Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1077 (First Update)

He couldn't control himself; as if some irresistible force had moved his finger to the button and pressed it. Happy Hogan opened the trunk and door without any resistance. Although Tony Stark had never asked him to stop here, and he didn't know the person knocking on the window, at that moment he obeyed the command perfectly naturally, as if the command had occupied all his thinking capacity. All his thought processes served this command, and only by fulfilling this command could he do the next thing. Peter Parker was surprised to see the person he had met once in the hospital humming a song as he put his briefcase in the trunk, then opened the door and sat down next to him, as relaxed as if he were riding a Greyhound bus rather than a luxury car.

He didn't notice anything amiss. The silence in the back seat continued until Happy Hogan stepped on the gas and drove away from the hospital's underground parking garage. Peter Parker tried to start a conversation with the man sitting in the back seat, who looked to be about his age. "You know Tony Stark too? I mean, I'm so grateful you used the new treatment technology on me at the hospital. I'm so glad I have almost no scars. If May saw me covered in scars..."

"I'm not a doctor, kid. The only reason I'm helping you is because you weren't the target that night, and you were lucky enough that the shrapnel from the attack drone's warhead didn't kill you. I'm not going to revive a frozen corpse from the morgue." Salomon interrupted him mercilessly, pushing the car doors open with both hands. The back seat, which was already a bit cramped for two people, suddenly expanded into a seat that could easily seat three. Although the back seat could originally seat three, it was now much more spacious. Happy Hogan's jolt over the speed bumps caused Peter Parker to accidentally bump into the door. He stared dumbfounded at the extra space in the back seat, his brain unable to comprehend the situation. But the culprit had no interest in making him understand. "Have you ever wondered why you gained this ability after the spider bit you? You're a science and engineering enthusiast, tell me, does what happened to you conform to the physical laws of the real universe?"

"Sorry, I didn't hear you..."

"Your abilities stem from the approval of an extradimensional being. You are like one end of a spiderweb, constantly emitting vibrations from the real universe to transmit information to a higher dimension, spending your entire life delivering that information to the center of the web for that being to consume. Your spider-sense is essentially a kind of brief precognition of the future, but this ability is so intuitive that you are unaware of it. If your abilities continue to strengthen, you will be able to see all the futures, just like all witchcraft that peers into the threads of fate." Salomon continued, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. "You will not have offspring, and you may not even live to see yourself grow old. You will wander this world alone until death. All Spider-Men follow the same principle, constantly enacting different possibilities. Your essence is the other end of the spiderweb; everything you experience is a vibration within the web, ultimately wrapping your joys and sorrows in a cocoon to become nourishment for that being."

"Okay, I don't quite understand..."

"You don't need to understand, Peter Parker. You'll never leave New York City, and your goals will never even leave Queens. Tony Stark opposed me because I stood against him and his interests, so why are you doing this? To satisfy your sense of justice, or to show off your abilities?" Salomon stared curiously at the teenager before him. Since that attack, American society has experienced considerable upheaval. The Norfolk Naval Base fire, which took two full days to extinguish, completely destroyed the United States' ability to build Nimitz-class and Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The massive explosion of ammunition also caused the destruction of logistical supplies and personnel, bringing unprecedented obstacles to the US Navy's operations in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Indian Oceans. The military had to allocate logistical tasks to some smaller naval bases on the East Coast; however, some ports that could not dock aircraft carriers still could not complete all tasks.

But after that attack, two different voices emerged in the American public.

While many voices demanded the White House present a feasible retaliation plan—because no one in the world had ever brought war to the American mainland before, which to some extent undermined American confidence and simultaneously fueled patriotic fervor among many, particularly Republican strongholds and a large number of right-wing voters, represented by veterans and police officers—other voices argued that the enemy possessed hypersonic missiles that current air defense systems could not intercept and weapons of mass destruction. These voices suggested the White House use peaceful means to resolve the issue, such as lifting economic sanctions. The incumbent president and his staff, both Democrats, delivered a speech the day after the attack, condemning Latvinia's strike on the American mainland, following an all-night meeting of numerous think tanks. The speech, while seemingly lengthy, was almost entirely devoid of substance; it expressed no desire to improve relations with Latvinia, nor did it propose military action against Latvinia. Following the speech, numerous officials were sent to Europe, promising to pass a weapons support plan in an attempt to disrupt the new alliance that some European countries were trying to establish with Latvinia.

