Locked Target

"Go."

With so many Spider-Men around, Scorpion and Norman chose not to fight. They simultaneously turned into phantoms, one flying into the sky while the other burrowed underground.

Just then, Peter raised his right hand, and a strange pulse emerged from his palm. Scorpion and Norman both reverted to solid form. Norman was fine, but Scorpion was directly stuck in the ground.

"What an idiot."

Earth Demon sneered disdainfully, using the power of earth to wrap Scorpion up tightly and leave him unable to move.

Seeing this, Blonde Spider-Man and Middle-aged Spider-Man immediately fired webs at Norman’s calves. Then, they pulled at the same time. Norman slammed into the ground with a bang, blasting a huge crater into the floor.

"How is this possible?"

Norman and Scorpion shouted in disbelief. Refusing to accept it, they activated their quantization abilities again, but their bodies only flickered a few times instead of turning into phantoms.

"This is a Quantum Interferometer, an old technology."

Peter shrugged. "After you escaped last time, Mr. Stark spent five minutes installing this function in my suit specifically to deal with you."

This technology could also stabilize Ghost’s body and spare her some of that suffering.

"A Quantum Interferometer?"

Norman and Scorpion were speechless. What kind of world was this, to have even this kind of technology?

"Norman, surrender."

Blonde Spider-Man charged at Norman, with Spider-Gwen following close behind. Spider-Ham stood nearby with a hammer, waiting for an opening. Norman’s heart sank. This time, he was probably done for.

Middle-aged Spider-Man did not join the attack. After all, his old arms and legs were not suited for intense exercise. He asked Peter, "Your suit seems different from that Vibranium suit you had last time?"

"It is different." Peter said, "This suit is equipped with all sorts of advanced technology. It even has an intelligent system. It’s incredibly useful."

"How much does this suit cost… Uh, you’d better not tell me."

Middle-aged Spider-Man’s face was filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment. Peter in this world was way too lucky, wasn’t he? In Future Time-Space, he had Tony as his rich benefactor, while in this time-space, it was even more ridiculous—he had Galaxy’s Richest Man as his rich benefactor.

"I understand. This suit is great in every way except that it’s too expensive, and its defenses aren’t as strong as the Vibranium suit’s. Whenever I wear it, I’m always worried. If it gets damaged, I can’t afford to pay for it."

Peter nodded deeply in agreement. Middle-aged Spider-Man stared at him speechlessly. This brat was showing off after getting such a bargain. He really deserved a beating.

Soon, Norman was captured. The Spider-Men did not waste any time and immediately brought them back to S.W.O.R.D.

"Norman Osborn, Scorpion, tell us where Kingpin is. Otherwise, don’t blame me for getting rough."

Steve personally interrogated Norman and Scorpion. He said coldly, "I’m not Spider-Man. I won’t show you mercy."

"Of course we know Captain America’s reputation."

Norman smiled. "Unfortunately, sorry, but we can’t tell you what you want to know."

"Can you explain why?" Steve asked.

"Of course. I’m a respectable man, after all. I don’t want to be tortured."

Norman said, "Scorpion and I both have Quantum Chips implanted in our heads. The moment we say something we shouldn’t, the Quantum Chips will kill us.

"Don’t expect to remove the Quantum Chips. That’s impossible. Dr. Octopus is highly skilled. The Quantum Chips are completely fused with our brains. The moment they are removed, we’ll die immediately."

"No wonder Kingpin dared to send you out."

Steve sighed and called toward the surveillance monitor, "Get Tony or Future Tony here. We need their help."

Coulson immediately replied, "Yes, Director."

"Norman Osborn, why are you following Kingpin’s orders? You’re on a higher level than Kingpin, aren’t you?" Steve asked curiously. "In our world, you were quite an impressive figure at the beginning."

"Then Blood God got me killed."

Norman rolled his eyes. "I’m not working for Kingpin. I’m cooperating with him. Kingpin wants to resurrect his wife and son. I want to resurrect my wife too."

Steve shook his head. "That isn’t resurrection. It’s just finding another person in a parallel world."

Norman asked, "Captain, if your Ms. Carter died, and then you traveled to a parallel world where there happened to be a lonely Ms. Carter, would you stay by her side?"

"Well…"

Steve hesitated. After a moment, he said, "If I couldn’t go back, I probably would."

