At seven o'clock, Gwen Grofne sat up from her bed punctually. She stretched, got out of bed, and went to the bathroom to wash up. She carefully combed her hair in the bathroom mirror, pinned a black butterfly hairpin, and picked out her favorite outfit from the pile of name tags in the closet that she couldn't name.

At 7:20, Gwen left the house with a homemade sandwich in her mouth and backpack on her shoulder, heading for the nearest subway station.

A new day has begun, but this one is different.

It was her birthday.

It's also important to emphasize that this isn't just a casual birthday, it's Gwen's first birthday since she was born into the world as a clone.

After today, she will officially be one year old...... Well, it's still weird to say that.

Standing on the subway heading in the direction of the school, Gwen subconsciously pulled out her phone and clicked on her empty contact list. There were only two contacts on her phone: Elizabeth Betty, the secretary who arranged her home and school, and Michael, Elizabeth's boss. It's just that the latter's number is an unknown number pre-stored, and it can only be a message he took the initiative to call in and send a message, not the other way around.

And he hasn't heard anything yet.

Gwen glanced at it hurriedly, then locked the screen again and put the phone back in her pocket.

She didn't know what she was expecting. Maybe I hope he can give himself a polite "happy birthday" wish? Don't be stupid, even she thinks she's a bit stupid at this idea.

While he had laid out a new life for himself, he did promise to recruit her into a special team in the future when she was ready...... But that's about it.

Gwen knew that he had an international conglomerate to manage, and that he was busy researching armor, developing weapons, and delving into the occult or something, and then he seemed to be in charge of some mysterious world security maintenance organization, so he must be a super busy person with all kinds of opportunities.

Maybe he forgot that there was such a cloned spider after that cloning incident, right? Thinking about it, Gwen felt that she might not be that important, and that she had nothing to look forward to.

But anyway, looking at this clean text message box, I always feel ...... My heart is still a little empty.

Life at school was the same as it was before, and sure enough, nothing changed just because it was her birthday. Every class was as rigid and monotonous as she remembered, and as always, she found it difficult to fit in.

She can pretend to be interested in a topic that everyone talks about, but that's a pretence after all, and she will get tired after pretending for a long time.

She has complete memories of Gwen Stacy, but none of her interests, hobbies, or emotions.

Gwen knew what she looked like in the eyes of others — pretty, rich, high-achievers, and felt like the typical standard or even uncreative girl template that came out of a TV show. But that wasn't her intention, she came here to be more ordinary.

It may also be because after all, most of her classmates are seventeen-year-old uncles and aunts, and theoretically she has just turned one year old today, maybe this is the so-called generation gap. She sometimes jokes about herself.

The bell for the end of school heralds the end of the day so uneventfully.

No, it should be said that for most students, it's almost over. But for Gwen? Her birthday has just begun.

At night, seven o'clock sharp.

A figure crouched on the statue that adorned the exterior of the building, a slender silhouette in the bright moonlight. She hunched slightly, like a white rabbit ready to attack.

Gwen wears a black and white bodysuit with a wide white hood and a slightly girlish pink underneath.

It's a self-made uniform for her. She had a lot of time to pass the time during the last long vacation, so she bought materials online and taught herself online, customizing such a Spider-Man-style uniform for herself. The end result was beyond her expectations.

Yes, she remembers, Elizabeth had told her that Mr. Partso didn't want her to use her superpowers outside of training.

But whatever, he doesn't seem to care too much anyway.

Gwen took a deep breath. She leaped into the moonlight and jumped high from the edge of the building. She clasped her hands to her side like a free-falling diver swooping down.

After falling dozens of meters, she curled up, hugged her knees with her arms, and flipped several times in a row. With a wave of her right arm, she pulled the button of the silk spinner on her wrist, and the milky white spider silk shot out with a "snort", hitting the balcony outside a certain house.

Gwen Stacy was Spider-Man's girlfriend, and in fact she had helped Spider-Man solve several cases, and she knew very well the ingredients of Spider-Man's spider silk capsule, and Gwen, as her clone, knew it too. She first unleashed cobwebs in her school's lab two months ago, sticking to the drawer of the lab bench from the inside.

