Race

After Lin Hai and the others returned to New York, he and Harry once again gathered their other two friends for a get-together in the backyard of his master's clinic.

In the backyard of the Chen-Style Chinese Medicine Clinic, Peter was examining a handful of wooden thorns Lin Hai had grown, while Gwen held a cup of floral tea and listened intently as Lin Hai recounted their half-month trip to Missouri.

Peter lightly tapped the table in front of him with a wooden thorn, producing a crisp sound. After Gwen shot him a glare, he immediately stopped making noise.

Perhaps to change the subject, Peter looked at Lin Hai and Harry. "So this alien flower bud just generously lets you freeload its energy?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Use more accurate wording, Peter. We call it 'non-destructive sample research.'"

"Oh, so it is freeloading."

"Pfft, hahahaha~" Peter's jab made Gwen and Lin Hai laugh.

Harry felt somewhat helpless. Even now, he still could not get used to Peter's sarcastic, chatty side.

After night fell, Lin Hai saw his friends off and sat alone in the backyard of the medicinal plant shop. He stared at the still-dim stars above New York and sank into thought.

He knew that everything that had happened during this trip would soon be thoroughly investigated by Norman Osborn. Naturally, the data in the hands of the accompanying researchers would not escape Norman's eyes either.

But he was not troubled by it in the slightest. This was the confidence brought by growing stronger. Even if Norman Osborn truly developed the enhancement serum that should not have appeared until much later because of this trip, even if Norman Osborn became the Green Goblin two or three years early, Lin Hai was not afraid at all.

The Green Goblin was merely little Spider-Man's arch-enemy. When fighting little Spider-Man, they were evenly matched, though the Green Goblin could often gain a slight advantage.

But that was little Spider-Man: poor Peter Parker in a homemade suit, Spider-Man who relied on tough but not particularly sharp webbing and overwhelming physical strength as his means of attack. That was not Lin Hai.

Based on Lin Hai's current understanding and control of his own abilities, he believed he would not lose to Peter when Peter had just become Spider-Man. So he was confident that even if the Green Goblin emerged, he could handle the problem.

But Harry...

The current Harry Osborn was Lin Hai, Peter, and Gwen's friend, as well as Norman's son. Caught between them, Harry would surely have a hard time when that day came.

Therefore, before the Green Goblin emerged, Lin Hai needed to complete the research he had long established for the Osborn hereditary disease as much as possible and solve the Osborn family's genetic illness. Only then would there be no regrets.

Norman Osborn's investigation came faster than expected. On the first day Lin Hai and Harry returned to school, Norman approached Lin Hai.

Two black sedans from Osborn Enterprises were parked at the school gate. The rear window of one lowered, revealing Norman's sharply defined face. "Talk?"

During their thirty-minute conversation, Norman did not mention the flower bud at all. He merely "casually" brought up the Human Enhancement Project currently under development, as well as "treatment plans for certain special genetic defects." Every sentence was like a carefully designed fishing hook.

But Lin Hai was not some little fish that would be reeled in by a hook and handled however others pleased. After responding to Norman's probing with impeccably appropriate answers, he returned to his master's clinic.

After greeting his master, he went back to the medicinal plant shop next door, took out a pen and paper, and sat in a wicker chair.

He recalled the Green Goblin's equipment from the original work. Aside from a body enhanced by the serum, the Green Goblin also had a glider with a top speed of three hundred kilometers per hour and a payload of half a ton; Pumpkin Bombs capable of blasting down concrete walls; and armor that could withstand ordinary bullets.

After comparing them, Lin Hai found that aside from being unable to fly, there was nothing else that could restrain him. Even if he could not stop the flying Green Goblin, he would not be in any danger himself.

Time passed quickly, and it was already late May. There was less than a month left before Midtown High School began summer vacation in June.

At the same time, Lin Hai's research had reached a new stage, but he was still not completely confident he could solve the Osborn hereditary disease. He knew that if he kept researching blindly without genetic samples from the Osborn family, there would still be no new progress.

So he went to Harry's private laboratory in Osborn Tower. Harry was calibrating a set of gene sequencers. Lin Hai leaned against the doorframe and watched his friend's back.

