Sudden Accident

Gently shattered...

Pah!

The moment the stone, housed in its transparent control case, was shattered, a strange light, invisible to the naked eye but visible to Hawk, burst forth from the rock.

And at that very instant, his Cosmo stirred.

It was obvious.

His Cosmo was telling him one thing.

Gamanion—

He'd found it.

After absorbing the message transmitted by his Cosmo, Hawk understood what Gamanion was, and a wry smile touched his lips.

The reason was simple.

Gamanion, to put it plainly, was Gamma Rays, which fundamentally couldn't be stored, transformed into storable Gamma Rays for some unknown reason.

This...

was Gamanion.

Hmm.

It sounded absurd.

But that was no longer important. What mattered was that Hawk now knew where he could find the Gamanion he needed.

Quantico!

The laboratory where Bruce Banner encountered the gamma ray explosion.

After leading Hawk inside, Gwen, who was temporarily acting as a tour guide, nudged Hawk with her elbow as she saw him staring intently at the shattered stone.

Hawk snapped back to attention and looked at Gwen.

Her eyes were clear...

"Hm?"

"What are you thinking about?"

Gwen frowned, "You don't actually want to turn into a monster like Abomination, do you?"

She remembered the dazed look in Hawk's eyes and had a feeling he wasn't planning on remaining human.

Hawk temporarily suppressed the urge to rush to Quantico right then and shook his head, "How could I? I was just wondering if Dr. Connors' experiment is close to succeeding."

Gwen was about to reply.

Just then.

Dr. Connors, who had just walked over after seeing Gwen bring someone in, overheard the remark and chimed in, "Research is a path of constant trial and error, but yes, I do feel we are on the path to success."

Gwen turned and greeted Dr. Connors as he approached.

"Doctor."

"Curtis, Curtis Connors."

Dr. Connors, also wearing a white lab coat but with only one arm, smiled and extended his left arm to Hawk, "You are..."

Hawk looked at Dr. Connors' outstretched left hand and smiled, extending his own left hand, "Hawk, Gwen's classmate. I'm currently working a summer job in the Bio-Electric Engineering Department. Oh, and I came with Mr. Dillon. I asked Gwen if she could give me a tour, sorry to bother you, Doctor."

Dr. Connors chuckled, "I overheard your conversation with Gwen. Do you really think my experiment can succeed?"

Hawk smiled and replied, "I've read your papers, Doctor. It's clear that if your experiment succeeds, it will undoubtedly benefit humanity."

This wasn't flattery; it was a fact.

If Dr. Connors' Regeneration Experiment could succeed, then there would be no more disabled people in the world.

Of course, this referred to physical disabilities.

That's why Hawk said it would benefit humanity, not all of humankind.

But all of this was contingent on Dr. Connors actually creating the Regeneration Potion, rather than concocting the Lizard Serum that could turn him into a lizard-man.

However...

That was highly unlikely.

The main reason Dr. Connors would become Lizard was due to a warning from The Amazing Spider-Man.

Although the Dr. Connors before him resembled the Dr. Connors from the movie The Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man wasn't here.

There was a Spider-Man here.

But he was currently working a summer job at the Daily Bugle and wouldn't likely be showing up here.

Therefore...

The probability of the Dr. Connors here becoming Lizard was genuinely lower than the probability of Max Dillon, who was currently being repaired outside, becoming Electro next year.

Still, Hawk's words were watertight.

He didn't say whether he believed it or not, only that Dr. Connors' experiment, if successful, could benefit humanity.

Dr. Connors was pleased by this, laughing, but didn't say anything more. However, as he left, he said to Gwen, "Gwen, you can introduce our current progress to your classmates."

It was rare for someone to affirm his experiment, and Gwen hadn't been involved in any core technology. The progress was public, so there was no risk of leaks.

Gwen responded. After Dr. Connors left, she stood beside Hawk again, walking side-by-side, and said in a low voice, "Do you really think Dr. Connors' experiment can succeed?"

Hawk was watching the lab worker who had smashed the Gamma Stone walk towards the centrifuge not far away. Hearing her words, he looked at Gwen beside him.

Just as he was about to shake his head and say he didn't believe it, he seemed to sense something and looked up at the lightbulb overhead.

The lightbulb on the laboratory ceiling flickered rapidly.

The next moment.

With a bang.

Accompanied by the bursting of the lightbulb, the lights in the entire laboratory suddenly went out.

"Dong!"

"Thickly..."

"Pfft!"

Amidst the sounds of explosions and hurried gasps in the sudden darkness, Hawk instantly felt a sense of pressure directed towards...

Gwen!

Hawk had no time to think. Almost instinctively, he extended his right hand, blocking in front of Gwen.

"Pfft!"

"..."

Hawk felt the pain in his palm, his sword-like eyebrows furrowing. At the same time, the laboratory's emergency lights quickly came on after the main lights went out.

The red emergency lights cast an eerie glow on the cold laboratory.

Especially when everyone saw a corpse lying in a pool of blood.

A female lab worker, clutching her bleeding neck, lay on the ground by the shattered centrifuge. Blood bubbled out from between her fingers.

Several small white mice scurried around on the floor.

"Thickly shit!"

"Mia?"

"Jesus Christ."

"Mia!"

Under the red emergency lights, everyone's faces changed drastically as they looked at the scene. Some ran out of the lab to get help, while others rushed towards the fallen woman.

Gwen's gaze fell on Hawk, who had already retracted his right hand and placed it behind his back.

Her eyes flickered as she turned to face Hawk.

"Show me your hand."

"What?"

Hawk was slightly taken aback.

Gwen didn't say anything. She directly grabbed Hawk's arm and pulled his right hand out from behind him, then opened it.

What met her eyes was Hawk's right palm, completely unharmed, except for what looked like newly grown skin on his palm.

Gwen was stunned.

Hawk smiled and retracted his right hand. "My hand isn't as pretty as yours."

Gwen frowned and remained silent.

Just then, Osborn's medical staff and security rushed in from outside to clear the area.

While the laboratory was in chaos, Hawk took a somewhat dazed Max and left early.

Gwen stood outside the laboratory, still frowning.

She was sure she hadn't seen wrong.

Just now, the moment the lights went out, she had clearly felt a sense of compressed air rushing towards her. However, the pressure came and went quickly, but she had seen it clearly: the moment the pressure disappeared, a few drops of blood fell within her line of sight.

But Hawk's palm was perfectly fine.

Wait a minute.

Gwen seemed to have thought of something, her eyes lighting up. She walked to the laboratory door and looked at the spot where she had just been standing.

On the ground...

On the white floor, a few drops of blood were clearly visible!

A small white mouse with a severed tail ran over. After sniffing, it seemed to brighten, extending its tongue to lick up the drops of blood.

Shit!

Gwen snapped back to reality and quickly ran inside.