"Really? But how is that possible?" Toby Spider's first reaction was disbelief.
Mark tilted his head slightly. "Want me to show you? Can you move now?"
"Of course, who do you think I am?" Toby Spider pretended to be strong.
Saying that, he reached out towards a nearby building.
Swoosh—
A strand of web shot out, and at the same time, he tried to grab it with his hand.
However, perhaps due to the heavy injuries and his body not fully recovered, his reaction was a beat slow, and the web slipped through his fingers.
Mark watched with some amusement. This young Spider-Man in front of him was different from the middle-aged version he had seen before; he carried the spirit and energy of a young person who would never give up.
"Of course, I know who you are, Bully Maguire~" Mark walked over with a smirk.
"Bully Maguire?" Toby Spider turned his head in confusion, "Who's that? It sounds cool, but I don't know him. You must have mistaken the person."
"Alright, Peter, let's go," Mark shook his head helplessly, no longer teasing him. He grabbed Toby's shoulder, and with a spurt of web from his right hand, they flew up to the rooftop.
Originally, Toby Spider wanted to resist; the force used by the other party wasn't significant, and he could easily break free. But when he saw the web spit out from Mark's hand and the precise call of his name, he chose to stay still, allowing Mark to carry him up.
"You are really Spider-Man too! It's unbelievable; I thought I was the only one." While flying in mid-air, Toby Spider began to chatter incessantly.
Mark didn't pay attention to him.
After landing on the rooftop, Mark let go of Toby Spider and casually took off his own mask. Then, he pressed his chest, and the nanometal battle suit came off.
"Woah, woah!" Toby Spider's attention was immediately diverted, and he exclaimed in amazement, "Buddy, your suit is way too cool!"
Toby Spider glanced at his own ragged battle suit, then at Mark's suit, which still looked pristine after taking it off. He immediately felt envious.
Look at his suit; with a quick whoosh, it could be stowed away.
Now, look at his suit?
Every time after washing, it would fade, and if he accidentally put it in the washing machine with other clothes, the suit would be ruined.
After it faded, he had to touch it up with paint, or it would damage his image as Spider-Man.
Not only that.
Although he didn't examine it closely, he could tell that the suit of the person in front of him seemed to have better protective capabilities and various aspects than his own.
Darn it.
The more he thought about it, the more envious Toby Spider became.
Envy nearly tore him apart.
"It's cool, right? I think so too," Mark chuckled, "Why don't you make a suit for yourself?"
Toby Spider clearly showed interest.
But soon, he lowered his head with a dejected tone, "I don't have money."
Toby Spider was indeed very poor.
In Mark's world, Toby Spider's version was regarded by many as the most classic "Spider-Man" movie. Even in the subsequent two generations, there were many scenes paying tribute to it, such as the iconic upside-down kiss and stopping the train.
However, at the same time, Toby Spider was also the most down-to-earth Spider-Man.
After taking off the battle suit, he was just an ordinary, even mediocre person. Unlike Andrew Spider, who had super manufacturing abilities, or Tom Holland's Spider-Man with a wealthy "father figure," Toby Spider, on the other hand, was quite impoverished.
He made a living by delivering takeout to people and occasionally sold some pictures of himself wearing the Spider-Man suit to newspapers for money, but even then, sometimes he couldn't afford the rent. Mark once felt that he was the most unfortunate superhero.
Mark patted his shoulder reassuringly, "It's okay, I don't have money either."
"Uh..." Toby Spider looked doubtful.
Mark's clothes looked fine, and he had that amazing Spider-Man battle suit. He didn't seem like someone who lacked money.
However, Mark really didn't have much money.
His clothes were purchased from the base, internal distribution, and considered a benefit, so the cost wasn't high.
Moreover, he lived in an era more than ten to fifteen years later than Toby Spider's time, and public technology was more advanced, so naturally, it looked more upscale.
In fact, the entire outfit Mark wore would only cost a little over a hundred bucks.
As for the Spider-Man battle suit, he obtained it entirely for free.
However, no matter how Mark explained it, Toby Spider didn't believe him.
"Okay, Peter, why don't you go and change your clothes first?" Mark pointed at Toby Spider's attire, suggesting.
"So, you really are Spider-Man? Why haven't I seen you before? Did you come from another city?" Toby Spider walked alongside Mark on the rooftop, still curious as he asked.
"Another city? You could say that," Mark nodded slightly.
"Wow, that's cool!" Toby Spider exclaimed.
He pointed upwards, "Actually, I come from another world."
"Another... world?" Toby Spider halted, turning to look at Mark, his eyes wide with astonishment, "You mean, like, parallel universes?"
"Uh-huh," Mark nodded, affirming his thoughts.
"You're a kidding!" Toby Spider stepped back continuously.
Mark: ???
"Cough, just kidding," Toby Spider revealed a smile with white teeth and burst into laughter, then excitedly approached Mark, "So, Democritus' theory of 'countless worlds,' it's actually real? Atoms randomly and chaotically moving, colliding, breaking apart, combining into various shapes, and forming worlds and their contents. And each collision, breakage, and combination lead to infinite possibilities, creating countless worlds, wow-oh-wow! It's so cool, incredibly cool!"
"That's right," Mark said, somewhat surprised.
He thought that Toby Spider might not understand these things, after all, as far as he knew, Toby Spider was only in high school now. However, Toby Spider's knowledge turned out to be unexpectedly broad.
He even mentioned things that Mark had no clue about.
It seemed that genius was genius.
Even with the same public school education and the need to work part-time to support himself, Toby Spider managed to acquire a wealth of knowledge in his spare time.
"Multiverse, multiverse, wow! What would that be like? Is your world the same as ours?" Toby Spider asked curiously.
Mark shook his head, "Although some universe are parallel to each other, each universe actually has slight differences. For example, I've been to another universe before and encountered six different Spider-Men."
°°°
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