Chapter 258: I Have a Parasite
"Let me lend you a hand, Mr. Riot." Silas lightly crooked his finger, and Riot found himself flying toward Silas against his will.
"What is this?!" Riot gasped as he floated in mid-air, his body completely immobilized by an invisible force.
"The Rooster Talisman is quite handy," Silas remarked. He had decided to test out the levitation power on Riot, and it worked flawlessly.
Riot thrashed in the air, desperately trying to break free and escape.
"Let me show you something interesting." Silas manipulated the gravity around Riot and dragged him into a portal leading to the Shadow Kingdom.
The Shadow Kingdom
The moment Riot entered this dimension, he was struck with pure horror.
His fellow symbiotes were trapped in individual containment units, and a black-clad figure—Little Black—was already performing clinical, cold-blooded experiments on them.
"You've arrived, Master," Little Black said respectfully.
"Yeah. I brought this guy along to see the sights," Silas said, gesturing to the floating Riot.
Hearing this, Riot struggled even harder. This wasn't "seeing the sights"; this was a front-row seat to his own vivisection.
"This symbiote looks different from the others," Little Black noted, walking over to inspect the writhing silver mass.
"Of course. Riot here is the leader of their kind. Isn't that right, Riot?" Silas summoned a specialized container and forced Riot inside.
If Riot remained exposed to the air without a host, he would die before the experiments even began.
"A leader, huh? Then there must be a wealth of data to extract." Little Black's eyes gleamed with interest.
"Just don't kill him yet, Little Black. He's still got some use," Silas cautioned before turning and leaving the dimension.
The Life Foundation
"Thirty seconds left." Silas looked up at a wall clock. Peter was still frantically running through the halls of the facility.
There were roughly twenty staff members still trapped inside. At Peter's current pace, there was no way he could get them all out in time.
"I'll give you a boost, Peter." Silas casually summoned fifty Shadow Ninjas. They blurred through the building, grabbing the remaining staff members and carrying them out at superhuman speeds.
In terms of rescue efficiency, the Shadow Legion made Peter look like he was moving in slow motion.
"Done. Ten seconds." Silas reached out as if grabbing the air, and Peter was yanked through a shadow portal from the other side of the building.
"Silas?! What are you doing?" Peter had been about to check one last room for stragglers when he felt an irresistible force pull him back to Silas's side.
Silas had tagged Peter's shadow long ago, allowing him to teleport to Peter or pull him back whenever necessary.
"Stop looking. Everyone's been saved. Let's go!" As Silas spoke, he pulled Peter into the Shadow Kingdom just as the countdown hit zero.
In that instant, the Life Foundation detonated. The dozens of stories of the skyscraper collapsed in a thunderous roar. A massive cloud of debris and dust billowed out, but Silas had already ensured the Shadow Ninjas cleared the perimeter of civilians.
Standing a hundred meters away, Silas watched the building crumble. "Drake really didn't hold back, did he?"
Years of building a multi-billion dollar empire, gone in an instant—all because of a symbiote named Riot.
"The people nearby..." Peter started, his hero instincts still firing.
"It's fine. I sent the ninjas to move everyone out of the danger zone," Silas reassured him.
"That's good." Exhausted, Peter slumped down onto the pavement.
Eddie Brock's Apartment
On the television, news stations were already reporting the catastrophic explosion at the Life Foundation.
"Nicely done," Venom's voice echoed.
"Huh? Who's there?" Eddie Brock looked around his apartment in a panic. He was home... but he wasn't alone. He reached into his drawer and pulled out a handgun. "I'm warning you, come out! This thing is loaded!"
"I'm inside you," Venom said.
"Whoa!" Eddie jumped, nearly dropping the gun. Suddenly, a wave of hollow, agonizing hunger hit him like a freight train.
"So hungry..." Eddie forgot about the voice and tore open a bag of potato chips, wolfing them down.
No matter how much he ate, the hunger didn't subside. He grabbed a tray of raw chicken wings from the fridge, shoved them into the toaster oven, and dialed the heat to the max. "Faster... come on, faster..."
"That won't work," Venom said. He was starving. He could have lasted a few more days, but the battle with Riot and the separation from Peter had drained his reserves.
After escaping, he had luckily stumbled upon Eddie. It was a "blind cat finding a dead rat" situation, but the moment they touched, Venom realized Eddie was a perfect genetic match. He had bonded instantly.
However, the energy expenditure of the night meant he needed a "real" meal—preferably human.
"Who are you?!" Eddie yelled.
Venom chose that moment to manifest his head out of Eddie's shoulder. "I am Venom."
"Venom..." Eddie stared at the monstrous, fanged face in horror. "Is this an alien invasion?"
"Relax. I won't eat you. But your liver is looking quite delicious right now," Venom said, licking his needle-like teeth.
"I'm hallucinating. I've finally lost it." Eddie clutched his head. "This is a hallucination."
"No, this is very real." Venom realized Eddie's body was actually a better fit for him than Peter's, even though Eddie was a total weakling. If he had a choice, he'd still prefer the raw power of Spider-Man, but this would have to do.
"Right... it's a parasite," Eddie muttered, remembering the black mass that had lunged into his mouth at the lab. It must have been some biological experiment.
"PARASITE?! What! You dare compare me to such trash?!" Venom roared. He might be considered a "loser" among symbiotes, but he wasn't a lowly parasite.
"Anne!" Eddie ignored the voice and dialed his ex-fiancée's number.
Ring... Ring...
"Eddie? What is it?" Anne Weying's voice sounded tired. Her new boyfriend, Dan, was sitting right across from her at dinner.
"Listen, Anne, do you have time tomorrow?" Eddie asked breathlessly.
"I'm free. Why?" Anne looked at Dan, who gave a supportive nod.
"Something is... wrong with my body. I can't describe it."
"Eddie, if you're having medical issues, you can talk to me," Dan interjected. Anne had the phone on speaker.
"Who is that?" Eddie froze. Why was there a man with Anne at night?
"Hi Eddie, I'm Dan. I'm a fan of yours—and more importantly, I'm a doctor." Dan was telling the truth; he admired Eddie's past work as a hard-hitting journalist.
"..." Eddie went silent for a moment before asking, "Okay... quick question, Dr. Dan. Have you ever heard of a parasite that can talk?"
"A talking... parasite?" Dan looked at Anne in confusion. "Was he always this funny?"
Anne didn't know what to say.
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