"Roar!!"
Seeing the Spider-Car slow down, the Venom T-Rex let out a roar, opened its gaping maw, and lunged toward the rear of the vehicle!
The massive mouth, large enough to swallow half the car, rapidly closed in, bringing with it a foul stench.
Darian did not hesitate and pulled the trigger of the flamethrower.
[Equipment: flamethrower (capable of spraying high-temperature flames; warning, warning)]
Whoosh—!
A thick, scorching, orange-red pillar of fire erupted from the muzzle, instantly engulfing the space behind the car and completely shrouding the Venom T-Rex's head.
"Roar!!"
The Venom T-Rex let out a shrill, miserable howl.
The viscous black liquid on its surface writhed violently like a living thing, especially where the flames covered it. The black mass rapidly receded, revealing the dark, rough skin of the T-Rex underneath.
The Venom T-Rex stumbled to the side, its heavy body crashing into and collapsing half of a rock wall, sending rubble and dust tumbling down.
Darian seized the opportunity to jump off the Spider-Car, raised the flamethrower, and continued to pour flames onto the Venom T-Rex.
Under the continuous high-temperature roasting, the Venom covering the T-Rex's body let out shrill hisses. Large amounts of black liquid peeled off its skin, twisting and coagulating on the T-Rex's shoulder and neck, gradually forming a hideous silhouette.
This was the true form of Venom: two large, pale-white eyes, a mouth torn up to its ears, and a maw full of sharp teeth; it looked just like a dark version of Spider-Man.
"Roar!"
As soon as Venom took form, its pale-white eyes locked onto Darian.
It actually braved the unceasing flames, violently detached itself from the T-Rex's body, and lunged straight at him!
Venom could sense the powerful biological aura radiating from Darian, which was far stronger than that of the T-Rex. Driven by instinct etched into its genes, it decisively abandoned the T-Rex, wanting to instantly assimilate Darian into its host.
Darian remained calm, pulled out a fist-sized metal sphere, and tossed it right at the incoming Venom.
Hum—!
Just as Venom was about to touch Darian, a piercing high-frequency sonic pulse erupted from the sphere!
Wherever the sound waves reached, the air rippled visibly.
To humans, this sound was merely sharp and uncomfortable, but to Venom, it was nothing less than a lethal blow.
"Argh—!"
Venom let out a distorted, miserable howl, its lunge instantly losing control, and it flopped onto the ground with a smack.
Under the continuous impact of the sound waves, its irregular black body writhed violently, like a puddle of asphalt being frantically stirred by a stick. It could no longer maintain any structure and eventually curled up on the ground, turning into a small blob of black, viscous matter.
"So this thing is Venom?"
Darian stood there observing, without the slightest intention of reaching out to touch it.
Although Venom could enhance a host's strength, the side effects were far too numerous. Just the weaknesses of fearing fire and sound waves made it too easy to target.
Furthermore, Venom would read and retain the memories of its previous hosts, and could even pass all those memories on to the next one.
Darian didn't want his memories read, nor did he want to read the memories of other hosts. God knows how many bizarre life forms Venom had attached to over the years, or what kind of chaotic, jumbled memories were mixed in there. He certainly didn't want to see a bunch of grotesque imagery.
Unfortunately, the game system seemed to treat Venom as equipment or an item rather than a supervillain, so he couldn't use it to advance the quest.
Just then, the surface of the black blob rippled slightly and slowly flowed toward Darian's feet; its intent was obvious.
"Still not giving up?"
Darian raised an eyebrow, and just as he was about to act, he was interrupted by an idiotic voice.
"Hey! Isn't this my dear baby Venom!"
By now, Wade had finished healing and was walking over with a light, slightly exaggerated gait, the White eyes on his mask wide open, staring straight at the blob of Venom on the ground.
"Remember your beloved Daddy Wade? In the comics, I was your first host! We were combined every single day; you've already been molded into my shape. Peter and Eddie and whoever else are just playing with my leftovers!"
Seemingly sensing Wade's scent, the Venom that had been persistently inching toward Darian frantically recoiled, as if it had seen something filthy.
The corner of Darian's mouth twitched slightly.
