The tree fell and scattered.
In just two hours, the ruins filled with flames and gunfire had fallen silent again.
Only corpses remained on the ground, and the next day's news reported that a violent explosion had occurred in a residential building due to safety hazards, affecting more than fifty people...
"Hmph! A group of hypocrites. They clearly caused the disaster themselves, yet they labeled all these innocent people as casualties of supposed safety risks! Their actions exposed exactly what kind of people they were." Contempt put down the newspaper in her hand. Renzo had bought it from a newsstand that morning. It was nice to read the news on paper once in a while.
Renzo remembered that the last time he had bought a newspaper was when he had first arrived in the old version of the Spider-Man Universe. That had been the first time he'd ever bought one. In his previous life, information had been highly developed. He could search the Internet for any news he wanted, and even if he didn't search, there would be automatic recommendations. Newsstands had long since fallen behind... Aside from selling a few magazines, most of them existed to sell drinks and grilled sausages.
"In short, this matter has been temporarily suppressed. People still don't understand the existence of supernatural forces in this world... They're organizing a team of superpowered individuals while concealing the fact that superpowers exist. It's really contradictory."
"Hey, boy, any news from you?" Eddie shouted at Thompson irritably.
"I don't know... but it looks like they've been thrown into chaos. There is no order at all, and their response has been completely inefficient. It seems we'll be stable for a while." Thompson's expression darkened. The Dark Avengers that the military had only just organized had collapsed overnight. The injured were injured, the deserters had deserted, and the whole team was now little more than a name. He didn't think the military could compete with Venom without several of its most important combat forces.
Eddie's current strength was obvious to everyone, and Thompson felt that no one could match him except Gnar, the symbiote god buried within their fragmented memories.
Of course, Thompson didn't know about Renzo's existence. Several meetings had happened to be scheduled separately from Renzo's appearances, so he had never met him. Naturally, he knew nothing about him.
The protagonist of the missing chapter was currently staying in the military laboratory, which was also the prison where Kasady was being held.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Wherever the men passed, the soldiers guarding the facility collapsed silently, falling heavily to the ground and losing consciousness.
Looking at the combination lock on the wall, Renzo only had to scan it before cracking it with ease.
Drip!
As the supposedly impenetrable door opened, Renzo discovered that the iron door was forty centimeters thick and made from material comparable to that of a bank vault. Ordinary explosives couldn't shake it at all. It was clear just how much importance the military attached to the people detained behind it.
Kasady was restrained in midair, his limbs imprisoned in four cylindrical restraints and pulled apart in the shape of a "大" character. A helmet had also been placed over his head, leaving only his mouth exposed so he could breathe and eat.
"Huh? You're here so early today. Seems you're not very punctual, are you?" Kasady's sharp voice rang out, dripping with sarcasm. "Why aren't you talking? You usually give me a nice beating with that electric baton... Is the power out today? Or maybe your stick can't get hard at all? Hahaha!"
His mad laughter echoed through the enclosed room.
After laughing for a long time, Kasady finally stopped. Completely opposite to the carnival from moments before, he was silent now, so calm that he hardly seemed like himself.
"Who are you? You're not from this prison."
His tone was extremely serious. His intuition had always been remarkably accurate since childhood, which was one reason he had managed to evade the police for so long.
"Cletus Kasady."
"That's me." Kasady was confused. He had never heard this voice before. After merging with Carnage, his memory had been greatly enhanced, and his physical senses had strengthened to varying degrees. Although it wasn't quite photographic memory, he could recognize most voices he had heard.
"Who are you? You're not from the laboratory. They don't talk to me this calmly. Usually, they inject me with anesthetic, then cut pieces off my body or draw a large tube of blood."
Renzo then noticed that Kasady's body was densely covered with needle marks and scars. Some wounds were completely different in color from the surrounding skin and appeared to have only recently healed.
Kasady had suffered inhuman treatment during this period. He was a vicious serial murderer, and he also had a symbiotic relationship with an alien life-form. From the researchers' perspective, he was a valuable specimen, so they showed little concern for his suffering. Whenever they needed additional research samples, they simply took them from him.
It hurt.
It hurt every day.
Kasady wanted to ask something else, but the restraints around his head suddenly loosened. He felt dizzy and disoriented, yet at the same time, his thoughts became much clearer. Light suddenly appeared before his eyes, and the white glare stabbed painfully into them. Kasady's eyes widened, scarlet veins spreading across them. The sudden brightness made his pupils ache, and a faint tear slipped from the corner of his eye.
