Memories Restored

Li Nian and Dr. Otto hurriedly brought Peter back to the laboratory.

Their identities made calling an ambulance far too risky. Peter's identity being exposed was a minor matter; if the criminals Spider-Man had put away ever sought revenge on Aunt May, it would be disastrous.

"How's the Regeneration Cradle?" Li Nian asked anxiously. Peter's bleeding had already been stopped, but for some reason, his face had grown even paler. Faint black matter writhed beneath his skin, terrifying to behold.

"Almost done!" Otto shouted.

"There's no time. Put Peter in it first!" Li Nian picked Peter up and placed him in the Regeneration Cradle. "Start the machine!"

"But..." Otto tried to argue, only to be loudly interrupted by Li Nian.

"Do it first! Talk later!"

Otto said no more and activated the machine.

Flint chased Eddie to a secluded place.

"Are you going to use me as your token of allegiance?" After running for quite some time, Eddie finally stopped before a towering pine tree.

"I remember you robbed an armored truck not long ago. So now you're..." Eddie gave a sinister grin, splitting open the enormous mouth that stretched across his entire face. His dense teeth resembled those of an orca—savage and vicious.

"I want to be a good person," Flint said seriously.

"What a stupid reason." Eddie let out several disgusting laughs. "No one would cling to such a ridiculous reason, would they?"

Eddie did not choose to fight. Instead, he retracted his claws and slowly walked over to Flint, coaxing, "That Vision—the red-faced one—is an invader from another universe. He wants to invade this universe and turn it into a cyst."

"Everything he's doing now has a purpose. I don't know what conditions he promised you, but he definitely won't keep his word."

Eddie opened up Venom's face, revealing his own face beneath it instead, dark and treacherous.

"I can grant your wish, but only if you follow me."

Flint pondered for a long time. His body gradually gathered back into its original form as he eyed Eddie suspiciously.

"What makes you think I should believe you?"

"Because you're standing right in front of me, and you haven't attacked me."

Eddie fully returned to human form, his gloomy face looking eerie and evil.

He patted Flint on the shoulder. "Think about what I said. He really didn't keep his promise, did he?"

"HAHAHAHA!"

Venom instantly spread across Eddie's entire body, and he vanished into the darkness without a trace.

Flint was left alone, his expression conflicted as he contemplated something.

After a while.

Yellow sand scattered through the air, flying toward the distant sky...

"Peter!"

Li Nian anxiously looked at Peter inside the chamber. An oxygen mask covered his face, while black veins surged beneath his skin, one after another like writhing worms crawling back and forth through his body.

"His healing ability is very strong, but it's being suppressed right now."

"The symbiote shouldn't be capable of that, right?"

"That's magic. Dark magic has suppressed Peter's healing ability, preventing his injuries from healing."

Otto nervously operated the equipment. Although he had personally built the Regeneration Cradle, it was being put into use before it had ever been tested, so he could not help but be somewhat unfamiliar with it.

"Should we give him a blood transfusion?"

"No."

"The nanoparticles will take effect the moment they make contact. They'll establish a virtual connection with the cells in his body and replenish the tissue Peter has lost."

Li Nian thought calmly. "What about the symbiote? It's already burrowed into Peter's body."

"Then there's nothing I can do," Otto said helplessly. "I can't exactly cut him in half and scoop it out bit by bit with a spoon."

Li Nian was worried, but not about Peter's injuries. With the Regeneration Cradle here, Peter could not possibly die. What worried him was the effect the symbiote would have on Peter.

Not long ago, Li Nian had just removed the effects of the dark magic on Peter. Now he had been parasitized by remnants of the symbiote again. Did Peter really attract strange things that much?

"Next comes rest and recovery. Peter's body is fine," Otto said, pointing at the computer beside them. "At least for now, that symbiote can't affect Peter. It's staying obediently inside him."

"Let's hope so..."

Li Nian looked worriedly at Peter in the experimental chamber.

"Flint hasn't returned. Was he defeated, or... did he never intend to come back?"

"I don't know. Maybe either is possible." Li Nian forced himself to calm down. The appearance of the portal had left him agitated and unsettled, throwing even his thoughts into disarray.

"Once Peter's condition stabilizes, we'll start researching a device to cure Flint. Just like when we cured you, we need to be fully prepared."

Li Nian walked behind the workbench and began preparing to research an instrument to cure Flint.

"Damn it, if only the Avengers were here!"

Li Nian complained inwardly. If the Avengers stepped in, this little problem would probably be solved easily. Hulk alone could beat Eddie half to death.

The two of them began working diligently in the laboratory once more.

Harry stood quietly on the balcony, holding a glass of fine wine. He took a light sip and gazed into the distance.

After five days of rest and recovery, Harry's injuries had finally healed. Even the doctors stared at him in astonishment. Normally, injuries like these would require at least a week in the hospital before he could be discharged after confirming there were no lasting complications.

When Harry's old butler saw that he had mostly recovered, he hurriedly brought him home.

The wind was a little cold. Harry had draped a suit jacket over himself and swirled the red wine in his hand, seemingly lost in thought.

Ever since he had left the hospital, a voice had constantly lingered beside his ears. It sounded like his father, but Harry could not make out what it was saying. He could only sense the anger and temptation in its words, like Satan from hell chanting a spell.

Dawn was approaching.

Harry had not slept for three days. Exhaustion was inevitable on his handsome face, and that voice gave him no chance to rest.

"Bastard!" Harry drained the wine in his glass and cursed.

He hurled the glass violently to the floor. It let out a crisp sound as it shattered into pieces.

"Harry... Harry..."

The voice appeared again. Harry was furious yet helpless. Though he knew it was merely a hallucination, he could not stop it.

"Stop! Stop!"

Harry clawed at his hair like a madman. He did not want to hear that voice anymore, even though it sounded exactly like his father's.

"Harry... remember... Peter..."

"Get out of my head!" Harry swept everything off the table, kicked over the chair beside him, and roared.

Suddenly, Harry raised his head and saw his father, Norman Osborn.

Harry looked at his father in the mirror with fear and longing. He did not understand why his father had died after he woke up in the hospital. He had forgotten far too many things.

"Harry... avenge me..."

Norman's sinister face appeared in the mirror, his evil eyes staring straight at Harry.

"No... no... You're not my father..." Harry's eyes suddenly filled with terror as he cried out and staggered backward.

"Then what about this form?" Norman transformed, taking on Harry's appearance.

"Peter... Peter killed Father... He's Spider-Man..."

The deeply seductive voice curled around Harry's ears as he looked at himself in the mirror in disbelief.

"Peter... What does this have to do with Peter? And Spider-Man... Spider-Man..."

Harry suddenly froze. Many fragments he could not remember surfaced in his mind, replaying over and over like a film.

His father's corpse, himself hating Spider-Man to the bone as he stared at newspaper reports, attacking Peter at the party, and Peter's face beneath Spider-Man's mask...

The chaotic memories became more than Harry could bear. Clutching his head, he collapsed to the floor and howled in agony.

"Young master? Young master! Young master, are you all right?"

Urgent knocking sounded outside the door. The butler had heard something wrong upstairs and anxiously knocked on the door.

"I'm fine!"

Harry slowly raised his head. An eerie smile identical to Norman's had appeared on his face.

"I've never felt better..."