"Thank you for changing that."
"You're welcome. In fact, I have something to do with how the world has become like this."
Charles looked into the distance with a world-weary expression, then withdrew his gaze, his face filled with kindness.
Green lawns, running children, cheerful laughter... everywhere was filled with signs of life.
Renzo's back was turned to Charles. Eric was also present, pushing a small yellow cart. Charles looked helpless. His old friend had also retained his memories. He was unwilling to leave the school if he had to do it all over again. Eric couldn't even drive him away. He had even disabled the wheelchair's automatic driving function and taken it upon himself to push Charles around.
"Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, before you cause trouble." Eric looked at the man with obvious displeasure. Although Renzo had saved the world, he had also brought about the crisis, and Magneto wasn't about to give him a warm welcome.
Besides him, there were others who weren't particularly happy to see Renzo.
"Cosmic Traveler, although I don't know your name, you'd better leave here immediately. Otherwise, I will exercise my duty as the Sorcerer Supreme and expel you!" Mordo narrowed his eyes, crossed his arms over his chest, and assumed a defensive spell stance.
"Ah."
Renzo looked at the crowd around him. There were about twenty people in total, all of them there to see him off. Some were the last survivors—Frank, Mark, Pietro... They had all retained their memories from before the universe was restarted.
Mark shook Renzo's hand, his eyes full of gratitude. His brother Steven had also returned after the restart. Although he didn't remember what had happened and had been shocked to discover another personality in his mind, that shock had gradually turned into fear. Jack Lockley would always bully Steven whenever Mark was away, frightening him so badly that he rarely spoke or came out.
Hope was also there, her hand held by Scott. She was a little nervous with so many unfamiliar people around. Scott sensed the girl's unease, lowered his head gently, and whispered something to her. Hope's Phoenix Power hadn't been taken away, though she didn't have much power left in her body anyway, so she simply used the Reality Stone to stabilize it, and the Phoenix had been trained into a myna.
What surprised Renzo the most was Hill. This cold-faced woman had also come to say goodbye. Renzo actually felt a little guilty toward her. After all, he had once boasted that he would protect her, only for someone else to snatch her away from him in the end. And after so many criminals had been released, it was inevitable that he would feel somewhat embarrassed.
Hill smoothed her hair, chuckled, and nodded to Renzo in farewell.
Her cold heart seemed to have been melted by an equally cold man...
Renzo's eyes wandered as he sighed. She still hadn't come after all.
"Thank you."
The silver-haired man hugged Renzo tightly. "My sister is very good. Being an ordinary person may be the best destination for her." Pietro smiled. The handsome young man took out a small figure. It was Renzo... oh no, it was Vision. He had made a toy of Vision and given it to his two adorable nephews. They loved it.
Renzo felt relieved when he heard this. He smiled openly and opened a portal with the Space Stone.
He took one last look at this complicated universe, as though desperately trying to engrave the sight of everyone there into his heart.
When crisis arrives, evil is magnified without limit, but at the same time, kindness shines even more brightly.
...
"I want to eat human brains! Feed me human brains, quickly!!!"
"Come on, I'm working here! Come look at my new report. It'll definitely make the headlines."
"What rubbish! It's terrible, you loser!"
"Shut up... just shut your mouth. I can make you mute!"
"Bad guy! Loser!"
"I can't stand you anymore. Come on! Let's fight..."
Boom!
Eddie slammed heavily against the wall. Food spilled from the refrigerator and shattered across the floor, while the portraits hanging on the wall fell with a clatter, their glass breaking everywhere.
The man clutched his waist, his expression pained, but before he could catch his breath, his body was suddenly wrapped in something resembling black mucus. He was thrown onto the table again, his face landing directly in the pizza he'd just taken out of the oven, leaving cheese and sauce smeared all over his face.
Seeing that the guy was about to lose control, Eddie finally gave in. He raised his hands and shouted, "Let me go! I'll take you to eat some brains!"
The black slime paused. Eddie's body was lifted into the air, an exhausted look on his face, before he was thrown back to the ground with a thud.
"Yeah!!! Eat brains! Eat brains! Eat brains..." Venom howled excitedly the moment he heard this, repeating the words directly into Eddie's ear.
