America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

Peter saw a plastic mannequin wearing a red knitted hat that tightly covered its head and neck, with holes for its eyes.

“Buying a winter hat in the summer is definitely a good deal,” Li Qun said to Peter.

The hat Peter saw was a balaclava, a hat originating from the balaclava region of the Crimean Peninsula, where locals wore this headgear-like hat to protect themselves from the cold sea winds.

It is a common winter clothing item for keeping warm, but it has also been associated with negative connotations due to its use in criminal activities to conceal one's identity.

Chapter 147 The Masked Hero

"Hopefully, the hat is still intact."

Two days later, Peter returned to the mall and set his sights on a red balaclava hat that only revealed the eyes.

Peter calmly placed his balaclava on the counter to pay. The clerk smiled at him; she remembered Peter Parker, who had come just two days earlier.

Cash or card?

"cash."

Peter paid, and the clerk put the balaclava hat into a brown paper shopping bag, along with the receipt.

Peter had just stepped out of the mall when he looked around. He tore the receipts from his shopping bag into pieces, stuffed his balaclava into his pocket, and casually placed the brown paper shopping bag at the feet of a homeless black man holding a sign. He also donated $1 to the homeless man.

"God bless you, child."

“God bless you, sir,” Peter said.

The Black homeless man smiled but didn't say anything.

Peter walked home, and on the way, he skillfully slipped into a dirty, dark alley.

He took a red balaclava from his pocket and put it on.

Apart from the skin around his eyes, which reveals that Peter is white, his other facial features are hidden.

Peter climbed up the wall and then took a few steps to the rooftop terrace.

Peter gradually became skilled at swinging between cities on his webs, and now equipped with a balaclava hat, he was no longer afraid of being seen while swinging on his webs.

Swinging home on a spider's web is much faster than taking a public bus, taxi, or New York City's subway system.

"Help! Help me!!"

Peter heard cries for help coming from the alley ahead from a distance. Peter landed on the rooftop and looked down into the alley.

A woman's purse was stolen by a man, who was also planning further illegal acts.

Peter quietly jumped down from the rooftop and then slowly stood up behind the criminal.

The woman who was being robbed saw a "red hooded man" appear behind the robber, and the change in her eyes alerted the robber.

Before the robber could react, Peter grabbed the gun in the robber's hand with one hand and knocked the robber unconscious with the other.

"My God!" the woman cried out in alarm.

Peter picked up the handbag from the wall and threw it to the woman, then turned and ran to the other end of the alley.

“There’s a wall there…” the woman kindly reminded Peter.

Peter kicked left and right in the corner of the wall, just like a scene from a kung fu movie coming to life. The "red hooded man" walked away by stepping on the wall, leaving the lady staring blankly at the spot where Peter disappeared.

The woman turned to look at the unconscious robber lying on the ground and kicked a soccer ball at the criminal's lower body.

"You son of a bitch," the woman cursed, and hurried away.

Peter stood on the rooftop watching the woman walk back onto the street, making sure that no further accidents would occur.

Peter glanced down at the pistol he had snatched from his hand, feeling somewhat troubled.

What should he do with this pistol?

Let's find a place to hide first.

He can't hide at home; he has to hide somewhere he can check on at any time.

Peter hid the pistol on the rooftop of a building, wrapped in a plastic bag.

Not just any building allows people to access the rooftop; many buildings only allow access to the rooftop via external fire escape stairs.

When Peter got home, a smile involuntarily crept onto his face.

He saved a lady today, and the feeling of being a masked hero thrilled him.

Peter took a can of Coke from the refrigerator and drank it, then sat down on the sofa in front of the TV to watch the news.

……

……

"Liqun, may I spar with you?"

On the rooftop of Old Man's Pawnshop, Peter asked Li Qun a question.

“Peter, I’m available anytime, but do you think you’re ready?” Li Qun asked Peter.

"Be mentally prepared? I am already prepared," Peter replied to Li Qun.

“To be precise, it’s about preparing to be beaten,” Li Qun said to Peter.

“I’ll try not to make a sound,” Peter smiled at Li Qun.

“Shuangxi, you see, Peter wants to challenge me.” Liqun tilted his head to look at Shuangxi, pointed at Peter and smiled.

Li Qun found some soft cushions and laid them out on the rooftop. He laid two layers of cushions, and Li Qun and Peter stood on the cushions and began to "spar" with each other.

"Let's set a rule: the soft mat will be the boundary; if your body goes out of bounds, you lose," Li Qun said.

"it is good."

