Worthy of It

The Lizard Man's towering body moved with astonishing agility under its immense power, trying to evade Su Ming's deadly attacks.

Su Ming snorted coldly:

"If I let you get away again, my bounty hunter reputation will be completely ruined."

With a flick of his hand, he threw his knives—using eighty percent of his strength.

Ten streaks of cold light howled through the air toward the Lizard Man, the gusts they stirred whipping Su Ming's hair into a wild dance.

The Lizard Man despairingly realized that every possible escape route had been sealed off.

In his panic, he tried to tear up the steel floor panels to block the attack, but it was already too late.

The supersonic throwing knives became instruments of lethal judgment, instantly piercing every part of the Lizard Man's body.

The massive Lizard Man was left with one gaping hole after another by the knives' tremendous penetrating force. His severed arm was shredded by the incoming flashes of cold light before it even hit the ground, until the final throwing knife turned the Lizard Man's head into a cloud of blood mist.

—Dr. Connors' miserable life had officially come to an end.

Looking at the chunks scattered all over the ground, Su Ming smiled confidently.

"If you can still get back up after being torn apart like this... I'll admit you're impressive!"

At that moment, a strand of web attached itself to the launcher, and Little Spider arrived.

Peter staggered after landing, nearly falling over. But after scanning the area, he saw no sign of the Lizard Man aside from Su Ming.

Just as he was about to ask, the launch device's countdown began issuing warnings:

30 seconds remaining—

29~

28~

27~

Peter looked at the device and saw that it contained the green genetic toxin. Though he was still wary of an attack from the Lizard Man, who could be hiding anywhere, the situation was urgent. He could only climb onto the launcher and remove the toxin.

"Catch~"

Detective Richard's voice rang out from the side:

"This is a gift from Gwen."

Peter's eyes lit up at the sight of the glowing antidote, but there was no time to wait for it to fly into his hands. He raised his arm, intending to fire a web and pull the antidote over.

Several sparks suddenly burst from the web-shooter on his wrist—it had malfunctioned.

"Shit!!! Why now, of all times?!"

Peter and Detective George were both thrown into a panic at the sight...

Then, a streak of light flashed through their eyes. Like the black eight ball struck by the cue ball, the antidote accelerated toward Little Spider.

It was Su Ming. Considering they might cross paths again in the future, he decided to lend Peter Parker a hand at this critical moment.

He threw out a playing card, accelerating the antidote's flight.

Little Spider's eyes lit up. He caught the antidote and pushed his spider agility to its limit.

"Click, click, click~"

He swiftly opened the chemical chamber and replaced the genetic toxin with the antidote...

3~

2~

1~

"Boom~"

A bright blue beam shot straight into the sky and exploded among the clouds, illuminating all of New York.

Blue snowflakes drifted slowly down like artificial rainfall.

The agents downstairs who had been infected by the green genetic toxin saw their scale-covered skin rapidly return to its original color as the blue snow fell.

The police lights still flashed, but the sirens and gunfire were no longer clamoring.

The blue snowflakes brought silence to New York.

Yet it was not the blue antidote serum that soothed the panic in everyone's hearts, but two people.

The overwhelming number of cameras and broadcast helicopters gave the entire city an unobstructed visual spectacle.

Everything Su Ming and Spider-Man had done was laid bare before the people's eyes.

Everyone understood that this was not a movie, nor was it a drill. It was reality unfolding right before them.

People stood there for a long time, reliving the sight of the two heroes who had saved them all—Spider-Man and, uh... who was the other guy?

That was right. When they thought of that elegant man in scarlet, who had conquered everyone with only a few brief appearances...

They realized they did not even know who he was!

The thought left everyone with an unbearably frustrating itch.

A villa in Manhattan.

Norman Osborn switched off the television, picked up a glass of red wine, and gently swirled it.

The blood-red liquor before him reminded him of that elegant figure in scarlet.