Just how annoying was this Wade guy? Even Venom, a symbiote, found him repulsive.
He secretly rejoiced that he hadn't been touched by Venom. If he had read fragments of Wade's memories, his brain would probably be ruined.
Wade, however, ignored Venom's resistance and even crouched down with renewed vigor, extending a finger toward the retreating black matter.
"Don't be shy, little Venom. Let's relive the good old days and become one again, and then we can go find Peter and Eddie and show off our love right in front of them!"
Venom: ∑(°A°;)
Don't you come over here!
Then Wade and Venom staged a game of cat and mouse where there was no escape. In the end, Venom couldn't evade Wade's grasp and was firmly caught.
However, Venom's resistance was intense; it would rather possess a dog or a maggot than ever possess Wade.
The implication was that Wade was worse than a dog or a maggot.
Of course, if they really combined, it would be hard to say who was possessing whom.
Seeing that Venom was being so disrespectful, Wade became furious and prepared to swallow Venom whole, declaring that it could either possess him or possess his poop.
Darian couldn't bear to watch any longer. Ignoring Wade's protests, he trapped the Venom in Wade's hand inside a transparent, sealed jar and tightened the lid.
Just because he didn't want to use it didn't mean he couldn't let others use it.
The Venom in the jar wasn't settling down; it kept writhing and slamming against the jar walls, trying to escape this hellhole.
Darian brought the jar closer and threatened, "Quiet down. Keep acting up and I'll throw you to Wade to feed on."
Once those words were spoken, the Venom in the jar instantly quieted down.
To it, the level of terror Wade represented was comparable to fire and sound waves.
Having resolved the threat of Venom, the group set off again.
The rest of the journey was uneventful, and they successfully arrived at their destination: New Babylon.
This city was now the seat of power for America and a notorious city of sin, completely under the control of the current President of America, Red Skull.
The streets were filled with fully armed soldiers, machine-gun watchtowers coldly monitored the crowds below, and the low roar of armed helicopters occasionally passed overhead.
Here, civilians had almost no rights, and everyone lived under the high-pressure surveillance of Red Skull's army.
Any private gathering of more than ten people, especially in taverns, and especially by groups of men, would result in immediate detention by the army, followed by a series of harsh interrogations.
Red Skull, who had once followed a certain man with a mustache, had an almost instinctive vigilance regarding such matters. He would never tolerate the slightest sign of anything that could threaten his rule.
In particular, superheroes and heroism were absolute taboos strictly forbidden in this city.
If someone committed robbery and was caught, they might only be locked up for a few days or pay a fine before being released on the spot.
However, if anyone dared to stop a robbery and uphold justice, that would be a heinous crime.
At best, they would be bankrupted and have their families destroyed; at worst, they would be executed immediately!
It was truly a scene of magical realism.
Because of this, the entire city was permeated with a thick atmosphere of crime, even worse than Hells Kitchen had been back in the day.
As soon as Darian and his group drove into the city, they felt countless malicious gazes cast from the shadows, like hyenas eyeing new prey.
Darian was not interested in these low-level mobs from whom he couldn't squeeze a few coins. He inadvertently revealed the firearms, grenades, RPG, and gatling gun hidden inside his clothes...
The hyenas: "...Dude, are you a human arsenal? How did you hide that RPG and gatling gun in your clothes?!"
Although they didn't understand the mechanics, they understood that Darian was not to be trifled with, and they all withdrew their malicious gazes.
On the streets of New Babylon, flags bearing the HYDRA logo could be seen everywhere, giving Darian a strange sense of familiarity, as if he had returned home.
The most eye-catching feature was the towering giant statue of Red Skull in the center of the city square.
The statue was designed with extreme humiliation in mind. Red Skull held his left hand high, clutching small figures of the Avengers—minus Hawkeye. Those heroes were depicted in miserable, struggling poses, frozen forever to showcase his legendary achievement of slaughtering the superheroes.
"Tsk, someone actually built a statue of themselves in the city center. How shameless!"
Wade looked up at the massive statue, smacked his lips, and the bitterness in his tone could almost be smelled.
Crackle!
Electric current surged, and Wade instantly convulsed and collapsed to the ground, unable to get up.
