Chapter 39: She's Felicia Hardy, I'm Just Mary Jane
Ben could barely recognize him as Doctor Connors.
Or rather, he could barely recognize him as a Lizard Man.
Connors at this moment looked distinctly different from the monster that had appeared on the Williamsburg Bridge a few days prior. While Connors had been ugly and ferocious then, his body features were more lizard-like, and his face was smoother.
But now, his cheeks were protruding, his mouth had become a slender snout, his skin had turned a more grayish-green hue, hardening into a material like alligator hide armor, and his body had grown a full size larger.
Rather than a Lizard Man, Connors had now become a more terrifying Dinosaur Man!
Just looking at him reminded Ben of the Indoraptor from the Jurassic series, a hybrid of Tyrannosaurus Rex and Velociraptor genes.
"You—"
Connors flung the toilet off his head and fully emerged from the ground.
He was at least three meters tall, comparable to a Humungousaur that hadn't transformed, and could only move hunched over in the cramped restroom.
Upon seeing Ben, Connors' massive body immediately lunged forward. His shadow instantly enveloped Ben, and his voice rumbled like a muffled thunder: "You're not Peter Parker!"
As he opened his mouth, a foul wind blasted forward, nearly messing up Ben's hairstyle.
"You've got quite the gusty breath there, pal," Ben said, pinching his nose as he leaned back.
He also frowned.
With Doctor Connors undergoing such a peculiar transformation, Ben knew without a doubt whose doing it was.
He just hadn't expected Doctor Animo to find Connors so quickly and cause his genes to mutate. If that were the case, the serum antidote he'd previously created might not be as effective.
Connors' eyes were larger than light bulbs, and as he glared at Ben, they reflected almost half of Ben's face.
He was somewhat confused as to why the student before him wasn't afraid, but he didn't pay it much mind.
From beginning to end, his goal was singular—
"Where is Peter Parker?"
"I don't know, I'm not close to him, I don't know him at all," Ben replied with a triple denial.
"I suggest you go look for him."
Connors didn't suspect a thing.
Besides Peter, he didn't want to kill anyone else right now. In his eyes, everyone in New York City would soon be his kind. He didn't need to kill them; he only needed to kill that Spider-Man who was stopping him!
Roughly shoving Ben aside, Connors strode directly towards the school hallway.
As he passed Ben, it was like a large truck rumbling by, creating a gust of wind.
His tail, covered in cool scales, swept past and, without conscious intent, snapped a metal water pipe!
Ben looked at his retreating figure. Sharp bone plates had grown along Connors' spine, and his clothes had long since been torn apart, leaving only scraps clinging to him.
With every step he took, the ground seemed to tremble.
The next moment, Ben heard hundreds of mixed screams erupting from the hallway.
Dodging Connors' line of sight, Ben was about to transform when he felt Peter approaching.
So, Ben put down his watch and followed Connors out of the restroom. The students in the hallway had already fled. Peter, not yet in his battle suit, dodged frantically in the narrow corridor, trying to blind Connors with spider silk.
However, the spider silk, with its high tensile strength, seemed incredibly fragile in the face of the current Connors.
"What's wrong with him?"
Peter threw off his backpack, slid to dodge Connors' claw attack, and circled behind him, just as he encountered Ben coming out of the restroom.
"No idea, he crawled out of a toilet. I think he'd make a good plumber, what do you think?" Ben asked.
"Did it get unclogged?" Peter asked, following Ben's lead, even though he knew it wasn't the right time.
"It did," Ben replied, recalling the nearly two-meter-wide hole and nodding with certainty.
Peter stared numbly at the row of lockers that Connors' claws had sliced open like tofu and said, "I suppose so..."
"Peter Parker!"
Connors, angry and struggling, turned around in the hallway. The space was too narrow for him.
Fortunately, this problem wasn't difficult to solve.
Thump!!
He swung his tail forcefully, actually smashing through a wall!
Peter gasped, his voice softening as he pleaded, "Please, just go get the serum quickly, okay?"
"Give me a few minutes."
Ben nodded.
Knowing Connors would come to the school, Ben had been carrying the antidote, but it was in his classroom.
The only problem was, he wasn't sure if the antidote would still work on Connors in his current state.
Ben had reverse-engineered the serum antidote from the half-life decay formula left by Peter's father. But Connors had mutated now, and his internal genes were likely altered. Even if the serum had some effect, it probably wouldn't be very significant.
"I still need to find Doctor Animo!" Ben thought.
"I think it would only take him ten seconds to tear me apart..." Peter said weakly.
But Ben couldn't hear him at this point.
He had already run into another corridor, reaching the inner side of the teaching building. Many students were crowded together here, their faces filled with panic as they tried to escape.
It hadn't been long since Connors suddenly appeared in the corridor, and not all students had seen him and fled immediately.
"Don't panic, we'll escape through the other corridor!"
Ben saw several teachers raising their arms, maintaining order.
"Don't push, be careful of a stampede!"
Ben walked against the flow of people towards the classrooms. The surging crowd pushed towards him, but he remained unmoved, like a solid rock.
Even without transforming, Ben possessed immense strength. His single-arm strength was now close to ten tons, and it was still growing!
He pushed the crowd aside with both hands.
However, he wasn't the only one going against the current.
Amidst the crowd.
Mary Jane struggled to push through, feeling like a sardine in a can, unable to breathe.
She soon spotted Felicia.
Like Mary Jane, Felicia hadn't left with the crowd, but she was weaker than Mary Jane, nearly falling several times from the jostling students.
Mary Jane quickly pushed her way towards her.
"Hardy!" she said, supporting Felicia's arm. Felicia finally let out a sigh of relief, as if she had grasped a lifeline.
"Are you Mary Jane Watson?"
"Have you seen Benny?" Mary Jane didn't pay attention to Felicia's address; they weren't that familiar with each other.
But the moment she spoke, Felicia froze.
"You're looking for Benny too?"
Too?
Mary Jane quickly realized something.
She looked at Felicia, who exuded an air of a wealthy young lady, and felt like an ugly duckling. Although she usually tried not to dwell on such things, a sense of inferiority spread from within her heart at this moment.
She is Felicia Hardy, and I'm just Mary Jane.
She thought.
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