After Meng Ran finished breakfast, he returned to his room to continue meditating.
He didn't come downstairs for lunch until noon, where Meng Huo was still busy in the kitchen, and Zhao Li was also lingering there, helping Meng Huo, who couldn't get her to leave.
A sweet atmosphere filled the kitchen.
Meng Ran sat at the dining table by himself, sipping tea and reading the newspaper.
In the morning, he had been too focused on finishing his meal quickly and hadn't had time to check the news.
"New York Police Department Busts Crime Syndicate, Mastermind Ibai Brought to Justice"
These reporters had sharp noses; what happened last night was already being reported this morning.
Just as Meng Ran expected, George handled the matter beautifully.
He concealed the shadow of Ghost behind the incident, pushing the police department to the forefront.
This maintained the police department's authority and saved Ghost a lot of trouble.
Thus, the two of them had tacitly reached a cooperation.
Meng Ran also didn't want to make every incident public.
For him, eliminating criminals was the ultimate goal; everything else was a means to that end.
Now, Ghost's reputation was already significant enough, and Meng Ran no longer needed to engage in flashy displays to earn points.
This also facilitated the functioning of the entire social order; he only wanted to judge those who slipped through the net, not to destroy the system itself.
The grand spectacle of Ur's judgment at the time was partly to gain points and partly to deter criminals.
Now, he had sufficient notoriety, both in the public eye and in the minds of criminals.
Naturally, he no longer needed to be so high-profile; silently making a fortune was always the best approach.
After reading the news for a while, the food was almost ready.
Meng Ran and the Venom inside him were already impatient.
"Later, for the ribs, I get three and you get seven. For the other dishes, we'll split them fifty-fifty. To make up for letting you taste bullets yesterday. How about it? Fair enough, right?" Meng Ran communicated with Venom telepathically.
"Ooh-hoo! Happy, happy, happy ~ Ribs, ribs, ribs ~" Venom was also very excited to hear he could have more ribs, his rough voice unable to conceal his joy.
After his excitement, Venom said to Meng Ran, "For the other dishes, I want six, you four, me six. The smell of gunpowder yesterday still makes me want to vomit. I think I need some comfort."
Seeing Venom trying to play the victim and haggle with him, Meng Ran was momentarily speechless: "How come the more you grow, the more mischievous you become? Who taught you that?"
"You should learn more from me, okay? Master, I don't have much else, but I do have many good qualities," Meng Ran earnestly lectured Venom.
"Yes, yes, yes, right, right, right. So, can I have six?" Venom nodded cooperatively, then asked the question he cared about most.
Meng Ran was speechless. Venom still blinked his eyes, his gaze filled with inquiry and eager anticipation.
"Alright, alright, you get six, I get four," Meng Ran sighed helplessly, rubbing his forehead.
"Yay! Happy, happy, happy! ヾ(@^▽^@)ノ" Venom cheered upon hearing this.
"Son! Come in and help with the dishes," Zhao Li called from the kitchen.
"Coming! (`)" Meng Ran got up to help with the dishes; dinner was finally served.
After dinner, Meng Ran drove out in his small black car.
A satisfied Venom and Meng Ran drove along, singing happily back and forth.
After a while, they arrived at their destination: Peter's house.
That's right, this afternoon Meng Ran was going to continue finishing the remaining LEGOs with Peter, and Harry had also joined this great project.
The three of them worked until evening before finally finishing. Meng Ran politely declined Uncle Ben and Aunt May's enthusiastic dinner invitation and drove home.
In the evening, after dinner, Meng Ran lay on his bed, waiting for nightfall.
Tonight, he planned to actively seek out Ghost Spider, Gwen.
As night deepened, Meng Ran jumped out of the window and ran into the distance.
At this moment, Gwen was crouching on a rooftop.
Her injuries had healed faster than expected, partly because Meng Ran had applied medicine for her when Venom possessed him.
But Gwen didn't know that.
Gwen looked at the bustling traffic below and said, "Red Rose, any updates? By the way, are you really not considering changing your codename? This one is really a bit cheesy."
Mary's reply came through the earpiece: "Two blocks from your location, someone just robbed a supermarket at gunpoint and is escaping this way."
"Is it cheesy? I think it suits my hair color quite well."
Gwen said, "There are other nice codenames for red, you know."
