amaotonovel Chapter 4238 Possession by Evil Spirits (8)
Chapter 4238 Possession by Evil Spirits (8)
Chapter 4238 Possession by an Evil Spirit (18)
Two shots to the body, one to the head—even a god couldn't save him. This is the standard way a secret agent silences someone. Spider-Man Noir could be considered the Batman of Spider-Men; more importantly, he doesn't have a no-kill policy, but rather the ruthless type who says, "If you want to kill me, I'll kill you first." The shot was fired cleanly and decisively, without the slightest hesitation.
He holstered his gun and went to examine the body. The man lay on the ground, the bow in his hand a handmade one, not a modern compound bow; otherwise, Peter wouldn't have been able to hold the arrow. Even so, that arrow would have crippled him, if not killed him. Therefore, he felt no pity for the corpse and knelt down to begin searching it.
"My God!" Famil suddenly sprang from the bushes. He seemed utterly shocked by the situation. He said, "You...you killed him! How could you..."
“He tried to kill me first,” Peter said coldly. “If I hadn’t dodged the arrow, I would be the one lying there now. He is the murderer, and I was just stopping him from committing the crime.”
"Then you shouldn't have said it directly..."
“There’s no such thing as should or shouldn’t, only can or can’t.” Peter said calmly, “He didn’t kill me, so he’s the one who died.”
Famillo seemed shocked by his attitude. Peter had only found a hunting knife on the man, nothing else. So he stood up, took two more gulps of lake water—the bottle was almost empty—and hurried off to refill it.
He had discovered that the water didn't enhance his strength, but it could restore his spider-sense. And spider-sense was his most relied-upon ability, extremely important to him. With spider-sense back, he would have everything. He had to recover it as soon as possible.
After drinking another bottle of water, Peter felt he was almost there. His spider-sense had gone from a vague feeling to something more tangible. He'd experienced something similar when he first became Spider-Man, so he adapted quickly.
He walked back to the top of the waterfall and said to Famillo, "Now you have two choices: go back to town, call the police, and testify that I acted in self-defense. If you don't want all that trouble, bury him for me and don't tell anyone about it."
Famil stood there staring at him, his expression unchanged, but his eyes held an inexplicable gloom. Peter didn't care at all; he dragged the body into the woods, intending to find a good place to bury it.
Familo followed, seemingly wanting to know where he was going to put the body. But he was met with the dark muzzle of a gun. Familo had no choice but to take two steps back, then turned and left.
Peter knew he couldn't just leave the body there. Regardless of whether the other party would call the police, it would be a weakness he could exploit. Spider-Man Noir had always been an outlaw, operating between the government, the police, and revolutionaries; he had far too much experience in this area. He understood perfectly well that rather than relying on others, he should clean up the mess himself as thoroughly as possible.
The humidity near the waterfall is far too high; burning the body is definitely pointless. They need to drink the waterfall water themselves, so throwing the body down there won't work either. They don't have any tools, and the soil is difficult to dig; burying the body without help is also impossible. Therefore, the best course of action now is to find a place where no one can find them and simply throw the body there.
Peter dragged the body to the bottom of the waterfall and began to wander along the mountainside. But soon, he spotted a small crevice in the rock face beside the waterfall. He immediately realized there might be a cave there, and a very well-hidden one at that. Even the locals wouldn't dare go there, but he could give it a try.
Peter was even more audacious; he didn't intend to climb at all, but rather to jump over. Although he didn't have superpowers now, his balance was phenomenal, far surpassing most gymnasts and acrobats in the world. Moreover, he was lightweight and agile. After a few tries, he actually managed to jump over.
The next step is figuring out how to move the body inside. It seems like a huge undertaking, but it's actually the simplest thing, because there's no need to move the body in all at once.
Just as Peter was busy with his hunting knife, another figure followed the scent of blood and found the place. When he saw what Peter was doing, he was stunned and stood there in shock.
“Peter!” he called out.
Peter turned around warily and saw a familiar face. He exclaimed in surprise, "Bruce?"
“It’s me. What are you doing here?” Bruce emerged from behind the bushes. He glanced above his head, and Peter caught that look, knowing he was the real deal, because only players knew about the health bar. An imposter wouldn’t make that gesture.
"What are you doing?" Bruce asked.
“This guy wants to kill me,” Peter said briefly, then continued working. When he got tired, he took out some water to drink. Bruce, seeing this, asked, “Is that bottled water from the store?”
"No, it's just lake water."
Bruce paused for a moment, then said, "Lake water? Why drink lake water?"
“I don’t know why, but this lake water seems to have some magical effect. The reason this guy didn’t kill me is because I caught his arrow.”
