Gwen's Request, Antidote Serum

"R-Star..." Natasha was momentarily stunned. She had been searching for a way to become a player, but never expected it to come so suddenly.

She furrowed her brow, then turned the steering wheel left and pulled the car over to the curb.

Once the vehicle was stable, she sat in the driver's seat, staring down at the app on her phone in deep thought for a long time.

After arriving in Hell's Kitchen, she had gone to make contact with Frank.

According to Director Fury's assessment, Frank Castle had undergone rigorous training in the Marine Corps.

He excelled in hand-to-hand combat, marksmanship, interrogation, and intelligence gathering, and was familiar with all kinds of firearms and vehicles.

He was a Level Ten Agent.

And she, after injecting the serum and living for decades, was only Level Ten as well.

So, following Fury's instructions, they only needed to make normal contact.

Fortunately, when they met, he didn't show much hostility and even shared information about the R-Star Game Platform.

Once you became a player, you could take on any mission, and the rewards earned could be used to buy special weapons and vehicles in offline stores, or even withdrawn as cash.

Clearly, the R-Star platform wasn't trying to hide anything, but that only made it harder for her to determine the purpose behind developing this game.

Finally, with a resolute expression, she pressed the button.

No matter what, if she wanted to investigate, she had to join first.

After opening the app, the same interface she had seen on Frank's phone appeared on hers.

She tapped the store and searched for nearby shops.

Soon, the map that was deeply etched in her memory displayed itself, perfectly accurate.

Merlin's Custom Shop, which she had just left not long ago, was also marked on it.

And next, she was heading to a weapons store not far away.

Browsing the R-Star Store, all kinds of strange weapons and vehicles came into view, almost no different from what was online, except many were still grayed out and locked.

"Ding!" Suddenly, a message popped up on her phone.

[Merlin's Beard: Go to the Brooklyn police station, take the Bevel Magic Treasure, and drive it to Merlin's Custom Shop.] [Mission Reward: Fifty thousand] [Merlin: Some idiot got this car impounded at the station. Bring it back, and I'll help you mod one car for free.]

Steal a car?

Natasha's expression turned odd. Wasn't that talking about Frank?

She opened the mission, thought for a moment, and chose to accept it.

After accepting, she didn't rush. Instead, she restarted the car and headed to a weapons store she had already planned to visit.

"Welcome!" An old man sitting behind the counter, carefully polishing a golden revolver, glanced up at her, then went back to cleaning his gun.

A woman was nowhere near as attractive as the gun in his hand.

Natasha's gaze lingered on the pistol the old man was wiping, and she immediately recognized it.

The Golden Revolver—she had just seen it in the store.

"I want to buy a gun. Do you have MK2 Model Guns and Special Bullets?"

Hearing Natasha's words, the old man, who had been polishing the revolver, stood up in surprise.

"You're a player?" Since partnering with the R-Star platform, this was the first time he had seen a player walk in, so he couldn't help but be curious.

"Yes." Natasha showed him the proof on her phone.

"OK, pick whatever you want to buy." The old man confirmed it and didn't ask further. He pulled a switch beside the counter, and the surface weapon rack quickly rose, revealing the hidden weapons underneath.

MK2 Heavy Sniper Rifle, Pump-Action Shotgun, Carbine Rifle, Evil Hades, Rocket Launcher, Vulcan Gatling...

Almost every weapon available in the R-Star Store was here.

The old man, having seen his share of scenes, stood calmly to the side, waiting quietly.

"Let me take a look at the Evil Hades."

On the other side, after Merlin rode his motorcycle home, Gwen, who seemed to have been waiting for a while, immediately came up to him.

"Oh my god, Merlin, you're finally back." Gwen let out a sigh of relief when she saw Merlin return.

"I think I should be the one saying that. You've been so busy lately, I hardly ever see you." Merlin hugged her briefly before pulling away, and without waiting for her to answer, he asked directly, "What do you need help with this time? And let's be clear—don't even think about dragging me into your band."

"Our band members aren't going to eat you." Gwen rolled her eyes, but honestly, her bandmates were indeed a bit noisy and had always wanted to pull Merlin into the group.

They thought Merlin had an adventurous spirit that fit rock and roll well.

"I came this time to ask you to help me study some things." She paused mid-sentence, glanced back at her mother sitting on the living room sofa, then mysteriously hooked her arm around Merlin's neck and pushed him into his house.

"Let's talk at your place!"

"What's the matter? All mysterious." Merlin was a bit puzzled for a moment—could she be about to confess that she was Spider-Man?

Gwen paused to gather herself, then lit up like a fan, brimming with excitement. "You know, my idol is Spider-Man."

"First I've heard of it." Merlin scratched his head.

Gwen: "..."

I've praised Spider-Man in front of you so many times, and it's all been for nothing, hasn't it.

She silently grumbled in her mind, then continued, "Spider-Man has always been my hero, and Apple City's hero too."

"And yesterday, she actually came to me. She's been chasing the Lizardman lately, and she told me there are two Lizardmen—one of them is Professor Connors."

"She got word that Professor Connors is planning to release the Lizard Infection Agent in Queens, turning everyone into Lizardmen."

"But her strength alone is too limited, so she came to me, wanting me to develop an Antidote Serum and find a way to stop them."

The prepared speech flowed smoothly from her lips, her tone tinged with just the right amount of excitement, as if she felt honored to have received Spider-Man's request.

Merlin watched her vivid, lifelike expression with a strange look on his face.

Gwen's acting seemed to be getting better and better.

"So..." He finally spoke after she finished.

"I need your help. The two of us together can definitely develop the Antidote Serum as fast as possible." Gwen stated the purpose of her visit.

She had no idea when Connors and the other would carry out their plan, but the sooner the Antidote Serum was ready, the better.

"But we don't have a lab. How are we supposed to research it?" Merlin spread his hands helplessly. He did have his own lab, but it had nothing to do with biology.

"Don't worry about that. I've already figured it out."

"We'll sneak into Osborn Industries at night. I still have an employee card here."

Merlin rested his chin on his hand, considering under Gwen's tense, expectant gaze.

Hell's Kitchen's basic platform was already mostly complete. In a week, it should be expandable to Apple City.

At the very least, this was the first major story mission for the first batch of players. If they missed it, who knew how long they'd have to wait for the next one.