American comic book: Absolute Spider-Man

"Ξύπνα, Ξύπνα..."

I felt the sensation of seawater soaking my body, the feeling of being gently rocked, and heard a pleasant female voice.

Peter awoke to find a woman sitting beside him, gently rocking him and waking him in Greek.

Peter scrutinized the woman's face: long black hair, blue eyes, slender eyebrows, high cheekbones, and a full nose. If it weren't for her black eyeshadow and black lips, which had such a Gothic aesthetic, Peter would have thought it was a masterpiece sculpted by an ancient Greek artist.

The woman carefully lifted Peter from the beach and led him somewhere.

Nestled in the woman's arms, Peter felt the hardness of her chiseled muscles as he observed his surroundings.

This is an island. The sea washed Peter onto the beach, where he was eventually found by this woman.

Peter looked up at the sky, where a blood-red sky enveloped the entire island, and a black sun hung high in the sky.

"Where did I come from? Is this still China?" Peter complained in Chinese, then turned his gaze to the woman hugging him.

He already knew where he was and who the person in front of him was.

This is Wild Island, deep within the hellish depths of the DC Universe, the prison of the witch Circe, banished by the gods.

The person before me is Circe's adopted daughter, Diana Timothy.

Peter was certain that he was dead and now existed in hell as a soul.

Fortunately, Vishanti's blessing was bound to his soul, which gave him a great deal of security.

Peter spoke to Diana in Greek: "Can you put me down? I think I can walk."

Diana was overjoyed that Peter could speak. She had been given to Cersei by Apollo as an infant and had grown up on the Wild Isle. Apart from her mother, she had never seen any other living or dead people.

"Hello..." Diana put Peter down.

The girl, who had never been in contact with a man before, greeted Peter with a blush. Her gaze swept over Peter, and then her face turned even redder.

Peter looked at Diana's flushed face, and his still somewhat dazed mind suddenly realized something.

He covered his groin with his hand and gave Diana a shy smile.

When I died, my body was clean, so how come my soul is also clean now?

Peter formed a hand seal, trying to retrieve a set of clothes from his spatial artifact, but found he couldn't sense it: "Damn it! Where's my precious treasure?"

Peter quickly accepted that he had lost resources worth half a year's GDP in the United States. He activated his mental power and changed the form of his soul, and a set of clothes appeared on his body.

Good news: magic is still usable in this universe, but only the kind of minor spells powered by one's own energy can be cast. More powerful spells cannot be performed because there is no lender available.

Diana watched Peter cast the spell and asked curiously, "Are you a mage too?"

Peter smoothed his hair into a stylish side part, flashed a bright white smile at Diana, and said, "Yes, my name is Peter Parker. What's your name?"

Having grown up on a deserted island, Diana had never witnessed the allure of the Marvel succubus's handsome face before, and her already somewhat pale face flushed red once more.

"I...I'm Diana Timothy. Would you like to come to my house for a visit?"

……

In the cave where Cecilia and her daughter lived, Peter and the two women talked for a while, and both sides gained a basic understanding of each other.

The rules of Hell are strange. Peter was already a dead soul and could change his own soul, yet he still retained many characteristics of a living person and could still eat, drink, defecate, and sleep as usual.

Spider-Man's physique and super senses are still there, but his true spider-sense has disappeared.

Peter cooked the local ingredients of Hell according to his own understanding of flavor, while introducing Diana to various human delicacies.

"There are so many kinds of food in the world. Pasta, pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, sushi, ramen, curry, grilled meat, salad, soup—all kinds of soup. Borscht, cream of mushroom soup, miso soup, hot and sour soup, and chicken and corn soup."

Diana wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth: "What's chicken and corn soup?"

"Chicken mince is just chopped chicken meat. The corn is yellow, with individual kernels, and it's sweet." Peter stirred the pot with a stick, scooped out a piece of white meat, blew on it, and put it in his mouth.

Yes, the skills haven't declined.

Children from poor families can always make the most delicious meals with the simplest ingredients; that is the gift that poverty brought to Peter.

He scooped a piece of meat out of the pot, put it in a bowl, and handed it to Diana.

Diana looked at the steaming white piece of meat in the soup and drank the soup and meat together.

"How is it?" Peter asked.

Diana closed her eyes and chewed carefully, then asked Peter for a serving and handed it to her mother: "It's not as good as my mom's."

But the way she smacked her lips betrayed her.

Peter saw through it but didn't say anything. He scooped a piece from the pot for himself, took a bite, and said while chewing, "There's something in this world called a cheeseburger. Two slices of bread, a beef patty in the middle, a slice of melted cheese on top, plus lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles, and finally drizzled with ketchup and mustard. One bite, and the bread is soft, the patty is hot, the cheese is sticky, the lettuce and pickles are crisp, and the ketchup is sweet and sour—all the flavors and textures explode in your mouth at once."

Peter couldn't help but smack his lips; he and Tony both loved hamburgers.

Tony likes hamburgers because the first meal he ate after escaping from that cave was a hamburger, while Peter likes them because when he was a child, the best meal he could get was a $6 hamburger, fries, and Coke combo.

Diana looked at the nostalgic expression on Peter's face and assumed it was an emotion he felt after learning that he was no longer alive.

The compassionate goddess approached Peter: "Are you... homesick?"

Peter snapped out of his thoughts: "A little, I guess. We just left home."

Diana misunderstood Peter's meaning and gently comforted him, "I will find a way to help you return to the world of the living."

Peter knew, of course, that she had a way to bring the dead back to life, but the price...

"Have you forgotten? I'm a mage; I can fight my way through hell and return to the human world all by myself."

Diana's gaze fell on Peter's body. She was clearly unable to see through the blessing of Vishanti within Peter's soul and took it as Peter playing a little joke on her.

After dinner, Diana took Peter for a stroll around the island.

The sun had already set in the west, and the blood-red sky was no longer as dazzling as when Peter had first arrived; instead, it resembled the ambiguous hues of dusk on earth.

The wind blows from the sea, carrying the smell of salt and sulfur.

The young girl, not yet the absolute Wonder Woman, looked at the handsome man beside her leisurely enjoying the sunset and timidly asked, "Um, could you tell me your story? About your past life. I want to hear more about human life."

The sunset reflected in Peter's eyes transformed into the girl's cheeks, which were inexplicably flushed in the twilight.

"Of course, my story begins when I was very, very young. Back then, I was about the same age as you when you were first adopted by your mother—just a baby who couldn't remember anything..."