96 Hmm...?

Ben Parker's death had left Joss in a foul mood for a very long time. He had even handed over the matter of persuading Spider-Man to join the Avengers to Stark.

As for any reward, he had lost all interest in thinking about it, which was also why he had no intention of going to the funeral at all.

He knew, of course, that he might be being a little too precious about it. Ben Parker had always been someone who was bound to die sooner or later; living to this point had been nothing more than luck. And the fact that releasing the symbiote had led to such consequences had nothing to do with Ben's own will.

It was like the so-called Shirou problem from legend... no, more like the trolley problem.

On two tracks, five people are tied to one and a single person to the other, and not far away a speeding trolley is rushing toward them. You can either pull the switch and divert it to the track with one person, killing him, or do nothing and watch it crush the five.

Under normal circumstances, Joss would have said, "I'll save the flat-chested little beauty," but now the situation was making even a thick-skinned guy like him feel a little ill at ease.

Reason can never truly defeat emotion. That is what makes us human.

But just then, Lilith tried to comfort Joss in her own clumsy way.

In a seductive Dissolving Lilith cosplay outfit, with a faint flush on Lilith's normally expressionless face, the knot in Joss's heart vanished at once.

"What's wrong? Am I not pretty?" Lilith asked softly, her eyelids slightly lowered, her gaze fixed on the floor.

"No, no, no! You're amazing! Thank you, good lord, I'm clocking in right now!" Faced with Lilith's charming, up-close beauty, Joss was so flustered he could hardly string his words together.

Just as Lilith herself had said, she really was not good at comforting people. But precisely because of that, her expression only made her look even cuter.

"It's a pity this wig won't stay on. I have too much hair of my own; it blocks it completely." Lilith held up a blue-purple wig and gave it a little shake toward Joss.

"A wig...?" Seeing the wig, Joss froze. Then something clicked, and his eyes sharpened with sudden resolve.

"Lilith... if I said I could give you even greater power, would you accept it?"

At that, Lilith first looked stunned, then gave a faint nod. "You pulled me out of Hydra's quagmire. If you need me to do anything, I would agree to it..."

"Not like that!" Before Lilith could finish, Joss cut her off brusquely. "That's not it. I told you before, I'm not your superior, and Hydra is already completely dead. You don't need to obey anyone's orders anymore!"

"But..."

"Lilith, perhaps back then you saved me on a whim, or perhaps, as you said, you did it to put your own heart at ease. Then what I am doing is no different."

Joss's eyes were no longer clouded with hesitation; he looked straight at Lilith's face.

"So this is my request. If you can, please help me. Please use your power to protect what I care about, everything I have now and everything I will have in the future."

In that instant, Joss finally understood what had been troubling him all these days. What he minded was not only that his own actions had indirectly killed Ben, but also the fear that he could not protect the things he cared about.

People always have things they value, even a time-traveling outsider. After a few months in this world, he had his own friends, his own life.

What he truly feared was seeing all of it broken apart.

Hearing Joss's words, Lilith remained silent for a long time. Then, quite suddenly, she let out a wordless laugh.

"I see... In that case, I promise I will use this power to help you, and to protect everything beyond your reach."

"Thank you. If that's the case, then accept this power." Joss smiled as well, and swept a hand glowing faintly over Lilith's hair.

Every strand touched by the light turned smooth and blue-purple. At the same time, the aura around Lilith kept growing stronger, until it became almost oppressive.

"So now there are two of the Four Horsemen," Joss said. "If I have to leave Earth someday, or go deal with some trouble, at least I won't have to worry about coming home and finding my base stripped clean."

Looking at the transformed Lilith, the panic in Joss's heart finally settled completely.

With the change in hair color, Lilith's appearance had almost fused with that of Dissolving Lilith. Perhaps because they had been in close contact for so long, her cheeks looked faintly red, so cute it made one want to scoop her into an embrace.

"So cute..." Joss said again.

"Mm... to actually call me cute..." Lilith puffed out her cheeks and grumbled, but that expression only made her seem even more alluring than before.

A side quest discovered - you should know what happens next, right?

Objective: Let's run straight for home plate at sunset!

Success reward: What the hell do you need a reward for?

Failure penalty: If you really fail, we'll dock you one thousand self-destruction points as a token gesture.

The system, for reasons known only to itself, suddenly jumped out to make its presence felt. A thought that Joss had deliberately or accidentally not been entertaining suddenly roared forward at three hundred miles an hour.

"Cough... all done. Anyway, your power has been strengthened a bit, so you'll need to take the time to get used to it."

Ignoring the prompt on the system panel, Joss rose with a calm expression and left. He was so flustered that he did not even notice the fleeting disappointment on Lilith's face behind him.

Detected host abandoning the mission. The mission will soon fail.

"Then let it fail. I'm not your puppet. Do you really think I'll do every mission just because you show up?" Joss snorted disdainfully after being teleported to the outskirts.

So lame.

"How dare you slander my innocence out of nowhere?! I just don't want things to move that fast. I'm not that guy!"

Joss widened his eyes, while his mouth kept spouting words that were hard to follow: something about having to go in order, about pure love being holding hands first and then kissing, and so on. The air was practically crackling with merriment.

Heh heh, you virgin.

"Damn it! If you've got the guts, come out here and fight me!"