Li Qun and Peter bowed and clasped their hands in greeting, and the two began their offensive and defensive exchanges on the narrow soft mat.

Li Qun made the first move, stepping towards Peter. However, Peter was astonished to see Li Qun trip over his own foot with his left, and fall into Peter's arms.

"Peter, you were careless!"

Peter was knocked back a step by Li Qun before he realized that this was Li Qun's move.

Seeing that Peter was about to retaliate, Li Qun ducked to the ground and started throwing ground punches.

“Liqun, you have to get up!” Peter shouted.

“You’ll have to find a way to get me up,” Li Qun replied with a smile.

Li Qun swept Peter's feet left and right with one leg, completely drawing Peter into his offensive rhythm.

“Peter, you need to think quickly, or you’ll be out of bounds if you take two more steps back,” Li Qun warned Peter.

"Then I'll roll over!"

Peter jumped towards Li Qun, tucked his neck in as his body hit the ground, and let his shoulders and back touch the mat. He rolled once on the mat and stood up, ending up behind Li Qun.

"A beautiful roll!"

Peter didn't rush to get up. Instead, he braced himself with one hand and kicked at Li Qun.

Imitation is also a form of learning, and Peter is imitating Liqun.

Li Qun raised his foot and collided with Peter's foot. Li Qun's shinbone collided violently with Peter's shinbone, and Li Qun's leg was the first to pull back.

Peter's bones are too hard; Li Qun doesn't want to break his own leg bone.

Li Qun rolled over and got up, and Peter also seized the opportunity to get up.

Li Qun, who had gotten up first, kicked Peter in the stomach, trying to send Peter flying before Peter could regain his balance.

Peter's body was exceptionally flexible, allowing him to dodge Li Qun's kick at an extremely tight angle.

Can we come again?

Li Qun landed on one foot and raised the other, kicking Peter sideways.

"I dodged it!" Peter laughed, having narrowly escaped danger once again.

Shuangxi, watching from the side, felt ashamed and bit her lip.

He and Peter started practicing kung fu on the same day, but now Peter can fight his cousin Li Qun to a standstill.

In a friendly exchange, Li Qun didn't use any drastic moves and fought Peter back and forth for hundreds of rounds. Neither of these superhumans with their superhuman stamina bars felt tired.

Peter's dodging ability improved dramatically during these hundreds of rounds of sparring, even giving Li Qun the illusion that Peter could predict the future.

Chapter 148 Child, you are becoming more and more like your father.

Peter poured a full cup of spider silk protein into the glass and began another study on his self-produced spider silk protein.

Peter had never looked forward to the start of school so much; he was eager to use the equipment in the school's chemistry lab to study his spider silk protein.

Buying a set of experimental equipment myself is too expensive, and I don't have anywhere to put it.

Converting your basement into a chemistry lab... that's something you can't even imagine. Some police department would come and blow up the door, arrest you, Uncle Ben, and Aunt May and put them in jail.

Peter was observing his own spider silk protein with an optical microscope, a Christmas gift from his Uncle Ben one year. Peter had used this microscope to observe plant cells and his own blood.

Now, under this microscope, Peter discovered that the spider silk protein he produced was very different from that of normal spider silk.

Peter studied his spider silk, one of his purposes being to make himself a special outfit from it.

Peter consulted many sources and found that some wealthy people in the world had tried to make clothes out of spider silk, and the clothes made of spider silk cost millions of dollars.

Silk is a common material for making clothes, and the technology is very mature and inexpensive. Peter wanted to use his spider silk to make clothes, referencing the properties of silk.

His spider silk would decompose naturally after eight hours, a problem that greatly troubled him.

Once the problem of spider silk protein decomposing within eight hours is solved, half the goal of making special clothing from spider silk protein will be achieved.

Solving the problem of spider silk decomposing in eight hours requires a chemical solution; Peter has tried as many physical methods as possible, but they are not feasible under his current conditions.

Spider silk protein is afraid of high temperatures and flames. Its silk cannot withstand the burning of flames. In the low temperature state below zero, the properties of its silk will change. The stable temperature range of spider silk protein is the temperature range in which it can live normally.

Peter tested the limits of spider silk protein secretion and its effects on the body. He found that excessive secretion of spider silk affected his body's water consumption. Excessive spider silk spraying reduced his urination and perspiration, and his lips became dry due to dehydration.

Peter found the process of spider silk synthesis by the spider silk glands in his wrists to be amazing, and water played an extremely important role in it.

It seems that as long as he keeps hydrating, he can keep shooting spider silk.