Peter vs. Eddie

Li Nian headed to Peter's home with a bag full of food. To celebrate Harry's recovery and release from the hospital, Aunt May and Mary Jane had decided to throw Harry a party.

Naturally, buying the food fell to Li Nian and Peter. But Peter actually used having too much work at the Daily Bugle as an excuse to ditch Li Nian, suit up as Spider-Man, and go out fighting crime on his own.

Li Nian was grinding his teeth in fury at Peter.

"Time to put Peter through some training..."

Just as Li Nian was muttering to himself, the Mind Stone on his forehead suddenly flashed brightly, and an ominous premonition surged through him.

A moving car was suddenly flipped over and sent crashing toward a nearby shop, frightening off countless "zero-dollar shopping" customers.

"What a disaster-prone place," Li Nian sighed, marveling that this place was even more chaotic than the Avengers' turf.

Li Nian transformed in an instant and flew into the air, searching for the attacker's location.

A black figure quietly crawled up behind Li Nian, then leaped down from above and tackled the red-and-green freak.

Li Nian only felt an enormous force strike from behind, slamming him hard into the ground before hurling him away.

"What the hell?!" Li Nian flew out of the shop in a daze and stared in shock at his attacker.

"Venom?!"

Venom turned around and looked at the floating Li Nian, rage immediately boiling in his heart. "You... superheroes... You made me lose everything!"

Eddie's evil will drove Venom's already chaotic mind even further into madness. Countless black tentacles burst from his body, lifting a nearby bus and hurling it at Li Nian.

Unfortunately, that kind of attack was far too childish. Li Nian did not even bother dodging. He simply stood where he was and split the bus apart with the sheer toughness of his body.

"Too easy..." Li Nian looked disdainfully at the crazed Eddie. "It's time to send you on your way, you piece of trash!"

A laser shot out in an instant, blasting Eddie away and leaving behind a wound so deep that bone was visible.

"Ah!" Eddie was in agony. He roared furiously, venomous light flashing in his eyes. "You! You shouldn't be here! Get back to your own universe!"

"What do you mean?" Hearing that, Li Nian immediately sensed something was wrong and flew into the sky.

The instant his feet left the ground, a ring of pitch-black portals suddenly appeared on the ground. If Li Nian had remained where he was, he would likely have been teleported somewhere unknown—perhaps even into another universe.

"Magic! This Venom can use magic!" Li Nian did not know how to describe how he felt. This world had gone completely off the rails! It had utterly deviated from its course!

"Eddie? I know it's you, Eddie!" Li Nian shouted in Venom's direction, but the black figure had already vanished, as elusive and untraceable as a crow in the night.

"We're screwed! Peter!"

"Heh heh heh..." Peter swung leisurely through the skies above the city, enjoying the breeze and the thrill of brushing past traffic. It felt amazing to shirk the responsibility of buying groceries!

As usual, Peter carried out his city patrol, greeting enthusiastic citizens with a beaming smile.

"Woohoo! How are you all doing? Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is here!"

Peter had barely finished greeting the residents when his Spider-Sense started screaming wildly. His mind became a complete mess, as though ten minutes' worth of alarms had been crammed into his brain at once.

Suddenly, a black hand descended from above and knocked Peter flying with a punch, sending him plummeting into the raging traffic below. Fortunately, Peter was incredibly skilled and exceptionally agile. He forcibly twisted himself around in midair and landed safely on the roof of a car.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to!" Peter hurriedly apologized, then raised his head to look at the figure that had attacked him.

But the figure had already disappeared without a trace. Peter had no idea who his attacker was.

"Disaster-prone New York..."

Peter paid it no mind and swung away on his web. Things like this happened every year, and he was already used to them. Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, mysterious monsters...

He naturally assumed it was some prank by an ordinary person who had suddenly gained superpowers and wanted to take a shot at him, the most famous superhero around.

Just as Peter swung onto the roof of the Daily Bugle building, his Spider-Sense began blaring again, even more violently than before. Peter felt as though his brain was about to be torn apart.

In truth, he was about to be torn apart as well.

Eddie's eyes were filled with hatred and jealousy. Symbiotically fused with Venom, he transformed one hand into a sharp claw and thrust it toward Peter's back like a blade.

With a twist of his body, Peter narrowly avoided Eddie's sudden attack.

"Who are you?!" Peter shouted with a grave expression, striking Spider-Man's classic pose as he prepared for battle at any moment.

"Spider-Man! You hypocrite," Eddie said with hatred on his face. "You took everything from me—my girlfriend, my job!"

"I swear I've never seen you before!"

Peter leaped up and kicked Eddie square in his size-42 face, sending him flying into the antenna atop the building.

"That kick packed a punch, didn't it?"

Eddie rose to his feet as if nothing had happened, lightly brushing dust from his body that was not there. A wicked grin spread across his lips.

"Let's make things more interesting!"

"Doctor Otto! We're facing a huge crisis!" Li Nian connected to Otto's lab signal and called Doctor Otto.

"I found a way for me to get home!"

"Where?!" Otto had been uninterested at first, but the moment he heard Li Nian's words, he immediately asked excitedly. That was technology for traveling across universes—what scientist would not be interested in that?

"I don't know. He attacked me just now, then disappeared."

"Attacked? He?" Otto was utterly confused. "Could it be that the method of traveling across universes you mentioned is a person?"

"Mm..." Li Nian neither confirmed nor denied it, saying gravely, "And not a good person..."

"We need to contact Peter immediately! I can roughly guess the attacker's identity. Peter is very likely in danger!"

Hearing this, Otto could no longer worry about the research at hand. No matter how intelligent Li Nian was, he was still a visitor from another universe. Peter, however, was Otto's own student—and a brilliant child rarely seen in a century.

Otto hung up and immediately put on his combat suit. The four mechanical tentacles behind him stirred restlessly.

"Where are you going?"

Flint sat on the sofa. He had been the one to insist on buying it, claiming that he had nowhere to sleep.

Flint questioned Otto, "You should be building that machine and restoring my daughter to normal."

"But I need to save my student right now!" Otto interrupted Flint without any courtesy. "That spider kid is the one I'm most proud of."

Flint said nothing.

"If you want to change the way your wife and daughter see you, then come out and save the city with me. Live on as a hero in your daughter's heart."

After saying that, Otto smashed through the door, his four mechanical tentacles carrying him back and forth through the city.

Flint stared deeply at Otto's departing figure, then looked at the machine still under development. It was as if he had made a major decision.

"If you've lied to me, I'll destroy you with my own hands!"

Flint transformed into yellow sand and followed Otto away...