Definitely, Blaine didn't rush to act directly.

Now was his recess time.

No one could stop him from taking a good rest during this period—unless someone came looking for trouble.

New York was still being rebuilt, and the work would take months.

However, the holidays for schools and companies outside Manhattan were not truly extended. It was just a symbolic release for about a week.

After all, New York was a world-class city that directly affected global economy, finance, media, politics, education, entertainment, and fashion. Even the headquarters of the United Nations was located there.

If such a city really shut down for a month, it could cause massive problems.

Therefore, even if people wanted a few more days of rest, their superiors would never allow it—unless they were in Manhattan, which was still under reconstruction.

Blaine stayed at home all morning, quickly growing bored.

The TV had nothing to offer. Almost every channel was broadcasting news about New York or covering information on upcoming global conferences.

Whether now or ever, what Blaine hated most was political news.

It had nothing to do with him, and politicians only rattled off terms he found meaningless.

As a commoner in his previous life, Blaine had always thought: These are the things that ruin TV dramas.

"B…" Blaine yawned.

It was already noon.

Time to head out for a quick lunch.

By coincidence, Blaine ran into Spider-Man in a fast-food restaurant.

Unlike Blaine, after three days of training, Peter Parker had recovered his energy, and his strength had even improved.

"Hey, Blaine!"

When Peter saw him, his eyes lit up. "I haven't seen you in a while, and I want to ask you something. How did you know aliens were going to invade?"

That was the question Peter had been holding onto, but hadn't found the time to ask.

"I have family in the FBI. Believe it or not?" Blaine teased.

"I believe it, definitely."

Peter nodded, then added with a grin: "But that's not what I want to thank you for."

"What other thing to thank me for?" Blaine raised an eyebrow. Other than warning him about the invasion, what else could Peter thank him for?

"You know…"

Peter glanced around nervously, then grabbed Blaine's sleeve and whispered: "When the invasion happened, MJ freaked out and was so worried about me. It was almost the final push I needed!"

"You want me to give the final push instead?"

When Blaine caught on, he rolled his eyes and teased further.

"Hey, forget it. You don't know how worried MJ was, looking for me everywhere!"

"Why was she looking everywhere for you?" Blaine pretended to be suspicious. "Didn't I tell you to run with them?"

"Cough, cough…"

Peter coughed dryly, realizing he'd slipped. He'd been so eager to brag about MJ that he'd forgotten his excuse.

"No, I just… ran to the bathroom real quick."

He had no choice but to stick to the lie he'd told MJ and Ned.

"If you wanted to pee on people, you could've at least done it properly…" Blaine muttered.

"Okay! My food's packed. See you next time, bye~~~!"

Peter quickly cut him off, grabbed his bag, and ran out.

Watching him go, Blaine smiled.

That had been deliberate.

After all, he was during the war. It had only been three days—how could he forget?

Still, teasing Spider-Man was pretty fun. The kid was so naïve.

In a good mood, Blaine ordered grilled chicken and another chicken roll. After finishing at the fast-food restaurant, he went home to continue being bored.

That afternoon, he discovered a new game.

The difficulty was ridiculous.

He couldn't figure it out at all, mostly because the bot wouldn't stop chattering in-game.

Finally, he gave up and clicked on a pay-to-win option, spending 50 thousand to boost himself to the first boss.

From then on, he only played pay-to-win online games.

Blaine exhaled, checked the clock, and saw it was already ten at night.

Time had flown by.

Still, he enjoyed himself.

Before, he'd only played AAA games, which were mostly single-player.

Now, with online games, there were many drawbacks, but the advantage was clear—social interaction.

Both types had their fun, but Blaine preferred the latter.

At least online, he didn't have to pretend to be someone else.

With a sigh, he shut down his computer and stretched.

Maybe he'd head to a bar, see if he could find something—or someone—exciting.

He'd been in this world for so long and hadn't even broken the ice, let alone picked up a girl. For a traveler, that was embarrassing.

But unfortunately…

Though Blaine did go to a bar, he only drank two sips of wine.

After being around women like Carol and Natasha, nightclub girls just couldn't interest him.

"Let's go home."

He shook his head, finished his drink, paid, and left.

And so, Blaine settled into a routine: gaming during the day, relaxing at night.

Seven days passed.

Outside Manhattan, New York had resumed normal operations, and the city's economy was recovering.

The upcoming global conference, scheduled three days later, was huge—global attention, unprecedented scale, and grandeur.

As for Blaine—

After seven days of rest, the time hadn't exactly been fulfilling, but it hadn't been dull either. Still, he missed fighting aliens and going on missions. Real combat was always more fun than computer games.

So, he decided it was time to step back into the world again.

The first task wasn't a mission.

It was unfinished business.

Otherwise, people might think he was easy to push around.

*************************************

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