Arthur was carried all the way into the underground laboratory.
A door opened, and the youngster gestured for Letus and the others to leave the room.
Arthur looked at the youngster, then turned his gaze toward a container in the very center of the room.
The container was a little over a foot long, and what was inside… no one could quite tell what it was, pitch-black and writhing slowly within.
Symbiote!
Arthur instantly realized what it was, then quickly composed himself, putting on a calm front as he looked toward the youngster again.
Carlton Drake.
Founder of the Life Foundation. A true prodigy, still young, but already with astonishing achievements to his name.
Indeed, he had the brilliance of a genius. Just sitting there, he exuded an aura of innate presence.
And the rare part? He was still so young. To have such presence at this age, if only he hadn't chosen the wrong path, maybe his future could've been bright…
Arthur found himself thinking this out of nowhere, oddly sentimental, and a little helplessly amused by his own reaction.
'Why am I suddenly seeing this kid like some kind of elder looking at a promising junior?'
I'm barely in my twenties myself!
"I just… don't understand why." Drake sat there silently for a while, lost in thought, then rubbed his face and said: "Maybe it's because of how I've done things… you find it unacceptable? Alright then, can you at least tell me who he is?"
Arthur said nothing.
You can't just drop that name out of nowhere. Who knows if the other party would even believe it?
"You know… we have to think about your friend."
Drake changed his approach, trying to reason with him: "What's inside him, we understand it. The kind of danger it poses… it's self-evident. If we don't intervene…"
"He'll die."
Arthur's brow furrowed.
Drake came out from behind his desk, slowly circling forward: "Look, I promise you, we'll save your friend. And going forward, our research will have… limits. Ethical boundaries."
That's close enough.
Arthur took a deep breath, put on a conflicted expression, and then finally said: "Brock. Eddie Brock!"
"Eddie Brock?"
Drake exhaled sharply, then gave a small nod. "So you told a reporter everything that's going on here…"
He turned toward the door. Just as he was about to walk out, he spoke coldly: "Open the container."
The door slammed shut behind him.
In the center of the room, the container slowly unsealed, and in the next moment, that pitch-black Symbiote lunged out and launched itself straight at Arthur.
"You can't do this to me…"
Arthur muttered, but before the words even fully left his lips, the black mass had already pounced onto him.
…Cold.
That was the first sensation and it was not exactly unpleasant. And surprisingly, it didn't stink like he'd imagined. Despite its disgusting appearance, it actually smelled… rather fresh?
The very next second, he felt it, something trying to merge with him.
But… it couldn't find a way in!
Arthur's body was far beyond the norm. No matter how powerful the Symbiote was, if it wanted to bond with him, it needed Arthur's permission.
And just like that… Arthur gave it.
It was like opening the door to welcome a thief , and the very next second, Arthur felt a subtle presence seep into his muscles, cling to his bones, and even attempt to replace certain internal organs.
But…
It failed!
For the Symbiote, this was probably the most awkward scenario imaginable.
It had gotten what it wanted, a body, but once inside, it realized it couldn't move anything, couldn't change anything… Even worse: it couldn't get out!
Arthur had opened the door to let it in… then slammed the door shut behind it.
Outwardly, he acted as though he was in terrible pain, but in truth, he was stimulating the Symbiote with golden energy, trying to observe how it would react.
But before he could get much of a reaction , just a couple jolts in , the Symbiote died!
What the hell?!
Arthur's expression darkened. With no other option, he expelled the creature and let it fall to the floor… while making it look like he had died as well.
Now lying motionless on the ground, Arthur's mind was still busy.
This probably isn't because the Symbiote was too weak… but because I'm just too strong.
The Symbiote should've easily overwhelmed a normal person , but against Arthur…
Even pulling out all its tricks meant nothing.
"As expected, if I really want to study this thing properly, I'll have to rely on Brock. Now that Drake knows about him, he'll definitely send people to capture him. If Venom really has any special powers, now would be the time to show them, right?"
As Arthur mused to himself, the door opened again.
With the Eye of Horus, he could clearly see four or five people entering.
Two of them brought a stretcher, lifted him up, and laid a white sheet over his body.
As they carried him out, Arthur scanned the entire lab.
Many test subjects , each in a different state , but the majority were already dead.
The Symbiotes and their hosts… had perished together.
Arthur let out a soft sigh , and then, with a single thought, took action.
In fact, he did two things at once:
He summoned Jimmy from the Disassembler's spatial storage.
He used teleportation to vanish on the spot.
Both actions happened almost simultaneously. In the blink of an eye, Arthur had disappeared from the stretcher, and in his place lay Jimmy.
That instantaneous switch caused the two stretcher-bearers to suddenly feel a change in weight. They paused, slightly puzzled , but didn't give it much thought, and continued walking.
Once they left, Arthur reappeared exactly where he had been , looked around , and, still wearing high heels, casually made his way back to the previous office.
Once there, he sat down, turned on the computer, and began reading through the documents. Using the wristband, he hacked directly into the Life Foundation's main server and started a remote data transfer.
All the files were uploaded straight to Camp Lehigh's systems.
Once it was done, Arthur, still wearing Dr. Skirth' face, looked at the surveillance camera in the corner of the room and gave a faint smile…
Then disappeared in a flash.
As for whether the Life Foundation would later think the place was haunted…
That wasn't his concern.
After all, it wouldn't be long before they realized something was wrong, especially once they tried to bury or cremate Jimmy. At that point, it would be clear something had gone off script.
Backtracking might lead them to "Dr. Skirth's" face… But no real evidence.
As for what Drake would think then?
Arthur didn't care in the slightest.
What he did care about was what interesting things were about to unfold…
on Brock's side.
(End of Chapter)
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