[You have been eliminated. You cannot obtain a revival slot. Reward: +1% Spider Mutation Gene Toxin Resistance.]
[27 restarts remaining. Restart?]
In the cosmic web, Charlie woke up and exclaimed that it was sinful.
He had already been so careful, yet he was still tricked.
Thinking carefully, that thing might be some sort of virus-like existence; otherwise, it couldn't have been transmitted from Gwen to Charlie.
Fortunately, Charlie gradually understood the secret on Cindy's body.
From now on, the invincible Spider-Man will not die again!
Restart!
...
Fifth Time in the Resurrection Match.
On the Brooklyn Bridge, after swiftly taking down the Black Order, Charlie also eliminated the group of supervillains in Kingpin's villa.
As for Cindy, who was on her way, Elderly Steve handled her.
City streets, traffic jam.
Under the gaze of the citizens, Mjölnir suppressed Cindy. Through the communicator, Charlie spoke to Elderly Steve:
"Try asking her if you can get anything out of her."
Facing Cindy's blank expression, Elderly Steve frowned.
"She's completely silent, like an idiot."
"Huh?"
Charlie frowned, "Try again."
"No way. She just died on her own."
"What happened?"
"I don't know, maybe I used too much force."
"Speak properly."
"Sorry, she really died, without any warning."
"All right, tomorrow we'll definitely see headlines about a one-hundred-year-old man beating a young girl in broad daylight."
"What do we do now?"
"This matter probably isn't finished. I have a bad feeling. You head back first, I'm going to find Thor."
"Want me to lend you the hammer?"
"I can't use it."
Ending the call, Charlie fired webs and swung through the night sky.
Because Elderly Steve had summoned Mjölnir in advance, according to what Shiba Inu Thor said, at the moment it should be crouched at the entrance of McDonna, watching customers eat fried chicken, completely unaware its hammer was gone.
When it realized, it would probably already be starving, too weak to sense the hammer and find Charlie.
So Charlie could only look for Thor himself.
This is the God of Thunder in the animal world—without the hammer, he's really just a dog.
Yes, a dog with an unlimited supply of signboards.
"Whoosh~"
The red-and-blue figure sped along. As Charlie looked down at the neon city, he suddenly noticed a familiar figure.
"What's that?"
His pale-blue eyes flickered; Charlie locked onto a hideous black silhouette in Forest Park.
Venom Parker!
Sure enough, this guy was one of the participants.
At this moment, Venom Parker was sprinting through the woods, as if it had encountered something frightening.
It fled in a panic, swinging forward, only to have its legs weaken the moment it emerged from the forest, collapsing heavily to the ground in a wretched state.
"Oh shit, I must be hungry, I'm not sick…"
Venom Parker struggled upright, but still felt totally weak. It only took a few steps before stumbling again.
"No, my eyes… am I going blind?"
It felt its vision gradually blur, becoming even more flustered inside.
"Tap tap~"
Amid the faint sound of someone treading on dead leaves, it heard footsteps.
"Who's there?"
Jerking around, Venom Parker could only see a fuzzy silhouette, though it barely discerned a woman.
No, a woman with tentacles on her back?
But that wasn't important.
As long as it was a living being, it could become food.
Venom Parker grinned, "Perfect, the food's come to me. If I eat you, I'll definitely recover all my energy."
So speaking, it licked its lips, saliva spraying from the long tongue, about to feast heartily.
Yet the blurry silhouette merely stood still, four tentacles behind her snaking out to strike. Their speed wasn't fast, but Venom Parker was horrified to discover it couldn't dodge them at all.
"Pshhh!"
Four ferocious tentacles stabbed continuously into Venom Parker's body, but its gradually stiffening form could barely feel pain.
Nor could it fight back.
"What? What's happening?"
At that moment, its cells' healing ability was weakened countless times. Venom Parker panicked completely.
Soon, it sensed something amiss.
It wasn't that its healing ability was weakened—rather, the host, Peter Parker, had a problem.
The weaker the host's ability, the weaker the symbiote would become.
