Chapter 97: Repay every kindness, avenge every grudge!

Sticky pipe walls.

Frigid air.

And the stench released by rust, silt, and unidentified fermented matter caused Hawk, who was walking through it, to directly seal off his sense of smell.

He wasn't afraid of heat, nor was he afraid of cold; he was only afraid of the stench.

Heat and cold could be endured, but the stench could not, especially this kind of pervasive odor.

Hawk looked at the spider-man leading the way, feeling quite curious.

"How did you find this place?"

"I tracked the lizards to find it."

Walking in front, perhaps because he also felt the stench was too thick, Peter's voice sounded muffled even through his spider mask: "It's right ahead, just around the corner."

The day before yesterday, when he was battling the Lizard at school, he had discovered some lizards crawling out of the sewer pipes.

So yesterday, on Saturday, Peter woke up and remembered this; thinking that being idle was just being idle, he simply plunged into the sewers to search.

As a result, after searching for a day, this morning, he really found Dr. Connors' temporary base within the labyrinth of underground pipes.

And so.

After finding it, he thought of Hawk, feeling that Hawk might also be interested, so he simply ran over to Hawk's place and invited him to join in on a weekend underground labyrinth adventure in New York City.

Soon.

After Hawk followed Peter around the corner ahead, he saw a platform not far away.

The platform was rigged with wires haphazardly connected from who knows where; the wires were stuck to the wall with some unknown liquid, connecting several light bulbs that illuminated the platform, where two laptops and some laboratory equipment were scattered about.

After Hawk stepped onto the platform, he scanned the area.

"Where is that video you mentioned?"

"Here."

Peter, who had already walked up to a laptop, tapped on the keyboard a few times, and immediately a video appeared on the screen.

"That blood is Hawk's."

"I should make a call to Hawk..."

"Sshh... no, he definitely won't give it to me."

"Sshh!"

"Right, Gwen."

"I can capture Gwen, and then force Hawk to give me the blood."

"Sshh..."

"That's right, that's it, capture Gwen, make Hawk give me the blood."

"Capture..."

In the video, Dr. Connors, whose clothes were filthy and whose hair hung down over his head from sweating, seemed to be talking to himself like a madman, accompanied by the static that flashed across the screen from time to time.

At the end of the video, the seemingly possessed Dr. Connors grabbed the last three regeneration serums without hesitation and injected them into his body; immediately after, amidst a series of distorted roars, the Lizard made his grand entrance.

The video ended there.

Hawk's expression, however, became strange.

So that was the reason the Lizard was targeting Gwen—the goal was to capture her to force him to hand over his blood?

This...

Hawk expressed that he found it hard to understand Dr. Connors' train of thought.

He thought about it, and for Dr. Connors' behavior, he could only explain it with one reason.

"The lizard serum has completely ruined his brain."

"Then would you give it?"

"What?"

Hawk looked at Peter.

Peter asked curiously: "If Connors called you and sought your blood, would you give it to him?"

Hawk frowned slightly as he listened to Peter's question.

Would he give it?

He thought about it in his mind, then nodded and looked at Peter.

"If it wasn't much, I would."

"Why?"

Peter's eyes widened as he heard Hawk's answer: "Although I don't know what the situation is with your blood, it's highly likely that it's the key to Connors becoming the Lizard. Knowing the result, you would still give your blood away?"

Hawk looked at Peter, his tone calm: "Him using my blood to become the Lizard is his business, but him asking me for it—whether I give it or not—is my business."

Peter frowned and shook his head.

"I don't understand."

"You and I, although we don't have parents, at least your parents existed, and you have your Uncle Ben and Aunt May. I'm different; I'm an orphan, always have been. So you can become a superhero, but I can't, never."

"Why?"

"I'm not as kind as you."

Hawk smiled slightly.

"Of course, I'm not that evil either, but I have always lived by one saying: Repay every kindness, avenge every grudge!"

"When I was laid off from Oscorp, although it had nothing to do with Dr. Connors, Dr. Connors still wrote me a letter of recommendation."

"Even though that letter of recommendation is useless now, when he gave it to me, Dr. Connors wanted nothing from me, so..."

Hawk smiled again as he said this and looked at Peter: "It's just a vial of blood; it's no loss to me, so I gave it. As for what he does with that vial of blood, whether he does good or evil, that's his business. As long as my conscience is clear, that's enough."

Peter nodded thoughtfully as he listened to Hawk's explanation.

Hawk seemed to think of something then and looked at Peter: "What, are you interested in my blood too? If you want some, I can give you a vial."

Peter snapped out of it and shook his head like a rattle.

"No, no, I don't want it."

"Alright then."

Hawk smiled and stopped talking, just scanned the platform one more time and shook his head: "That's why I said Dr. Connors' brain was ruined by the lizard serum. He could have just asked me for it, but he had to make it like this. Let's go."

Since he already knew Dr. Connors' motive, even if that motive sounded somewhat incomprehensible.

But if one considered Dr. Connors' mental state in the video, it was understandable.

Mentally ill people have more fun, after all.

Just like you can never know what a cat is thinking, you can never peer into the thoughts of a madman.

So...

Hawk planned to leave.

He was still thinking about trying to get rid of those five trophies today to exchange for money, but he had been forced to come here instead.

Peter looked at Hawk, who was preparing to leave: "What about this place?"

Hawk thought about it.

"Burn it."

"Burn it?" ===== CHAPTER 99 =====