Nobody can stop me from drawing cards in Gotham!

Chapter 38 The Mysterious Poisoner

Poisonous fog?

Jaeger finally calmed down: "So... what kind of creature are you? Why can you talk in my head one minute and then turn into this the next?"

"I...can explain...but first...I need to eat something..." the poisonous mist said. "Otherwise...it's too much trouble...to talk like this..."

"That's true," Jaeger nodded. "But wouldn't a creature like you have a different diet than humans?"

The poisonous mist tilted its head: "That's right... but... there's a solution..."

"In your...pocket..."

Upon hearing this, Jaeger subconsciously touched his pocket, then stared silently at the chocolate bar he pulled out.

"You're just going to eat this?"

Poison Mist nodded hastily, seemingly starving. He didn't even bother to say a few more words before rushing over and swallowing the chocolate bar in one gulp, his sharp teeth crunching as he swallowed it.

After swallowing a chocolate bar, the toxic mist was finally able to speak normally: "I'm saved... Also, my staple food wasn't originally chocolate, but something else, but chocolate can be used as a substitute."

"Oh? So what was your staple food originally?" Jaeger asked curiously.

The toxic fog answered frankly: "The human brain."

Jaeger: "..."

Okay, then we definitely need to find something to replace it...

But why can chocolate replace the human brain? Are the two even similar?

The toxic mist sensed Jaeger's question and offered an explanation: "It's actually quite simple. It's because both contain phenylethylamine, which is an important element for maintaining the stability of my species and providing energy."

"You creature..." Jaeger scrutinized you, "So what exactly are you? An alien?"

Jaeger swore he was just saying it offhand, but to his surprise, the poisonous mist nodded: "That's right, I am indeed an alien."

Jaeger: ?

First it was Superman, now it's poisonous fog. Is this world overrun by alien creatures?

But thinking about it, it makes sense. It's a superhero world, so it's not surprising that there are some weird things...

Meanwhile, the poisonous mist continued its earnest explanation: "And alien species like myself have a collective name—symbiotes. As for the poisonous mist, that's the name of my individual self."

"As the name suggests, we need to find a host and coexist with it to survive. In return, we will provide the host with some... abilities."

"ability?"

Poison Mist did not directly answer Jaeger's question.

He simply asked in a low voice, "Before explaining this... do you know why I'm called Poison Mist, Langdon?"

With that sound, a large amount of black and white mist, just as Yeager had seen, rapidly surged out from his chest, arms, and neck.

The fog spread and expanded invisibly, quickly enveloping Jaeger's entire body in a fog so thick that he could no longer see clearly. At the same time, the fog also fixed his shape into something else.

The completely externalized poisonous fog seemed to have taken control of his body, but Jaeger could still clearly maintain his thoughts and see what the poisonous fog saw, as if playing a very new first-person game.

"When I was talking to you just now, it was only partially externalized. Now it's completely externalized," the poisonous mist said.

Through the toxic fog, Jaeger successfully spotted a bizarre creature in the mirror before him—a creature so large it could easily have been a boss in some American monster movies.

Standing nearly three meters tall, with an enormous, muscular body, it was covered in a black and white mist that was almost solidified. It also possessed eyes with only the whites showing and a bottomless mouth with a forked tongue that resembled a snake's forked tongue.

"While the design is... questionable—it's actually pretty cool," Jaeger commented. "But will I lose control of my body in this form?"

"This form is under my control, but I will listen to your wishes," the poisonous mist whispered. "After all, we are one."

Jaeger noticed that the poison mist emphasized the word "us" when it spoke of us.

He raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything more, instead changing the subject: "Continue."

"Strength, speed, jumping ability, destructive power... these go without saying, almost every symbiote can provide its host with these things—but as toxic mist, we can have even more." The toxic mist raised its hand. "For example, like this."

Jaeger watched as some of the gas on the poisonous mist merged into the air, yet a part of its consciousness remained.

"Similar to the hive mentality, each of our parts can consciously split and recombine... simply because we are fog, we are all-pervasive."

This sounds like a convenient ability for stealth. As long as there is a wisp of fog, Jaeger can manipulate it remotely while retaining his five senses.

"Furthermore, if we wish, the fog can also become... aggressive."

With the palm of the poisonous fog facing upwards, a small cloud of fog rose from it, and then visibly changed into various colors.

"Deadly toxic fumes that kill upon inhalation, with the rate of death depending on the toxicity I inject. There are also neurotoxins, hallucinogens, and toxic fumes that cause loss of the five senses... I can use my abilities to concoct them all."

"This ability can also be used in reverse. If someone tries to physically attack you, I can use contact toxins on the outer layer of the fog," the poisonous fog said. "According to your current thinking, we are the mysterious poisoners."

"...I was just venting! I didn't really want you to call us that!" Jaeger protested, caught red-handed having his own internal monologue.

"Really? Earthlings have a strange sense of humor," the poisonous fog said, puzzled.