"Peter, would you like me to give you a lift?"
Captain George looked at Peter, a gentle yet slightly wary smile appearing on his face.
He personally admired Peter, who was kind, upright, and had excellent grades.
But... the ambiguous relationship between his daughter and Peter made him feel a bit uneasy.
The little cabbage he had raised for eighteen years couldn't be let go to a pig so easily!
At the very least, he had to wait until she was twenty!
"No thanks, Uncle George. Dr. Connors recommended some biology books to me. I'm planning to go to the library and check them all out at once, so I won't trouble you to make an extra trip with me."
After dealing with George and saying goodbye to Gwen, Peter hailed a taxi and headed straight for Midtown High School.
Relying on his reputation as the school's top student, Peter used the excuse that a teacher had asked him to pick up study materials. He easily tricked the security guard at the gate and slipped into the empty chemistry laboratory.
Cold moonlight spilled through the window, casting dappled shadows on the floor.
Peter turned on the lights, and the laboratory was instantly filled with a pale, harsh glare.
He carefully took the emerald-green lizard gene extract from his pocket, holding it like a peerless treasure.
Then, he opened the medicine cabinet and, relying on his photographic memory, quickly began searching for the various catalysts needed to synthesize the serum.
He methodically took out a dazzling array of chemical reagents in different colors and lined them up on the lab bench.
Throughout the process, his movements were smooth and fluid, without the slightest hesitation, as if he had practiced them a thousand times.
This was a stage that belonged to him alone.
There was no audience, no applause—only himself and the impending, transformative metamorphosis.
He poured the lizard gene extract into a beaker and then added the various catalysts one by one, according to proportions precise to the milligram.
"Gurgle... gurgle..."
The liquid in the beaker began to boil violently, its color gradually turning from emerald green to a heart-palpitating dark green, streaked with an eerie blood-red.
A gas smelling of fishy blood and chemicals spread through the air.
Peter held his breath, his gaze focused to the extreme.
After an unknown amount of time, the liquid in the beaker finally stopped churning, turning completely into a tube of thick, dark green serum that emitted an ominous aura.
The lizard serum was complete!
Peter let out a long breath and carefully drew the serum into a syringe.
He looked at the strange green liquid in the syringe, his heart pounding uncontrollably.
In a normal Universe, Peter Parker was the Spider-Man chosen by fate.
But he would crown himself with his own hands!
Without any hesitation, Peter rolled up his sleeve, revealing an arm that looked excessively thin due to years of malnutrition.
He raised the syringe and aimed it at his vein.
"Come on!"
Without a moment's hesitation, he plunged the needle into his skin and pushed the entire tube of serum into his bloodstream!
My fate is mine to decide, not heaven's!
Cold!
This was the first sensation as the lizard serum entered his body.
A bone-chilling cold instantly spread through his veins to his entire body, as if it were going to completely freeze his blood.
Peter's body shuddered violently, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.
However, this cold lasted for less than a second.
The next moment, a volcano erupted!
An unimaginable burning sensation, like violent lava, rampaged through his veins, frantically devouring his every cell!
Yes, it was devouring, not merging!
Peter felt as if some terrifying existence was watching him, and the lizard genes in his body were trying to consume him entirely, and then... borrow his corpse to return to life!
Thump-thump!
In Queens, Gwen, who had just gotten out of the car, suddenly felt her heart beating as heavy as a drum, and an inexplicable sense of oppression shrouded her heart.
It felt as if she were about to lose something incredibly important.
Alarms like electric currents rang in her head, and countless tiny goosebumps abruptly appeared on her arms.
Spider-Sense! Also known as the Gwen-tingle!
Without any hesitation, seeing that no one was around, Gwen used her hands and feet to cling to the wall of her house.
Her wall-crawling ability, which often failed her, was unexpectedly reliable at this moment.
She scrambled up to her rooftop in a few moves. Looking at the gap of more than ten meters to the opposite balcony, Gwen instinctively took a deep breath:
"It's okay, Gwen. You can do this!"
She didn't know why she was taking such a risk; she simply followed her instincts, habitually pulled her hood over her head, and then leaped with all her might!
A perfect landing comparable to a gymnast's, light and without a sound!
"Wow~"
Looking back at the chasm between the two small buildings that was simply impossible for a human to cross, Gwen marveled, her heart filled with even more confidence.
She began to run and jump through the city's steel jungle like a parkour girl.
Although she hadn't yet developed her own web-shooters, her speed was still far beyond that of a normal person, even allowing her to race the speeding cars below!
And the direction she was heading... was exactly Midtown High School!
..."Aaaargh!"
In the laboratory, Peter could no longer restrain himself and let out a repressed, agonizing roar.
Intense pain!
Pain beyond the limits of human imagination!
He felt himself being torn apart and reconstructed over and over again. His body fell heavily to the floor, twitching violently.
His skin began to take on an eerie green hue, and then, patches of fine, slime-covered scales frantically erupted from beneath his skin!
The nails on his hands and feet began to grow long and sharp, turning into terrifying claws.
His vertebrae bulged one by one with a sharp "crack," and his entire frame expanded and twisted at a speed visible to the naked eye!
Animality!
Endless desires for brutality, bloodthirst, and destruction, like the most turbulent black tide, frantically assaulted his reason!
His pupils began to contract, turning into the cold vertical slits characteristic of reptiles, filled with undisguised bloodlust.
He wanted to tear everything before him to pieces!
He wanted to make this World tremble beneath his claws!
The birth of Dr. Lizard seemed to have entered its countdown.
However, just as Peter's consciousness was about to be completely swallowed by that violent animality, turning him into a monster that knew only slaughter...
A sudden change occurred!
Buzz!
A soft and warm white light glowed from within his body, then rippled out like a wave, instantly enveloping his entire being!
Noble Horse: Harm not my master!
The animality that could have completely broken a will of steel melted away like snow meeting its nemesis the moment it touched the white light.
The gentle white light repeatedly healed Peter's fully bestialized body.
Before this irresistible magic, even the deepest hunting instincts within his genes had to retreat, until they were completely dispelled!
"Huff... huff..."
Peter gasped for breath, his vacant eyes regaining their clarity.
He was saved!
But helping him regain consciousness was only the beginning!
The power of the horse talisman did not stop after driving out the dominance of the animality!