Spider-Man’s Big Adventure (Part 2)

In the S.H.I.E.L.D. Lounge, Steve pointed at a diagram on the whiteboard and said, "As I said before, tactical awareness isn’t just about planning your operation in advance. More importantly, you need to understand the enemy’s intentions at the same time, and even anticipate his route before he does."

"The reason your last operation failed was also because you didn’t do that."

"You chose to climb onto the roof first, which was good. Securing the high ground is indeed important, but then you made a very fatal mistake."

"First, you rushed in without finding out exactly how many exits that building had."

"Second, when fighting inside a building, we generally don’t recommend launching an assault from the upper floors. Once you start driving the enemy down from above, he’ll instinctively run downstairs. If there’s an exit on the lower level, he can safely leave the building."

"The correct approach is either to surround the building from above and below at the same time, or to conduct a floor-by-floor assault from the bottom up. If you drive the enemy from the lower floors, he can only run upward, then either jump out a window or become trapped inside. He won’t be able to use a ground-level exit to leave. Understand?"

Peter wrote on the coffee table in front of him as he asked, "But breaking in would make noise. What if they became alert? I went in through the window because I wanted to catch them off guard…"

"Your thinking is right. Speed is the most important thing in an indoor assault. Like I just said, if you want to drive them upward from below, you first have to find out how many exits the building has. Seal them off before making your move, then break in through a window."

"Actually, I wouldn’t really recommend that method. Although you have unique advantages, the other side is fighting on his home ground. He knows the rooms and the building’s layout better than you do."

"You may catch them by surprise, but the moment you enter an unfamiliar building, everything around you is completely unknown. If there are any traps inside, you might not be able to react quickly enough."

Peter had been about to say that he had Spider-Sense, but after thinking it over, Steve had a point. He had seen two people in the room while hanging outside the window, but what if Bullseye had set an ambush? What if he smashed a cup and dozens of thugs came rushing out from who knew where? His Spider-Sense was useful in the moment, but it wasn’t prophecy, much less X-ray vision.

Peter scribbled in his notebook as Steve continued, "Besides, you already knew your opponent was a cunning criminal with more than one hideout."

"You just said that you thought the junkyard was ideal for fighting him, but don’t forget, he’s been there much longer than you have. An enemy that sly must have rehearsed more than a dozen escape routes in his head already."

"Even if he hadn’t used tear gas on you, the moment you lost focus, he would have gotten away."

Peter sighed. "I thought my plan had been thorough, but I didn’t realize it had so many mistakes. Looks like I didn’t lose unfairly."

Steve came over, sat beside him, and patted him on the shoulder. "That’s normal. You’re already very talented. You should have seen those guys in the army back then. They didn’t even dare do high-altitude fast descents. They’d stand on rooftops with their legs shaking, never mind airborne assaults. Being able to do that from the start already puts you far ahead of most of them."

Peter put away his notebook. "Next time, I definitely won’t let him get away."

An hour later, in the laboratory at Stark Tower, Stark pinched an antenna wire between his fingers and said, "The series connection you’re using may be stable, but it can’t bring out the antenna’s full potential at all…"

"Don’t talk to me about material limitations! Didn’t I build a suit of armor out of a pile of scrap metal in Afghanistan? When I was six, I could build computers far better than this!"

"And your understanding of the word ‘intelligent’ in intelligent retrieval systems is way too shallow. You think writing an automatic filtering system makes it intelligent? Why don’t you try writing a complete artificial intelligence logic?"

Stark set down the wire and snapped his fingers. A screen slowly descended from the ceiling. Pointing at the map on it, Stark said, "Look here. This is Hell’s Kitchen, right?"

"It has an overall spindle shape, so your signal coverage doesn’t have to be a perfect circle. You can use different frequencies to maximize efficiency, like this…"

"Also, you can find a base and build a simple signal tower there to monitor designated signals in Hell’s Kitchen…"

Peter thoughtfully pointed his laser pen at the map of Hell’s Kitchen. "I’ve already found the central junction of Hell’s Kitchen—the center of the underground sewers I used to travel through before. Do you think we could place a signal device there? What approach should I use? The method I’m using now is stable, but it really isn’t efficient enough…"

Several hours later, night had fallen. Just as Schiller was about to close up, Peter squeezed in through the crack in the door.

