After breakfast, Peter decisively gave his tool-man best friend, Harry Osborn, a call, telling him to prepare for a second massive wave of bottom-fishing in a couple of days.
Because the previous operation had successfully earned Harry a fortune,
he didn't hesitate at all this time, patting his chest and guaranteeing that he would handle everything perfectly.
With Harry's assurance, Peter hung up the phone and, stepping onto his flying skateboard, headed straight back to his home in Queens.
The main reason he hadn't gone home last night was for fear of scaring Uncle Ben and Aunt May; now, pretending to have just gotten off a plane made his appearance much more reasonable.
When he opened the door with his key, Peter happened to lock eyes with Uncle Ben, who was just about to head out.
"Peter?" Uncle Ben froze for a moment, then couldn't help but complain,
"You're back! Why didn't you tell us in advance, child!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Aunt May gave the old man an annoyed shove, squeezing him aside and taking Peter's hand with all sorts of warm concerns:
"Are you tired?"
"Are you hungry?"
"Do you want me to help you ask the school for leave so you can have a good rest at home today?"
Hearing this made Peter's heart feel warm.
"I just wanted to give you guys a surprise!"
As Peter spoke, he began pulling various exquisite souvenirs out of the backpack he had prepared long ago.
Seeing Peter pull out these souvenirs that clearly looked expensive, the gratification on Uncle Ben and Aunt May's faces was gradually replaced by a subtle solemnity.
The old couple was naturally very gratified that the child thought to bring them gifts.
However, these gifts were too valuable—they were simply not something a family like theirs could afford!
To what extent was Peter's family struggling in the original story?
The answer is that after Uncle Ben's death, Aunt May and Peter could go back and forth for ages over a mere 20 dollars; in the end, Aunt May tearfully forced Peter to take it, and only then did Peter have to put the money in his pocket.
For a family in such poor economic condition, the child bringing back so many expensive gifts after a long trip—
it was hard for them not to worry if Peter had done something he shouldn't have, like taking out a high-interest loan out of vanity.
At the thought of this possibility, Uncle Ben didn't even care about going to work and immediately exerted the authority of the head of the household:
"Peter, tell us the truth, did you take out a loan?"
Noticing the nervous expressions of the old couple, Peter felt both amused and helpless:
"Uncle Ben, do I look like the kind of ignorant fool who would do that?"
"I earned all this money myself. I co-founded a company called 'Parker Tech' with Harry a while ago, and a few days ago, we made another fortune by investing in Stark Industries stock."
As Peter spoke, he took out his phone and showed the old couple his account balance.
The six-digit figure made the old couple's eyes nearly glaze over.
"Besides this money, I have a monthly salary of tens of thousands of dollars, and there will be sales commissions once we develop our first mobile phone.
To put it simply... with me around, you'll never have to worry about money again. You two can retire in peace and do the things you love."
These words left Uncle Ben and Aunt May staring at each other, their minds completely blank.
While the old couple was still processing, Peter dropped another bombshell:
"Furthermore... I actually awakened a special healing ability not long ago."
He said this while grabbing the old couple's hands, beginning to channel the power of the horse talisman to help them dispel various geriatric ailments from their bodies.
"With this ability, I am now Ghost-Spider's secret partner."
Peter hesitated for a moment but still didn't mention his "The Punisher" persona.
Mainly because he knew Uncle Ben too well.
This old man, bursting with a sense of justice, would definitely nag him every day with that classic line "with great power comes great responsibility" if he knew Peter was The Punisher.
Then he'd be urged not to kill anyone and pressured to be like Gwen, spending every day on the streets helping old ladies cross the road... Just thinking about that scene gave Peter a headache.
Therefore, he chose to forge a more "gentle" identity for himself.
"I'm currently Ghost-Spider's logistics helper, specifically providing healing and technical support for her and her partners."
He said this while waving the Daily Bugle newspaper he had bought during breakfast:
"Do you see this? Ghost-Spider, The Punisher, and that unknown new hero—her name is 'nightingale'—I'm friends with all of them.
I even came up with the name nightingale for her while I was on the plane."
Listening to Peter's narration, the old couple, whose hearts weren't very good, subconsciously pressed their hands to their chests.
As a result, after clutching them for a while, they found that nothing had happened.
Not only was there no problem with their hearts, but their entire bodies also felt a warm sensation.
This direct physical change served as side evidence that what Peter said was true.
The old couple looked at each other, and once they snapped out of it, their actions left Peter between laughter and tears.
Uncle Ben slammed the door shut with a bang.
Aunt May ran to the window like a secret agent, observing for a long time before drawing the curtains shut with a swish.
After completing all this, the old couple finally breathed a sigh of relief. Flanking Peter on the sofa, they asked in a low voice with unprecedentedly serious expressions:
"Peter, does anyone else know about this special ability of yours besides us and those three superheroes?"
Peter thought to himself that quite a few people knew, but on the surface, he just gently shook his head:
"No one else."
"That's good!" The old couple let out a long sigh of relief, but then Uncle Ben spoke up with a serious face again:
"Child, I know you might want to use your power to help others, but you must act within your capabilities in everything."
At this moment, Uncle Ben didn't mention a word about "with great power comes great responsibility," only speaking with a solemn face:
"Your Aunt May is right! This kind of ability must never be revealed unless absolutely necessary!"
"There are too many bad people in this World. Once this news is grasped by those medical conglomerates... God, they will definitely do everything in their power to get rid of you or capture you for dissection and study!"
Aunt May also added from the side:
"You are secretly helping those three superheroes heal; this has already indirectly saved many families. There's no need to put yourself in danger."
The old couple discussed back and forth, giving Peter no chance to speak at all, until they finally reached a common conclusion:
To avoid arousing suspicion and attracting unnecessary trouble, everything in the Parker household would remain as before!
They would continue going to work, at least until Peter's phone was fully released, and then they would use the reason that Peter had made money to reasonably fade from the public eye.
In short, they would absolutely not allow themselves to become any kind of burden that might threaten Peter!
And Peter's ability became a forbidden topic in the Parker household; the three of them were forbidden from revealing Peter's healing ability to anyone from now on!
Not even Gwen or George!
Looking at the old couple warning him with such serious faces, the expression on Peter's face was quite something.
Uncle Ben, you seem a bit too extreme...