After a while, he finally saw the person standing in front of him clearly.
"Alien? Terminator?"
Renzo was speechless. He was currently in his Vision form. The appearance of Justin, a time traveler, had made Renzo wary. Most time travelers crossed over through their souls, while very few physically traveled across worlds. Even Renzo himself had arrived in the Manga Universe through a soul transmigration when he had first begun his journey.
After all, his appearance was somewhat conspicuous. If he were targeted by a time traveler like Justin... things could become very troublesome.
"I'm here to take you out."
Renzo took a metal sphere from his body and opened it. Inside was the Carnage symbiote. However, compared with its arrogance before, it was now much calmer, even somewhat sluggish. Lun Jie... It seemed to have been exploited quite severely.
Kasady suddenly brightened. A flash of madness appeared in his eyes, and Carnage, like a wild animal that had caught the scent of prey, pounced onto Kasady's body. The two merged once again.
"Hahaha! My powers... are all back!"
Kasady laughed arrogantly. Several tentacles suddenly extended from his body, covered in red liquid, latching onto every part of the room and tearing chunks from the walls. He abruptly turned toward Renzo, a ferocious smile spreading across his face.
"You let me go, so I should be grateful to you... So, choose how you want to die. I can at least give you a quick death!"
"Hey~"
Renzo didn't even bother explaining this time. He didn't understand why villains were always so arrogant. They seemed to believe they were destined to stand above everyone else.
Wouldn't it be better to keep a low profile and build up your strength?
But then again, this wasn't a world of immortal cultivation. You couldn't simply wait thousands of years until you became invincible. They were all ordinary people here. No one had that kind of time to waste.
Scarlet spikes suddenly shot toward Renzo. Kasady's pupils reflected his own crazed smile, as if he could already see blood spraying through the air.
For a serial murderer with more than a hundred lives on his hands, it had been far too long since he'd tasted blood. He had fallen into a state of extreme obsession, almost driven insane by his desire to smell blood again.
What happened next was simple.
After half an hour of friendly exchanges, Carnage and Kasady readily agreed to Renzo's invitation to form a team. Together with He Meimei, they broke out of the prison where Kasady had been confined for more than twenty days and finally saw the light of day again.
Blazing sunlight washed over the man's body once more, and the warmth made the devil, so accustomed to the cold, uncomfortable. Compared to daylight, he preferred the darkness of midnight. Moonlight hung like fragments across his body, making him look like a victorious general—or perhaps a white wolf howling in the dead of night.
But Kasady obviously had nothing to do with being aloof or heroic. Perhaps it was more fitting to describe him as a vile and ruthless snake. He killed without mercy and was utterly cold-blooded.
Of course, Renzo's purpose for this trip was more than just Kasady. Although Kasady was important, he wasn't important enough to warrant Renzo's personal visit on his own. Since he'd come all the way here, how could he justify the trip if he didn't bring a few more people back with him?
Alexey was squatting inside his cell. The completely transparent glass was made from the world's first bulletproof glass, with a thickness of twenty centimeters alone. The entire cell looked like a hole embedded in the mountain wall. Except for the glass, every direction was completely solid, fitting together without the slightest gap.
His broken horn had been reattached with the researchers' help and replaced with a harder material. A small secondary horn had been added to the top. After the transformation, he looked even more like a rhinoceros charging across the African savanna.
His massive body was curled up inside the small room, huge arms wrapped around his knees. His eyes were vacant as he sat obediently on the floor. There was a toilet in the corner, and nothing else.
"Do you want to come out?"
When Alexey heard the voice, he assumed it was a researcher coming to draw his blood again. He turned his head and faced away from the glass, unwilling to speak.
"You have one more chance. Let me ask you... do you want to come out? Come out and smash this place into pieces!"
The firm tone seemed to touch something deep within Rhino, or perhaps his hatred for this place had simply grown too intense. The flame called "revenge" suddenly ignited in his heart.
Alexey raised his head, and Renzo appeared in his eyes.
The man was too small.
The rhinoceros stared suspiciously at the little man in front of him. At 1.8 meters tall, Renzo looked tiny beside the more-than-two-meter-tall Rhino. Alexey's size could hardly be measured by ordinary human standards. Compared with Hulk, he was also nearly two heads taller than Abomination, whose size was roughly comparable.
But Alexey was definitely no match for Abomination. He might be able to resist for a while, but the final result of the battle would inevitably be Alexey's defeat.
"How did you get in?"