"Everyone thinks the same way."

Norman smiled. "Captain, Kingpin and I don’t want to cause trouble in this world. After all, Blood God is protecting this world. Once the Quantum Realm stabilizes, we’ll return to our own world immediately. There’s no need for you to focus your attention on us."

"That won’t do. I promised Spider-Man I’d send them back to their own world."

Steve said, "Besides, you’re bad guys, and we’re good guys. It’s only natural for us to beat you up."

"Then there’s nothing more to say. Captain, we won’t be so easy to deal with."

Norman laughed. "We haven’t wasted the past year or so. We’ll give you plenty of surprises."

"S.W.O.R.D. has never feared surprises," Steve said.

"I like surprises, but I don’t like being dragged here to interrogate prisoners while I’m doing research."

Tony walked in through the door with an unhappy expression. Steve explained the situation, then said, "There’s no other choice. Dr. Pym’s whereabouts are unknown, so we can only rely on you."

"What a pain."

Tony cursed, raising his hand. Nanites formed a special device that scanned Norman’s head. Then, a three-dimensional projection of a brain appeared in midair.

Tony examined it and said, "It really is a Quantum Chip. This is a little troublesome."

Norman sneered. "Tony Stark, who are you trying to fool? This is far more than a little troublesome. There’s no way you can solve this Quantum Chip."

Tony looked disdainful. "When I say it’s a little troublesome, I mean it’ll take half a day. Do you think this piece of junk can really stump Tony Stark? Who do you think I am? A third-rate scientist like you?"

"You can solve it in half a day?"

Norman froze for a moment, then gritted his teeth and cursed, "Tony Stark, no matter what world you’re in, you’re always equally annoying."

"More accurately, no matter what world I’m in, I’m always equally talented."

Tony snorted. "By the way, in your world, am I the Most Handsome Guy?"

"You? You’re just a second-rate hero. Oh, right, you have a very famous nickname in our world."

Norman burst into laughter. "Anyone you counter gets dismantled. None of the anti-whatever suits you made ever succeeded. They basically all got torn apart. Everyone says you’re a comedy hero."

Tony’s face darkened slightly. Steve smiled and said, "Tony, I didn’t expect you to have similar nicknames in parallel worlds, like ‘gets sent flying every day’ and ‘either getting slapped in the face or on the way to getting slapped in the face.’"

"Shut up."

Tony said unhappily, "I’ll definitely go to your world someday. When that happens, I’ll let everyone know just how powerful Iron Man is."

Norman said disdainfully, "I hope you don’t come back crying."

Tony could not be bothered to deal with Norman anymore and focused on studying the Quantum Chip. The most troublesome thing about it was that it was connected to the brain. Any deviation would destroy Norman’s brain.

Steve did not sit idle either. He asked about intelligence from the other world, as well as his own situation.

There was no need to hide any of that, so Norman casually explained. Generally speaking, it was much the same as before—working for S.H.I.E.L.D.

"S.H.I.E.L.D.? I wonder whether S.H.I.E.L.D. in that world also turned into Hydra S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Steve thought to himself. Just then, Coulson’s voice suddenly came through the speakers. "Director, someone has reported that the Life Foundation in San Francisco has been taken over by aliens, who are preparing to wipe out humanity."

"Aliens?"

Steve was a little startled. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Danny Rand happens to be in San Francisco. Have him lead a team to investigate. If there really are aliens, deploy the special squad and capture them all."

"Wait."

Tony suddenly stopped him. Then he asked Norman, "Kingpin is at the Life Foundation?"

Norman was startled, then pretended to remain calm. "I told you, I can’t say anything."

"So he is there. Your brainwaves gave you away."

Tony snorted. When Coulson had mentioned the Life Foundation earlier, Norman’s brainwaves had shown obvious fluctuations, which was why Tony had deliberately tried to bluff him.

Norman stared at Tony in shock and anger. This guy really was annoying.

"Good. That saves time." Tony said, "Director, deploy the Avengers. I want the complete Super Collider. They should have already built it for us."

"No problem, Tony. Well done."

Steve was overjoyed. He immediately began calling people together and asked Strange to open a portal—this involved other worlds, so as the Sorcerer Supreme, Strange had an obligation to participate.

