Chapter 208

Time rewound slightly, back to when Eddie left the underground of the Life Foundation and saw the purple Spider-Man beating up the silver-gray Riot.

Riot swung a furious punch at the Spider-Man, who rolled away; just as he prepared to charge forward and stop Riot, a massive black shadow roared toward them.

Spider-Man leapt backward, dodging the lunging Venom; the equally massive Venom slammed a fist straight into Riot's face. Spider-Man asked Huanmo internally: "What's going on? Do you symbiotes have grudges against each other?"

"It's hard to explain to you," Huanmo 's voice carried a hint of resignation.

At that moment, Venom and Riot were already fighting; Huanmo told Peter: "Venom and Riot do have a grudge, but it dates back to when Venom was first born."

"I still don't understand your species—why…"

Peter had barely finished speaking when he saw Riot's arms transform into two massive blades, slashing toward Venom; Venom responded in kind, black slime erupting as countless tentacles hammered against Riot. As they battled fiercely, they began moving toward the outside of the base building.

Peter chased after them while listening to Huanmo explain the symbiotes.

"Actually, we don't call ourselves symbiotes. Our race's true name is 'Klint,' and we originated from the Klinta Planet in the Andromeda Nebula. Our creator is the Symbiote God N'al."

"He is an ancient, evil being who, after creating us, used us to invade the universe. Later, most of us deemed his actions evil, united, and overthrew him, imprisoning him on our homeworld, Klinta."

"That Riot doesn't seem to be one of you? And what about Venom? How did they become enemies?"

Huanmo sighed; Peter noticed this female symbiote's emotions were far more human-like—he could even sense, through the brainwaves she transmitted, the complexity of her current feelings.

Moreover, her emotions were clearly far more stable than Venom's, and her speech was highly organized; Peter almost forgot she was an alien.

The hoarse female voice spoke again: "We betrayed our creator because of our nature—when we bond with other species, if they are righteous, we are infected by their righteousness."

"N'al's unrestrained destruction and devastation were seen as evil by most species. Many of our kin bonded with righteous races and realized we were aiding evil. Most of us began to awaken."

"After an accident, most of us severed our connection to N'al and united to defeat and imprison him."

"But the damage N'al caused was irreversible. Many of our kin felt guilt, so we formed an organization called the 'Cosmic Agents.'"

"Members of this organization choose to bond with righteous, benevolent alien races, becoming their partners, helping their civilizations develop, or rebuilding those once enslaved and destroyed by N'al."

"You mentioned this organization just now—are you a member?"

"Yes. I am one of the current leaders of this organization."

"Then what about Riot? I just heard you call him a 'traitor to the Cosmic Agents'?"

"Exactly as it sounds. Riot was once a member of the Cosmic Agents, but he betrayed us."

"As you've seen, our life form is unique—most of the time, we require a host to move freely, but there are exceptions. On our homeworld, Klinta, symbiotes can move freely even without a host."

"So although Klinta became N'al's prison, many symbiotes still live there."

"About… never mind, long ago, the Cosmic Agents split. Some agents who remained on Klinta were summoned by N'al."

"N'al's evil and chaos reinfected them, turning them against the Cosmic Agents and back into N'al's servants. Their leader? Riot."

"As his name suggests, he led a faction of Cosmic Agents in rebellion, returning to N'al's side and seeking to free him from prison."

"I understand this part," Peter said, chasing the two monstrous figures while conversing mentally with Huanmo.

"But what about Venom? What's his grudge with Riot?"

"Venom is insane. That's universally accepted among all symbiotes—he's completely abnormal."

Huanmo seemed unsure how to explain; Peter sensed her thinking, then heard her say: "I know you were once bonded to Venom, but I must tell you—his methods are abnormal."

"You might not believe this, but all Cosmic Agent symbiotes follow the same code. We have a complete set of bonding protocols to ensure healthy symbiosis with our hosts."

"For example, the moment we bond with a host, we analyze their biological data and design our bonding strategy accordingly. Our top priority is always the host's survival—that's why I tried to stop you from jumping earlier."

Huanmo 's voice carried weariness: "When I first arrived on Earth, I bonded with several standard humans. I know what a normal human's physical capacity should be, and what kind of impact we can withstand together."

"According to your development metrics, you're not even a normal adult human—you're barely a cub."

"And I'm not a strength-type symbiote either. Even if we combined, jumping from thirty floors up could still injure us. That's why I tried to stop you."

