Hearing this, Peter looked at Felicia in a bit of a daze.
Noticing his somewhat strange gaze, Felicia was like a startled kitten, almost ready to shift into her Spinosaurus form in an instant.
"Don't misunderstand! I'm just... I just simply think you're pitiful!"
Seeing her like this, Peter couldn't help but smile. He took her hand and took the initiative to lead her onto the dance floor.
"Then I shall thank you, the beautiful Miss Felicia."
The two danced slowly to the melodious music. There were no cliché moments of clumsiness or stepping on each other's toes due to not knowing how to dance.
With Peter's current dynamic vision and reflexes, such a thing was impossible.
Their performance was more like Peter's "NTR" dance with Gwen in the tavern from Spider-Man 3.
Because of their high level of attractiveness and the aesthetic beauty of their dance, they quickly became the focus of the entire room.
The student playing the accompaniment seemed unable to stand the nerd Peter shining, so he temporarily switched to a more upbeat and intense song to try to make Peter look bad.
But no matter how the rhythm of the music changed, Peter could always lead Felicia in the most pleasing dance moves.
For a moment, gasps and cheers filled the air. When the song ended, the students broke into applause for Peter and Felicia.
This scene happened to be caught by Gwen, who had rushed back.
Being caught dancing with her best friend's boyfriend—this movie-like scenario made Felicia break into a cold sweat.
She subconsciously let go of Peter's hand and hurried to Gwen to explain.
"Gwen, let me explai—"
But before she could finish, Gwen hugged Felicia and said gratefully,
"Felicia, thank you for helping Peter out..."
Felicia:... Peter:... Um... why do I suddenly feel like you're perfect for the role of 'The Wife in the Kitchen', Gwen?
"Uh... you're welcome, it's what I should do." Felicia was so embarrassed she wanted to disappear into the floor, using the excuse of going to the restroom to hurry away.
Gwen knew nothing of Felicia's thoughts. She leaned against Peter, holding his hand, trying to act cute to get away with it.
"Sorry, Peter. It's my fault for not considering your feelings."
Peter didn't know what to say to this silly girl. He gently smoothed her soft hair.
"It's okay. To love someone is to love everything about them. Besides, saving someone from trouble is a higher priority than dancing with me, isn't it?"
There wasn't a hint of sarcasm in Peter's voice when he said this.
Gwen smiled and buried her head in Peter's chest, nuzzling him.
"Peter, you're so good. Thank you for understanding me."
Peter thought, 'I hope you can understand me later too,' but his mouth continued with the sweet talk: "Silly girl, do we even need to say thank you?"
"Silly girl, do we even need to say thank you?"
After that, he took Gwen's hand again and walked onto the dance floor.
"Come on, it's time to fulfill our promise."
The surrounding students: "Wait, seriously, bro? Didn't you just dance with a different one?!"
...While Peter and Gwen enjoyed their rare peace and warmth, on the other side of New York, a storm was brewing.
Rykers Island Prison.
This was the most heavily guarded prison in New York.
But tonight, this iron cage welcomed an uninvited guest.
"Boom!"
The thick alloy walls of the prison were torn apart by a terrifying force, and a silver-gray figure strolled in.
It was Carlton Drake, parasitized by "Riot."
As alarms blared, countless guards immediately rushed out with guns.
"Fuck, what is that monster?"
"Fire!"
Bullets from rifles and shotguns rained down on Riot's body... but it was useless.
The monster didn't retreat even half a step.
Instead, it turned its hands into giant scythe blades.
With a single sweep, countless guards and prisoners who couldn't escape were cut in half at the waist.
This terrifying and bloody scene instantly panicked the guards.
"Something's wrong, bullets don't work on this guy!"
"Run!"
The guards surged forward like a tide, then immediately retreated like one.
You're only making a few thousand dollars a month, why are you putting your life on the line!
With no one blocking him, Carlton made his way to the high-security cell block without any hindrance.
"Mac Gargan."
"Aleksei Sytsevich."
"And you two."
"Do you... want to regain your freedom and power?" Riot's left face split open, revealing Carlton's original face.
He looked down at the four villains, his voice full of temptation. "Come with me, and I will grant you power far beyond what you had before."
Hearing this, greed instantly erupted in the eyes of Mac Gargan and the Luke brothers.
Gwen's idea was completely wrong; losing their power wouldn't make them change their minds.
On the contrary, every second they spent in prison, they missed the power they once had.
When they couldn't escape, they could only complain with their mouths.
But now, facing Carlton's invitation, they didn't hesitate for even a moment.
"Let me out, I'm willing to work for you!"
Only "Rhino" Aleksei in the corner shook his large head like a rattle.
"Aleksei won't go!"
"Aleksei promised Ghost-Spider to be a good person."
"If I'm not a good person, The Punisher will blow Aleksei's head off!"
Hearing that Aleksei—who had undergone radiation tests and was arguably the most suitable host—actually refused to cooperate,
Carlton's, or rather Riot's, patience was instantly exhausted.
A violent killing intent locked onto Aleksei.
"Useless trash. Since you won't cooperate, then die!"
Riot opened his bloody maw, ready to swallow the idiot's head in one bite.
Just then, he heard a raspy and excited voice from the cell next door:
"Hey! Big guy, don't be so grumpy."
"He doesn't want to go with you, so why not consider me? If you let me out, I guarantee you'll be satisfied!"
Carlton looked toward the voice and saw a man with Red Hair and a sleazy appearance.
Carlton didn't know this guy, but as he was about to refuse, the Riot inside him became excited.
This human... the bone-deep madness and chaos within him... it's simply mesmerizing!
He was even more excellent than Carlton!
This guy was the perfect host in his heart!