There was no helping it. Most food on Earth was as unappetizing to a symbiote as sponges and steel wires. It felt like everything had been mashed into a ball, thrown into an oven at a hundred degrees, and then stuffed into its mouth. Venom thought the food Eddie was always praising was tasteless. Although symbiotes didn't care much about flavor, there were always certain ingredients capable of stimulating their senses.
Phenylethylamine was one of them. It could greatly replenish the energy a symbiote normally consumed while also increasing human excitement. The substance was generally found in the brain—not only human brains, but also the brains of seafood. However, the difference was enormous compared with the human brain. That was why Venom had been clamoring to eat human brains.
Eddie actually understood this, but first of all, as a normal person with a certain sense of justice and kindness, he would never allow a monster from outer space to hunt humans on Earth and devour their brains. That was simply unacceptable!
So he usually went to convenience stores to buy chocolate. Those sweet chocolate balls also contained plenty of phenylethylamine, enough to satisfy what Venom called the "same taste" and "feeling of powerlessness."
Unfortunately, Mrs. Chen had missed her appointment again. Her convenience store was out of that particular brand of chocolate, and the restocking had been delayed. It happened to coincide with Venom's feeding time, so... our black hunk went crazy.
But Eddie had no choice except to helplessly shake his head. Mrs. Chen had initially been wary of Venom, but as she got to know him better, she obviously realized that this silly guy would explode at the slightest provocation and immediately behave once he was coaxed. Besides, his actual demand for chocolate wasn't large. Although he had a certain allowance every month, he basically only needed three or four boxes.
As a result, Mrs. Chen didn't pay much attention to the stock of that particular brand, and the supply gradually returned to normal. It wasn't as though Eddie was the only one buying it. Mrs. Chen's shop actually had a pretty good flow of customers every day. The chocolate sold quickly, so there was no need to rush to buy it, which left Eddie and Venom out of luck.
Just as some things inevitably came and went every month, Mrs. Chen's shop always seemed to run out of chocolate for a few days each month.
The bright moon hung in the sky, casting a silvery glow over the earth.
"Damn it, Eddie! Why did you bring me to a chicken farm?!"
Venom's entire symbiote froze. Looking at the dim, quiet chicken farm before him, he was assaulted by the strong smell of manure. The stench was so bad that Venom instantly withdrew from Eddie's body, leaving Eddie to endure the smell alone.
"Just bear with it. A chicken's head isn't that different from a human head."
"Fuck! You loser! I xxx you xxxxxx!"
Eddie was helpless but had no choice except to endure Venom's yelling. He quickly explained, "You can fill your stomach for now. I already told Mrs. Chen that you can buy the chocolate in two days..."
After another round of chaos, Venom finally gave in, took control of Eddie's body, and sneaked into the chicken farm. Perhaps to get revenge on Eddie, Venom deliberately made a great deal of noise and ate more than twenty old hens. Eddie looked distressed. The farmer had taken quite a loss.
The two left the chicken farm under cover of darkness and prepared to head home.
"Why did you come back with two chickens?"
"Save them for snacks!" Venom replied angrily.
The two returned home, turned on the lights, and immediately saw a strange man sitting on the sofa, eating Eddie's leftover pizza and drinking a bottle of soda.
"Who are you?!"
Eddie instantly became alert. He grabbed the baseball bat beside the door and swung it, preparing to strike the man on the head.
"Leave him to me! Leave him to me, Eddie! I'm going to eat his head!"
Venom suddenly became excited, and the way he looked at the strange man was like a predator staring at its prey. There was a way to heaven, yet he refused to take it; there was no door to hell, yet he had broken straight through it! Venom wasn't about to let this meal escape.
Eddie hesitated for a moment before allowing Venom to take over his body. In an instant, Eddie's strong frame was wrapped in black mucus, gradually growing larger. After a second, he had become about the same size as the Hulk, though his build was still somewhat thinner.
"I am Venom!" Venom roared. His huge claws flashed with sharp light as he swung one toward the man sitting on the sofa.
Huh?
Venom froze, and so did Eddie.
They watched helplessly as their attack failed. It hadn't missed. Instead, the claw had passed directly through the man's body and struck the sofa behind him.
"Is he a ghost?" Eddie muttered.
