New World, New Beginnings

"You’re back. How was it?"

The moment Zhang Ye saw them, he went over to greet them. Judging by the lingering smiles on their faces, they had clearly had a great time.

As soon as Pietro came in, he flopped onto the sofa. Pulling off his wig, he said,

"It was awesome! Zhang, you really missed out by not coming with us. We found this amazing restaurant, and we went to an amusement park too. There were so, so many fun things there. Oh, and remember that Spider-Man we saw before? We saw him fighting a Rhino right out on the street!"

Listening to Pietro’s unusually excited account, Zhang Ye merely smiled and nodded along. He also took the things Kara was carrying and opened the bags, only to find them filled with all sorts of miscellaneous items.

"What did you guys buy?" Zhang Ye could not help shaking his head helplessly at all the bags.

Pietro quickly sorted the bags into several piles. "Oh, we bought a bunch of clothes. The weather’s getting cold, right? I figured we hadn’t gotten any new clothes in ages. I’m fine, but Kara doesn’t have many clothes left. She’d never worn underwear before."

"Cough, cough, cough… You bought Kara underwear?" Zhang Ye nearly choked on his tea. After all this time, he had never expected Pietro, that careless teenager, to have such a thoughtful side.

Even Zhang Ye himself had never considered Kara’s need for underwear. Or rather, it had never crossed his mind at all. Who would pay attention to a teenage girl’s underwear choices when she looked like Kara? Given Kara’s combat ability, Zhang Ye had instinctively overlooked the fact that mentally, she was still a fifteen-year-old girl.

Pietro did not seem embarrassed in the slightest under Zhang Ye’s gaze. "Yeah. We needed to buy more clothes to change into anyway. Old Bruce didn’t have anything in our sizes, and we never had time to go shopping. This time, we finally got the chance."

"Not bad. You really thought this through." Zhang Ye nodded. Pietro’s words made him realize that he had not washed his own clothes in a long time. They had started to give off a strange smell.

"Of course! Oh, right, does the outfit I picked for Kara look good? It’s the newest style. Everyone at the clothing store said I had great taste and was really good at putting outfits together!" Pietro pointed at Kara, looking smug.

Zhang Ye turned his gaze toward Kara. After putting away everything in her hands, she walked over to him. Only then did Zhang Ye get a proper look at what she was wearing.

Her short hair had been neatly trimmed, making her look even more valiant. She wore a black crop top with a cat print, covered by a black leather jacket decorated with studs and metal chains. Her lower half was dressed in loose jeans with several tears at the knees.

With that outfit, Kara, who already possessed a somewhat androgynous beauty, instantly looked like a young delinquent. If she went out dressed like that, anyone who saw her would probably call her the boss.

What left Zhang Ye most speechless was the tattoo on Kara’s exposed stomach. To match the outfit, she even had two metal earrings dangling from her ears.

"Piercing the Man of Steel’s ears? Are you kidding me?" Zhang Ye looked at Pietro in disbelief, hoping the guy could give him a reasonable explanation.

"They’re fake. No piercings. They’re clip-on earrings, and the tattoo is just a temporary tattoo sticker. So? Isn’t it cool?" Pietro grinned and gave him a thumbs-up.

Zhang Ye turned back to Kara. Noticing his gaze, Kara became a little uneasy. "Pietro told me that most people on Earth dress like this, and I think it looks pretty good too."

"I’m not saying it doesn’t look good. It’s just… this outfit gave me quite a shock." Zhang Ye set down his teacup and picked up the other bags on the table.

After Pietro’s reminder, Zhang Ye truly felt that he needed to embrace the wonderful new world again. At the very least, he was no longer short on money, and he could enjoy comforts he had never experienced before.

Still, what Zhang Ye was most curious about was what clothes that brat Pietro had picked out for him. If they were anything like Kara’s outfit, the three of them could probably form a rock band on the spot.

Fortunately, Pietro’s sense of style became much more normal when it came to Zhang Ye. Most of the clothes in the bags were turtleneck sweaters, khaki vests, suits, dress pants, and long trench coats suited to a mature man. That let Zhang Ye breathe a small sigh of relief.

Dressing like Sherlock Holmes was far better than dressing like a gangster. Besides, Zhang Ye quite liked those clothes. Their tastes matched, apparently.

"By the way, you said earlier that you saw Spider-Man fighting Rhino?" As Zhang Ye sorted through his clothes, he brought the topic back to this universe’s superheroes.

"Yeah! Spider-Man was so cool. That dumb Rhino wasn’t even a match for him. Spider-Man knocked him down in just a few moves, and then the police who arrived soon after took him away." Once Pietro started talking about it, he could not stop, his face full of admiration.

"That Spider-Man called Peter Parker really is impressive. His strength, speed, and reflexes are all top-tier. He also seemed completely at ease during the fight, and he kept using words to disrupt and mislead his opponent." Kara added.

Zhang Ye merely chuckled. "Actually, most superheroes don’t talk that much during a fight. He’s just a chatterbox, nothing as profound as you think. But you got one thing right: Spider-Man’s combat ability really is top-tier."

"Wait, how do you know Spider-Man’s name is Peter Parker?" Pietro suddenly seemed to realize something and cried out.

"I saw it." Kara pointed at her eyes, looking completely innocent. "I could clearly see what he looked like beneath his suit, as well as the reporter’s ID in his pocket. The name on it really was Peter Parker."

"Peter Parker… Why does that name sound so familiar?" Pietro muttered, rubbing his chin as he searched through his memories. Where had he heard that name before?

Zhang Ye thought for a moment, then calmly reminded Pietro, "The house we used to live in was his."

"The house we used to live in…" Pietro suddenly remembered something. He slammed a hand on the table. "I remember now! He’s Peter Parker, the one who got bitten by a chemically altered spider, caught a terminal illness, and watched his family fall apart!"

Zhang Ye glanced at Kara, who looked thoughtful, then smiled and nodded.

"That’s right. But in this world, that spider didn’t give him a disease. It turned him into New York’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."