I Became Spider-Man's Cousin in Anime Crossover

Chapter 512 [3 Chapters Combined] Copying the Jade Army

Riley was visibly taken aback upon hearing this: "What do you mean... there are a lot of Xiaoyu's? I don't quite understand."

"We don't know the specific reasons either, but our school now has eight Xiaoyus."

Fortunately, the homeroom teacher clearly understood Riley's feelings. Instead of blaming her, her words revealed a sense of helplessness that was both angry and amused.

"Oh, to correct you, there are sixteen now, and the number may continue to increase."

Riley: "..."

Peter: "...What?"

Gwen: "...Huh?"

Felicia: "...Huh?"

Xiaoyu's homeroom teacher's explanation left Riley and the other three speechless.

Thankfully, the background noise on the other end of the phone clearly revealed a group of Xiaoyu's chattering voices, along with the teacher shouting things like, "Don't run!", "Don't climb on the table!", and "Xiaoyu! Get down from the ceiling!" This made them realize that Xiaoyu's homeroom teacher wasn't joking.

This made Riley close his eyes and instinctively take a deep breath.

As a time traveler, the familiar scene unfolding before Riley made him realize...

Although the process may differ slightly, it is certain that Xiaoyu secretly prepared the replica powder, just like in the original story, and used it on herself.

And the truth was indeed as Riley had guessed.

When Xiaoyu learned that her parents would forcibly take her back to Hong Kong and that she couldn't contact Riley and Uncle Long for a while, she desperately tried to find a magic book that had already been transferred to District 13 and manually prepared a powder to cast air magic according to the instructions.

She then used the information on herself to create her first clone. Having overheard a conversation between Riley and Uncle Dragon, she learned that Uncle Dragon and his group would fly to Tokyo to find the Gates of Hell that sealed the demons. Jade then secretly boarded a private plane from District 13 and left New York.

In other words, the Jade that Riley encountered, the one crying in the lounge, was actually a clone of Jade used to replace the original.

Clearly, Xiaoyu had made up her mind to have the clone take her back in her place.

He could then fully enjoy the thrill and joy of adventure, and openly continue to stay in New York with Riley, Uncle Jackie, and the others.

The good news is that, influenced by Riley, Jade had been learning a lot about air magic from her father. Therefore, the magic powder she concocted had a more stable effect than in the original story, lasting for several days before the clone began to exhibit the side effect of self-replication.

The bad news is that Xiaoyu, in her haste to run away, only read half of the book and didn't even notice the consequences of prolonged use of the cloned drug powder! She also never expected Riley to handle her parents, whom she considered incapable of reasoning or communication, so easily! There was absolutely no need for the cloned drug powder!

While pondering, Riley suddenly recalled the "strange feeling" he had when he saw Xiaoyu that morning.

No wonder everything seemed new and exciting to her, like she was experiencing the beauty of the world for the first time...

Since she came into this world, she has only been here for two or three days at most, so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her a newborn.

At the same time, hearing the commotion coming from the other end, Gwen's lips twitched involuntarily.

"Hmm, as expected of Xiaoyu? Judging from the background noise... there must be at least twenty of them, right?"

"Hmm, and you all heard what her homeroom teacher said, the numbers are still increasing," Riley added expressionlessly. "If left unchecked, it probably won't be long before the whole of New York is packed with Jade."

Upon hearing this, Peter immediately covered his mouth, his shoulders trembling.

He knew it was a serious matter, but the thought of Jade chasing after him all over New York and Riley desperately running away made him want to laugh.

After all, one Jade was already enough of a headache for Riley, but a whole bunch of Jades in New York... tsk tsk tsk, that's just too much to bear!

"What are you laughing at?" Riley noticed his younger brother's strange look. Knowing Peter well, he instantly realized what the other was thinking. He glanced at him sideways and reminded him irritably, "Do you think you can stay out of it when all of New York is full of Jade?"

"..."

Well, now it was Peter's turn to have his smile freeze on his face, and he couldn't smile anymore.

Felicia, Xiaoyu's best friend, crossed her arms after hearing Riley's complaints and couldn't help but sigh, "This girl... she's really something. She always manages to pull off something unexpected."

"Who can argue with that..."

Riley said, taking a deep breath and then slowly exhaling.

Previously, he only knew that Xiaoyu was often the chosen one in the Dragon Team who would save the team from dire straits.

But now, Riley belatedly realized...

Why does the Dragon Team keep getting into dire straits every now and then...?

Nine times out of ten, it was all Xiaoyu's doing behind the scenes!

