The hands of the pocket watch turned backward, and the camera began to retrace in time.
When the Lizard fell from the top of the Stark Tower, Dr. Connors only remembered the howling wind in his ears. Gradually, he recalled the sound of splintering bullets that had whizzed past his ears.
Accompanied by immense pain from the fall and a blur of blood before his eyes, Connors felt as if he had just awoken from a dream.
Many years ago, he had been just a newly enlisted military doctor. Like all young people of that era, they had believed deeply in the principles of defending their country. So, full of confidence, he had joined the war with his comrades.
Connors couldn't remember the ambitious mindset they had had back then. The cruelty of the battlefield had shattered all their dreams. Injuries, deaths, and bloodshed had never shown any mercy to anyone based on ideals and ambitions.
When he returned to his hometown, Connors became a wounded and beaten dog. He received compensation, and then, like a leaking garbage bag, he was thrown into the corner of the sewer.
This cruel society had never shown any leniency to him because of his past merits and honors. He had clumsily learned how to live with one hand, like a clown on a stage, making people laugh with his twisted movements.
The sound of bottles and jars falling and shattering reverberated in Connors' ears. His dream sank deeper and deeper. The few remaining colorful memories gradually faded away, leaving behind endless darkness.
He remembered the young soldier from their team who used to laugh the most. When Connors saw him again, he had aged significantly. But he still wore a full smile and told Connors that he would be rescued soon, that the country hadn't given up on him, and that he would soon become better.
Most of the young people who had once been passionate, didn't have the same educational background as Connors. Most of them had never been to college. So, as long as they heard some seemingly profound terms, they felt as if they had been given a divine opportunity to change their unlucky lives.
From that old comrade, Connors had learned about a secret military plan.
The black nights in his dreams grew darker and darker. Connors only remembered the cold glow of the computer screen flashing in his vision. When he saw the information recorded on a certain document, he knew that from that moment on, he had to keep his mouth shut and remain silent forever.
In this terrible deception, there was no need for any clear-minded supporting characters.
After losing an arm, Connors had lost his ability to speak once again. He became mute.
Countless data and information became clearer in his dreams. They surrounded and engulfed him. The intense guilt and pressure almost drove him insane.
Since then, Connors had made up his mind. If life was meant to be a fall, then he would descend just like he was doing now. Even if he died here, he must leave a painfully deep mark on this land.
The last word that existed in his consciousness was the name he couldn't forget in so many silent nights - "Extremis Plan."
The cold glow of the computer screen cast on Peter's face. He searched for information in the laboratory Dr. Connors once used in the Stark Tower.
After Dr. Connors was sent to the hospital for rescue, guilt devoured Peter. He knew the problem must lie in the serum that Dr. Connors had been researching all along. He couldn't help with the operation, so he wanted to find a way through the research data to see if there was a way to undo its effects.
Although Dr. Connors had taken his data with him when leaving the Stark Tower, this collaborative research belonged to Stark Industries and the military. Some parts of it were still stored in the terminal data recording devices in the Stark Tower.
Peter knew Dr. Connors had the authority to modify the data on those devices, so he wanted to find some clues.
But what puzzled Peter was that the data device Dr. Connors used was too clean. It was impossible for someone to have deleted even the calculator's records from it. Apart from a series of numbers, there was nothing left.
Peter found it strange, because Dr. Connors was not that kind of person. He was very meticulous in his academic research, and he wouldn't have deleted the entire process, leaving behind only an ambiguous result.
Peter kept searching on the computer and eventually discovered some clues. He found some combinations of numbers seemed to have a pattern. Peter rapidly tapped on the keyboard. The blue light from the screen reflected on his face and in his eyes. After a while, the light changed. Peter was confused, "What is this? A website?"
Since this data terminal device didn't allow internet access, Peter could only seek help from Jarvis. Jarvis analyzed the website address and found it directed to an encrypted site. It was heavily encrypted, but it couldn't stop Jarvis. Soon, Jarvis retrieved an image from the website.
Peter looked at the holographic screen in front of him and asked, "What is this? It looks like abstract doodles drawn by a child. Are you sure this is what the heavily encrypted website was protecting?"
"Indeed, this is the only thing we have, Mr. Parker."
In a dark laboratory, Peter held his arms and stared at the messy lines on the paper. It was just a blank piece of paper with black lines, appearing random as if someone had casually scribbled on it.
