Morbius's illness still had not been cured, but Renzo gave him all the technological data from the original universe, as well as information about the Regeneration Cradle. When the gloomy man saw these things, he immediately found them unbelievable. He smacked his lips. He had never seen such advanced technology before.
What Renzo gave him was all knowledge related to biological science, which would help Morbius find a method of treatment. Although Stark Industries was a heavy-industry group famous for producing industrial technology, it was also outstanding in biochemistry. Tony Stark was an all-round genius, and Dr. Banner often drank and exchanged ideas with Tony. They even built a small bar in Mexico as proof of their friendship.
These things benefited Morbius greatly. For the time being, Renzo had no intention of training him. With his physical condition, Renzo was afraid he might suddenly die while running.
So Eddie grew rapidly through day-after-day beatings and training. From being completely unable to fight back at the beginning, to gradually being able to hold on for one minute, and then slowly reaching the point where he could counterattack and land two hits... Eddie's progress could not be called slow. As expected of the strongest host of Venom across countless parallel universes, even Renzo could not help praising this level of adaptability.
But he only praised him behind his back. In front of Eddie, he still struck hard, desperately forcing Eddie to stimulate his potential.
Morbius sat in the audience seats. The long-neglected seats were covered in dust. Covering his nose, Morbius wiped the seat in disgust before barely sitting down.
The underground arena was sealed off, making the man feel somewhat breathless. He wore a small oxygen supply device over his mouth, which both isolated him from the filthy impurities in the air and allowed him to breathe more freely. It was much easier than before.
However, he was not in the mood to care whether he was breathing normal air. His eyes were drawn to the two monsters on the ring.
Venom's massive black body had become almost as large as the Hulk's. Rows of sharp, fine teeth filled his mouth as he roared furiously. His large black hand transformed into something like claws and grabbed toward the small man in front of him.
Renzo did not dodge. He chose to withstand the blow head-on. The symbiote's powerful strength collided with his body, which was as hard as vibranium, and sparks instantly flew everywhere.
Venom tried to transform parts of his body into weapon shapes, but it was very difficult. A symbiote's characteristics were almost fixed from birth. Venom's characteristic was not very clear, but Renzo felt it was probably easy division. After all, according to the original comics, most of the symbiotes that appeared were Venom's offspring, while other symbiotes did not easily produce offspring.
The ability to turn the body into weapons was Riot's ability. As early as half a year ago, when Drake and Eddie fought on the rocket platform, Riot had already displayed his ability by transforming his body into weapons: a meteor hammer, a huge cleaver, whip-blades, and even spikes extending from his back to pierce through Venom's body.
If not for the symbiote's tenacious vitality, no one could survive that kind of unexpected attack. Even Tony's Iron Man armor would probably have ended up pierced through.
While being beaten by Venom, Renzo analyzed whether the symbiote was liquid or solid. A species that could freely switch between liquid and solid states, yet was harder than ordinary steel—Renzo suddenly became interested in symbiotes.
In the old Spider-Man universe, Renzo had not tried to study Venom because there was no need. At that time, he neither needed nor had any way to rely on Venom to improve his combat power. Besides, that Venom looked too ugly—dry and shriveled, with no sense of beauty at all, like a skeleton covered in a layer of black skin. His ugly appearance was exactly like a big villain in the movie.
This newer version of Venom, however, fit the tastes of many viewers quite well. He was strong, muscular, fierce, funny, and full of meme-worthy traits. He and Eddie often created wonderful sparks together, which made him quite aesthetically pleasing.
Venom angrily slapped Renzo on the head. The man, who had deliberately held back, took the blow solidly. It really made his head feel a little swollen and dizzy.
"His progress is so fast!"
Renzo felt that blocking Venom's attacks had become somewhat difficult. His combat level was improving again and again through hand-to-hand fighting. Most importantly... in these recent fights, Eddie had been completely controlling the body. Venom had not given him even the slightest help. Symbiotes were born knowing how to fight.
Renzo dodged one of Eddie's heavy punches, but in the next second, he was struck hard across the face by a backhand punch, which sent him flying directly out of the ring.
"That punch was beautiful!"
