Chapter 2: Girlfriend Gwen, Am I Spider-Man?
Su Ye had barely taken a few steps when a decent-looking girl came up to him.
"Hi, you're Ye, right?"
Ye is Su Ye's English name, a play on the sound of "Ye." His full name is Ye Su…
In English, "Jesus" is pronounced as "Jesus," while "Ye Su" is pronounced as "YeahSu," so it avoids unnecessary confusion.
The girl smiled warmly, and for a moment, Su Ye almost thought his classmate girlfriend had arrived.
On closer look, the girl wasn't quite his type, but since "beauty" had become a common compliment, it wasn't too much to call her one.
However, her expression seemed a bit clueless—not exactly a scholar's look.
"I heard you're good at photography. Are you free on Friday night?"
"Uh…"
So straightforward?
Before Su Ye could reply, the girl explained.
"I want to take a photo of my boyfriend's car, frame it, and give it to him as a birthday present. Can you help me with that?"
A strange sense of déjà vu immediately came over Su Ye, as if he had seen this scene before.
People often experience a sense of familiarity in certain situations—this is known as the hippocampal effect.
But Su Ye was sure this wasn't just the hippocampal effect; he was genuinely familiar with this plot.
A girl greeting him to ask for a photo of her boyfriend's car, the guy named Flash who just threw a ball at him, and the couple making out near his locker—all of it felt too familiar.
All of this was too familiar.
And this feeling reached its peak when he picked up his books to go to class and saw a blonde girl in a skirt and tall boots sitting on a desk, reading a book.
[Ding! "Pretty Scholar Classmate" has been received.]
[Character: Gwen Stacy.]
[Current affection level: 20 (Acquainted).]
[Friendly reminder: The girlfriend card only offers a possibility. A beautiful future requires you to strive for it with your own hands. Go create miracles, young man!]
With the system's prompt, Su Ye finally understood.
That Flash wasn't a sloth; he was Flash Thompson.
His earlier sense of déjà vu was because everything happening was the beginning plot of The Amazing Spider-Man.
And the blonde girl in front of him was the second Spider-Man's girlfriend, the beautiful scholar, Gwen Stacy.
Su Ye had activated the girlfriend card, so Gwen Stacy appeared in this world where she didn't originally exist, along with people related to her story, like Flash Thompson.
And Su Ye would take Peter Parker's place in Gwen Stacy's story, becoming her boyfriend, and perhaps even becoming Spider-Man?
So, the true effect of the girlfriend card was to add a DLC to this world, with himself as the main character of that DLC?
Thinking of this, Su Ye suddenly felt excited.
This world, according to his prior knowledge, was the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Spider-Man set to appear much later.
During the time before Holland's Spider-Man appeared, taking on the role of Spider-Man himself didn't seem like a bad idea.
With Spider-Man's abilities, would he really struggle to survive in the MCU?
At least in the early stages, there shouldn't be much danger—he could live freely for a while.
As for later, when all those cosmic-level beings appear, how would a Spider-Man without Tony Stark's backing stand a chance?
Su Ye thought, that's nothing to worry about.
With the girlfriend card system, Spider-Man was just the beginning. Later, there'd surely be even more impressive—uh, more beautiful girlfriends and even stronger abilities waiting for him.
By then, he'd be the powerful one, not needing to rely on anyone.
Thinking of this, Su Ye suddenly felt at ease about his future.
Looking at Gwen in the distance, sitting with a seemingly elegant but actually very alluring posture, Su Ye took out his camera.
Now he understood that his dream last night of learning skateboarding and photography was all preparation to play the role of Peter Parker.
Click!
The image froze, capturing a beautiful moment.
For now, one photo would be enough. Too many could make him seem like a creep. With only 20 points of affection, he didn't want to risk lowering it further—or even going negative.
"Ouch!"
Just as Su Ye was taking a photo of Gwen, a spider suddenly appeared out of nowhere and bit his hand when he wasn't looking.
"What the… so sudden?"
Su Ye looked at the bite mark on his hand but couldn't find any trace of the spider.
"Was this an accident? Or was that spider the legendary radioactive spider?"
Su Ye wasn't sure, and just then, a commotion sounded in the distance.
"Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!"
"Eat your veggies, Gordon!"
Clearly, the classic scene of Thompson bullying a classmate was about to play out.
Su Ye didn't really want to go up and get punched by Thompson, like Peter Parker.
But considering this might be an opportunity to gain Gwen's favor, he reluctantly decided to step in, not wanting to miss his chance with her.
The result was similar to the movie.
Thompson bullied someone and demanded Su Ye take a photo of it.
Of course, Su Ye, standing tall, refused decisively, and Thompson stepped up to hit him.
Having anticipated this, Su Ye wasn't about to let him succeed so easily. From the start, he kept a table between himself and Thompson.
Finally, as Thompson tried to attack, Su Ye circled the table, playing cat and mouse with him.
It proved that while Thompson was strong, his mind wasn't sharp—just a small table was enough to throw him off.
After half a minute, Thompson, getting frustrated, was about to flip the table like a gang member when Gwen appeared.
Gwen, as expected of a top student, chased Thompson away with a few words and even gave Su Ye a thumbs up.
"You're great! Brave, and also quick. Much better than those idiots who just go headfirst and test Flash's fists with their faces!"
"At least this way, there's no risk of a concussion."
Su Ye shrugged. "I just do what I can. I know myself pretty well."
The two turned and walked toward the classroom, and Gwen suddenly introduced herself.
"I'm Gwen, Gwen Stacy."
Su Ye turned and smiled, "Ye. I'm Su Ye, or Ye Su."
"Nice to meet you, Ye Su."
[Ding! Gwen's affection level increased. Current affection level: 40 (Familiar).]
Su Ye raised an eyebrow—raising her affection level didn't seem all that difficult.