A Billion-Dollar Smile

Early the next morning.

A plane landed at San Francisco Airport.

Anton walked out of the airport, stood by the roadside, and hailed a taxi.

"Hey, buddy, need a ride?"

A familiar voice sounded beside him.

"Of course."

Anton smiled and got into the front passenger seat, looking at the driver beside him. "Eddie, looks like you've been doing pretty well lately."

"Yeah. There were quite a few misunderstandings before, but now, we get along pretty well."

Eddie nodded. The panic he had shown when he first came into contact with the symbiote was nowhere to be seen. He even introduced the symbiote inside his body to Anton. "His name is Venom."

"Hello, Anton. You smell delicious."

In an instant, Eddie's face changed, revealing a ferocious visage.

Sharp fangs and a gaping maw made him terrifying to behold. A long, snake-like tongue flicked in and out, making him look like a demon that had just come to Earth for a vacation from hell.

Though it was a little forced, Anton could tell that Venom was greeting him.

"Hello, Venom."

Anton remained expressionless and pointed ahead. "You're about to crash."

"Oh, minor problem!"

Venom retreated into Eddie's body, while Eddie, clearly used to it, calmly spun the steering wheel.

Screech! Screech! Screech!

With an absurd drift, they narrowly avoided the vehicle ahead.

"Hey, fuck you! Watch where you're driving!"

Ignoring the greeting from behind, Eddie continued driving forward.

"How have things been with you lately?"

Anton smiled. "The Life Foundation is already in disarray. Carlton Drake doesn't have many good days left. With the Osborn Company working behind the scenes, he'll be sent to prison soon enough."

"Osborn?"

Eddie narrowed his eyes and turned to Anton. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you, Anton."

"About Osborn?" Anton frowned.

"That's right."

Eddie nodded, his expression darkening. "Among the people who've been trying to capture me lately, aside from the Life Foundation, there's also Osborn."

"So Osborn really does know about the symbiotes."

Anton frowned slightly, feeling a headache coming on.

The Osborn Company and the Life Foundation were not on the same level.

If the Life Foundation could only throw its weight around in San Francisco, the Osborn Company had the capital to do so across the entire United States.

It was not that he feared the Osborn Company. But facing pressure from two major corporations would make things considerably more troublesome and difficult to coordinate.

"Don't worry. Neither of them poses a threat to us."

Eddie was calm. With Venom inside him, he knew exactly how powerful he had become. He emphasized, "Our only opponent right now is Carlton Drake."

"What do you mean?"

Anton looked thoughtful.

Their contact had not stopped over the past few days. They often communicated through email.

Anton had a certain understanding of Eddie's situation, and combined with the memories in his head, he had pieced together most of the truth.

Just as he knew from those memories, there were millions of symbiotes in space.

Besides Venom, countless symbiotes were drifting through space, waiting for the members of their kind who had arrived on Earth to bring them here and then conquer the planet.

Drake's spaceship had happened to become their hope.

According to Venom, it was not Drake who had discovered them. They had found Drake.

"That's right. According to Venom, seven of their kind were brought to Earth by the spaceship. But the ship crashed in Malaysia, and including Venom, the Life Foundation only found six."

Eddie said seriously, "One symbiote was left behind in Malaysia. His name is Riot."

"You mean Riot may have already come to San Francisco?"

Anton recalled the plot in his mind and suddenly understood. "He wants to help the millions of symbiotes in space take over Earth?"

"Yes."

Eddie spoke bluntly. "Venom has already made an agreement with me. He is willing to help me deal with this, and we can coexist peacefully on Earth."

Anton asked, "What does this have to do with Carlton Drake?"

Eddie said, "Riot escaped from the containment chamber. Based on the information I've gathered recently, I found that he once possessed an employee of the Life Foundation's search team. So he must know that in this world, the only person most likely to help him return to space and bring millions of his kind to Earth is Carlton Drake."

After a pause, he added, "Drake has always planned to launch rockets. He has boundless dreams about space, but he doesn't understand its dangers."

"I understand."

Anton nodded. "So we keep a close eye on Drake now. The moment Riot contacts him, we take him out. Then the Life Foundation will no longer be a threat."

Eddie added, "And then we can free up our hands to deal with the Osborn Company."

"Good idea."

Anton smiled. "You've really surprised me. It seems that even without my help, you could handle this with your own strength."

"With Venom's strength."

Eddie shook his head and said seriously, "No matter what, thank you for coming to San Francisco. Anton, you've helped me a lot."

He paused, thinking of the news that had just erupted in New York and rapidly swept across the country.

"Oh, right. Your movie's box office has exploded. I haven't congratulated you yet," Eddie said. "And that Batman—who is he? Is he our helper?"

"You'll meet him soon enough."

Anton gave a mysterious smile.

Soon.

They arrived at a house.

"This is my ex-girlfriend, Anne Weying's house. She's helped me a lot these past few days."

Eddie and Anton got out of the car.

At the door.

A man and a woman were waiting for them.

"Uh, that's Anne's boyfriend. His name is Dan Lewis, and he's a doctor."

Eddie looked a little awkward.

There was nothing wrong with asking an ex-girlfriend for help when trouble arose. The problem was that he was now living with his ex-girlfriend's current boyfriend.

That was the real problem.

Anton gave Dan Lewis a careful look. The guy seemed a little simple-minded but like a good person—though his head was looking a little green.

The group entered the house and sat around the table.

"This is Anton. You should both be familiar with him."

Eddie introduced him with a smile. "He's the genius director Hollywood has been praising lately. I just checked Batman's box office today. Anton's first work has already surpassed 350 million dollars. In many people's eyes, he's a walking gold mine."

"Hello, Anton."

Anne and Lewis looked at Anton in surprise and shook his hand in turn. "Thank you for coming."

"He works for me."

Anton did not take credit, nor did he think he had helped Eddie all that much.

Just as he had said, he believed Eddie could deal with the Life Foundation on his own. He was merely adding flowers to the brocade.

He had come not only to help Eddie solve his troubles, but also to gain more Justice Points and unlock more of Batman's special suits.

After the introductions, the group got down to business.

"According to Venom, the symbiotes' weaknesses are noise between 4,000 and 6,000 hertz, as well as fire."

Eddie's expression was solemn. "To deal with Riot, we have to start from those angles."

"Easy."

Anton nodded, revealing a smile that brought billions closer. "I can have Stark Industries customize weapons for us. Making sonic emitters that produce frequencies between 4,000 and 6,000 hertz, along with flamethrowers, will be easy."

He took out his phone, utterly certain. "As long as there's money, I think I can get the custom weapons tomorrow."

The bunch of "poor bastards" were left speechless.

Eddie, who was penniless and entirely supported by his boss, twitched at the corner of his mouth. Looking at Anton's confident expression, he actually felt the joy of being kept by a rich man.

Please bookmark! Please vote with recommendation tickets! The trial promotion results have been so-so, neither up nor down. Please support me! Thank you!