"I have to go to Xiaoyu's school first... Peter, Felicia, Gwen, I'll leave the bank to you. If you run into any trouble, just give me a call."

After a moment of silence, Riley reluctantly raised his hand to his forehead and made the decision to split up.

After all, if they don't find a way to deal with those clones, not to mention whether New York can withstand it, at least that school will definitely be demolished by Xiaoyu's army.

On the other hand, the banks...

Although it has only been six months, Riley believes that Peter is now a mature "Spider-Man" capable of solving crises single-handedly.

Moreover, Peter has the Prince as his trump card, allowing him to transform from Spider-Man into "Homelander" who "doesn't eat beef" at any time, with two companions by his side to help him.

Two mere imposters shouldn't pose a threat to them.

So, just in case, after temporarily transferring the symbiote to Felicia, Riley waved goodbye to the three of them and rushed to the elementary school where Jade was.

A short while later, Clinton District High School.

Riley stood at the school gate, looking at the scene before him, and fell into a long silence.

On the playground, more than twenty children were playing tag with their teacher, who was panting from running.

No, several of them split up again, and now there are more than thirty Xiaoyu.

Some climbed up the flagpole and slid down, while others did somersaults on the horizontal bar.

There were also seven or eight people huddled in a circle, seemingly discussing something, occasionally letting out wicked "hehehe" laughs.

The rest were scattered around the playground; some were jumping rope, some were chasing and playing, and a few were squatting by the flower bed, seemingly studying something.

The teachers chased after them frantically, but couldn't catch up with any of them.

A young female teacher tried to grab one of them, but Xiaoyu nimbly turned around, quite like Uncle Jackie, and slid under her skirt. As she got up, she didn't forget to turn back and make a smug face.

The other, older male teacher, was clearly exhausted and simply gave up the chase. He stood there panting, holding Xiaoyu, whom he had finally managed to catch, looking utterly hopeless.

Riley took a deep breath and strode into the school gate.

"Xiaoyu—!"

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly throughout the entire playground.

All thirty-odd Xiaoyu stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him.

The next second—

"Oh no! Riley's here to arrest someone!"

"Run! Run!"

"We didn't do it! It was the main body that did it!"

"Don't just stand there, run!"

The thirty-odd little jades scattered like birds and beasts in an instant.

Some ran into the teaching building.

Some climbed up the flagpole.

Some simply rolled on the spot, trying to disappear into the flower bushes.

The scene was very chaotic at one time.

Riley stood still, not going to bring them back one by one.

Instead, he spoke again, his tone eerily calm.

"All of you, come here right now. If anyone dares to run around again, I'll never take her to the deer park again."

The words fell.

The thirty-odd small jade statues were all frozen in place, as if the pause button had been pressed simultaneously.

Some had their feet still dangling in mid-air, some had half their bodies already inside the flowerbeds, and some had just climbed halfway up the flagpole—all of them remained motionless.

Then, they slowly turned around.

The mischievousness on their little faces vanished, replaced by guilt, apprehension, and a touch of grievance.

With their heads drooping, they cautiously approached Riley one by one.

"Riley, we were wrong..."

"Listen to our explanation. We didn't cause trouble on purpose; it's just that the curse keeps multiplying..."

"No, no, this was done by the main body, it has nothing to do with us!"

"Yes, yes, yes! It was the real person who did it! We're just victims!"

The chattering sounds rose and fell, with the girls trying their best to shift the blame to the original entity in Tokyo.

But under Riley's silent gaze, the voices grew fainter and fainter until finally there was complete silence.

Thirty-odd little Jade children stood in a row in front of Riley, looking up at him with pitiful eyes, which almost made Riley, who always doted on his children, lose his composure.

Oh, no, there are almost forty now.

In just a short while, several more people ran out of the teaching building and joined the queue. One of them even whispered to Xiaoyu next to her, "What's going on? Why is Riley here?"

"Don't talk, just stand still."

Riley looked at the ever-growing "Little Jade Army" before him, remained silent for two seconds, and then sighed.

"Alright," he said. "That girl, Xiaoyu, went to Tokyo to play by herself, leaving you guys here to go to school for her. In the end, she didn't do well in her studies, but she caused quite a bit of trouble."

His gaze swept over the rows of Xiaoyu: "You should all be here now, right? No one's hiding anymore, is there?"

The girls pushed and shoved each other until one of the "lucky ones"—perhaps the original clone—was pushed in front of Riley.

She shrank back and mumbled a cautious reply, "They should all be here... right?"

"should?"

"Uh... there might be a few more inside the teaching building? But they'll be out soon!"

