. He wished everyone would just leave so he could summon the Shadow Ninjas to finish the job and head home himself. But every time he suggested they leave, the group would say: "We're a team!"
Fine then, Silas thought, feeling like crying but having no tears. I don't want this team; I just want the Shadow Ninja Corps.
Seeing that no one else was complaining, Felicia eventually calmed down, admitting she was just venting. By the time they finished cleaning the lab, it was already past 5:00 PM. The dusk light bathed the school, casting long shadows across the hallways and over their faces.
"I definitely lost a few pounds today," Ned said cheerfully, patting his belly.
"This little bit of movement is nothing. If you really want to lose weight, you need to exercise actively," Felicia said. As his girlfriend, she really hoped Ned could slim down.
Gwen walked beside Peter. Both were a bit unsure of what to say, so they just walked silently down the hallway.
"Look at them. Do you think they're dating?" Felicia whispered, nudging Silas with her elbow.
Silas glanced up at Peter. "What do you think?"
"I think they definitely should be," Felicia smiled.
"You have experience?" Silas asked, turning to her.
"No, but I have a woman's intuition," Felicia said, tapping her temple.
Silas muttered, "What's intuition worth? You'd be better off listening to my experience."
"Oh? Then I'll have to listen very carefully," Felicia said, becoming intrigued.
"I'm too lazy to explain." Silas felt talking about romance was too much trouble.
"Hmph!" Felicia crossed her arms and sped up to walk beside Gwen, grabbing her arm. "Gwen, let's walk faster, we still need to go work out."
"Uh... okay." Gwen cast a hasty glance back at Peter before being pulled away by Felicia.
Peter watched Gwen's retreating back and then turned to look silently at Silas.
"..." Silas.
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