"Hahaha, Rost, just look at how stupid these women are. They actually believed those so-called boyfriends of theirs. What they don't know is that the moment those men brought them through the front door, they'd already been sold to this place."
"Tsk, seriously, they're unbelievably dumb. Boss, I really don't get it. Women like these, hanging around red-light districts and living off the street, still dream about love like this. I don't know if they're stupid or just hopelessly obsessed."
"Hmph. If the higher-ups hadn't made it clear we weren't supposed to touch them, I'd have had my fun already. I saw a few top-tier ones in there too. They came out dressed ridiculously hot. Hard not to want them."
"What's the rush? Give it a while. Sooner or later it'll be our turn to let off some steam."
Several gang members talked about it openly and laughed from time to time. Every now and then, they would grab one of the women's chins and look them over.
Like slave traders from another century, inspecting a group of people who had already fallen into hell.
Inside the underground warehouse, more than a dozen newly arrived women in heavy makeup were terrified. Some cried until they could barely breathe. Some begged desperately. A few still clung to the illusion that they could charm their way out of it, only to be slapped down hard.
As for the women and children already locked in cages, along with several men who no longer even looked fully human, some had already gone numb, while others huddled in corners trembling.
Things like this happened almost every day here.
What kind of damage did that do to a person's mind?
Bang!
Right in the middle of the three gang members' cheerful conversation, a figure suddenly burst out of the darkness.
"What the hell is that?!"
One of the gangsters jumped in fright and immediately got to his feet, reaching for the gun at his back.
But the figure slammed into him with a brutal charge, sending him flying into the wall, where he collapsed unconscious.
"Who are you?!"
The other two gang members were furious and alarmed. They reacted fast, immediately drawing their guns and aiming at the figure ahead.
As the figure stepped closer, the two men finally saw him clearly.
The newcomer was wearing a black-and-red Spider suit, and beneath the skin-tight fabric, his powerful build was obvious.
"Wraith Spider..."
The moment Peter appeared, the two men looked like their souls had left their bodies.
At this point, Wraith Spider's reputation seemed even more frightening than the gangs themselves.
If a child refused to behave, threatening them with gangsters might not work.
But mention Wraith Spider, and they'd go quiet fast.
Because this guy really was ruthless, and even the gangs were terrified of him.
Shhk!
Peter said nothing. His spider arm-blades snapped out as he walked toward the two men step by step.
Realizing the situation had gone bad, the two gang members opened fire immediately.
The handguns could not do much to Peter himself, but they did scuff up his suit a little.
And the gunshots alerted every gangster in the underground warehouse. In an instant, people started rushing over from all directions.
Good.
That made things easier.
"Don't think he's alone. I'm here too."
Gwen appeared at Peter's side. Her suit had changed slightly. Venom seemed to be merging with it, giving it a cooler, sharper look.
And with Venom's enhancement, the claw blades on her hands extended at once.
"Soul Shock!"
Peter released a wide-area spiritual attack. Because it covered such a large space, the effect was not as strong as it could have been, but it was still enough to leave the gangsters unable to move for a short while.
That gave Peter and Gwen the perfect opening to turn into killing machines, dropping one armed thug after another in quick succession.
But the paralysis did not last long.
As the gangsters regained movement, they saw their dead companions on the floor and barely reacted. Some stepped right over the bodies and kept firing. Others even dragged corpses up to use as cover.
"Move! Let me do it!"
A heavily built man knelt down with a rocket launcher braced on his shoulder and fired a round.
In a small-scale battle, a rocket could completely change the outcome.
Peter and Gwen had not expected anyone to use one in such a confined space. There was barely any room at all, and once it exploded, the flying debris would be incredibly dangerous.
This was basically suicide by collateral damage.
The rocket flew toward them trailing white smoke. Its speed was relatively slow, and Peter's dynamic vision let him catch every detail of it. On the glossy warhead, he could see Gwen's shoulder reflected, where a small head suddenly emerged and excitedly opened its jaws, swallowing the rocket whole.
Gwen seemed to sense what had happened. She snapped her fingers, and the little head spat the rocket back out. This time it was coated in black slime, moving faster and hitting harder.
A massive fireball bloomed in the center of the underground warehouse. Smoke and dust surged everywhere, blocking everyone's sight for the moment.
"That move was pretty incredible. You've only just bonded with it and you're already using it that smoothly?!"
Peter looked at Gwen's flashy little performance and could not help giving her a thumbs-up.
"This little thing is living inside my suit now, so I can sort of connect with it mentally. Though it really does seem kind of stupid. It can still follow simple instructions, at least. Did you do something to it?"
Gwen had clearly noticed something strange about Venom and turned to Peter for an answer.
"Symbiotes like this can amplify a person's emotions and also boost their offensive power. But they're very good at influencing the host's mind, so I erased its consciousness. That got rid of one big risk."
Peter said it with a perfectly straight face. In reality, he had only been annoyed after getting rejected and wanted to scare it a little. He just happened to overdo it and turned the thing into an idiot instead.
"Let's finish off these morons already. Who fires rockets in an underground warehouse? They're asking to get buried alive."
"Are you sure this place is one of Matt Murdock's assets?"
Gwen nodded.
"Yeah. My dad's been watching him for a long time, and that guy is always working against him. This information should be solid."
Using the cover of the smoke, the two of them kept moving and kept killing.
With Venom's support, Gwen could easily sense where the enemies were through instinct alone.
Peter, on the other hand, stopped bothering with details and just cut down anyone he ran into in the smoke.
A few times he even grabbed Gwen by mistake, earning himself a string of complaints.
Inside the smoke, he was basically unable to tell friend from foe. He took out the gang members, sure, but he also accidentally cut down some of the people the gang had been holding captive.
After all, he did not know them.
And that made it a lot easier not to care.
(End of Chapter)
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