Eddie thought, didn't he know that finding clues and leaving this world at the fastest speed was the best way? But he knew he couldn't do it, having neither the reserves nor the capability.
But it shouldn't have been like this.
He had more opportunities than ordinary people to interact with superheroes. He had a good relationship with members of The Avengers and the Prince of Asgard, and even lived under the same roof with them.
There was also Doctor Schiller, whose forte was providing ample room for growth for his friends. Eddie knew that all he had to do was ask, and Schiller would never refuse.
What was he resisting? What was he running away from?
"You don't want to be a superhero," Venom, like a specter circling his heart, said: "You think it's better to be a weak ordinary person. If you don't have power, you don't have to bear responsibility. When disaster strikes, you can run. You don't think you can risk your life to save the world, like superheroes do."
"Actually, you didn't have such responsibilities in the first place. It's because of me. My power makes you feel that you have to bear more responsibility. But you have no confidence at all. You're afraid you'll run at the first sign of disaster."
"That would be a betrayal." Eddie finally spoke: "They would be disappointed... but I can't guarantee I wouldn't run."
"Do you think Eddie in this world ran off?"
Eddie was silent for a while, not answering Venom's question. He pursed his lips and said, "Even if we're counterparts in parallel universes, we're not completely the same. I don't know."
Eddie stood up from the lockers and said, "I admit you're right. Since we've already broken into Stark Building, it doesn't make sense not to scour around here. Let's go, Stark No.2; let's see if we can find something useful here based on your knowledge of him."
Eddie and Venom continued upward and, strangely, didn't encounter any enemies until they nearly reached the top floor, where Eddie discovered a peculiar device that had toppled over inside one of the labs.
"What is this?" Eddie asked.
Venom appeared, covering his body surface, and went forward to take a look at the strange object resembling a cage, inspecting the wires and the battery before saying, "I was wondering why I kept hearing odd noises. This thing is a powered cage, but its power method is weird. It's not a lethal electric current, but more like an electronic wave."
"It seems the intense shaking of the building knocked it over. The electronic wave is continuously spreading, but I don't know what the significance of this is."
Eddie looked up at the ceiling, saying, "Stark's frequently used lab should be upstairs. Let's go check it out."
On the way to the upper floor, Venom spoke up: "Doesn't it seem strange? If the Zombie Iron Man of this universe is still alive, then how could he not make a single move when his home was bombed?"
Eddie shook his head, indicating that he didn't know. They ascended and Venom easily found Stark's frequently used lab.
Although Venom had been ready to force his way in, shockingly, Stark hadn't even locked the lab door.
Venom knelt to touch the liquid on the floor and in an instant, he flung his hand, casting off all the Symbiotic Factor that touched the droplet of liquid. He said, "Yes, the same stench. Iron Man of this world has already turned into a zombie, and he was in this lab before he left the building."
"He left in a hurry, you could say he ran out. He didn't even have time to close the lab door."
"What was the hurry?"
"We'll know once we go in."
After Venom entered the lab, he felt right at home, using the Symbiotic Factor to conjure up a pair of glasses and quickly getting into Stark's workflow.
"Let me see, the experimental equipment wasn't activated, it doesn't seem like an experiment was in progress, and the battlesuit is properly placed on the rack... Oh, my God, the Iron Man battlesuit of this world is so ugly. Who is this? Zorro?"
"Hurry up, Venom, we don't have time to dawdle!"
Venom harrumphed but quickly focused on the matter at hand. He navigated around the large experimental table to the other side, pressed a button, and a holographic screen popped out. He said, "If he wasn't conducting experiments, he must have been accessing data. I can check the equipment usage record."
Venom frowned as he typed on the keyboard, constantly bringing up patterns on the holographic screen. After a while, he stood up straight and said, "The equipment that has been accessed recently was all cameras; it seems like he was looking for someone in the city."
"Looking for someone?" Even if Eddie was a bit slow to respond, he caught on at that moment, saying: "Could there still be a rebel army? If he was looking for teammates, he wouldn't need to use cameras."
"It's very possible, let me check the camera footage."
With a tap on the keyboard from Venom, the next second, both he and Eddie were transfixed.
The last image from the camera showed a figure crouched in a street corner with a peculiar circular object in his hands.
What stunned both of them was that the figure in the image was Spider Man, and more importantly, he hadn't turned into a zombie, there were no wounds on his body, and his mouth was normal.
"Spider Man dodged a bullet!!!" Eddie subconsciously raised his voice, almost yelling out, he said, "Good job! He's most likely normal right now, we need to find him!"
"Wait a minute, Zombie Iron Man saw this image and immediately rushed out. This means..."
Eddie hammered his fist violently, grinding his teeth as he said: "We're a step too late. Spider Man probably can't handle the Zombie Army!"
"Calm down," Venom's tone was relatively steady, he said, "We can still follow the surveillance footage. Maybe Zombie Iron Man didn't alert others, and Spider Man miraculously escaped?"
After he finished speaking, he tapped the keyboard again, allowing the surveillance footage from various locations to continue playing. As expected, the figure of Zombie Iron Man quickly appeared on the screen.
"He really didn't alert others." Eddie's voice was shaking with excitement, he said, "That's great. If it's just him alone, perhaps..."
But one of the surveillance camera's footage crushed Eddie's hope. Zombie Iron Man's gaping mouth snapped down on Spider Man's arm, blood gushing out all at once.
Spider Man howled in extreme agony, but Eddie realized it wasn't just from pain, his scream was full of frustration.
From the skyline behind the two of them, Eddie determined that the place where the two were fighting wasn't far from Times Square, New York.
They saw, Spider Man, despite his injury, exerted all his strength to jump onto a building's rooftop. And after Venom magnified the footage, he discovered a small spaceship parked on the edge of the roof.
A figure in red and blue flashed across, and the final image stopped on the Wakanda symbol on the spaceship.