Chapter 1551: The Sun Chaser (12)_1

The night Gwen left New York for Hollywood, Betty accompanied her to the airport. After seeing Gwen off, she left the terminal to find her boyfriend, Bruce Banner, waiting for her in his car parked by the road.

Betty got in the car, quietly sighing. Seeing her melancholy expression, Banner asked with concern, "What's wrong? Are you okay, Betty?"

Betty shook her head and said, "I'm just happy for Gwen. She hadn't even graduated when we were working together in the lab. She was still an innocent young girl and now she's about to get married to Peter."

Banner swallowed hard, lowered his head slightly, and said, "I'm really sorry, Betty, I just..."

Betty remained silent for a long time. When Banner looked over at her again, he saw a tear in Betty's eye. In his panic, he slammed on the brakes and reached out to tightly grasp Betty's hand.

"I don't understand why you won't stand by me and resist my father, Bruce. Are we going to keep going on like this?"

She turned to him, her eyes filled with tears, "Gwen often tells me how stubborn her father is, yet Gwen and Peter managed to overcome their obstacles together and finally walk down the aisle. Why can't we do the same?"

"I'm really sorry, Betty..."

"I don't want to hear apologies, Bruce. Tell me, why are you always so reluctant to face my father?"

Banner remained silent. Betty took a deep breath and said, "Because you also think he's right. You also think you're an uncontrollable monster. You're always thinking of running away, away from everyone, including me."

"No, Betty, I never once thought of leaving you. I'm just...I'm just afraid I might hurt you." Banner grasped the steering wheel tightly and explained with a painful expression, "The Hulk has been behaving better but he is...he's not something an ordinary person can handle. He could take your life at any moment."

"Either stand by me firmly, even if it means going to Hell together, or leave me completely and quit having those nightmares where you suddenly lose control and kill me."

Betty, looking Banner in the eyes, said, "We're doing nothing but torturing each other right now. If we keep going like this, we'll both go mad."

Betty pulled her hand out of Banner's, adding, "Bruce, it is unbearable for me to see those around me, one by one, entering into matrimony, forming happy families, while we are only burdening each other. You cannot promise me any assurance, leaving me insecure. I can't accept a future like that."

Banner closed his eyes in pain, his facial muscles trembling. But by the time he opened his eyes, Betty had already opened the car door. Before she stepped out, she turned to Banner and said,

"You're not a monster. My father is wrong. We should be fighting against him, striving for our own happiness. If you don't want to take this road, then we really have no future."

With a "bang", the car door closed. The car sat for several hours in the silence of the autumn night until dawn, when the engine finally roared to life again.

Banner stopped his car in front of a convenience store. In a slightly hoarse voice he asked the shopkeeper, "Give me a bottle of wine."

The shopkeeper looked him up and down, glanced at his car, grabbed a bottle and handed it to him, "Have a nice day, sir."

"I will...probably."

The light outside the window brightened and dimmed, the dying rays of the sunset casting a dazzling spot of light on the glass coffee table, creating a radiant red within one's sight.

"Dingling!!"

An urgent ringing went on and on until the cellphone vibrated off the coffee table. A hand took hold and put it to an ear, uttering in a slurred voice, "Hello, what's up?"

"Bruce Banner! What the hell are you doing?! Where's the result of Project No. 1023?! You promised it by today! Look at the time!"

A roaring Otto resonated over the phone. Banner, reeking of alcohol, got up groggily from the sofa, mumbling, "What's the hurry? Tomorrow...let's do it tomorrow..."

"Six project teams are all waiting for your conclusion. Tomorrow! If your report isn't turned in by then, I won't live till tomorrow! ...Forget it, where are you now? I'll pick you up."

"I'm at...my home..."

About half an hour later, Doctor Octopus Otto appeared in Banner's home, only to be shocked at the sight of the messy room and the overwhelming smell of alcohol.

Moving the clutter on the ground with his tentacles, he walked to the coffee table, picked up the wine bottle, took a swift breath and turned to the reclining Banner, "My God, why are you drinking such high-alcohol-content wines? Are you out of your mind?"

"I...I put in...ice cubes..."

Octopus opened his mouth, glanced at the wine bottle, and then at Banner, shook his head and said, "Well, seems like analyzing data really has to wait till tomorrow. I'll go explain to them. You get a good rest."

"No, hang on." The drunk's mood changed as quickly as the East Coast weather, Banner sat up from the couch, grabbing hold of one of Otto's tentacles, he said, "It's okay, I can do the experiment, I will go.to...the lab..."

Having said that, he stood up, used the furniture for support, and walked totteringly towards the washroom. After washing his face, adjusting his glasses, and tidying up his crumpled shirt, he came out looking much better.

