"I think we should take measures to deal with the military. They've calmed down a little recently. They may have been frightened by Eddie's changes and adopted a soft policy, retreating in order to advance."
"Also, it seems like there are far fewer people lurking around the house, but in reality, there are many more surveillance cameras. I found that even more people seem to be pretending to be civilians, deliberately 'encountering' Eddie in order to gather intelligence. They even spared neither the newspaper office where Eddie used to work nor Mrs. Chen's convenience store. Strange people often visit both places."
"I searched all the sewers in Hawaii and found no trace of the Whip. She escaped very quickly. I hacked into the monitoring system at the rocket launch base to prevent her from taking a rocket or aircraft to the symbiote planet."
Everyone sat together, with their protagonist, Eddie Brock, sitting in the middle with a bruised nose and swollen face, wearing an aggrieved expression.
"Let's talk, but don't slap me in the face. Isn't using that golden stone on your forehead to hypnotize me enough? Do you really have to beat me up?"
Eddie had good reason to suspect that Renzo was simply sitting around with nothing to do and wanted to have some fun at his expense.
The two had fought without causing too much damage, but Venom in this form had put quite a bit of pressure on Renzo. Without using the power of the Infinity Stones, Renzo had needed to use all his strength just to knock the big monster unconscious. This kind of power was almost on the same level as Hulk's, and might even surpass Hulk in his enraged state.
Eddie now genuinely possessed the strength of a top-tier hero and could contend with Thor.
"The most important thing is Knull... The mark he left in my body has been eliminated, probably because of the birth of the new King in Black. His former followers seem to have sensed Venom. The symbiote planet should be in a period of upheaval right now. Even if Knull wants to come and kill Venom, he'll be delayed for at least a while."
Because of her unique nature as an electronic symbiote, Contempt had noticed the abnormalities on the symbiote planet through the projection of Renzo's Space Stone. The two had also placed a surveillance satellite around the planet to monitor Knull's movements.
Venom seemed to feel some changes within himself, but they didn't appear to be particularly significant. Aside from growing a pair of wings, his appearance hadn't changed much. The three symbiotes he had swallowed not long ago had completely become nutrients for him thanks to Venom's powerful digestive ability.
Now that his abilities had evolved, Eddie was confident that if he faced Chaos and Carnage again, he could beat them both by himself!
However, personality was difficult to change. Even after becoming stronger, Venom was still a little monster who loved chocolate and human heads...
Renzo silently watched Venom play with the two chickens for a while before turning his head away. If Knull knew that such an idiot was trying to seize his throne and had even taken action already... he would probably go mad. It shouldn't be too embarrassing to compete with such a creature for status.
But Renzo wasn't concerned about Eddie yet. He wanted to know who the man who had spoken to Eddie was. That man seemed to know Venom very well.
So he compared the man's face with the available data and found that he was an ordinary man living in Los Angeles. His name was Justin. He usually idled around, making a living by delivering food and doing odd jobs. He had once been a drug addict, and his academic record from elementary school through high school was mediocre. Unsurprisingly, his parents had died young and left him a small house. Whether he lived or died didn't matter much; the inheritance they had left behind had already been completely spent.
Logically speaking, this was an ordinary image of a struggling resident, and there was nothing particularly strange about it.
But such a person had suddenly changed two months ago. Not only had he quit drugs, but he had also transformed from his formerly skinny appearance into a strong man in a short period of time. An inexplicable amount of wealth had also appeared in his bank account.
After investigating, the source of the money was traced back to the military.
And ever since his transformation, he had secretly joined the military. He had been given the rank of colonel from the beginning and was now working at a secret base. Renzo discovered that the facility was a laboratory dedicated to researching and manufacturing superpowered individuals, and Justin was the supreme leader of the laboratory.
Looking through the experimental data in his mind, Renzo was surprised to discover that Thompson and Alexei were both products of this laboratory. He also discovered their Dark Avengers plan and the personnel they intended to include.
Eddie Brock and Michael Morbius were among them.
"Something's wrong. This is so wrong!"
There had never been any official intervention in the universes he had traveled through before. The authorities couldn't even investigate the true identities of many masked heroes. Take Spider-Man, for example. A street-level hero who had been operating in the same city for years should have been easy to track down, yet somehow no one had managed it.
