Chapter 35: The End of the Night
An unknown and mysterious space.
Here, up, down, left, and right were all nothing but darkness. Endless darkness, stretching out with no boundaries.
It was like drifting at the edge of the universe, only without a single star in sight.
Iron Man streaked across this void, flying like a ghost clad in steel. The blinding white light of his chest reactor and thrusters pierced through the haze, dragging behind a faint white tail flame.
No matter how far he flew, he could not reach a place to land.
"Jarvis, answer me. Jarvis." Stark repeated for the fifth time inside the armor.
As always, there was no response.
From the moment he entered this place, the connection with Jarvis had been severed. The network signal displayed—
None.
Logically, with Stark Industries' private satellite network, there shouldn't be a single dead zone anywhere on Earth.
"Don't tell me… this place isn't on Earth at all?" Stark felt a rare wave of unease. Not even when he had once been imprisoned in a cave before becoming Iron Man had he felt like this.
Because if this wasn't Earth, then he was helpless.
No way to save himself. No way to return.
"What's that?"
In the distance, something floated toward him in the dark. Stark fired his thrusters and approached.
As he drew closer, his eyes widened in shock.
They were corpses.
Several humanoid corpses drifting in the void. Their flesh had long since decayed into bone, their bodies clad in unknown space suits. On their chests were strapped strangely designed laser weapons.
Some of the corpses even had tails or wings.
Stark's eyelids twitched. His mind reeled.
These were alien corpses.
…
Inside a hotel.
The lights were out. The room lay silent in darkness, save for a few silver streaks of moonlight on the window sill.
Kara suddenly opened her eyes on the bed, turning her head toward the window.
Was it just her imagination?
She could have sworn she heard the distant roar of some unknown creature from across New York, a roar laced with an overwhelming sense of evil.
That was the drawback of Kryptonian super-hearing—sometimes you heard things you never wanted to hear.
It often made Kara wake in the middle of the night, doubting if what she heard was real or just a dream.
Compared to her cousin Clark, Kara's control over her powers was far less refined. Superman had already mastered every aspect of Kryptonian ability, freely reining them in or unleashing them. She, in order to better blend into human society, had always hidden hers.
If that roar truly was real…
"Senior Xi Nian… will he be alright?" Kara whispered, sitting up. But before she could rise, a hand and foot draped over her.
Kara froze and turned her head.
It was Gwen, fast asleep, having rolled over and hugged Kara like a pillow.
In sleep, Gwen's elegance was nowhere to be seen. Her blanket had slipped off, her clothes were messy, and her pale stomach was exposed.
Kara sighed softly, gently pulling the blanket back over Gwen.
Gwen, still dreaming, murmured with a sweet smile, "Xi Nian…"
"Senior… you're the shameless one," Kara muttered, frowning faintly. She glanced once more at the window, then chose to close her eyes again.
Even if that roar was real, it was far from Queens.
Surely it had nothing to do with Xi Nian…
…
After dealing with the second symbiote.
Xi Nian gently laid the unconscious Peter on the ground. Aunt May, her ears still ringing from the ultrasonic shock, immediately rushed over and cradled him.
"He'll be fine."
Xi Nian left those words behind before leaping away, his black feline form bouncing from lamppost to wall. Even without the terrifying speed of the trinity state, his jumps were still swift, and in seconds he disappeared from sight.
Only one symbiote remained. The leader.
Until it was gone, this wasn't over.
From Venom, Xi Nian had already learned where the last one was hiding. Strangely, all night, it had never moved from its location.
Five minutes later.
Bronx. Drake Industries Research Facility.
Xi Nian, fused with the Flerken, arrived at the factory gates. The ground trembled violently. His slit-pupiled cat eyes glowed with eerie blue light as he looked toward the factory's depths.
From inside, flames shot out like a volcanic eruption. A spaceship was launching.
The last symbiote—the leader—was trying to escape Earth.
Inside the ship, Drake, founder of Drake Industries, sat at the controls. His eyes and neck glistened with oily black. The final symbiote had taken him as its host.
Why was he leaving now?
Because he had already sensed the deaths of his lieutenants. Because he had seen the terrifying power Xi Nian revealed in the news.
No matter how arrogant, the symbiote leader knew he could not defeat Xi Nian. His only choice was to flee the planet.
"What kind of monster has Venom bonded with?!" Drake's twisted expression burned with shame. To be driven off Earth in fear—this was humiliation beyond measure.
"I'll come back. I swear I'll return!"
Riot raged inside him, but outwardly Drake forced himself calm, guiding the ship upward.
The spacecraft lifted, flames roaring, climbing higher and higher.
Suddenly, the ship shuddered violently, as though struck by something.
"He's here," Drake whispered in terror.
Outside the ship.
A small black cat clung to the hull like a tiny nail.
"Since you're here… you're not leaving." Xi Nian's maw opened, unleashing eight writhing tentacles, each lined with tiny sharp teeth. Strengthened by the symbiote's dark armor, they lashed out like the legendary Kraken's limbs.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
The tentacles smashed furiously against the ship's hull. Metal dented and tore apart, sparks spraying into the night.
"No! No!!" Drake screamed from inside, consumed by despair.
If he had known Xi Nian was no longer in trinity fusion but only bonded with the Flerken, and if he had chosen to fight instead of flee, the outcome might have been uncertain.
But that was only a what-if.
Instead, the leader symbiote met a storm of fire inside the sealed ship.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
At five hundred meters above ground, the spacecraft exploded, bursting into a massive fireball. The deafening roar drowned out Riot's final, shrill scream.
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