Chapter 670

Although the topic was Peter and Venom, neither of them showed up—they were too excited and had already physically fallen into a brawl, so none of the symbiotes came over either, instead keeping watch on them from the space battlefield.

Only Shiler, Stark, Steve, Strange, along with Natasha representing S. . . . . . and Connors, the biologist, arrived.

Strange conjured a strangely shaped magical array in midair, composed entirely of various polygons, with a circle on the outer edge and numerous sharp arrowheads; no one else present could make sense of the pattern, so Strange explained:

"Earth is unique, and therefore its humans are unique. Human faith is an extremely valuable sustenance for demonic gods, so even those demonic gods who no longer require power boosts won't mind acquiring an extra portion—such as the Lord of the Crimson Dimension."

"But to prevent these demonic gods from spreading heresy and disrupting Earth's ecology, the Sanctum Sanctorum also has the duty of controlling the outflow of human faith. If human faith could freely spread, those demonic gods, having tasted the sweetness, would launch even more frantic attacks on Earth."

Strange waved his hand, and the magical array slowly unraveled into a perfect sphere; the others then realized it was a model of Earth, except that above it floated countless tiny golden traces.

"Is this Earth's magical defense network?" Stark asked, puzzled. He'd caught a glimpse of it during the purge of Earth's demonic gods.

"Correct. This system not only defends against external demonic invasions but also blocks the outflow of human faith—though not completely; it merely filters out the majority."

"It also serves as a monitoring tool. If the flow of faith for any demonic god suddenly surges, it means he's likely acting on Earth. That's why Master Wong could swiftly identify demonic gods causing trouble here."

"Oh, I get it…" Natasha crossed her arms. "So it's a trap? Demonic gods come to Earth for faith, but once they gain followers and their faith grows, the Sorcerer Supreme immediately notices—and then follows the faith's channel to cut them down."

Strange nodded and gave Natasha a thumbs-up. "Exactly. Brilliantly put. That's essentially how it works."

"No wonder," Connors mused. "When I first heard stories about the Sorcerer Supreme, I wondered how she found those demonic gods. Obviously, humans understand: brute force alone won't work—you need wisdom."

"From this defense network, I can monitor the flow of faith within Earth. I extracted the faith energy from Peter and compared it against all previously recorded faith signatures in the network."

"And the result?" Shiler asked.

"No matches found. This faith signature has never appeared before—it's not from any demonic god we already know who projected faith onto them."

"Then what's going on?" Stark said, baffled. "Could Peter actually be a new demonic god?"

"I found it strange too, so I investigated further. I discovered no trace of this faith passing through the defense network—which is highly unusual." Strange stared at the sphere, thinking aloud. "Whether it originated from within Earth or was projected from outside, the network should have left a trace. But this faith on Peter is different—it seems to come from another level…"

Hearing this, Shiler gradually formed an answer and began to speak: "Do you remember the Bat Invasion incident?"

"Perhaps Nick and I never told you the truth, but the fact is—we orchestrated it together, with the purpose of…"

Shiler briefly recounted the entire sequence of events, then reached the key point: "To make those vampires believe a real Bat God existed, so they'd attack New York unprepared, I had Venom bond with Peter and create that Venom Bat—the giant bat monster you saw over New York."

"Wait, so you made that?" Steve stared at Shiler. "But… do you know how many people died?"

"If I hadn't done this, and the vampires truly invaded New York, even more would have died," Shiler said calmly. "I already said it: the vampires had long planned this. If they'd prepared thoroughly and infiltrated stealthily, the consequences would've been worse. Luring them out early and catching them off guard was part of the plan."

Steve opened his mouth as if to protest, but Stark nudged him. Steve sighed and reluctantly accepted Shiler's reasoning.

After all, reason told him: if those giant bats had fully prepared before launching a full-scale assault on New York, it wouldn't have been just a bridge problem—it might have plunged the entire city into brutal warfare.

"Leaving that aside, the key point is: that was the only moment Peter and Venom bonded—and the bond occurred through what was presented as a god. That aligns perfectly with faith energy."

"But the problem is," Strange said, puzzled, "the Bat God was fabricated by you two. So who would genuinely worship it? Humans saw that monster as an enemy. Even if a few eccentric, world-destroying individuals worshipped it, two or three human believers couldn't possibly generate such intense faith energy."

"I think we still need to bring Peter and Venom in and ask them exactly what happened," Shiler proposed. "Only they know what truly transpired at the end."

When both were brought in, Peter could still communicate Mianqiang, but Venom could only roar and howl—Eddie couldn't control him at all, and he kept banging his head against the wall.

Fortunately, the deranged Venom was easier to handle; several symbiotes plus Steve managed to pin him down. Peter strained to recall, then said:

"I remember… a bald wizard in a yellow robe appeared. Venom told him something about triple, quintuple…"

"Peter, focus. Recall every detail—word for word. You can do it. This isn't hard for you…" Shiler guided Peter's recollection. Soon, Peter remembered the scene clearly.

When Wong arrived, her demeanor was unfriendly. She immediately froze time upon seeing him, then seemed confused, sat cross-legged on the spot, and began communicating with whatever lay behind her.

"She sat cross-legged, muttering for a long time—something about totems… the power of beast totems… a new totem. I didn't understand any of it." Peter shook his head, looking confused. "Then she started haggling with Venom. She said, 'I can aid the new totem—but you must return tenfold.' Or something like that."

Strange and Shiler exchanged glances. Strange repeated: "You're certain she said 'new totem'?"

Peter nodded. "Yes. She repeated it several times. I remember it clearly—it's those exact words."

Strange's expression turned understanding. After Peter left, he began explaining to the group what beast totems were.

"Simply put, it's a mysterious force existing within the universe—but not confined to any single universe. It exists above them…" Strange glanced at Stark, who gave a slight nod, confirming he'd seen it before.

"No one knows how totems are born. But they choose different individuals, granting them power while drawing faith from their actions…"

"Peter is the one chosen by the Spider Totem," Stark said first. Shiler added: "He was destined to become Spider-Man. Even if he hadn't been bitten in the lab, he'd have been bitten at home, or on the street—it's because the Spider Totem chose him."

"But I didn't see any new totem," Stark said, puzzled. "The Spider Totem isn't new—it's already chosen Peter Parker, isn't it?"