The Death Knell

"This story starts with Athena. Do you know Athena? Legend has it that one day she heard about a mortal woman, a mortal just like you and me, who had mastered textile technology that was even more advanced than her."

Norman speaks quickly, with an unmistakable feeling in his voice. He only stops when he needs your response, giving you a chance to compliment him.

It is not enough to have science and technology to work in Osborne Industries. Scientists are the most indispensable 'tools' in the world. Of course, the researchers around Norman are no exception. He is very good at catering to his boss, so he can take over this job. Crucial experiment.

The Oz Experiment was previously run by Richard Parker and his wife, but after their deaths in the 1990s, the project was restarted in recent years.

For some reason, Mr. Osborn seems to be very eager for this project, perhaps stimulated by Tony Stark.

There is a rumor in the company that every time Iron Man goes on TV for an interview, Norman, a biologist, breaks things at home.

"Textile?" Dr. Jester complimented in a timely manner.

The timing of the question was just right, which greatly satisfied Norman's vanity of popularizing science.

Norman nodded and continued: "Athena heard about the existence of this weaver girl and was very unhappy, so she went down to earth and secretly destroyed all the textiles and tools of the woman."

"It sounds like it was done by a woman." The doctor praised again.

"When this mortal woman found out that the gods had insulted her personality and ruined all her hard work, she committed suicide." Norman continued with a smile. He touched the spider's furry back: "Athena still feels that Not happy, how dare a mortal offend a god and commit suicide to escape? So he found the woman’s body.”

This time he didn't give the doctor a chance to ask questions, so he continued quickly:

"She said to the corpse, since you love weaving so much, I will let you spin as long as you can, Arachne, and you will continue to weave forever. As Athena spoke, the woman's body began to shrink and turn black."

"First her nose and ears fell off, then her arms and legs turned into eight legs, and the remains of the loom merged into her grotesque body and turned into a huge belly."

"Ever since then, she's been spinning around in circles and spinning..."

"Mr. Osborne?"

Just as he was talking enthusiastically, suddenly the secretary's voice came from behind, urging him to ruin Norman's good mood.

"What?!" Norman suddenly became furious. He stared at the secretary walking behind him fiercely: "I told you! Don't disturb me when I'm doing experiments!"

The secretary was trembling with fear, because if she was fired, she would lose everything.

She handed over the phone and quickly explained: "It's your lawyer. He said he has something very important that he needs to see you for."

Norman was so angry that he grabbed the phone with his hands. He lost control and threw the spider to his secretary. He strode out the door and shouted at the phone:

"Way! I told you! There is no room for negotiation on this matter. If Ross wants us to participate in the new 'weapons program', he must sign a commercial contract with us! I want the blood of the Hulk too! No! You've already bothered me! Now I'm going to bother you, and if you still can't handle this, I'll sink you to the bottom of the Hudson River!"

While cursing the lawyer's incompetence, his voice disappeared into the corridor of the laboratory with rapid footsteps.

The secretary came to her senses and realized what was in her hand, a big furry spider staring at her with red compound eyes.

"ah!"

She let out a scream and subconsciously threw the spider upward...

Then? There's no after that.

The spider seemed to disappear into thin air instantly.

"No! Close the laboratory and everyone will find it for me! If I can't find it, everyone will lose their jobs!"

Dr. Jester immediately panicked. As the project director, he shouted orders to everyone, and then he was the first to lie on the ground and start searching for traces of spiders.

There was a chaos in the laboratory, and the sound of rummaging through boxes and cabinets was endless, including the cry of the secretary.

No one noticed that while they all lowered their heads to look for it, the eight-legged animal slipped into the ventilation duct from the corner of the ceiling. Its eight legs came into contact with the metal, leaving behind a sound that humans could not hear. Click.

.............................

The day passed quickly, and Peter had a rare peaceful lunch in the cafeteria without Thompson interrupting him. It was so wonderful.

But after school, he still had things to do.

Uncle Ben died in a sudden accident a few years ago. When he was driving, he encountered an underground gas pipeline explosion. That's what the government said anyway.

