After delivering the knee strike, Gwen glanced coolly down at Owen Vance.
Seeing that he chose to stay quiet, she naturally said nothing more.
*That’s more like it.* In fact, she felt a trace of bewilderment.
Didn’t this guy watch the news?
Didn’t he know how formidable Spider-Man was?
What on earth made him think he could take her on?
He had to know the gulf between an ordinary human and a mutant, right?
A chill draft blew across the rooftop as Gwen walked toward the ledge.
Before heading to the police precinct, she spoke up.
“By the way, what’s your name?” She lowered her gaze as she asked—and a truly bizarre sight met her eyes.
Owen’s face was morphing and turning green at a visible rate.
His body, bound tightly like a mummy, began squirming like a butterfly about to tear free of its cocoon.
The moment the visual information reached her brain, Gwen’s Spider-Sense screamed in warning.
This guy…
was a mutant?!
Reacting instantly, Gwen moved to reinforce the webbing, only to watch Owen slip straight out of the cocoon like an eel.
Having slipped out in the form of vines, the tendrils rapidly thickened and reshaped themselves, restoring Wildvine’s true form.
A single eye, four vine-like legs, and a towering physique cast a long shadow over Gwen.
Wildvine stood right on the edge of the roof, looking down at her.
The jarring ringing of her Spider-Sense sent shockwaves through Gwen’s chest.
Acting purely on instinct, she leaped backward to put distance between them.
Staring at Wildvine from several yards away, Gwen was visibly shaken.
This was the first time she had ever seen such an alien-looking creature in New York City!
Having transformed into Wildvine, Owen glanced at his hands in contemplation.
*Just one light hit, and the combat value shot up by over eighty percent…* *Looks like combat value gains have nothing to do with fight intensity—it’s completely random.* An eager grin spread across Owen’s face.
Right now, he really wanted to ask Gwen: *Have you ever heard of the Buddhist Palm technique that descends from the heavens?* Naturally, Gwen had no clue what was running through Owen’s mind.
*I have to take down this supervillain!* All traces of the friendly neighborhood persona vanished.
Gwen dropped into a combat stance, narrowing her eyes coldly as she scrutinized Wildvine’s body from head to toe.
There was no question about it.
Possessing mutant powers alone was enough to elevate an ordinary criminal to a supervillain!
Her spider-suit scanned Wildvine’s anatomy while running a real-time cross-reference against law enforcement records.
Even after a rapid sweep across the entire national database, Gwen found zero records matching Wildvine.
An uneasy feeling crept into her heart.
A newly emerged mutant?
When she spoke again, her breath came out in a frosty hiss.
“Who are you?” “Who am I?” Wildvine dug at his ear.
Though he looked dead serious, his bizarre features gave him an intensely smug air.
“About that…
all I can say is, those who know, know; those who don’t, won’t get it even if I explain.
If you don’t understand, it’s better left unsaid.” “Think on it.
Don’t come asking me what’s going on either.
The interests involved run way too deep.
Speaking of it does neither of us any good, so you’d better just pretend you never heard anything.
All I can say is the water runs deep here, and a lot of things are tied up in it.
You won’t find the details anyway—most of it got wiped from the internet.
So like I said, those who know, know, and there’s nothing to be done for those who don’t.” “…” “???” The corner of Gwen’s eye twitched.
How could someone say so many words without saying a single damn thing?
Still, she had to admit his last point held true.
There really wasn’t a shred of information on Wildvine anywhere on the web.
Could he be an experimental subject from some megacorporation?
Was all of this a conspiracy targeted at her?
Both theories instantly sprang to mind.
The situation hardly permitted her to ponder further.
Right now, the top priority was subduing Wildvine!
Against an unknown adversary, a ranged attack was always the safest opener.
Gwen raised her wrist, aimed at Wildvine, and pressed the triggers with her middle and ring fingers in one fluid, seamless motion.
In less than a second, a web shot from her wrist, flying straight toward Wildvine.
*Keep your distance.
As long as I can restrain him from range, the fight won’t be too hard.* The thought had barely crossed Gwen’s mind when Wildvine pointed a single finger right back at her.
Responding with a similar attack, his extended finger lengthened in a flash, expanding into a massive green mesh net.
Webbing collided with the botanical net.