Gwen looked in the direction Mary had just mentioned, raised her hand, and shot out a web line, swinging towards that area while talking to Mary.
A person was running on the road, the dense night providing him with a natural camouflage.
After running for a while and ensuring he was safe, he stopped.
He pulled out the money from his pocket and counted it; this was the result of his recent "labor."
As the robber was counting his money, a web line suddenly shot down from above, wrapping around his calf.
Instantly, he was hoisted upside down, his head pointing towards the ground. The money he had just stolen scattered across the ground. He quickly reached out to grab it but only managed to snatch a single dollar bill.
A figure jumped down from above, landing in front of him.
The inverted robber eagerly craned his neck to see.
What met his eyes were long legs, and a black and white battle suit that accentuated a curvaceous figure. It was Ghost Spider.
The robber couldn't help but curse his luck. He, of course, knew Ghost Spider, and also Ghost.
He had originally intended to buy something today, but when he went to pay, he realized he hadn't brought any money, though he did have a gun.
Seeing how frail the store clerk looked, a sudden evil thought arose within him. He pulled out his handgun, got his items for free, and even made some profit.
Seeing that it was Ghost Spider, the robber felt both unlucky and fortunate.
Unlucky because he was caught, but lucky because it wasn't Ghost who caught him, so he might still get to keep his life.
The robber immediately began to beg, "Oh! I'm sorry, please give me another chance. I will never commit a crime again."
Gwen looked at the pleading robber and said coldly, "You can tell the rest to the police."
With that, she prepared to web him up.
Just then, the robber, who had been begging for mercy, suddenly pulled out his gun from his lower back and, without a word, began firing at Gwen.
"Bang, bang, bang!" As the gunshots rang out, Gwen constantly shifted her position, her Ghost Warning and superhuman reflexes on full display.
As the last gunshot ended, the robber, seeing that his shots had no effect, immediately threw his handgun to the ground and raised his hands in surrender.
Although the scene was somewhat comical—a Black man hanging upside down with his hands raised in surrender—Gwen found nothing to smile about.
"This damn guy, does he dare to be so reckless just because I won't kill him?" Gwen's heart was filled with fury.
The robber's actions were too much even for her usually good temper.
Seeing that Gwen seemed angry, the robber immediately cowered. He felt Ghost Spider's furious gaze fixed on him.
He spoke again, "I... I confess, I robbed, I confess. You can't kill me, I want to go to prison."
"Bang!" Before the robber could finish his whining, a bloody hole appeared in his head.
The robber immediately fell silent, hanging there like a dead fish, blood dripping onto the ground.
Gwen immediately turned to look, only to see a figure standing on the rooftop of a low building behind her. It was Ghost, who was leisurely putting away his gun.
Gwen looked at Ghost's figure and said coldly, "Mr. Ghost, why are you interfering with my business?"
"I remember you don't like it when others interfere with your judgment either."
"So why did you shoot him dead?"
Meng Ran listened to Gwen's questioning, laced with hidden anger, and was momentarily speechless.
He had been standing there the whole time and had seen the robber's actions.
Therefore, Meng Ran's heart was also filled with fury at that moment: "Damn it, this wretched criminal dares to mess with Gwen!"
Then he raised his hand and shot the man dead.
Now, he had angered Gwen, who was already full of resentment.
Meng Ran looked at the furious Gwen and said weakly, "Uh, I'm sorry, he really was too despicable. I couldn't hold back."
Gwen, who had been full of anger, was stunned by Meng Ran's reply.
"Is this really Ghost? What's wrong with him?" Gwen thought to herself.
Meng Ran knew Gwen was Ghost Spider, but Gwen didn't know Meng Ran was Ghost.
The last time she encountered Ghost, Gwen had been thoroughly lectured.
But today, encountering Ghost again, he suddenly seemed like a different person, which greatly puzzled Gwen.
Seeing Gwen's stunned expression, Meng Ran knew his behavior just now was inappropriate.
He gazed steadily at Gwen. All the methods he had thought of earlier suddenly became unspeakable and undoable.
Meng Ran pondered for a moment, then made up his mind.
He wanted to be honest with Gwen, to tell her everything that had happened before, including his own identity, without hiding anything.
Because he didn't want to deceive Gwen.
Meng Ran said in a deep voice, "Ghost Spider, there are some things I need to discuss with you."