Chapter 204: Why Are You So Skilled? (Part 2)

Peter was jolted, then shouted toward the door: "Stop! You can't do that—they're afraid of this! Stop now..."

Seeing the people outside showed no reaction, Peter glanced around again, rushed to the corner, and spoke to the purple slime: "Quick, possess me—I'll get you out!"

The symbiote had nowhere to hide, so it climbed Peter's arm once more; in an instant, the purple Spider-Man appeared and slammed hard against the glass observation window—the glass shattered, and the entire building trembled.

Drake sidestepped, his expression calm; he pulled out his phone, pressed a few buttons, and said: "It's out again—activate the emergency protocol!"

As Spider-Man burst into the hallway, he saw numerous armed personnel charging toward him; the purple symbiote told Peter: "Run! They'll kill you!"

Looking at the dark muzzles of their guns, Peter said: "Don't panic—I've done this before!"

He reached out toward the wall—and froze. The armed personnel stared at his motion, equally stunned, unsure what he intended.

Peter sighed internally: "Every time I make this gesture, could you please cooperate by firing out webbing?"

"Webbing? What's that?"

"Use your slime to form thin, flexible strands that stick to the wall so I can swing across."

"What???... Fine, I'll try!"

In an instant, the armed personnel opened fire; Peter sprinted forward, reached out toward the wall—a purple strand stuck fast—and using his momentum, he swung through the air, kicking two gunners off their feet and landing behind them.

Peter glanced out the window and muttered under his breath: "Dr. Dora should be on the third floor... Ready! Jump!"

"Wait, human!! Are you insane?! This is the 32nd floor—I might not be able to..."

Before the raspy female voice finished, Peter lunged forward, smashing through the building's glass, then plummeted freely through the air.

Even mid-fall, he shouted: "Woo-hoo!!!"

"You really are a madman!!!" The symbiote's shriek echoed inside his mind.

Just before hitting the ground, Peter reached out toward the wall—a purple strand yanked him back, swinging him sideways as he kicked open the window and landed directly in front of Dora, who was holding a stack of files.

"Perfect!"

"Help..."

Dora adjusted her glasses and asked: "Is the plan proceeding smoothly?"

"Plan's changed—Drake sent guards to hunt me down. Where's the security room? Let's get the map first."

"Follow me."

Ten minutes later, on the rooftop of another high-rise in Brooklyn, Eddie and Ma Te stood at the edge, watching the flames erupting from the Life Foundation Building; Ma Te sighed: "I knew it—that kid always does this. Relying on him for stealth is impossible. He only knows brute force."

At that moment, Eddie picked up his phone; its cold glow illuminated his face, making his expression even colder. He said: "The map's been sent. Prepare to move."

At the same time, in the basement of the Life Foundation Building, Thor rolled sideways, dodging an attack.

He glanced back at the group of ordinary people huddled in the corner—homeless men, elderly, crying children—the anesthetic injected into them was taking effect; they could only curl up, trembling, unable even to flee.

And Thor faced a man who had gone mad.

After being dumped into the basement as a vagrant, the lab-coated personnel injected everyone with anesthetic, then dragged one man into a lab.

Soon after, the man burst out, raving, attacking others wildly; the lab-coated observers merely watched through the window and said coldly: "Subject 0083, second-generation—combat capability significantly increased; rationality still insufficient."

Thor, unaffected by the anesthetic, saw the madman lunging at defenseless civilians—he had no choice but to step forward and confront him.

The madman kept charging toward the group; Thor crouched low, eyes locked on his movements. The moment the man shifted his feet, Thor lunged forward, striking his lower limbs, disrupting his balance and sending him stumbling backward.

Compared to Peter's immense strength and Ma Te's refined technique, this madman, though aggressive, was nowhere near as extreme as the other two.

Thor was a battle-hardened warrior who had fought countless bizarre species across the universe; his combat experience was immense, and he quickly found the man's weakness.

Though the lunatic was furious and strong, he lacked reason and couldn't read Thor's feints. Thor often pretended to lunge left, tricking him into attacking right, then suddenly swept his leg to trip him, unleashing a flurry of punches.

The researchers behind the observation window frowned, speaking into their radios: "Activate emergency protocol—send someone to deal with this batch."

Inside the room, Thor raised his arms again, blocking another assault; he shook his wrist, glanced at his arm—several deep gashes bled profusely.

At that moment, a burst of slime erupted from the madman's body; instantly, a massive monster appeared in the center of the room, its gaping maw full of sharp teeth roaring at Thor; Thor gritted his teeth: "Again?! You symbiotes never end, do you?!!"

"Damn it! How did they get into the Nine Realms?! What the hell are the forces guarding the external passages doing?! I'm going to drill them into the ground when I get back!!"

A frenzied symbiote was no longer something a mere mortal like Thor could withstand; the colossal symbiote monster slammed into him, sending Thor flying into the wall—two ribs shattered, both arms fractured from blocking the impact.

Thor gritted his teeth, spat out two mouthfuls of blood, and still rose from the ground, standing firm before the helpless civilians.

The crazed symbiote let out another roar—and as it leapt through the air, a purple figure flashed past.

