Following the Trail

Watching the Lizard Man turn into a dark shadow and flee swiftly through the water, Su Ming did not continue the pursuit.

Though the underground pipes were dimly lit, they were as bright as day to Su Ming's enhanced vision, leaving nowhere for any detail to hide.

As the Lizard Man fled, he tugged on a strand of webbing and dragged the camera fixed to the wall underwater with him.

The camera had obviously been set up by Little Spider, but he seemed badly injured at the moment. It was necessary to remind him.

"Hey, Little Spider, are you okay?"

Su Ming casually walked along the webbing, looking at the bloody wound on Peter Parker's chest as he lay there gasping for breath.

Struggling to sit up, Peter Parker had no idea who this mysterious person before him was.

Ever since he had let the Lizard Man escape on the bridge last time, something had been weighing on his mind.

He had a vague worry that the decay-rate algorithm he had written just to show off might have caused trouble...

That was something his father had once risked his life to hide.

And Uncle Ben had said, "With great power comes great responsibility..."

Now, he understood those words deeply.

The moment he had successfully saved that Little Boy on the bridge, the looks in the father and son's eyes had made every hair on his body stand on end.

That feeling... was intoxicating.

But he still needed more training. Whenever he faced the Lizard Man, he always felt powerless.

If the person before him had not intervened just now, things could have turned dangerous.

How had he driven the Lizard Man back with a single move?

Why was he here?

And who was he?

Peter looked up at the elegant figure before him.

"Oh, damn... Did you save me? You were so far away from us just now. Oh my God, how did you do that? Who are you?"

Su Ming gave a wry smile as he looked at Little Spider, whose chest wound was still bleeding profusely even as he curiously pestered him with questions.

It seemed this version of Little Spider was still quite the chatterbox...

"I'm just a bounty hunter. Nothing else matters. That camera on the wall was yours, right?"

Only after Su Ming reminded him did Little Spider remember it, and his spirits immediately lifted.

"Yeah! I deliberately found a good angle because I wanted to film it..."

He turned to look at where the camera had been mounted, only to suddenly discover that the camera was gone.

He nimbly climbed to his feet and searched the area. Just as Little Spider was about to look underwater, Su Ming spoke.

"No need to look. The Lizard Man took your camera."

Peter Parker froze on the spot as he thought, Damn it! My name is on that camera...

A temporary laboratory in the sewers.

The exhausted Lizard Man crawled out of the water. The sound of metal scraping across the ground behind him, along with a sudden flash of white light, caught his attention.

He pulled on the webbing, and a camera appeared before him.

Turning the camera over, he found the words "Property of Peter Parker" engraved near the base of its flash.

His claws clenched, and the metal camera warped and shattered in the Lizard Man's hand...

"Peter Parker..."

Dr. Curtis Connors returned to human form, with reptilian scales remaining on half his face and his right arm once again ending at the elbow.

Experimental Subject: Dr. Curtis Connors

Body Temperature: 89.7

Stability: 48 Hours

Blood analysis indicates that lymphocytes and monocytes both contain information from the previous host...

Dr. Connors recorded the experimental process before the camera, his tone somewhat excited.

"The blood-clotting rate has increased rapidly. Muscle response, strength, and agility have all improved significantly..."

He glanced at the glasses in his hand, then looked excitedly at the camera.

"My vision has improved accordingly. The experimental subject no longer needs corrective lenses..."

Feeling the power coursing through his body, Dr. Connors was overwhelmed with emotion.

"This is not about finding a cure for disease. This is the path to finding the perfect species!"

He then took out a genetic serum and injected it into his body. Looking at the camera, his gaze was firm.

"Attempting to prevent the old condition from recurring. Increasing the dosage to 200 milligrams!"

His body continued to expand, his missing arm rapidly regenerated, scales covered his entire body, and his eyes turned yellow, vertical pupils gleaming with a cold light.

At that moment, another voice sounded in Dr. Connors's mind—the second personality spawned by the genetic drug.

"I will not allow you to ruin my plan—Peter Parker!"

Amid the roar, the camera lens tilted away and the screen went black.

"Anyway, thank you for helping me, sir."

Peter Parker was helpless over the loss of his camera, but he politely thanked Su Ming.

Su Ming waved dismissively, wondering where the Lizard Man would go next as he casually asked.

"Little Spider, do you know what that big lizard will do next?"

Peter Parker had no leads either and could only shake his head with a bitter smile.

Seeing the horrifying wound on Little Spider's chest, Su Ming suggested that he find somewhere suitable and get some proper rest.

After saying goodbye to Little Spider, Su Ming figured that the Lizard Man, who had appeared out of nowhere, must have a temporary hideout somewhere in the sewers.

Since he had nothing else to do, it was still necessary to conduct a thorough search for the bounty.

Thus, he began searching through New York City's vast sewer system.

"Going home covered in injuries like this, Aunt May will kill me..."

Peter's thoughts raced.

"The Lizard Man took my camera. He'll most likely see the name on it.

It'll be fine if he doesn't recognize it, but what if he knows me? Would he retaliate?

That person said he was a bounty hunter, but why didn't he kill the Lizard Man outright?

And I'm so badly injured. I was hoping that bounty hunter would lend me a hand, but why did he just leave so calmly?

Was he afraid of trouble, or was there another reason?

Still, he probably isn't an enemy. His target should be the Lizard Man.

Because with his abilities, if I had been his target... he had plenty of chances to kill me just now.

Forget it. There are too many questions, and I can't make sense of them.

I should go hide out at Gwen's place for now..."

Because he was injured, Peter did not dare return to his aunt's house and instead came to the window of his girlfriend, Gwen Stacy.

Gwen, who had been focused on her computer a second earlier, naturally turned around when she heard Peter Parker tapping his head against the window. Without stopping what she was doing, she told him to let himself in.

"You really should consider coming in through the front door...

Also, my dad thinks you should see a therapist."

Previously, Peter had had a serious disagreement with Gwen's father at a family dinner over whether Spider-Man was acting legally.

"Oh? Really?"

As Peter Parker's laughter was interrupted by a muffled groan, Gwen finally noticed that the handsome young man before her was seriously injured...

She hurriedly asked what had happened.

Peter Parker wearily slumped onto the sofa.

"Someone else... He suddenly changed from a man into a giant lizard..."

Just then, Gwen's father's voice suddenly sounded outside the door. "Honey, would you like some hot cocoa?"

Little Spider hurriedly hid behind the sofa.

Using menstrual cramps as an excuse, Gwen guiltily turned down her father's offer and used a handkerchief to clean Peter Parker's gruesome chest wound.

She said that ever since childhood, she had watched her father go to work every day with his badge and gun, always fearing that he would leave and never return.

She was terribly worried that Peter might also encounter some danger.

Peter thought of everything that had happened, his gaze becoming resolute.

"I created him... I have to stop him!"

Leaving aside how the hot-blooded, injured Little Spider took Gwen on a ride between skyscrapers, Su Ming made a new discovery in the sewers.

In a relatively tidy area, there was a pile of various equipment, along with several empty bottles that had contained medicine.

The computer screen displayed a plan to spread the genetic drug throughout the city.

The final location for releasing the virus was Osborn Group Tower.

At the same time, a circled location on the map lying on the table caught Su Ming's attention—Midtown Science High School in Queens.

Su Ming's pupils contracted. He knew that was where Little Spider went to school.

It seemed that the Lizard Man planned to take revenge on Little Spider first, then carry out his plan to infect the entire city.

Thinking this, Su Ming silently grumbled.

"The villains Little Spider runs into all have pretty big ambitions..."