Apart from the UK, many European countries have not reacted much to this practice.

Latvia's current display of formidable military strength has completely shattered American military hegemony. The destruction of US communication satellites, positioning systems, and military satellites demonstrates that Latvia possesses technology capable of bringing information to a standstill across Europe and America, a technology it has already demonstrated. During its last demonstration, Latvia's territory expanded several times over, encompassing almost the entirety of Southeast Europe. Now, the US Navy and Air Force are unable to reach Europe, and the Aegis tactical system is rendered useless there. Compared to the other side of the Atlantic, Latvia is much closer to Europe. The NATO system, once dominated by the US, is experiencing a continuous decline in Europe and is inevitably heading towards collapse.

The destruction of Wall Street that night was an even more vicious move. Investment management firms like BlackRock, a major group on Wall Street, were completely destroyed by the massive plasma cannons of the war engine, their servers storing vast amounts of data were utterly destroyed. Although the data could be recovered by uploading it to servers elsewhere, this would take a very long time. However, this was not the key issue. The destruction of data on Wall Street could not destroy established wealth relationships, but the disruption of the secure economic environment that followed the attack was fatal. Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange remained closed the following day, and it was foreseeable that the Dow Jones Industrial Average would plummet irreversibly. A massive exodus of funds from the stock market would cause incalculable damage to the American economy, which had already abandoned a large portion of manufacturing and relied heavily on capital account surpluses for profits.

Even if the White House follows the practices adopted since 9/11, such as convening meetings with the heads of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Treasury Department, Verizon, and Associated Edison, investigating a large number of transactions in the weeks leading up to the attacks, and relocating numerous staff members from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, these measures cannot save the US economy in the short term. The only solution is to launch a war on terror, just as it did with Iraq against Latvia.

This will not only give capital and the public confidence, but also create a safe trading environment.

However, Latvia possesses the world's most advanced military technology. If the United States declares war, the US mainland will no longer be safe, and even the US president will be at risk. Hypersonic missiles can pinpoint the US president's location and strike him with precision in less than five minutes. This is fatal for a country that relies on votes, as it means no key figure can be in a specific location for more than five minutes. Moreover, declaring war does not guarantee the safety of Wall Street. The current market closure is less a reflection of damage to the power grid and communication networks in the attack and more an attempt by the Federal Reserve and the White House to retain capital that is about to flee.

The European capital flight to the United States has failed, so in the short term, they have no choice but to cooperate with Latvia.

When American capital sees that the United States can no longer provide a safe trading environment, it will not hesitate to flee, but where it flees to is a matter of great importance. The Latvian Regency had long been prepared to swallow this money whole and use it on its territory, which has now expanded several times over.

Therefore, the Democrats either had to abandon the election and relinquish the presidency, or surrender completely and negotiate peace with Latvia. Neither option was acceptable to the White House; it was a complete dead end, a suggestion made by Stephanie Malik, the administrator of the Immortal City, after studying 9/11. No one understood the American economy better than the Malik family. This German-American family had arrived in the New World before the founding of the United States, and in a sense, the Malik family was one of the major shareholders of the United States.

Under a series of precise, surgical strikes, American society and the economy were thrown into chaos.

Peter Parker's discharge from the hospital came at a very opportune time, as the streets of New York are now almost a symbol of disorder.

"So, do you want to be a superhero in the public eye, or an unknown street kid?" Salomon looked at him. "I'm not trying to be your life coach; I'm just asking you, do you want to live or die a miserable death?"

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)