26: Chapter 26 Stark's Radar, Alien Meteorite

New York, Manhattan Center. Top-floor laboratory of Stark Industries.

Tony Stark was wearing holographic goggles, a plasma welding torch in hand, as he fine-tuned a brand-new gold-and-red suit of Iron Man Armor.

"Sir, two sets of abnormal energy fluctuations have been detected."

The voice of the intelligent butler, Jarvis, echoed in the lab as a holographic projection automatically unfolded in mid-air.

"Bring them up. Where did an underground gas pipe blow up this time?" Tony asked casually, putting down the welding torch.

"It is not natural gas, sir."

Two real-time 3D maps of New York appeared in the projection.

Jarvis zoomed in on the first map, locking a red high-energy warning zone onto the Fisk Tower in Hells Kitchen.

"Ten minutes ago, an extremely strong unknown biological magnetic field fluctuation erupted in the center of Hells Kitchen. The energy level is exceptionally rare; the peak even briefly interfered with our near-Earth satellites."

Tony's brow twitched slightly. He knew that place; it was the lair of Kingpin, the Emperor of the New York underworld.

"Gang wars are using biological weapons now? Is S.H.I.E.L.D. not getting involved?"

"That is precisely what is strange, sir."

Jarvis's data stream flashed rapidly. "I just attempted to access S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal network. I found that Director Nick Fury issued a top-level directive three hours ago, strictly forbidding any Agent from approaching Hells Kitchen. They have established a top-secret file codenamed 'Crimson Court'."

"Crimson Court?" Tony became interested. "Crack the file; I want to see what's inside."

"The authorization level is extremely high. A forced decryption will take forty-five seconds."

"Then crack it."

Tony looked at the second map. "What's the other set of fluctuations?"

"Three minutes ago, a meteorite crashed through an abandoned warehouse in Queens. No radioactive elements were detected inside the meteorite, but there is a faint heartbeat of some kind of liquid lifeform," Jarvis reported.

Just then, the S.H.I.E.L.D. file decryption was complete.

A line of piercing red text floated in the center of the holographic screen.

[Target: Lynn (True name unknown).]

[Danger Level: Omega-level (World-ending). Extremely dangerous, engagement prohibited.]

The nonchalance on Tony's face vanished.

He understood that one-eyed man Nick Fury's personality very well. For that old fox to issue a retreat order overnight and label someone as 'Omega-level,' it was definitely no ordinary Mutant.

"Jarvis, pull up the surveillance around Fisk Tower," Tony ordered.

"Apologies, sir. All surveillance equipment within a one-kilometer radius of the building was completely destroyed by a high-frequency electromagnetic pulse last night. It is currently an information black hole."

Tony rubbed his chin, his gaze staring deeply at the two words 'Crimson Court' on the holographic screen.

"It seems New York has gained a formidable neighbor."

...

Meanwhile. A dark back alley in Queens, New York.

Heavy rain washed over the puddles on the ground.

A mass of pitch-black, viscous liquid lifeform, like asphalt, was writhing rapidly along the shadows at the base of the wall. It had no fixed form, looking just like a puddle of living sludge.

Two street thugs who had overdosed on drugs happened to duck into the alley to escape the rain.

"What the hell is that?" one thug took out a flashlight and shone it at the black sludge in the corner.

The liquid organism paused for a moment.

The next second.

"Hiss—!"

The black slime elongated instantly like an arrow from a bow, transforming into two giant black mouths filled with sharp teeth, lunging directly at the two thugs!

"Ah—!"

The screams had barely started before being cut short.

The black slime surged frantically into their bodies through their mouths, noses, and pores. In just a few seconds, the two strong thugs were drained of their life force, turning into two skin-and-bone mummies that collapsed into the puddles.

The black slime emerged again from the corpses, its volume having increased by a circle compared to before.

But it let out a low, disgusted chirp.

To it, these carbon-based bodies hollowed out by drugs and alcohol were like moldy trash, completely unworthy of becoming its long-term host.

It turned its "head"; it had no eyes, yet it gazed accurately toward the center of Manhattan.

In its perception, at the top of Fisk Tower, there was the aura of a perfect host, as dazzling as the Sun and as terrifying as an abyss.

As long as it could parasitize that existence, it could become the most perfect symbiotic lifeform on this Planet!

The black slime no longer hesitated. It transformed into several extremely flexible tentacles, shooting toward the walls of high-rise buildings, weaving through the urban steel jungle like a spider, heading straight for its target.

...

Fisk Tower, top-floor office.

Lynn lay on a wide leather sofa, his eyes slightly closed.

The massive energy fed back after the Bloodtrix surpassed 10% progress was slowly remodeling the bones and internal organs of his human form. This evolution deep within the genetic level gave him a sense of extremely comfortable exhaustion.

The office was so quiet that only the sound of raindrops hitting the bulletproof glass remained.

At some point, a drop of black slime seeped out from the louvers of the ventilation duct.

Following that, more and more black slime squeezed out from the gaps, flowing silently along the wall to the ceiling, finally merging into a large black liquid sphere.

The Venom symbiote had arrived.

It hung upside down from the ceiling, greedily sensing the aura of the black-haired youth on the sofa below.

Too perfect!

Beneath that seemingly thin human shell lay a terrifying density and violent genes it had never seen before. As long as it could crawl into this body and fuse with his nervous system, it could completely control this god-like power!

"Hiss..."

The symbiote no longer restrained its instincts.

It transformed into a massive black net, lunging down from the ceiling, silently covering the sleeping Lynn!

One meter. Half a meter. Ten centimeters.

In the thousandth of a second before the black slime was about to touch Lynn's cheek.

Lynn, lying on the sofa, suddenly opened his eyes.

They were a pair of black pupils devoid of any sleepiness, deep as an ancient well, and filled with extreme violence.

"I've been looking for you for a long time." A cold sneer curled at the corner of Lynn's mouth.

He neither dodged nor defended.

He directly raised his left hand, actively meeting the lunging mass of black slime.

Slap.

The symbiote instantly enveloped Lynn's left arm, a burst of ecstasy exploding in its microscopic consciousness. It immediately followed Lynn's pores, attempting to force its way into his blood vessels and central nervous system.

However, the moment it touched that grey-black metal watch on Lynn's left wrist.

Beep—!

The inverted triangle Bloodtrix symbol suddenly erupted with a piercing crimson light!

The originally dormant system woke up instantly, like an ancient beast being startled awake, baring its fangs.

[Warning: Alien parasitic lifeform intrusion detected.]

[Judgment: Low-level symbiotic organism.]

[Law of Devouring, forced activation.]