The End of the Night

Within an unknown and mysterious space.

Darkness filled the space in all directions, an endless void stretching to an unfathomable horizon.

It was like a corner of outer space, but without any starlight.

Iron Man was flying rapidly through this space, like a steel phantom. The glaring white light from his chest energy source and engines pierced the mist, leaving a distinct pale white contrail.

No matter how he flew, he couldn't find anywhere to land.

"Jarvis, answer me, Jarvis." Stark, inside the Iron Suit, repeated his call for the fifth time.

But, as always, there was no response.

From the moment he entered this place, Stark had lost contact with the artificial intelligence Jarvis. The network signal showed—

None.

Logically, Stark used his company's exclusive satellite signal. No matter where he was on Earth, such a bizarre disconnection shouldn't have happened.

"Could it be that this place is really no longer on Earth?" Stark felt an inexplicable panic. Even before becoming Iron Man, when he was imprisoned in a cave by criminals, he hadn't felt this panicked.

Because if this wasn't Earth, he would be helpless.

There would be no possibility of self-rescue or returning to Earth.

"What is that?"

Just then, Stark suddenly saw something floating towards him in the darkness ahead and instinctively moved closer using the Iron Suit's engines.

Upon closer inspection.

Stark was stunned. They were corpses!

For how long these corpses had existed in this space was unknown. The human bodies had long since rotted to reveal their bones. They were wearing spacesuits of an unknown civilization and a uniquely shaped laser gun was clipped to their chests.

These corpses also had features like tails or wings!

Stark's eyelids twitched, and a huge wave of shock surged through him.

They were alien corpses!

In the hotel.

The lights were out, and the room was dark and quiet, with only a few rays of moonlight falling on the windowsill.

Kara, lying on the bed, suddenly opened her eyes and turned slightly to look out the window.

Was it an illusion?

She thought she had heard the growl of an unknown creature from the other side of New York City, a growl filled with a very strong sense of evil.

Kryptonian super-hearing had its downsides. Sometimes, unwanted information would flood her ears.

As a result, Kara would wake up from her sleep, often wondering if she was hallucinating, unable to distinguish whether the sounds she heard were real or just a dream.

Her control over her abilities was far from as good as her cousin Kal's. After all, Kal, as Superman, had fully unleashed the Kryptonian superpowers, with complete control. She, on the other hand, had been hiding her Kryptonian abilities to adapt and integrate into the human world.

If that growl she heard just now was real...

"Will Senior be okay?" Kara thought this and was about to get up. But just then, from the side of the bed, the girl's hands and feet landed on her body.

Kara's body stiffened, and she looked back.

It was Gwen, who had already fallen asleep, just happened to roll over and was hugging Kara like a doll pillow.

Gwen, asleep, did not possess the intellectual grace she had when awake. Her sleeping posture was even somewhat casual. The blanket had been kicked aside, her nightgown was disheveled, revealing the girl's fair stomach.

Kara sighed inexplicably, reached out, and pulled the blanket back over Gwen.

Gwen, perhaps dreaming of something, hugged Kara tightly like her own doll, muttering with a sweet smile, "Xi Nian..."

"Senior, you're the one who's truly shameless," Kara muttered with a slight frown. She glanced at the windowsill and finally chose to close her eyes.

After all, even if that growl was real, it was too far away from the current streets of Queens.

No matter what, it couldn't possibly have anything to do with Senior Xi Nian.

After dealing with the second Symbiote.

Xi Nian gently placed the unconscious Peter on the ground. Aunt May, whose ears were still ringing, immediately rushed forward and hugged Peter.

"He's fine."

Xi Nian dropped this sentence, and his black cat form leaped forward, stepping on streetlights and building exteriors. With a few agile leaps, although his speed was far from that of the previous three-in-one entity, he quickly disappeared from the street.

There was only one Symbiote left, the boss of the Symbiotes.

It wasn't over until it was dealt with!

And from the Venom Symbiote earlier, Xi Nian had already obtained the location of the last Symbiote. Tonight, the Symbiote's location remained fixed in one place, never moving.

Five minutes later.

Bronx District, Drake Industries Research Base Factory.

When Xi Nian, in symbiosis with the Essence Devourer Beast, arrived at the factory entrance, he felt the ground in the area tremble violently. He raised his vertically slitted cat eyes, which flickered with a faint blue light, and saw that deep within the sealed base factory, a spaceship was in the process of launching, its tail spewing flames like an erupting volcano!

The third symbiote, the leader of the symbiotes that had descended upon Earth, was trying to escape…

At this moment, inside the spaceship.

The founder of Drake Industries—Dr. Drake—was alone at the spaceship's control console. His eyes and neck were stained ink-black, indicating he was the host for the last symbiote!

As for why he was piloting the ship to leave Earth now.

It was because he had sensed the demise of the first and second symbiotes and had seen the powerful display of the three-in-one Xi Nian on the news.

No matter how arrogant the symbiote leader was, it knew it couldn't defeat Xi Nian. It was acutely aware that it would be Xi Nian's next target, and its only option was to flee Earth!

"What kind of monster is Venom symbiotic with to be this powerful!" Dr. Drake's expression twisted. Fleeing the planet in terror would be the shame of its existence!

"Wait for me, I will definitely return!"

Dr. Drake roared inwardly, but outwardly, he remained as calm as ever, manipulating and adjusting the spaceship's launch sequence.

The spaceship continuously spewed fire and ascended, about to break through to an altitude of a hundred meters.

But suddenly.

The ascending spaceship trembled inexplicably, as if it had been violently struck by something.

"He's here." Dr. Drake's face changed drastically.

Outside the spaceship.

A small black cat was affixed to the ship's outer hull like a tiny thumbtack.

"Since you're here, don't even think about leaving." Xi Nian opened his mouth wide, revealing eight ferocious tentacles lined with small teeth. With the protection and armament of the symbiote's dark biological layer, these tentacles were even tougher and more powerful, like the eight claws of the mythical Kraken!

Crack crack crack!

The tentacle-claws thrashed wildly, smashing violently against the spaceship. The metal exterior immediately dented and broke, with electrical currents sparking!

"No! Don't!!" Inside the spaceship's cabin, Dr. Drake felt a sense of despair and suffocation, as if he were about to die before even making his debut, and screamed frantically.

If only the third symbiote knew at this moment that Xi Nian was no longer the same three-in-one entity but was now in a form solely symbiotic with the Essence Devourer Beast. If it had chosen to fight head-on, it would have been difficult to say who would win or lose, and who knew what it would have thought.

However, that was just a hypothetical.

What awaited the third symbiote was the surging, scorching flame within the sealed cabin!

Boom boom boom!

The spaceship, having ascended to five hundred meters, exploded in various places, transforming into a massive fireball, its huge explosion drowning out the shrill roar of the symbiote named Riot from within!