At this moment, sobbing uncontrollably, he was unable to get enough oxygen through his mask.
The young man in the Spider-Man suit knelt weakly on both knees by the secret door.
He could imagine the eight-year-old boy from two years ago secretly leaving the Spider-Man sticker mark in such terror; he must have held onto a final hope that the superhero he admired would surely find the mark he left and find him where he was locked away.
But—
It wasn't until today, two years later, that he finally realized it.
The incident happened two years ago.
Only Felix was left alone in the narrow darkness forever.
Peter reached out his hand, wanting to open the secret door, but his hand stiffened and recoiled.
It was like Pandora's Box.
Like the gates of hell.
Opening this door isn't difficult, but the truly terrifying thing is—
Will he truly be able to accept the cruelest truth behind all this?
Tearful, Peter Parker knelt here as if drained of all strength, his lifeless gaze fixed upon the secret door on the ground.
He suddenly understood what System PP had once told him—that curiosity kills the Spider-Man—because he simply didn't have enough courage to bear the weight of this truth.
But Peter thought again of the fear and the mental breakdown in that nightmare, the voice from behind that locked bedroom door that Finn could hardly open—
Let me out!
Let me out!
Save me! I want to get out!
Don't lock me up.. someone.. someone please save me..
—So you are here.
Only now did Peter finally realize, he covered his face and wept bitterly. The young man's back was deeply hunched as he knelt on the floor, as if his entire being were balanced upon a sharp thorn of sorrow, a pain he could hardly bear.
—So, this is where you are.
Finally, Peter took a deep breath, forcing himself through the pain, fear, breakdown that threatened to tear him apart at this moment, resolutely reached out his hand.
But just at this moment, the phone suddenly rang.
Peter froze, then stiffly pulled out his phone. The name flashing on the screen was Finn.
After taking several deep breaths and desperately trying to steady his breathing, Peter hurriedly wiped away his tears, doing his best to make his voice sound as normal as usual.
"Finn, what's wrong?" Peter answered the phone, forcing a relaxed tone.
"Where are you?" Finn asked.
"I'm here, I'm at S. H. I. E. L. D. Actually, there's been new progress on the mission, so I came here to report the situation," Peter said.
"Are you going to break up with me?" Immediately following that, Finn dropped a nuclear bomb without warning.
How could that be?" Peter's heart tightened suddenly, "How could I ever break up with you?
You haven't come to see me for days." Finn seemed to say with some distress, "Everyone online says that silent treatment is a precursor to a breakup.
I'm sorry, I've just been on a mission lately," Peter explained hurriedly. "Really, I'm sorry.
As soon as he said "I'm sorry," Peter's tears fell uncontrollably again.
The young man hurriedly lifted his face, trying to stop his tears from falling further, desperately attempting to hide his emotions during the call.
This definitely isn't emotional abuse, Finn. Don't I talk to you every single day?" Peter didn't want Finn to misunderstand him, so he explained earnestly and solemnly, "I've always been watching you. I will absolutely never break up with you.
I love you so much.
Peter forced down the sob in his voice; he thought of the love contract between him and Finn, since they had signed for forever, it had to be forever.
After Peter finished speaking, Finn on the other end of the line remained silent for a long time.
The call fell into silence.
"Finn?" Peter asked back, his heart racing with anxiety.
After another two seconds of silence, Finn's calm voice came clearly from the other end of the phone—
[Don't go in.]
Peter Parker's body stiffened abruptly; he almost thought he was hallucinating.
He suddenly realized something, he looked up in shock at the surroundings of the room, spotting the miniature surveillance cameras installed throughout the house that he had never noticed before. Perhaps it wasn't just here; that meant that from the moment he entered this house, Finn already knew.
At this thought, Peter Parker's body froze completely, his breathing seemed to come to a standstill as well.
He only heard that voice on the line—
[Peter, don't go in.]
Chapter 100 Prologue
[Peter, don't go in.]
Hearing Finn's monotone voice over the phone, Peter's heart, which had been hanging high, finally plunged into the deepest black hole.
The most terrifying thing he had never dared to face.
It happened after all.
In this instant, all of Peter Parker's forced composure, his feigned calmness, the panic he had desperately suppressed all collapsed because of those words, "Don't go in," and even his last bit of luck was shattered along with them. The young man breathed heavily, a suppressed sob stuck in his throat. His knuckles were white as he still tightly gripped his phone, but his legs once again lost control and forced him to his knees.