"Oh, but you can read my memories, right? Then you should've seen me swinging between skyscrapers all the time."

"No—that also violates the Cosmic Agents' bonding protocols. Without host consent, we can only access surface-level memories."

"Because most intelligent species find it deeply offensive to have their memories probed, we generally avoid reading them to maintain healthy symbiosis."

"You're surprisingly polite. But Venom…"

Peter paused, then added: "He always tried to make me do bad things. I thought all symbiotes were like him."

"His case is special," the female symbiote's voice carried an unusual rhythm: "Venom was born during the war after the Cosmic Agents' split. He was born in the territory controlled by Riot."

"The symbiotes under Riot's command were mostly chaotic and evil, so Venom grew up with no concept of rules."

"Their grudge formed during that time."

"At the time, Riot was the local leader. Since it was wartime, he needed symbiotes strong enough to fight real Cosmic Agents. But Venom, just born, had no strength—he couldn't fight, got little food, and was constantly bullied."

Peter glanced at the two monsters wrestling together. "But now it looks like the situation's reversed."

"Because Venom is insane. That's not an adjective, and I'm not insulting him—I'm stating a fact," Huanmo said, her tone weary.

"Maybe it's childhood trauma, maybe he was born broken—either way, Venom is an insane symbiote."

"Generally, symbiotes are influenced by their hosts, but this influence is limited. We are independent intelligent beings—we can selectively absorb certain host traits to strengthen ourselves."

"The more hosts a symbiote bonds with, the stronger their self-control becomes. That's true of all Cosmic Agents' leaders."

"But Venom isn't like that. He accepts every trait his host has—anything, no matter how twisted, gets carved into his genome."

"His first host was a madman in a red-and-black suit. After bonding with him, Venom became even more deranged."

"The two caused massive chaos across the universe. The most infamous incident? He went to the Andromeda Starport and insulted a group of dwarves."

"The dwarves recognized the symbiote on him and blamed the Cosmic Agents, causing us serious trouble."

"And Venom has a unique talent."

"As a parasitic race, our influence on hosts is limited—especially with strong-willed intelligent species, who can use sheer willpower to reject all our influence."

"But Venom's corruption is limitless. He can completely alter a host's behavior patterns—even without the host realizing it."

"So all orderly symbiotes know: stay far away from Venom and anyone he's ever bonded with. That's why I didn't want to bond with you."

"But I don't feel insane at all?"

"I find it strange too," Huanmo 's voice held confusion: "When you tried to jump from that height, I thought you were insane. But since you have other special abilities, your mind must be normal—unaffected by Venom. Has Venom truly turned good?"

Peter asked: "Then why did you come to Earth?"

"This… goes back to N'al. Not long ago, the Cosmic Agents discovered N'al was creating a new symbiote."

"He'd been silent since his imprisonment, but suddenly he began creating offspring. We suspected he was planning an escape."

"Besides the Cosmic Agents, Riot's rebels also discovered this. They eagerly anticipated it, hoping the newborn symbiote would bring back their creator and lead them to invade the universe again."

Bīdígé

"Both sides watched Klinta closely, waiting for the new, special symbiote to be born."

"But on the day we expected him to be born, he vanished."

"Vanished?"

"Yes. The special symbiote, meant to be born, simply disappeared."

"Both the Cosmic Agents and the rebels were baffled—but for us, it was good news. If the special symbiote had been born, another war to crush N'al might have begun."

"We thought N'al had failed in creating him. But then, Riot, as N'al's close advisor, received a direct command: retrieve the newborn symbiote."

"Meaning someone stole the symbiote—and Riot was ordered to find him."

"Riot received the order and headed straight for the Nine Realms. The Cosmic Agents had to stop him—no chance of N'al escaping."

"Riot could ignore the rules and sneak in directly, but we couldn't. We first sent envoys to Asgard, gained King Odin's permission, and only then did I enter the Nine Realms' Midgard through Asgard's portal."

"Then how were you captured?"

"Riot arrived here before me. He found a human partner—his current host. He sensed the Cosmic Agents were tracking him, so he set a trap."

Huanmo spoke with anger: "He was once one of us. He fought us for a long time—he knows every one of our weaknesses."

"They designed a trap targeting my host. My host was just an ordinary human. To protect his safety, I had to detach from him."

"A symbiote without a host struggles to move freely—and that's when Riot captured and imprisoned me."