I Became Spider-Man's Cousin in Anime Crossover

Chapter 596 A Ploy for Personal Injury? Something's not right...

Max was still muttering something to himself on the other end of the phone, but Riley wasn't listening anymore.

He had prepared for the worst and rehearsed countless contingency plans in his mind—from emergency evacuation to cross-border rescue, from propaganda warfare to direct confrontation—but then this third nuclear bomb exploded over Israel.

As you can see, Riley spent a lot of time researching online during his visit to his hometown, and naturally discovered the actions of that ingrate gang.

It could be said that Riley's hatred for the unfinished project that Seele left behind when she passed away was second only to that of a certain inferior race that likes to eat raw eggs with rice.

Now, the nuclear bomb that was supposed to be used against Riley has instead exploded in the ungrateful wretch's house...

What is this? Retribution? A misunderstanding? Or did even the heavens finally take it?

Or perhaps, like Blitz Neon, this was also the work of that time-traveling predecessor?

But, no matter how you look at it...

Upon hearing this news, Riley's mind is currently filled with the cheerful music of "Good Luck"!

After a brief silence, Riley's previously tense shoulders quietly relaxed.

When he spoke again, his tone became even gentler, with a sincere smile, as he reassured her, word by word.

"Well done! Those bastards deserve... uh... cough cough! I mean, Max, pull yourself together, you didn't let me down. Successfully stopping one is a complete success."

"Now, send me your coordinates, and I'll open a portal for you so you can make it to the victory celebration banquet."

"Huh? Really, Spider-Man? But...aren't we supposed to go to Israel to provide support?"

"No, no, it's very impolite to cross the border into another country without prior application. It's a sign of disrespect."

"Oh, I see... I'll be right back!"

In his speech, Riley emphasized the words "rude" and "disrespectful" with particular clarity, and then listened with satisfaction to a half-understanding affirmative reply from Max.

Clearly, Max still couldn't understand why Riley, who had always cared for others and treated the weak with kindness, would undergo such a drastic change in attitude after learning which country the nuclear bomb had exploded in.

But as a die-hard Riley fan, his absolute trust in Riley prevented him from asking a single question. He completely ignored the vast expanse of scorched earth before him and the faint cries of grief that drifted from afar, turned and stepped into the silver-gray dimensional barrier, appearing at the victory celebration.

Of course, those ingrates who have always been inhumane and focused on their own interests will not choose to swallow their anger.

The surviving Israeli civilians are wail and plead for sympathy on various social media platforms.

Even worse, some malicious individuals released footage of Max and the nuclear bomb entering Israeli airspace one after the other. They tearfully accused Max of being the culprit who detonated the nuclear bomb, claiming that Israel trusted these so-called "superheroes" too much, which led to the shutdown of its air defense system and the resulting tragedy. They demanded that Max issue a public apology and take responsibility for the incident.

Although the person who posted the video appears to be just an ordinary citizen, it is clear that they were blinded by anger and grief that they made such arbitrary statements.

But, anyone with eyes can see it...

Given the altitude and speed at which Max was flying, how could an ordinary person possibly capture such a clear image? It was clearly the high-ranking officials in Israel who were pushing things along behind the scenes, attempting to use suffering as a bargaining chip to gain enough benefits.

Unfortunately, they had only just released this distorted footage, and before public opinion could develop further, the lie was immediately exposed with a post Tony made on social media.

The content inside is very simple.

One of them is a video playback shot from Max's first-person perspective.

In the footage, Max is seen using his full strength to use electromagnetic force to attract the second fighter jet that has taken off from the space carrier and is preparing to drop a nuclear bomb on New York, and then smoothly lands it on the backup runway.

Before he could even catch his breath, he was jerked around by a sharp whistling sound coming from beside him.

On the distant horizon, a third nuclear missile had already separated from the fighter jet, trailing a trail of white smoke as it flew into the distance.

Without thinking, he instinctively shouted "Damn it!" and transformed into a streak of blue lightning to chase after it.