"The sample activity is up ten percent from last week." Harry adjusted his glasses. His voice was calm, but Lin Hai noticed the faint tremor in his fingertips—one of the early symptoms of the Osborn family's hereditary disease, a sign of nervous system instability.

Lin Hai did not respond immediately. Instead, he quietly released a wisp of Emerald Energy, allowing it to spread through the laboratory like thin mist. The information fed back by the energy made him frown slightly.

Although Harry's life force maintained a fundamentally healthy rhythm, it was more like a lamp with unstable voltage. It remained lit, but sometimes it shone brightly and sometimes dimly. This abnormal fluctuation was exactly like Norman Osborn's, only far milder.

"Harry." Lin Hai suddenly spoke. He intended to make Harry talk about the hereditary disease. "Your life force and Mr. Norman's both seem somewhat abnormal."

Harry's fingers froze above the control panel. The laboratory fell into brief silence, with only the hum of the machines echoing through the air.

Harry slowly turned around. Behind his glasses, his gaze was complicated and deep. After several seconds of silence, he removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You really can sense it."

Three minutes later, the two stood in a private lounge on the top floor of Osborn Tower. After unlocking a safe with his fingerprint, Harry took out an encrypted document and unfolded a set of shocking brain scans.

"Osborn familial neurodegenerative disease." Harry's voice seemed to come from very far away. "The onset age is usually between thirty-five and forty-five. Symptoms include motor impairment, hallucinations, and eventually, total organ failure."

"Starting with my great-great-grandfather, every male in the Osborn family has developed neurological degeneration around the age of forty. They lose their memories, their emotions spiral out of control, and eventually they die from total organ failure."

He switched to a genetic image, where the base pairs in a particular sequence showed obvious misalignment.

"My father is forty-two this year." Harry gave a bitter smile. "And my genetic test shows a one hundred percent chance of onset."

"So the Human Enhancement Project is my father's last lifeline, and it may be mine as well. That is why he suddenly accelerated the Human Enhancement Project. The data we brought back from Missouri made certain theories possible."

Lin Hai's heart tightened. "Has he already begun human trials?"

"Next week." Harry's voice was almost inaudible. "The first batch of volunteers has already signed the agreements."

Lin Hai understood that Norman could no longer wait. After obtaining the data from their Missouri trip, combined with the Osborn Group's existing research results on enhancement serum, Norman was already desperate to cure his own hereditary disease.

It was actually easy to understand. A drowning man who saw a lifeline within reach would desperately seize it.

Harry then pulled up another set of data. "By forcibly repairing the faulty sequence through extreme genetic recombination, we can theoretically solve this huge problem in our bodies."

"But in theory, it could also destroy personality stability." Lin Hai pointed to the side-effect report in the document, which had been deliberately downplayed.

Harry nodded silently.

He then told Lin Hai that, aside from beginning human trials next week, the experiment was planned to be fully completed in twenty days.

Lin Hai quickly did the math. It was late May, the final month before summer vacation. In other words, Norman intended to finish human testing before the end of June.

"Does he know the risks?" Lin Hai asked.

Harry showed a helpless, bitter smile. "He does, but he also knows that without the enhancement serum, in three years at most, he will become a cripple who cannot even hold a spoon steady, and after that, he could die at any time."

The screen switched to another set of data. Lin Hai immediately recognized it as simulated experimental data for the enhancement serum. The results were horrifying: seventy percent of simulated cases developed brain mutations, twenty-five percent suffered direct genetic collapse, and only five percent showed "stable enhancement."

"Father thinks he is part of that five percent." Harry closed the document. "After all, Osborns have always been... lucky."

Lin Hai neither agreed nor disagreed. Someone who was not lucky enough could not have founded an Osborn Group this large, but judging from the original outcome, fortune clearly did not favor Norman again this time.

"I need a blood sample from you, Harry. If there is anyone in this world who can help you and your father, that person must be me." Lin Hai looked into Harry's eyes and spoke firmly.

"No problem." That was Harry's answer. He understood that Lin Hai was right. Lin Hai was likely the only one who could help him and his father now.

After obtaining Harry's blood sample, Lin Hai swiftly threw himself into targeted experiments.

What came next was a race between Lin Hai and Norman: would Lin Hai solve the Osborn hereditary disease first, or would Norman develop a finished enhancement serum first and become the villainous Green Goblin?