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Chapter 174 - Cat and Mouse with the Living Vampire

Out of trust in his friend of twenty years, Lucis calmed down. He knew what Morbius was like. He was the undisputed number one in the field of blood diseases! He could easily win even the Nobel Prize.

Morbius had a kind-hearted nature. Perhaps the long-term torment of illness had allowed him to endure countless hardships, while also teaching him to understand others and repay their kindness. However, his weak body had always prevented him from doing much.

But now... Lucis looked at the man's strong figure and healthy complexion with envy. He looked like one of the male models in fashion magazines, and his bearing was even better than theirs. "What on earth did you do?" he couldn't help but ask.

Morbius knew his good friend and knew that Lucis liked to get to the bottom of things. If he couldn't figure out a problem, he would do everything he could to uncover the answer. Morbius knew that even if he didn't tell Lucis, his friend would hire a detective to investigate him. If anything were discovered...especially the existence of Renzo and Eddie, Morbius firmly believed that Lucis would become entangled with the two of them.

"Symbiotes... aliens..." Lucis murmured as he slumped down on the leather sofa, and Morbius sat beside him. Not to mention, this was much more comfortable than Eddie's broken-down sofa. "It's amazing! It's just like something out of a story!" Lucis waved his hands excitedly. He finally understood why his friend had become like this.

"I should also remind you that I haven't been cured. I'm only suppressing the blood disease by drinking blood." Logically speaking, as long as Morbius continued drinking blood, his blood disease would never flare up, but he would rather not live that way. Although tremendous power fascinated him, what he truly wanted was to live as an ordinary scientist—to be respected, have a little money, and enjoy a comfortable social standing. Unlike now... he had to hide everything he did, always afraid that someone would discover his secret. He didn't want to kill anyone, and he didn't want to face the military or the government. Morbius wasn't arrogant enough to think he could withstand a nuclear bomb.

The two said goodbye, but a seed had already been planted in Lucis's heart, sinking deep where it could not be pulled out.

Dense streams of data flashed across the screen. Blue-white light illuminated the man's face, while purple mucus lay limp inside the glass enclosure, weak and feeble, almost as if it were dead. Renzo's dark pupils reflected the data, a trace of surprise hidden in his eyes.

"This guy's technological level is already beyond the cutting edge of this Earth, almost reaching the level of the Stark Group." Even Renzo couldn't help marveling at the speed of the symbiote's evolution, but her development currently ended there. The upper limit of Earth's technology was only so high. She disdained improving herself by gathering massive amounts of information. She was like a diligent latecomer studying from the beginning, following in the footsteps of those who came before her. She could only follow their path rather than forge one of her own.

The limits of Earth were her limits. If she wanted to progress further, she would have to go to a planet with more advanced technology.

"It can host both humans and machines. There really are all kinds of beings under Gnar." Renzo's tone was casual. He had already seen Odin, Thanos, Sithorn, Wanda... These monster-like powerhouses had already tempered his heart into something extremely resilient, and a mere symbiote god wasn't enough to throw him into disarray.

No matter how terrifying Gnar's strength was, he couldn't be more terrifying than Sithorn. However, Renzo was very interested in the All-Black, the Necrosword in Gnar's hand. He had once used the Black Lantern Ring in his final battle with Wanda, with the black light simulating the appearance of the Necrosword, but a fake was a fake. If there were a crisis he couldn't solve in the future, and the Black Lantern Ring could be combined with the Necrosword, Renzo was confident he could defeat the Celestials alone... even Galactus among the Five Greats. Don't ask. If you ask, Uncle Tun is going to be sacrificed to the heavens.

Contempt lay there in a dying, limp state, regretting why she had come to this planet and why she had tried to be clever in front of this man. Judging from the current situation, Contempt didn't think she could leave this man's hands alive.

She was unable to send a signal to Gnar, who was far away on the symbiote planet, but the demon sitting upon the throne of death seemed to sense Contempt's weakness and immediately sent several more symbiotes to Earth.

If they failed this time, then Gnar himself would come next.

Renzo took off his white gloves and stared at the dying Contempt for a long time. Contempt felt that there seemed to be some emotion in his eyes, which instantly made her realize that she might have a chance to turn things around.

