Octavius?
Ben froze when he heard the name. He immediately realized that the middle-aged man whose physique had gone out of shape was Otto Octavius, better known as Doctor Octopus.
Currently, Otto was still just an ordinary person.
He wasn't wearing his mechanical tentacles, nor had he turned to crime due to a lack of funds. At this moment, he was receiving funding from the Hardy Foundation, diligently pursuing his research.
Otto was quite satisfied with his current life.
His past had been very poor. Although he was a native of New York, he came from the lower class. His father was a factory worker with a violent streak and a drinking problem, often beating him and his mother without reason.
After becoming an adult, he attended university with the help of loans. While studying, he had already achieved considerable success, writing numerous theoretical papers that made him famous in the field of Atomic Energy Physics.
However, later, Tony Stark built a fusion reactor in a junkyard in the Middle East, which achieved the dream he had been pursuing for so many years, and even more perfectly!
This caused Otto to fall into a slump for a long time, but he eventually recovered.
The Arc Reactor was perfect, but there were other things that weren't.
He wanted to use science to make the world a better place, and there wasn't just one path.
Of course, he hadn't completely abandoned his own reactor. The technology for that thing wasn't exactly the same as the Arc Reactor, and it still held value.
"Doctor Otto."
Ben didn't dislike Doctor Octopus. On the contrary, he admired the man's abilities and aspirations.
How bad could a person be who was dedicated to using his intelligence to benefit human society?
His becoming an enemy of Spider-Man was merely a twist of fate.
In fact, many of Spider-Man's enemies were like this. Before their fall, they were like mentors and friends to Peter Parker, only to eventually walk down opposing paths.
Totems...
"Now I understand why Miss Hardy asked where she could buy cheap experimental materials back then," Otto said with a smile. He glanced back at Felicia, who was standing next to Mrs. Hardy but kept stealing glances his way, and sighed.
"Youth is wonderful, isn't it?"
"Yes."
Ben agreed.
Then Otto continued, "Many people think Norman Osborn invented the Self-Healing Serum, but I know that's not true."
He glanced at Osborn, who was chatting happily with other entrepreneurs, and said, "He's a brilliant scientist, but he's been focusing his attention elsewhere these years."
Otto sounded regretful.
In his opinion, becoming a capitalist didn't advance society or improve the lives of others.
In this country, vampires were everywhere, and it was precisely because of their existence that the lives of the poor were even more difficult.
Norman Osborn was a genius, but genius alone was far from enough. In this world, genius was merely an entry ticket; above genius, there were other geniuses.
Like himself, he was already very famous in college, but compared to Tony Stark, he was still far behind.
Therefore, being a genius wasn't enough; one had to work even harder.
And Norman had clearly slowly abandoned his talent, which was why Otto couldn't quite like him.
"Actually, it was your achievement, wasn't it?" Otto's eyes were full of admiration.
"It was indeed invented by me."
Ben nodded. This wasn't a secret to many people; S.H.I.E.L.D., for example, had known for a long time.
He could have continued to keep it hidden, but for someone like Doctor Otto, Ben was quite willing to be sincere.
"I knew it."
He looked as if he had expected it, then his expression turned emotional.
"You know, Connors and I are actually good friends," he said. "He's been dedicated to researching Cross-Species Genetic Inheritance, not just to heal his own arm, but for others like him."
"The news said he sacrificed himself to prevent the Green Goblin from experimenting on innocent patients, becoming an experimental subject himself. I don't find that strange at all, because that's just the kind of person he is."
Ben nodded, agreeing with Otto's statement.
"That's why Uncle Norman and I spared no expense to find him after he disappeared and to cure him, because he is a person worthy of respect."
Uncle Norman...
When Otto heard this address, he froze for a moment before realizing that Ben was still just a child.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel that Connors shared his plight.
They were both geniuses, but above genius, there were other geniuses. What he had pursued his entire life, others could achieve with ease.
"Do you know?"
"Facing geniuses like you, I always feel jealous, regretful, and relieved," Otto said. "But I guess Connors will be very happy because his left hand has hope, and millions of disabled people have hope."
As the two were talking, a commotion arose in the distance.
They looked over and saw Justin Hammer striding in, surrounded by a large group of reporters.
He didn't stop for a moment, appearing impatient with the surrounding reporters, but anyone with discerning eyes could tell that the man was enjoying himself, reveling in the feeling of being the center of attention under the spotlight.