Something was wrong with this person!
Renzo continued looking through his files. The man named Justin was extremely suspicious.
Renzo narrowed his eyes.
Justin was probably a time traveler like him!
This idea wasn't groundless. Renzo had been influenced by online novels for a long time and had already figured out the basic routines. Moreover, the world had begun changing before he traveled through time. It was obvious that someone was behind all of this.
Eddie Brock's true identity hadn't been discovered by the end of Venom 2, yet now he was being strictly monitored more than a year in advance. Everything had happened after Justin joined the military.
It had nothing to do with him?
The dogs wouldn't believe it.
The same went for Knull. Why had he suddenly released the symbiote vanguard to Earth? Counting Venom, a total of nine symbiotes had been sent to Earth. This was far too abnormal! It was almost as if Knull knew someone was causing trouble on Earth.
And then there was the Thanos of the Avengers universe. That Thanos was obviously stronger than the one depicted in the movies. At the very least, the movie version wouldn't be a match for Hulk and Gladiator. Gladiator's strength was comparable to Captain Marvel's, and he was the leader of the Shi'ar Empire. Even a normal Thanos would have difficulty defeating him, let alone a Thanos wielding five Infinity Stones.
Renzo suddenly felt a little afraid.
The Marvel world was deviating from its original trajectory and gradually moving away from the plot he knew. If this continued, the story he had known in advance would become useless and might even become a burden that misled him!
The Marvel world was an extremely dangerous place.
On the surface, the ordinary dangers were merely battles between superpowered individuals. Which group was targeting Tony Stark? What was Hydra plotting? What was the military doing? At worst, the gods from various pantheons would appear, only to be sealed away afterward...
Over time, the people here had become accustomed to living through one disaster after another. They could still carry on with their lives as though nothing had happened.
The greater threats were alien invasions and artificial-intelligence uprisings...
But no one realized that the universe contained threats far more dangerous than those.
The pantheon of the Marvel Universe was far too complicated, and there were countless powerful beings. The Celestials alone, who maintained the universe's ecosystem, were beyond Earth's civilization to resist. They were an organization known throughout the universe, while the hidden monsters were even more difficult to count.
Then there were the countless dimensional demons, whose ranks were impossible to determine, as well as the Five Powers of the higher dimensions.
The Living Tribunal, the First Firmament, the Beyonders, the One-Above-All, and even the One-Below-All...
Renzo couldn't help but wonder whether his arrival itself was some kind of game being played by these supreme beings, let alone the possibility of beings like Deadpool, who could transcend the fourth wall.
The difficulties ahead were like thick dark clouds pressing down on his heart, making it difficult for him to breathe.
He found that he was becoming more and more like Bruce Wayne.
However, Renzo didn't dwell on it for long. If he thought too much, he would fall into unnecessary speculation and become trapped by his own assumptions.
He organized and archived these complicated memories, placing them at the bottom of his information database and locking them several times over. In this world of data, information was everywhere, and the archive at the bottom wasn't something he could casually access.
Looking at it...
Every deep thought concerning the Marvel Universe was firmly locked away there.
It wasn't that he was afraid. Renzo was simply worried that he might have violated some kind of taboo, and that doing so could result in his erasure.
Although his current strength could be considered extraordinary even by Marvel standards, he was still far from the multiversal powerhouses who could casually affect entire realities.
As for whether Justin was a time traveler, or whether he had received some kind of system or memories from the real world...
He deserved to die.
He had to die!
It wasn't that Renzo couldn't tolerate the world deviating from its original trajectory. He simply couldn't allow it to develop in a worse direction.
"I'm leaving first. There are some things I need to confirm."
Seeing Renzo disappear in an instant, the others didn't pay much attention. They knew Renzo was busy, but they didn't know what he was busy with.
He was mysterious like that.
"The second mission of the Dark Avengers team has been successfully completed. The target has been captured!"
The black-clad soldiers reported the operation to Justin. They had successfully captured the Whip, who had been hiding among tourists at the Hawaii airport, and brought her in.
