Marcus was having a great time these days because his experimental subject was providing endless entertainment. Under his influence, the previously non-existent Octopus Gang had appeared in this world, and even "Doctor Octopus" had become the Kraken.
While there was no change among New York's upper class, in the lives of New York's common people, news about the Octopus Gang could be heard daily.
"This guy is so dedicated—he's collected so much energy junk. That should be enough for him to fight at full power for several minutes!"
Kraken collected all kinds of energy constantly. The reason he was obsessed with expanding his territory wasn't just to become New York's underground king, but also to gather various energy sources. After all, some energy cost serious money to obtain.
These days, Kraken hadn't used his void powers at all. The mechanical tentacles alone had been enough to sweep through New York's underworld.
"If he and Peter meet, they should have quite a fight, right?"
Marcus looked forward to seeing what kind of battle would erupt when Peter—who he'd been training—met Kraken.
As for whether they would fight, that wasn't a question at all. After all, Kraken had been affected by the void. How could someone whose soul had been twisted and who now acted like a fanatical believer, killing without hesitation, get along normally with Peter?
Looking at the broken energy Kraken had offered again, Marcus enhanced Kraken's strength once more.
"Don't let me down!"
As he spoke, he extracted all the fragmented energy and sent it toward Octopus Gang headquarters.
Kraken felt his power surge. Although he hadn't used such abilities much, he felt confident he could defeat anyone—even New York's most famous hero.
With a single punch, light blue energy rippled through the air. This was something the mechanical tentacles couldn't provide.
"More! I want more! I want to master even greater power and become the true King of New York!"
By now, Kraken was intoxicated by his tremendous power—this was what he'd been pursuing all along. Everyone thought he was only relying on the mechanical tentacles, but they didn't know he was secretly growing stronger. Even if he lost the mechanical arms, he could still beat anyone with ease.
As his thoughts wandered, a tentacle turned toward him.
"You're good help too. Together we'll rule New York!"
The mechanical tentacles possessed intelligence. When Kraken had stripped them from Hyena, he'd known his strength wasn't as great as it was now. He'd originally planned to take the mechanical tentacles by force, but hadn't expected that during the small skirmish where the tentacles protected Hyena, Hyena had already died. Even with the tentacles' protection, it had been meaningless.
In the end, Kraken's thirst for power and the energy within him had attracted the mechanical tentacles, successfully making them abandon Hyena's corpse and choose him as their new master.
But what he didn't know was that the mechanical tentacles had originally been partially limited. However, in the battle with the Pier Ghost Gang, the tentacles had taken a direct rocket launcher hit while protecting Hyena. The safety chip had been completely destroyed, fully unlocking the mechanical tentacles' intelligence restrictions.
Now these unrestricted mechanical tentacles were even affecting Kraken's consciousness, making his already twisted soul even more vicious. But Kraken himself was unaware—he didn't notice any difference between his current and past self.
After seeing Kraken's soul become further corrupted, Marcus sat on the warehouse's steel beams.
At that moment, Harry and Peter walked in with excited expressions, as if they couldn't wait to share their joy.
"Dr. Otto's experiment is about to start. Um, are you coming?"
Dr. Otto had made extensive preparations these past days. He'd adjusted his previous experimental research and was finally ready to begin.
"He's ready so soon?"
"It's all thanks to Harry. The Osborn Group provided full funding, which greatly shortened Dr. Otto's preparation time."
Peter and Harry put their arms around each other's shoulders, looking up at the man sitting on the steel beam with smiles.
"That's right—the Osborn Group can be considered a major American consortium!"
Marcus nodded, jumped down from the warehouse beam, and landed smoothly in front of them both.
"Let's go. Let me witness the birth of the new century too! This time, let's hope nothing goes wrong like before."
"No way! Dr. Otto has optimized his experimental plan and taking many security measure. We can definitely witness the birth of the new century!"
Harry said with a smile. The three walked out of the warehouse together and set off toward the Osborn Group by car.
They entered the bustling laboratory, which had become a massive research facility under Osborn Group investment. As long as this experiment succeeded, the Osborn Group could not only recover all invested funds, but also use it to become the controller and price-setter of new energy.
This laboratory was much more advanced than Dr. Otto's original one. Various safety and containment measures around it had greatly improved the experiment's security.
Marcus looked around the room and saw Dr. Otto making final preparations on the laboratory's far side.
"Dr. Otto, why are you still wearing that helmet? Don't you need to equip your mechanical tentacles?"
Looking at the device on Dr. Otto's head, Marcus asked with amusement.
"I know that!" Before Dr. Otto could respond, Harry spoke first. "These are Dr. Otto's improved mechanical tentacles. I call them the Multifunctional Manipulator 2.0."
"This helmet is improved based on the previously stolen mechanical tentacles. The electrodes in the helmet receive brainwave signals to control the Multifunctional Manipulator 2.0. Besides the artificial sun, this Multifunctional Manipulator 2.0 is also the Osborn Group's main product going forward."
Dr. Otto nodded slightly at Harry's explanation and adjusted the helmet on his head. After a moment, Marcus saw several cases around Dr. Otto unfold, revealing the mechanical tentacles inside.
"I was too confident before and idealized all the problems. While researching improvements for the artificial sun, I found that much of what I'd developed contained hidden dangers—just like those stolen mechanical tentacles. Their safety chips were exposed externally, so if the chips were destroyed, it would be hard to say whether people control the machines or machines control people."