bioinnovel Chapter 518 [3 Chapters Combined] The Reversal of Hunter and Prey
Chapter 518 [3 Chapters Combined] The Reversal of Hunter and Prey
Without hesitation, Peter used his webs to pull the metal vial into his hand the instant the portal closed. Then, guided by Justice, he leaped into the air and charged towards the control panel of the bank's ventilation system.
Gwen and Felicia understood immediately and rushed towards the hostages, untying their restraints and allowing them to lie down and rest, relieving their physical strain. They also resumed their earlier interrupted work, disarming the remote-controlled bombs strapped to their bodies.
Gwen was seen crouching next to a young female employee. After a surge of energy from her nanosuit, sharp claws condensed at her fingertips, allowing Gwen to precisely sever the bomb's circuitry under Justice's guidance.
It was thanks to Justice's guidance that Gwen was able to skip the most fatal, time-consuming, and mentally and luck-testing part of the test—which wire to cut—as if taking an open-book exam. In just five seconds, she cleanly and efficiently completed the bomb disposal operation.
But Gwen didn't have time to be happy. She placed the remote-controlled bomb on an open area away from the hostages to prevent them from accidentally activating it when they woke up, and then rushed to the next hostage.
She was unsure whether Craven would suddenly detonate the bombs after escaping.
Every bomb defused now saves a life.
Felicia, who also understood this principle, made the bomb disposal process even more brutal and direct with the help of the symbiote.
As the symbiote wriggled, several tiny tentacles extended out, simultaneously probing into the remote-controlled bombs strapped to the three hostages and cutting off their circuits.
At the same time, the black symbiote churned slightly on her body, as if it were also focused on the work at hand.
With all the remote-controlled bombs defused, the antidote, successfully infiltrated into the ventilation system and dispersed inside the bank, gradually began to take effect.
The hostages who had fallen into a coma began to look better.
Before long, someone began coughing violently, slowly opened their eyes, and looked around blankly.
"Where...where am I...?"
The middle-aged man, who had just woken up, was still a little disoriented. He looked around blankly and muttered to himself.
"Don't move, lie down and rest." Gwen noticed the commotion and, after gathering the bombs together and wrapping them in layers of spider silk, quickly went to the other person's side and gently reassured them. "Don't worry, you're safe now, the ambulance is on its way."
The man stared at her blankly, his gaze sweeping over her from head to toe before settling on the spider icon on her battle suit. As if he had seen something reassuring, he visibly relaxed.
"Spider-Man...thank you...thank you..." he murmured, then closed his eyes and fell asleep again.
But this time, it was the body's self-protective mechanism that was triggered in a weakened state, and it was also a manifestation of absolute trust in "Spider-Man".
Gwen watched his steady breathing, and the weight that had been hanging over her heart finally lifted.
She stood up and looked around.
More and more hostages are beginning to awaken.
Some looked around blankly.
Some sobbed softly.
Some, out of instinctive fear, clung tightly to the strangers beside them who had also just woken up.
Without exception, when they saw the two Spider-Men weaving through the crowd, the fear on their faces would lessen somewhat.
"Okay, I think this should be the last bomb."
Before long, the bombs wrapped in layers of spider silk in the corner had piled up into a small mountain.
Felicia retracted all her tentacles, and the symbiote slowly calmed down, reintegrating into her battle suit.
He then breathed a sigh of relief and, using his communication device, asked Gwen.
"You've got everything sorted out on your end, right?"
Gwen nodded, and was about to say something when she sensed something and turned to look in another direction.
There, Peter was coming down the stairs.
With the crisis over and his tense mind relaxed, Peter's steps were slightly unsteady. After witnessing the hostages gradually waking up, he leaned against the wall and slowly slumped to the ground, collapsing into a slumped position.
"Are you alright? Has your leg injury gotten worse?"
Gwen quickly went to meet her, bent down to examine her closely, and asked in an urgent tone.
Upon hearing this, Peter looked down.
Thanks to the self-repair function of the nanosuit, the leg that had been shot, the spot where the bullet had pierced, had been completely covered by the suit, leaving no trace.
Furthermore, because the bullets that the chameleon fired at Peter were armor-piercing bullets designed for penetration, they left a penetrating wound instead of getting stuck in the flesh.
So, with the prince's medical abilities combined with Spider-Man's own healing powers, Peter could still feel occasional bursts of pain at his wounds. But after moving around a bit, he smiled and shook his head, reassuring the anxious Gwen in front of him.
