Chapter 1234 Different

The shortage of volunteers for clinical experiments didn't pose much of a problem for the Life Foundation. In order to ensure the progress of their experiments, they secretly searched for many homeless individuals in various locations across San Francisco. 

These homeless people themselves didn't attract much attention, and the disappearance of a few wouldn't raise any eyebrows.

However, some individuals did take notice of these missing homeless people, such as Eddie Brock, a journalist who had lost his job and girlfriend due to his investigations exposing the wrongdoings of the Life Foundation. 

After the Foundation captured street-dwelling homeless individuals, Eddie naturally discovered that one of his homeless friends had gone missing.

Yet, Eddie had no idea that his friend had been taken by the Life Foundation. It wasn't until Dr. Dora, a researcher at the Life Foundation, finally saw through Carlton Drake's ruthless actions and came to inform Eddie. 

She told him that the Life Foundation had obtained a highly dangerous extraterrestrial lifeform and was conducting perilous experiments with it.

With Dr. Dora's help, Eddie infiltrated the Life Foundation and discovered that they were conducting cruel experiments on innocent people. In those labs, Eddie also found his friend. While trying to rescue his friend, Eddie was attacked by his crazed friend. And as the lifeform, a black, lifelike substance, entered Eddie's body, his homeless friend died.

In the midst of the chaos, Eddie didn't immediately realize the changes in his body. During the Life Foundation's security pursuit, Eddie exhibited strength far beyond that of an ordinary person and managed to break free from their pursuit, finally returning home. 

However, upon returning home, Eddie realized that something was wrong with his body. It was as if he had developed an additional personality, and there was a mysterious voice echoing in his mind.

As Eddie desperately stuffed anything edible and inedible into his mouth due to his abnormal mental state, he ended up collapsing against the wall in shock when he saw his sudden physical transformation in the mirror. 

When he woke up again, he finally realized that his body had undergone an incredible change. Through conversations with the entity calling itself Venom in his mind, Eddie also learned about the situation with the Life Foundation.

Although Eddie had been unwittingly bonded with a bizarre extraterrestrial being that looked terrifying and threatened to devour his organs, his primary objective now was to deal with the trouble caused by the Life Foundation. 

If the Life Foundation wasn't stopped, their plans would undoubtedly bring countless terrifying extraterrestrial lifeforms to Earth.

So, despite Venom's occasional threats, Eddie held onto the photographic evidence he had taken from the Life Foundation's laboratory and went to find his ex-girlfriend. At this point, Eddie could only place his trust in Anne, his former girlfriend.

However, due to Venom's influence, Eddie's behavior appeared eccentric, and Anne naturally found his strange actions quite perplexing. She believed that Eddie was ill and wanted to take him to the hospital. With no other choice, Eddie had to return to his apartment.

At this time, the Life Foundation's team had also arrived. The extraterrestrial lifeforms they had intended to use for experiments had all died due to rejection, and now they could only retrieve the one that had parasitized Eddie. 

However, just as the Life Foundation's security team was closing in on Eddie for capture, an unexpected individual quietly appeared near Eddie's apartment building.

On the rooftop of the apartment building opposite Eddie's, Lin Rui, clad in his Phantom Suit, concealed his presence perfectly within the night. 

Earlier this morning, Lin Rui had received a message from SHIELD about some unusual events happening in San Francisco. After a brief investigation into SHIELD's findings, Lin Rui left his laboratory to come here.

It wasn't that Lin Rui still needed to attach great importance to Venom, an extraterrestrial lifeform that could only unleash its powers through parasitism. 

It was just that he wanted to personally see how this new Venom, which had appeared this time, differed from the one he had discovered before, the one that had once bonded with Peter.

"The energy levels are decent, but it's similar to the one in Tony's lab. However, this Venom's consciousness is noticeably clearer; this should be the normal state for these special lifeforms," Lin Rui commented, even though he was dozens of meters away. 

He had already effortlessly assessed the situation regarding the Venom that had parasitized Eddie.

Lin Rui was familiar with the Venom in Tony's lab, which he and Tony had captured. He was well aware of their research on it. 

Recently, the Venom in Tony's lab had become more restless, and its consciousness had been rapidly growing stronger after the Life Foundation's spacecraft crash. However, Tony, who had already grasped Venom's abilities, had easily suppressed it once again.

"However... something about this storyline seems off," Lin Rui murmured to himself while releasing a trace of mental energy to monitor the situation inside Eddie's apartment. He stood on the rooftop opposite, contemplating the peculiar turn of events.

Previously, it was undoubtedly Venom that had parasitized Peter, turning him into the dark version of Spider-Man. Lin Rui was well aware of the storyline concerning Venom and Spider-Man. 

Now, however, Venom had appeared on Eddie's side, and it was likely a well-known Venom. So, the timing of these two Venom occurrences didn't quite add up.

Of course, Lin Rui only dwelled on this inconsistency for a short while before letting it go. The storyline had already taken a strange turn, and he couldn't be bothered with why there were two versions of Venom. 

Perhaps the Venom that had parasitized Peter had arrived on Earth earlier, while the Life Foundation's recent actions had brought over Venom's brethren.

According to SHIELD's threat level evaluations for various supernatural events, this recent development by the Life Foundation could, at most, be classified as a B-grade event. 

And for a B-grade event that wouldn't result in widespread casualties, deploying a special ops team would be more than sufficient. The special ops teams produced by SHIELD were far from the ragtag forces of the Life Foundation. Even if Venom possessed formidable abilities, it would find it challenging to make a significant impact against highly-armed operatives.

With Lin Rui personally involved now, there was no real threat to Eddie from Venom parasitizing him, especially when it came to the tasks at hand. However, Lin Rui decided to observe the development of the situation for a bit longer. 

The Venom that Tony had confined in his laboratory hadn't parasitized anyone for a long time. Lin Rui wanted to see what kind of power the other perfect symbiote, currently attached to Eddie, could unleash.

...

You can read ahead up to 80 chapters on my patreon and I've also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/marvel6395