Universe earth-92131.
That was the designation for this new parallel universe.
Peter unexpectedly discovered that the superpowered population in this universe was also rich.
No—he should say: extremely rich.
There were even more than in his own original world!
This world had also gone through World War I and II, had S.H.I.E.L.D., and likewise had Captain America, Iron Man, and others.
But Spider-Man wasn't familiar with any of them. The Spider-Man of this world hadn't joined the Avengers or any similar organizations—he operated solo.
Among all those well-known organizations, there was another very powerful one called the X-Men.
This world contained certain very special people.
From the moment they were born, their bodies underwent varying degrees of mutation, giving them strange abilities—the scientific term: mutants.
Because of mutants, three different factions had formed:
The first sought peaceful coexistence between mutants and normal humans—the X-Men and their affiliated groups.
The second wanted to control or wipe out normal humans, granting mutants either safety or dominion—represented by Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants, as well as some who had suffered persecution.
The third sought to regulate or completely eliminate mutants for the benefit of normal humanity. To achieve this, they invented the Sentinel robots as weapons.
The three factions fought endlessly, from World War II all the way to the present, leaving countless casualties.
It had to be said—this was far crueler than their Sokovia Accords.
Their version of the Sokovia Accords was more like an altered "peaceful coexistence" plan, and with Iron Man carrying most of the burden up top, he, as a small fry, could hardly feel any pressure from above.
——
After Peter more or less sorted everything out, he opened his eyes and woke up in bed.
He clenched his fists, then tried climbing the wall. Peter discovered that his spider powers had returned.
"Great. While my powers are back, I'll deal with those guys—should be enough to resolve this Spider-Man's crisis, right? Oh, right, I need to come up with a designation for this Spider-Man too."
Peter looked around. Soon, he saw a calendar on the wall covered in little sticky notes. It read "1994."
"Hmm… in that case, I'll just call him the '94 Spider-Man!"
Peter grabbed some clothes and headed downstairs. Following the '94 Spider-Man's habits, he casually picked up a book, pretending he was about to go to school.
"Good morning, dear. Sorry I let you sleep so long." This universe's Aunt May had beautiful blonde hair. Though she looked a bit older, she was unexpectedly energetic.
"Good morning, Aunt May. How long did I sleep?" Peter took the sandwich from the plate she handed him and began eating in big bites.
He felt extremely hungry—his body desperately needed energy.
"Eat slowly. You're starving, aren't you? You've been sleeping since yesterday morning—an entire day and night!" Aunt May looked at Peter lovingly and placed a warm cup of milk in front of him.
"A—A whole day and night?!!" Peter swallowed his sandwich and exclaimed, "It's already Wednesday?!!"
"I tried waking you several times, but you'd just roll over and keep sleeping," Aunt May said helplessly. "Next time don't tire yourself out like this. Homework can be done anytime."
"Uh… okay." Peter pretended to check his watch. "I'm going to be late for Dr. Connors's class. I'll head out first."
"One sandwich can't be enough, right? Wait, I'll make something else for you—Peter! Peter!" Aunt May shouted.
But Peter had already dashed out the door.
The '94 Spider-Man's instincts told him that Dr. Connors's class was very important.
In this world, Dr. Connors had also become the Lizard, but with Spider-Man's help, he had successfully freed himself from that identity and returned to normal.
And because of that, Spider-Man and Dr. Connors had become good friends.
Since then, Dr. Connors had extended a helping hand to Spider-Man multiple times.
There was another reason:
The new gene technology used to create the spider that gave the '94 Spider-Man his powers was part of Dr. Connors's academic field.
Dr. Connors had become the Lizard because of new gene technology as well.
In a way, Dr. Connors and the '94 Spider-Man were the same type of people.
It was just that Dr. Connors's mutation was far more extreme—he had turned into a full monster, mind and all.
The '94 Spider-Man existed in a state halfway between human and spider.
But either way, they were indeed kindred spirits.
Perhaps that was why Dr. Connors and the '94 Spider-Man kept helping each other, eventually becoming good friends.
So Dr. Connors in this world was very trustworthy.
At least, the '94 Spider-Man genuinely trusted him.
Furthermore, even ignoring Spider-Man's identity—
Peter Parker, currently studying at Empire State University, was also Dr. Connors's student. He deeply admired this learned professor.
So all things considered, Peter felt that perhaps he could ask Dr. Connors to examine the situation with the '94 Spider-Man's body.
If anyone had a chance of solving his problem right now, it would likely be Dr. Connors.
Strictly speaking, Dr. Farley Stillwell—the one responsible for Peter Parker's original mutation—would've been a better candidate. But neither Spider-Man nor Peter Parker knew him personally, so it was impossible to ask for his help.
——
However, things didn't go as planned.
Even though Peter rushed as fast as he could, he still didn't make it in time for the class.
By the time he arrived at school and entered the classroom, Dr. Connors was already giving the end-of-class summary.
"Neo-genetics is a new science concerning gene exploration and DNA manipulation. It was pioneered by Professor Farley Stillwell of this college and is considered one of the greatest achievements of this century."
"Therefore, the Toomes Foundation may grant Empire State University a donation, allowing us to continue our research and demonstrate the importance of neo-genetics."
"And that will depend on all of our combined efforts!"
"All of you here are the finest students of Empire State University. Consider this a competition. Whoever completes the neo-genetics experiment first will become my research assistant."
"Of course, that's assuming Empire State University actually receives the Toomes funding."
"Glad you could catch the end, Parker."
Peter: …Where can I find a three-bedroom apartment to bury my face in?
Fortunately, Dr. Connors had no intention of embarrassing him—he only called Peter out because he was late.
Then, with a final "Good luck, and thank you," he turned and left the office.
Well… this Spider-Man really was a little unlucky, wasn't he~
(End of chapter)