"It's alright. Although I still don't understand how Riley invented this thing... the Crown Prince's healing abilities are truly amazing. I feel like I'm almost fully recovered now, and I could run several marathons without any problems."
"That's good……"
Hearing this, Gwen breathed a sigh of relief, but after following Peter's frown and glancing at the hostages not far away, she seemed to remember something, frowned, and spoke again.
"By the way, I've already messaged my dad. He'll be bringing people in soon to move the hostages to safety. But... Peter, are we just going to let them go like this? Shouldn't we try to chase after them?"
Peter paused for a second, then shook his head.
"There's no way. They came prepared, planned every step meticulously, and even arranged for magicians to hide behind the scenes and provide support. Unless my brother is here, we simply have no way to capture them all while ensuring the safety of the hostages..."
He paused, then spread his hands, his tone tinged with helplessness.
"But as you know, he was held back by Xiaoyu."
When Xiaoyu was mentioned, both of their expressions became subtle.
Felicia walked over at that moment and overheard their conversation, picking up the thread: "Do you think this is really just a coincidence? There was a robbery at the bank, and then Xiaoyu got into trouble... It's like someone planned this in advance, deliberately using Xiaoyu's troubles to hold Riley back?"
Upon hearing this, the smile that had gradually appeared on Peter's face due to the averted crisis vanished once again.
Gwen frowned even more, lowered her voice, and said slowly and deliberately.
"You mean... they knew all along that Xiaoyu would be in trouble, so they deliberately chose today to make their move?"
"I don't know..." Peter shook his head, "but it's hard not to think of this possibility. After all, it's too much of a coincidence, as if someone had arranged everything in advance, and even Xiaoyu was just a pawn in this plan."
"But Xiaoyu wouldn't cooperate with them. She doesn't know any Craven, and she's unlikely to deliberately cause us trouble."
This statement does indeed sound terrifying upon closer examination. But Felicia shook her head and responded with certainty.
"If she knew that someone was impersonating 'Spider-Man' today, she would be furious and insist on joining us to beat up the imposter herself, just like when District 13 was invaded."
"You're right, so even if it looks a bit strange, we can only say that we were unlucky and happened to run into her causing trouble today."
Upon hearing this, Gwen considered Jade's personality and couldn't help but nod in agreement. She then sighed and drew a conclusion to the matter.
"Besides, the issue now isn't whether it's a coincidence or not... You heard what they said; they planned this bank robbery specifically for us—or rather, for 'Spider-Man'—and they've done in-depth research on us. The next time they strike, they'll definitely be much tougher to deal with. So, what should we do next? Can anyone come up with a plan?"
As she spoke, Gwen subconsciously looked at Peter, waiting for him to make a decision.
After all, Peter is the captain of the Spider Squad, and as long as Riley isn't around, he basically follows Peter's orders.
So Gwen gradually got used to simply throwing any difficult or troublesome matter at Peter and letting him figure out a solution.
"...This is easy to handle. After the handover is completed here, we'll go back to Riley and ask him to come up with a solution."
Peter paused for a moment, meeting Gwen's slightly expectant gaze. After a brief moment of thought, a smile suddenly appeared on his lips.
"For things that require thinking and strategy, let our 'external brains' figure them out. We just need to follow orders; whoever they tell us to attack, we attack, and that's enough to solve the problem, isn't it?"
Upon hearing this, Felicia couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh out loud.
"So, you're planning to follow Gwen's example and dump this mess on your brother, leaving him to make the decisions? If he knew, he'd definitely say 'thank you'."
"How can you blame me for this?"
Peter stood with his hands on his hips, adopting a defiant stance despite his lack of conviction, and earnestly defended himself.
"Sheriff Black has repeatedly emphasized that professional matters should be left to professionals. Besides, I'm doing this for Riley's own good. I'm worried that his activity level has decreased recently and he's gradually being forgotten by the citizens, so I'm giving him a chance to prove himself."
As soon as she finished speaking, Gwen couldn't hold back anymore and burst out laughing.
"Besides, what can I do? He's my brother."
Even so, Peter didn't back down at all. He still stood tall and proud, looking completely confident, and continued speaking with a cheerful smile.
"Isn't it only natural for a younger brother to seek help from his older brother when he's being bullied?"
"Pfft...yes...you're right..."
"Ah, it's so good to have an older brother~"
"Hmph, I have an older brother, you guys don't, that's my right to be willful~"
As they talked, the three of them exchanged a glance and burst into laughter simultaneously. The gloom that had previously hung over them vanished completely at that moment.