Soon, everyone assembled. In addition to the Avengers, there were four Spider-Men and the Future Five.

It was quite a luxurious lineup. Their main goal was not to eliminate Kingpin and the others, but to obtain the Super Collider.

Let us turn the clock back a little. While Steve and the others were interrogating Norman, Eddie was "talking to himself" in the Life Foundation laboratory. "Venom, help me. Let’s escape this place together and warn S.W.O.R.D."

Venom sneered. "Why do you think I’d help you? I’m a symbiote. Besides, you’re just my clothes."

"No, I’m not your clothes. We have a symbiotic relationship. You are me, and I am you. We’re one."

Eddie said. At first, he had been terrified of Venom, but after spending a few days together, he realized that he and Venom were symbiotic and that Venom would not hurt him. So, he became bolder.

Venom said disdainfully, "Who’s one with a loser like you? In the future, I’ll find better clothes."

"I know. I’m a loser with no job, no girlfriend, no prospects, and no future."

Eddie did not mind. "But aren’t you a loser too?"

"What did you say?"

Venom flew into a rage. A head emerged from behind Eddie and glared fiercely at him.

Eddie was not intimidated. "Did I say anything wrong? You’re a loser, a loser just like me. I can smell the loser aura on you. You can’t hide it from me."

Venom gritted its teeth but did not argue, because on Symbiote Planet, it really was a loser. Perhaps that was why it could fuse with Eddie.

Eddie continued, "Venom, losers like us should help each other and get ourselves out of the loser ranks as soon as possible."

"So that’s why you helped Maria and those homeless people?"

Venom snorted. "It’s useless. You offended Blood God and Iron Man. You’re destined to be a loser for the rest of your life."

"Under normal circumstances, that would be true. Although they won’t do anything to me, their influence is enough to prevent me from ever entering high society."

Eddie sighed. "After all, no one would dare offend them. I even considered just giving up before. Being a loser wasn’t so bad. As long as I didn’t starve, I could watch TV, eat fried chicken, and drink cola every day. It was pretty comfortable.

"Fortunately, heaven didn’t abandon me. It gave me an opportunity. If I succeed, not only will I no longer be a loser, I’ll become someone above others."

At this point, Eddie looked up at Venom and continued, "Venom, this is your opportunity too. As long as we seize it, we’ll never have to be losers again."

Venom fell silent for a moment, then could not help asking, "What opportunity?"

"We escape from here together and warn S.W.O.R.D. That would be an enormous achievement. When the time comes, S.W.O.R.D. will definitely invite us to join the Avengers."

Eddie’s eyes shone. "That means we’ll become Super Heroes, Super Heroes admired by countless people."

"We become Super Heroes?"

Venom was dumbfounded. Eddie’s imagination was a little wild.

"That’s right. We’ll become Super Heroes. You said before that our strength would not be inferior to Spider-Man’s. If Spider-Man can do it, why can’t we?"

Eddie said with complete certainty, "Do I really need to remind you how glorious it is to become a Super Hero?"

Venom was somewhat tempted. It asked, "Will Blood God and Iron Man stop you?"

Eddie shook his head. "No. They’re big shots. They wouldn’t be that petty."

Venom said hesitantly, "If we report this to S.W.O.R.D., the other symbiotes won’t be able to come to Earth."

"That’s a good thing. If they come, you and I can only continue being losers."

Eddie said, "If they don’t come, you’ll be the only symbiote in this world. Just letting people study you could make you a billionaire."

"You’re the one who should let people study you."

Venom cursed. After thinking for a moment, it said fearfully, "The problem is, our god might come this time too. If I betray him, he won’t let me go."

"Is your god very powerful?" Eddie asked.

"Not very powerful. Extremely powerful. Our god is called Knull, an ancient god who is even older than this universe."

Venom said fearfully, "We symbiotes were all created by him. He is both our god and our master."

"Older than the universe?"

Eddie sucked in a cold breath. Older than the universe itself—what kind of concept was that? The symbiotes’ god was far too terrifying. After a moment, Eddie calmed down and said, "No matter how powerful he is, he can’t be stronger than Blood God. With Blood God here, he can’t even enter Earth."

"Blood God in your world really is powerful. His reputation is known throughout the Entire Universe."

Venom gritted its teeth and asked, "What should we do? Let me make this clear first: I can’t beat Riot."