After sizing him up, Otto was unsure whether he should stop him. But upon the horrifying thought of the touchy scientists from the research groups chasing him for reports, Otto didn't stop him in the end.

Driving Otto to his lab, due to the fact that he wasn't in charge of the project and wasn't familiar with the details, Otto asked Banner on the way. But 'Banner seemed to be still hungover and could not provide a clear explanation.

The good news was that the Hulk was now quiet; the bad news was that Banner's brain didn't seem to be functioning well. Banner intuitively guided Otto, using his identification card to open the security door to the lab.

Once inside, he came to the experimental table in a daze, glanced at the material on it without looking closely, then pointed to the side and told Otto, "I haven't done the collider experiment yet, you help me turn on the machine, I'll fetch the previous experimental report."

Without giving it much thought, Otto walked to the room Banner had pointed out. Only when he had got there did he realize that this was the control room for the particle collider. But for some reason, it had an observation window, and there seemed to be faint shadows inside.

Being cautious with unfamiliar instruments, Otto went over and glanced at the documents on the table, reading out loud what he thought was the name of the experiment, "Anti-Matter Particle Observation Records?"

Otto furrowed his brows, mumbling to himself, "So, this project is about the study of anti-matter particles? No wonder those old men were constantly pressing me for reports... So this is an anti-matter particle collider?"

Otto backed up a few steps, eyeing the giant machine, but felt something wasn't right. The panel of the particle collider seemed similar to those he had seen before, except for that observation window on the side, which seemed like a later attachment.

Moved by curiosity, Otto peeked inside, but only saw darkness. At this point, Banner, who had fetched the data, approached and went to the front of the collider's control panel, "The previous preparations have all been made, all we need is to start it now."

As Banner started to work next to the control panel, Otto was still looking at the observation window.

After a while, a humming sound rang out, Banner glanced at the data report, and said, "Okay, we'll just need to wait a few more minutes now. Stark Industries' miniature collider is really convenient, we don't have to wait for days anymore."

"Huh? This data…" Banner suddenly frowned, likewise looking at the panel. Suddenly he widened his eyes and yelled, "Wait, it's showing an error? High-energy particle stream didn't launch successfully? Can a collider even have a jam?!"

Just as Banner cried out in surprise, Otto saw a blooming purple dot appear in the middle of an unfamiliar star chart from the panel of the viewing window - Otto could not be more familiar with this scene - it was a type of fusion reaction.

Quickly, Otto dragged Banner and ran out of the lab. Banner, still in a fog, was met with Otto staring intensely at him, saying, "Are you sure the function of studying antimatter particles is to directly perform a collision? Did you add anything else to the collider?"

"Antimatter particles?" Banner asked in surprise. "What antimatter particles? This is a basic particle collision experiment!"

Otto handed Banner his documents, and after viewing the notes, Banner looked around in confusion, staring back at his document station and finishing, "Wait, someone's been here... Someone touched my stuff!"

The booze quickly evaporated from Banner's system as he dashed back into the control room of the particle collider. His eyes widened as soon as he saw the observation window, "When did the mini-collider have this component? It wasn't there when I came yesterday..."

But just then, there was sudden movement outside the door. Banner and Otto rushed out and saw Reed approaching the lab.

"Reed, isn't your lab upstairs? What are you doing here?"

"I came to use the particle collider. I have an experiment to do. It was halfway done, but Susan called me away yesterday. I'm here to finish it today. You get on with yours, I'll only use the collider."

With an ill foreboding, Otto rushed over to Reed and pulled him over to the observation window, pointing to the interior. "What's causing that fusion?!"

Reed goggled at the scene in the observation window. He shot a look at Otto and exclaimed, "You guys turned on the machine, and the antimatter particles are still inside!!!"

Before Otto could say anything, Reed rushed over to the control panel. After a string of operations, he looked at the data on the panel, and in shock he said,

"The high-energy particle stream has struck the antimatter particle at the corresponding universe coordinates of the regular matter particle, and it has punched open a passage to the anti-matter universe!"

Immediately, he took two steps back and called, "Quick! Get upstairs! Use Stark's Observer Robot!"

The three of them dashed to the top floor of the lab. With Banner's identification card, they gained access to the Observer Robot deployed throughout the cosmos by Stark. Reed adjusted the coordinates, and just a moment later, the three of them stopped in their tracks all at the same time.

After a brief flash of purple light, wave after wave of ripples spread from the origin. It was a miracle that there was a bright white star shining like the sun within the radiation range of the black hole, where not a glint of light could be observed - it was a passage to the anti-matter universe.

At the exact moment the passage opened, a gigantic bug, with six legs, each with three sections, and over ten compound eyes, crawled out from inside.

Following this, the infinite swarm of insect-like creatures seemed to fill the cosmos like an ominous wave, obliterating everything, as they descended upon our universe.