It was amidst this laughter that the bank doors were suddenly kicked open.
The next second, Sheriff George, who had been waiting for a long time, personally led his team and rushed in.
He stood at the doorway, his gaze sweeping quickly across the hall—overturned tables and chairs, shattered glass, a pile of bombs wrapped in cobwebs in the corner, and the hostages who were waking up.
Finally, his gaze fell on the three figures not far away.
Although the three of them didn't appear to be seriously injured, judging from the scene, they must have gone through a fierce battle.
This led Sheriff George, as a father, to consider confronting Gwen and demanding that she leave the Spider-Man team.
Fortunately, Sheriff George always respected his daughter's choices. Seeing the three children chatting and laughing, the idea only flashed through his mind for a moment before being rejected by Sheriff George.
Then, as if nothing had happened, he turned around and walked towards the hostages, leading his team to take control of the situation and methodically transferring the hostages to a safe area.
……
The story has two parts, on the other side...
A little earlier, while Peter and his team were busy solving a bank robbery.
Riley, familiar with the route, brought the forty-odd chattering, noisy Jade girls back to District 13.
At this moment, Riley rubbed his sore eyes and turned another page of the ancient book in his hand.
Ever since he brought Xiaoyu back, he had been searching through the magic manuals his father had left behind, reading almost every book he would need to read in his lifetime. Finally, he found the recipe he needed among a pile of yellowed pages.
Fortunately, Riley had previously obtained the "Language Proficiency" skill through a system lottery, allowing him to easily understand the obscure ancient scripts recorded in books. Otherwise, the process of finding the antidote would probably have taken several times longer.
"This should be it," he murmured to himself, pointing lightly with his hand, his gaze falling on the densely packed annotations.
The good news is that, according to the book, the effect of this replication spell only lasts for two or three days before disappearing on its own. Furthermore, there is a limit to the number of replicas that can be created after being used on a target.
This is why potion recipes are included in beginner's manuals for air magic, but are not listed as forbidden or untouchable items.
Even if there were cases like Xiaoyu's, where the potion was directly used on living people, leaving it alone wouldn't cause much trouble.
Moreover, the mage who developed this spell wasn't unaware of this possibility. Just in case, they prepared a formula for an antidote.
Simply create it and spray it on the target to interrupt the replication effect.
Once the replication effect reaches its limit, these copies will disappear on their own, leaving no trace.
Although it didn't directly make the clone disappear, Riley was actually relieved after learning about the antidote's effects.
After all, just as Xiaoyu's homeroom teacher said, although these Xiaoyus are all clones, they all possess independent consciousness and thoughts, and can be regarded as living people.
If the antidote's effect was to eliminate them directly, Riley would feel a strange sense of guilt, worrying that she wouldn't be able to bring herself to do it.
But now that it's confirmed the antidote's effect is merely to suppress their self-replication and won't cause them any real harm, Riley naturally had no reason to hesitate. He got up, walked to the lab table, and began preparing the antidote.
Weighing, grinding, heating, stirring...
The series of movements were fluid and seamless.
Just twenty minutes later, a pale blue potion took shape in his hand.
"Great, it's a success. Time to go find Xiaoyu."
He took the medicine and walked out of the laboratory into the hall that had been temporarily cleared out in District 13. Just as he was about to call out to Xiaoyu, the scene that came into view completely petrified him.
Clearly, while Riley was preparing the antidote, Jade and her companions replicated themselves several more times.
So much so that at this moment, in the hall of District 13, hundreds of Xiaoyu figures are staging an unprecedented carnival.
On the ceiling of the hall, seven or eight little Jade creatures clung to the ventilation ducts like spiders, trying to crawl through the maintenance openings, startling the agents below who were watching over them, who let out a sharp, explosive sound.
In the central office area of the hall, more than a dozen Xiaoyu's faces were pressed against the glass partition, squeezed into all sorts of strange shapes, making faces at each other, and laughing so hard they were doubled over.
Beside the coffee machine, five girls whispered amongst themselves, striking a pose like scientists, seriously studying how to make the machine dispense twenty cups of coffee at once. At their feet, spilled coffee littered the floor, a testament to their "research findings."
On Sheriff Black's desk, the three Jade girls were playfully fighting over his computer, playing games. A fierce gunfight was raging on the screen, and the mouse was clicking and rattling from being slammed down.
In a corner, a group of little girls were huddled in a circle, playing some kind of self-created clapping game, muttering to themselves and occasionally bursting into earth-shattering laughter.
