Gwen looked at Hannah's cute and quiet face under her red-rimmed glasses, quietly walked up to Merlin, nudged him with her shoulder, and asked teasingly, "So you like quiet girls? I thought your head was all gasoline and gears."
"If you didn't always let me down, I could like you too," Merlin retorted, patting her hard on the back before smiling at Hannah as if nothing had happened.
Gwen gritted her teeth and stretched out her palm to retaliate, but after considering her unskilled strength, she decided against it.
Just as she was about to come up with a verbal comeback, a commotion suddenly erupted from the Science and Technology Exhibition Center.
"It looks like there's some powerful exhibit," Merlin said, following the crowd towards the source of the noise.
However, when they got closer, they found that a tough-bodied student with a buzz cut was bullying a skinny student with a backpack. Two men, one black and one white, stood nearby, watching the scene with mocking expressions.
"That guy Flash is bullying people again," Gwen frowned, recognizing the scene that had caused the commotion.
"That seems to be Peter?" Merlin said suddenly, noticing his classmate who was struggling on the ground.
When Gwen heard this, she immediately looked over and saw that it was indeed her friend. She was shocked and ready to take action.
But Merlin spoke first. "Flash, let go of Peter! This is a science and technology exhibition center, not your football field!" As he said this, he took out a strange pistol from his waist and pointed it at them.
The action of pulling out a gun startled the surrounding students, but when they saw the pistol that Merlin pulled out, which looked like a toy model, they immediately showed a mix of confusion and amusement.
Flash also subconsciously took a few steps back, but when he saw Merlin holding what appeared to be a toy pistol with spring coils around it, he couldn't help but sneer.
Gwen, next to him, was stunned when she saw the pistol in Merlin's hand. The pistol was entirely blue and looked like plastic. The front section wasn't a traditional barrel, but a circle of yellow spring coils, resembling more of a radio wave emitter.
With the combination of blue and yellow and the weird shape, it looked no different from an ordinary toy gun. But soon, Gwen, who often stayed at home, recognized the pistol in front of her. It seemed to be the weapon from the game that was popular all over the country recently. She remembered clearly that it was used in online mode. Well, this time it really was a toy gun.
Gwen was poised and ready to strike.
"Do you want to try it?" Merlin's face was calm, as if he didn't notice the strange looks around him.
Seeing the confident expression on Merlin's face, Flash was a little undecided. Merlin's presence in the school was usually very low, and he had been bullied before. However, during a fight before the holidays, Merlin had suddenly taken out a wrench and taught the bully a lesson, making not many people willing to provoke him after that.
Later, some students found out that Merlin worked in a car modification shop and would carry some wrenches, hammers, and other tools with him.
"Shit! You freak, do you think a toy gun can scare us? Do you think we are idiots?" A violent voice suddenly came from Flash's ear, followed by his short-haired black companion rushing out with anger on his face.
Flash subconsciously wanted to stop him but thought it would be good to have someone help test it out.
"This gun is still under development. I hope you are okay," Merlin said, looking at the man getting closer and closer, then pulled the trigger.
With a ferocious look on his face, the man, Tenard, stretched out his hand to grab the gun in Merlin's hand, intending to take it away, throw it to the ground to break it, and then teach him a lesson.
But just as his palm was about to touch the toy gun, a strange wave suddenly emitted from it, followed by an unparalleled force hitting him.
"Boom!"
"Zizzi..." The atomic wave ejected, sparking an electric arc in the void. Tenard, who had just approached, was instantly thrown out like a ragdoll, crashing into Flash and the two people behind him.
Under the huge impact, the three people fell directly out of the encirclement.
"Boom!" A series of thudding sounds echoed in the now-silent exhibition hall. All the students watching seemed frozen, their mouths wide open in surprise, as if they had not yet recovered from the scene.
"What happened? What's going on?" A teacher from the exhibition walked in through the crowd. When they saw Flash and his two companions lying on the ground, moaning in pain, they couldn't help but frown.
Soon, their eyes fell on Merlin. "Did you do this?" The teacher couldn't imagine how Merlin had thrown three strong men away. Merlin nodded and was about to explain when a middle-aged man in a suit suddenly approached him excitedly.
"Hey, kid, can you show me the... gun in your hand?" The man asked, eyeing the electromagnetic gun, which looked almost nothing like a traditional firearm except for the handle.
"You are?" Merlin glanced at him doubtfully.
"Oh, I am a technical agent from the Stark Industries R&D Department, Miron Otero. Here is my business card." Miron realized he was being a bit abrupt and quickly took out a business card from his pocket, handing it over.
Merlin took the business card and looked at it. After confirming that there was no problem, he nodded. "Okay, but this is still a semi-finished product. Try not to touch the coil and trigger."
He handed over the energy gun.
Since he participated in the college science and technology exhibition to attract the attention of military technology companies, he didn't hide his invention.
"Thank you!" Miron politely thanked him and then excitedly took the energy gun.
The teacher, who originally wanted to inquire about the cause of the incident, slowed down and then asked the students at the scene about the situation.
"Are you okay?" While Miron was observing the atomic gun, Merlin pulled Peter up from the ground.
Because he is neighbors with the Stacy family, Merlin and Gwen had been friends since childhood. In school, he met Peter through Gwen.
However, recently, Peter has often been chasing Spider-Woman with a camera, and Merlin has been working on games and technology . As for Gwen, if nothing else, she is the Spider woman who has caused a lot of trouble in New York recently.
After getting up, Peter nervously opened his backpack and looked inside. After making sure there was nothing wrong, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you! I'm fine."
"Peter, fight back next time you encounter this, otherwise they will just keep bullying you," Gwen said, feeling a bit helpless as she looked at her weak friend.
"Find some time to learn how to fight. If you need it, I can pass on my trainer to you," Merlin added. Before taking revenge, Merlin had specially found a retired military coach to learn fighting and firearms for a period of time.