No sooner had she finished speaking than five more Xiaoyus ran out of the teaching building, shouting as they ran, "Wait for us! We're here too!"

Riley: "..."

With this, the number of members in Xiaoyu's Legion officially surpassed the forty mark.

The clone Xiaoyu, who was pushed out, gave an embarrassed laugh and continued her explanation: "But believe me, I really didn't mean it! I couldn't control the effect of that copying spell at all, so..."

"So it went from 'going to school in her place' to 'demolishing the school'?"

"We...we just did some light exercise during recess..."

"An activity?" Riley pointed to the flagpole with a bald patch, and the teachers who were utterly shocked by the bizarre situation, their worldviews shattered, and who were questioning their very existence. "You call this an activity?"

The girls followed his finger and looked in that direction.

The lower half of the flagpole was bare, and the colorful flags that used to hang there had been torn down and tied into a bow by someone, then tied to the horizontal bar.

There was a crushed trash can next to it, several ornamental plants that had been uprooted, and—Riley squinted at it—a graffiti on the wall drawn in chalk that looked like "Black Spider-Man vs. Shendu".

"Um..." Another Xiaoyu timidly raised her hand, "I drew the graffiti, but! But it's because they said they missed you! And, I drew you... cough cough, I mean, Spider-Man defeating the dragon!"

"Yes, yes, yes! It looks just like the real thing!"

"Railley, look how realistic those demon horns are!"

The girls instantly became lively again, chattering and clamoring for credit.

This made Riley look again in the direction they were pointing.

That "demon"... is clearly a chicken that's been drawn crookedly, like a chicken that's been practicing for two and a half years...?

He took a deep breath. Although he had a lot to complain about, Xiaoyu's problem was more serious at the moment, so he decided not to pursue the question of whether what they drew was a chicken or the Holy Lord.

"Alright." He raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet. "Now, everyone line up and follow me."

"Where to?" Xiaoyu asked timidly.

"First, take you back and figure out how to control your constant replication. Then we'll think about how to find your original bodies and settle this score."

"Huh? Do you want to settle accounts with the original body?"

"Of course we need to settle accounts with her." Riley said expressionlessly, shrugging. "She caused me such a huge mess without saying a word... This isn't over."

The girls looked at each other in bewilderment.

Then, someone, I don't know who, shouted, "Long live Riley!"

Instantly, the forty-odd little girls cheered in unison.

"Long live Riley! We want to see the real thing get insulted!"

"Exactly! We're allowed to study here, but she sneaks out to play! That's so unfair!"

"They must be sanctioned! Severely sanctioned!"

"I agree!"

Count me in!

"Alright, alright, stop shouting."

Amidst the incessant chatter and noise, even Riley felt like his head was about to explode. He instantly understood why Xiaoyu's homeroom teacher had sounded so exhausted and waved helplessly when she called him.

"Now, shut your mouths, line up, and follow me."

The girls responded in unison, obediently lining up in a row.

Although the line was crooked and there were occasional shoving between two people fighting for a spot.

But overall, they are indeed an obedient team.

Before long, more than forty Xiaoyu followed Riley and walked in a large group toward the school gate.

If you didn't know better, you'd think this was a school organizing a spring outing.

At the school gate, Ms. Hardman, Xiaoyu's homeroom teacher, who had received the news, was already waiting there, looking exhausted.

She was a middle-aged woman in her forties, wearing glasses, with her red hair neatly pinned up. She was known for her strictness at school. Because of this, students once mistakenly thought she disliked children.

But at this moment, her tired face showed no trace of blame or impatience. Instead, when she saw Riley about to take all the Jades away, she revealed a worried expression.

Riley walked over and gave a slight bow: "I'm sorry, Ms. Hardman, thank you for your trouble... My children are being naughty and have caused you trouble."

Ms. Hardman opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but after glancing at the forty-odd "Little Jade"s behind her who were all looking up at her, she swallowed her words.

"It's just my duty, don't worry about it."

She knew that to discipline a mischievous student like Xiaoyu, she had to maintain a dignified image as a teacher. So, after carefully considering her words, she spoke again, adopting a businesslike attitude as she inquired.

"However, as Xiaoyu's homeroom teacher, please allow me to ask a question... what happened to Xiaoyu?"

"There was a slight mishap. Our family situation is a bit special, but I will handle it."

Riley didn't elaborate, but Ms. Hardman nodded upon hearing this and didn't press further.

She taught at this school for nearly twenty years, and saw all kinds of students, as well as all kinds of "special family situations".