At the other end of the corridor, several people with thick foundation on their faces, looking at Xiaoyu in a strangely unsettling way, cut a hole in a huge bed sheet, put it on themselves, and chased after an unlucky agent, shouting as they ran, "Stop! Don't run! We just want to ask you a few questions!"
As for that agent...
Her expression was as if she had seen a ghost. She shouted, "God help me! Stop chasing me! Stop chasing me—!" as she ran even faster.
In the very center of the hall, dozens of little jades were playing a grand game of hide-and-seek.
They screamed and laughed, running around the Thirteenth District, turning the entire district into chaos.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Black, the leader of District 13, stood at the door of his office, hands on his hips, watching all of this with a look of utter despair.
His coat was disheveled, his tie was crooked, and on his round, bald head was a clear handprint. It was unclear which of Xiaoyu's hands had accidentally left it when she patted him earlier.
But on his face, besides a look of utter despair, there was also a strange...happiness?
However, this is understandable.
From the very beginning, Sheriff Black liked Jade very much and had the idea of raising her to be the successor of District 13 when she grew up.
And now, so many Xiaoyu are running around in front of him...
For Sheriff Blake, who was originally all alone, wasn't this a kind of happiness with a large family?
"Riley! Thank God, you're finally out! Is the antidote ready?"
Of course, happiness is happiness, but with so many Jade girls gathered together, it still caused Chief Black a lot of headaches.
So when he saw Riley push open the tightly closed laboratory door, he immediately rushed over as if he had seen a savior, his eyes filled with a complex light as he stared intently at the medicine in Riley's hand.
"Hiss... This is a mess... You guys have really had a tough time, Sheriff Black."
Riley swallowed hard, nodded in response, and handed the medicine to the agent accompanying Sheriff Black. After explaining how to use it, he looked back at Sheriff Black.
However, under Sheriff Black's gaze, even though Riley knew that this mess was all Jade's fault and had nothing to do with him, he still felt a little guilty and shrank back like a child who had done something wrong.
"By the way, have the number of Xiaoyu increased again? Are they all here?"
"Only a part!"
Upon hearing this, Sheriff Black instantly donned a mask of anguish. His voice trembled as he recounted the various "crimes" committed by Jade and her accomplices.
"They even ran into the operations room and pressed the red alert! The alarm went off throughout the base for ten minutes! For a moment, we thought the aliens you mentioned had started attacking Earth!"
"They even sneaked into the cafeteria and dug out all the ingredients for next week, saying they were going to cook for themselves! They almost caused a huge commotion in the entire cafeteria!"
"The most outrageous thing is that, somehow, they opened the door to the armory and sneaked in, bypassing the security system! By the time I found out, they were already trying to get Justice to activate the weapons system and launch missiles! If only they had been a few seconds later…!"
As he went on and on, listing off one thing after another, until a feeling of suffocation rose up and he was forced to instinctively take a deep breath, Sheriff Black still couldn't list all of Jade's "glorious deeds."
The last one made Riley's lips twitch, making him even more certain that he would have to teach Xiaoyu a lesson after finding her true form!
"Sheriff Black, I'm so sorry..."
"You don't need to apologize."
Seeing Riley's troubled and helpless expression, Sheriff Black, deeply sympathetic, hesitated for a moment before ultimately deciding not to continue his tirade. Instead, he patted Riley on the shoulder and continued speaking in a complex tone.
"To be honest, I really like Xiaoyu."
He looked at the group of chattering little jades, and his eyes softened.
"She's smart, quick-witted, bold, and decisive. She always manages to surprise us in dire situations, making her a promising candidate for a secret agent. I originally planned to recruit her into District 13 when she was a little older, train her well, and have her take over my duties in the future."
Hearing this, Riley suddenly felt like laughing, raising an eyebrow and teasing, "So now? Do you still like this child after all this 'surprise' Xiaoyu prepared?"
Upon hearing this, Sheriff Blake froze for a moment. He swallowed hard, and like a doting father spoiling his daughter, he replied helplessly.
"Of course I like her, but I really can't handle more than a hundred of hers."
"Hahaha, I can understand. After all, one little Jade is already enough of a headache for us. More than a hundred... that would be nothing short of hell on earth."
Riley couldn't help but laugh out loud, and while responding seriously, he didn't forget to pat Sheriff Black on the shoulder.
Clearly, they share the same stance on the complex relationship of loving and feeling helpless towards Xiaoyu.