Regardless of whether it would work, they had to try.
With that in mind, Peter and Gwen began the process of "undressing" the Venom-Lizard hybrid.
Thanks to their prior experience removing Carnage, this time, their actions were much smoother.
Of course, it might also have helped that Venom hadn't been fused with the Lizard for long.
In any case, within a few minutes, Venom was completely separated from the Lizard.
The symbiote was reduced to a writhing mass, bound tightly with webbing, and tossed aside.
Peter had added a small trick to the quantum webbing binding it—some of the quantum particles weren't fully solidified.
If Venom dared to move, it would trigger the quantum energy and get zapped.
The zap wouldn't cause any real damage, but it was more than enough to keep it restrained.
Meanwhile, the Lizard was curled up on the ground, motionless.
"He's not dead too, is he?" Gwen asked, giving the Lizard a light kick.
The way he lay there reminded her of the mutated Garfield-Spider they had encountered earlier.
Peter crouched down, examined him, and shook his head. "He's not dead, just weak. Looks like the symbiotes in this world have a tendency to consume their hosts."
If this were an isolated case, it wouldn't mean much.
But first, there was the mutated Garfield-Spider, and now the Lizard—Peter couldn't ignore the pattern.
And if that were the case, Gwen's symbiote couldn't be allowed to absorb this world's Venom.
Who knew what would happen if Venom consumed Venom?
Even if it only inherited part of the absorbed symbiote's traits, what if it inherited the "host consumption" ability?
If that happened, Gwen could be devoured without a trace before anyone even realized it.
That was a risk Peter couldn't afford to take.
But he wasn't going to jump to conclusions just yet—he decided to ask the person involved.
After reinforcing Venom's restraints, he turned to the Lizard, hoisted him up, and tossed him against the wall. Then, using webbing, he secured him in place.
Now, the Lizard looked like a grotesque "wall decoration."
Peter patted his face. "Dr. Connors, wake up. Wake up."
After several hundred slaps, the Lizard's green face was visibly swollen before he finally groggily regained consciousness.
His eyes fluttered open weakly as he struggled to focus on Peter.
"Who… are you?"
By now, Peter had retracted his Vibranium Spider suit. Without its distinctive design, it was hard for anyone to recognize him.
After all, his face wasn't that well-known.
"I'm Spider-Man from another world," Peter explained. "Dr. Connors, as a biologist, you must have at least heard of the concept of a 'parallel universe,' right?"
The Lizard nodded. "So… parallel universes really do exist. Is your universe… like ours?"
Peter shook his head. "Unfortunately, no."
"That's a relief," the Lizard said with a look of unexpected ease.
"Huh? I thought you'd be disappointed," Peter said, raising an eyebrow.
"Why would I be disappointed?" the Lizard asked, puzzled.
"You're a villain who wants to destroy the world. Wouldn't it upset you to hear that another world is thriving?" Peter countered.
"Huh? Me? Destroy the world?" The Lizard looked genuinely shocked. "When did I ever say I wanted to destroy the world?"
"Interesting," Peter mused.
He had been deliberately provoking the Lizard to test him.
But the response was… unexpected.
It actually aligned with what Electro had said before—
That the Lizard wasn't necessarily evil. At the very least, he wasn't just a beast driven purely by his mutated instincts.
His transformation must have occurred recently, after merging with Venom.
In other words, the Venom of this world has characteristics similar to the one from Tobey Spider's world, particularly in how it influences a person's personality.
However, in Tobey Spider's world, Venom enhances the host's existing traits—
For instance, it made Tobey Spider more assertive and made Gwen, well, more proactive.
But the Venom of this world seems to be making its hosts violent, perhaps even controlling them!
Not long ago, Venom-Lizard Doctor had indeed become something akin to a wild beast!
"I want to know—where did you get this thing?" Peter pointed at the constantly writhing mass of Venom and asked.
Lizard Doctor looked at Venom, his eyes filled with fear.
Through his account, Peter and Gwen finally understood what had happened.
The original course of events in this world was the same as in the Amazing Universe.
Lizard Doctor had been defeated by Peter Parker, who was still Spider-Man at the time, and was imprisoned.
The prison that held him was the same one that later imprisoned Peter Parker and Eddie Brock.
When the Venom symbiote arrived at the prison in search of Eddie Brock, Carnage was born—and it merged with Peter Parker, turning him into Carnage-Spider-Man.
Then, Carnage-Spider-Man rampaged through the prison, killing and devouring both the Venom symbiote and Eddie Brock.
However, just before its death, Venom left behind a small fragment of its body amid the ruins.
That fragment was picked up by Lizard Doctor, who had narrowly escaped the massacre and had witnessed the entire battle.
Initially, he wasn't studying it for power—he was simply a biologist intrigued by this strange new biological substance.
But as Carnage-Spider-Man became a growing threat to the city and even the entire world,
Lizard Doctor decided to conduct research in an attempt to revive Venom.
Yet, studying something as unique as Venom from scratch was immensely difficult.
Meanwhile, Carnage-Spider-Man's destruction only escalated.
Left with no choice, Lizard Doctor made another decision.
He reformulated the Lizard Gene Serum and transformed himself back into Lizard Doctor!
Even so, he was still no match for Carnage.
But after defeating him, Carnage didn't kill him.
Instead, he recalled Lizard Doctor's past plan to turn everyone into lizard people—
And he strongly agreed with it.
Thus, he forced Lizard Doctor to recreate the Lizard Gene Serum and used Oscorp Tower's dispersal device to spread it across the entire city.
Later, he even used Oscorp's distribution channels to spread the serum worldwide!
He successfully turned this world into a world of lizard people!
In order to defeat Carnage, Lizard Doctor had to endure humiliation and bide his time.
He knew that even if he refused to cooperate, Carnage could still formulate the Lizard Gene Serum on his own—or create other variants, like a Fly Gene Serum or an Ant Gene Serum.
His persistence finally paid off.
By swallowing his pride, Lizard Doctor managed to collect enough samples from Carnage and discovered Dr. Mendel—an Oscorp scientist whose expertise in biology was on par with his own.
Together, they brought Venom back to life!
(End of Chapter)
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