Early morning sunlight squeezed through the gap in the curtains, landing squarely on Gaia’s face.
Gaia slowly sat up, rubbed his bleary eyes, and grabbed his phone to check the time.
7:30 AM.
Three hours left until the science exhibition at Oscorp.
“I don’t know why, but I feel totally refreshed right now—like I just blew off some serious steam.”
Gaia stretched his body, climbed out of bed, and got ready to wash up.
Little Gaia stood at the sink, waving at him.
“Morning, pal.”
“Morning.”
After washing up, Gaia headed to the dining room.
Sensible young Peter had already prepared breakfast and was sitting at the table waiting for him.
“Morning, Cousin Gaia.”
“Morning, Little Ben.”
Hearing what Gaia called him, Peter looked deeply dissatisfied.
“Hey, Gaia, can you stop giving me nicknames?
It’s really not cool.”
Gaia paused, glanced at Peter’s middle-part hairstyle for a moment, and nodded in agreement.
“Oh?
Is that so?
Got it.
From now on, I’ll just call you Captain Jia.”
Seeing that Gaia actually listened to his feedback, Peter felt a touch of warmth and almost agreed on instinct.
But he quickly realized something was off.
“Huh?
Oh, okay, that’s much bet—like hell it is!
Who the heck is Captain Jia?”
Gaia and Little Gaia chewed on their meat pies, staring at Peter with wide eyes.
Faced with Gaia’s expression, Peter didn’t dare say much more.
He held his forehead in helpless resignation.
“Fine, fine, I give up!
Hurry up and eat.
We still need to pick up MJ at school first.”
[Mini-Theater: Who would argue with a crazy guy with super strength?
Definitely not me.
Cousin Gaia’s fists hurt like crazy, something I’ve known firsthand since we were kids.
(Young Little Gaia, dressed in a hospital gown, trots over and lands a heavy punch right on little Parker’s head.)]
Gaia and Little Gaia exchanged a look and flashed identical OK gestures at Peter.
When it came to Peter and MJ, Gaia had initially wanted to intervene.
But later, he realized that the MJ in this universe was actually pretty sweet, and since both of them clearly had feelings for each other, Gaia decided to leave them be.
At this point, Gaia couldn’t help but complain: Was Spider-Man some kind of succubus or what?
God knew how shocked he was three years ago when he caught Peter and Mary Jane snogging.
The very first thought that flashed through Gaia’s mind at that moment was: *Damn, Peter in this universe has to wait three years to get bitten by a spider, but Cupid’s already turned him into a pincushion on the road of love.
Oh, poor Peter Parker, you lucky bastard.*
…
At 9:40 AM, Gaia drove his Cadillac with Peter and Mary Jane inside, pulling up outside the main entrance of the Oscorp Research Center.
The glass building glinted under the sun, glaring enough to make one’s eyes hurt.
Gaia threw open the car door and hopped out.
Little Gaia leaped down from his shoulder, taking the lead toward the building’s entrance.
Peter caught up and lowered his voice.
“Gaia, you really need to control yourself today.
Don’t go telling anyone you can see…
uh…”
Before Peter could finish, Gaia interrupted him.
Striking a muscular bodybuilder pose at Peter, Gaia announced with absolute confidence, “I know what you’re thinking.
Don’t worry, Captain Jia.
Did you forget my nickname?
The Fist of Khonshu.”
With that, Gaia patted Peter heavily on the shoulder.
Feeling the sheer force behind that pat, Peter stared at Gaia in utter silence.
[Mini-Theater: I bet you’re curious why Cousin Gaia is called the Fist of Khonshu.
Back when he was still in school, Cousin Gaia was worshipping Khonshu right in the middle of class.
When his classmates found out, they mocked him relentlessly.
You can probably guess what happened next.
(Little Peter pulls back the curtain: In a classroom, Young Little Gaia beats up dozens of kids, stacks them into a small mountain, and strikes a muscle pose on top.)]
Mary Jane walked up holding her textbooks and raised an eyebrow at the Parker brothers.
“Alright, stop messing around, boys.
Harry’s been waiting so long he’s getting anxious.”
The Parker brothers exchanged a glance and spoke in unison: “Alright, let’s head in together, MJ.” (×3)
Decades of students were already gathering in the main hall.
Leading their school’s group was Mr.
Warren, a middle-aged science teacher with thinning hair and glasses thick as bottle bottoms.
Gaia scanned the crowd and quickly locked onto Harry Osborn.
That guy was leaning against the reception desk.
The moment he spotted them, the cold expression on his face instantly melted into a bright, irrepressible smile, and he strode over.
Little Gaia: “Oh man, Harry really is a great friend—the absolute best.”
Gaia nodded in deep agreement.
The money he used to open his gym had been sponsored by Harry.
Harry himself was the second-largest shareholder of the gym, right behind Gaia.
He had sponsored a grand total of $1,125,323.
Word had it that Harry even got into a massive screaming match with his father, Norman, over it.
It was truly touching.
“Harry!” Peter raised his hand and waved happily.
When Harry reached them, a smile broke across his face.
He bump-fisted Peter, greeted MJ, and then turned to look at Gaia.
“Gaia, you came too.”
Gaia shrugged.
“You know how it is.
Peter always manages to get hurt on field trips.
I need to keep a close eye on him.”
At those words, Harry and MJ exchanged a look and burst into laughter.
Faced with the teasing of his two close friends, Peter let out a long sigh, his face full of helpless resignation.
[Mini-Theater: What could he do?
The three of them were the people closest to him.
If they wanted to laugh, let them laugh.
Though they better not let me catch them off guard, or I’m definitely getting revenge.
(Little Peter ties the three of them to giant fireworks and evil-laughs as he lights them one by one.)]
…
The lights in the hall were almost glaringly bright.
The Oscorp Research Center was as grand and imposing as ever.
Behind the reception desk was a massive curved screen, looping footage of Norman Osborn giving an interview.
“Let’s go sign in first,” Harry said, leading the way through a security gate.
“Mr.
Parker, your visitor pass.”
Gaia took the lanyard and hung it around his neck, then turned to look for Peter.
That kid had already huddling with Harry, pointing and discussing a picture on the exhibition brochure.
MJ stood beside them, chiming in every now and then.
The three of them looked like a scene straight out of a teen drama.
Seeing this brought Gaia a sense of comfort.
This was the bright, happy life Peter Parker was supposed to have, just like the first half of Earth-6160.
Gaia leaned against a pillar, crossing his arms and watching them.
Next, all he had to do was make sure Peter didn’t get bitten.
With his reaction speed and agility, under normal circumstances, nothing could possibly go wrong.
Little Gaia poked his head out from behind the pillar.
“You know, I finally understand why you didn’t have many friends in high school.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re the kind of creep who stands in the corner of a classroom and stares at people for five whole minutes without blinking.”
Just as Gaia was about to retort, a somewhat familiar voice came from behind him.
“Mr.
Parker.”
Gaia turned around.
Standing three paces away was a young girl with long blonde hair.
She wore a cream-white hooded trench coat and cradled a stack of books in her arms, smiling warmly at him.
Hmm…
she looked like a proper good girl.
Seeing this teenage version of the Golden Lion King, Gaia couldn’t help but scowl.
“Who are you supposed to be, Little Simba?”
The girl was about to step forward, but hearing those words, the smile on her face instantly froze.
Then, as if remembering something, she hastily smoothed her hair, adjusted her smile, and said softly, “I’m Gwen Stacy, Mr.
Parker.
We’ve met before—you casually saved my life once.”