Eddie was panting slightly. Venom slowly faded from his body. However, Eddie was no longer as majestic as he had been earlier. Beneath the black liquid covering, his body was bruised all over, with blue and purple marks left behind from the fight.
Renzo deliberately did not let Venom help heal his wounds. His goal was to make Eddie adapt to pain—constant, unending pain!
"Too amazing! Truly too amazing!" Morbius staggered to his feet with his cane, his expression excited. "Can I cut off a portion of the symbiote from your body? I might be able to find a way to cure myself from this race's strange abilities!"
Morbius pleaded with Eddie. His eyes never left Venom on Eddie's body, as if he had seen a savior.
Yes, the symbiote's abilities were very likely able to save him from his blood disease. Morbius had no choice but to stare at the strong man with hopeful eyes. He had been tortured for far too long—more than thirty years! What kind of person could live in pain for more than thirty years? Morbius asked himself.
Of course Eddie did not want to. Venom did not want to either. That would be no different from cutting a piece of flesh from their bodies. As for why Venom gave birth to a little Venom in the Avengers universe... Renzo could only say that maybe he had gotten drunk, ***ed, and so...
Renzo appeared in time, smoothed things over, and took Morbius away.
"He is so strong!" Venom's hoarse, deep voice sounded. "Your attack just now did not affect him at all. And it is possible that he has not even used one-tenth of his strength."
Venom could sense the vigorous vitality in this man's body. His powerful aura was almost enough to suffocate him.
But Eddie felt nothing at all. He could only perceive that Renzo had not used his full strength, but as for exactly how much he had held back...
...
"How is our secret weapon doing?" The officer looked at the man inside the huge cell. His name was Thompson. He was a soldier whose legs had been amputated. In a foreign battle, he had been seriously injured and was only pulled back from the brink of death through the desperate efforts of doctors. However, his legs could not be saved.
For a soldier who had dedicated himself to his country and people, losing both legs was practically the end of all hope. The military would not want a disabled man, and society did not need a disabled man either. His existence seemed only to create more burden out of thin air for this mixed-up society.
Thompson's heart was like dead ashes. Looking at the withered leaves outside the window, his heart was equally dead. Nothing could stimulate him to pull himself together again. He was already a useless man!
He had once been the most eye-catching man in school. All the students feared him. Girls liked chatting with him, watching him play basketball, eagerly performing cheerleading routines and handing water to the boy in their hearts. Thompson had once been the most popular one among them.
He had also thought he would always remain spirited and successful. But once he stepped onto the battlefield, he discovered that everything he had done and thought before had all been far too exaggerated and naive.
"Eugene 'Flash' Thompson! War hero! Hero of America!" The officer strode energetically into the hospital and saluted Thompson. "Dear lieutenant, we need you." The officer's tone left no room for doubt and gave him no intention of refusing.
Please, finding a disabled soldier was simply harder than ascending to heaven! Thinking of America's current situation, the officer knew that a soldier with this kind of injury would probably be abandoned on the battlefield to fend for himself, or be subjected to so-called "humanitarian termination" in the hospital.
For Thompson to survive was extremely, extremely difficult.
He only felt that he suddenly lost consciousness. When he woke up again, he was tied to a hospital bed. Chains made of steel completely restrained his limbs and neck. A steel helmet was placed on his head, with many tubes inserted into it. His body was the same. More than a dozen nutrient-solution tubes pierced into him, continuously delivering nourishment to him... or perhaps to Chaos.
Yes, without his knowledge, he had become the host of a monstrous slime. And when he discovered that he could also transform into a monster, he was not afraid, nor did he despair. Instead, he was excited! Tremendously excited! It enveloped his entire body. The courage that belonged exclusively to Flash Thompson had returned!
"Eugene, welcome back!" The officer stepped forward and shook hands with the blond man, his expression full of excitement. This gave Thompson's vanity tremendous satisfaction.
This was him. This was Flash Thompson!
He accepted the military's recruitment again and became their secret weapon.
Of course, from Chaos's memories, he also learned that another companion was still alive in this world.
