Chapter 3: Waking Up as Spider-Man
While talking, Su Ye and Gwen quickly arrived at the classroom, took their seats one after the other, stopped chatting, and started class.
Not long into class, Su Ye suddenly felt a wave of dizziness, like a combination of a hangover, a high fever, and riding a roller coaster.
The whole world was spinning.
The intense discomfort made it impossible for Su Ye to focus, so he spent the entire morning slumped over his desk.
Gwen didn't say anything about it.
Listening in class or sleeping were a student's freedom; that's just the national culture.
However, not everyone saw it that way.
Thompson, who felt humiliated that morning, saw Gwen leave and strode over, reaching out to slap the back of Su Ye's head.
"I held back for Gwen this morning. You think I'd really just let you off, motherf**er?"*
Thompson didn't hold back, determined to teach Su Ye a lesson, to show him who really called the shots in this class—no, in this entire school.
As he swung his hand, a smirk appeared on Thompson's face. He was already picturing Su Ye collapsing to the ground, flustered and helpless.
Smack!
A sharp sound echoed, but the expected impact didn't come. Instead, Thompson's wrist felt a wave of pain, as if it had been caught in an iron grip.
"Ah!"
The pain didn't make Thompson back down; it only stirred his anger, especially when he saw that the hand gripping his wrist belonged to Su Ye in front of him. His fury intensified.
"F**k!"
With his other hand, Thompson clenched his fist and swung at Su Ye's head again.
But suddenly, his vision blurred, and then he felt a powerful force in his chest, sending him flying backward.
"What the hell… just happened?"
Thompson was utterly confused, and by the time he hit the ground and passed out, he still had no idea what had happened.
Everything happened so quickly that the nearby classmates were also stunned.
All they saw was Thompson walk over, swing his arm, and then get thrown backward by himself.
Was he faking an injury?
As for Su Ye, he stretched his neck and stood up from his seat.
In others' eyes, he had just slept all morning, and no one knew his body had undergone a drastic transformation during that time.
The spider that appeared when he was taking Gwen's photo really was the radioactive spider.
Now, his vision was no longer near-sighted, his hearing was sharper, he had muscles, his body was filled with strength, and he even gained the Spider-Sense that lets you detect danger.
Earlier, he had been sleeping to ease the weakness after his body's transformation.
But when Thompson approached to attack, the Spider-Sense gave him an immediate warning.
That's how he managed to grab Thompson's wrist and then send him flying with a punch.
To others, these actions seemed like something out of a fantasy, but to his newly transformed self, they felt as natural as eating and drinking.
Speaking of eating, Su Ye suddenly felt hungry. Without even glancing at Thompson on the floor, he turned and walked toward the cafeteria.
The transformation had come with immense energy consumption; he now felt like he could eat a whole cow.
As soon as Su Ye left, the once-silent classroom burst into chatter.
"What just happened?"
"How did Flash get thrown? Did Ye Su hit him?"
"I didn't see anything. It looked like Flash flew backward on his own."
"Flash, wake up!"
Under the pats from his lackeys, Thompson slowly came to.
"Flash, what happened? Did Ye Su throw you? Did he use some Chinese martial arts? How do you feel? Do you feel nauseous? Anything hurt? Should we go to the nurse's office?"
"Get lost!"
Thompson rubbed his chest, stood up, and looked around angrily.
"Where's Ye Su?"
Someone next to him raised a hand. "He looked a bit pale; maybe he went to the nurse's office?"
Seeing Thompson head out, a few of his lackeys quickly followed.
"Flash, should we go mess with him? It was just an accident earlier, but if we all go at him together, we can definitely make him eat dirt!"
"Yeah, Flash, the nurse's office isn't that big. We can corner him in there, give him a beating, and who cares about his so-called Chinese martial arts? We'll beat him so bad, even his mom won't recognize him."
"By then, we'll—"
"Enough!" Thompson shouted, cutting off his lackey's suggestion.
Although Thompson wasn't entirely sure what had happened earlier, there was definitely something unusual about that Chinese kid. Even with the three of them going in together, he didn't feel confident. So, he decided to let it go for now.
"I'm hungry. Let's go to the cafeteria."
In their little group, Thompson's word was law, so his lackeys fell silent, trailing behind him toward the cafeteria.
"Fine, we'll let him off for now, but sooner or later, he'll pay for his arrogance."
"Don't worry, Flash, there'll be a chance..."
As they chatted, they soon arrived at the cafeteria. The moment they walked in, Thompson spotted Su Ye sitting a short distance away, holding a tray of burgers and devouring them like he hadn't eaten in days.
"Wait... wasn't he supposed to be in the nurse's office?" Thompson asked instinctively, a hint of unease crossing his face as if reminded of some unknown fear. Suddenly, he didn't feel so hungry anymore.
But one of his lackeys pointed to a girl walking by with a tray, moving with an exaggerated strut as she prepared to pass by Su Ye.
"Look, Flash, it's MJ!"
"MJ's looking fine today, Flash. You're one lucky guy!" another lackey couldn't help but praise.
The girl they called MJ had a slightly large face and looked average overall, but her figure was anything but. Especially with her confident walk, she radiated a captivating energy that caught everyone's attention.
Thompson's face lit up with a sly smile, as though he was recalling something pleasant. These high school students knew a lot, had plenty of practice, so "happiness" wasn't just a fantasy but something real.
As Thompson and his friends watched, MJ, in her confident strut, reached Su Ye's table. Suddenly, she stepped on a puddle, lost her balance, and fell backward.
For most guys, watching a beautiful girl stumble was amusing, but it was a different story if it was your girlfriend. If anything... unintended got exposed, it could be a real mess. But Thompson was too far away to do anything, only able to watch helplessly.
At that moment, Su Ye, who had been sitting and eating, somehow stood up and caught MJ around the waist, steadying her with one arm while deftly catching the food that flew off her tray with the other hand like he was performing a juggling act.
The onlookers were all stunned, but MJ, the person involved, was even more shocked—she was so surprised her legs nearly gave out.