"Damn it!"
Dr. Octopus and Sandman halted simultaneously.
In an instant, four out of the six-member nefarious group had fallen, completely crushing their fighting spirit.
Exchanging a glance, the two simultaneously shouted, "Attack!"
Then, in perfect unison, they turned and ran.
Upon seeing his companion flee, the other sneered, "Hah, trash—lucky I wasn't fooled."
The Punishing Spider glanced at the pair. Without a moment's hesitation, he chased after Dr. Octopus.
Clearly, he preferred Dr. Octopus over Sandman.
After all, that guy just couldn't resist stirring up trouble!
Meanwhile, the events unfolding within those few minutes left Bide and his companions, not far away, utterly dumbfounded.
Gwen remarked, "This Spider-Man's methods are truly decisive—even surpassing Mr. Shadow. My dear, he might be a fine candidate to recruit."
"Uh," Bide's eyes sparkled with interest.
The Punishing Spider's actions were exactly in line with his own ideals.
Under the tutelage of Shadow Spider and through countless events across multiple worlds, his current creed mirrors what the Punishing Spider just displayed.
Against the wicked, he maintained a policy of relentless eradication.
However, since he had his own agenda, he was somewhat tolerant of sin.
This subtle difference even set him at odds with the Punishing Spider—almost diametrically opposed.
Lightning Man furrowed his brows and suggested, "I think we should first investigate his true character before deciding whether to recruit him."
"Of course," Bide agreed with a nod.
Though, in broad terms, the moral alignments of the nefarious six and the Punishing Spider were clear, no one could be sure if different worlds might present different circumstances.
What if that six-member gang were actually the "forces of justice" in this world?
The historical development of this world was, naturally, beyond Bide's control.
But if the Punishing Spider truly embodied evil, then Bide would have to think twice before drawing him into the Transdimensional Task Force.
After all, this guy wasn't an interdimensional wanderer—Bide could now discern, by sensing souls and quantum energy, whether someone was a native of this universe or an outsider.
Subsequently, the trio did not pursue the Punishing Spider but turned in the direction of Sandman.
Well, it wasn't complicated.
Bide drew a circle in the air with his hand.
Whoosh—
Somewhere in the distance, a Sandman, in the midst of turning into flying sand, suddenly found a circle appearing before him.
Before he could react, he realized that he was no longer on the run; instead, he had arrived atop a building.
The three—two men and a woman—had surrounded him.
One of the men looked somewhat familiar.
"Max?!" Sandman scrutinized Lightning Man for a moment before suddenly exclaiming.
Wasn't Max, the Electric Man, supposed to be dead?
Had he also perished, and was now trapped in hell?
At that moment, a nearby Asian man spoke up, "Hello, William Baker. I'd like to ask you a few questions."
There was something almost hypnotic in his tone, compelling Sandman to comply.
Through a brief exchange between Bide and Sandman, they soon gathered a general understanding of the situation in this world.
Sandman's real name was indeed William Baker, although he now usually went by the alias "Flint Marco."
At the age of three, his father had abandoned him and his mother, leaving the two of them to fend for themselves—a circumstance that rendered his childhood deeply impoverished.
By the time he reached middle and high school, theft and fraud had become his daily bread.
Because of his strong physique and exceptional football skills, the school—highly valuing athletic achievements—turned a blind eye to his misconduct.
That was until one day, before an important football match, some underworld figures attempted to manipulate the betting scene and coerced him into throwing the game.
William Baker, who had never been particularly concerned with morality, eagerly accepted the deal.
However, he was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe.
As a result, he was expelled from school and permanently banned from the world of football.
This incident stripped him of the only meaningful thing in his life, sending him into a downward spiral of self-destruction.
After entering society, he changed his name to Flint Marko and became a street thug—violent, reckless, and deeply involved in illegal activities.
Later, while fleeing from the police, he unknowingly ran into a sandpit at a small test explosion site. The irradiated sand contaminated him, and in an instant, the intense radiation altered his molecular structure.
Soon after, he discovered he had the ability to manipulate sand at will.
Using this newfound power, he turned to crime, becoming a major headache for the New York police. Naturally, this brought him into conflict with Spider-Man.
He had already been defeated by Spider-Man once, which made him realize that taking down the web-slinger alone might be too difficult.
Determined to eliminate this troublesome opponent, he joined forces with five other dangerous criminals to form the Sinister Six!
And that led to the scene that Peter and the others witnessed.
Though the Sinister Six had made their preparations, it was clear that Spider-Man was even more ready—his tactics were sharper and more decisive.
As a result, the Sinister Six were swiftly reduced to the Sinister Two.
After learning all this, Peter and his companions finally breathed a sigh of relief.
At the very least, it was clear that the balance between good and evil in this world had not been overturned. While Punisher-Spider's methods were brutal, he still stood firmly on the side of order.
As for whether the information they had received was accurate…
Peter's current soul power was immense. Though still in a passive state, it greatly enhanced the soul spell that Doctor Strange had cast upon him.
That spell, which functioned like an "automatic translator," allowing him to communicate with others—including non-humans—had a secondary effect: lie detection.
After all, when someone lies, the fluctuations of their soul cannot be concealed.
And judging by the Sandman's response, he had not been lying.
Peter then inquired further about Punisher-Spider.
However, Sandman did not know much about him.
He only recalled that Punisher-Spider first appeared in the public eye through a report in the Daily Bugle.
A journalist named Eddie Brock had accidentally captured a photo of Punisher-Spider executing a man with a gun.
Later, investigations confirmed that the man was actually a murderer—a career criminal with multiple convictions for robbery and theft—who had recently escalated to killing an innocent elderly man named Ben Parker.
The news report immediately divided public opinion into two camps.
One side believed that Punisher-Spider should be brought to justice, as he had no right to take another person's life.
The other side argued that the criminal had deserved his fate and that Punisher-Spider had done the right thing.
As the debate raged on, the public eventually gave him a unique name—
The Spider Punisher!
(End of Chapter)
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