"I've already said, Hammer Industries has reached a cooperation with the military, and we will develop the most advanced and cutting-edge weapons..."
"As for the battle armor, I can only say that it is by no means Tony Stark's exclusive. He is just a selfish egomaniac who thinks no one else can research the technology for battle armor, but he is wrong..."
"Today's exhibition?"
"This is a surprise!" Justin Hammer said confidently, "I welcome everyone to witness it personally. Believe me, I have everything you want to see!"
"Alright, I know you have many more questions, but that's all for now." Justin Hammer pointed to the entrepreneurs at the exhibition as if he were being polite, then said, "I still have many people to greet."
"He's just like a peacock."
Otto said sarcastically.
"Yeah, that's why I don't like him much."
At this moment, Mrs. Hardy waved to Otto from a distance, signaling him to come over.
The Hardy Foundation did not have the same strength as other large corporations. Mrs. Hardy wanted to obtain investment from others through scientific research, but she herself did not understand science. Related matters depended on Otto's explanation.
Meanwhile, Justin Hammer was walking towards him.
However, his target was not Ben, but Norman Osborn.
"Norman, Norman, long time no see! I thought you would be down and out!" he shouted from afar, opening his arms to Norman, as enthusiastic as if they were old friends who hadn't seen each other for years.
But in reality, Osborn and Hammer had almost no prior interaction.
Norman didn't even need to think to understand why Hammer was so enthusiastic—the self-healing serum.
Hammer wasn't exactly a smart person, so naturally, like everyone else, he thought Osborn was the mastermind behind Primus.
Although the self-healing serum had nothing to do with Hammer Industries, and they were neither competitors nor partners, with such a serum available, no one would be without ideas.
After all, anyone could have an accident.
Not only that, if Osborn could release a self-healing serum, who knew if he would come up with an anti-aging serum in a few years?
Therefore, building a good relationship with the Osborn Corporation would do no harm.
Looking at the enthusiastic Hammer, and thinking about how the other party would soon lose everything, Norman couldn't help but sigh.
But it was only a sigh.
He turned his head and glanced at Ben. Their eyes met in mid-air, and then Norman walked towards Hammer with the same enthusiastic demeanor.
For businessmen, it was all about putting on a show.
Ben sat bored for a while. Felicia secretly slipped away from Mrs. Hardy and ran towards him. The two of them immediately seemed to have oil on their feet and left the backstage of the exhibition.
"Are you going on stage tonight?" Felicia asked.
Ben shook his head:
"I don't like being in the spotlight. Let Harry do it."
Hearing this, Felicia originally wanted to take Ben to stroll around the exhibition together, but Ben, who knew what would happen tonight, had no intention of wandering around.
"Let's go directly to Primus's venue."
Considering the potential danger, Ben worried that tonight might escalate into the Spider-Web Incident, so he had already set up an energy shield on the outer layer of the venue to ensure the safety of everyone present at the Primus event.
The technology for the energy shield was not invented by him; it was something that already existed on Sakaar.
Sakaar had a lot of high technology, but unfortunately, it was too far from Earth, and those wormholes were not stable. Even with the Tetramand engines, finding Earth's coordinates was quite difficult, to be honest.
The fact that he could return to Earth so quickly this time was thanks to Asgard.
It was a pity that the Bifrost wasn't his commute tool; otherwise, it would have been much more convenient.
Ben and Felicia returned to the Primus venue. In the front row of the venue, Mary Jane, Aunt May, and Uncle Ben were sitting together, chatting and laughing.
Clearly, Aunt May liked Mary Jane very much.
Mary Jane's aunt had a good relationship with her, so Aunt May looked at Mary Jane as if she were her own daughter.
However, when she thought about the month Ben was away traveling and another girl had come looking for him, Aunt May also felt a headache.
Dating two girls at the same time clearly did not align with Aunt May's values.
'I wonder how Benny will handle this...'
As she was thinking, she looked up and saw Ben and Felicia walking towards them side by side.
At this, Aunt May's expression changed.
She glanced at Mary Jane, and her face instantly became flustered.
Aunt May thought that Benny was too careless; he actually let two girls meet before making a decision.
'Are these two girls going to fight?'
Fortunately, things did not develop as she had imagined.
Upon seeing Felicia, Mary Jane was not surprised at all. Instead, she happily greeted her.
Felicia also ran over and sat next to her.
A love triangle?
Not a chance!
-----------
Translation by: randomtranslator.com
Read 2500+ original & fanfic translations and Translate for Free at: randomtranslator.com