"Alright, Jessica, calm down. It's no big deal."
Jessica Drew took a deep breath, looking with some reluctance at the massive swarm before her—there were likely hundreds, if not thousands, of Carnage-zombie elks. These monsters possessed mangled bodies, were covered in symbiotes, and had split lower jaws. That wasn't even accounting for the fact that these creatures weighed half a ton; even without superpowers, they could easily flip a car.
And she only had to face hundreds of them. What could possibly be difficult about that?
Then, her gaze was drawn to Spider-Man.
"Is it my imagination, or... are you actually glowing?"
Blue circuits appeared on Peter's new suit, followed by white lightning flowing through them. After a deafening sonic boom, Jessica only had time to see a streak of white lightning darting back and forth around her. It wasn't until Peter returned to his original spot, letting the suit transition from high-speed mode back to normal, that he let out a long breath and looked at Jessica.
"Yeah, I'm actually glowing."
"Alright then..."
Jessica looked around. In a span of about ten seconds, every single Carnage-elk had collapsed simultaneously. The combination of Anti-Venom and the high-speed suit had allowed Peter to eliminate nearly every enemy in the shortest time possible, completing a total wipeout.
Jessica watched, feeling a bit puzzled. If that were the case, what was she even needed for?
"The surrounding enemies have all been dealt with. These symbiote elks were specifically waiting for us here, yet Cletus is nowhere to be found. In that case, he's most likely already fled." Peter paused, then added with a hint of uncertainty, "Or, his goal was to make us think he's gone."
"It's definitely the former. As a psychopathic killer with artistic pursuits, running away isn't usually his style. Since he's decided to act, he's definitely planning something big." Jessica spoke as she crouched down to analyze the scene. "Furthermore, if he only intended to escape, there would be no need to leave such a large pack of elks to deliberately attack us. It's as if he's deathly afraid we won't guess that he's already made his getaway."
Peter blinked, realizing Jessica made a valid point. Given that Cletus had gathered such a massive herd of elks to ambush whoever came to his original hiding spot, the man was clearly certain he would be discovered and had orchestrated the ambush based on that fact. While killing a few pursuers would be a bonus, since Cletus himself wasn't among the herd, he clearly didn't expect to kill his hunters here.
Especially not Spider-Man, the most likely person to pursue him.
"He guessed we would definitely come here, so he prepared this elk ambush instead of scattering them to different locations to distract us. But if he truly intended to sneak away in secret, he wouldn't have caused such a commotion..." Peter grasped Jessica's meaning. "In other words, this is a provocation, right?"
"Exactly. And for such a confident serial killer, they usually possess other traits—like a high IQ, academic background, or a penchant for intellectual analysis. For example..."
"They will inevitably leave clues for the investigators."
Peter answered with certainty. Jessica smiled, and Peter immediately established a link with the Avengers' satellite to begin analyzing the specific local environment, checking for any man-made structures in the vicinity. If there were none, they would have to slowly search for Cletus's actual hideout; the clues were bound to be there.
However, Jessica didn't follow that line of thought. She remained crouched by the elk carcasses, poking one with a branch before asking Peter a question: "Do you think these deer were mutilated like this by Carnage, or... were they originally zombie deer?"
Peter fell into thought. "Zombie deer" referred to a disease deer contracted, formally known as Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). It was caused by a prion—which, despite being called a virus, was actually a misfolded RNA protein. Once it entered the bodies of certain animals, it would replicate incorrectly and attack the brain.
Specifically, the brain would become riddled with holes like a sponge. Animals with this disease would find it difficult to eat, gradually wasting away, and would feel no pain even when injured, as if they had no sense of pain at all. Their cognitive abilities would decline significantly; they would lose their fear of humans and might even actively attack them.
When this disease manifests in deer, it is called "zombie deer disease" because the afflicted deer move slowly, lack fear of humans, drool uncontrollably, and show no reaction even when their bodies are torn open to the point of exposing their internal organs. A more famous version of this would be Mad Cow Disease in cattle...
Peter immediately crouched by the elk carcass and used his suit to scan the animal's brain. "These are zombie deer."
"If it was just to ambush us, there was no need for him to go through the trouble of finding zombie deer. This itself is the clue. Prions, Mad Cow Disease... the Carnage infection is similar to Mad Cow Disease! It's being spread rapidly through beef. That's it!"
Peter quickly pulled up information on several nearby livestock farms. By cross-referencing their sales locations with the major cities where infections had broken out, he was able to make a swift match. This was the clue Cletus had left them: he had used beef sold from a slaughterhouse to infect others.
"I'll bet that the next thing we have to deal with won't be a pack of Carnage-zombie elks, but a herd of Carnage-mad cows."
Having confirmed the locations of several nearby slaughterhouses, Peter stood up, ready to notify the Airbus Team to send a Quinjet to pick them up. "The problem is, we aren't quite sure what kind of clue Cletus has left for us at the next location, or if it will be as obvious as this one."
Jessica felt Peter was hinting at something. "What do you mean by that?"
"If the clue he left is as directional as this one, then we won't need to go down and deal with those cows ourselves." Peter spoke as he finished contacting Coulson and the others. "We'll just need to cover the slaughterhouse with heavy fire."
At that point, Peter added, "Provided the ranchers are still alive."
Jessica didn't hold much hope for that. After all, Cletus was completely random when it came to choosing his victims. You couldn't expect a man who killed for pleasure to consider sparing lives while setting up a puzzle for his pursuers.
In fact, it was more likely that the murder scene he arranged was a clue in and of itself.
-----------------------------------------------
I handpick only the finest and most captivating novels for you. Don't forget to check out my other novels!
p@treon HongMengZi