Venom didn't really understand the concept of a "ghost," but he could hear the surprise in Eddie's voice. He hadn't felt as though he'd hit anything at all. The man seemed to exist in another dimension.
"A thief? A thief with superpowers?" Eddie was dumbfounded. How could there suddenly be both an alien and a superpowered person around this year?
This wasn't the world of the Avengers. Although superpowered individuals existed, they were extremely rare. At least, Eddie had known nothing about the hidden side of this world before Venom appeared.
In fact, there were vampires in this world as well. Dr. Night and Venom existed in the same universe. Renzo knew that, but that movie had been released too late and had been so bad that, aside from the post-credit easter eggs, it had little value.
He didn't really need any potion to turn himself into a vampire. As for the symbiote, he was quite interested. Symbiotes provided tremendous benefits to their hosts. Spider-Man, Deadpool, Hulk, and even Galactus had all been hosts to symbiotes. The resulting increase in strength could be terrifying.
Renzo looked at Eddie with a smile. More precisely, he was looking at the Venom covering Eddie's body.
That gaze...
Venom couldn't help but shudder. Had he seen a hint of... appetite in this man's eyes?!
Oh my God! For the first time, Venom saw someone else looking at him with hunger in their eyes. He had always been the one eating other people. He had never been treated as food himself.
Appetite and anger intertwined, and Venom was ready to bite the man's head off, but Eddie stopped him in time.
Compared with Venom's rage, Eddie sensed an ominous aura from the man, as though he had encountered him before, as though he had once died at this man's hands.
Venom ignored him and opened his huge mouth, baring a mass of fangs as he prepared to bite the man's head off.
Crack!
The sound of something shattering rang out.
It wasn't Renzo's head that shattered, but the teeth inside Venom's mouth.
Renzo shook his head and rubbed his neck, completely unaffected.
Although he was made of flesh and blood, the strength of his body was equivalent to vibranium. Forget his teeth—even if Venom struck his body with all his strength, he might not be able to leave a mark.
Venom also realized that the man in front of him was unusual. The broken teeth in his mouth rapidly regenerated. Before long, his mouth was once again filled with perfect teeth, white and gleaming.
"Hi! Long time no see, Eddie Brock!" Renzo waved with a smile and made a scissors gesture, looking completely harmless. "And Venom, of course."
"Do you know us?" Eddie paused and asked doubtfully. "I know I've never seen you before."
Eddie was certain he'd never seen the man sitting on his sofa. He was already in his thirties, while the man on the sofa looked to be no more than twenty. He was also Asian. Eddie was a reporter, and his memory was pretty good. There were plenty of Chinese people in San Francisco, and Mrs. Chen was Chinese.
But Eddie was certain he'd never met this man. He rarely went to Chinatown and rarely encountered Asian people in his line of work. So they definitely weren't colleagues.
"Don't be so nervous. Come sit wherever you like. Treat this place like your own home." Renzo patted the sofa beside him, looking completely at ease. He picked up the Coke on the table and took a sip.
In one word—refreshing!
Eddie had black lines all over his head. This was his home!
Nevertheless, he obediently sat down. He didn't know where the vague impression in his mind came from, but he felt that this man didn't harbor any obvious murderous intent.
Renzo snickered. Of course, the image that had appeared in Eddie's mind had been secretly implanted by Renzo with the Mind Stone. It was the scene of his battle with the older version of Eddie Brock and Venom from the Spider-Man universe, along with the fear and regret he had felt before his death. Renzo hadn't crippled Eddie with the memory and simply stuffed it all into his mind.
There was no way around it. The resentment before death had been immense. Putting all of it into Eddie's head would definitely leave him stunned for a while.
"To be precise, I've seen you in another universe," Renzo said lightly.
Eddie relaxed. Before he could even lean back against the sofa, Renzo's next words not only horrified him but also sent Venom into an instant frenzy.
"And I personally killed you..."
Renzo wore a playful smile, like a villain in an anime teasing the protagonist before him—calm and overwhelmingly confident.
Venom couldn't take it anymore, and Eddie stopped restraining him. His huge body lunged toward Renzo, and the two bodies crashed through the wall before slamming heavily into the car below.
Beep beep beep beep~~~~~~~~
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