American comics: Praising the sun, starting from Gotham!

Etri stared at Xiu En.

The shock on his face had not yet completely faded.

The sunflower straightened its flower head and pointed its leaves towards the treasure vault: "Hurry up, hurry up! Our time is precious. If you delay our important business, we'll tear this broken iron ring apart and burn it for firewood!"

Ai Cui exhaled a long, stale breath.

"Enough! Stop yelling, you little brat!"

Aitre shouted, then put down the giant hammer in his hand.

He raised his arm and wiped the sweat and dust from his forehead.

"I don't know what kind of god you are, but your power... I, Etri, am convinced."

"That stone is no ordinary stone; it's a powerful, glowing gem. It's one of the most precious Uru ore in Nidweal. Because it's been placed near the nodes of the World Tree's roots for many years, it's been soaked in the tree's sap, which is why it has such vitality."

"Since you helped us drive away Thanos's henchmen and repaired my forging stand."

"According to our dwarven custom, it's a give-and-take situation. You can take this ore."

A piece of raw metal ore, radiating a bluish light, lay quietly on the central base.

On the surface of the ore, there seemed to be living, emerald green veins flowing slowly, which was the source of the life force that Xiu En and the sunflower sensed.

"As for the World Tree..."

Eitri pointed to a giant furnace at the far end of the star ring, which was constantly spewing flames.

"That's the center of the Nine Realms, its branches connecting all the worlds. There's no direct rainbow bridge from here. But you can go through that Star Forge, its core directly connected to the thickest root channel of the World Tree. However, the energy there is violent, so you'd better be careful."

Xiu En raised an eyebrow, strode into the treasure vault, and easily picked up the blue Uru ore with one hand.

The warm life energy flowed into his body through his arm, making him close his eyes comfortably.

"You're smart to be a big guy."

Xiu En weighed the raw ore in his arms and nodded in satisfaction.

"Your beard is saved."

The sunflower swayed excitedly on Xiu En's shoulder, its leaves pointing towards the furnace.

"Twigs! Twigs! Xiu En, let's go get the freshest twigs! I want the kind with leaves on!"

Aitri looked at the golden figure holding the sacred ore as if nothing had happened, his lips twitched, and in the end he just waved his hand, as if driving away some plague god.

"Go now! Remember your promise, and don't ever come back!"

Hugh, too lazy to pay any more attention to the garrulous dwarf, transformed into a dazzling golden streak of light and rushed straight toward the star furnace that Echo had pointed out, plunging headfirst into the blazing flames that could instantly melt any ordinary iron, and disappeared.

Golden light pierced through the fiery curtain of the Star Furnace.

They were inside the walls of an unimaginably vast, tree-like tunnel, where countless emerald green veins of light, like a ceaseless river of life, illuminated the entire space like an emerald sky.

The air was filled with the fresh scent of fresh earth mixed with plant sap, and with each breath, the projected body became more solid.

"Wow! This place is heaven!"

The sunflower excitedly stretched its leaves on Xiu En's shoulder, its flower head almost touching Xiu En's face.

"Great Xiu'en! The energy purity here is several levels higher than in a greenhouse! Look at those lights, don't they look like top-tier nutrient solution pipes? If only we could take root here..."

The sunflower's voice abruptly stopped, its leaves stood upright, and its flower head turned toward the depths of the passage, its tone filled with disgust.

"Something's wrong! This smell...it's disgusting! What has dirtied such a nice place!"

Following the direction indicated by the sunflower, Xiu En frowned.

At the end of that emerald green light, a large patch of pitch-black substance clung to the roots and trunk of the World Tree like a plaster.

Those black things slowly wriggled, greedily sucking up the life force, and wherever they passed, the once vibrant wooden interior became withered and dull.

Xiu En held the blue Uru ore in his arms. Because it was so comfortable to hold, he didn't even think about putting it inside his trench coat. He walked forward step by step.