Since then, Peter and Aunt May have been dependent on each other. For him who has no father or mother, Aunt May is like a mother.

She already worked three jobs to support the family, and Peter had to work to help lighten her burden.

Rent, water, electricity, gas, property, insurance, tuition, food, etc., a lot of various expenses have long spent all the compensation money Uncle Ben had, and he had to find ways to increase revenue while cutting expenses.

But he is too young. Even though child labor has always been a custom in European and American countries, it is difficult to find a job that makes a lot of money.

So he could only help Wilson's fast food restaurant deliver goods. Strictly speaking, he didn't even have anything to do with the fast food chain, because he was a temporary worker for Midnight Express, another branch of Wilson Enterprises.

He can earn three US dollars for every order he delivers. In this way, from school in the afternoon until about ten o'clock in the night, he can earn almost twenty or thirty US dollars a day. In a month, he can save five to six hundred dollars to support his family.

Aunt Mei didn't want his money, but let him save it to pay for college tuition.

If you go to medical school or something, the annual tuition will be about $60,000, so it's better to prepare as early as possible.

Well, you can save enough for one year of medical school tuition in one hundred months...

No matter what Aunt May thinks, Peter is not going to study medicine.

The weather is not very good tonight. I don’t know where the subtropical cyclone came from but is about to land again. The sun is shining brightly in the morning, but after the sun goes down, it looks like a howling wind.

Generally speaking, rain and snow are good for couriers, because more people will order takeout. But windy weather is definitely a nightmare for people who deliver food on bicycles.

Swinging left and right with the person and the car is like an invisible troublemaker pushing you from all angles. In this situation, it is difficult to control the handlebars. If you are facing the wind, you cannot press the pedals at all.

After delivering two orders, Peter felt his liver hurt, so he gave up the idea of ​​making money today, quit the delivery app on the cheap second-hand mobile phone, and prepared to go home early.

But on the way home, he happened to pass by the hospital where Jessica was hospitalized. After thinking about it, he went in anyway.

In the corridor full of the smell of disinfectant, even the bright lights make people feel uncomfortable. From time to time, faint cries can be heard, which is that someone has lost a loved one.

This made Peter's heart heavy.

He came to the door of Jessica's ward and knocked on the door: "Jessica, I'm Peter Parker, and I'm here to see you."

Of course there was no answer.

And Peter has become accustomed to it these days. When he opened the door, he saw the girl staring blankly out of the window, sitting on the bed like a puppet.

The Baxter Group compensated for the hospitalization expenses, so Jessica lived in a single ward with a bathroom and a TV, but she just sat silently in the dark without even turning on the light.

With the light spreading from the corridor behind him, Peter could barely see something clearly.

Today's girl still has a fruit basket on her bedside table, with a card dropped on top of the apples. The classic gold and red color scheme is signed with Tony Stark's fancy signature, and she writes a blessing without much sincerity, like unity. Printed.

The atmosphere in the room was cold, and Peter swallowed: "Can I turn on the light?"

"..." The girl still looked out the window without saying a word.

"Forget it, don't be angry." Peter retracted his hand, wiped it on his body, and showed an awkward smile: "Have you eaten tonight? Is there anything you want to eat?"

"..." It was still quiet.

After she woke up a few days ago, she learned that all her family members had died, and then she showed a serious tendency to be autistic.

As a classmate, a witness to the accident, and being asked by Iron Man to take care of the girl, Peter believed it was his responsibility to help her get back on her feet.

However, he has problems dealing with normal girls. How should he communicate with autistic girls? Peter almost wanted to take out his phone and look it up online.

No matter what, he simply sat on the chair next to the bed. Regardless of whether Jessica listened or not, he talked about the visit to Osborne Industries tomorrow.

Suddenly, he had a bright idea:

"Yes, if you don't want others to know your current situation, then I can bring a camera to visit tomorrow and take some photos of your friends to show you. Do you miss them?"

Jessica was still staring out the window, but her ears moved slightly.