Chapter 866: The Late-Arriving Spider

Chapter 866: Chapter 866: The Late-Arriving Spider

The paramedic who had jumped into the river wasn’t some expert diver capable of working underwater for dozens of minutes on a single breath. Without any equipment and in an unfamiliar environment, there was very little he could do.

The depth of this section of the river was unknown, but the fact that the entire car had disappeared beneath the surface made it clear that the water was too deep for anyone to simply stand up and be fine. And as the car sank farther down, the rescue would only become more difficult.

As for Cathy Webb, who was trapped inside the car, she had probably suffered a severe impact when the vehicle crashed into the river and was now unconscious. Through his super-hearing, Henry could hear nothing inside the car except the gurgling of water rushing in. There were no sounds suggesting that she was trying to save herself.

All right, Cathy Webb had helped him out quite a bit, after all. When they had previously taken in students from the mutant school, Katherine Hepburn had even asked Cathy to help treat the injured children, bandaging their wounds and providing medical care for free. Henry still owed her for those favors.

He couldn’t afford to misjudge the situation and assume she was destined to become Madame Web, only to end up letting a woman with so many good years ahead of her die.

Having decided to help, Henry approached the gap where the car had smashed through the bridge’s guardrail. He made a show of exerting himself before leaping outward.

There was still plenty of time to rescue Cathy Webb, so he could get away with acting like an ordinary person. There was no need to reveal too much of his extraordinary strength.

But just as he was falling headfirst, his body upright and ready to hit the water, a force suddenly caught him around the waist and yanked him backward!

The recoil sent him bouncing up and down like someone on a bungee-jumping cord.

The speechless Kryptonian was dragged back toward the bridge until he came face-to-face with the person holding the webbing.

Well, almost eye to eye... The other man’s entire face was covered by a mask. Although it had eye lenses, Henry couldn’t even tell where his actual eyes were looking.

Spider-Man called out loudly, "Sir, please don’t commit suicide! The world is still a beautiful place. Oh, it’s you!"

New York’s friendly neighborhood hero, Spider-Man, had once again saved...

All right, Henry could now understand why George Stacy always sounded like he wanted to grind his teeth whenever someone brought up the little Spider-Man during their conversations.

The police, at best, arrived fashionably late after everything was over. Spider-Man had actually made it in time, only to turn a good deed into a disaster.

Henry stared helplessly at the young Spider-Man, who was scratching his head and struggling to come up with some grand speech about cherishing life, yet couldn’t manage to get a single complete sentence out.

"Buddy, why did you pull me back? Do you seriously think someone would commit suicide at the scene of a car accident?"

"Uh... isn’t that what you were doing?"

Still dangling from the webbing as Spider-Man gradually reeled him back in, Henry shouted helplessly toward the people on the bridge.

"I’m trying to rescue someone! There’s a paramedic trapped inside a car that fell into the river. Another paramedic jumped in after him, and I’m trying to get into the water to help! If you don’t believe me, ask the people around you!"

Spider-Man stopped pulling and froze for a moment. Then he turned to the bystanders beside him.

"Is what he says true?"

"Yeah!"

"That’s right!"

"A car just fell into the river!"

"The other paramedic was incredibly brave. He actually jumped into the water from that height. I certainly wouldn’t have dared!"

"That man was helping with the accident just now, too. He didn’t look like someone who was trying to kill himself."

The crowd chimed in from all directions, finally making the little Spider realize what he’d done wrong.

"I’m sorry, sir! I didn’t know you were trying to help!"

Before Henry could respond, he suddenly felt his body go slack.

That idiot had cut the webbing!

Spider-Man’s webbing dissolved extremely quickly once detached from him. Almost in an instant, the strands wrapped around Henry’s body vanished. Yet under certain circumstances, webbing that had also been detached from Spider-Man’s hands could somehow remain intact.

Henry didn’t have time to think through the mysterious principles behind the webbing’s strange behavior. Released so abruptly, he was in a completely wrong position for landing. His entire body tumbled and spun as he plummeted straight toward the river, finally crashing into the water.

If he’d been an ordinary person, being tossed around like that would have put an end to his rescue attempt. He’d have needed rescuing himself. Fortunately, he was a Kryptonian, which was the only reason he hadn’t broken himself to pieces against the surface of the water.

Without even having time to give the little Spider the middle finger, Henry began contemplating the eighteen different ways he could cook a spider as he dove underwater.

Then again, there was a reason spiders weren’t suitable for eating. They simply didn’t have enough meat, making practically every cooking method a poor choice.

The car was sinking, but not as quickly as it might have. Air was still escaping from the interior, and the vehicle hadn’t entered the water at the most streamlined angle. Nevertheless, it had already descended to a considerable depth.

The male paramedic was holding his breath and doing everything he could to rescue the person inside. But he was stuck outside the vehicle, and as the car sank deeper and deeper, he was becoming increasingly helpless.

Henry approached from a distance. He deliberately avoided coming up on the anxious man’s blind side, not wanting to startle him and cause an accident underwater.

This sensible approach successfully prevented any unnecessary mishaps. Instead, when the paramedic noticed that help had arrived, his face lit up with relief.

Naturally, the two men weren’t about to stop and exchange pleasantries underwater.

Henry went straight to the car. Water had already filled about half the interior. Cathy Webb was visibly unconscious, floating inside the vehicle in a way that made it clear she wasn’t breathing normally.

Had she already drowned?

Positioning himself beside Cathy, Henry pulled open the car door with effortless ease and immediately dragged her outside.

Once they had rescued her, Henry and the paramedic instinctively headed for the surface together.

When both men broke through the water, the paramedic gasped greedily for fresh air. Henry, meanwhile, supported Cathy beneath the arm with one hand while checking her vital signs.

"She isn’t breathing anymore."

He pointed toward the riverbank beneath the bridge.

"Let’s get to shore first, then begin resuscitation. Can you swim while supporting another person?"

"She isn’t struggling or thrashing around, so it should be fine. We need to move quickly."

With that, Henry began swimming toward the bank using a one-armed freestyle stroke.

The male paramedic swam with all his strength and could barely keep up with Henry’s speed. However, he was so focused on saving the woman’s life that he didn’t have time to consider what that might imply.

Once the three of them reached the bank, they hurriedly ensured that Cathy’s airway remained clear and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Henry wasn’t left out of the process. Having one person perform chest compressions while another provided rescue breaths was the most efficient approach.

As for pressing on the abdomen in an attempt to force water out of the chest and stomach, that was the wrong method. It could cause vomit to obstruct the airway, making the situation even worse.

The most important things when rescuing someone who has drowned are maintaining blood circulation and restoring breathing. The brain simply cannot tolerate being deprived of oxygen for too long.

Only when Cathy coughed up the water that had accumulated inside her and began breathing on her own did the two men stop CPR and sit down beside her.

The two men exchanged glances and bumped fists in silent understanding. Both were soaked from head to toe and looked thoroughly disheveled, but fortunately, everything had turned out well in the end.

For some inexplicable reason, they suddenly burst out laughing.

Henry honestly had no idea what he was laughing about. He simply felt like laughing at that particular moment.

The kind of laughter that came from being genuinely happy.

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