Chapter 20: Injecting the Gene Serum

"Ah…"

The students watching the scene gasped in shock. Some of the more timid girls even screamed.

However, the slap never landed. Instead, Alan appeared in front of Gwen, grabbing the bully's wrist.

When dealing with people like this, Alan didn't waste time with words. He applied pressure to the bully's wrist, causing a sharp pain that made the bully scream in agony. "Ah…"

"Gwen, are you alright?" Alan asked.

"I'm fine, I'm perfectly fine!" Gwen smiled, seeing Alan step up for her. "Honestly, even if you hadn't shown up, I could have handled it. I'm pretty tough."

Despite her words, the joy on her face betrayed her true feelings.

It was obvious she was delighted that Alan had stepped in to help her. Although she could've dealt with it herself, the feeling of being protected by Alan seemed... not bad at all.

Alan glanced back at Gwen and chuckled, "Alright, next time I'll let you have the chance to beat up the bad guys."

"But for now, leave this one to me."

Gwen nodded happily, "Okay!"

Meanwhile, Peter stood to the side, his expression a little complicated as he looked at Alan, who had suddenly appeared.

He, too, wanted to protect Gwen like that... but he couldn't muster the courage to take that step.

With that, Alan used his other hand to take the basketball from Gwen's grip with ease.

"Nice ball. Go fetch it yourself." Alan threw the ball forcefully, sending it flying towards the school's forest. At the same time, he released the bully's wrist.

"Now, you can leave."

Sensing Alan's overwhelming presence, the three bullies didn't dare cause any more trouble. They slinked away, heading in the direction the ball had flown.

"Let's go, class is about to start," Alan reminded.

Peter glanced at his watch, suddenly remembering that Dr. Connors was waiting for him in the lab.

"Sorry, I have to get to the lab right away. Dr. Connors is working on a very important experiment," Peter explained.

"Gwen, Alan, I'll see you later," Peter added as he hurried off.

"Go ahead, Peter. Alan and I are heading to class, too," Gwen responded.

As Peter disappeared into the distance, Alan looked thoughtful.

Has Peter's spider abilities not awakened yet? Though, knowing Peter's character, even if they had, he wouldn't reveal his powers in public without his Spider-Man suit.

So, Alan didn't dwell on it too much. What he didn't realize at that moment was that the person standing next to him, Gwen, was the one whose spider abilities had already awakened.

"Thanks for helping me earlier, Alan," Gwen said.

"No need to thank me. Besides, you said you could handle it yourself, and I believe you."

Gwen smiled, grateful for his trust. This was their little secret—no one else knew that Gwen also practiced martial arts, except for Alan.

The two of them chatted and laughed as they walked to class.

For a while, as they talked, Gwen forgot all about the strange changes happening in her body since yesterday.

While Alan and Gwen were in class, in Dr. Connors' lab, Peter had already donned a lab coat.

In front of him were three vials of freshly-made gene serum, as well as a small white rabbit that had recently undergone amputation surgery.

"Peter, report the rabbit's health status."

"The blood test results show no issues. The amputation site is clean, with no signs of infection, meeting the experiment's requirements."

"Okay, Peter!" Dr. Connors said with confidence. "Let's begin. We've completed three vials of the gene serum. If this works, our research will finally be complete."

"Understood, Doctor. Let's get started."

Peter donned his gloves and picked up one of the vials. At Dr. Connors' nod, Peter carefully injected the serum into the rabbit.

"Okay, now we wait."

"For how long?"

"Ten minutes. It takes that long for the regenerative DNA to integrate with the rabbit's own DNA. Now all we can do... is wait," Dr. Connors said solemnly.

Ten minutes, which usually passed quickly, now felt like an eternity for Connors and Peter.

Their hearts raced as they waited anxiously. Although Dr. Connors was confident, this was the final experiment. If it failed... everything would be over.

Minute by minute, time dragged on.

Eight minutes...

Five minutes...

One minute...

As the final second ticked by, the rabbit in the cage suddenly convulsed. Its amputated limb began to twitch rapidly, and it looked as if something was surging out from the stump.

Before long, a new forelimb had completely regenerated, identical to the original one. The rabbit, now full of energy, hopped around the cage, appearing perfectly healthy.

"Peter, quickly!" Dr. Connors urged.

"On it, Doctor!"

Peter swiftly prepared the blood-drawing tools and began analyzing the rabbit's blood. The results were flawless. The rabbit's body showed no abnormalities, with almost no side effects.

Looking at the results, Peter was overjoyed. He felt as if he could fly. "We did it! Doctor, we did it!"

Dr. Connors removed his glasses, wiping away tears of joy.

They had finally succeeded!

The live experiment with the reptilian regeneration gene had been a success. This meant that soon, Dr. Connors could regain his hand.

Gripping the empty sleeve where his arm used to be, Dr. Connors reminded himself that it wasn't over yet. The human trials still needed to be conducted, and time was running out...

Clenching his empty sleeve, Dr. Connors' eyes filled with determination. In his excitement, Peter hadn't noticed.

"Peter, store the remaining two vials of the serum."

"We've been working too hard lately. We need a good rest. Clean up the lab and go home for some sleep. Tomorrow, we'll finalize the results!"

"Yes, Dr. Connors!"

At the college entrance, Dr. Connors watched Peter leave. Once he was sure Peter was out of sight, he returned to the lab. He activated the recording camera, pointing it at himself.

"Peter, I'm sorry. I lied to you. Oscorp and the university gave me a deadline of one week to produce a gene serum ready for human use."

"Obviously, we still haven't completed the human trials. But now, there's no time left, so you know what that means."

"If the experiment succeeds, you'll never see this recording. But if I fail…"

Dr. Connors spoke to the camera as though leaving a final message. He held the vial of serum he had just stored.

Without hesitation, he injected the serum into his own body.

...