"Immediately! Implant a controller in her and send her to the laboratory for memory cleansing."
Justin slammed his hand onto the table excitedly.
It was another symbiote, and its basic level seemed to be higher than Chaos.
In this way, his Dark Avengers would gain another powerful member, bringing him one step closer to his goal!
Kasady and Carnage were still being held separately. He didn't dare put those two madmen together.
Carnage was the most difficult symbiote to control. Even though Justin and the researchers had continuously devised ways to torture him, all they received in return was an even crazier killing instinct.
As the torture intensified, Carnage's twisted thoughts became more extreme. He had even nearly taken control when the researchers approached him to observe him and obtain experimental samples.
Fortunately, Justin had immediately killed the researcher.
The same was true of Kasady. This man was a complete madman and murderer. Even Justin's most elite soldiers didn't want to be in the same room with him.
Who knew what kind of killing method he might come up with?
Everything seemed insignificant in the face of death.
There was no choice. Justin could only postpone his plan to recruit Kasady. He didn't want the team he had worked so hard to assemble to die because of a madman.
After coming to this world, he had initially thought he was simply an ordinary time traveler.
Until one day, he passed Eddie Brock on the street.
Justin was so excited that he thought he had encountered a celebrity. He wanted to approach him and strike up a conversation, but unexpectedly heard Eddie muttering to himself.
Justin stopped.
Something was wrong.
So he followed Eddie into a convenience store.
That's right.
It was Mrs. Chen's store.
Justin was completely shocked.
It turned out... it turned out he had traveled into the Venom universe!
At the same time, his goals completely changed.
Justin reported the fact that Eddie Brock was an alien to the FBI and explained the situation. He fabricated many ambiguous details based on everything he had learned from watching the movies over the years. He also revealed... that there were actually many superpowered individuals hidden throughout this world.
Of course, the FBI didn't believe him at first.
But after investigating Eddie for several days, they found that his behavior seemed to match Justin's claims. They also confirmed the matter with the military.
Eddie Brock was indeed an alien!
They completely believed Justin, especially his predictions.
In order to keep this talent firmly within the military's grasp, they decided to recruit Justin. They casually gave him the rank of colonel and assigned him numerous resources and personnel, making him the head of the Supernatural Organization Research Institute.
Justin was contentedly enjoying the privileges and wealth that came with power.
In just two months, he no longer wanted to return to his original world.
"Stupid native! Just crawl into my hand obediently and hand over all your power to me. I, Justin Orlov, am the master of this world!"
How could these fictional characters understand his wisdom?
They were nothing more than fictional creations. In the real world, all it took was a few strokes from a screenwriter's pen for these people to die beneath the written words.
He had watched Venom 1 and 2. He could say that he knew this world extremely well!
"You're Justin Orlov."
"Who?!"
Justin instantly became alert. He jumped up from the recliner and suddenly reached behind his waist with one hand.
"It's useless. Your gun can't do anything to me. I only need your cooperation, and perhaps I can spare your life."
Renzo quietly walked out of Justin's mansion, a glass of red wine in his hand. He swirled it gently, took a sip, and smacked his lips.
"Low-class. Just like you."
"Who are you?! How did you get in?!"
Justin's back was soaked in cold sweat.
He had indeed been confident when dealing with Alexei, Thompson, and the others because he knew the plot and characters well. Even characters who hadn't appeared in the movies were within his expectations.
But the man standing before him was obviously beyond anything he had anticipated.
Why would an Asian man appear in the Marvel Universe and speak fluent Chinese to him?
Justin's pupils shrank.
The man's face clearly looked Western.
"Justin? Or... Zhang Zihang? Can I call you by that name?"
Renzo remained where he was.
Sometimes, applying pressure without realizing it could easily produce the opposite effect. A golden light from the Mind Stone flashed, and Renzo completely understood the man's life.
"How did you come to this world? Answer me!"
Renzo spoke without hesitation.
"You're a time traveler too?"
Justin looked Renzo up and down.
He had an impression of this man. Renzo had always appeared beside Eddie, and Justin had assumed that this was simply another butterfly effect caused by his own time travel.
But after hearing that question, Justin understood.
The Eastern man standing before him was a time traveler just like him.
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