The landing spot for Spider Man and Helen was far from ideal; they fell onto the rooftop of a commercial building in Manhattan. Geographically, Manhattan may not be considered the center of New York. Nevertheless, it was undeniably one of the most bustling areas in the city.
When the disaster struck, the majority of office workers had no means to fight back. A horrifying hoard of the undead drowned all the streets.
As Spider Man swung down from the skyscraper, seeing the legions of zombies with hollowed eyes staring at him from below, he felt a chill up his spine. He carried Helen to the rooftop of the opposing building, then gently placed her down.
"Sorry about this," Helen scratched her head and said, "My physical strength has become somewhat erratic. We've lost contact with the World Tree in our dimension. Any divine power we use to protect ourselves gets depleted, so it's better to conserve as much as possible."
"No problem", Spider Man waved his hand and said, "Kids should not be participating in battle. No matter how strong you are, this entire universe is off-limits to you right now. If a fight breaks out with the zombies later, please keep your eyes closed."
"Are you out of your mind?" Helen looked at him in disbelief, "Haven't you noticed how powerful those monsters are? Look at them, they're incredibly strong, can jump several meters high, and many of them haven't lost their minds completely. It's like being surrounded by Spider Mans everywhere!"
"Then you're underestimating Spider Man," Spider Man asserted, "I admit zombies are strong, or else they wouldn't have been able to overpower the human military overnight. But Spider Man's strength has never been about physical strength. I will protect us both, and figure out a way to get us out of here."
Helen blinked and looked at Spider Man's mask, "I feel like you've changed, but I can't quite put it into words."
Spider Man stood on the edge of the building looking down at the contorted faces of the zombies, and said, "I can tell they're starving, insane from hunger. Not too long ago, I experienced the pain brought by hunger firsthand."
"It's a burning sensation spreading from your stomach to your entire body. It feels like there's a hole being dug in the center of your body, and all your energy and spirit are flowing out of it. You just watch it happen but can't do anything about it."
Spider Man sighed slightly, speaking in a low tone, "But that's different from these zombies. They're hungry, they feed, and then they're hungry again, they feed again. They only consume, but can't create anything."
"The deepest despair I felt before starving to death was that if only I had a mouthful of food to keep me alive, I could use my hands to create so much. As long as there's a bit of heat to keep my brain working, I can definitely figure out many ways to escape the current predicament."
"People eat to live until the next day, and tomorrow will always hold hope. Hence, they must do everything they can to keep on living, to endure another day, to work hard at creating opportunities. This is a powerful driving force that enables us to accept many things we couldn't otherwise accept."
"But zombies are driven by their primal hunger. They accumulate power not to make any changes. They do so just to eat. They don't have this sort of driving force. They simply give in to their desires."
Spider Man reflected on the profound and dark figure he saw against the skyline of the Dark City. He said, "Batman taught me that the greatness of a hero lies not in indulging in desires just because one is already deeply engulfed in a tragedy."
"Being a world-changing superhero in times of peace then claiming to be just an ordinary person as soon as disaster hits, thus succumbing to natural desires, is nothing more than a shameful deserter."
Helen felt a change in the air. As she instinctively turned around, a strand of her hair was cut off by the wind generated by a spinning shield. All she could do was shout, "Spider Man, watch out!!!"
"Boom!"
Spider Man caught the shield with one hand, the immense force driving him back several steps, the muscles and veins on his forearm clearly visible.
Looking at the familiar Stars and Stripes pattern, Spider Man's usually humorous eyes, for the first time, showcased an evil force that originates from something beyond human, ignited by blazing anger.
Slowly increasing the grip on the shield's edge, the Stars and Stripes patterned vibranium shield started to deform under Spider Man's fingers, almost piercing through the shield.
During the moment Spider Man took a deep breath, almost all the surrounding oxygen seemed to be sucked away.
Fuel rushed in like a flood; anger set the fire with steam screaming from the boiler; engines hummed and trembled; gears spun leaving residues; power built up in an instant casting a throwing motion.
Spider Man has never let loose his full power in such an irate state. As he swung his arm, the vibranium shield was completely flattened due to the high-speed air resistance. The intense light created by ignited oxygen illuminated Helen's stunned face.
A nearly invisible ball of fire skimmed past Helen's hair, speeding along the trajectory it came from.
Its original owner received this returned greeting in a specific way — the Zombie Captain America who had just jumped onto the building had his head vaporized in one instant by the supersonic shield within the atmosphere.
Before Helen could react to the shock, a mushroom cloud erupted on the New York City skyline.
After the smoke cleared, the iconic Stark Building was no longer recognizable, the top 60 floors had completely disappeared.
Shiller and Stark, who were both standing in the stairwell of the 59th floor, looked up, stunned at the now clear blue sky overhead.