He had little appetite for the mud itself, but the sight of it resembling a white tablecloth stained with years of grease gave him a strong urge to wipe it clean.

"It's such an eyesore."

Xiu En commented simply.

How can such garbage be found in such a nice place!

"It's more than just an eyesore!"

The sunflower jumped up in anger.

"This is pollution! This is blasphemy! Shuen, quickly burn this disgusting thing to ashes with your fire! Don't leave a single trace!"

Just as Xiu En was about to take action, packing up the stain along with the life energy it had absorbed and burning it,

At the edge of that writhing black swamp, a red and blue figure was being tightly bound by several black tentacles, struggling desperately.

"Guys! Calm down! I know you may have never seen a bodysuit before, but it's really rude of you to keep bothering me!"

A slightly breathless but still energetic young voice came from the other side.

A slightly breathless but still energetic young voice came from the other side.

The red and blue figure struggled and, with strength far exceeding that of ordinary people, temporarily broke free from its restraints. It then tumbled in mid-air and landed steadily on a slightly drier tree root.

He raised his head, seemingly trying to shake off the black slime on his mask, but when he saw the golden figure not far away, the white eye sockets on the mask widened instantly.

"Mr. Xiu En!?"

The young man's voice was full of surprise. He raised one hand and waved it vigorously, while his other hand was still warily aimed at the restless black mud.

"It really is you! And your sunflower? Wow! I thought I was hallucinating from the poisonous gas! It really is you!"

Xiu En took a step forward and handed the blue metal ore in his arms towards Peter.

A brilliant yet soft blue light instantly illuminated Peter's red and blue battle suit, which was covered in black slime, and also made the exaggeratedly wide white eye sockets on his mask appear emerald green.

"How's that, Peter boy!"

Xiu En gave a bright smile.

"Isn't this new stone I got shiny?"

Peter Parker looked at the enormous, priceless blue crystal that radiated a powerful life force, then at Shum's expression of eager praise, and was speechless for a moment.

"Snapped!"

The sunflower gently tapped Xiu En on the back of the head with its leaf.

"Stop playing around, Xiu En!"

Sunflower complained, then turned to Peter, tilting its flower head slightly to what it thought was a very amiable angle.

"Little bug, what are you doing here? This isn't the sewers of New York. It's dangerous to just crawl in here."

Shuen, annoyed at being slapped, quickly pulled the stone back and hugged it to his chest. He then looked at Peter curiously, "Yeah, what are you doing here? This is the root of the World Tree; it shouldn't be your responsibility, right?"

Peter snapped back to reality when he was stared at by the sunflower's big, dark eyes.

He quickly waved his hand, trying to explain.

"I didn't know it was the root of the World Tree, Mr. Shuen! I was patrolling Queens when my new suit, the one Mr. Bruce invested in, suddenly detected a very peculiar energy fluctuation, somewhat like the energy of the Asgardian Rainbow Bridge, but much weaker."

"I thought it was an alien invasion, so I followed the signal source all the way, and ended up here after passing through a weak point in the energy field."

Peter pointed to the writhing black mud behind him and said with lingering fear, "Then I got tangled up in this sticky stuff. They seem to really like life. The more I struggled, the tighter they clung to me. If it weren't for you and Ms. Sunflower showing up, I might have turned into a dried-up corpse."

Hearing Peter's description, Sunflower thought the boy was quite impressive for saying so much in one breath.

She jumped off Xiu En's shoulder and landed lightly on the ground.

She carefully avoided the area of ​​black mud, moved closer, and extended a leaf, fanning it in the air.

"There are remnants of Asgardian energy, but not the main body. This thing is like a primitive symbiote."

As the sunflower analyzed the situation, it used the tip of its leaf to touch the withered marks left on the ground by the black mud.

"It's devouring the World Tree's life force; it must be eliminated!"

"Is this thing edible?"

Xiu En asked curiously.

"cannot!"

Sunflower and Peter shouted in unison.

