Gwen, oh Gwen, what are you thinking!
Feeling Gwen's intense emotional fluctuations, Ryan smiled slightly and explained:
"This is an enhanced version of the Regeneration Serum. It can immediately heal most physical injuries and recover some stamina. Drink it, and you'll be fully healed."
Hearing this, Gwen inexplicably forgot the warning her police chief father in another Universe had repeatedly given her—never to drink something given by a stranger when out. As he tilted the test tube, she subconsciously and obediently opened her mouth to drink the liquid inside.
It was as if... she had experienced this feeling before...
As soon as the serum entered her stomach, Gwen felt something was off.
First, there was a warmth in her lower abdomen, and then this heat quickly spread throughout her body, causing a flush to creep onto her face.
This... this actually... really is the Regeneration Serum!
Gwen watched as the wounds and bruises visible through the tears in her spider suit disappeared at a rate discernible to the naked eye, her large eyes blinking in amazement.
Ryan's focus, however, was not on Gwen's healing injuries, but on her battle-damaged spider suit. A look of contemplation and interest flashed in his eyes.
Hmm, it seems... battle-damaged Spider-Gwen is also quite nice, with a unique charm...
Maybe... try it next time?
By this time, Gwen, now fully recovered, had cleared her head a bit. She pulled away from Ryan's embrace and said somewhat awkwardly:
"Um... I just remembered my dad told me to come home for dinner. I think I should go now. See you next time, Peter..."
Peter? Ryan paused, a certain light gradually igniting in his eyes for a fleeting moment.
After speaking, Gwen wanted to slip away, find a deserted place, and open a spatial rift to quickly head to the next Universe.
Subconsciously, she still didn't want to stay in this Universe for long, because she was truly afraid that another Spider-Man who cared about her would die because of her!
She could no longer bear the pain of another Spider-Man dying right in front of her...
Especially since, in this Universe, she and this Spider-Man were lovers...
However, before Gwen could take even two steps, Ryan grabbed her by the waist from behind again and pulled her into his embrace.
"Perfect. It's been a long time since I've seen my father-in-law. I'll go back with you this time and have a few drinks with the old man~"
After saying this, amidst Gwen's shocked expression beneath her mask, Ryan shot out a line of Silk and leaped up, swinging through the city with Gwen in tow.
The cold wind whistling past her body could not at all cool down Gwen's head, which felt like it was about to explode.
She had only one thought in her mind now.
Has this Spider-Man, who gives her such a sense of security, already reached the point of calling her father 'father-in-law'?
Should she be happy, or disappointed?
Wait, Gwen, what exactly are you being happy and disappointed about?
He wasn't your boyfriend to begin with!
He is this Universe's Gwen's boyfriend!
No matter how far they've progressed, it's their business!
"Hey, Gwen, Ryan, when did you guys get back? Why didn't you tell me? Weren't you—one going to another Mr. Stark's Universe, and the other going to Washington for an academic debate competition today?"
It wasn't until a lively and excited young voice rang in her ear that Gwen snapped back to reality.
She subconsciously greeted the person who had appeared beside them at some point, wearing the classic red and blue spider suit and swinging along with them:
"Hey, Peter... Huh!?"
Wait, that's not right!
Mid-greeting, Gwen suddenly whipped her head around to stare at Peter, her heart experiencing what was already the umpteenth shock of the day!
She looked at the Spider-Man in the red and blue spider suit, then looked up at the Spider-Man in the silver-gray spider suit who was carrying her bridal-style with one hand and swinging with the other. She was completely stunned!
What's going on? Why are there two Spider-Men in this Universe???
Based on her previous experiences traveling through Universes, although every Universe inevitably has a Spider-Man, without exception, each Universe only has one Spider-Man!
It was the same in her own Universe!
But how could there be an extra Spider-Man in this Universe?!
And if this newly appeared Spider-Man is the real Peter Parker, then who is the person holding her right now?!
Oh no!
She had just assumed the other person was Peter and even seemed to have called this silver-gray Spider-Man 'Peter'. Wouldn't that expose her?!
Peter looked at Gwen, who was glancing back and forth between him and his cousin, and scratched his head in confusion.
"Gwen, what's wrong? Is there something off about me today? Did Harry pull another prank and draw graffiti on my spider suit?"
Gwen's face under the mask was pale; she was in no mood to answer Peter.
Her mind was filled with the fact that she had been exposed...
Ryan glanced at the incessantly questioning Peter and said calmly:
"Alright, Gwen is fine. She's just feeling a bit unwell. I'm taking her home to rest now. Go play on your own for a bit, and we'll talk when I get back."
To Gwen's surprise, the stranger Spider-Man, whom Peter called Ryan, did not expose her. Instead, he even spoke up to help her out of the situation.
Hearing this, Peter slapped his head in realization. "Oh, I get it. Girls have those few days every month where they're especially uncomfortable. I understand, Mary Jane is the same!"
Gwen:?
What exactly do you understand?
Ryan was also shocked by Peter's straight steel man emotional intelligence. He twitched his lips, grabbed Peter's shoulder in mid-air, and threw him backward amidst Peter's Tom-like scream.
This startled Gwen. "You just threw Peter out? Aren't you afraid he'll get hurt?"
Without even turning his head, Ryan continued swinging on his Silk and said indifferently, "If he can get hurt from that, he's not worthy of being my brother, let alone wearing that spider suit."
Hearing this, Gwen fell silent...
She wasn't silent because she was speechless at Ryan's words, but because she envied Peter for having a brother he could rely on and trust...
If her Universe also had a brother she could rely on like that, would things have been different today...
"Alright, Gwen, we're here. Chief Stacy doesn't know your identity yet—at least he hasn't said so directly—so you'd better not appear before him like this and give him a 'surprise'~"
On the roof of a residential building, Ryan landed from the air with Gwen and pointed to her tattered spider suit, giving her a reminder.
Hearing this, Gwen looked at her spider suit and, in a classic spider-scratch-head gesture, asked, "Then maybe we should go in through my bedroom window and change into normal clothes first?"
Ryan shook his head. "No need to go through all that trouble..."
After saying that, Ryan shrugged, and the spider suit on his body began to ripple like flowing water, eventually transforming into a silver-gray formal suit.
This also allowed Gwen to see Ryan's face clearly for the first time.
It bore some resemblance to Peter's but was more mature, with more defined features. In plain terms, he was handsomer!