Bruce immediately realized that Peter was implying this rather than stating it explicitly. He might have regained some of his spider-sense abilities; otherwise, a normal human's reaction time wouldn't have been sufficient to catch the arrow.
The water here can restore superpowers? That can't be right.
“What has happened since you came in? Can you tell me in detail?” Bruce asked.
Peter didn't hide anything, speaking intermittently as he worked. Bruce pressed, "You mean you felt empty and somewhat depressed when you first came in?"
"Yes. Actually, it wasn't just after we entered this place that we started experiencing this; it started after we entered this instance. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been injured in the car accident." Peter added cryptically.
Bruce hadn't figured it out at first, but then a flash of inspiration struck him: what principle is the spider sense based on?
This is actually quite complex. Because abilities similar to prophecy could be caused by magical forces, and as far as he knows, Spider-Man's superpowers do indeed come from magical forces. But if we have to explain it from a biological perspective, it could be the result of an overactive brain due to the secretion of excitatory neurotransmitters.
As we all know, the human brain is not working at full capacity most of the time. Most of the time, it's a case of "one core struggling while the other eight watch," or more accurately, it's intentional to achieve the extremely powerful fuzzy algorithm effect.
This extreme reaction speed and perception of danger may be an ability that evolved from the brain working at full capacity and overclocking, causing brainwaves to break through physiological limitations and transform into another kind of perception.
To get the brain working at an accelerated pace, frequent stimulation is required. The specific principles are complex, but the simplest method is actually doping. Many people believe that doping is only effective in sports, but in reality, it can be widely used in various fields, including improving attention, memory, and learning efficiency.
The principle behind Spider-Sense might be that some kind of magical reaction, with an efficiency that no human stimulant can match, continuously stimulates Spider-Man's brain, giving him brainwave frequencies that break through physiological limitations, thus achieving a prophetic effect.
Bruce already knew there was something wrong with the air here, the water, and basically everything that could enter his body was problematic. The problem was that it might contain some kind of excitatory neurotransmitter, far exceeding the effects of stimulants in the real world, capable of quickly boosting alertness, enhancing concentration, increasing learning efficiency, allowing for a clearer perception of the world, and even a feeling of control over it. This feeling was irresistible.
This method isn't as fast-acting as drug addiction, but it can still create a psychological addiction, commonly known as "doping dependence." When using performance-enhancing drugs, people feel like geniuses, everything goes smoothly, and they can understand everything perfectly; naturally, they experience a sense of loss when they stop using them. This is a very difficult condition to treat in the field of psychology, and many widely recognized geniuses and athletes exhibit similar symptoms.
Peter's description of the various situations he experienced after entering the instance sounded like a stimulant addiction. This Battle Realm System blocked his superpowers, causing the amount of excitatory neurotransmitters to drop drastically. The Spider Totem originally gave him 100, but after being blocked, it dropped to less than 10. The fact that he could still act normally shows his strong willpower.
However, the controllers of this mental world, perhaps to brainwash newcomers and better control them, are also administering stimulants in various ways. Not only are there stimulants in the air, but the water also contains significant amounts. Furthermore, Bruce's recent investigation revealed a problem with the local groundwater, leading to the presence of stimulants in food and water. The townspeople are exhibiting an extreme state of arousal, which seems extremely bizarre.
Even Bruce Wayne had to regulate the secretion of his excitatory neurotransmitters to balance the heightened effects of breathing. But for Peter, what would be an excessive amount of excitatory neurotransmitters for a normal person was just right for him; and what would be a lethal dose for a normal person was roughly the same as Spider-Man's normal level.
So he drank water, juice, milk, and lake water, chugging away for half a day, successfully bringing his excitement level back to Spider-Man's normal range, and his spider-sense naturally returned as well.
However, this method probably only works for him, because that's his normal daily intake. If it were anyone else, they'd probably go crazy before even breaking through their physiological limitations.
This evil spirit really did good deeds despite its bad intentions. Although it didn't regain its superpowers and its spider-sense wasn't the full version, it still had some superpowers, and it perfectly bypassed the system's limitations.
The system certainly doesn't allow superpowers, and there's unlikely to be any items in this instance that could grant them superpowers. But Peter's situation wasn't about enhancing himself; it was about stepping into a trap, a trap that just happened to suit his brain. The system couldn't even argue with him.
Bruce wondered if he could use this method too. But before he could think of a solution, he thought of Schiller. If he remembered correctly, Schiller also had some superpowers.
So, is he staying here also to regain his superpowers?
Bruce had a premonition: now, it wasn't that they had to outrun the plot's progression, but rather that the evil spirits had to outrun their recovery of power. And time was running out for the evil spirits.