Chapter 53: Clues

Looking at the web in his hand, Peter analyzed carefully, "It's been more than a whole night since the incident. My web usually degrades after a few hours. Clearly, this impersonator overlooked that detail and only managed to mimic the appearance of my web."

While Peter was examining the web, a woman's voice suddenly came from behind him, "Hello, this is a crime scene. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Hearing the voice, Peter quickly put the web back into his pocket and turned around. A serious-looking woman with a ponytail and sun-kissed skin was staring at him.

"I'm Officer Li from the NYPD. What are you doing here?" Officer Li's sharp gaze fixed on Peter Parker as if she would arrest him on the spot if he couldn't provide a valid reason.

Sensing the tension, Peter pointed to his camera and press badge on his chest and explained, "Uh, sorry. I'm Peter Parker, a photographer for the Daily Bugle."

"Peter Parker? I remember now. You're the paparazzo who specializes in taking photos of Spider-Man, right? Every Spider-Man photo has your name under it," Officer Li said, recalling something.

"You could say that," Peter responded awkwardly, scratching his face at her description.

"Looks like you're late today. Didn't he notify you of his actions last night?" Officer Li asked, looking at Peter with a hint of amusement.

"Honestly, I'm not sure if it was Spider-Man last night," Peter explained. "In fact, I found this just now."

Peter pulled out a long piece of web from his pocket and continued, "As far as I know, Spider-Man's webs usually disintegrate after one or two hours. This one has been here for over a night and shows no signs of breaking down."

Seeing the web Peter had taken out, Officer Li's expression turned serious. "Hey, kid, do you know what you're doing? I could arrest you for tampering with evidence."

She took an evidence bag from her pocket, put on gloves, and took the web from Peter, placing it into the bag.

"This is your only warning. Don't do this again. Not all cops will forgive you because you're a student," Officer Li said sternly.

Peter could only nod repeatedly, indicating that he understood.

After that, he went around taking photos from various spots, perfectly fulfilling Jameson's assignment.

In the afternoon, after completing his photography assignments and handing the negatives to Jameson, Peter returned home.

Once back in his room, he locked the door and took out the remaining piece of web for further examination.

"Who's behind this? Could it be the weirdo I fought last time?"

"No, no, that's not his style." Peter quickly dismissed his own hypothesis but realized that thinking about the bad guy did give him a lead.

"During the battle with that guy at the University, he mentioned something about webs," Peter recalled as he pondered.

'Damn webs again, who is it this time?' The demon's muttering replayed in Peter's mind, giving him a sudden sense of clarity.

"The guy had already fought someone with webs before the incident at Empire State University. That's why he reacted when I used my webs to take his gun," Peter thought, feeling his reasoning become clearer.

"That was my first encounter with that guy, so he couldn't have seen my webs before. He was also puzzled about who it was, which means that the person he encountered wasn't Spider-Man but had similar web-shooting abilities."

Peter felt he had uncovered a crucial clue. Now, he needed to find the demon and get him to explain everything about this other web-slinger.

Determined to act, Peter quickly donned his Spider-Man suit and jumped out of the window.

Although there had been no news about the Goblin in recent days, Peter had a feeling he might encounter him today. He hoped his instincts were right, so he could put the villain behind bars and uncover the identity of the person framing him.

°°°

Under the cover of night in a dim alleyway, Maverick was dealing with two scumbags.

*Plop!*

Two lifeless bodies were tossed aside, their heads remarkably intact, not bitten off. The reason for sparing their heads was that Maverick didn't want to disgust himself with their filth-filled brains.

Maverick had stumbled upon the scene as he was passing through the alley. He saw these two despicable men holding a gun and forcing a woman. By the time he arrived, the woman's clothes were already torn to shreds, and she was crying in despair. Any later, and she would have been assaulted.

Faced with this situation, Maverick didn't hesitate. He first helped the woman get a cab to go home and, after seeing her off, decisively took action.

Using his methods, the two thugs spilled all the horrible things they had done, like beans from a jar. They had assaulted many women using similar means, not to mention their numerous robberies and thefts. The most egregious was when they drove a woman to suicide after assaulting her. Hearing this, Maverick decided not to let them live any longer. Without a word, he snapped their necks.

These scum, alive, only wasted food and produced waste while bringing suffering to others. Since the police hadn't caught them, Maverick took it upon himself to dispose of the trash.

"Humans are truly ugly and terrifying. How can they treat their own kind this way?" Venom remarked as it looked at the bodies on the ground.

Maverick sighed silently, pausing for a moment before saying, "I kind of regret it. I shouldn't have let them die so easily. Compared to the suffering they caused, snapping their necks was too merciful."

Suddenly, Venom's warning rang in Maverick's mind, prompting him to quickly retreat.

Just as he moved back, a blob of webbing landed on the ground where he had been standing, exploding into a large spider web. If Maverick hadn't dodged, he would have been tightly wrapped in that web.

°°°

Hungry for more chaps? Then check out our pătreon!

Link: Påtreon.com/BaphometFiction

I post 10 advanced chapters of this fanfic there.