As if the spider-silk didn’t even exist, offering not the slightest resistance, the plant net enveloped the webbing whole and continued surging toward Gwen.
Gwen’s chest tightened as the plant net grew larger and larger in her vision.
She felt as though the massive mesh could swallow the entire rooftop whole!
Her Spider-Sense flared again, compelling her to make two powerful backflips to create space.
She was nothing if not cautious; those two leaps took her directly onto the roof of an adjacent building.
Though several stories lower than the previous vantage point, she was still perched hundreds of feet above the ground.
Watching the plant net smoothly retract along Wildvine’s elongated finger without leaving a trace, Gwen’s pupils shrank.
Firing a plant net was one thing.
But retracting it completely without a mark?
This ability was definitely no ordinary mutant power!
Gwen couldn’t hide her astonishment.
“Just what kind of freak are you?” Turning toward her, Wildvine shrugged.
“I already told you: those who know, know; those who don’t, won’t get it even if I tell them.” Straightening her spine, Gwen let out a cold scoff.
“Hmph, a bunch of nonsense.” Wildvine was undeniably a tough opponent.
But if she backed down here, she wouldn’t be Spider-Man!
“If ranged attacks don’t work…” “Then let’s take it up close!” Bending her knees, Gwen launched herself forward like an arrow off a bowstring, charging straight at Wildvine.
Owen clicked his tongue at the sight.
*Wants to get in close?* *You think you get whatever you want?
Who do you think I am, chopped salad?* *Pew, pew, pew!* One of Wildvine’s signature abilities—several explosive seed pods shot out directly toward the incoming Gwen.
Her Spider-Sense reacted instantly, and Gwen felt a jolt of alarm.
The distance between them was less than fifteen meters.
At such close range, she could see it with absolute clarity: the trailing air currents clinging to the tail ends of the pods as they fired!
That speed…
was comparable to bullets!
How could a plant-man fire spores with the muzzle velocity of a firearm?!
With no time to overthink, the first spore bullet was already right in front of her!
Just before it scored a direct hit, Gwen jerked her head aside in a lightning-fast dodge.
Her flawless reflexes allowed the spore to brush past her cheek by a hair’s breadth.
Seeing the spore zip past, Gwen felt a brief flash of relief and prepared to dodge the remaining two pods the same way.
Then she saw it.
A split second before that first spore vanished from her peripheral vision, it detonated!
Her pupils constricted involuntarily.
Gwen was certain her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her!
The spore burst into flames, unleashing a violent shockwave!
A plant seed had just exploded like a bomb!
What in the world…
that defied all botany!
By then, the remaining two pods had already reached her flanks.
*Boom!
Boom!
Boom!* Three detonations rang out, their flames coalescing into a single blast that engulfed Gwen’s body.
Owen merely yawned at the spectacle.
If an attack of this caliber could take Gwen down, she wouldn’t be Spider-Man.
As the fire dissipated, the scene unfolded just as Owen expected.
Through the lingering smoke, a strand of webbing shot toward the plate glass of a neighboring skyscraper.
With a sharp tug, Gwen swung across, sticking to the glass wall by one hand and one foot.
Though she wasn’t seriously injured, she looked far more disheveled than before.
The blast had not only coated her suit in dust and soot, but it had also blown away a quarter of her mask.
Anyone who caught sight of the porcelain-fair skin surrounding her vivid blue eye could instantly tell that beneath the mask was a young white girl.
Gwen’s head spun in a daze; she had nearly been blasted senseless!
Seventy to eighty percent of the surrounding windows had shattered from the blast.
How could a few plant spores pack such tremendous explosive force?
And where on earth did this plant-freak get these bizarre powers?!
Owen, however, remained sharp as a tack.
Looking at Gwen, who clung there like a startled rabbit, several thick vines sprouted from Wildvine’s back, thrashing with tremendous force.
A cheeky grin spread across Wildvine’s face.
“Heh…
heh…
heh…” “Ms.
Gwen, you wouldn’t want anyone finding out that you’re Spider-Man, would you?” Gwen’s eyes widened in sheer shock, and a freezing chill swept through her limbs!
*He knows my real identity?!* Before she could process the shock, she saw those thick, thrashing vines whip straight toward her.
Gwen’s slender frame was instantly swallowed in the shadows of the looming tendrils.
This time, the color drained completely from her face!
*What does he want to do to me?!*