No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't imagine how a physical human brain could be more developed than a computer, or even possess greater storage capacity. But how could she know that the Renzo of the past had been created using the world's most advanced technology? To build this body for Ultron, he had put in an enormous amount of effort and spent a fortune obtaining so much vibranium from vibranium dealers, all of it used to construct Vision's body. He had never expected it to ultimately be taken over by Jiu.

"Come up!"

Fresh air mixed with the cool breeze from the ventilation duct blew over Contempt's limp, mucus-like body. A small robot toy was tossed in front of her, and Renzo looked at her coldly.

Contempt found it unbelievable. She should have been feeling suffocated inside the glass enclosure, watching the terrifying giant cut her body apart piece by piece. The sheer disgust was no less than eating a live octopus. She should have had something in common with Deep Sea, except one of them ate while the other was being eaten.

"You have three seconds. Three, two..." When Renzo said "three," Contempt instantly possessed the toy. Renzo had made it in his spare time. The entire thing was thirty centimeters tall, with a small computer built into its body and a titanium-alloy frame that wasn't particularly hard. In addition, he had designed a transformation system for her based on the appearance of Transformers. She could also transform into a car and move around like an ordinary toy.

Contempt also wanted to experience a brand-new body, one that was quite different from the body she had made herself, but at least it was better than Annie's.

She transformed into a reptile, a slightly chubby spider with a bulging abdomen that contained the power supply for the robot. She perched on the man's shoulder. Renzo used the Mind Stone to add another layer of enhancement to her before finally feeling at ease. He was increasingly convinced that his paranoia was getting worse. He didn't want to become like Batman. How cruel!

Eddie's face was gloomy, Venom sticking out of his head with long black tendrils of mucus connecting to the man's body. At this moment, he didn't dare risk provoking Eddie. Being scolded and getting into an argument was a minor matter. What if Eddie asked Mrs. Chen to stop giving Venom chocolate or refused to take him out for chicken heads? Venom would go crazy!

Venom turned his attention to the hens wandering around the living room. He couldn't bear to eat them. They were his good friends!

Dan took Annie to the hospital. Even though the woman wasn't injured, Dan still refused to let her refuse medical attention, citing safety concerns. He didn't know what kind of viruses the symbiote might carry. Alien viruses were frightening. The movie had already established that people infected by extraterrestrial viruses could turn into monsters.

As for his girlfriend, he always kept her in his heart. He simply wanted to etch her name there forever.

That was part of the reason Eddie was in a bad mood. He was a little jealous, but more importantly, he was angry at Renzo's biased handling of the situation. How could a woman withstand words like that? Eddie couldn't stand Renzo's sarcastic remarks and oppressive presence, let alone an ordinary woman.

He wanted to talk to Renzo—to have a serious conversation as an equal.

"Are you looking for me?" Renzo's transformed body appeared in the room out of nowhere. The window was also opened, and Contempt slipped in through the gap.

"No... that's right." Eddie wanted to display some masculine authority, but Renzo's calm expression overshadowed it completely. His original anger was suppressed considerably, and his tone unconsciously weakened. "I want to talk to you..."

"What do you want to talk about? I've been very busy lately. If I'm caught with Contempt, the god of the symbiotes, Gnar, definitely won't sit still. Maybe the end will come in a few months. That's not something Earth can resist, and neither can you. Morbius can't either."

Renzo fired off everything Eddie wanted to say in a barrage of words.

"There's also the military. They know about you, but they haven't touched you. That shows their ambitions go far beyond what's immediately in front of them. Ha! Your officials are actually quite smart. Compared with the crises we've encountered, they're nowhere near as reckless as people who would simply drop a nuclear bomb. They're much more cautious!"

Renzo had completely lost faith in the authorities. Whether it was the Avengers universe, the X-Men universe, or the 838 universe, their leaders often seemed absurdly incompetent. No... even pigs could at least fill their stomachs. This group was more like vampires, draining ordinary people without stopping until nothing was left. Yet when it came time to take responsibility, they were like bats that refused to come out even after seeing the light.

This couldn't help but make Renzo feel as though he had finally met an opponent. He would be very sad if he really had to crush them with overwhelming force.

God! He was really becoming more and more perverse!

