“Emmmmm.”
Wade looked at the nurse in front of him with a dazed expression.
“Hello.
May I ask what’s going on?”
“It’s lunchtime.”
The chubby nurse placed the meal on the bedside table and looked at Wade with pity.
“Poor child.
I hope the meteorite didn’t knock something loose in his head.”
Wade: “…”
As she spoke, she picked up the meal and carefully scooped up a spoonful.
“I’ll feed you.”
Looking at the steaming food, Wade swallowed.
He swore this was the best food he had seen since arriving in this world.
It was on a completely different level from what he usually ate in the slums.
The aroma tickled his nose, mercilessly provoking his appetite.
So he opened his mouth and swallowed the entire spoonful.
Instantly, he felt refreshed.
“Thank you.”
After all, Wade possessed an adult’s soul.
Being fed by someone else was rather embarrassing.
“What an interesting child.
I’m just doing my job.”
The nurse’s smile became even warmer.
“If you really want to thank someone, you should thank the gentleman who paid all your medical expenses.”
Charles?
Emmmmm.
Wade felt slightly awkward.
He had only just sent Charles away a short while ago.
Looking at the treatment he was enjoying now, Wade immediately regretted it.
He’s that rich.
Maybe he could spare me a little more money?
QAQ
Wade’s feeding session soon came to an end.
After lunch, the chubby nurse carefully wiped his mouth.
“Alright.
Get some rest.
I’ll come back tonight and bring you dinner.”
“Mhm, mhm, mhm.”
Wade nodded like a chick pecking at grain.
He secretly thought to himself,
I think I can keep pretending to be crippled for a few more days.
Once I leave the hospital, there won’t be food this good anymore.
“What a cute child.”
The nurse cheerfully pinched Wade’s cheek, completely ignoring his expression as it instantly darkened.
After that, she opened the door and left.
“Money really is king.”
Wade lazily sprawled on the bed.
“If only I could bring some of this food home for Grandma.”
“Ah!!”
Just as he was thinking about that, a woman’s scream suddenly came from the hallway outside.
Then, everything fell deathly silent.
What now?
Wade frowned slightly.
He was about to get up and take a look when the hospital room door suddenly opened again.
Huh?
The nurse came back already?
Wade looked at the pale-faced nurse in confusion.
“Ma’am, what’s wrong?”
The nurse opened and closed her mouth as though she wanted to explain something, but not a single sound came out.
At the same time, the veins on her relatively short, thick neck bulged as though she were enduring tremendous pain.
“Ma’am?”
Wade immediately realized something was wrong.
Then his pupils contracted.
The whites of the nurse’s eyes had changed.
Thin black lines rapidly spread across the entirety of her eyes until nothing remained but a deep, eerie black.
At the same time, she raised her right hand high.
A mercury-like, gelatinous substance began seeping from her pores.
In an instant, a gleaming silver claw emerged from her hand.
Danger!
A powerful warning instinct screamed inside Wade’s mind.
The moment the nurse swung the claw downward, Wade twisted his body violently.
His entire body spun 360 degrees through the air.
The bandages around his neck and joints snapped apart as he crashed onto the floor beside the hospital bed.
The nurse’s silver claw stabbed into the spot where Wade had been moments earlier.
Shing!
The steel bed frame was sliced apart as effortlessly as tofu.
What the hell is this?!
Wade had no time to think.
He planted his bare left foot against the leg of the hospital bed and kicked.
The several-hundred-pound bed was sent flying.
Its side slammed into the nurse, knocking her off balance.
Wade immediately took advantage of the opening and scrambled to his feet.
He looked at the hospital bed, which the nurse had split cleanly in half with another swipe of her claw, and sucked in a cold breath.
“If I hadn’t dodged just now, I would’ve been dead on the spot.”
The nurse became even more violent.
The silver substance covering only her right hand suddenly exploded outward.
Countless silver strands wrapped around her entire body.
Her body rapidly grew taller, eventually reaching nearly two meters.
Distinct muscle lines emerged across her limbs, while a silver mask formed over her black eyes.
Her body looked as though it had been forged entirely from liquid mercury, reflecting a cold metallic sheen beneath the hospital lights.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees.
“R-Riot?”
Wade stared at the creature in disbelief.
This appearance.
This color.
This form.
There was no doubt about it.
It was Riot, one of the symbiotes from the Venom family.
Riot possessed tremendous destructive power.
In terms of raw physical strength, it could even surpass Venom himself.
“No, wait.
I can understand the Venom symbiotes existing in this world…
but you shouldn’t be here.”
Wade’s mind raced.
These creatures weren’t supposed to simply appear in the middle of a city.
And Riot shouldn’t have appeared during this era either.
So how did this happen?
Was it because of last night’s meteorite?
But that didn’t make sense either.
How could a symbiote possibly survive the incredible temperatures generated when a meteorite crashed into the ground?
Unfortunately, Wade didn’t have time to think about it anymore.
Symbiotes like Riot weren’t inherently good or evil.
But after bonding with this nurse, it clearly intended to kill him.
Riot’s mouth suddenly stretched open.
A scarlet tongue hung from its lips, while rows of sharp, needle-like teeth made Wade’s skin crawl.
A horrible screech emerged from its throat before eventually transforming into awkward but understandable human speech.
“H-Human…
you hurt me.”
“I’ll kill you!”
“Then I’ll take your body for myself!”
The moment it finished speaking, Riot’s legs exploded with force.
The hospital floor beneath its feet cracked and collapsed into a deep crater.
A deafening sonic boom erupted through the room.
Wade only saw a flash of silver before his body instinctively tilted to the side.
Then—
Pain.
Half of his waist suddenly felt as though it had been torn apart, and his body slammed heavily into the side wall.
Wade looked down.
His torn hospital gown was rapidly turning red with blood, revealing his muscular body beneath it.
His expression changed.
His kidney was gone!
At this moment, Riot was still extremely weak.
Even so, its physical strength was already far beyond that of any creature on Earth.
That single charge had reached Mach speed.
If Wade hadn’t instinctively dodged, Riot’s attack would have gone straight through his torso.