Wolverine and Old Hawkeye looked astonished, not understanding how Wade had offended Darian again.
But they weren't idiots. They suddenly remembered that Darian claimed to be Lord Doom and possessed his own kingdom in another parallel Universe, and they immediately realized what had happened.
It turned out that the idiot Wade had accidentally fired a map-wide attack and caught Darian in the crossfire.
Both men secretly rejoiced that Wade had beaten them to saying their inner thoughts, otherwise they might be the ones on the ground right now.
A nearby patrol soldier noticed the commotion, frowned, and strode over.
"What are you doing..."
Before he could finish, Darian slammed a wad of cash onto him. He was immediately incensed, but then... stuffed the cash into his pocket, turned around, and looked at a Rune Poppy that happened to be passing by.
"I'm talking to you! You're so ugly, yet you dare to come out on the streets and affect the city's appearance. Come with me."
Rune Poppy: "???"
Watching the Rune Poppy being dragged away by the patrol soldier, Darian couldn't help but exclaim, "What a city with such simple folk customs. I like it!"
Wolverine was speechless: "You're a guy from a parallel Universe, where did you get the cash for this World?"
"Isn't it everywhere?"
Darian waved the cash in his hand; he had stolen it from the patrol soldier's pocket.
Wolverine: "..."
Old Hawkeye: "..."
What a master thief!
Old Hawkeye found a spot to park the Spider-Car, paid some money, and asked two Red Skull soldiers to keep an eye on it. With this notorious army acting as security, no one would dare to target the vehicle.
Immediately after, he pulled a sealed security case from the car. This was the cargo he was tasked with delivering on this trip.
Wolverine's nose twitched, and he frowned: "Is this stuff drugs? It doesn't smell like it."
Before the trip started, Old Hawkeye had told him that they were transporting a batch of drugs.
In this wasteland, drugs were more common than salt; it wasn't considered a crime at all, but rather a common way to make a living.
As a blind old guy, the reason Hawkeye had lived this long without starving on the street was largely thanks to this means of survival.
Hearing Wolverine's words, Old Hawkeye chuckled: "At this point, I won't hide it from you anymore. Actually, the drugs were just a cover. What I'm really delivering this time is something that can change the World. Follow me, and you'll know soon enough."
As he spoke, he led the group through several crowded, chaotic streets, turned into a quiet alley, and stopped in front of a mottled old door.
After confirming no one was around, Old Hawkeye raised his hand and knocked on the door panel with varying intensity.
The door quickly opened a crack, and after confirming Old Hawkeye's identity, it opened completely.
The room was dimly lit, but it was clear that quite a few figures were gathered inside—about twenty people, men and women, all fully armed and looking well-trained.
This scale clearly violated the city's ban, and it looked like a setup for something big.
"Thank God! You're finally here. I heard you ran into some trouble and thought you wouldn't make it."
The speaker was a short, chubby man in a suit, with a signature mustache above his lip, looking remarkably like a certain down-and-out art student.
"How could that be? I'm still a former Avenger, after all."
Old Hawkeye smiled and gestured to Darian and the others: "Let me introduce you. This is Tobias, the leader of the underground resistance organization. He is determined to form a new Avengers legion to overthrow Red Skull's evil rule and restore peace and order to the World."
"It's clear he certainly has the capability for that."
Darian nodded. The guy's appearance was just too convincing; if they were in a tavern, he'd probably have everyone following his lead with just a raise of his hand.
"I don't think this World should be like this. We are just doing what must be done."
Tobias was very humble, then asked Old Hawkeye: "Did you bring those things?"
"Of course!"
Old Hawkeye placed the security case on the table, dialed the combination lock, and opened it. Inside the case were rows upon rows of green vials. "Here are ninety-nine doses of Super Soldier Serum, enough for one for each of your ninety-nine rebels."
[Super Soldier Serum (Weakened Version)]
[Description: A replica version based on the original serum. It can significantly enhance the user's various physical abilities, but the enhancement effect is weaker than the original. At the same time, its side effect of amplifying the user's inner good or evil has been suppressed. An average person can tolerate at most 3–5 injections, with a certain probability of rejection.]