Rhino snorted white vapor from his nostrils and glared angrily at Renzo. He looked past him. There wasn't even a trace of damage on the glass behind Renzo, making the man seem almost like a ghost.
"Kasady!"
Alexey suddenly stared at the shorter, thinner figure outside. His wild, scarlet curly hair had left a deep impression on him. Although Kasady's strength wasn't particularly impressive, his cruelty and arrogance had made him unforgettable.
After all, no one else had managed to kill two researchers while being captured and stripped of his power by the military.
"Don't look at me, you idiot."
Kasady waved a hand dismissively and looked mockingly at Alexey, who was locked inside. He now looked exactly like a puppy trapped behind the glass of a pet shop.
Kasady's smile completely enraged Rhino. He ignored Renzo's existence and punched the glass.
Boom!
Sure enough, under Alexey's furious punch, the glass didn't move at all. Not even a crack appeared.
Renzo couldn't help wondering what kind of material the glass was made from. The Avengers Universe did possess glass hard enough to imprison Abomination. But for a universe with technology that wasn't particularly advanced to possess something this durable still gave Renzo a strange new perspective.
But for now, he'd been ignored.
So he was very angry!
Kasady smiled happily. He was more than pleased to see Renzo getting along with the others...
A group of four people left the research institute with a bang. The reason there were four was because Scream had also been rescued, while Felicia had escaped during the battle. The commander had died in the fighting, and the mobility collars designed to restrain them had become useless. The woman had pried hers off and thrown it away.
And why had they left with such a commotion?
Boom!
The four people looked back at the spectacular fireworks, their pupils reflecting the blazing flames. In their ears, the continuous explosions sounded less beautiful than Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."
...
On the other side, the three major symbiotes and one vampire hiding in Mobius's laboratory suddenly felt an immense pressure. They dropped to their knees in shock and confusion, clutching their heads and screaming in agony. It was as if they had been plunged into the deep sea in an instant, the tremendous pressure almost crushing their bodies.
The same was true for Venom, who was shaken both physically and mentally. It was an ancient call from his bloodline. The king's shouts and mocking laughter seemed to echo directly inside his mind.
"I am coming!"
Gnar's wild laughter was clearly etched into the minds of the three symbiotes.
It was an absolutely irresistible power.
Even Morbius, who wasn't possessed by a symbiote, could feel the dark progenitor's immense power because of the unique nature of his condition. The pressure struck his heart again and again like the tolling of a bell.
Morbius couldn't withstand the fear. He frantically rummaged through the cabinets until he found several bags of blood, then poured them into his mouth to calm himself. Otherwise, the unstable doctor might turn his attention toward the other people present.
"Nar... Nar is here!"
Contempt's voice was almost a wail. As a biochemical human, she didn't sweat, but if she could, she'd have been drenched by now.
Fortunately, despite her fear, she hadn't lost her basic composure. She immediately began infiltrating the satellites orbiting Earth and checking their surveillance feeds. She didn't care if it alerted governments around the world.
If she couldn't determine Gnar's movements, everyone on this planet... would die!
In space, several astronauts were busy debugging equipment aboard the space station.
"Hey! I'm going home soon. There's a really good Mexican carnitas place near my house, and they have great tuna sandwiches too. I used to be a regular there. I have to stop by when I get back!"
John smiled innocently as he looked at the beautiful blue planet before him. His homesickness gradually surfaced. He had moved away from home early, but now he suddenly missed his parents very much.
How were they doing?
Were they still in good health?
Did they still take their annual trips abroad?
"Ha! Tsk, tsk, tsk, John, restrain yourself. You're smiling like a lunatic," Falk joked from the side.
"Speaking of which... you're the one who misses home the most. I heard your son is starting elementary school this year. Aren't you worried your wife might find someone else while you're away?"
"Watch your mouth. Believe it or not, I'll shove your head into an excrement bag!"
Several of them began joking around, completely unaware that danger was approaching.
"Human... Human..."
The devil's whisper seemed to echo directly in their ears.
Several people suddenly stopped moving and looked around in fear.
And reflected in their pupils were enormous black meteorites slowly approaching the space station.
"Is it a meteorite? Damn it... why didn't the sensors detect anything?"
John roared angrily. At such a distance, there was no way to avoid a meteorite impact.
Several people hurried back to their positions, desperately trying to respond to the sudden emergency.
"Jie Jie Jie!"
John froze.
Falk froze.
Every other astronaut present froze as well.
"That's not a meteorite..."
John stared desperately at the scene outside the space station.
It was a gigantic symbiote dragon!
And... there was more than one!
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