Fortunately, the teacher of the experimental class was lying in a chair napping with a magazine on her face, and no one noticed her little experimental accident.

The force of the fall pulls the spider silk straight, and the elastic potential energy is accumulated to the maximum. Gwen bounced up as she tugged at the silk, spun around gracefully, and then spun the silk again, sticking to a large electronic billboard.

She swooped and swung, rising and falling with the help of a constantly changing spider silk. Tonight's temperature is quite pleasant, and the cool wind mixed with the slightest smell of the night is intoxicating.

Gwen felt rejuvenated.

It seems that it was only when she put on her uniform and wandered through this urban jungle made of steel and concrete that she found herself.

The slight sting of the spider's induction reminded her of the crime going on on the soles of her feet. She is like a spider entrenched in the middle of a spider's web, and every criminal is a bug that breaks into this web, and their actions will pull the spider silk and alert the hunter.

A featureless roadblock robbery, in which three tall men with knives try to rob a passing lady in the alley. If you were to give a street superhero daily a grade of difficulty from A to D, Gwen felt that it should be rated D minus. I guess the only thing that can be simpler than this is "rescue the kitten on the tree" or something.

She flew down, cleanly dispatched a few of the unpromising thugs, and finally packed them up with cobwebs and hung them under the lampposts.

It feels great – it would have been perfect without the last episode of interaction with the victim.

"Your bag, ma'am." She grabbed the snatched hand with spider silk and handed it back to the lady.

"Thank you, Spider-Man," the lady expressed her confusion in gratitude, "but I always thought Spider-Man was a man." I didn't expect it to ......," she looked Gwen up and down, "...... It's a girl. ”

"What? No, I'm not Spider-Man, and I'm a girl...... Phew, I mean women. ”

Gwen let out a long breath.

"Have a nice night, anyway." She flew away.

......

Eleven fifty-nine o'clock.

With her back to the Empire State Building, Gwen rests her feet on the outer wall of the topmost floor, looking out at Manhattan at night. New York is probably a city that never sleeps, and even though it's only a minute before midnight, the city is still brightly lit.

She didn't want to go back yet. Anyway, when she went back, she only had a horribly quiet suite to spend her birthday with, which made her feel more comfortable here.

In one minute, her first birthday was coming to an end.

Gwen pulled out her phone again and glanced at her inbox, which was still empty.

It doesn't matter, it's expected anyway.

Said so, but sure enough...... There will still be a small loss, right?

Even if it was just a clone, even if it really didn't matter, she still had a little, little expectation.

Even if there was only one person in the world, she hoped that she would be remembered at least on this special day.

The time on the electronic clock on the phone became zero o'clock, and a new day began.

Gwen locked the screen and put away her phone.

It's almost time to go back. Tomorrow is not the weekend, and she has to wake up early and go to school as usual......

The sharp sound of breaking the air stopped her just as she was about to jump, and Gwen froze as she saw beams of dazzling fire pierce into the night sky like retrograde meteors. They exploded in the sky one after another, like a series of colorful flowers, red, blue, purple and green, and hundreds of fireworks exploded the entire sky in a short moment, reflecting the sky as bright as day.

At the pinnacle of the brilliant light effect, a fire that seemed to occupy a leading position cut through the light curtain and exploded in a colorful manner. The colorful light spelled out one huge letter after another.

“HappyBirthday，Gen！”

Gwen was dumbfounded, and the colored light illuminated the blindfold of her mask.

She gently removed her hood, ripped off her mask, and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"Thank you." She muttered in the direction of the fireworks.

***

Michael dialed his secretary's phone.

"Elizabeth?"

"It's me, boss."

"The fireworks in Manhattan," he said, "ended with the words 'Happy Birthday...... Did you arrange that? ”

"It's my own doing, sir." Elizabeth admitted, "I think Miss Grovenie might need this." ”

"It's her birthday?"

"The records you gave me show that she was born on this day last year." Elizabeth said, pausing, "Do you have any grievances?" ”

"No, there is no ...... Very well done. ”

"I'm just doing my job."

"There's nothing else to do, let's rest early. Good night. ”

"You too, sir."

(Thanks to the 500 starting coins rewarded by the book friend Hokage, and the 100 starting coins rewarded by the book friends and others!) ）