Chapter 58: Wanda, The Mysterious Power
New York. The alien invasion kept spreading.
In less than half an hour, even ten kilometers away from the center, alien drones were appearing. It was easy to imagine how fierce the fighting must be at the heart of the battlefield.
On the outskirts of the battle.
Boom!!
A boy in a baseball cap that shaded half his face, wearing a jacket, swung down on webs. The instant his feet hit the ground, his fist followed through, smashing an alien drone to the street!
Crack!!
With several tons of force gathered into that one punch, the drone's chest shattered and caved in, the ground beneath it splitting with jagged cracks.
Watching sparks scatter from the broken machine, Xi Nian exhaled a long breath and looked up toward the sky above the central battlefield.
The blue pillar of light that caused the invasion still raged on, radiating despair.
Even if someone shut it down now, the alien army already entrenched in New York had fully established itself.
New York might truly fall today.
"I've got a handle on these spider powers. Time to find Gwen."
Xi Nian felt uneasy. If the city was really on the brink of collapse, the politicians and generals would abandon it long before the citizens stopped resisting.
He was about to move when his eyes caught a collapsed residential building nearby. On a half-buried iron gate, a broken address plate still clung.
At first he only glanced at it—but then a strange sense of familiarity struck him.
Where had he seen it recently?
Xi Nian's heart jolted. He pulled a slip of paper from his jacket pocket. The address written there matched exactly.
A silver-haired figure flashed through his mind.
"Pietro!"
Xi Nian rushed to the ruins, shouting inside.
No answer.
Naturally so—the entire house had collapsed, scorched by bombing. Pietro had probably already evacuated with his family.
If not, the chances of survival would be slim.
Xi Nian fell silent, pressing a hand on a chunk of rubble, closing his eyes. He focused, extending his sharpened spider senses deep into the ruins.
…
Beneath the rubble, in the cracks between broken furniture and walls, it was pitch black.
Dead silence.
A lone girl lay trapped, unable to move. She could sense no light, no sound—only the faint beat of her own heart and shallow breaths.
Even the air was thin.
So this is what it feels like to wait for death, she thought bitterly. Her only small relief was that her twin brother hadn't been home when the blast struck.
Her consciousness began to blur.
Crack!
Did she imagine it?
Suddenly, she forced her eyes open. From outside came the sound of heavy objects being shifted.
"I'm here…" She tried to call out, but her voice was too weak, barely a whisper.
Yet the sounds of rubble being moved grew closer, deliberate—like someone knew exactly where she was.
Then—
A ray of dazzling light pierced the darkness.
She blinked, her eyes widening as the face of a gentle-looking boy appeared above her.
…
Xi Nian shoved aside the debris and found her—a red-haired girl buried deep in the rubble.
She was small, maybe thirteen, wearing a winter dress now caked with dust and grime.
Xi Nian didn't care. He carefully lifted her into his arms and asked softly, "What's your name?"
"Wanda…" she whispered weakly.
"You must be Pietro's sister." Xi Nian realized.
"Sister?" Little Wanda blinked, shrinking against him like a wounded rabbit, then nodded timidly. "Who… are you?"
"Xi Nian. I met Pietro last night. Maybe he mentioned me."
"He did…" Wanda stared up at him, dazed. She hadn't expected that the person her brother mentioned yesterday would be the one to save her today.
"Pietro wasn't home, was he?" Xi Nian asked to confirm.
"No." Wanda shook her head with effort. Then her eyes widened, and she looked around frantically. "My parents…"
"I'm sorry."
Xi Nian met her gaze. "When I was digging, I found them first. They had no signs of life."
Wanda's body trembled violently.
Deep down, when she heard no voices under the rubble earlier, she had already feared this.
Now, with Xi Nian's confirmation, her strength finally gave out. Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.
Xi Nian looked down at her unconscious face, holding her tighter.
He could understand. At her age, suddenly losing both parents was a crushing blow.
And today, not just Wanda's family—countless others in New York would be broken apart.
He sighed, preparing to carry her to the outskirts where it was safer.
But then—
Thump! Thump!
One, two… six!
Six alien drones dropped from the sky, surrounding the ruins where Xi Nian stood with Wanda in his arms.
Above them, several alien flyers hovered low, aiming weapons down at him.
"Coming for me?" Xi Nian's eyes hardened. He had been slaughtering drones on the outskirts, and now they had clearly marked him as a priority target.
Enemies in the sky and on the ground.
With only spider powers, it would already be tough to fight them head-on.
Now, with Wanda in his arms, it was nearly impossible.
"I'll just have to break through."
But suddenly—something felt wrong.
The drones on the ground and the flyers in the air all froze in place, as if controlled by some overwhelming force.
They couldn't move an inch.
Crack!
The head of the first drone twisted a full 360 degrees, sparks spitting from its neck. Then the rest followed, breaking themselves apart.
Above, the flyers' components ripped free one by one, shattering midair.
Clang!
Before Xi Nian could even make a move, the alien forces that could have threatened him destroyed themselves, crashing to the ground as heaps of scrap metal.
His spider sense screamed.
Spinning around, Xi Nian saw her.
A green-haired girl with smoky makeup stepped over the wreckage, glowing green light dancing around her hands.
"Hi, little brother."
Lorna smiled with the same wild look as when they had first met, waving casually as if strolling into a park.
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