Free from Peter, Ben drifted through the skies of New York City like a ghost.
The world capital truly looked magnificent from afar, its lights resembling the veins of a starry sky from above.
"It's a shame that up close, you see the filth and crime beneath the prosperity."
Ben sneered.
For the wealthy elite standing at the apex of society, New York was the true capital of the world, the City of Empire, where the rich partied all night, indulging in a life of luxury and squandering money and desire until dawn.
But for the vast majority, a chasm, insurmountable, separated them from this world of splendor!
The lights shining in the darkness did not belong to them; the damp, dark corners beneath the glow were where they huddled together.
The insurmountable prosperity of the city, the towering skyscrapers, pressed down on the lower class like the Five Elements Mountain, suffocating them.
Those living at the bottom had once dreamed of prosperity and strived for it, but in the end, this colossal city had ruthlessly shattered their dreams and trampled them underfoot.
The prosperity of this city had always belonged to only a select few.
The prosperous New York was New York, and the New York full of crime and violence was also New York.
New York remained the same New York, yet what different people could see was entirely different.
And what was even more tragic was that the prosperity of this minority was built upon the continuous exploitation of the flesh and blood of those at the very bottom.
They stood atop buildings that reached the heavens, devouring every piece of flesh, draining every drop of blood, shattering every bone, sucking out all the marrow, and finally, letting their withered corpses pile up to form the city.
Every brick, every dollar of this city was stained with blood!
Yet, those who built the city would never be its masters!
Just like Uncle Ben and Aunt May, their hard work only resulted in a life of poverty, a situation that seemed impossible to change. Those born in the slums were highly likely to struggle in the mud forever.
In this glittering city, they were like scurrying cockroaches.
"But it's different now!" Ben's eyes flickered with a ghostly fire. "I will change all of this!"
However, what he intended to change was not the city itself, but only his own family.
Of course, he also knew that none of this would be simple.
Once he built up his enterprise, the capitalists holding vast sums of wealth would, like sharks smelling blood, try to swallow him and his company whole, leaving not even a shred of residual value.
Just like our unfortunate Connors.
After spending more than a decade painstakingly researching cross-species gene inheritance, in the end, he only paved the way for Osborn Enterprise.
Ben thought of Connors because he happened to be passing by the top of Osborn Tower at that moment. He saw Connors clutching his arm, painfully and miserably climbing into a taxi.
Clearly, this unfortunate doctor had turned himself into the first test subject to prevent Osborn's higher-ups from conducting human experiments.
"So, Connors will turn into the Lizard tonight?"
Curt Connors was indeed a rare talent, and perhaps he could be recruited into his own company in the future.
"Not just Connors, but Doctor Otto is also a capable scientist." Ben was already setting his sights on the Lizard and Doctor Octopus.
Both of them yearned to use their inventions to benefit the world, but fate had cruelly played them, leading them to become villains.
However, despite these thoughts, Ben did not immediately follow the Lizard.
In his opinion, the Lizard was the perfect first opponent for Peter as he became a superhero.
He had no need to interfere now, and he had his own matters to attend to at the moment.
Leaving Osborn Tower, Ben went in the opposite direction of Connors.
Not long after, he arrived at another famous landmark in New York City, several times more luxurious than Osborn Tower, and also the tallest building in all of New York – Stark Tower.
Ever since he had taken the battle armor from Tony last time, Ben had been wanting to get his hands on the Arc Reactor to study it.
Cold fusion reaction had always been theoretical, and he was very curious to know how Tony had managed to achieve it.
"Even Obadiah couldn't replicate the reactor after obtaining it, which shows how advanced its technology must be."
Ben passed through the outer glass of Stark Tower, his body becoming completely transparent. In the darkness, if one didn't look closely, it would be impossible to see him.
Besides the reactor, Ben was also very interested in Stark's Artificial Intelligence.
Stark: ???
Are you just going to keep bleeding me dry?
Jarvis's AI was at a very high level, to the point where it eventually developed emotions and thought patterns almost akin to a human's. In comparison, Friday later on was much more rigid.
Given enough time, Ben could achieve both the AI technology and the reactor with the help of Grey Matter, but ultimately, since there was a ready-made one to study, this time could be greatly shortened.
Although it was already night, a small number of people were still working within Stark Industries.
These corporate slaves, even dogs would shake their heads at them.
Ben flew directly towards the top floor.
The top of the tower was Tony's private area, and also where he worked.
Most of Tony's inventions and creations were completed there.
However, to Ben's slight surprise, at this hour, Tony was still working in Stark Tower.
"What is this guy doing hiding here at night instead of sleeping with a cover girl?" Ben wondered aloud, a hint of confusion in his voice.
Fortunately, Tony didn't hear him, or he would have been furious.
He had no idea who had stolen his battle suit, forcing him to create a new one.
"Sir, a Lizard Man has appeared on the Williamsburg Bridge," Jarvis reported, pulling up surveillance footage from along the route.
The moment Tony heard the word "lizard," he reacted as if triggered. He immediately dropped everything he was working on and walked over to Jarvis, picking up a cup of Chlorophyll Juice as he went.
Then he scowled, "What is this stuff?"
He had initially thought it was XLR8 appearing again, but the monster on the screen looked more like a miniature Godzilla.
"This thing is almost as disgusting as Chlorophyll Juice!" Tony took a sip of the juice, his face contorting in disgust. "It's Dinosaur Baby's fault I have to drink this."
"But on the other hand, XLR8 taking your battle suit has also slowed the Palladium poisoning," Jarvis analyzed rationally.
Ben had indeed caused the Palladium in the Arc Reactor to leak, but thanks to him, Tony couldn't use his battle armor during this time, which in turn slowed the spread of the Palladium.
At the moment, with the new battle suit not yet finished, Tony could only watch helplessly.
"Damn it, I should have prepared a few battle suits for emergencies." Enduring the bitter taste, Tony downed the chlorophyll juice in his hand. Suddenly, he saw a figure in a red and blue tight suit flash across the screen Jarvis was playing.
"What was that?"
Just as he was about to ask Jarvis to rewind the footage and slow it down, his body froze as if under a paralysis spell.
Unnoticed by anyone, a semi-transparent, milky white shadow slipped into his body.
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