Doctor Animo (Please Keep Reading)

Night.

Osborn Tower was pitch-black inside.

Only the emergency exit signs still emitted a ghostly green glow.

But the darkness did little to hinder Benny's vision. Peter could see clearly even with black lenses on, let alone him.

"Connors's lab, I remember it being this way..."

Benny had already mapped out the route when he hacked into Osborn Tower. Not only that, he had added a universal credential to himself; no access control could stop him.

Before long, he found Connors's former laboratory.

The place was an absolute mess.

Everything lay scattered crookedly across the floor, and even the experimental tables had been overturned.

A pungent odor hung in the air. Benny frowned and covered his nose, then walked in by the red light of his watch.

For some reason, he had a strange feeling at that moment. It did not feel dangerous, nor was it Spider-Sense, but it was as if someone were watching him.

He scanned the lab. Several White Mice that had yet to be used for experiments watched him warily. Once they sensed his gaze, they darted into a corner.

There seemed to be nothing unusual.

Benny suppressed his suspicions, set the laboratory tables upright, found several intact test tubes, gathered the remaining materials in the lab, and began preparing the Lizard Serum.

What he did not notice was that the White Mice hiding in the dark corner were looking at him with increasingly vicious eyes.

Meanwhile, in New York's underground sewer system.

Peter found a central area where the pipes connected to the entire city. It was the largest sewage collection point nearby.

"In narrow sewers, even the slightest vibrations stand out clearly."

He shot Silk deep into different pipes, connecting all the strands into an enormous web. The web formed a massive trap, waiting only for its prey to take the bait, while he was the spider hunting upon it!

"Now, all I had to do was wait quietly."

Peter sat on the web.

Only then did he have a moment to catch his breath.

Though he would rather not have needed to catch his breath, because the place smelled utterly terrible.

"Dirty and smelly... why is my workplace so awful?" Peter pinched his nose and complained. "If only I could work in outer space like Superman."

"Iron Man definitely never went into sewers. And Benny... no wonder he didn't come help me..."

Peter muttered to himself.

"Right—"

He suddenly remembered something, jumped back to the ground, found his backpack, and took out his camera.

"This is a good opportunity. If I can photograph Spider-Man fighting the Lizard Man, I can not only clear Spider-Man's name but also make some money."

Even now, Peter was still furious that George Stacy believed Spider-Man and the Lizard Man were working together.

He had worked so hard to help the police catch so many criminals. It would have been one thing if they did not thank him, but they actually thought he was some kind of supervillain?

"It must be because they don't know I caught those criminals. Next time, I should leave a note saying, 'Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.'"

Peter had a small obsession with putting his name on his good deeds.

He just did not know that, to others, this behavior looked like a provocation.

"And the Daily Bugle. They were willing to pay five hundred dollars for photos of Spider-Man, so they'll definitely pay a thousand for photos of the Lizard Man."

He stuck the camera to the sewer wall.

Peter was already thinking about what he would do once he got that thousand dollars.

If he used it only for everyday expenses, a thousand dollars would last quite a while.

But Peter thought that he could make money by photographing Spider-Man from now on, so there was no need to live so frugally.

"I think I could buy Uncle Ben a new car, or get a used RV for family trips."

He thought it was a good idea.

In the future, he and Benny could cover the household expenses. Uncle Ben and Aunt May would no longer need to work so hard. To him, taking a few pictures for hundreds or even thousands of dollars was easier than lifting a finger.

And their family had not gone on a trip together in a very long time.

As Peter dreamed of the future, the enormous web suddenly began to tremble slightly.

He immediately focused, crouched low, and looked toward the dark tunnel, trying to find the source of the vibrations.

Yet in the darkness, the Silk beneath his feet shook violently like guitar strings swept by fingers. Not one strand, but all of them!

It was as if a grand symphony had begun. Peter thought his own movements on the web had disturbed the frequency of the vibrations, and he hurriedly darted about until he saw rows upon rows of densely packed lizards crawling in from every direction and gathering together.

Like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, they gathered to pay homage to their king!

Found it!

The thought flashed through Peter's mind, and his nerves tightened.

He held his breath and carefully crawled in the direction the little lizards were heading. The dark sewer was like the bottomless throat and esophagus of a monster, swallowing his small figure whole.

Peter kept moving forward, but suddenly, all the abnormalities vanished.

As though the prey caught in the web had escaped, the Silk stopped trembling.

Peter instinctively stopped moving.

At that moment, the sewer was as quiet as the few seconds before a monster appeared in a horror movie...

Or perhaps it was not merely like that—

Peter swallowed. A violent stabbing pain suddenly surged through his head, like an electric current running through his entire body.

He stared into the depths of the sewer, wary of an enemy that could appear at any moment.

But he did not notice the enormous claw hanging over his head.

The stabbing pain grew more intense. Peter looked up and met a pair of murky yellow eyes!

Boom!!!

--

The Lizard Monster split open a mouth that stretched nearly to its ears and lunged at Benny's back!

In that instant, his Spider-Sense blared like an alarm.

Without a second thought, Benny backflipped onto the ceiling and dodged the attack.

Hanging upside down, he looked below and met the creature's gaze. Its fur was green, and its body was covered in green scales.

"A mouse?"

"A lizard?"

It was a mutated monster nearly two and a half meters tall. It still retained traits of a White Mouse, but it had begun transforming into a lizard.

Its segmented tail swung like an enormous whip.

Before Benny could act, a heavy crash came from outside the lab, as though something massive had fallen.

Then Benny heard a shrill voice.

"The antidote to the serum?"

"I can't let you ruin my plan, kid!"

Benny turned toward the voice and his eyes widened.

"Doctor Animo?!"