Therefore, she was well aware that there were some things that teachers didn't need to know too much about; they just needed to know that the child was alright.

"I'll take these children with me first," Riley continued. "We'll also compensate for any damage caused to the school. So... could you please not spread what happened at the school today?"

Ms. Hardman paused for a moment.

She glanced at the group of Jade girls behind Riley—they were lined up obediently, but their eyes darted around, clearly still plotting something. One of them was secretly tugging at the hair of the girl in front of her, who turned around and glared at her, mouthing "Stop it." Another was counting, but forgot halfway through and started counting again from the beginning.

The scene was absurd and comical, but her first reaction was not to complain about how difficult Jade was to manage, but to instantly understand Riley's meaning.

Once the news gets out, Xiaoyu will inevitably become the focus of public opinion, affecting her normal life and even her future.

So Ms. Hardman agreed without hesitation.

"Okay, I'll let the other teachers know. Let's just treat it as... a group prank."

"Thank you. I will have Xiaoyu apologize to you personally later and explain things properly."

Riley bowed again.

Ms. Hardman hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help asking, "Is Xiaoyu... really alright? I mean, the real...?"

She didn't finish her sentence, but her meaning was already quite clear.

Riley was slightly taken aback.

He had expected the teacher to say something like, "You have to give us an explanation" or "We can't teach a student like this," but what the teacher cared about most was Xiaoyu's safety.

This softened Riley's tone somewhat, and he responded earnestly.

"She's fine, she just didn't want to go to school and ran away to play... I'll go and bring her back after I've settled these kids in."

Ms. Hardman nodded.

Then, her gaze passed over Riley and landed on the little jades.

After a brief hesitation, she couldn't help but show some reluctance and asked.

"Then these little jades, will they...will they eventually disappear? What are they now? Independent individuals? Do they have their own thoughts?"

This question surprised Riley.

He glanced back at the small jade pieces.

They were still playfully bickering, but a few of them seemed to have heard what was said, and they slowed down and looked up at them.

To be honest, Riley hadn't really thought about that, since the original story never explored it in depth. It simply gave the ending: after the effects of the replication powder were removed, all the Jade clones disappeared.

But now, with Ms. Hardman's words, Riley suddenly remembered Xiaoyu, the girl who had walked to school with him that morning...

Little Jade, who was born not long ago, was experiencing the beauty of the world.

Obviously, they have their own ideas.

They would be afraid, feel guilty, and shirk responsibility, but they would also obediently comply when Riley used "Deer Park" as leverage.

They might even feel wronged when told they've "caused trouble," happy when their heads are patted, and excited when they're about to see the real person.

Without a doubt, they are both replicas and the real Xiaoyu.

"This is a complicated issue, and I can't really guarantee anything."

That's why Riley, who is usually very good at scheming, suddenly felt that his brain wasn't quite up to par.

After a brief silence, he could only scratch his head and respond honestly.

"I'll let you know the results after I've resolved the matter."

Ms. Hardman nodded and did not ask any further questions.

Because from Riley's answer, she could tell that Riley cared about these clones of Jade, rather than simply seeing them as a nuisance.

That's why she looked at Riley and suddenly laughed.

That was the first time Riley had seen her smile; she looked much gentler.

"Then I won't bother you any longer. You guys should go quickly. If you don't leave soon, there will be a few more coming."

Riley smiled and nodded, then turned and waved to the group of little jade girls: "Let's go, line up and follow."

The little girls obediently got moving, following Riley outside one after another.

As they passed by Ms. Hardman, several of the little girls stopped and looked up at her.

"Teacher, we didn't mean to cause trouble."

"Yes, it was the main body that did it!"

"I'll tell you a secret, teacher, actually I quite like you. It's not that I don't like listening to your lectures, it's just... I'm just a little restless."

"Teacher, please don't be angry, okay?"

Looking at these identical faces, Ms. Hardman was momentarily speechless.

Finally, she simply nodded slightly: "Yes, teacher isn't angry. Go on, follow your brothers, don't get lost."

The girls were satisfied and continued walking forward.

Xiaoyu, the last to walk out of the school gate, turned back and waved to her: "Goodbye, teacher! We'll be back!"

Ms. Hardman stood there, watching the long procession disappear around the street corner.

Ms. Hardman felt a mix of emotions upon hearing Xiaoyu's final promise.

Reason told her that the children's reappearance would only cause more trouble.

But her personal feelings made her vaguely hopeful that she could meet these children again.

As she pondered, she suddenly realized that today was the most bizarre day of her twenty years as a teacher.

But it's also...quite interesting.