Gwen Gets Played, Decay Rate Algorithm

Hearing Merlin agree, not only Gwen but also the flashily dressed woman across from them was stunned.

She stood by the street, having only wanted to casually tease the passing young couple, but never expected the boy to actually accept.

"Here's the money. My place is right upstairs. Come with me." Merlin pulled out thirty dollars and handed it to the still-dazed woman, then headed toward Walden Apartments.

"Hey, hey, Merlin, do you know what you're doing?" Gwen finally snapped out of it when she saw Merlin hand over the cash, and hurried after him anxiously.

Her mind was still struggling to catch up; she simply couldn't understand why Merlin would agree to something like this.

"I know. Thirty dollars a go isn't that expensive." Merlin looked at the flustered Gwen, a hint of amusement flickering in his eyes, but he offered no explanation.

The woman stared at the thirty dollars in her hand, thought of Merlin's handsome, boyish face, licked her lips excitedly, and quickly followed.

It had to be a spat between the young couple—she'd lucked into an opportunity.

A young guy like this was worth it even at a loss. She hadn't expected such an unexpected windfall today...

"You know and you still...!" Gwen was suddenly furious, staring at Merlin's calm expression, momentarily at a loss for words.

Back home, Gwen watched Merlin lead the woman into his room, then huffed back into her own place, slamming the door hard.

"Gwen, what's wrong? Why so angry?" Mrs. Stacy, sitting in the living room, was startled to see her daughter storm in and slam the door.

"I think you'd better go check on Merlin's place." Gwen crossed her arms and pursed her lips.

"Merlin? What happened to him?" Mrs. Stacy blinked in surprise. In her mind, though Merlin was a bit withdrawn, he was still a strong and sensible kid.

"He... he brought a woman home from the street."

"What? Oh my God, really?" Hearing this, Mrs. Stacy shot up from her seat.

"Go see for yourself."

"Come on, handsome, I'll make you feel real good." As soon as they entered, the woman crouched down, her eyes glistening as she moved toward Merlin.

Her hands were already reaching out impatiently.

"I know you young guys have a lot of pent-up energy. Let me help you cool off first."

"Compared to your little girlfriend, I can do any position. I'll make you feel like you're in heaven."

"Hold on, hold on. You really can do anything?" Merlin looked at the woman who seemed ready to devour him and quickly put up a hand to stop her.

"Of course. As long as it's not too perverted, I can handle it." The woman shot him a flirtatious glance, thinking this young guy had some interesting tastes.

"Good, then!"

But when the woman saw what Merlin actually wanted her to do, she went numb.

Was this something a human could think up?

"Oh, shit, this is way too much!"

"Didn't you say you could do anything?"

"I said I could do anything, but what you're asking me to do..." The woman's voice from inside the room seemed almost too embarrassed to say.

Mrs. Stacy and Gwen, listening outside, immediately widened their eyes.

"Bang, bang, bang!!!"

"Merlin, open the door!" Mrs. Stacy quickly knocked. She wasn't opposed to Merlin doing these things, but it should be through proper dating, not just picking someone up off the street.

What if he caught a disease?

"Coming!"

Soon, Merlin opened the door, looking puzzled at Mrs. Stacy's dark expression.

"Gwen told me everything!" Mrs. Stacy took a deep breath, trying to keep her tone calm.

"Listen, kid, I know about teenage urges, but you absolutely shouldn't touch this kind of thing."

"What are you talking about?" Merlin opened the door wider, revealing the scene inside.

"The three of us had a barbecue on the balcony yesterday and left a lot of dishes in the sink that haven't been washed yet. She said for thirty dollars she could do anything."

Inside the room, the woman was wearing an apron with a look of utter frustration, muttering complaints.

"Oh my God, can't you at least soak them in some dish soap? The stuff stuck to the edges of the bowls has hardened—it's a pain to clean."

"What a rotten day, running into something like this."

"I'm such an idiot. The guy already has a girlfriend—why would he be interested in someone like me?"

"This is a scam!"

Gwen: "..."

Mrs. Stacy: "..."

Watching the young woman washing dishes in the kitchen with an indignant expression, the Stacy mother and daughter were stunned for a moment.

"So, you brought her here just to wash your dishes?" Mrs. Stacy couldn't quite grasp Merlin's train of thought.

"Yes. Besides, hiring a housekeeper would waste time, and I have things to take care of myself."

"She said she'd do anything for thirty dollars, so I handed it over to her."

The Stacy mother and daughter: "..."

That actually made sense...

Gwen caught the hint of amusement in Merlin's eyes and realized she'd been played.

It wasn't what she'd expected, but... her fists were itching!

If she weren't afraid of accidentally killing Merlin, she'd definitely make him taste her knuckles.

Mrs. Stacy looked at her daughter's embarrassed and furious expression and seemed to understand something.

"Alright, be careful. Next time, just let me handle this." She shook her head with a wry smile and left the room.

Gwen, however, stayed behind to start berating Merlin.

The young woman: "Does no one speak up for me?"

If this were a housekeeping job, thirty dollars definitely wouldn't be enough, but for just washing dishes, the pay was perfectly fine.

Watching the two high school students bickering and messing around on the sofa, she grumbled inwardly and continued scrubbing the dishes with a steel wool pad.

There was no time to soak the hardened stains on the dishes until they softened.

Though it wasn't what she'd expected, as long as she got paid, it was fine.

"Take a look at this—Peter sent me an experimental algorithm." After they'd argued for a while, Merlin pulled Gwen over to look at the email from Peter on the laptop.

Merlin hadn't lied; he really did have things to take care of.

Compared to himself, Gwen was far better at biological research, and she was also an intern under Professor Connors.

As for why Peter had contacted him, it was because Merlin had previously assumed Peter would become Spider-Man, so during their conversation, he'd mentioned cross-species gene experiment decay rate calculations.

"Peter sent this to you?" Gwen was a bit surprised, then focused on examining the data on the laptop.

But soon, her brow furrowed.

"The Lizardman's regeneration gene—isn't this Professor Connors's research project?"

For some reason, she suddenly thought of the Lizardman that had appeared at the convention center last night.

"Yeah, Peter seems to be involved in this project too. We talked about it this morning."

"The decay rate during the experiment is too fast, and the success rate is dropping rapidly, leading to a series of unknown complications."

"There must be some issue with the algorithm."

Gwen scrolled the mouse, zooming in on the experimental data to examine it closely.

For some reason, ever since she'd gained her spider abilities, her aptitude for biological gene research had also improved significantly.

Thus, upon seeing this experimental data, she quickly identified the problem.

Once she'd pinpointed the issue, she skillfully found paper and a pen in Merlin's room and began writing.

"Scratch, scratch, scratch..." The pen tip rubbed against the blank notebook, and soon a concise formula appeared on the page.

After a few revisions, she quickly came over to Merlin, took the laptop, and started inputting the data.

"Try this out sometime. This algorithm should work."