Peter furrowed his brows and looked at it for a while before saying, "No, this drawing shouldn't be viewed like this. Jarvis, please flatten this image and make the lines 3D."
"Is that so, sir?"
Jarvis did as Peter instructed, but the result was still a tangle of lines. Peter continued, "Yes, that's right... Can you straighten them, according to the current turning pattern..."
In less than a second, the tangled mess of black curves turned into a pattern of straight lines.
Peter's eyes widened, "It's the map of the New York sewer system!"
He quickly opened his backpack and took out the paper he had recorded. Comparing it to the paper, he affirmed, "Yes, that's right! It's a 3D map of the sewer. Look, this route is the one I often take... I definitely remember it, I wandered around inside for days..."
"But why? Why did Dr. Connors hide this map? If someone wandered around the sewers for a few days, they should be able to figure out this path, right?"
Peter scratched his head. He continued to look at the pattern and turned it around, then lowered his head to compare it with the route he had obtained.
"... No, there seem to be some wrong paths here. Like here, it should turn right after going down the next staircase. Why does it show a left turn? There's also no manhole cover here, and at the intersection of these paths... the storage reservoir!"
"Dr. Connors is pointing to that reservoir! But what's there? That lab? But..."
Peter thought for a moment, quickly put away the map in his hand, and then grabbed his backpack. He said, "Jarvis, please stay in contact with me at all times! I may need your technical support later..."
"No problem, Mr. Stark has granted you most of the technical support privileges."
Peter hurriedly ran out of Stark Tower with his backpack and found the closest manhole cover to climb in. He went through the sewers quickly and soon arrived at the reservoir where he had previously burned down the lab.
When he opened the door to the maintenance station, there were still traces of burn marks. Peter felt something was wrong now. This maintenance station might look like an evil lab, but it was only superficial. Peter didn't find any useful information there.
Instead, there were various specimens and even some unidentified organ samples. As a practised eye, Peter knew that biological experiments were not just about playing with corpses as outsiders might think. These specimens that had been soaked for a long time were useless at all.
Now he knew this lab belonged to Dr. Connors, which made it even stranger. Dr. Connors was also an insider, why would he carefully arrange a bunch of equipment and specimens that were completely useless in experiments? It was as if to make people believe it was a biological lab.
Everything there seemed to be for outsiders, satisfying their fantasies about evil scientists.
Previously, Peter didn't know that the owner was Dr. Connors, and he hadn't paid much attention to the oddity. But now that he was back there, Peter recalled the scene he saw in the lab. Compared to a real biological lab, there looked more like a deliberately arranged stage.
Peter became more and more confused. If there wasn't the place where Dr. Connors truly conducted experiments, then why did he hide a clue there, and what did it refer to?
Peter stubbornly searched there, feeling the walls and floor for possible hidden doors. But he found nothing.
Peter left the maintenance station somewhat disappointed. He suddenly noticed the moss at the entrance of the station had been cleaned, and some white powder remained in the corners of the wall. Peter recalled quickly. He remembered on the way there, some places had cleaned moss while others didn't.
He took a few steps forward and saw a trace at a corner. Following the deliberate cleaning trace of the moss, Peter followed it and noticed that on the same path, there was a trace on the staircase going downwards, but the road ahead had none.
Peter followed the disappearing traces of moss all the way and eventually, these traces led him to an endpoint at the very bottom of the sewer.
There was another maintenance station there.
The door of this maintenance station was not locked, and it was clearly abandoned for a long time. It was the very bottom part of the New York sewer, a place that never sees daylight.
Peter opened the door, and what appeared before his eyes was just a common maintenance station, with various boxes piled up and long-unused cleaning tools, all looking like old things from a previous century.
Peter waved his hand in front of his face to dispel the dust. He opened all the boxes and found one box at the bottom containing an unidentified object.
Opening the box, Peter found a device he had never seen before. It was a square, black device with an antenna. Peter took out his phone and took a picture, then called Jarvis. Soon, Jarvis informed him it seemed to be an old data terminal with a signal transmitter. Although it was an older version, the power was still impressive.
"So, what's in it?" Peter asked.
"You can bring it to Stark Tower, and I can perform a physical hack on it."
So Peter put the data terminal into his backpack and left, carrying it with him.