After shouting, Sunflower gave Xiu En a disgusted look: "Its energy is too mixed, full of negative emotions and the most primal instinct to devour. Eating it will give you diarrhea! And it will definitely taste like a stinky sock that hasn't been washed for a hundred years! It has to be burned!"

"Okay, then I won't eat it," Xiu En said with some regret.

He gently placed the raw metal ore in his arms on a clean tree root, then turned to the black swamp that was constantly writhing and seemed to have become restless as it sensed a more powerful life source.

"Since it's trash, let's clean it up while we're at it. Peter, come here."

In Xiu En's golden pupils, tiny flames began to flicker.

Shuen looked at Peter's battle suit, which was almost entirely covered in black mud, and held up one finger.

A soft golden light flowed from his fingertips and enveloped Peter.

The moment those sticky black tentacles came into contact with the golden light, they seemed to have encountered their nemesis, emitting a silent shriek and rapidly contracting and peeling away.

Peter felt a warm sensation all over his body, and the sticky feeling that had been clinging to him disappeared.

The black substance that he couldn't get rid of before retreated from his body like a mouse seeing a cat, quickly merging back into the larger black swamp.

"Wow! Thank you, sir!"

Peter stretched his arms and legs and felt much more relaxed. Although there were still disgusting black marks on his suit, at least his movements were no longer restricted.

"This thing...it seems to be very afraid of your light."

Shuen didn't respond; his gaze was fixed on the black swamp, which had become even more restless since losing its toy. He watched the thing writhe, watched it unconsciously extend its tentacles, trying to grab Peter again, and a sense of déjà vu washed over him.

Black?

Thick?

Do they like to attach themselves to their hosts?

Does she seem to possess a certain level of intelligence?

This thing looks exactly like a famous alien symbiote he saw before he transmigrated, but is this how that thing makes its appearance?

"Little Flower!"

Xiu En turned his head and asked the sunflower beside him in a low voice.

"Are you sure this thing doesn't have intelligence? It looks so familiar."

"Intelligence? No, I can only sense the most primal hunger and the instinct to devour."

The sunflower rested its chin on its leaf and analyzed the situation with a serious expression.

"But it seems to have a special fondness for this little insect, clinging to it particularly tightly. Perhaps it's because the little insect's vital signs are more active? Just like how we enjoy basking in the sun."

Xiu En did not ask any further questions.

Regardless of whether it's the famous Venom or not, this thing's weaknesses should be similar.

He recalled that this symbiote seemed to be very afraid of high temperatures and high-frequency sound waves.

He has plenty of high temperatures, but sound waves...

"Peter, cover your ears."

Xiu En suddenly spoke up.

"Huh? What?"

Peter hadn't reacted yet.

Xiu En has already made a move.

He took a deep breath and poured a great deal of energy into his vocal cords.

Then, a super-high frequency sound wave powerful enough to tear the air apart burst from his mouth!

That was not a sound that could be heard by the human ear, but its effects were obvious.

The entire massive root tunnel was shaking violently. Peter felt his ears go deaf instantly, and stars flashed before his eyes. He screamed and instinctively covered his ears with both hands, but the soul-piercing buzzing sensation still lingered.

Even the sunflowers were shaken by the sudden sound, their flower heads trembling and their two leaves tightly covering their faces.

The black swamp suffered a devastating blow.

Under the impact of ultra-high frequency sound waves, the viscous substance began to boil violently!

Countless black droplets splashed everywhere and were then shattered into even smaller particles by the sound waves in mid-air.

The black mud emitted a series of silent roars that represented its pain.

Its amorphous body twisted wildly, trying to coalesce and resist, but each time it tried to coalesce, it was shattered again by the even more violent sound waves.

Its original obsession with Peter vanished in the face of the instinct for survival.

Black Mud fled frantically away from Xiu En, trying to burrow deep into the roots of the World Tree to escape the horrific torment.

"Trying to run away?"

Xiu En snorted coldly, stopped the sonic attack, and blazing fire ignited in his golden pupils.

"It's too late."