Chapter 046: Old Su Has a New Identity Again

Gwen’s question was met with an even fiercer counterattack. The essentials of Bajiquan: force that is short and swift, changes that are sudden, a blend of hardness and softness, the interplay of yin and yang... Gwen was forced to retreat, while Suyano simply chose to use his “Beautiful Night Stalker” girlfriend card. He’d said she was a beauty—obviously not a cross-dresser. Besides, Night Stalker, like Scholar and Coach, was just an occupation, not a hero name, so he was definitely overthinking it.

[Ding! Using the Excellent-level Girlfriend Card: “Beautiful Night Stalker.” Night Stalker Girlfriend is being delivered…]

The day passed without incident.

The next day, Gwen called in sick again. Her repeated absences had begun to worry teachers and classmates alike—she was about to graduate, after all. Taking eight days off in half a month, they wondered if she had some serious illness. Harry had already mentioned several times that he wanted to visit Gwen with Mary Jane, not to mention others.

Fortunately, she had completed most of her credits and secured her university admission. Whether she showed up at school or not hardly mattered, as long as she could take her final exams and attend the graduation ceremony. After all, she was the top graduate of the year; her cheerful presence had to be recorded in the ceremony’s videos and photos.

Suyano, on the other hand, went to school as if nothing were amiss. After learning Bajiquan, he found he was not only stronger, but his stamina recovered much faster.

At school, Harry was absent today as well. After all that had happened—his role in taking down the mafia’s criminal den—he was being questioned and interviewed constantly, and had to be on guard for any retaliation from Kingpin’s organization. He probably wouldn’t show up at school for at least a week.

In front of Suyano, in the seat that usually belonged to Gwen, Mary Jane was sitting, dressed as always in her signature low-cut top, her appearance as flamboyant and inviting as ever.

“Hey! Yasu!” she called out with a bright smile as Suyano walked in. Thanks to Harry, the two were familiar with each other, but Suyano always kept a polite distance from Mary Jane—he always felt there was something odd in the way she looked at him.

Because of this, Suyano never dared invite Harry out for drinks, worried that if Harry got drunk and passed out, something might happen...

“Hi, MJ,” he replied. No matter what, it was only polite to return the greeting.

“Have you seen Harry lately?” Mary Jane asked anxiously before he could even sit down.

“I haven’t seen him in days. He isn’t answering his phone either. I’m pretty worried about him.” Despite her words, her expression showed little real concern; it seemed more that she was growing desperate from not seeing Harry...

“Is there something you need from him? Maybe I can pass along a message,” Suyano offered, as a friend, willing to help relay something, but nothing more intimate.

“The night after tomorrow, I have a performance. I hope he can come, and I’d like you and Gwen to be there too!” Mary Jane said, eyes shining.

This time, she wasn’t just a stage prop—she actually had lines, which was a huge step forward for her. She wanted to share this moment with Harry.

“The night after tomorrow? No problem, I’ll let him know. If Gwen and I are free, we’ll both come,” Suyano said. Just as he finished, his phone rang—Harry was calling.

“Hey, Harry, what’s up?” Suyano answered, not mentioning Mary Jane’s message right away.

On the other end, Harry’s tone was a bit odd. “Yano, I think you should come to the Oscorp Tower. There’s something that needs to be discussed in person.”

Harry was trying hard to sound businesslike, but his voice betrayed a peculiar tension he couldn’t quite mask. It was as if he’d just discovered he wasn’t Norman Osborn’s real son, but Suyano was.

Given that, Suyano didn’t bother with Mary Jane’s issue, offered an apologetic smile, and gathered his things to leave.

As he brushed past the teacher entering the classroom, he took the opportunity to ask for leave. “Sir, I’ve got a fever and need to see a doctor.”

The teacher immediately stepped back, covering his mouth and nose, and waved him off. “Go at once! I’ll give you three days off—don’t come back until your fever’s gone!”

Half an hour later, Suyano appeared at Oscorp, in a spacious, immaculate office. The room was large, a six- or seven-meter-long oval table at its center, surrounded by a dozen or so middle-aged men, all sporting similar receding hairlines.

Harry sat at one end of the table, presiding over the meeting as chairman. It was clearly an internal board meeting. Suyano couldn’t fathom why Harry had called him—was he really planning to invite him, as Spider-Man, to join Oscorp with shares?

No one answered his unspoken question. The moment he walked in, Harry led the applause. “Welcome, Director Su, to the board meeting.”

Director Su? That left Suyano completely bewildered.

Who am I…?

“Wait a minute—let’s clarify what’s going on first!” Suyano said, raising a hand and sliding his finger over the switch of his web-shooter. He was starting to suspect this was a support group for the mentally unwell, and if anyone tried anything, he’d web their faces without hesitation.

Harry, meanwhile, left his seat holding a tablet before him, cradling it like someone carrying a funeral portrait. But the face on the screen wasn’t a portrait of the deceased—it was Old Su, live on video chat.

What did that mean? Did something happen to Old Su? Was Harry his illegitimate son? Was this some kind of memorial service? Surely this wasn’t necessary.

“Uncle Su, perhaps you’d better explain,” Harry said, approaching and lowering his head to the man on the tablet.

On the screen, Old Su’s face wore a complicated expression as he saw Suyano appear.

“My son, you’re about to graduate high school. There are some things I can’t keep from you any longer.”

Old Su’s words made Suyano calm down. Since he’d just used a girlfriend card last night and now was being called here, it was obvious the system had given Old Su a new identity.

So what was it this time? Was Old Su the Oscorp chairman? Or Harry’s real father? If he went so far as to be Norman Osborn’s father, Suyano would have to respect the boldness.

And why had the girlfriend not appeared yet, but the new identity was already set up…?

“In fact, I’m a behind-the-scenes shareholder of Oscorp, holding about ten percent of the company’s shares…”

Oscorp was worth twenty billion dollars; ten percent was two billion—over seventeen billion in his home country’s currency. Was there even a national tycoon with that much wealth in 2010?