With a thunderous crash, the crazed symbiote smashed into the floor, its neck gripped by a much smaller purple figure delivering relentless blows.

Only after the crazed symbiote was pounded back into the man's body did Spider-Man stand up.

At that moment, alarms blared throughout the entire building; lights flickered, deafening sirens echoing in every room. Spider-Man turned to see armed guards storming in; he nodded to Thor, then spoke internally to the symbiote: "Buddy, get ready to go all out!"

"Go all out? What does that mean?"

"You..." Peter stared in disbelief. "You're really a symbiote? Don't you know symbiote tactics at all?"

"You turn into a monster with fangs and jaws, then use countless slime tentacles to grab everything and swing wildly..."

"I..." The symbiote broke down. "Only that lunatic Venom does that! I'm an agile-type symbiote! Not some brute!"

"Forget it! Just do as I say—they're about to open fire! 3... 2... 1!!!"

As gun muzzles flashed, purple slime erupted—the purple symbiote monster appeared in the center of the room, punched several armed guards flying, then leapt out the window.

At the main entrance, a group of armed guards chased after them; Spider-Man, seeing his goal achieved, prepared to leave.

Then, suddenly, a window on the 10th floor of the Life Foundation Building exploded—a massive gray figure leapt down.

A silver-gray symbiote slammed its fist into the ground and roared: "Phantom! Don't even think about running!!"

"Riot! You traitor to the Cosmic Agents!!!" The female voice screamed.

"I think your symbiote kind has a misunderstanding—I never abused Venom! We got along just fine!"

"Venom?! You're Venom's former host????"

"You went to the Andromeda spaceport, blew up the dwarf ship, dumped shit on them, and publicly insulted their leader—then let the dwarves blame the Cosmic Agents?! Hahahaha!!!"

"Wait! That wasn't me—I'm..."

The silver-gray symbiote paid no attention; it roared and charged at Spider-Man—two symbiotes, gray and purple, instantly locked in brutal combat.

While they fought fiercely, Eddie and Ma Te had already infiltrated the Life Foundation Building.

Eddie studied the map transmitted by Spider-Man; the two quickly reached the building's basement, where Thor was moving the anesthetized civilians.

Since Thor alone was too slow, Ma Te stayed behind to help; Eddie went alone toward the underground core hub.

After eliminating numerous security systems with Venom's help and using slime to pry open the core hub's lock, Eddie entered the room where the Life Foundation stored all its data.

He was inside—but faced with the complex machinery and layered security protocols, Eddie said: "I'm just a journalist. Isn't cracking this a bit too much?"

"Shut up. Watch."

Instantly, Venom appeared, took control of Eddie, and performed a dazzling sequence of operations, muttering as he worked: "Ha! A downgraded civilian version? Ancient junk. You think this crap can protect your data? Better keep two dogs here."

"Hardware's garbage too—output speed's pathetic. Let me see... They should fire every single programmer. Security protocols are as fragile as paper."

"If the idiot who designed this algorithm gets paid this much, I can only say: their boss's brain is full of water."

Eddie asked internally: "Who was your previous host? Why are you so skilled?"

Venom adjusted his nonexistent glasses and said: "Found it. Here!"

Eddie hurried to look. At that moment, Ma Te arrived after rescuing the civilians; he stared at the flashing data on the screen and said: "This must be the transaction records between the Life Foundation and the Hand Society."

"Let me see... He sold the Hand Society a lot of Immortality Factor serums. Huh??? Why so cheap????"

"Oh! I get it!" Ma Te exclaimed. "Now I know why the Hand Society broke with Kingpin!"

"Why?"

"Didn't Kingpin sell the Hand Society a batch of Immortality Factor serums? According to my intel, he charged them a fortune and claimed they were one-of-a-kind—available only through his channel."

《Begin Invincible by Sacrificing Your Ancestor》

"Then the Hand Society bought cheaper ones from the Life Foundation?"

"Exactly. The Hand Society must've felt cheated—they paid Kingpin a fortune, only to find out these weren't unique, weren't worth the price, and Kingpin wouldn't refund them. Of course they'd break ties."

"The only question is: why are they selling them so cheap? Isn't counterfeiting this stuff extremely difficult?" Ma Te rubbed his chin.

At that moment, Venom spoke: "Because what they're selling isn't Immortality Factor serum at all—it's symbiote extract."

"Symbiote? That's you, right?"

"Correct—but don't equate me with my stupid kin. They let humans capture them as lab specimens. Embarrassing."

Suddenly, a thunderous crash came from below; Eddie and Ma Te looked up. Ma Te said to Eddie: "Go check upstairs—I'll stay here and copy the data."

When Eddie reached the ground floor, he saw a purple monster pinning and brutally pounding a silver-gray one; the silver-gray monster screamed: "Damn it!! Phantom!! How are you this strong?! You're supposed to be the weakest in the Cosmic Agents!!!"

"It's not me! It's my host!!!"

The symbiote called Phantom added, slightly amazed:

"He's insanely strong!!!"

——————Extra Notes——————

You can guess what this event is stitching together—you'll never guess it, hahahaha!