"Oh no!"
Mark suddenly muttered an alarmed cry and hurriedly turned to look for Peter Parker.
At last, he found Peter and the others at the edge of the botanical garden, their faces tense.
"Kid, are you all right?"
Seeing Mark come looking for them, Ben Parker and May both breathed a sigh of relief.
Peter, however, wasn't particularly concerned.
After all, he had seen Spider-Man utterly overpower Lizard Man with his own eyes.
This little mishap was nothing serious for Mark.
So Peter wasn't worried at all.
Mark, on the other hand, kept his distance from Peter and studied him suspiciously.
"How are you feeling?" he asked in an odd tone.
Anyone who had ever been Venom's friend knew that Spider-Man was its absolute favorite.
"Me?"
Peter scratched his head. "How should I be feeling?"
"Did you see Black Thing?" Mark asked.
Peter shook his head, then looked at Ben Parker and Aunt May.
"I didn't see him. Did you?"
They both shook their heads as well.
"Other than Professor Connors, who's turned green, we didn't see anything black," Ben Parker said worriedly.
May looked at Mark nervously. "Kid, what exactly are you trying to say?"
Mark thought for a moment. "Nothing. There's been a little complication, but it isn't a problem yet."
He glanced at the patrol officers hurrying toward them and told the three of them:
"We need to head home, or we'll really get fined."
"Right, right. Let's go home."
Peter took the lead.
Soon, Mark and the others drove away.
After they got home, Ben Parker looked at Mark as though he wanted to say something, but held back.
Beside him, May noticed her husband's confusion.
But since Mark didn't volunteer anything, neither of them asked.
They guessed it might have something to do with his experiences at the Mental Hospital.
As for Peter, since their outdoor barbecue had been interrupted, he planned to go read at the school library.
But something about the way Mark kept looking at him felt wrong.
"What are you trying to say?" Peter felt uncomfortable all over.
Mark shook his head. "Nothing."
Professor Connors hadn't managed to force this guy to reveal his superpowers this time. Apparently, Peter hadn't brought his Suit today.
But running away right off the bat was just too strange.
Could he really think my abilities were enough to handle Lizard Man?
Yeah, that must be it.
I shouldn't have revealed my demon hunter abilities.
At that thought, Mark felt a little regretful.
Still, if it helped Peter keep his identity secret, it was worth it.
If those agents learned that secret, things would get troublesome.
Just as Peter was about to leave, something suddenly occurred to him.
"Oh, right, Mark. Gwen Stacy's birthday is in a couple of days. Now that you're better, remember to get her a birthday present."
"A present?"
Mark felt a little helpless.
The hundred dollars he'd earned last night was already gone today.
Getting a present would cost more money.
Oh well. I'll work a little harder tonight and earn another hundred!
Night fell.
Empire State University, the dance studio.
Having just finished dance practice, Gwen Stacy slung her bag over her shoulder and walked alone along a campus path.
Her car was still parked by the school entrance.
Under the streetlights, Gwen Stacy's shadow gradually stretched out.
Rustle...
Suddenly, the bushes beside the path stirred.
Hearing the sound, Gwen Stacy stopped and turned to look.
It was pitch-black, and she didn't spot anything unusual.
It was probably a stray cat on campus.
That was what she thought.
Where she couldn't see, a dark shape melted into her shadow.
Soon, she reached the school entrance and opened her car door.
Beep, beep...
As the car alarm chirped, Gwen Stacy felt an invisible hand suddenly cover her face.
Her consciousness briefly faded.
A second later, she came to and stared in confusion at her reflection in the car window.
"Strange. What just happened?"
She scratched the back of her neck, failing to notice a thread of black liquid burrowing into her skin.
"Hey, Gwen Stacy."
Just then, a familiar voice called out to her.
Gwen Stacy turned and saw Peter jogging over.
"I was just at the library. Didn't expect to run into you."
Peter checked the time. "Can you give me a ride?"
"Of course." Gwen Stacy smiled.
Once Peter settled into the passenger seat, Gwen Stacy started the car.
Vroom...
The sports car roared out of campus.
It was quiet inside the car.
Peter felt they ought to talk, or the atmosphere would be a little too dull.
"Your birthday's coming up. What do you want for a present?" he asked.
Gwen Stacy laughed. "Peter, presents are supposed to be surprises. Who asks that?"
Peter smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I'm not good at coming up with surprises.
"But Mark probably knows how. He learned quite a few skills at the Mental Hospital, after all."
"Learning at the Mental Hospital?"
Gwen Stacy was a little surprised, but at the mention of Mark, a ripple suddenly disturbed her calm.
For some reason, she felt that something was off about her emotions.
Yet she couldn't understand why.
Then a sentence slipped out of her mouth.
"Tell Mark when you get back that if there's no surprise, I'll bite his head off."
Her calm words carried a complicated mixture of viciousness and resentment.
It gave Peter a fright.
Her tone didn't sound like she was joking.
"Gwen Stacy, you..." Peter looked at her in disbelief.
Gwen Stacy seemed to realize that she had gotten a little too worked up.
"Sorry, I was joking." She felt ashamed of what she'd just said.
That joke had gone a little too far.
Even Professor Connors, who had turned into a monster, wouldn't say something like that.
Peter took a deep breath. "It's okay. You're probably just tired. Get some rest when you get home."
"Yeah. You too."
Dead silence fell over the car once more.
At last, the sports car turned onto Bleecker Street.
After Peter got home, the first thing he did was check Mark's room.
Sure enough, Mark had gone out again.
Pe-
-ter could only helplessly put the medicine he'd just bought into the drawer.
As for Gwen Stacy, after driving home, she took a cold shower, feeling inexplicably agitated.
It seemed that doing so might help clear her head.
That night, she only managed to fall asleep after taking a sleeping pill.
In her dreams, she sank into darkness.
In that darkness, a black spider gradually appeared.
At the same time, her brows knitted tightly as she lay in bed.
Black liquid began to seep out of her skin.
The black liquid swiftly covered her entire body, and web-like patterns spread across it.
This was Spider-Man's power.
It could copy some of a previous host's abilities.
"No..."
Suddenly, Gwen Stacy began to struggle. The black on her shoulders and arms receded, replaced by white and pink.
The demonic face about to engulf her head twisted as well, finally forced to become a white spider mask and a hood that was pink inside and white outside.
Hum...
The inverted triangular eyes glowed white, pink spreading around their edges, as though this could shelter the most important light deep within her heart.
"Oh my God, this woman has a connection to him."
The black liquid peered into Gwen Stacy's memories, then gathered at her shoulder and extended into a demonic face.
Its fangs were hideous, its long tongue licking the corner of its mouth, its face full of delighted surprise.
Using this woman's identity, it believed it could definitely get close to that strong man.
He was the perfect host.
From the moment it had bonded with that man, it had become hopelessly infatuated with his body.
I have to have him!