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Clap, clap, clap——————
Listening to Dr. Connors' 'grand words,' Ryan gave him a heartfelt round of applause.
It had to be said that sometimes, the startling ideals of villains were indeed grander than the so-called ideals of superheroes who only talked about protecting World peace.
For example, Dr. Connors' plan to let all of humanity evolve together.
Of course, that was assuming there were no side effects... because according to the nature of Superhero Comics, this path of collective evolution usually ends in an accident, without fail.
In the end, either everyone turns into a race of Lizard Man monsters like in 'The Amazing Spider-Man 1,' or they all mutate into six-legged, eight-eyed spider monsters like in the 'Spider-Island' comics.
Ryan didn't want to see either of those outcomes.
Even if Dr. Connors really could develop a side-effect-free serum that perfectly combined the abilities of Spider-Man and the Lizard Man, Ryan still wouldn't agree to his global evolution plan.
On a large scale, power leads to arrogance; if everyone had the power of Spider-Man, the World would likely be finished within a year.
On a small scale, everyone has a selfish side, and Ryan was no exception; if everyone became Spider-Man, wouldn't he lose his uniqueness?
Unless... after global humanity turned into Spider-Men, he could also obtain their spider powers by defeating them one by one, just like how he obtained Peter's spider powers.
That way, even if everyone in the World became Spider-Man, he could still be the Super Spider Monarch in a World full of Spider-Men.
However, Ryan felt that was unlikely.
On one hand, no author would let the plot proceed that way; otherwise, wouldn't he just quickly reach max level and end the story?
On the other hand, his Spider-Sense told him that he could only obtain spider abilities from a special Spider-Man like Peter; it wouldn't work on ordinary people even if they gained spider powers.
And ever since he relied on this Spider-Sense to obtain Peter's abilities last time, he had absolute faith in this intuition.
So, looking at Dr. Connors who was waiting for his answer, Ryan ultimately gave a negative response:
"Although your global evolution plan sounds very grand, I'm sorry, I cannot trust you while you're being deluded like this."
"So, it's better to let the real Dr. Connors talk to me."
Seeing that Ryan, after long deliberation, had finally rejected him, Dr. Connors' expression darkened:
"What are you talking about? Look closely, I am not a lizard monster right now, I am Dr. Connors!"
Ryan ignored him and walked straight to a refrigerated safe, opened it with a palm print, and took out a vial of green serum from the cold air.
Dr. Connors' face changed wildly upon seeing the lizard serum, and his gaze toward the vial became both greedy and longing:
"So it was you! That day while Peter was ruining my plans, you took my regeneration serum from Norman's secretary!"
Ryan nodded in admission: "That's right. And I lied to you before; I said I wasn't very good at biological research, but actually, I know a 'tiny bit' about it."
In this life, as Peter's cousin and a natural Spider-Man, he was a genius who finished his studies at MIT by the age of 18; how could he really know nothing about biology?
It was just that he usually preferred to solve problems with overwhelming force.
Earning money was the same; he liked to use his strength to make money, not his brain.
In essence, as long as he was willing to be serious, he was even more of a genius than Peter.
Otherwise, why did you think Ryan specifically built a laboratory floor on the second basement level?
Seeing Ryan walking toward the lab bench with the lizard serum, the greedy expression on Dr. Connors' face turned into fear:
"Wait! You... what are you trying to do?!"
Without looking back, Ryan placed the vial into an instrument for analysis and said calmly:
"You know, Peter was never the only one who knew the final formula for the lizard regeneration serum. When Peter was looking at the formula his father left him, I was also there..."
"It's just that I didn't have the research conditions back then. Now that my lab has finally been built over these past two years, you happened to deliver the finished product to me, saving me some mental effort..."
"Although this finished product isn't perfect yet and hasn't met my expectations, using it to reverse-engineer an antidote is still a very simple matter."
As he spoke, Ryan did this and that, and finally, a deep blue Anti-Lizard Serum was produced by him.
Upon seeing the serum, Dr. Connors immediately began to struggle, desperately trying to retreat:
"No, no, no! I don't want it! I don't want to change back into that cowardly Curtis 'Curt' Connors! You can't do this!!!!"
Of course, this was in vain. Ryan grabbed Dr. Connors by the hair and, regardless of his willingness, plunged the needle directly into his neck!
As the blue serum was pushed into Dr. Connors' body, the green scales on his skin reverted to normal human skin at a visible speed, and the clarity returned to his eyes.
After the injection, Ryan casually tossed the empty syringe into a trash can several meters away, tore the ropes off Dr. Connors, and extended his left hand to him:
"Welcome back, Dr. Connors."
Without the constant delusions from his evil second persona, the conscious Dr. Connors sat in a daze for a long time before giving a bitter smile, shaking Ryan's left hand, and standing up:
"As a scientist, I really was foolish, actually injecting myself with an untested serum..."
"Ryan, did I... did I hurt a lot of people?"
Ryan nodded slightly: "Yes, but fortunately, the two actions you took after becoming the Lizard Man were both stopped by Peter and me. Except for a few police officers who died in the line of duty during the second time, there were no civilian casualties."
"You don't need to blame yourself too much for the deaths of the officers. Being a police officer in America, they were already prepared for this day."
"And they won't die in vain. I will anonymously support their families to ensure they can live normally after losing their breadwinners."
"Of course, I'm fronting this money for you; it will be deducted from your salary later."
This wasn't because Ryan was kind, but because it allowed him to better control someone with a high sense of morality like Dr. Connors.
Sure enough, Dr. Connors didn't act like some superheroes who kill without taking responsibility; instead, he took ownership of the consequences he caused.
Dr. Connors sighed:
"This is indeed something I should bear, but I'm afraid I'll have to owe you this money for a while. After this failure, I can no longer continue working at Osborn Enterprises..."
"And although it wasn't of my own true will, I did indeed kill several innocent officers. I think I'll need to spend a long time in prison..."
Ryan interrupted Dr. Connors: "Of course you can't stay at Osborn Enterprises, but is surrendering and repenting in prison really what you want?"
"Don't you want to continue your research on the regeneration serum?"
"Don't you think that only by completing this limb regeneration research, which is enough to benefit all of humanity and help countless officers disabled in the line of duty, would be the best repentance for those innocent officers who died?"
Faced with Ryan's righteous words, Dr. Connors couldn't help but be moved, but he still hesitated:
"But... even if I'm willing to continue the research, the rights to the lizard regeneration serum are in the hands of Osborn Enterprises. Without their authorization, no legitimate company would agree to let me continue researching it..."
To this, Ryan gave a disdainful smile and pointed to his laboratory: "Doctor, do you think this looks like a legitimate company to you?"