"I never expected that casually posting a job would attract someone like him. I underestimated New York's underworld..."

He picked up the phone and ordered his subordinates to raise the commission to one million dollars. He also instructed them to show this bounty hunter sufficient respect.

After all, someone that powerful could not be allowed to become an enemy...

At that moment, an irritable voice sounded in his mind:

"Norman, it's time to put the plan on the agenda..."

He frowned slightly. As a business genius, he disliked the feeling of being interfered with at any time.

"Crack!"

The wineglass in his hand shattered.

The rooftop of Osborn Building.

Peter and Gwen ignored Su Ming and Detective George as they embraced passionately.

Unaccustomed to that sort of atmosphere, Su Ming stuck his hands in his pockets, turned, and left.

"Wait."

Detective George called out to stop Su Ming. He still could not accept his beloved daughter being intimate with another man right in front of him, so he turned his attention to Su Ming instead.

"Oh? What can I do for you, Detective?"

Su Ming was somewhat surprised. He did not seem to have had any dealings with this detective.

"Thank you..."

Su Ming smiled. So he was offering thanks.

He casually waved a hand.

"No need to thank me, Detective. I'm merely a bounty hunter. Staying true to the mission is part of my professional ethics."

Detective George disagreed, smiling as he shook his head.

"I can tell that you are a powerful gentleman.

"Spider-Man probably could not have handled the Lizard Man incident alone. He might even have cost several people their lives. Your appearance put us greatly at ease..."

Su Ming nodded thoughtfully, amused as he watched Detective George clumsily conceal Peter's identity.

It seemed that he had gradually accepted Little Spider in his heart. Little did he know that Su Ming had long known everything.

On second thought, if he remembered correctly, someone really had died in the original story—namely you! My dear Detective.

Thinking of that, Su Ming felt that he was entirely worthy of this gratitude.

He smiled and nodded to the detective before turning to leave.

"Please wait, sir~"

Su Ming rolled his eyes slightly. What was this? One after another—was he really that popular?

None of them even knew him, did they?

Recognizing Little Spider's voice, Su Ming politely turned around.

"What is it, Little Spider?"

Supported by Gwen, Peter limped over to Su Ming.

"Thank you for your help, respected sir... Would it be convenient to leave me your number? You're so cool...

"I mean... I would really like to know such a powerful gentleman as you."

Gwen also watched Su Ming from the side with curious, glittering eyes, looking somewhat reserved.

She was worried that her earlier wariness toward Su Ming had offended this expert.

Su Ming blurted out:

"No problem, Peter..."

As Su Ming took out his phone, he sensed something strange in the air.

Silence...

Everyone present focused their eyes on Su Ming. Even with skin as thick as an iron wall, Su Ming felt his face grow slightly hot.

"Damn! That slipped out..."

Just as Su Ming racked his brain, unable to think of an explanation for why he knew that Peter Parker was Spider-Man.

Peter readily removed his mask, smiling with his young, handsome face exposed.

"Sir, regardless of how you learned my identity, as a friend, I at least should not hide my appearance from you..."

Well, well! This young guy looked honest enough, but he had plenty of tricks up his sleeve~

He took off his mask just like that. Beside him were either his girlfriend or his future father-in-law, so naturally he had nothing to fear...

But I'm still wearing a mask!! Isn't this putting me on the spot?

This little brat was bad news...

Neither Gwen nor her father had expected Peter to make such a slick move and turn the tables. They looked curiously at Su Ming, a hint of mischief flashing in their eyes.

Seeing Su Ming's hesitation, Peter said understandingly:

"You don't need to remove your mask, sir. Since you know who I am, whether I wear the Spider-Man mask in front of you no longer matters..."

Su Ming sighed in relief. Since Peter had been so open, he could not be too shabby either. He smiled.

"Peter, nice to meet you.

"I'm a bounty hunter, code name [Destiny].

"Here's my number. I'm glad to be friends with you."