Oscorp, biology laboratory. One-handed Curt Connors sat at his desk, clutching the stump of his arm as cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
Ever since he had been exposed to gamma radiation last year, Curt Connors's health had steadily deteriorated. The phantom limb pain in particular—the pain caused by the brain's nerves misjudging signals—was not something painkillers could solve.
Although the radiation dose had not been high, it was unlike the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the atomic bombings at the end of World War II, who suffered acute radiation syndrome (ARS), with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, hair loss, and subcutaneous bleeding, and could die rapidly.
Still, related symptoms had appeared in Curt Connors. Setting aside the dizziness and nausea, his hairline had once again receded rapidly, and his skin had developed psoriasis-like patches accompanied by bleeding.
To claim that he was still healthy would be deceiving himself.
"Professor, are you all right?" Gwen Stacy, dressed in a white lab coat, stepped forward and asked with concern.
Curt Connors forced himself to pull himself together, wiped the cold sweat from his brow, and squeezed out a smile. "I'm fine. Have you organized the experimental data?"
"Yes. I completed the data report in the previous format and saved it to the shared drive on the internal network. But I came over to inform you that Chairman Norman Osborn will be stopping by later. He wants to meet with you, Professor."
"Understood. Please prepare the reception room first, and make the chairman a cup of coffee."
"All right." Besides attending classes, Gwen had obtained an internship at Oscorp's research lab and often came to the laboratory.
She was already thoroughly familiar with where everything belonged. Naturally, she obediently went to handle the tasks Professor Connors had assigned her.
However, Curt