"It's just that the stability of the chemical bonds is hard to control. I've tried a few times and failed, and I even almost blew up Aunt Mei's oven."
Alice looked at this boy, who hadn't even been bitten by a mutated spider yet but was already using his genius brain to research a prototype for spider silk, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
The poor rely on mutation; the rich rely on technology.
And Peter Parker, this guy had both, yet he was still very poor.
"Maybe you could try adding a little salicylic acid as a stabilizer?" Alice suggested casually. "I read a paper on biopolymer materials that seemed to mention it."
Peter froze for a moment, then rapidly calculated in his mind and slapped his thigh. "Salicylic acid! It seems it really can neutralize the acidic byproducts in the reaction. How did I not think of that? Alice, you are a genius."
"I just happened to read it." Alice calmly took a bite of the chicken nugget.
"By the way, are you going to the visit to the Osborn Group next week?" Peter, still excited, had completely opened up. "I heard the spots are limited. Although the school handed out forms, we still have to enter a lottery."
"I should go. I'm very interested in Mr. Osborn's collection." Alice swallowed the unpalatable food.
The two spent their lunch time with Peter's one-sided scientific explanations.
For Alice, this was a rare moment of relaxation.
No monsters, no bills, just a chatty but kind-hearted future hero.
...
2:45 PM.
As the bell rang for the final class, Midtown High School instantly turned into a sea of joy.
No evening self-study, no mountains of test papers.
Students either rushed to the playground for club activities, drove their used cars to part-time jobs to earn pocket money, or, more commonly, gathered in small groups to discuss the party that evening.
This was the norm for U.S. high schools, free to the point of being a bit unsettling.
Alice declined Peter's invitation to go to the library to do homework and walked out of the school gate alone with her backpack.
She walked into the Queens Public Library across from the school.
Ordinary street thugs didn't have much money on them; it was a drop in the bucket.
To get more funds, she needed to find the veins of this city.
The underground networks where large amounts of black money flowed.
Drug dens? Underground casinos? Or smuggling warehouses?
These places had plenty of cash flow, and there was no psychological burden in robbing thieves.
The problem was, where could she find these places?
She wasn't Daredevil; she didn't have that super hearing that could hear the whole city.
Nor was she a high-level Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. with a global intelligence network.
She was just a high school student who had been in Queens for less than a week.
Alice found a free computer in the public reading area of the library and opened Google Maps and a few local news websites.
She typed a few keywords into the search bar.
Queens crime hotspot map, New York high-theft areas for cars, forgotten neighborhoods...
A large number of news reports and forum complaints popped up on the screen.
One place name appeared repeatedly, accompanied by a large number of citizen complaints and Police reports.
Willets Point.
It was known as the Iron Triangle of New York and was also a famous city of ruins.
It was located in the shadow of Citi Field, just one road away from the shiny, glamorous stadium, yet it felt like two different Worlds.
This was the largest auto repair and dismantling center in New York and the final destination for countless stolen vehicles.
[New York Times: The Iron Triangle in the Shadows, the Largest Illegal Auto Repair Hub in Queens.]
[Daily News: Police Raid Willets Point, Seize Three Dismantled Ferraris.]
[Forum Post: Never park your car near Citi Field overnight, unless you want to redeem your tires from the scrap heap in Willets Point.]
The corners of Alice's mouth curled up slightly.
"Although I don't know which specific shop is the fence, as long as I find where the rats are densest, I can always find the granary."
This place was practically tailor-made for robbing thieves.
Alice closed the web pages, cleared her browsing history, and left the library.
At 4:00 PM, Alice took the dilapidated Q48 bus and got off at the Citi Field station.
As soon as she crossed the road, she could smell that distinct, clear-cut scent.
------------------------
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