"I heard your operation didn’t go well," Schiller said.

Seeing Peter nod somewhat dejectedly, Schiller said, "Although you have the technology to monitor other people’s phone signals, I don’t think that’s actually the best method."

"It’s true that this method is simple, direct, and effective, but that’s precisely the problem. It’s too simple and direct, making you overlook many details."

"Bullseye’s trail isn’t as completely untraceable as you think. You simply lack some awareness of surveillance and counter-surveillance."

Peter sat down on the sofa and took a drink of water. Schiller pulled out his medical records, then said, "Do you know where information travels fastest in Hell’s Kitchen?"

Peter shook his head.

"Tell me, what two things can no one escape?"

"Death and taxes?"

"That’s right. So what do you think those two things correspond to in Hell’s Kitchen?"

"I haven’t heard of Hell’s Kitchen having hospitals or a tax office…" Peter said, shaking his head.

"You need to understand that without any grasp of Hell’s Kitchen’s rules, it’s almost impossible for you to successfully fight crime here."

Peter said, "All right. Actually, I thought about it last night. I was a little too impulsive. The moment I thought about what happened to Matt, I just wanted to beat that guy up immediately."

"Hell’s Kitchen really doesn’t have any decent hospitals or government offices, but after gangs fight each other, gang members still get injured. When they’re injured, don’t Doctors treat them? Where do those Doctors come from? Who employs them? Might they have special intelligence?"

"Hell’s Kitchen may not have a tax office either, but the gangs collect so much protection money and own so many businesses. Do you expect gang bosses who didn’t even finish middle school to do their own accounting?"

"Where are their accountants hired from? When do they come by? Which gang bosses do they know? Could they have seen the person you’re looking for not long ago?"

"Besides that, what about the truck drivers moving through every street in Hell’s Kitchen every day? The taxi drivers and bus drivers?"

"Even gangsters have to eat. Where did Bullseye order his food from? Has he hired a cook recently? Better yet, has he visited any strip clubs? Or hired prostitutes?"

Schiller tapped the map Peter had opened with one finger. "As long as a human being lives in this world, he can never leave absolutely no trace."

"As long as someone lives within a society, he is bound to intersect with other people in that society."

"Perhaps when you imagine investigation, you picture carrying a magnifying glass around looking for footprints, or needing him to leave some physical trace before you can discover anything."

"But in truth, every person he has seen and every word he has spoken has left some trace, more or less."

Schiller shook his head. "This Bullseye isn’t some master of counter-surveillance. If you’re willing to spend more patience investigating these matters, you might not even need to fight him."

"Investigation is not merely the prelude to battle; it is also the requiem of the dead."

"If one day you truly master this skill, you’ll understand that you don’t have to exhaust yourself throwing punches to deal with criminals like these."

"I’m not talking about petty tricks like using anesthetics, drugging wine, or poisoning food."

"If you can understand all of a person’s social connections and learn every trace he has left in society, you can find countless ways to borrow strength and achieve great results with little effort through those connections."

"You won’t need to cut a single thread to deftly unravel the entire tangled knot, then tie it back into whatever shape you want."

This time, Peter didn’t write or draw in his notebook. He said, "I don’t really understand all that, but maybe someday, when I need it, I’ll remember."

"Honestly, I still prefer throwing punches. I always feel that if I have to use those methods, things must already be completely terrible." Peter said this as the clinic’s rolling shutter came down outside.

Two days later, a man with a target mark on his head was thrown in front of the Manhattan Police Department.

On the rooftop of the building across the street, Spider-Man stood watching as the police took Bullseye inside. The streets of New York remained bustling in the evening light. The small incident drew the attention of many pedestrians, but they soon lowered their heads and hurried on their way.

"You surprise me," Matt’s voice came from behind Spider-Man. Holding his cane, he said, "In just a few days, you took out Kingpin’s biggest informant in Hell’s Kitchen. How did you do it?"

Peter stood at the edge of the rooftop. Hearing Matt’s voice, he turned around.

He took off the mask of his suit. Loose strands of hair fluttered in the sunset behind him, turning into floating threads of gold. He smiled, carrying the innocence and brightness unique to his age.

He said, "Probably because I’m just really good at making friends."