The scene shook violently as it flew at high speed, the buzzing of electricity was sharp and piercing, and the distance between Max and the nuclear bomb was shrinking inch by inch...

However, the detonation procedure for the nuclear bomb had clearly been initiated ahead of schedule.

Just as Max caught up with the nuclear bomb over Israel and was about to make contact with it, a blinding white light suddenly burst forth from the bomb!

In an instant, a massive and oppressive mushroom cloud rose up in front of Max. The shockwave threw him away, and the camera tumbled violently, constantly shifting angles.

Until Max's figure, accompanied by the dull thud of a heavy object hitting the ground, crashed heavily to the ground, and the scene went dark.

This video came from Max's body camera. It was prepared by Riley shortly after he became Spider-Man and gradually gained control of Section 13. He persuaded Commissioner Black to provide it to every member of Section 13.

Initially, many people complained, half-jokingly and half-seriously, that Riley was treating them, these highly trained elites, like ordinary police officers on the street. Some even pointed out that carrying a constantly active recording device during high-difficulty missions like infiltration was tantamount to carrying a time bomb.

But now it seems that the existence of this device is ultimately more beneficial than harmful.

Especially in this American comic book universe, where the public blindly believes whatever the mainstream media says, keeping evidence at all times can solve countless problems.

Then came a photograph. The background showed an intensive care unit, and the subject was Max, lying on a hospital bed, his body wrapped in bandages and connected to a dense network of fine wires, including IV lines and catheters. He was unconscious with his eyes closed.

Of course, this photo was purely staged.

While chasing the nuclear bomb, Max maintained his energy form. This allowed him to be only knocked unconscious by the shockwave at the moment of the explosion, without suffering any real harm. Even the traces of radiation he had been exposed to were completely cleaned up with a horse charm after Riley teleported him to his side.

However, coupled with the first-person perspective video shown at the beginning, Max's pitiful, life-threatening state is more consistent with how someone would look after directly experiencing the impact of a nuclear explosion. At the same time, it evokes sympathy and pity for Max among ordinary people, making them realize that "superheroes" are not omnipotent. This lowers the overly harsh standards for judging "superheroes" that have gradually been created by biased and potentially harmful public opinion.

The final release was a detailed data table.

That was the operational log that Jarvis extracted from the Israeli air defense command system in about thirty seconds.

Several lines of timecode were highlighted in red, clearly showing that the air defense interception system was already in an active shutdown state before the nuclear missile entered Israeli airspace.

Attached to this form was a video message Tony left for the camera.

He leaned back in his chair, a cryptic smile playing on his lips, and spoke in the usual flippant tone of a playboy, yet uttered words that sent chills down one's spine upon closer examination.

"Hello everyone watching, I'm Tony Stark, a member of the Avengers, the superhero team founded by Spider-Man, codenamed Iron Man... To make a long story short, according to our Avengers' investigation, Israel's air defense system was already shut down before the nuclear missiles arrived. So I suggest you thoroughly investigate internally to see if there's a mole among us?"

"Of course, I personally completely trust you. You absolutely did not deliberately allow a nuclear bomb to explode in the city to exploit the large number of innocent civilian casualties for the benefit of your superiors—for example, to solve the problem of severe housing shortage caused by population growth—or to use this as an excuse to achieve some shady goals. Absolutely not!"

Within an hour of Tony's post, public opinion underwent a textbook-perfect reversal.

Initially, a few independent bloggers with technical backgrounds compared the two versions of the video frame by frame. They focused on highlighting all the editing flaws and time stamp discrepancies in the official Israeli materials.

Following this, military commentators from mainstream media joined the discussion, and the focus quickly shifted from "Did The Flash detonate the nuclear bomb?" to new topics such as "Why did Israel's air defense system automatically shut down when the nuclear bomb entered the airspace?" and "Did they already know about this and deliberately disguise themselves as victims to undermine public trust in superheroes?"

