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This time, Gwen chose a car for Ryan even faster than she had for Ben last time, picking out a model in less than half an hour.
The vehicle Gwen selected wasn't the pickup truck type Ryan had originally imagined, similar to Ben's, but rather the latest model of an off-road Jeep Wrangler.
In Gwen's words, pickups were suitable for middle-aged and elderly people, but not for the youth.
At Ryan's age, if one didn't like sports cars or sedans but wanted to drive something large, then an off-roader was the ultimate choice for a young man.
Moreover, the Wrangler's height and width were both nearly two meters, and its length exceeded four meters, making it very suitable for a two-meter-tall giant like Ryan to drive.
Furthermore, its appearance seemed to match Ryan perfectly; both were full of muscular beauty and a sense of power!
Ryan felt quite satisfied with the car after testing it, so he paid for it in full on the spot.
However, unlike when they got the Ford Raptor for Ben, which was in stock, this shop didn't have the top-spec custom Wrangler Ryan wanted. It needed to be transferred from another location, so there would be a waiting period for transport.
Thus, Ryan could only temporarily drive his beat-up R8 to take Gwen to the amusement park.
Once the two entered the amusement park, the smile on Gwen's face never faded. She pulled Ryan straight toward the Ferris wheel, a must-ride for every couple.
As the Ferris wheel slowly ascended, the two chatted about intimate couple things inside the cabin.
Topics like whether she could drink cold beverages today... and during the conversation, Gwen mentioned the case her father was currently working on, which was the Lizard Man vs. Spider-Man incident on the Manhattan Bridge last night.
When she first saw the news, she thought the Spider-Man fighting the Lizard Man was Ryan.
After all, when Ryan first saved her, he was wearing a combat suit very similar to that one, just different in color.
But Gwen quickly noticed that the physique of the Spider-Man fighting the Lizard Man clearly didn't match Ryan's.
However, because Gwen had known about Ryan's other side from the beginning, she also understood some of Ryan's abilities.
Based on the fact that the Spider-Man's physique and abilities were similar to Ryan's, she had already associated that new Spider-Man with Peter last night.
Ryan didn't deny Gwen's guess and admitted that Peter was indeed the Spider-Man who made the headlines last night.
Since Gwen had figured it out herself, there was no real point in denying it anyway.
Moreover, Gwen was never a loose-lipped person; this was evident from the fact that she had known his secret identity for two years and hadn't revealed it to a single soul.
And the clever Gwen didn't just guess that Spider-Man was Peter; based on that, she also deduced the fact that the Lizard Man might be Dr. Connors.
However, regarding the guess about the Lizard Man's identity, Gwen wasn't as certain as she was about Peter being Spider-Man.
Because of this suspicion, Gwen had even called Dr. Connors when she woke up this morning.
On the phone, Dr. Connors sounded perfectly normal, not appearing to have any issues at all.
He only told her that he had completed the preliminary production of the lizard regeneration serum, and the subsequent human research was a confidential project of Osborn Enterprises.
As his intern assistant, it wasn't convenient for Gwen to participate, so she didn't need to go to the Oscorp Tower to help him during her recent days off.
The reason Dr. Connors gave was legitimate, so although Gwen still had her doubts, they remained just that—doubts. She had no substantive evidence to prove Dr. Connors was the Lizard Man.
But during this date chat with Ryan, Ryan directly confirmed Gwen's suspicion.
The Lizard Man was indeed Dr. Connors!
However, the efficacy of Dr. Connors' lizard serum wasn't permanent like his and Peter's. Its medicinal properties would be consumed over time, requiring constant injections to maintain the Lizard Man form and abilities; otherwise, he would 'degenerate' back into a physically impaired human form.
After hearing Ryan's words, Gwen didn't doubt their truth for a second. She couldn't help but feel worried about her teacher's situation, and even more so about her father's situation.
After all, the Lizard Man case was being handled by her father, Chief Stacy, and he would inevitably have to face the Lizard Man directly at some point.
Based on her observations of the Lizard Man on TV yesterday, it possessed strength and speed far exceeding ordinary people, and most importantly, its self-healing ability was maxed out. Ordinary firearms posed no threat to it whatsoever.
Her father was just an ordinary man. If he truly faced the Lizard Man, it would be dangerous!
But Gwen was very sensible; she didn't ask Ryan for help because of this, not wanting to cause him trouble.
Instead, she outwardly regained her sunny smile, seemingly no longer taking the matter to heart.
In reality, however, Gwen was already silently calculating how to tell her father the news that the Lizard Man was her teacher in a way that made sense, to warn him to be careful.
Ryan didn't have mind-reading powers, so he didn't know about the changes in Gwen's heart.
However, his superhuman observation skills keenly captured the subtle difference between Gwen's genuine happiness from before and her current surface-level happiness, thus guessing her worry.
Therefore, he took Gwen's slightly cold hand in his and comforted her:
"Don't worry, Gwen. Dr. Connors' ultimate goal is only to restore himself to being whole again. So even if he had an accident and mutated, he'll want to continue perfecting his lizard regeneration serum in secret. Under normal circumstances, he won't appear in public to cause widespread destruction."
"So the probability of Chief Stacy running into the Lizard Man is actually very small..."
RUMBLE————————
WEE-WOO WEE-WOO——————
Before Ryan could finish his words of comfort to Gwen, he was slapped hard in the face by a series of explosions and sirens!
The two looked toward the sound and saw several police cars engaged in a chase with a massive green dinosaur on the street outside the amusement park!
The explosion that just occurred was caused by the Lizard Man smashing one police car into another!
Ryan:...That face-slap really came too fast, just like a tornado... And even more coincidentally, while being cornered by police cars, the Lizard Man charged right into the amusement park where they were.
And even more coincidentally, the first person to step out of the police cars surrounding the amusement park entrance was none other than Gwen's father, Chief Stacy...
Seeing her father get out of the car made Gwen so nervous she almost stopped breathing, instinctively turning a pleading gaze toward Ryan.
Even though she hadn't intended to trouble Ryan before, at this moment, Ryan became the only life-saving straw that could save her father.
And Ryan naturally understood this.
He said nothing, only slowly standing up in the Ferris wheel cabin and pulling open the iron door.
Suddenly, Gwen grabbed his hand from behind, her eyes struggling: "If you go like this, your identity will be exposed. Maybe we should think of another way..."
Ryan gently removed Gwen's hand, reached out to rip open the buttons of his shirt, revealing the blood-red combat suit and spider totem on his chest, and smiled:
"Gwen, a true warrior never takes off his battle suit, even on a date..."
With that, under Gwen's shocked yet joyful gaze, Ryan completely tore off his shirt, transformed into the Scarlet Spider, and leapt down from the highest cabin of the Ferris wheel!