And because it was parasitizing a host in bad condition, the symbiote itself would have all sorts of issues.
That was the situation now.
To escape this state, it needed to leave the host.
But it couldn't bear to.
The longer time dragged on, the more it realized the attacker was coming for Peter Parker.
Because that curse-like thing specifically targeted Spider-Man.
"No, don't harm my Peter!!"
At that moment, the black liquid twisted wildly. Yet the fuzzy figure was unmoved, only using her tentacles to bind Peter Parker's body, then turned to head into the forest park.
"Bastard, did you hear me? Stop or I'll rip off your head and play ball with it."
"I'm begging you, leave him alone…"
Venom's threats gradually became pleas. It tried parasitizing the attacker to save Peter Parker, but it still couldn't do it.
Because now it too was "Spider-Man."
The symbiote cells had merged with mutated spider cells, causing it to be weakened by that strange substance, losing most of its power.
Unless…
Venom's narrow eyes flickered, as though making a firm resolution.
"Swish—"
The black fluid writhed into a demon face, exposing Peter Parker's features.
Looking at the unconscious Peter Parker, Venom uncharacteristically set aside all ferocity and savagery.
In its eyes was a bit of tenderness and emotion as it looked at Peter.
"Peter Parker, thank you for giving me freedom all this time."
It seemed to be bidding farewell.
"Actually, back then I didn't deceive you. I truly wanted to help you save your Gwen, after all, you're the first person I met on Earth, and the only friend I have.
Maybe you wouldn't understand how an alien symbiote can view a human as a friend. You can't imagine; I can't imagine either.
It's all very absurd.
I remember fondly how you used to sneak me food. Those little creatures with wings were so cute… and so delicious.
But the one I most wanted to eat was your cat.
I hated it—perhaps because I wanted to replace it!
But I knew that cat was Gwen's birthday gift to you, the most precious thing you had. I couldn't eat it.
Many times, I parasitized that cat, witnessing the love between you and Gwen.
I couldn't figure out what that feeling was.
I started longing, fantasizing… maybe I got something wrong.
Until Gwen had trouble and you came to find me, needing my power for the first time.
When I saw your determined eyes, I finally understood.
We should be friends. Friends help each other without expecting anything in return.
I agreed with you. We merged into one, and your body exploded with power I couldn't have imagined.
We were about to succeed.
I was excited then. Fighting side by side with a friend felt great; I'll never forget it.
But accidents and coincidences kept happening, as though fate decreed no matter how hard we tried, our outcome was predetermined.
We failed.
And you, my friend, fell into utter despair.
You let me run rampant. I knew that wasn't the real you.
I tried to shock you with brutal methods, to make you once again the hero in everyone's heart.
But you never wanted to wake up.
You must hate me a lot."
At this, Venom's eyes showed a complicated, human-like emotion.
"Peter Parker, my friend, I have granted your wish.
From now on, you will have a new life. You won't remember Gwen. You won't remember your uncle and Aunt May. You won't remember Mary Jane. You won't remember your tragic past.
Nor will you… remember me.
Haha, I'm letting you go. You should let yourself go too.
Good luck, my friend.
Farewell, my friend."
Venom's voice weakened. Putting forth all its strength, the symbiote cells completely devoured the mutated spider cells in Peter Parker's body, taking the memories connected to it away as well.
"Pop."
The black liquid separated, Peter Parker's body falling onto the grass.
Losing Spider-Man's powers, Peter Parker made the blurry figure frown.
She knew this guy was no longer Spider-Man.
But it was fine; that strange symbiote possessed Spider-Man's mutated cells. Taking it back would be the same.
Soon, only the unconscious Peter Parker remained in Forest Park.
High in the cosmic web of the night sky, Charlie witnessed the entire process.
"Octopus Cindy?"
Yes, he saw a second Cindy.
A Cindy possessing Doctor Octopus's abilities!
And the previous Cindy, who had that enormous strength, was she using Rhino's powers?
Whichever Cindy it was, each possessed a power that drove Spider-Man to despair.
Otherwise, with only Octopus Cindy's strength, it wouldn't be so easy to handle Venom Parker.