His blurred vision was fixed intently on the inconspicuous dark hatch on the ground.
So close, yet so far.
The cruelest suspicion that Spider-Man did not yet dare to be fully certain of was confirmed by Finn at this very moment.
Hidden behind this door is the secret of Felix's disappearance.
——Everyone had left this place, leaving only eight-year-old Felix behind forever.
—That little boy who never got to grow up remained trapped in this darkness, becoming the deepest secret known to no one.
Tears welled up in his eyes uncontrollably. Peter tightly gripped his Spider-Man mask with one hand, pressing it hard against his chest, which was wracked with non-stop pain. His throat could only produce the sound of heavy gasping; the extreme grief left him unable to utter a single word.
I'm right outside the house.
Finn's calm voice came through the phone—
[I'll wait for you to come out.]
Peter slowly raised his head in a daze, his unfocused gaze drifting toward that closed door.
He knew exactly how broken and disheveled his expression was at this moment, but Peter didn't dare go out directly, so he subconsciously put on his mask. However, his trembling hands wouldn't obey him; it took several repeated attempts just to pull on the hood, he even felt as if his hands had lost all basic sensation. That completely cold and numb sensation lingering at his fingertips made him feel so powerless.
Peter stood up from the ground, walking toward the outside of the house with extremely slow and heavy steps.
Even though he still wanted to escape, the moment had come when he had to face it.
He felt like a puppet whose heart had been ripped out, moving forward mechanically, his stiff limbs pulled along only by his remaining willpower.
Walking to the entrance, he lifted his hand, which felt so heavy he could barely move it, gripped the cold doorknob, slowly pushing it open.
The moment the door opened, a piercing cold wind whistled in, carrying the bone-chilling chill of a New York winter.
Spider-Man only felt even colder; his entire body felt as if it were frozen stiff and difficult to move, while the shadow behind his back continued to drag him down.
In stark contrast to this bitter cold, however, the sunlight today was exceptionally beautiful.
Not far away, that handsome young man stood quietly in the clear sunlight. The warm, golden light fell upon the tips of his hair and his shoulders, making his skin appear almost translucent. Those beautiful emerald eyes held none of their usual mirth, instead gazing at him without a ripple of emotion.
Peter used to always feel that Finn was like the purest, brightest, most dazzling person, living forever in the light.
But now, he saw it in a daze, that underlying color that no one else could see—
He was using the most beautiful sunlight to dry the coldest despair.
Peter finally understood what that shadow was, the one that had always been chasing Finn, which he had never been able to comprehend.
It was the house behind him, this home that carried the most bloody and dark memories, this cage that had buried the vivid and tender lives of Felix and the other children, this hell that had once given his family warmth, only to cruelly strip everything away.
Finn always stood under the brightest sunlight with a smile on his face, which is why people could so easily overlook it—
The corner where he hid beneath the light was forever trapped in the deepest darkness.
At this moment, the distance between them was clearly not far, yet it felt so incredibly distant to Peter Parker.
It felt as if two years had passed, as if many years had passed, as if a hundred insurmountable worlds had passed.
But this was also the moment he was closest to the truth.
Peter opened his mouth, but could not make any sound.
At this moment, Finn's appearance gradually overlapped with the image of that bright-eyed boy in his memory.
And at the same time, Finn was also quietly looking at Peter.
Neither of them spoke first, their gazes seemingly piercing through time, landing on the distant past from long, long ago.
Compared to Peter's breakdown, self-reproach, regret, sorrow, the young man's emerald eyes were now so calm that they seemed detached from all emotion. His gaze slowly shifted away from the young man standing in the doorway and landed on the house behind Peter.
It was actually the first time he had come here as Finn Osborn. Perhaps it was because his subconscious had always wanted to avoid this place, so whether it was the acquisition or the renovation, he had entrusted everything to the Wilsons with a casual attitude.
But today, he still came here.
—Because Peter Parker came here.
System PP, you didn't expect this either, did you?
Finn's thoughts drifted back to his heart, he spoke calmly to the System PP that had also remained silent in his mind, his tone lacking any particular emotional fluctuation, as if he were discussing something that had nothing to do with himself.
Actually, I have a shortcut.
System PP said nothing. A shortcut for the Misery Value mission?
Yeah, who could say.. that this place isn't the most heartbreaking place for Finn?
I told you, the novice level isn't actually that hard," Finn continued to System PP in a bystander's tone, "If I had come here for a stroll earlier, maybe I would have completed the Misery Value mission long ago.