“There it is!”
“Hurry!”
Cars screeched to a halt as a large group of reporters rushed toward the coastline, eager to capture footage of the scene. Amidst the crowd, Betty was pushed over by the surge of people.
“Betty! What are you doing? Get up! The Daily Bugle can’t fall behind The Globe!”
Standing by the roadside, J. Jonah Jameson shouted impatiently, a cigar clenched between his teeth.
Betty glared at him. “Boss, I just got out of the hospital! How about you come and do it yourself?”
“No way, I’m the editor-in-chief! Have you ever seen an editor-in-chief personally covering a story?”
“But you’re already here.”
“I’m here to supervise you and cheer you on.”
“Mr. Jameson, if you keep this up, I’ll tell my sister,” Betty warned.
“Wait, don’t let anyone know about that!”
“Brother-in-law.”
“No, no, no! Shut up!!”
Jonah hurriedly silenced her, his face flushed. “I paid your medical bills. Think carefully before you speak.”
Betty rolled her eyes. “I only got kidnapped by the Green Goblin because of you. If it wasn’t for Spider-Man, I’d already be dead.”
“Don’t bring up that guy.”
“Spider-Man.”
“Okay, okay! Just get back to work!”
Jonah rubbed his temples, visibly frustrated. “Eddie! You’re up!” He waved.
Eddie, still in the car, blinked in surprise. “But boss, I’m new here.”
“You’re strong! Use that strength to push through the crowd.”
“But…”
“I’ll give you a raise.”
“Got it, leave it to me.”
Eddie hopped out of the car, quickly shrugging off his jacket as he stretched his muscles.
“Boss, I’m going in.”
“Go for it!”
“I’m really going in.”
“Wait! You forgot the camera!”
Jonah shouted after him, but at that moment, a black figure shot overhead.
“Oh, damn! It’s that guy—no, wait, a black Spider-Man?”
Jonah spat his cigar onto the ground in frustration, snatched the camera from Betty, and barreled through the crowd.
“Out of the way! I’ve got to see what kind of trouble that menace is causing this time!”
“Brother-in-law, you’re getting old! Be careful.”
“Shut up and stop calling me that in public!”
On the coastline, Jonah and Eddie managed to squeeze to the front of the crowd. Jonah’s once-perfectly slicked-back hair was now a mess, but he didn’t care about his appearance as he focused on filming the scene. Then, his eyes widened as he noticed something familiar amidst the wreckage of the plane.
“That’s… Captain America’s shield!”
He gasped. “Is the plane crash connected to Captain America?”
As he gazed at the wreckage, a thick, blood-red mist began to seep out, and the black-suited Spider-Man slowly approached the ominous fog. Suddenly, the wreckage erupted in a second explosion.
Boom!
Flames and debris scattered in all directions, and a monstrous figure emerged from the mist.
“What is that?”
“Oh, my God! It’s an octopus! A giant octopus!”
“No, wait, it’s a man. A musclebound man.”
“Look at his back! He’s sprouting octopus tentacles!”
“Hey, look closer! Doesn’t he look like Captain America?” someone shouted.
Immediately, all the cameras zoomed in, revealing Steve Rogers’ face.
“Oh my God, it really is Captain America!”
“He’s turned into a monster!”
“Spider-Man’s fighting him—what the hell is going on?”
As the crowd erupted in shock, the sound of sirens filled the air. Police cars arrived at the scene, and George, leading the officers, moved to secure the area.
“This place is dangerous, everyone needs to leave!” George ordered.
“The black Spider-Man… Has any of the secret departments shown up yet?” he asked one of his officers.
The officer shook his head. “No, we’ve notified them, but it seems like something else has held them up.”
“What?” George clenched his teeth. “Those guys are never reliable. Looks like we’ll have to handle this ourselves.”
“Start by evacuating the reporters.”
“Yes, sir.”
At the beach, the crowd of onlookers continued to gather.
Xia Luo ignored the reporters and police, steadily approaching Steve.
Steve’s body was charred in several places, but thanks to the blood-red energy coursing through him, his burned skin was rapidly regenerating, and even the gaping wound in his chest had stopped bleeding.
Steve gritted his teeth as he pulled a shard of wreckage from his body, glaring at Xia Luo with fury.
“You ruined my plan!”
Xia Luo shrugged. “Sorry, Captain. But you’re the one who chose to crash the plane.”
He glanced toward the crystal coffin behind Steve. “That thing looks like it’s about to melt. Should I call you an ice cream truck?”
Steve cast a worried glance at the coffin behind him. “Damn bug! This is all because of you—”
Before he could finish, Xia Luo took the opportunity to strike, four black venomous spears stabbing through Steve’s body.
Splat, splat, splat!
“Here’s a return gift.”
“Arghhh!!”
Steve howled in pain as the blood-red tentacles thrashed violently, lashing out in all directions.
Boom, boom, boom!!
The coast was rocked by explosions as Steve’s nine tentacles finally unleashed their full strength. Each tentacle, imbued with tens of tons of force, acted like a mobile fortress, tearing through everything in its path.
Boom!
Amidst the chaos, shards of wreckage flew in all directions, and the surrounding crowd erupted in screams of terror.
“Ahh! My leg!”
“Get back!”
“It’s too dangerous…”
The crowd retreated, but the black-suited figure danced effortlessly amidst the frenzied onslaught of blood-red tentacles. It was as though he could predict every strike, moving gracefully through the battlefield like a choreographed performance.
The fusion of the Titan physique and Spider-Man’s powers had most dramatically increased Xia Luo’s stamina.
Even now, he showed no signs of exhaustion.
And this was despite him constantly being in Venom mode.
With the interference from the blood-red clouds gone, his heightened senses were operating at their peak.
After gaining more and more Spider Totems, his spider-sense had evolved. No matter how furious or relentless Steve’s attacks were, to Xia Luo, they were as if in slow motion. He could have dodged them with his eyes closed.
“Elegant, so elegant.”
In the crowd, J. Jonah Jameson stood in awe, clapping unconsciously at the spectacle before him.
“Boss, that’s Spider-Man,” Eddie reminded him.
“What? Spider-Man?”
Snapping out of it, Jonah immediately pointed at Xia Luo’s figure and began cursing.
“Damn it! Don’t think I won’t recognize you just because you’ve changed into black pajamas! I’m going to personally write an article accusing you of violent behavior!”
As Jonah ranted, Xia Luo suddenly retreated, his crystal-clear web glinting in the dim light.
Splat, splat, splat!
In an instant, the raging blood-red tentacles were sliced into countless small pieces by Xia Luo’s webbing. The horrifying tentacles squirmed on the ground like writhing red worms, an utterly revolting sight.
“Damn it!”
Steve’s face twisted in rage at the sudden turn of events. Before he could regenerate new tentacles from his blood-red spine, Xia Luo, having replaced his web-shooters, shot out a barrage of webs.
Splat, splat, splat!
The webs engulfed Steve, and with a powerful yank, Xia Luo pulled Steve to the ground, landing him at his feet.
“Damn bug!!”
Buzz…
Steve let out an ear-piercing roar, sending a sonic wave across the battlefield. But Xia Luo’s red-blue aura flickered for a moment, and he remained unaffected.
With his 50% increase in mental resistance, he could easily shrug off the sonic attack.
In the next second, Xia Luo stomped down on Steve’s back, his fingers forming claws as he drove them deep into Steve’s spine.
After observing for so long, Xia Luo had finally pinpointed Steve’s weakness.
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