"The first to begin the game, the Grasshopper, has died at the hands of Kuuga."
At the gathering place of the Xu-Group Gurongi, the intermediary—the Rose Gurongi—spoke in a serene tone, dressed in her signature elegant white outfit.
"The game failed because he was useless. Let's move on to the next game immediately. I can't wait any longer," the leader of the Xu-Group, the Rhino Gurongi, spoke with an air of urgent irritability.
As the head of the Xu-Group, he had to wait for all the other Gurongi in his tier to complete their games before he could begin his own Gegel. The Rhino Gurongi believed his strength had long surpassed the lowly Xu-Group; he simply lacked a game to prove himself and ascend to a higher rank.
Whether the other Gurongi succeeded or failed meant nothing to him. He only cared about his own turn.
"It should be my turn next, right?" The Bat Gurongi took an eager step forward upon hearing this.
The Rose Gurongi looked at the desperate Bat but responded by simply backhanding him, sending him tumbling away.
"You killed a Rinto before the game officially began. You violated the rules; therefore, you have lost your qualification to participate," she said calmly.
"I didn't violate the rules! Don't take away my right—please, let me play!" The Bat Gurongi's voice wavered with a hint of pleading.
"You think you can hide it from me? The scent of blood hasn't even faded from your skin," the Rose Gurongi replied, her voice devoid of emotion as she shot him a cold glance.
The Bat Gurongi tried to argue further.
"Scram!" The Rhino Gurongi, as the group leader, showed no mercy, punching the Bat and sending him flying once more. Seeing the Rhino's hostile glare, the Bat didn't dare speak again.
"The next one to play is you." The Rose Gurongi ignored the Bat entirely, pointing instead to a female Gurongi with leopard-like features.
"The rule of the game: Hunt Rinto who move at high speeds using steel tools. Kill them while they are in high-speed motion."
The Leopard Gurongi nodded with confidence. Having established the rules, the Rose Gurongi used her ring to activate the Leopard's belt, formally declaring the start of the game.
The rules for the Xu-Group were generally straightforward, set by the Rose Gurongi as the overseer. Once finished, she prepared to leave the hideout.
"Why are you following me?" the Rose Gurongi asked, stopping in her tracks.
"Please, let me continue to participate in the game," the Bat Gurongi pleaded, his posture humble and subservient.
The Rose Gurongi simply shook her head without answering.
"Rules are rules," another Gurongi appeared behind the Bat, mocking him.
"Though you have lost your qualification for the game, I happen to need an errand boy," the Rose Gurongi said, turning to walk away.
The Bat Gurongi's expression shifted, but seeing her leave, he chose to follow immediately. Regardless of the indignity, if he seized this chance, there might be hope to regain his status later.
Peter Parker's mood was currently quite low, largely due to his previous encounter with the Grasshopper Gurongi.
A few days ago, when he had first crossed paths with the creature, he had seen it throw a man off a building. At the time, he hadn't thought too much of it, assuming it might have been a personal grudge between two individuals. Since he had saved the victim and the monster was too fast to catch, he hadn't stayed fixated on it.
But later, he heard the news reports: dozens of bizarre "falling deaths" had occurred in a single day. Peter realized instantly that the monster he encountered was a serial killer.
Even though the police eventually released a statement saying the perpetrator had been killed on-site, the damage was done. Many civilians and officers had died.
A haunting thought took root in Peter's mind: If I had subdued that monster the day I first saw him, would all those people still be alive?
This experience brought back the painful memory of Uncle Ben's death. Peter sat on the edge of a skyscraper, feeling the cold wind of the heights as he looked down at the glittering lights of New York.
"Well, at least the grasshopper freak was taken down by the police. There won't be any more victims. It's over; there's no point in overthinking it," Peter muttered to himself. "I should get back to being Spider-Man."
He leaped from the roof, diving toward the ground and feeling the rush of air pressure against his body. Falling until he was only a dozen meters from the street, he fired a web and began swinging through the urban canyons.
As he searched for someone to help, a loud crash echoed from below. A car had lost control and slammed into a parked vehicle at full speed. It looked like the start of a massive pile-up.
Peter dropped down, firing thick strands of webbing to halt the out-of-control car and prevent further collisions.
"Sir?!" Peter looked into the driver's seat.
The driver was dead, his head slumped to the side. His throat had been punctured by two bloody holes made by something sharp. Peter's blood ran cold.
"I saw it... a leopard-looking monster flashed past the car, and then he was just dead!" the owner of the other car stammered, his voice trembling with shock.
Peter froze. He instinctively thought of the Grasshopper monster. There was no logical reason yet, just a gut feeling that the two were connected.
In the traffic ahead, another car careened out of control. Another crash.
Peter shot a web, pulling himself back into the air. As he swung forward, he caught a glimpse of a blurred afterimage—the Leopard Gurongi—leaping into an alleyway between the buildings. The creature was using its supernatural speed to hunt humans moving in fast cars.
"So fast!" Peter watched the blur vanish and immediately swung after it.
This kind of random, public slaughter had to be stopped. More importantly, Peter needed to find out the truth behind these creatures. What was the connection between the Leopard and the Grasshopper? Why were they killing? And would there be more?
(End of Chapter)