The next day, in the sewers of Queens, a hidden and narrow studio lay next to the drainage ditch.
"Tick tock, tick tock..."
In the quiet, cold environment, two green-skinned and huge lizardmen were making potions in the studio. The dim lights illuminated the rows of green potions on the shelves. The strong and fierce-looking lizardman was Professor Connors, while the slightly thinner and more muscular one was Peter Parker.
After giving up on Ramelin and joining the gang, the two of them hid in the dark sewers and built a temporary studio, constantly producing lizard potions in preparation for their final plan.
"Ding! Ding!" Suddenly, a mobile phone rang in the quiet sewer, causing both of them to turn their heads and look at each other, then at the mobile phone on the table next to them.
The screens of the previously silent and black phones had all lit up.
Connors walked over, picked up the phone in his giant palm, and checked it.
"Rockstar?" Connors muttered, surprised at the inexplicable app that had appeared on his phone. He then looked over at Peter, who had picked up his phone with two fingers and showed it to him, revealing the same app icon.
Connors' cold, vertical pupils narrowed as he stared at the icon, his mind racing. The fact that the app could be remotely installed on their phones meant the sender could potentially determine their location. Had they been exposed?
But something didn't add up. If their location had been compromised, there would be no need to install an app on their phones. It was also challenging to detect their signal in the dark, deep sewers.
As Connors pondered the implications, Peter had already opened the app first.
peared. About 5.8 million years ago, Ardipithecus appeared...] [About 200,000 years ago, Homo sapiens appeared.] [So far, human beings have experienced the Stone Age, the Iron Age... to the current Information Age. Over a long period of time, the science and technology of the times have continued to advance, but human beings themselves seem to still be stuck in the same place.] [But the emergence of lizard people seems to indicate that the opportunity for human evolution has arrived.] [Leading human evolution requires the guidance of great men in history.] [Come on, join the glorious evolution!] [Task: Please follow the instructions to obtain materials to make six Canary devices and install them in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn... Central Park.] [Lizards Rise!]
[Do you want to accept the mission?]
Connors and Peter Parker stared at the mission slogan on their mobile phones, feeling their cold blood begin to boil. Evolution, historical greatness, rising up—it seemed every word struck a chord, making their tails twitch involuntarily.
Connors reluctantly tore his eyes away from the phone and looked at Peter. Both could see the shared emotion in each other's eyes.
"Professor Connors..." Peter asked, "What do you think? Should we continue with the original plan?"
Their original plan was to borrow the Canary device on top of the Oscorp Building to disperse the lizard potion into the air, allowing people in the surrounding neighborhoods to undergo evolution, and then expand into other districts.
But now, with someone offering materials to create more devices to cover the entire New York City, the stakes were higher.
Connors did not answer immediately but turned back to look at the task on his phone, thinking deeply. The sudden appearance of the mysterious app and its tasks, which fit perfectly with their ideas, gave him an unreal feeling, as if a pair of big hands were controlling something.
"Observe for now. Peter, you go back to school tomorrow and see if there has been any news about such mysterious software appearing in society recently. I'll try to figure out a way to track it through calculations," Connors said.
Although the task excited them, its sudden appearance made him cautious. He didn't want to accept it immediately without knowing more about it. They had been in the sewers for so long that they were almost disconnected from the outside world.
"I think we should agree. This is exactly what we are going to do. Why not give it a try?" Peter offered his opinion.
"I understand, but it's best to be sure." Connors, despite his drastic change in temperament under the influence of the lizard potion, still retained his basic sanity and caution.
"Alright," Peter agreed.
In Hell's Kitchen, at Merlin's Tuning Shop, Merlin sat in front of his computer, surprised to see that Connors and Peter did not immediately accept the task.
"After turning into a lizard, hasn't your brain gotten all messy?" Merlin muttered.
He wasn't too anxious about it and began to expand the area covered by his platform. Hell's Kitchen had stabilized, with no issues in basic production. Only items with higher technical content still required Merlin's personal touch. But when the time came, he planned to list them on the mall with a limited number, showcasing their special value.
After all, limited editions highlight the preciousness of special vehicles and weapons. The early buyers would likely be wealthy individuals or the rich second generation. As the platform expanded to other areas and the number of players stabilized, Professor Connors' Canary device should be almost ready.
"Phew... Done!" After an unknown amount of time, Merlin breathed a sigh of relief and pressed the Enter key, sending the edited program through the Rockstar subsystem to the entirety of Apple City.
Finished with that task, Merlin caught up on the recent news:
- *A police and robber chase was staged on Broadway Street.*
- *A suspected F22 Raptor fighter jet flew over Apple City.*
- *A mysterious attack is suspected under the power plant bridge.*
"Huh?" Merlin, who had been lounging on the sofa lazily, sat up straight when he saw this. He clicked on the news footage, starting with the chase on Broadway.
Zooming in on the blurry surveillance screen, he widened his eyes upon recognizing the situation inside the police car. "What the hell, Transformers?" Although he had heard about the collaboration between Marvel and Transformers in his previous life, and even about Iron Man's anti-Transformers armor, he never expected that there would actually be Transformers in this world.
Still unsure, he continued to check the news footage frame by frame and finally hacked into the police surveillance system to view all the footage of the two cars.
Soon, he saw something unexpected, causing him to step back and click pause.
"This is?"
In the picture, a sexy woman was riding a modified Ducati motorcycle speeding down a secluded street. The motorcycle beneath her looked exactly like his own Ducati.
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