49. Hawk's Blood Analysis Report

"What did you just say?"
"Uh, I don't know?"
"No, what did you just say the Doctor used to make the experiment succeed?"
"A tail-docked white mouse. Didn't I mention that to you last time?"
Hawk frowned, looking at Gwen, whose expression seemed somewhat shocked, and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"
Gwen didn't speak.
Her delicate brows were furrowed.
The experiment succeeded.
A tail-docked white mouse.
For some reason, Gwen's mind suddenly flashed back to two months ago, right after that laboratory accident, when a white mouse had broken out of its cage and licked up the blood that had dripped from Hawk.
If her memory served her right.
That white mouse seemed to have a docked tail.
"Hiss!"
Gwen instinctively drew in a sharp breath, glanced at Hawk, then pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, found a number, and dialed it.
Sitting across from her, Hawk raised an eyebrow at Gwen's actions.
Soon.
The call connected.
"Hello, Elsa."
"Gwen? Are you calling to ask what happened? I'm sorry, the company made us sign non-disclosure agreements."
"No, Elsa, I want to ask, did the Doctor's experiment succeed using a tail-docked white mouse?"
"Uh... yes."
At that moment, standing inside the Oscorp Biotechnology building after just signing the NDA with the company, the female researcher Elsa nodded, "Though you can't really call it a complete success, because it only happened that once. Every time we tried to replicate it afterward, it failed."
Hearing this, Gwen quickly pressed on.
"Was it that white mouse that broke out of its cage at the time?"
"Yes, exactly that one."
As expected!
Gwen muttered to herself inwardly. After exchanging a few more calm words with Elsa on the other end, she hung up the phone.
Looking at Gwen after she ended the call, Hawk asked curiously, "Was there something different about that escaped white mouse?"
Gwen put her phone away and glanced at Hawk.
She thought for a moment.
"Do you remember that laboratory accident?"
"Mm, I remember."
"Your hand got hurt and bled at the time, right?"
"No."
Hawk shook his head decisively.
Gwen didn't speak; she just quietly looked at Hawk.
Meeting Gwen's gaze, Hawk thought for a moment. "Alright, let's just say I was injured back then. Go on."
Gwen kept her eyes fixed on Hawk.
"Those few drops of blood you left on the floor were licked up by that tail-docked white mouse."
"..."
Hawk furrowed his brow slightly as he looked at Gwen.
Gwen looked back at him.
Their eyes met.
Hawk looked away and took a sharp breath. "You suspect that the successful tail-docked white mouse was the very same one you saw?"
Gwen shrugged. "It's the only variable. Otherwise, why would all of the Doctor's numerous animal experiments fail except for that single mouse?"
Although she couldn't comprehend the connection behind it all...
Yet...
In Gwen's mind, that waterfall deep in the forests of Maryland flashed once again—a waterfall resembling an angry dragon raising its head, its waters rolling backward to the heavens.
And standing beneath that inverted celestial river was Hawk, the very cause of it all.
Hawk remained silent. He quietly moved the large bucket of cola he was holding to the side, crossed his hands on the table, leaned forward slightly, and looked at Gwen.
He thought of what Peter had said on the apartment rooftop last night.
The Lizard had his aura on him.
Last night, Hawk had assumed that aura was leftover from Gwen having met Dr. Connors the day before.
But now, it seemed not to be the case.
A laboratory accident, a few drops of his blood left behind.
An escaped tail-docked white mouse drank those few drops of his blood, becoming the sole survivor in an experiment where every other white mouse died.
Dr. Connors then extracted a new serum from this surviving mouse and synthesized the regeneration formula.
After that...
Did Dr. Connors turn into the Lizard?
Frowning, Hawk looked at Gwen, who was quietly watching him across the table. He opened his mouth, then shook his head with a sense of absurdity.
"My blood shouldn't be that exaggerated."
"There's a way to find out."
"What?"
"The school's Stark Building has a blood analyzer. We can get results in half an hour at the earliest."
"..."
The Stark Building referred to Building Number Three on campus, a laboratory building donated by Howard Stark, with most of its equipment provided by Stark Industries.
Naturally, this included the fully automated rapid blood analysis analyzer bearing the Stark logo, which looked to be worth at least tens of thousands of dollars on the outside, but in reality cost over a million US dollars.
Hawk popped his finger into his mouth and sucked on it. When he pulled it out, the freshly pricked wound had already healed.
Gwen had already started up the machine.
The equipment was already whirring to life.
While waiting for the results, Gwen turned her head and looked at Hawk curiously. "Have you mutated, like Dr. Bruce Banner?"
Actually, she had been wanting to ask for a long time.
But she never had the chance.
Meeting Gwen's curious gaze, Hawk let out an involuntary chuckle and shook his head. "I can assure you, I am one hundred percent human. Purebred."
He had merely awakened his Sixth Sense...
That was all!
He would never admit to any mutation.
Only poor people relied on mutations.
Though he was also quite poor, he relied on himself. To repeat: whatever strength he possessed today was entirely due to his own unremitting self-improvement and day-after-day perseverance.
A thousand days of hard work, the sweat shed from ten thousand punches a day, had finally blossomed into the flowers he deserved.
Thinking to himself, Hawk paused, looked at Gwen, and added another sentence.
"Anyway, I'm definitely not some mutant freak like a spider-person. Also, don't ever lump me in with Bruce Banner; he doesn't deserve it."
"..."
A thought stirred in Gwen's mind as she caught the key point in Hawk's words, her eyes lighting up. "A spider-freak? You mean Spider-Man? Is he a mutant too?"
Hawk blinked, and under Gwen's gaze, he made a zipping motion across his lips.
"Anyway, I'm not revealing his identity, Gwen."
"Fine, keep your secrets. I can find out myself."
Gwen rolled her eyes.
Just then—
Beep, beep, beep!
While the two were talking in the lab, the fully automated rapid blood detection analyzer, having finished its half-hour cycle, emitted a completion chime.
Gwen hurried over and retrieved the analysis report printed out by the machine.
Hawk leaned in close as well.
Before their eyes.
Red blood cell count, white blood cells, platelet count... the numbers were off the charts.
Hawk blinked.
This result...
Was pretty much within his expectations. A Saint cultivated his own physique.
After glancing over the test report, Gwen took a deep breath and looked up at Hawk. "Hawk, do you have any idea what the outside world would do if they saw your blood analysis report?"
Hawk smiled.
He glanced at Gwen.
"Gwen."
"Other people won't find it so easy to collect my blood."
"..."