"Venom..." Thompson narrowed his eyes. He would first use Venom as his target, as his stepping stone.
...
"Anne? Are you packed? Our flight takes off in two hours. If you don't come down soon, time might be a little tight."
Dan Lewis shouted upstairs.
"Coming!" a woman's voice came from upstairs.
"God! Where's my sunscreen?" Anne searched every corner of the room: the dressing table, the bathroom, the dining room, even the bed! Oh my God! I didn't mistake it for lubricant, did I? Anne held her forehead, extremely anxious. That brand was super expensive! Anne was only willing to bring it when traveling.
"Dear! I don't want to rush you, but if you keep dawdling for a while longer, we're going to miss our flight to Hawaii."
Dan shouted loudly again from downstairs.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! I'm coming down right now!" Anne could not care about anything else anymore. Being able to squeeze out three days of vacation from her endless workload was practically unbelievable. She hurriedly carried a bag and went downstairs.
"Thank you. You came just in time."
Dan complained, then immediately stepped on the accelerator. The two of them headed toward San Francisco Airport.
"Uh... Anne?" Dan glanced from time to time at his girlfriend in the passenger seat and said with a smile, "A lot has happened this year. Maybe we can take this chance to relax properly."
Anne fixed her makeup in the rearview mirror. "You're right, but... uh... you know, that's not something a simple vacation can make you forget." She leaned against the car window, looking at the scenery rushing past outside. "Eddie... he's a good person. Heh, you know? For more than thirty years, I never believed aliens existed. That time... it really shocked me deeply."
Anne could not describe her feelings in words. That experience had completely destroyed her worldview! God! She had even let that alien possess her and kissed Eddie Brock! It was a French kiss too!
Just thinking about it made Anne feel a little ashamed. She had actually kissed her ex-boyfriend while having a current boyfriend. She kept telling herself that this was not emotional cheating, nor physical cheating. She definitely had not cheated!
Dan seemed to notice her gloomy mood. He pursed his lips, but had nothing to say.
At least the two of them were still very close now. In fact, after experiencing the previous incident, Dan had already been discussing a wedding date with Anne.
Anne picked up her phone, hesitating over whether to send Eddie another message. She wanted to tell him that she was already engaged, but she did not know how to start.
The weather was bright and sunny. Hawaii was still scorching hot in this season. Many beautiful women and handsome men were sunbathing on the beach, letting the sand cover their bodies, playing beach volleyball, and watching other people's girlfriends in bikinis. Dan had already begun imagining all kinds of beautiful women in swimsuits.
In a place the two of them did not notice, a mass of purple slime suddenly jumped down from a traffic light and stuck to Dan's car. It followed them as they drove away, until they disappeared at the end of the road...
Renzo returned home disappointed. He had swept across the entire United States, yet he had not found any trace of other superpowered individuals. Logically speaking, this world should still have at least one Werewolf by Night. In his previous life, Werewolf by Night had already finished filming. Sony had many plans, including Madame Web, Black Cat, Silk... These people seemed as if they simply did not exist.
It was also possible that they had not appeared yet. Renzo had no way to find a hero who had not yet emerged.
However, he did go to the prison to visit Cletus Kasady, that serial killer. This madman had already been arrested and imprisoned. Renzo silently watched him for a while. While Renzo was invisible, this man's intuition was astonishingly sharp. He kept staring at Renzo's invisible position without moving his gaze, which even surprised Renzo somewhat.
No wonder Carnage could become so strong. It was not entirely because of the symbiote.
Bang!
Eddie walked past Renzo in a gloomy mood. Venom separated from him along the way and ran onto the table.
"What happened to him?"
"He got dumped," Venom said seriously. "Although he was dumped as early as a year ago, today he got dumped again."
"Mm-hmm?"
"His old flame sent him a text message saying she's engaged. Oh! You should've seen Eddie's face drop. He looked like a wronged jaguar that got kicked in the face by a zebra. Actually, even worse than that."
Venom kept complaining. "Eddie is very sad. He pretends he isn't sad, but I can feel that he is very sad. Sadder than ever before. It's like... his heart broke."
"Want to watch TV?"
"The Simpsons, thank you."
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