His limbs were bound so tightly that even the most basic breathing brought a bone-chilling pain.
Harry felt that his heart, which had long been frozen cold by the cruel reality, was instantly ignited by a fury so intense it nearly burned everything away. The blood surged through his entire body, making him desperately try to break free from the shackles upon him.
He could not see Finn's expression, nor could he see the young man's every move.
But it was as if every detail could be clearly outlined in his mind—
His younger brother was certainly watching with a pair of calm green eyes as the syringe was pushed into his own body.
His actions were decisive, without a moment of hesitation.
[Don't worry.]
[I will help you.]
[I will help you without reservation.]
The words Finn had once said over and over again in a firm tone in his memory now floated in Harry's ears.
Even piercing deeply into his heart.
When he said he would hold nothing back, he truly meant it—a total, all-out [holding nothing back].
Harry's chest heaved rapidly, his wide eyes bloodshot.
—He knew it!
—He knew his younger brother was always such an idiot!!
Even System PP, who existed as an unknown bystander, could not tell them apart.
It seemed as if this world was using one cruel test of humanity after another to test his Host.
What was measured was that his Host lacked humanity.
Or perhaps, Finn possesses the purest humanity.
"Finn, you have truly opened my eyes." Marcus stared in shock at Finn, who was expressionlessly injecting the syringe into his own arm; he had never imagined that Finn would make such a choice under these circumstances. Furthermore, what struck him as strange was that there were many scars on Finn's arm that looked as if they had been made by a knife.
Finn's completely unhesitating behavior even made Marcus begin to doubt his previous speculations about Finn.
Do you know what this means? Is Harry Osborn worth giving up everything for him?
Harry's mouth was gagged, preventing him from making even the slightest sound; he could only tense his body rigidly as he listened to his brother say—
He is my older brother.
His heart felt as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer.
Just like the answer in the account of the Seven Major Sicknesses that Harry saw at the very beginning—
[It's his older brother.]
From beginning to end, his younger brother had not changed.
At this moment, Harry truly felt as if he could no longer breathe.
That heart-wrenching pain did not come from physical shackles, nor from the erosion of mutation, but exploded from the deepest depths of his heart, spreading through his veins to his entire body, as if it were going to violently tear apart his bones and his soul. In this world, there is not just hate; love can be just as intense, enough to make a person collapse in agony.
Harry's entire body shook uncontrollably, although he had not intended to resist anymore, he once again exerted all his strength to struggle desperately.
The cold blood within his body felt as if it had suddenly been ignited, boiling and searing every blood vessel and every inch of nerve in his body.
The intense physical pain and the twisting ache in his heart erupted simultaneously, layering upon one another, far exceeding the limits of what he could endure.
But fortunately, the only stroke of luck was—
His younger brother's body did not contain the genes for hereditary diseases, which was once the thing Harry envied most, but now it had become his greatest relief and his only inner support.
Finn's mind was also a mess of noise at this moment.
The sound of Misery Value skyrocketing and the frantic shouts of System PP were a chaotic mess in his ears.
Finn could no longer hear clearly.
His heart was actually beating very fast, so violently that Finn felt uncomfortable, his chest was filled with a heavy, suffocating sense of guilt.
He had clearly decided that he would no longer fleece Misery Value from his brother, but now—
Even Finn didn't dare to look at the speed at which the Misery Value was skyrocketing.
And then, a sudden change occurred at this very moment.
The green scales, symbolizing the curse of the Osborn family, were spreading frantically across Harry's skin at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Spreading from the arms to the fingertips, crawling from the chest toward the neck, even up the bulging veins of the neck to the cheeks, the mottled green patterns were spreading at a speed visible to the naked eye, hideous and terrifying.
"Harry.." Finn stared at this scene in shock, unable to understand how it could suddenly turn into this.
A ferocious growl escaped Harry's throat involuntarily.
It was as if an instinct of the body being devoured by a curse, but more so, an extreme venting of pain and rage.
The shackles binding Harry were actually violently torn apart by his sudden, unprecedented burst of strength.
Harry's eyes were bloodshot. Almost instinctively, with a ferocity that bordered on malice, he reached out and grabbed the arm of the mercenary who had been covering his eyes. A crisp cracking sound echoed, the sound of bones breaking sounding exceptionally clear in the silent office.
No one expected that Harry, who appeared to have no strength left, could still burst forth with such terrifying power.
Finn was stunned for a moment, but he immediately reacted, raising his hand to throw a punch at the mercenary.
His combat power is lacking, but he has great strength.
There was no special reason; it was just that he had previously added attribute points to his own strength.
As expected, the mercenary with the broken arm had no time to resist at all; he was knocked unconscious on the spot by the heavy blow.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
The sudden reversal left everyone stunned in place, a brief, deathly silence fell over the office.
