8 Chapter 8: Venom

After the police finished speaking, Maverick remained seated on the hospital bed in silence, staring blankly ahead, his eyes unfocused.

Seeing Maverick's silence, the leading police officer cleared his throat and continued, "According to our investigation, the truck driver ran the red light, causing the accident. The driver fled the scene after the accident, and we are currently pursuing his whereabouts."

"If we find him, we will inform you immediately. He will be held accountable and face the appropriate punishment."

After the police officer finished speaking, another silent moment pervaded the hospital room.

After a moment, just as the police were about to speak again, Maverick spoke up.

"I understand. Can you please leave? I think I need some rest." His voice, unexpectedly, was very calm, almost eerily so.

Several police officers exchanged looks upon hearing Maverick's reply. It was the middle-aged doctor who took the initiative to lead them out of the room.

Once the room returned to an empty state, Maverick collapsed weakly onto the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Slowly, glistening tears gathered in his eyes and streamed outward, wetting his hair and the sheets.

Painful and powerless sobs escaped from his tightly clenched lips uncontrollably.

He cried like this for a moment, then rolled over and buried his head in the blanket, crying loudly.

The sound of his wailing filled the hospital room, causing even the police officers who had just left to sigh with lowered eyes. Faced with such a tragedy, who could remain unaffected?

Maverick cried until he fell into unconsciousness, only waking up sobbing in the middle of the night.

"Crying is the most useless thing. Your enemies won't commit suicide because of your tears." The hoarse voice echoed once again, not in Maverick's mind this time, but directly beside him.

A viscous black liquid oozed from Maverick's back, coalescing into a horrifying face with elongated, pallid eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth.

It extended from behind Maverick to speak to him face to face.

Seeing this devilish and terrifying visage, Maverick wore an expression of confirmation and then whispered softly, "Indeed, a deal with the devil. Do I need to give up my soul?"

Hearing Maverick's words, the grotesque black head showed a somewhat human expression of helplessness and said, "Devil? I am a symbiote. My name is Venom, a highly advanced and unique life form."

"I don't want your soul. I just want to symbiotically coexist with you."

"Symbiote?" Maverick was also puzzled by Venom's words.

"Let me think, where should I start?" Venom's hoarse voice said.

"Why don't you try to mobilize your mind and directly look at my memories? That way, it's simpler and more straightforward."

"After you understand what kind of existence I am and what happened before, I'll answer your questions."

"Is that something I can do?" Maverick asked uncertainly upon hearing Venom's suggestion.

He didn't quite understand what it meant to directly look at memories. He knew his mind seemed sharper than ordinary people's, but he had never known he could directly access memories.

Upon hearing Maverick's question, Venom nodded and continued, "Of course, you can do it. We are one now, and I've never seen anyone with such a powerful soul like you."

"All you need to do is focus your mind and feel the existence of my memories in your brain."

"It's like a bubble; all you need to do is gently touch it. It's that simple."

After listening to Venom's explanation, Maverick closed his eyes with some skepticism and followed the prompt to try to feel his mind.

While he felt it, Venom continued speaking as he rummaged through something on the nearby table, "Your situation is quite special. I've never done this before, and it wasn't as convenient back then as it is now."

Feeling his mind was a very novel experience, like suddenly plunging into the depths of the sea, with boundless mind/soul/mind energy enveloping his consciousness.

(It's all the same in some cases, so don't be confused sometimes when I use the other one than the other and vice versa)

What's more, Maverick not only felt no discomfort but also felt very relaxed and comfortable.

After sensing his spirit, he quickly found the bubble-like thing Venom had mentioned.

It really was like a big bubble, floating in his mind.

"Pop~"

With his gentle touch, the huge bubble burst with a light sound.

At the same time, a surge of unfamiliar memories rushed into his mind.

It was a strange experience, as if Maverick had turned into Venom and viewed its memories from a first-person perspective.

At first, Venom's consciousness wasn't very clear; instead, there was a chaotic and vague instinctual drive, which was the inherent nature of being a symbiote.

The first time it had a very clear consciousness was when it attached to a mercenary.

This mercenary, codenamed "Deadpool," was physically strong and had excellent combat skills, making him a very suitable host.

However, this guy had a fatal flaw: his mental state was far from normal.

Even now, while browsing through memories, Maverick could sense how chaotic and neurotic his mind was.

Venom couldn't tolerate such chaotic mental states at all, so it left Deadpool's body after a brief possession.

Although Venom left quickly, because the host's personality had a huge influence on the symbiote, it inevitably became infected with the same chaos as Deadpool.

After leaving Deadpool's body, Venom transferred through many people because ordinary bodies couldn't handle the symbiotic state of Venom.

After several transfers, Venom once again found a suitable host: Spider-Man, Peter Parker.

Seeing this, Maverick realized that he had been attending the same school as Peter Parker all along. The seemingly dull Peter Parker turned out to be Spider-Man; appearances can be deceiving.

With Venom, Spider-Man felt right at home, as his physical qualities and abilities were greatly enhanced.

But the good times didn't last because of some external influences, causing Spider-Man to develop many negative emotions at that time.

These negative emotions were amplified by Venom's nature, then once again affected Spider-Man.

Because of this vicious cycle, Spider-Man became increasingly irritable during that time, and the Daily Bugle took advantage of this opportunity to harshly criticize him.

Peter Parker even involuntarily had thoughts of wanting to teach James a lesson upon seeing him.

Realizing the abnormality, he also recognized Venom's influence on him. So, in order to break free from this vicious cycle, Spider-Man forcibly took off Venom from him.

°°°

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