New Gods of North America.

Chapter 701 "Reinstalling the System"

Wayne's actions tonight can be described as both a success and a failure.

He felt as if he had absorbed a portion of the evil core within that blob of "ink," but Jason ultimately managed to escape by cutting off his tail once again.

Besides these, there are many other things worth exploring in detail.

For example, Wayne seemed to be on the verge of losing control, but it was as if the "wise sage" pulled his consciousness back. During this process, Wayne seemed to pass through a "fog" and had a practical enlightenment, like learning to swim.

The "wise sage" was like giving Wayne a "swimming ring" with a rope, ensuring he "drowned".
However, there is a difference between being "dragged ashore" and "pushing your own swimming ring to shore," and Wayne did the latter.

This is why, although Wayne ultimately couldn't help but "explode," he felt as if he had already advanced to a higher level.
Although even swimmers can get cramps in the water, the feeling of knowing how to control "sinking and floating" and "moving" in the water is very real and can't be faked.

However, these details are not important at the moment.

The key point is:
“Peter—what happened to you—”

Wayne was covered in mud and river water, and because he hadn't fully recovered his strength, he rolled over and, half-lying on the ground, stretched out his arm towards the giant spider Peter that Lina was holding.
The scene resembles a severely wounded soldier struggling to call out to his comrades.

Lina placed the large spider, which now resembled a dead crab, next to Wayne, so that the two casualties of the night could lie side by side.
Inessa then joined in, squatting down next to Lina: "I've always felt that Peter's condition is very unusual. Is there any way to save him? I have some emergency medication with me that I can give him."

Lina poked the "dead crab" with her fingertips, seemingly trying repeatedly to awaken it with spiritual power.

Her expression showed some disappointment: "As long as I'm alright, it won't 'die' as people usually understand it; it can be revived. However, the connection between me and it has completely disappeared. Even if I bring it back to life, it won't be the same Peter anymore..."

Seeing that Inessa and Wayne didn't seem to understand, Lina initially seemed reluctant to speak, but then continued:

“Every field has both positive and negative meanings. For example, in the field of ‘death,’ although bringing the dead back to life is a recognized taboo, what carries this taboo is actually the living’s longing and reluctance to part with the deceased. Some people are even willing to do anything just to meet the other person again.”

"As the counterpart to the realm of 'death,' a similar taboo exists in the realm of 'life,' which is the artificial creation of 'new souls' out of thin air. My extraordinary abilities are close to this quality, which is why I was led by some members of the Wisdom Cult and the Life School to participate in their taboo experiments."

"This spider doll itself is merely an alchemical creation by Master William. The part that truly brings it to 'life' is actually my extraordinary ability. You can think of it as me splitting off a part of my soul as a 'seed,' and Peter is the plant that grew from that seed."

“Plants can be replanted after they die, and the new plants may look similar to the old ones from the outside. However, Peter’s original memories and some of his traits will be gone. What will come back to life will be something completely new inside.”

Inessa was still processing the meaning behind Lina's words, while Wayne, as a time traveler, understood this very easily.
It's like a computer's hardware itself is fine, but the content stored on the hard drive has been "formatted." Even if you reinstall the exact same operating system, many applications and historical saves will be lost, and the user experience will be completely different from before.

Well……

Wayne tentatively asked, "So, which Peter is this one we know?"

"First."

Lina, who was usually so expressive, had a blank expression on her face now, which looked a little frightening.
After Lina finished speaking, she sighed, "Peter has been with me for a long time. He wasn't this smart at first. He's practically the first child I raised myself."

Ah this...

Although Wayne felt he couldn't be considered "primarily responsible," the incident did indeed originate from him, and Peter's decision to go down as the alarm was actually for Wayne's safety. Therefore, he should bear some "joint liability" or "compensation for favors."
However, once emotional factors are involved, the value often becomes difficult to measure. For example, if you accidentally break someone's treasured keepsake, the item itself may not be valuable, but the emotions it represents cannot be easily valued...

In movies and TV shows, some villains end up being killed because of this kind of thing. Their classic hate-inducing lines are similar to "So what if a child/partner dies? Just have another one/find another one, right?" Wayne quickly got up from the ground: "Do we still have a chance to get Peter fully recovered? Even if it's a bit troublesome, I can work together to find a solution."

Wayne then quickly recounted what happened in the water, providing clues to Inessa and Lina to see if they could be saved again.

Inessa was a hunter before, so this wasn't her specialty. Lina, on the other hand, seemed to be spacing out right now, even stopping her awakening actions. She was probably already reminiscing about the past.
The surroundings became slightly quiet for a moment, and then Wayne racked his brains before finally thinking of a possibility: "Could it be that Peter has just temporarily fallen into a coma?"

Lina didn't quite agree with this speculation: "The connection between Peter and me is hard to describe, but even when Peter was almost broken, the connection was never severed."

“This time is different; I think there’s still a chance.”

This time, Wayne tried to poke Peter, attempting to inject a low dose of spiritual power into him, intending to use a strong medicine to awaken him through an explosion.

Lina wasn't in the mood to stop her at the moment: "Don't break this body, I still need my new doll. Although it's very sturdy, even the masters of the Life School would need a lot of effort to repair it."

Wayne was very careful, trying to keep the explosion within the tip of the giant spider's fangs, making the explosion feel like touching the voltage regulator of an electronic lighter.

"Snapped--"

No response.

"Snapped--"

Even with increased dosage, the giant spider's exoskeleton remained completely unaffected.

"Snapped--"

This time, Lina immediately turned her head, and her already large eyes widened even more.

"Ah!!! Peter, don't bite me—let go—"

Wayne had already jumped up and was frantically spinning his wrist, but his fingertips were firmly bitten by the giant spider's fangs, and he couldn't shake them off.

However, Wayne's expression at this moment was somewhat smug—I told you it might not be dead, right?

When your computer won't turn on, sometimes simple home remedies can actually work; just repeatedly pressing the power button might not be effective.
In the past, when people couldn't turn on their old TVs, they would find unorthodox methods such as "hammering the casing a few times" or "hanging something on the antenna."

Wayne had witnessed the phantom of the "Sage of Wisdom" descend several times. Although Lina also needed to avoid it, her resistance to this was clearly stronger than others.

Although the term "soul" is often used symbolically in mysticism, if Peter the Spider's "operating system" is part of Lina's soul, then its resistance to the "wise sage" should be quite high.

Based on Wayne's experience facing the "Wise Sage" this time, the projected phantom wasn't in an aggressive stance. Although it was still a raging storm that "would drive anyone mad at just a glance," it was different from the previous times, appearing somewhat gentler.
Being possessed by His phantom would certainly have side effects, but if even Wayne thought it was "mild," then Peter, as part of Lina, was even more likely not completely dead.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many stories among church members about "being possessed by an evil spirit and then being saved by a pastor."

If you use one and discard it, how could there possibly be any so-called "saints" who can "communicate directly" in those heretical sects?
(End of this chapter)