Things were getting complicated again.
Charlie thought for a moment, then leapt down into Forest Park, taking Peter Parker away.
Before restarting last time, he'd spent some time with that guy and wasn't infected by any virus-like thing, so presumably Peter Parker was now "safe."
Carrying Peter Parker, Charlie found Shiba Inu Thor outside a fast-food place. With just one grilled sausage, he easily tricked the dog into coming along.
Gwen's new home.
Outside, shadows flickered. Carter and the others had barely realized it when Charlie, carrying Peter Parker and Shiba Inu Thor, swung into the house.
"Spider-People never use the front door?" Carter complained.
Charlie set down the person and dog in his arms, shrugging. "I don't like pressing doorbells."
Then he introduced Peter Parker and Shiba Inu Thor, describing how he met Cindy on the road.
"Another Cindy. Then where is the real Cindy?" Gwen's face was full of worry.
Before Charlie returned, Elderly Steve had explained the situation to her.
She could do nothing for her friend's current plight, since she had no leads at all.
Elderly Steve sized up Peter Parker, "So someone can forcibly strip the symbiote without a sonic device— that person has some skill."
Lizard Parker hid behind Elderly Steve, not daring to make contact with Peter Parker.
"He looks dumb, but might bite off our heads any second, so we'd better stay cautious."
"Coward."
Felicia sneered, "How scary can a creature that survives by parasitizing humans be?"
"Pretty scary."
Elderly Steve looked serious. "Without a device to restrain it, Little Spider might not be able to beat that guy."
"What?"
Hearing that, Felicia was startled.
She'd personally witnessed how strong Charlie was.
Even so, he might not be able to win?
Then…
She took a step back, hiding behind Gwen.
"You promised I'd be carried to victory. You have to protect me."
Charlie: "…"
"You're the most useless teammate I've met so far."
Rolling his eyes, he addressed everyone:
"There's more than one Cindy. Maybe clones, maybe duplicates. We're not certain.
From what Kingpin told me, their goal is to stall us, not send Cindy to wipe us out directly. There must be something special about that.
I guess in a few days, Cindy will show up again. Gwen and I can't get close to her, so you guys will have to fight."
"Don't worry, I'll take care of her," Elderly Steve said, hoisting Mjölnir confidently.
At his feet, Shiba Inu Thor drooped its dead-fish eyes, raising a sign:
[Liar, return my Mew-Mew!]
Elderly Steve pretended not to see.
Carter frowned. "If she doesn't appear?" he asked Charlie.
Charlie was sure of himself, "She definitely will."
"Then what?" Elderly Steve asked again.
Charlie smiled, "Don't kill her. Once she's injured, she'll return to her base. We can track her there and take down all the Cindys at once."
"That simple?" Lizard Parker blinked.
"That simple."
"But you already saw another Cindy—why didn't you keep following her?"
"Uh, I didn't feel safe alone. I was scared."
Everyone: "…"
What a mighty excuse.
Three days later.
Sure enough, with the doorbell ringing, Cindy arrived at Gwen's house.
The timing was practically identical to Charlie's memories.
But waiting for Cindy wasn't Gwen—it was Elderly Steve and the others who had been well-prepared.
"Boom!!"
Lightning cracked, and Shiba Inu Thor attacked first.
"Rumble!!"
Immediately, lightning flashed in the high-rise. Cindy's figure, wrapped in the power of Mjölnir, broke through the wall, falling diagonally onto the street below.
On a nearby high-rise, Charlie and Gwen watched this, noticing something strange.
"That's off. Her power?"
They saw the Cindy hammered aside by Mjölnir dragging her injured body, firing webs with both hands to swing away, even cleverly using crowds as cover to dodge pursuit by Elderly Steve and the others.
"She's Spider-Man Cindy!" Gwen's expression was grim.
"They actually replicated Spider-Man's powers."
Charlie frowned, "Not only that—I feel she seems different from the previous Cindy."
"What's different?" Gwen asked.
Charlie scratched his chin. "Unlike the earlier Cindy, this one is more adaptable. It's hard to say."