But after the silence, the cold reality struck once again—
Marcus had many people by his side, they were all holding firearms.
An absolute disparity in strength will not change anything just because one person falls.
The moment Harry regained his sight, the first thing he saw was a room full of gun barrels.
His body was still enveloped in extreme pain, every movement felt as if a sharp knife were twisting and torturing within his flesh.
But Harry's first reaction was still to instinctively reach out, pulling Finn tightly into his arms, using his own body—which had been torn apart by the mutation—to shield him like a desperate human shield. It was as if he thought that by doing so, he could protect him from all the dangers with his own body.
Finn suddenly thought of the cold words Harry had used to reprimand him just yesterday: [I don't need you to stand in front of me like a human shield.]
You would have done the exact same thing, yet you criticize me.
Danger did not approach that quickly.
After all, it was a game of a group of fierce cats catching two sick rats.
And these hunters were clearly in no hurry to launch their attack.
A bit unexpected." Marcus's voice rang out, carrying a hint of surprise, but mostly playfulness and cruelty, clearly regarding all of this as nothing more than the Osborn brothers' final, desperate struggle. "Finn, you know I certainly didn't prepare just one vial. I had already injected Harry before you arrived.
I think you aren't so naive as to believe that I would let Harry go just because you injected the catalyst, are you? It's merely the difference between one dose and two.
Of course, even if you really inject Harry, you won't be able to escape yourself.
Finn's pupils suddenly constricted, his heart sank; he had ultimately underestimated the extent to which these jumping monsters were seeking death.
Only then did he realize in hindsight—
Harry's mutation at this moment was not a sudden outbreak, but rather a process accelerated by a pre-injected serum. Moreover, as Harry's emotions collapsed, the curse was devouring Harry Osborn at a terrifying and rapid speed.
I'm actually feeling a bit moved by your brotherhood now. That's great," Marcus let out a disdainful chuckle. "In a single day, you'll both mutate into a pair of monster brothers, so neither of you will have to look down on the other.
"I am sincerely happy for you," the man said, but his tone was bone-chillingly cold and mocking.
Take them away." Marcus issued the command coldly. On this chaotic battlefield of alien invasion in New York, no one would care about this little commotion within the Osborn Building. "This is a great subject for genetic research, isn't it? I am also very eager to see what you will turn into in twenty-four hours.
As the footsteps of those mercenaries drew closer step by step, Finn could clearly feel that Harry's body, which was clinging tightly to him, had become extremely tense, every inch of his muscles trembling like a beast driven into a corner.
In the next second, he seemed ready to lunge forward and die along with these people.
Finn quickly grabbed Harry and held him tightly.
—Don't, you mental workers shouldn't try to fight with brute force.
—Even though you've mutated as well, you haven't mutated to the extent of Spider-Man and Max!
"Host! Spider-Man is coming!" System PP shouted anxiously in an electronic voice at this moment.
Even Finn could see Spider-Man's dynamic location moving continuously toward them on the screen in his field of vision.
This made Finn very curious as to how System PP could still contact Spider-Man even when signals were being jammed.
, Spider-Man doesn't even have a cell phone? Is he connecting via brainwaves?
But right now was not the time to be thinking about that.
Finn picked up the gun dropped by the unconscious mercenary from the ground.
Calculating rapidly in his mind—
Guns: check. Harry: check. Spider-Man: check. Max: highly likely: check.
You don't actually think a gun can do anything, do you?" Seeing this, Marcus found it incredibly ridiculous, a mocking smirk curling at the corner of his mouth. "Have you ever even fired a gun?
"I've also gone to a shooting range with friends to practice shooting," Finn nodded calmly.
"A shooting range? Do I need to remind you what kind of things those mercenaries usually use as targets for practice?" Marcus found it increasingly amusing, his eyes filled with undisguised mockery; sometimes he truly felt that Finn possessed a kind of naivety that others found difficult to understand.
But, it was also very strange.
Even if Harry Osborn were facing such a crisis, he would experience emotions of panic, tension, despair.
But Finn Osborn was as if.. the more it was like this, the calmer he became.
No one would take the gun in Finn Osborn's hand seriously, not even Harry Osborn.
But in the next second, Finn turned around and aimed the gun at the floor-to-ceiling window behind him without any hesitation.
The electric grid outside the Osborn Building was already gone; no matter how surging Max's electrical energy was, it would be impossible to maintain a defensive form indefinitely. Furthermore, judging by the current state of the battle, the alien army invading Earth had been retreating steadily. Max had most likely pursued them, but he was certainly not far from the Osborn Building.
As for Spider-Man—
In Finn's peripheral vision, that iconic bright red figure had already leapt into view.