Restart, Spider-Man! [13]
"Students, today's experiment is the synthesis and decomposition of biological proteins," Curt Connors casually glanced around the room and immediately locked eyes on Xia Luo sitting in the corner.
The rest of the students had already been staring at him.
"Xia Luo Parker, good to see you in class," Connors said.
To Xia Luo's surprise, Dr. Curt Connors didn't express any displeasure at his recent absences. Instead, he seemed genuinely pleased and even praised Xia Luo in front of the whole class.
"Class, over the past few days, Xia Luo and I have been chatting about this topic online. His insights into biology have impressed me, and he's also quite skilled in mechanical theory. If anyone has questions in these areas, feel free to ask him."
Hearing this, the students' expressions became even more peculiar.
"Yeah, Professor Connors, not only is Xia Luo great at biology, his selfies are top-notch too."
"Hahaha, I heard he's been hitting on dozens of girls at once."
"All those girls blocked him."
"Crazy Xia Luo."
The classroom filled with chatter, and Curt Connors furrowed his brows.
"Quiet."
Before anyone could respond, Connors turned to Xia Luo and said, "See me after class."
"Got it," Xia Luo nodded, guessing that Norman had probably talked to Connors extensively.
Harry leaned over, whispering, "Don't forget tonight's basketball game."
Xia Luo sighed, "I don't even know how to play basketball."
Harry rolled his eyes, "I didn't ask you to play. You asked me to invite Gwen from Year 02, remember?"
Xia Luo froze.
Great. Even after death, the villain's still moving the plot forward.
That's what you call dedication.
Next, Dr. Connors demonstrated the experiment.
"Today's biological protein is derived from Black Widow's webbing. We can blend this spider silk protein with various materials in specific ratios to create different types of webbing."
Although Dr. Connors only had one arm, this simple experiment didn't trouble him at all, and he didn't need an assistant.
Xia Luo, on the other hand, didn't use Black Widow's spider silk. Instead, he extracted a small sample of his own webbing from his wrist and conducted a 1:1 experiment using a high-strength resin as a base material.
Quickly, he produced a sample of webbing with lower elasticity but greater adhesive power and resistance to decomposition.
The webbing Xia Luo produced naturally had strong adhesion, lasting for about three hours before decomposing. Its elasticity was decent, but not as strong as other versions of Spider-Man's webs.
When he was hungry or weak, his body would stop producing spider silk protein, which was a bit of a problem for him.
That's why he planned to experiment with artificial webbing, so he wouldn't be left high and dry at crucial moments.
Peter Parker was a genius who could whip up usable artificial webbing in no time.
But Xia Luo couldn't. He wasn't on the same level as other Spider-Men in that regard, and his process would take much longer.
The 1:1 blend wasn't yielding the desired results, so he adjusted the ratios and continued experimenting.
Class ended quickly, but Xia Luo didn't make significant progress.
Ten minutes later, Xia Luo followed Dr. Connors to his personal lab.
"Xia Luo, this is the lizard gene experiment I mentioned," Connors said, pointing to a terrarium housing a green lizard. His eyes were filled with excitement.
"Thanks to your suggestions, my regeneration gene serum data is much more complete. And with a new grant from Oscorp, I'll soon be able to move on to live trials."
Xia Luo's brow furrowed.
"Live trials? You mean on humans?"
"Of course not," Dr. Connors chuckled. "That's strictly forbidden. I'll be using lab mice."
"Let's hope that's the case," Xia Luo thought, feeling a sense of foreboding.
He knew that Dr. Connors was too obsessed with the regeneration serum to be talked out of his experiment.
With Norman's involvement, it seemed the project was progressing even faster.
Which meant the birth of the Lizard wasn't far off.
Before being affected by the gene serum, both Norman and Dr. Connors were kind-hearted men.
Xia Luo hadn't been able to stop Norman from becoming the Green Goblin, but there was still time to intervene with Connors.
Knowing he didn't have the expertise to improve Connors' experiment, Xia Luo could only hope to delay it somehow.
As these thoughts raced through his mind, Connors continued chatting with him about the project.
But Xia Luo wasn't like Norman; he didn't have an in-depth knowledge of biology. To avoid raising suspicion, he occasionally nodded along, all the while plotting something else.
Half an hour later, Xia Luo left the lab and was greeted by Harry, who quickly walked up to him.
"Wow, I didn't realize you were this impressive! Even the hard-to-please Professor Connors likes you. Why didn't I notice you were such a genius before?" Harry said, throwing an arm around Xia Luo's shoulders.
Xia Luo shrugged, "When you're friends with someone as rich as you, no matter how talented you are, it's easy to be overshadowed by their money."
Harry laughed, "You've got a point. But you won't regret being my friend."
The next moment, Harry's expression turned wistful, "Though a lot's been happening with the company lately. My dad hasn't told me much, but I've figured out that Oscorp might go bankrupt soon. I might lose my money."
Beep beep!
Just then, Harry's phone rang. After answering the call, his face turned grim.
"Are you kidding me? Xia Luo, I've got a problem. You'll have to go to the basketball game alone. I have to leave right now."
Harry hurried off toward the parking lot, while Xia Luo didn't follow. Instead, he headed to the rooftop and put on his nanotech suit, swinging down from the building.
He knew why Harry was in such a rush.
Vroom~
Before long, Harry's sports car roared out of the campus.
Half an hour later, in an upscale neighborhood…
Harry rushed into his father's room, only to find a cold corpse lying on the bed.
The body was in a gruesome state, covered in deep slash marks, with the chest cavity brutally torn open, leaving a horrifying, gaping wound.
"This is…"
Harry stood frozen, staring at the body in shock. As he slowly approached the bed, his legs gave way, and he collapsed to the floor, trembling uncontrollably.
"Father… He…" Harry looked at the butler, John, his eyes bloodshot with rage and despair.
He had just lost his only family. His world was falling apart.
His mind flashed back to memories of his father, and his heart throbbed with unbearable pain.
The room was filled with sorrow, and John's face was etched with grief.
"Yes, he's dead. A mysterious person informed me to retrieve the body, and when I arrived, I found Norman's corpse, along with…"
He pointed to the corner where a broken Green Goblin suit lay.
"Green Goblin's suit."
"Green Goblin killed my father?" Harry trembled.
John shook his head. "No, actually… your father was the Green Goblin."
"What?"
Forgetting his grief, Harry's face filled with disbelief.
"Impossible. My father would never bomb his own company."
Harry's furious shouts echoed through the room.
At the same time, Xia Luo, now dressed as Spider-Man, quietly slipped into the mansion. He held the green key Norman had left behind, searching for any hidden entrances.
He didn't dare give the key to Harry just yet.
If Norman had left behind an incomplete gene serum, Harry's fate could be tragic.
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