Eddie sat down obediently and looked at Venom. Venom said he wasn't going to say anything. He hadn't lived long enough yet. He was just a baby of indeterminate age, with so much chocolate waiting to spoil him. Venom wasn't going to do something that brought him no benefit.

"Oh, by the way, Eddie, what did you want to say?"

"Uh... uh... I think... the house is too crowded. Should you move somewhere else? It's troublesome having several men living together." Eddie said it matter-of-factly. Venom shrank his head, glanced at Eddie disdainfully, and retracted into his body.

"Yeah, I wanted to talk about this yesterday." Renzo nodded seriously, and a trace of joy appeared on Eddie's face. This devil was actually going to move out!

"Then just move out!"

"Okay! Well... uh... huh?!"

Eddie's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Renzo looked innocent. "I said you should move out. Living with several people is too crowded, so I decided to live alone."

"But... but... this is my home."

"It doesn't matter. If you're willing to come back, I'll entertain you properly. Don't be nervous. I can see you're sweating. Treat this place like your own home."

Eddie's face suddenly darkened.

Renzo couldn't help laughing when he saw Eddie looking fierce yet awkward and pitiful. Thanks to the cold expression he had maintained for the past three years, he managed not to laugh out loud.

"Just kidding. I'm moving out tonight."

How could Renzo not understand what Eddie was thinking? The gem on his forehead wasn't merely decoration. He could clearly see what Eddie wanted to say in his heart. He understood Eddie's difficulties and reasons perfectly, just as Renzo understood his own longing. Wanda had destroyed half the Earth, yet he was still willing to expend the power of the Infinity Stones to restart the Earth. Whether that made him foolish or simply hopelessly in love, Renzo just didn't want Wanda to be bullied... Any Wanda.

So he understood why Eddie wanted to stand up for Annie. It was a man's responsibility.

But...

Where was Morbius?

"Damn it! You're fucking stuck with me, aren't you!"

"Give me your things back, otherwise I can't guarantee you'll be able to escape intact." Morbius stared coldly at the black figure on the roof of the house. She was graceful and elegant, dressed in a pure-black bodysuit that showed off her curves vividly. She didn't seem to care about being watched or threatened by a vampire, and her face was full of charm.

"Please, I'm working for someone. If I can't complete the job, there won't be a commission. I can't live without commissions. Do you know how expensive it is to be a woman? If you don't work, you have to support me..." Black Cat's words failed to arouse any sympathy from Morbius.

"I'll say it one last time. Give me the things back!" As the final word fell, ultrasonic waves burst from the gaps between the man's fangs. Black Cat slipped and fell heavily from the roof to the ground.

"What kind of monster is this?" Felicia looked calm on the outside, but she was panicking inside. After all, she'd never seen a vampire before. Weren't creatures like that supposed to exist only in old castles and horror stories? As a beautiful and passionate woman with an attractive figure, she was understandably wary of dark creatures such as vampires.

But fortunately, this vampire was a little handsome, a little strong, and had a pretty nice voice. Although he treated a beautiful woman like herself aggressively, he wasn't excessively harsh. He seemed like a very suitable romantic partner for her.

Felicia smiled, a smile capable of captivating plenty of men, but it had no effect on Morbius, especially Morbius, who was on the verge of losing control. Only blood could restore his fraying sanity. This damn woman had broken in while he was at his weakest, when he was drinking blood, and stolen the partially perfected medicine for blood diseases right in front of him.

That's right, he had named the potion the Blood Disease Potion. The poor vocabulary of a science student hadn't allowed him to come up with a cooler or more impressive name. Morbius's figure exploded into a blur like mist, and the next moment, he appeared beneath Black Cat. The two figures plummeted rapidly from the tall building.

"Goodbye, sweetheart. I'd really like to leave you my Facebook account when I get the chance." Felicia smiled charmingly as a slender, sturdy grappling hook shot from her wrist. It shattered the glass of the building, and like a yo-yo, the cable suddenly stopped her fall.

Morbius could only watch the thief disappear between the buildings. He couldn't catch up. Once he entered the building, it would become the thief's home turf. Boom! Morbius disappeared from the spot a second before he collided with the sightseeing car. This was part of his ability: short-range spatial teleportation.

"What a lovely sweetheart!" Felicia hurried away from the building. She could already imagine Chanel and Louis Vuitton waving to her!

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