Immediately, angry netizens flooded the comment section of the official Israeli account, bombarding the Israeli government with questions in various languages!

Israeli officials clearly did not anticipate that their carefully edited satellite imagery would be overshadowed by footage from a body camera. Even more unexpectedly, this supposedly powerful superhero, who not only obeys the law but also carries a body camera, was far from being a law enforcement officer!

Therefore, after a brief silence, an emergency press conference was held to address the global community. The Foreign Minister appeared in person, looking haggard but speaking sincerely, repeatedly emphasizing that they were conducting a thorough internal investigation and promising to give the international community an explanation.

He even repeatedly emphasized "we are also victims," ​​attempting to reclaim his moral high ground.

But this time, no one paid the bill.

Even residents of Israel took to the streets, holding up photos of their loved ones who perished in the nuclear bombing and chanting protests at government buildings.

However, just when everyone concluded that this was a poorly staged drama by Israel...

Riley, who was also keeping a close eye on the situation, now had a furrowed brow and showed no sign of the joy or smugness one would expect from a reversal of public opinion.

not right...

Something's definitely not right...

While the Israeli leaders were making their defense, Riley quietly used his "mind-reading" ability to confirm that their apparent grievances and panic were genuine expressions of emotion.

They truly do not know, nor can they find, who shut down their air defense systems, allowing nuclear weapons to be detonated so easily within their borders.

This forced Riley to put on a deep note...

Ultimately, these unfinished projects left behind by Seele, though utterly inhumane and driven by self-interest, are capable of any dirty trick.

But precisely because of this, they are unlikely to make such a losing deal that could be easily overturned.

Risking the lives of their own country's civilians to pull off a self-inflicted injury that could be exposed at any moment is too risky and has too low a return, which is inconsistent with their usual shrewd and calculating style of doing things.

But if they didn't do it themselves, then who was the one who altered the nuclear missile's trajectory? And who was the one who shut down the air defense system?

Could it be...?

Zhou Hao?

The name came to Riley's mind almost instinctively.

Before returning to his hometown to visit relatives, that time traveler had already purified Japan's nuclear wastewater, blown up the Yasukuni Shrine, and massacred Japan's high-ranking officials. This is enough to show that, like Riley, this predecessor was a person who hated evil and was decisive in killing.

So, was this a hidden stake he planted before leaving, after learning about Israel's actions, to prevent a similar situation from occurring in the world?

Or perhaps he never truly left, and is currently standing in some corner of this world, quietly observing all of this unfolding?

It was at this moment that a pale blue light curtain suddenly unfolded before Riley's eyes.

There is only one line of text on it, so simple it couldn't be simpler.

"I didn't do it."

Riley stared at the five words, remaining silent for a moment. Then, his expression gradually became serious.

Now that Riley knows where the system came from, he naturally understands that the sudden message must have been sent by that senior.

In this matter, the senior had no reason to deceive himself...

If it wasn't that predecessor who did it, then who was the one who altered the nuclear missile's flight path? Who shut down Israel's air defense system? And why did they do all this?

Faced with this series of interconnected questions, Riley suddenly felt that his brain wasn't quite up to the task.

If we follow the normal logic of case handling, the person who benefits the most is often the most suspicious.

But no matter how many times Riley calculated it, he was ultimately only stunned to discover...

In today's world, because Israel has not yet revealed its true colors...

Those who would applaud Israel for suffering such a great loss...

It seems like it's just Riley alone?!

Back then, Riley was busy participating in the Battle of New York, and after it ended, he was kicked back to his hometown by his senior. When did he ever do such a thing!

So, was it done by your future self?

That's even more impossible! No matter how much Riley hates that unfinished project, he wouldn't choose this critical moment to travel back in time and cause trouble!

Wouldn't that just create unnecessary trouble for yourself and not bring you any benefits?

It's neither this nor that...

It's impossible that there's someone in this world with similar thinking and great abilities, secretly causing trouble, right?!