Hawk's Blood Analysis Report

"What did you just say?"

"Uh, I don't know?"

"No, what did you say the doctor used to make the experiment succeed?"

"A white mouse with a severed tail. Didn't I tell you about it last time?"

Hawk frowned and looked curiously at Gwen, whose expression seemed somewhat shocked. "What's wrong?"

Gwen said nothing.

Her delicate brows were furrowed.

The experiment had succeeded.

A white mouse with a severed tail.

For some reason, Gwen suddenly recalled the white mouse that had escaped after the laboratory accident two months ago and licked up Hawk's blood after it had dripped onto the floor.

If she remembered correctly.

That white mouse's tail had seemed to be severed.

"Gasp!"

Gwen subconsciously sucked in a breath, glanced at Hawk, then pulled out her phone and dialed a number.

Sitting across from her, Hawk raised an eyebrow at Gwen's actions.

Very quickly.

Gwen's call connected.

"Hello, Elsa."

"Gwen? Are you calling to ask what happened? Sorry, the company had us sign confidentiality agreements."

"No, Elsa. I wanted to ask whether the doctor's experiment succeeded on a white mouse with a severed tail?"

"Uh... yes."

At that moment, Elsa, a female researcher at the Osborn Bio-Industry Building who had just signed a confidentiality agreement with the company, nodded. "But it couldn't really be called a success, since it only happened once. We tried to replicate it afterward, but every attempt failed."

Upon hearing that, Gwen hurriedly pressed on.

"Was it the white mouse that escaped at the time?"

"Yes, that one."

Just as she thought!

Gwen murmured inwardly, then calmly exchanged a few more words with Elsa before hanging up.

Hawk looked at Gwen after she ended the call and asked curiously, "Was there something different about that escaped white mouse?"

Gwen put away her phone and looked at Hawk.

She thought for a moment.

"Do you remember that laboratory accident?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Your hand was injured then, and you bled, right?"

"No."

Hawk shook his head decisively.

Gwen said nothing. She merely looked at Hawk quietly.

Meeting Gwen's gaze, Hawk thought for a moment. "Fine, let's say I was injured then. Go on."

Gwen stared at Hawk.

"The few drops of blood you left on the ground were licked up by that white mouse with the severed tail."

"..."

Hawk frowned slightly as he looked at Gwen.

Gwen was looking at Hawk as well.

Their eyes met.

Hawk looked away and drew in a breath. "You suspect that the successful white mouse was the one you saw?"

Gwen shrugged. "It's the only variable. Otherwise, why had the doctor performed so many animal experiments, yet only that one white mouse succeeded?"

Though she did not understand what connection there could possibly be.

Still...

Gwen once again saw, in her mind, the waterfall deep in the Maryland forest, like an enraged dragon raising its head and sending the heavens cascading backward.

And Hawk, standing beneath that reverse-flowing celestial waterfall, the one responsible for all of it.

Hawk said nothing. He merely set the large cup of cola in his hand aside, clasped his hands on the table, and leaned slightly forward as he looked at Gwen.

He thought of what Peter had said on the apartment rooftop last night.

Lizard carried his scent.

Last night, Hawk had thought that scent came from Gwen having met Dr. Connors the day before yesterday, lingering after their contact.

But now, that did not seem to be the case.

During the laboratory accident, he had shed a few drops of blood.

The escaped white mouse with the severed tail had consumed those drops, then become the sole survivor in an experiment where all the other white mice had died.

Dr. Connors had extracted a new serum from that surviving white mouse and synthesized the Regeneration Potion.

After that...

Dr. Connors had become Lizard?

Hawk frowned as he looked at Gwen, who was silently watching him from across the table. He opened his mouth, then shook his head as if the idea were absurd.

"My blood can't be that incredible, can it?"

"There's a way to find out."

"What?"

"There's a blood analyzer in the school's Stark Building. It can produce results in half an hour at most."

"..."

Stark Building referred to the school's third building, a laboratory building donated by Howard Stark. Most of the equipment inside had been donated by Stark Industries.

That naturally included this fully automated rapid blood testing analyzer, which looked as though it was worth at least a hundred thousand dollars, but was actually worth over a million dollars and bore the Stark logo.

Hawk put his finger into his mouth and sucked on it. When he pulled it back out, the wound he had just pricked had already healed.

Gwen had already started the machine.

The machine had begun running as well.

While waiting for the results, Gwen turned to Hawk with curiosity. "Did you mutate like Dr. Bruce Banner?"

She had actually wanted to ask him for a long time.

But she had never had the chance.

Seeing Gwen's curious gaze, Hawk laughed and shook his head. "I can guarantee that I'm one hundred percent human. The pure kind."

He had merely awakened his Cosmo...

That was all!

He would absolutely never admit to any mutation.

Only poor people relied on mutations.

Although he was poor too, he relied on himself. As he had always said, the strength he possessed today came entirely from his own perseverance and his unwavering effort day after day.

A thousand days of effort, the sweat shed through Daily Ten Thousand Punches—at last, it had nurtured the flowers he deserved.

Hawk thought to himself, paused, looked at Gwen, and added after some consideration.

"Anyway, I'm definitely not some mutant like Spider-Man. Also, don't put me in the same category as Bruce Banner. He isn't worthy."

"..."

Gwen's heart stirred as she caught the key point in Hawk's words. Her eyes lit up. "Spider-Man? Is that Spider-Man? He mutated too?"

Hawk blinked, then made a zipping motion over his mouth beneath Gwen's gaze.

"Anyway, I won't reveal his identity, Gwen."

"Fine, don't tell me. I can find out myself."

Gwen rolled her eyes.

Just then.

Beep, beep, beep!

As the two spoke in the laboratory, the fully automated rapid blood analyzer, which had finally been running for half an hour, emitted an alert signaling completion.

Gwen hurried over and took out the analysis report the machine had produced.

Hawk leaned over as well.

What came into view was—

Red blood cell count, white blood cells, platelet count... every value was off the charts.

Hawk blinked.

These results...

They were more or less what he had expected. Saint Seiya cultivated the body itself.

After scanning the report, Gwen took a deep breath and looked at Hawk. "Hawk, do you know what would happen if the outside world learned about your blood analysis?"

Hawk smiled.

He looked at Gwen.

"Gwen."

"Other people won't be able to collect my blood so easily."