Swallowing hard, Stark said, "I'm guessing what just happened was a self-destruction mechanism of the Stark Building. Probably triggered by our actions and alerting Iron Man. We should quickly leave here."
After he said that he was about to turn around and continue walking, but Shiller hesitated and stopped in his tracks.
Stark looked back at him curiously, asking, "...what's wrong?"
"You might not believe me, but I think I just saw Captain America's shield."
"You must be so full you're hallucinating," Stark grabbed Shiller's arm and continued to lead him downstairs, remarking, "If Captain America turned into a zombie too, he'd definitely be on the same side as Iron Man. Why would he want to blow up the Stark Building?"
"Well, there's another possibility." As Stark was dragging him down the stairs, Shiller looked out of the window and said, "... someone is pissed off now."
Helen watched in shock as Spider-Man, who had just delivered a powerful blow, wasn't even out of breath.
In terms of the Apocalypse, Spider-Man's power wasn't considered strong, but what terrified Helen was that Spider-Man was a humanoid expelling such astoundingly powerful force. It was utterly unscientific.
The skeletal structure of vertebrates determined their force methods, which set the limit of their power. How on earth was this possible?
Then Spider-Man, who had just vented his inner anger and started thinking rationally, saw Helen looking at him expectantly, pleading, "Can you let me bite you?"
Spider-Man was nearly frightened into jumping. Helen quickly waved her hands explaining, "Um, not like that, I haven't been infected by the zombie virus, but...OK, I know it might be hard for you to imagine, but my greatest talent is evolution. And the best way to obtain evolutionary material is to ingest others."
"Of course, I don't mean to eat you. Even just staying near you, I can gradually analyze your abilities. But if you let me bite you…"
"Absolutely not." Spider-Man retreated in horror, narrowing his eight eyes, declaring, "Your eyes are telling me you'd bite off my arm in one shot. That's out of the question!"
Helen snorted, her face betraying a sense of, "I can't believe you figured that out." But her darting eyes indicated she certainly wasn't giving up on the idea.
But at this moment, Spider-Man was having second thoughts. He sighed, "I shouldn't have acted so recklessly. I was just a bit angry. If there is a Captain America in this world, there must be an Iron Man as well. Now that I've blown up his home, he might come after us soon."
"Well, that's perfect." Helen put her hands defiantly on her hips, "Just use that power you had back there and aim it right at his head. Problem solved."
"It's not that simple." While adjusting his Spider Silk Launcher, Spider-Man moved towards the edge of the building, saying, "We need to find a way to save this cosmos. The best way is to research a cure for the zombie virus. I'm not proficient in chemistry and pharmacology. We need to borrow Iron Man's wisdom."
After some thought, Helen asked, "Where do you think Iron Man's wisdom comes from? His brain? If that's the case, maybe I could try eating his brain to analyze his wisdom, then we could create the cure on our own."
Spider-Man was about to say something, but his experiences in Gotham had worn off any unrealistic naivety he had left.
In the past, he would have said that we need to attempt to save the superheroes. But the current situation made him realize that there's no point in trying to save the superheroes in conventional ways.
In the early stages, intelligent heroes like Iron Man undoubtedly tried to save their infected comrades. But the way the world was now indicated that the virus was much more formidable than anyone could imagine. It wasn't something that could be cured by persuasion or realization.
Besides, the infected superheroes still had their intelligence. If they pretended to regain their consciousness but made trouble at a critical moment, it could ruin the whole plan.
Spider-Man was not sure if he could conquer an evil-looking Iron Man, that's why he said he would borrow Iron Man's wisdom, instead of saving him. There were many ways to borrow wisdom, and using only the brain wouldn't be impossible.
Spider-Man thought the old version of himself would never be so ruthless; but now, taking less than a second, he was contemplating how to turn Zombie Iron Man into a brain in a vat.
With a probing look, Helen looked at him, Spider-Man shook his head, rejecting her proposal and said, "That's too risky. The zombie virus is a mystery to us. You say your race won't get infected, but what if it does?"
Helen thought for a moment. Even though reason told her she should be immune to the virus, her instincts were currently mixed up and there was no certainty her resistance mechanism would work correctly. So, she understood Spider-Man's concerns and decided to drop the risky idea.
Her biggest problem right now was the mixed-up files in her mind along with the even more tangled mapping relationships.
Instead of interfering with Spider-Man's plan, she might as well hurry up and adjust herself back to her peak condition. When she fully recovered, she could simply devour the Earth and eradicate the zombie virus physically.
Thinking of this, Helen sank into her different world and started the tedious task of cleaning up, but while she was doing so, she discovered some unusual files in her memory.
Those memories were both familiar and strange to her. The second her gaze fell upon them, her pupils constricted.